Daughter Star, Governor's Mountain.
It was eleven at night. Iron-black rain clouds gathered in the sky, and heavy rain washed over the entire mountain. The forests and bamboo groves on the mountain swayed in the wind and rain.
Flashlights flickered everywhere on the mountain, with different teams of protestors communicating with each other via walkie-talkies and flashlights.
Protestors in black raincoats climbed the mountain in layers. Their numbers had surged from thirty thousand during the day to one hundred thousand, almost the scale of a large-scale battle. The mutiny was ongoing, and the network and public electricity of the capital city had been cut off. Ordinary people had no way of knowing the changes in the planet's military. The protestors only knew that they needed to surround the Governor's Mansion on the mountaintop as soon as possible, preferably capturing Fu Qiuyan.
The Governor's Mansion's riot control vehicles were already blocking the mountain roads. The guards were fully deployed, using stun batons and high-pressure water cannons to engage in guerrilla warfare on the mountain, intercepting protestors everywhere, shooting stun bullets at those climbing, and spraying them down the hillsides in large groups with high-pressure water cannons. However, the Governor's Mansion guard only had five hundred people, and with the addition of two thousand reinforcements from the capital's police, they were still far outnumbered by the one hundred thousand protestors. As they blocked the east, protestors advanced from the west, slowly but unstoppably towards the mountaintop.
The most critical factor was that the protestors were all ordinary citizens of Daughter Star. They were unarmed, carrying only banners, slogans, and hiking poles, so the guards could not slaughter them.
Such a large-scale "Surround Governor's Mountain" movement must have had someone directing it from behind the scenes.
In fact, the guards had already apprehended more than a dozen protest leaders on the mountainside. They were robust middle-aged women with backgrounds as retired soldiers, holding walkie-talkies and directing protestors at different locations to advance, controlling the situation on the entire mountain. The group of women arrested was only a part of the command system. As soon as they were captured, other command groups immediately took over, continuing to push the protestors upward.
The most terrifying thing was that anti-aircraft missiles and radar had already been set up at the foot of the mountain, aimed directly at the summit.
When the Governor's Mansion's helicopters attempted to take off during the day, they detected missile locks as soon as they started up, and dared not even leave the ground.
The sonic booms of aerospace fighters were also heard nearby from time to time, with a rumble every few minutes, as if an air force unit was blockading the airspace. However, it had been raining all day, and not even a fighter jet could be seen. No one knew if there were only one or two fighter jets near Governor's Mountain, or dozens or hundreds.
A giant net had enveloped Governor's Mountain, leaving no escape from the sky or the ground. If everything went smoothly, by five in the morning at the latest, the protestors would storm Fu Qiuyan's Governor's Mansion, the core brain of the planet.
At this very moment, at the Governor's Mansion on the mountaintop.
The entire Governor's Mansion was in chaos. The corridors were filled with white paper documents, blown everywhere by the wind. Sweating agents placed several tin barrels on the balcony, continuously throwing bundles of top-secret documents into them to be burned. The thick smoke rushed into the dark rain curtain and quickly dissipated in the rain.
Shouts were heard everywhere as clerks worked to consolidate defenses, pushing cabinets, sofas, and desks to block doorways and windows. Except for the escape elevator, all other elevators had been cut. Machine guns and flamethrowers were placed at the stairwells, with bullet chains sliding down the carpets like snakes. Tense guards sat on the sides of the stairs, praying that things wouldn't escalate to the point where they had to pull the trigger.
On the top floor, in the Governor's office.
The sofas were filled with dignitaries, ministers, high-ranking political officials, and local officials reporting for duty – all middle-aged women in impeccable formal attire.
Although the situation had deteriorated beyond repair, these people showed no panic, at most a slight frown.
Those with influence were making phone calls, seeking help through various connections.
Fu Qiuyan also held her phone, guarding a phone book, and making calls repeatedly. Several secretaries squatted beside her, placing over a dozen phones on the table, dialing repeatedly. As soon as one connected, they would hand it to Fu Qiuyan and point to a name in the phone book. Military hackers had severed satellite communications, and the Governor's Mansion's technicians were in a tug-of-war with the hackers, with phone signals coming and going intermittently.
The officials on the sofa quietly watched Fu Qiuyan, listening to her speak repeatedly in a very calm tone:
"Commander Liu, this is Fu Qiuyan. The situation on Governor's Mountain is very dangerous. Can you deploy your troops to Yinglong Road for defense..."
"Mayor Stephanie, this is Fu Qiuyan. Has the siege of the Capital City Mansion been lifted? I sent the Capital City Guard to your location two hours ago. Did you see Captain Zhao?"
"Deputy Commander Dora, listen carefully. The mutiny will not succeed. I know you are loyal to me. Immediately disarm Commander Liu and control her. If she disobeys, execute her on the spot, and you take her place. Do you understand?"
"Old Li, have the protestors reached the mountainside yet? Please hold on. The military aircraft of the 610 Rapid Reaction Force are heading to the Capital City Airport. Their troops should be able to parachute onto the southern foothills of Governor's Mountain."
After each phone call, Fu Qiuyan would take a sip of light sugar water. The network had been cut off, and only the phones could barely function. Since the mutiny began, she had been on the phone almost continuously for ten hours.
Through the intermittent calls, she gathered fragmented intelligence, judged the allegiances of different factions, and mobilized available personnel. She was like a spider perched in the center of a web, judging the environment by the vibrations of the silk threads from different directions.
The Governor's Mansion, which was originally expected to be breached in three hours, had now held out for ten hours and could continue to do so.
Suddenly, a secretary handed her the red phone on the table. "Leader Jiang Ye of Jiang Ye Star, Jiang Ye is calling."
Fu Qiuyan snatched the phone, and a smile of almost fawning gratitude appeared on her usually stern face. She grabbed it like a lifeline. "Old Jiang!"
"How much longer can you hold out?" Jiang Ye asked.
Fu Qiuyan's face changed instantly. "You know?"
"The entire universe knows. Did you think you could keep it a secret for long?" Jiang Ye said. "Is your safety not a problem for now? How many hours can you last?"
"What do you mean, 'how many hours can you last'?" Fu Qiuyan gritted her teeth. "I am gradually turning the tide, and the situation is completely under control. When this matter is settled, I invite you and your wife to attend the summit the day after tomorrow. The summit will be held successfully, and there will be no problems."
"If I go the day after tomorrow, I might only see your corpse," Jiang Ye said coldly. "I just received news that several army groups in your planet's Southern Army have decided to turn a new page in history, leaving your Fu Qiuyan on the page of the past."
Fu Qiuyan's face turned pale. She was not yet aware of the situation in the Southern Army. The north and south of the planet used two separate communication systems, which had been cut off after the mutiny and had not been restored for a long time.
If this intelligence was true, her fate could be summed up in one word.
Death!
She had struggled for a day, trying to regain control of the capital, to keep the surrounding territories in her grasp, and to prevent the protestors from setting foot on the Governor's Mansion, the face of the planet.
However, a significant reason for her struggle was that the Southern Army had not yet made a decision.
The military was the planet's instrument of violence, and only half of this instrument had malfunctioned, while the other half remained temporarily intact.
The Northern Army had already rebelled. If, after a day of waiting, the Southern Army finally decided to align with the Northern Army, then the planet's instrument of violence would undoubtedly and swiftly crush everything in its path, including the planet's reputation.