The Witch's Taste

He hurriedly got up and dressed, rushed out, came to the light rail platform and waited for the late night train, and at the same time dialed the phone again.

Still no one answered.

The third time he made the call, Chen Ziang was already in the car. After ringing for a while this time, he was finally picked up.

"Your ape-like brain may not realize the importance of sleep and rest, but how about you at least learn the etiquette of human society?" Are you calling to harass others? If you have so much energy, I will assign you a night shift task tomorrow so that you can vent your anger."

"I have something to discuss with you." Chen Ziang said patiently, "I'll go find you right away."

The phone was hung up.

Although they are sisters, Xia Qingyu does not live with Xia Zili, but rents alone in a high-end apartment near the Intelligence Bureau.

Chen Ziang rushed downstairs to the apartment. Because he could not pass the tenant's face scan authentication, he was almost regarded as a late-night thief by the doorman. Fortunately, he always had his ID in his clothes and quickly persuaded the doorman to let him go.

After getting on the elevator, he rushed to Xia Qingyu's door and slammed the door frantically.

He hammered the door so hard that the lights behind his neighbor's window came on.

Soon the door was opened from the inside. Xia Qingyu, who was wearing pajamas, opened the door and stared at him with murderous eyes:

"Can't you go find my nosy sister or your loyal dog-like island mistress to discuss countermeasures?"

"Suzuna is not my mistress... This is not the point!" Chen Ziang ignored her anger and used his male strength to force his way through the door. He said anxiously, "Listen to me, I know their method of destroying Takamagahara. ."

In the living room, after listening to Chen Ziang's quick words, Xia Qingyu crossed her legs gracefully, held her chin in one hand and pondered for a moment, and said slowly:

"That's it?"

"God!" Chen Ziang said frantically, "Think of a way! Stop Him from being awakened!"

"I think those metallic beings have made it very clear." Xia Qingyu said leisurely, "The ceremony has been arranged and the sacrificial vessels have been prepared. As long as the Democratic Party comes to power and signs the Interstellar Mining Ship Access Act, they will The mining ship will be lowered and the ceremony will be initiated—how to stop it?”

"What if we destroy the Bacht mining ship before it lands?" Chen Zi'ang wondered.

"Yes, as long as you can do it." Xia Qingyu raised her eyebrows and said, "If you were an elf, would you not take precautions in this regard?"

Chen Ziang was silent for a moment and had to admit that this was indeed the case.

The Federation's technical strength and scientific level far exceed Takamagahara. Even if all the air defense forces are deployed, it may not be able to destroy the Bakht mining ship.The only thing that restrained them from forcibly landing was the reaction and attitude of the empire in international diplomacy.

But if Gao Tianyuan seeks death, takes the initiative to join the Federation and welcomes mining ships to dock, then their last worries will be gone.

After all, we still have to stop the Democratic Party...

"Look at this." Xia Qingyu suddenly said, throwing a newspaper on the coffee table.

newspaper?Chen Ziang was a little surprised, because today's paper media is declining. Except for the elderly who are not used to looking at mobile phones, there are not many people who subscribe to newspapers. Is Xia Qingyu so old-school?

He took the newspaper and looked at it, only to see a line of large characters written on it:

Iwata Aokawa's campaign manifesto states that if elected, money will be distributed directly to all citizens.

274. Chapter 273 Assassination!

Chen Ziang has never studied finance, but he probably knows that the most critical issue of this "payment to all people" policy is "where does the money come from?"

If the district public reserve distributes money, it is essentially that the government collects taxes from large companies and then distributes it to most people with lower incomes. This is essentially income redistribution, and of course there is no problem - but the public reserve will mostly take it. Don't pay this money.

If the Central Reserve Bank prints money and creates something out of thin air, how can the inflation caused by it be solved?The biggest opposition in this regard is not from the public, but from businesses.Because many small and medium-sized enterprises whose financial situation can barely maintain profits and losses cannot bear the increase in raw material costs caused by inflation.

The prices of daily necessities have increased, and ordinary people can continue to buy them even if they bite the bullet.When the price of raw materials increases, the factory owners will immediately go bankrupt and stop the losses when they see the losses. The enterprise is equivalent to "dead".

Chen Ziang continued browsing. In response to possible protests from social enterprises, the Democratic First Party indeed proposed corresponding solutions. The second election manifesto was "tax reduction."

Reduce taxes for SMEs to help them get rid of the negative effects of inflation.

Print money and distribute it to the people, and reduce the tax burden on enterprises. It seems that both parties are satisfied, and everyone is happy. There is only one question left:

What about finances?

Taxation is the main source of fiscal revenue for the star region, and corporate taxation accounts for a large part of it. If you just slash the big head, what will happen to the missing part of the fiscal revenue?

The Democratic First Party gave its third election manifesto: "Technology introduction."

Allowing Bakht mining ships to move in and mine minerals deep in the earth's crust will help the mining industry's economy rise against the trend.In the words of Zhongnan City’s current political commentator, “Although the corporate tax rate has been reduced, the overall tax revenue has increased, which is a dream-like good thing.”

As for other things such as "legislating to protect animal rights", "promoting equal rights for disadvantaged groups", and even "reconsidering whether to be independent from the imperial system", etc., they are basically empty words and do not require too much attention.

The main thing is the three tricks in the front, the logic is indeed fairly complete, and there are no too fatal flaws.The answer to the most critical question of "where does the money come from" is the interstellar conglomerate Bakht Group. After all, wasn't that what the second-generation governor Shi Jintang did?The exchange of resources for foreign exchange, foreign exchange for equipment, and equipment for industry has driven the leap of Gaotianyuan's overall economy.

If the Bakht mining ship really has deep mining technology, then these three axes are even very feasible... But the reason why the British Party does not operate in this way is because they are well aware of the urinary nature of the elves and doubt Bakht mining. The boat is a disguise.

Chen Ziang knew better. This was basically a fatal blow to Gao Tianyuan. Therefore, these three axes were fundamentally impossible to achieve. It was just that the people were kept in the dark.

"If this is such a propaganda strategy." He thought for a moment and said, "If the British party questions the safety of the Bakht mining ship, how will the other party respond?"

"They don't need to respond at all." Xia Qingyu said lightly, "Because the collective consciousness of the people is similar to that of animals. They naturally like good things and reject bad things."

"As long as the 'Bakht mining ship' is linked to 'paying money to the whole people', denying the 'Bakht mining ship' means denying 'paying money to the whole people', and naturally a large number of people will choose to believe that the mining ship can save the economy - Painting Bread cannot satisfy hunger, but hungry people do not grow brains.”

"Did you take advantage of the weaknesses of human nature..." Chen Ziang thought about it.

"What would you do if you faced this situation?" Xia Qingyu suddenly asked.

"Suppose I am the district governor?" Chen Ziang was silent for a moment and said, "I have an idea: falsely declare to the outside world that 'we are also considering cooperating with the Bakht Group to station mining ships in Gaotianyuan'."

"Secretly sending people to release false news, saying that Bakht had offered exorbitant terms that would be humiliating and humiliating the country, such as allowing the federal mining tycoon to move in and crush local mining companies; another example is that elf tourists enjoy 'extraterritoriality' in Takamagahara, and in Jibei City They have no right to be tried after committing a crime... and then let the official publicly declare that it is pure rumors and there is no such thing, but they avoid talking about the specific terms of cooperation, making the public subconsciously suspicious."

"It's a clumsy plagiarism. What it plagiarizes is the stupid tactics of the Democratic First Party, which incites racial antagonism and xenophobia. It just instigates the relationship between the island people and the elves." Xia Qingyu said with a sneer, "Do you know where you went wrong?"

"Oh, where is it?" Chen Zi'ang originally just said it casually, and asked with a smile without getting angry.

"Because this is a 'little skill', not a 'big road'." Xia Qingyu said indifferently, "You can have all the skills and methods to govern a country, but you can't have skills but no methods. The Democratic Party plays like this because it is currently in the opposition, even if it makes mistakes Not many people take it seriously; if the Kuomintang Party plays such an unflattering trick, once the matter is revealed, it will have a huge blow to its long-standing reputation in power."

"If it really had any prestige in governing, the Guoying Party would not be in a state of distress now." Chen Ziang said doubtfully.

"Of course the prestige of governing exists, although I don't expect you to understand it." Xia Qingyu said mockingly, "If you want to wear a crown, you must bear its weight. But have you ever seen anyone throw away the crown on their own initiative? Not all of them. Just hold on to the weight and move forward."

"Then what do you think we should do?" Chen Ziang asked again.

"Nothing can be done." Xia Qingyu said hehely, "You'd better think about your options and stop worrying about the Kuomintang Party. It's not you who is sitting in the position of district governor now."

She gave the eviction order without mercy, and Chen Ziang could only stand up.

When they came to the door, they heard Xia Qingyu say:

“Instead of thinking about how to save a stall that is riddled with holes, why not wait until it collapses and then rebuild it?”

"Because it will kill many people if it collapses." Chen Ziang replied, "I can't bear it."

"The laws of nature will not change just because you can't bear it." Xia Qingyu commented disdainfully, "The so-called morality and conscience are just artificially defined rules to maintain the social structure. But if you can't even maintain your own survival , then morality and conscience will not have any meaning."

"The first priority of the universe is survival, right?" Chen Ziang said with a smile, "A classic imperial saying."

"But I feel that if only a few people can escape from Takamagahara, even if they successfully escape to the Federation, they will not have the power to protect themselves in the future... So I still want to save as many people as possible, so let me try my best. .”

"I didn't stop you." Xia Qingyu said coldly, "It's none of my business."

She slammed the door shut.

Although she seemed to be kicked out, if Xia Qingyu really didn't intend to help, why did she open the door for herself late at night just now?

This level of duplicity is not the Two-dimensional version of tsundere at all, but more like...

...Some kind of helplessness?

Chen Ziang took the light rail again and returned home exhausted. He didn't even bother to change his clothes, fell on the bed and fell asleep.

I slept deeply this time, without any mysterious force disturbing me. I even missed the alarm clock for some reason the next morning.

At around [-]:[-] in the morning, Chen Ziang, who had been sleeping in a daze, was finally awakened by the rapid ringing of his cell phone.

"Chen Zi'ang!" Xia Zili's voice came from the mobile phone, "At the governor's election debate, an assassin opened fire!"

Chen Ziang suddenly became excited and woke up:

"Is Shi Di dead?"

"No." Xia Zili said hesitantly, "When the attack happened, Shi Di hadn't entered the scene yet, so I didn't have time to stop it."

"The target of the assassin's attack was... Iwata Aokawa."

275. Chapter 274 Deaf and Blind

The incident happened at the Ping An District TV station, at the governor's election debate.

Iwata Aokawa took the field first as the candidate of the Democratic First Party.When the live broadcast time came, Governor Shi Di was still on the road due to temporary reasons, so the program team arranged for Iwata Aokawa to give a political statement first.

The lecture lasted 10 minutes. By the time he finished his lecture, Shi Di had almost arrived and was ready, so he could take over.

Since he had already announced ten propositions for his candidacy yesterday, "giving money to all people" ranked first among them, which also caused an uproar on the Internet. Therefore, as Iwata Aokawa started to speak, the ratings of the program began to increase sharply, and there were even some Many office workers secretly take out their mobile phones to watch the live broadcast at the company and want to know how the money is distributed, how much it is, and when it is distributed.

During the live broadcast, Iwata Aokawa did not deliberately sell out (after all, everyone is here for this, and it would be too hateful to make a mystery). He frankly said that the specific amount has not yet been determined, but it is estimated that it will not be less than 2000 yuan, nor will it be What form of consumer coupon?

He then claimed that there is currently no difficulty in “distributing money to all the people” and that there are only “some difficult objections”, but he will work hard to overcome it if he is elected.

Then, Iwata Qingchuan talked about other campaign proposals one after another, such as corporate tax cuts, technology introduction, animal rights protection, racial equality, etc. His opinions were relatively radical, and he also won a lot of applause from the Internet.

In fact, anyone with a little bit of political common sense will know that these things are either difficult to implement or "press the gourd and the ladle floats". While satisfying the demands of these people, it is likely to offend another group of people. ...So Iwata Aokawa is most likely just writing a down payment.

Just like when Shi Boen was running for office, he emphasized industrial transformation every year, "shifting the focus from the mining industry to the interstellar tourism industry" and "letting foreign tourists come to enjoy the snow scenery and hot springs of Gaotianyuan". As a result, until his death, interstellar tourism The overall income has not improved much.

In the final analysis, it is because voters only want to hear what they want to hear, and will not consider the difficulty or even possibility of implementation.In short, after Iwata Qingchuan's talk, it is not clear whether the polls have changed, but the ratings have broken the historical record.

Then something unexpected happened.

When the debate assistant Shimabukuro Hatadai came on stage and handed Iwata Aokawa water, someone in the audience stood up and approached the front desk. Before the court officials could stop him, he took out a pistol from his arms and shot Iwata Aokawa in the head. right breast.

Iwata Aokawa fell to the ground on the spot, and the murderer was knocked down by the running attendants. The scene was immediately chaotic, and all of this was exposed to the live broadcast footage with high ratings.

"...In short, that's how it is." Xia Zili finally said, "When the shooting happened, Shi Di happened to arrive at the TV station not long ago, and was being put on by the staff backstage. After hearing the news, he went out to confirm the situation."

"Fortunately, there was only this one attacker at the scene, and he was quickly subdued. The bullet hit Iwata Aokawa's right shoulder blade. After initial rescue, it was confirmed that his life was not in danger, but it is said that the fragments of the warhead It may remain in the body and require long-term hospitalization, so the Democratic Party is in big trouble this time..."

"No, we are in big trouble." Chen Ziang sighed.

"Why?" Xia Zili asked in confusion.

"Iwata Aokawa will definitely continue to participate in the election." Chen Ziang explained, "and public opinion will definitely say that it was members of the Kuomintang party who assassinated him."

"But why?" Xia Zili said in disbelief, "Wouldn't it be possible to know the murderer's background just by interrogating him?"

"What is important is not the murderer's background, but the 'murderer's background' that the public is willing to believe." Chen Ziang said in a solemn tone, "He just said he wanted to 'distribute money to all the people,' but there may be 'opposition'. He was attacked and assassinated on the back foot, what do you think the audience watching the live broadcast will think?"

"But..." Xia Zili wanted to say something more, but then she thought about how confident she was before and told Chen Ziang, "The eyes of the masses are sharp." She suddenly became speechless again.

"Anyway, you can continue to look at Shi Di." Chen Ziang sighed, "But if this is the case, Shi Di's personal safety...may not be important anymore."

After hanging up the phone with Xia Zili, Chen Ziang finished washing and left the bedroom. As soon as he went downstairs to the living room, he saw Tsukinomiya Suzuna pushing the door in from outside.

"Senior!" she said hurriedly, "have you heard the news that just happened?"

"I heard about it." Chen Ziang nodded and said, "So what happened?"

"Public opinion is exploding." Tsukimiya Suzuna said concisely, "This attack is really unexpected. Online comments are overwhelming that the sector government is assassinating dissidents. What's even more shocking is that the government's official accounts on major platforms are no longer able to publish new updates. News.”

"Unable to release the news?" Chen Ziang frowned.

"Yes." Tsukimiya Suzuna showed him a screenshot of her mobile phone, "That's it, no matter it's short videos, Weibo... official accounts cannot send messages. Clicking 'Publish' will display 'Your account status is abnormal', and the message will not be sent at all." stay home."

"It's all software from the federal company." Chen Ziang thought thoughtfully and said, "Is this preventing the official from speaking out? It's not necessary. The local TV stations are not yet under their control. The British Party can hold a press conference to explain the situation."

"But the press conference cannot be held just now." Tsukimiya Suzuna sighed. "At least enough reporters must be summoned, right? This will take a certain amount of time, and it is likely to miss the prime time window to guide public opinion in the early stage."

"What's more, it's working time now. Many people are working in the company. It's impossible to watch TV. You can only use your mobile phone to check news online!"

Chen Ziang was immediately horrified, vaguely aware of the terrifying power of this combination of punches.

"What about the TV station's account on the major video websites?" He asked again to confirm, "For example, record the program into a video and send it to the video website?"

"Let me confirm." Tsukimiya Suzuna quickly pressed the phone.

After a moment, she shook her head:

"No, it won't work. The official accounts of the TV stations in Ping An District, Shinjuku District, and Mikawa District on all major platforms have all been in 'abnormal status.' Other TV stations have not confirmed it yet, but they are probably about the same."

"Where's the temporary trumpet?"

"Small accounts... don't have many fans, so they can only rely on the platform's smart push."