Chapter 1006: Chapter 1006

Watching the elderly man sitting on the sofa in front of her, Ini surreptitiously withdrew her hands that she had been vigorously rubbing, now hidden from the camera’s view.

Then she glanced at Shannina behind the camera, and after seeing the starting gesture from Shannina, she took a deep breath, put on a smile, and looked at the camera.

"Welcome to today’s Dawn Interview, I am the host, Ini. Today is the first episode of our Dawn Interview, and it is an honor that we have invited Mr. Lin En, the Mayor of Yilan City, as our first guest."

Below, Shannina raised her hand, playing applause sound effects.

At this moment, Ini also turned her head to look at He Ao sitting opposite, her hands somewhat awkwardly placed on her lap, smiling, "Mr. Lin En, hello."

He Ao looked at Ini in front of him, smiled, and said, "I’m very happy to participate in this program."

"So let’s start today’s interview, the first question,"

Ini glanced into the void, looking at He Ao, and asked softly, "We all know that currently Yilan City is at odds with Evis Spatial System and Kopes Mining, and we have successfully repelled their attacks. Did you anticipate this before you ran for election?"

He Ao smiled, "I didn’t foresee this happening. I did think about what might happen after I was assassinated,"

Then he glanced at the camera, then turned back to Ini, smiling, "I can only say that the strength of the Yilan people is far stronger than I imagined, which is why I firmly believe we will ultimately win—I always believed this, and now I believe it even more."

"Last night, we all saw you bloodied, appearing on the podium,"

Ini slowly raised her hand, and a photograph of an elderly man standing on a Dragon Cavalry Fighter, raising a corpse between the rain curtain and the firmament, was projected between them.

In the photo, the elderly man stood atop the firmament, the rain curtain crossing the night in front of him. In the hazy glow of war, dense warplanes and Mechas filled the sky, bowing their heads toward the direction of the elderly man.

These grand war machines thus bowed down before the frail flesh and blood.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment, as if history too would remember this grand scene.

The photograph’s angle was not great, and the equipment clearly unprofessional, but the photographer had successfully captured this moment and recorded it forever.

Ini looked at the photograph again, despite not seeing it for the first time, she was still stunned by the grandeur and magnitude captured, and it took her a while before she shifted her gaze back to He Ao.

"This is a photograph I obtained from the City Defense Army during an interview in North City, we can see that in last night’s battle, you seemed to not only personally join the battlefield but also rushed to the forefront?"

"I couldn’t let the brave soldiers fight on the front lines by themselves,"

He Ao also glanced at the photo, then smiled, "However, it should be emphasized that not only I rushed to the front lines, but also the brave soldiers of North City. Without them, I alone could not change anything.

"In fact, many things happened during this war, even incidents where spies from the conglomerates attempted to secretly open the city gates occurred. It was thanks to these brave heroes’ desperate resistance that we ultimately won the war."

"Mr. Lin En seems reluctant to talk much about his own actions?"

Ini turned off the photo projection and asked softly, "According to the information we gathered, it was your decisions and calm command that were key in turning the tide of the battle."

"To be exact, I just want everyone to know a bit more about the heroes in this war, this is the story of the Yilan people,"

He Ao spoke softly, "Not just me, in this crisis, every sacrifice made by a Yilan person, should be remembered. It is these selfless Yilan people who have sustained this ancient city for eight hundred years."

Hearing He Ao’s words, Ini paused briefly, looking at the elderly man in front of her, lost in thought for a moment.

However, she quickly recovered, took a slight breath, glanced at a prompt in her field of view, and smiled, "Our topic has gotten a bit heavy, how about we talk about something lighter? Mr. Lin En, do you have any favorite food?"

"Theoretically, I should answer steak, red wine, or maybe foie gras, snails,"

He Ao spread his hands, laughing, "But I truly think fried chicken burgers with a large cup of ice-cola are the ultimate delicacy on earth."

"The Yilan Anti-Conglomerate Monopoly Bill, voting concluded."

The elderly chairman lifted his head, his gaze sweeping over all the councilors present, then he lowered his head to glance at the data displayed on the screen, "Honestly, having served as a councilor for so many years, today is the most efficient day I have witnessed since my first day in this hall."

He raised his hand and pulled out the bill at the bottom of the stack next to him, his eyes glancing over at Big Beard councilor,

"Let’s start from the beginning and look at the voting results of the bills we discussed today,"

He lowered his eyes, looking at the bill in his hands, "The first one, the ’Yilan City Medical Security Law,’ passed!"

The hall burst into a round of enthusiastic applause.

Amid the intense applause, the elderly chairman had already pulled out the second bill, "The second one, the ’Grain Industry and Price Bill,’ passed!"

An even more vigorous round of applause followed.

Next, the elderly man began pulling out the third bill, "The third one, the ’Old Urban District Reconstruction Bill,’ passed!"

"The fourth one, ···"

Accompanied by the elderly chairman’s hoarse voice, the applause in the council hall rose and fell,

"The eighth one, the ’Yilan City Employee Protection Bill,’ passed!"

A cheer came from the bottom of the crowd, as a young councilor on the left stood up, clapping vigorously.

Subsequently, councilors sitting near the left also stood up and began to clap along.

The entire council hall reached a climax of applause, almost echoing off the ceiling with this enthusiastic sound.

The elderly chairman glanced at the councilors below, waiting for the applause to gradually quiet down before slowly saying, "It seems that today, on the majority of the bills, most of the councilors sitting in this hall have reached a consensus."

Then he stretched out his hand, slowly picking up the final bill.

All the councilors’ eyes were drawn to the elderly chairman, all looking at the last bill in his hands.

The previous eight bills had been discussed in the council to varying extents, but the ninth ’Yilan Anti-Conglomerate Monopoly Bill’ was the first time it was proposed in the council.

Although the Ruling Alliance had revised the content of the bill to make it as perfect as possible in order to pass it, no one was confident that such a ’new bill’ could pass at once.

After all, there were still many councilors in the council who did not belong to the Ruling Alliance, and even within the Ruling Alliance, there were different factions.

The councilor sitting on the left instinctively glanced at the councilors sitting on the right, surrounded around Big Beard councilor.

These councilors did not applaud, many did not even show any happy emotions on their faces, seemingly dissatisfied with the result.

The elderly chairman standing on the speaker’s podium took in all the reactions of the councilors, then sighed softly.

In an instant, everyone’s gaze was drawn back once again.

"It’s alright, having eight bills passed is already very good."

A soft sigh arose in the hall, "The bills passed today are more than those in the past few months."

The crowd hummed with hushed discussions, but all eyes remained focused on the Elderly Chairman.

The Elderly Chairman slowly picked up the bill document in his hand, looked at the hall filled with seated and standing legislators, and said calmly and loudly with a laugh,

"The Yilan Anti-Conglomerate Monopoly Bill has passed!"

For a moment, the entire assembly hall first fell abruptly silent, then erupted into a boisterous frenzy.

In this tumultuous hilarity, some legislators turned their heads to look at Big Beard, who sat there expressionless.

The Elderly Chairman also looked once again at Big Beard, then placed the bill on the table, "These bills will take effect after the Mayor signs them,"

He looked out at the city under the remaining glow of the sunset, "Today’s meeting is adjourned. Dismissed."

White Jasmine Palace·Sitting Room

Ini smiled as she looked at the Elderly, having just talked with him about life and interesting happenings on yesterday’s battlefield.

The Elderly, using this conversation, had spoken about last night’s ’rebellion’ by Scott, Corvey’s steadfastness, the efforts Mid made under chaotic battles, and the dirty dealings of the two major conglomerates.

At this moment, the entire sitting room’s atmosphere had already relaxed, she looked at the ’prompt’ in her field of view, asking the prepared final question,

"I saw a public survey today showing that Mr. Lin En, your current support rate in Yilan City has exceeded eighty percent, the highest recorded in the history of mayors in the past six hundred years,

"Based on Yilan City’s past experience, if you continue to run, you are almost certain to be re-elected, and Yilan City’s Mayor position has no term limits,"

She paused, her hands resting on her lap, and looked at He Ao, asking softly, "So, will you participate in the next election, or even continue indefinitely?"

Hearing her question, He Ao paused slightly, reached out and picked up the brass Magic Wand beside him on the couch, his hand resting on the bare top of the Magic Wand, he said slowly with a smile,

"I’ve heard a saying before, that one generation can only do the things of its generation, what I want to do is to strive to guide the Yilan people on the path to a better life, all I can say is, I will do my best."

"And what if one day,"

Ini looked at He Ao, her hand still resting on her lap, asked softly, "everything in Yilan City is on the right track, what would you want to do then? Would you continue to run for Mayor?"

This question was not one of those Shannina had prepared, but one that came to her spontaneously.

"What would I want to do, huh?"

He Ao held the brass Magic Wand, his tone gradually softened.

Linen had indeed fantasized about what would be next if his reforms succeeded.

The sparse crowd had dissolved, leaving only Big Beard still seated, quietly browsing the bill documents on his device.

The aging Chairman sat beside him, looking at the podium enveloped in twilight, "Why?"

Big Beard paused in his flipping, then he raised his head, also looking at that golden gaze, and spoke hoarsely,

"I need to reassert my position, I do not support Linen, not before, not now, nor will I in the future."

"Are you worried about his power becoming too great?"

The Elderly Chairman asked hoarsely.

"What he is doing, whether violently arresting legislators, expanding the influence of the City Council, uniting the military, gaining the loyalty of the armed forces, though everything is legal, everything necessary, each item is expanding the power of the city government—or rather the Mayor’s power to the extreme of tyranny,"

Big Beard quietly lamented, "One day he will amend the constitution, then ’legally’ dissolve the assembly, and become the ’King’ of this city."

"Perhaps he himself does not harbor such intentions."

The Elderly Chairman said softly.

"We all know, power is like the richest liquor, and every politician is the drunken fool lost in this liquor,"

Big Beard lowered his head, looking at his device, "When things develop to that stage, the situation might not be in his control anymore."

"Many of his policies actually align with your ideals, don’t you also want to change Yilan City?"

The Elderly Chairman asked softly, "Or, do you think he wouldn’t make a good ’King’?"

"Whether he makes a good King or not, whether I support his ideas or not,"

Big Beard shook his head, "Yilan does not need a King."

"But you still chose to support his bills."

The Elderly Chairman said softly.

"He was very right about one thing,"

Big Beard sighed, "’The people of Yilan need to be united now,’ whether or not Yilan needs a dictatorial King, that’s for after we get through this crisis."

"In times of crisis, we all need a strong, charismatic Leader."

The Elderly Chairman’s hoarse voice echoed in the vast hall.

This time, Big Beard did not respond.

The sunset light shone into the quiet vast hall, stretching the shadows of the people within it, elongating their forms but leaving them to never intersect.

White Jasmine Palace·Mayor’s Office

He Ao placed the Magic Wand on the table, turned to look at a small crucible simmering over a low flame in the corner, then raised his head to look at the disappeared sunset and the twilight spreading across the sky.

The interview was over, and Ini and others were organizing the footage and cleaning up the scene.

It was expected that by tomorrow morning, this interview program would be posted on the official website of White Jasmine Palace and the newly installed billboards.

A crisp knocking sound came from outside the door.

He Ao pressed the door-open button, and the blonde Chief of Staff appeared at the door with several photographers.

The blonde Chief of Staff carrying a large stack of documents, excitedly ran up to He Ao sitting in the evening glow, "All nine bills from today’s assembly have passed! Even the newly drafted Yilan Anti-Conglomerate Monopoly Bill was passed. Today, the City Council completed the entire year’s work in one day!"

Then she looked at He Ao’s calm face, smiled, and said, "You don’t seem surprised."

"Those left in the assembly are councilors with moral integrity and ideals,"

He Ao smiled as he took the documents, then picked up an engraved gold pen, "They may not support me, but they know what truly benefits the people of Yilan."

He Ao grasped the pen and signed his name on each of the document pages.