The projected people can also choose a privacy mode, so that after projecting, others will not be able to see them.
Seeing that there were only ten seconds left until midnight.
Everyone looked at the white jade pillar that went straight into the clouds in the square.
At the top of the pillar was a shining North Star, the symbol of the Beichen Empire Royal Family.
Now, below the North Star, hung a very large inflatable "fortune" character made of Nanomaterial, suspended from the star tip below the North Star by a thin rope.
In the fervent shouts of everyone counting down, a tall figure wearing dark, muted black-gold mecha appeared on the high platform.
This mecha was not the Shao Siming Black Silver Mecha custom-made for Xia Chujian, but a standard metal mecha.
Therefore, it was very large, about four to five meters tall.
The person stood on the high platform, facing the white jade pillar at opposite ends of the square.
Fast-paced music blared deafeningly, and the person in the black-gold mecha raised the gun on their right arm, aiming at the thin rope hanging the inflatable "fortune" character.
As everyone shouted the final countdown, this person pulled the trigger of the mecha's built-in gun.
Bang! A special bullet shot out with a whoosh, heading straight for the thin rope hanging the "fortune" character below the North Star.
The rope was so thin that, generally speaking, even with binoculars, it might not be visible.
But this person just squinted and fired.
And this shot accurately hit the thin rope.
The final countdown ended, and the tiny rope snapped, causing the large Nanomaterial inflatable "fortune" character to fall rapidly, crashing onto the square below.
Clang!
The inflatable "fortune" character made a loud noise and immediately shattered.
But the scattered fragments of the inflatable "fortune" character changed shape, turning into fluttering butterflies, dancing in the sky above the square.
The wings of these butterflies seemed to have glowing scales.
Thus, the butterflies dancing in the sky had an extra layer of moving color.
Although Xia Chujian watched it every year, she was always amazed.
The reason was simple: every year, the changes in the fragments after the inflatable "fortune" character broke were different.
For example, last year, the fragments turned into cheerful kittens and puppies, running and playing in the projection-filled square, with electronically simulated sounds of kittens and puppies, so cute that people couldn't stand it.
This year, it was beautiful butterflies.
Li Fu said, "This year, there are no kittens and puppies. Is it because of the Grand Prince's death?"
Zong Ruoan nodded and said, "There is that consideration. Cats and dogs are too cheerful, butterflies can express condolences."
Xia Chujian looked at the colorful butterflies in the three-dimensional holographic projection, utterly speechless.
Unless they were all white butterflies, how could these gaudy butterflies express condolences?
But the scene at this moment was so beautiful that she didn't want to say a word.
As soon as the New Year's countdown ended, Xia Chujian's Quantum Optical Brain received a New Year's greeting from her cheap boss, Su Buyan.
There was also a New Year's red envelope, six thousand six hundred and sixty-six Beichen Coins, wishing her all the best.
Xia Chujian beamed and also sent Su Buyan a small red envelope: six Beichen Coins and sixty-six cents.
Su Buyan, upon seeing the red envelope: ...
He rubbed his eyes and even counted several times to make sure he hadn't misread it. It really was 6.66.
It was such a deep impression.
He couldn't help but post a joke on his social media.
[Su Buyan]: The first red envelope of the New Year, from my Inferior Disciple. My little Inferior Disciple comes from a poor family, but is determined despite their disability. I hope everyone can generously donate to help my Inferior Disciple replace a mechanical limb and reach the peak of life!
The first post of the New Year was a request for donations.
Su Buyan had many friends, and upon seeing this post, they all rewarded him.
Especially his simple and kind twin sister, Su Buyu.
[Buyu]: Brother, your disciple is so pitiful, not only disabled but also stuck with an unreliable master like you!
Then, bam! She directly rewarded him with 200,000 Beichen Coins!
With Su Buyu taking the lead, other relatives and friends were not far behind.
Ten minutes later, Su Buyan, seeing things getting out of hand, guiltily turned off the reward function on his Moments.
But he had already "raised" one million Beichen Coins.
Su Buyan triumphantly showed Xia Chujian the screenshots of his Moments.
Xia Chujian was furious, thinking, when did she become his disciple?! He really likes to act as a teacher!
And he's using her name to "illegally fundraise"! But seeing the amount, she still felt envious.
She couldn't help but send a message.
[My Inferior Disciple]: Master, I'm at your service! Please share the spoils! I don't want much, just half!
Su Buyan laughed heartily.
[Master, I'm at your service]: My Inferior Disciple, I'll save this money for your dowry in the future. Cat cat arrogantly pinches her fat waist and laughs.JPG.
Xia Chujian: "...".
This master needs some discipline…
...
After the New Year's bell rang, Ye Shijie and the others got up to leave.
Xia Chujian said, "I'll go out with you. I definitely need one of those remotes for the stairwell."
With that, she opened the door and went to the door of the apartment across the hall, ringing the doorbell.
The door opened, and a girl about the same age as Xia Chujian stood in the doorway.
She had a delicate figure, a refined oval face, a straight nose, and naturally rosy lips.
Her long, straight black hair flowed down, revealing a smooth, fair, and full forehead. Her whole demeanor was calm, like a simple and elegant Wintersweet.
She had a very strong scholarly aura, and an undeniable vibe of being a top student.
As a slacker, Xia Chujian felt involuntarily inferior in the face of a top student.
Although she was half a head taller than the girl, she couldn't help but hunch over.
Xia Chujian cautiously greeted the girl, "Hello, Happy New Year! I'm your neighbor across the hall. My friends need to go to the top floor, could you possibly give me one of your remotes for the stairwell?"
The girl looked at her, her gaze calm, her voice gentle, "Happy New Year. I'm sorry, we didn't consider it thoroughly. We really should give you one."
With that, she turned and went back into her apartment.
After a while, she came out with a remote control and gave it to Xia Chujian, "This is my spare remote, you can use it from now on."
Xia Chujian smiled and nodded, "Thanks, I'll see my friends off."
The girl also nodded and casually closed the door.
Xia Chujian turned to Ye Shijie and the others and said, "It's convenient now, shall we go up?"
Ye Shijie, Li Fu, Song Mingqian, and Ping Qiong came out one after another.
Zong Ruoan said, "Why don't you give me a ride too, and take me back?"
How could they refuse a request from a Special Security Bureau big shot? Ye Shijie immediately said, "It's our honor, Colonel Zong, please."
Zong Ruoan followed them to the top floor.
When he saw the Glass Greenhouse under the night sky, Zong Ruoan's lips twitched. He thought, what's the background of this family? With so much money, wouldn't it be better to buy a high-end, fully furnished apartment in the next neighborhood, or even better, a detached villa with a garden and swimming pool in the West District? Why buy an apartment in this old building? Of course, Zong Ruoan just had this thought suddenly. It wasn't enough to make him take the time to focus on it specifically.
His work wasn't going well, and he was already in a bad mood.
He didn't have the extra energy to spend on others.
The members of the Dark Night Hunter Team opened the hatch of the Flying Vehicle, invited Zong Ruoan to go in first, and then they jumped in.
Xia Chujian put on her moon-white coat, stood on the roof, waved the remote control, and said goodbye to them.
Beneath the night sky, Xia Chujian's tall figure was strikingly eye-catching next to the exquisite and beautiful Glass Greenhouse.
Li Fu leaned out to take a look, saying with regret, "If only Little Xia's genes could evolve..."
But they quickly remembered that Xia Chujian had just turned eighteen a week ago.
From then on, her genes were completely solidified, with no possibility of further evolution.
Song Mingqian remained silent, setting the address of Zong Ruoan's home on the Flying Vehicle, allowing it to find the route and fly automatically.
The Flying Vehicle was silent, quickly entering stealth mode as it flew towards Zong Ruoan's residence.
Zong Ruoan kept his eyes closed, resting, with no intention of speaking to anyone.
The others also didn't intrude by trying to find topics to talk about.
It wasn't until the Flying Vehicle hovered on the wide terrace of Zong Ruoan's house that he opened his eyes.
He nodded to everyone in the Flying Vehicle and lightly jumped down.
The Team watched as Zong Ruoan stood steadily on the terrace, then opened the French windows of his house.
After entering, he first turned on all the lights, then closed the curtains, and they couldn't see anything anymore.
Only then did the Team leave.
...
Zong Ruoan returned to his home, went to the kitchen refrigerator, and took out a bottle of iced fruit wine brewed by the northern tribes of Shaofu Star, opening it to pour himself a glass.
He held the antique-style transparent jade wine glass, nestled on the sofa at home.
He drank nearly half a bottle of iced fruit wine before he felt slightly tipsy.
He didn't like this feeling before, but now it was just right, allowing him not to think about the failure of the mission, nor to ponder the road ahead.
It would be good to stay in this state and fall asleep.
Soon, all the lights in Zong Ruoan's top-floor duplex mansion went out simultaneously.
...
At the same moment, Huo Yushen had just woken up at his home on Beichen Star.
Hours earlier, he was the one who wore the dark, black-gold, standard metal mecha and shot Fortune on the square in front of the Imperial Palace gate in Beichen Star's Imperial City.
He had never been interested in such activities.
In the past, those who shot Fortune here were all members of the Royal Family.
Since the Grand Prince was ten years old, he had been the one to shoot Fortune, continuing for more than a decade.
Until this year, with the Grand Prince's death, it should have been the turn of the Royal Family's new first-in-line heir, Princess Tantai Jing, to shoot Fortune.
However, the Empress was heartbroken by the death of the Grand Prince and fell ill after the funeral.
Princess Tantai Jing had been personally taking care of her mother at her bedside, without even taking off her clothes, and had declined this year's Shooting Fortune activity in advance.
The Royal Family couldn't find a suitable candidate for a while, so Emperor Tantai Hongyuan decided, when it was almost eleven o'clock in the evening in Beichen Star's Imperial City time, to have Special Security Bureau Inspector Huo Yushen shoot Fortune.
Huo Yushen was still dealing with the affairs of the Fan Family and the Governor's Office in Da Fu Prefecture of Guiyuan Star at the time. Upon receiving the order, he had to immediately use his Bat-style Fighter Jet, which could perform spatial jumps, to quickly return to Beichen Star's Imperial City.
Traveling through small wormholes for spatial jumps still took more than an hour, and he almost didn't make it in time for the Shooting Fortune.
Since the Grand Prince had always worn this kind of standard metal mecha to shoot Fortune, he followed the tradition.
However, the Grand Prince had always used a dazzling orange-yellow mecha, and Huo Yushen didn't want to use the same color, so he chose a dark, black-gold mecha.
He prepared for a minute and then went into action, firing the gun in just one second. The key was to accurately time the last second of the countdown.
None of this was difficult for Huo Yushen, because the mecha had mechanical intelligence, and all the timing and firing were dominated by the mechanical intelligence.
He just needed to confirm it.
After shooting Fortune, the atmosphere on the square in front of the Imperial Palace immediately reached its climax, but he found it too noisy and left the square directly, returning to his home.
He originally thought he wouldn't be able to go home for the New Year this year, but he didn't expect to make it after all.
Huo Yushen's home was in a very low-key detached villa in the suburbs of Beichen Star's Imperial City.
The entire area of his family's residence was very large, with tall, evergreen trees planted in the outer circle, surrounding a patch of lush green grass in the center.
In the center of the grass stood a solitary villa.
At each of the four corners of the grass were residences for his family's guards.
The villa had a very avant-garde design. It didn't look large from the outside, but it was very refined and sturdy. The interior space was particularly spacious and practical, and it used a lot of high-tech building materials. It could not only defend against ordinary bullets and armor-piercing bullets, but also against missiles.
The basement was built to nuclear-proof standards.
The roof had an anti-electromagnetic interference device. Anyone who wanted to monitor his home with satellites would be detected and the signal directly reflected back.
The front and back yards of the villa also had invisible electromagnetic barriers.
They had no effect on the human eye, but they were a great obstacle to those long-range spying devices.
This house made him and his family feel very safe.
He quietly returned home in the middle of the night, and his family was already asleep.
He went to the bedroom alone, washed up, and quickly fell asleep.
When he was outside, he never slept so soundly.
Now that he was back home, he truly relaxed.
He slept until twelve noon the next day.
He slept soundly for ten hours.
He came out of his bedroom and went to the spacious dining room on the first floor.
Sunlight shone in through the transparent bulletproof glass windows, and a Scarlet Essence Cloud Top Peony, grown in a large black jade pot, emitted a dazzling light, reflecting the sunlight.
A mature and dignified middle-aged woman sat elegantly at the dining table, eating lunch while watching the news.
On the virtual display screen hanging above the dining table, four different screens were open, with different people broadcasting the midday news.
This is the second update. There will be a new update at 12:05 tonight.
Xia Chujian and the others watched a recording of this Shooting Fortune event, not a live broadcast. I mentioned it in the previous chapter. Just a reminder, treasure friends who like to study interstellar science can take a look.
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