CHAPTER 303: CHAPTER 4: THE CRASH

"Mr. Vice President, ’Harden’ had an accident, the helicopter he was on lost contact with the ground."

Less than half an hour after ’Harden’ lost contact, the ’White House’ learned of the crash. The Chief of Staff personally reported to the Vice President, who was still working.

The ’countryman’ was troubled by the fact that ’the policies weren’t getting out of the White House.’ Upon hearing the news, his exhausted face instantly turned rigid and iron-blue, angrily demanding, "Who did this?"

The Chief of Staff didn’t dare make a judgment lightly, only roughly outlining ’Harden’s itinerary for the evening, "Based on the information we have, Harden was invited to attend a naval gathering on the ’Ford’ tonight.

The military’s Admiral Alvin showed an unusually strong eagerness to win over Harden.

But according to reports from the personnel I arranged to be on site, Harden appeared very distant at the gathering, engaging in only the simplest of courtesies with those present.

Tied with the sudden ’crash,’ it can be believed that ’Harden’ was loyal and did not defect due to the enticement.

Although search and rescue operations have already been launched, unfortunately... his chances of survival are very slim."

The ’countryman’ immediately sighed deeply, angrily pounding the table and cursing.

When promoting ’Harden,’ it was just a spur-of-the-moment decision, thinking he was uniquely independent—different from those bureaucrats who were either meekly compliant or blatantly defiant, so he took a gamble.

After the appointment was issued, the ’countryman’ regretted it, was uneasy about it, especially upon learning that ’Harden’ agreed to attend the naval gathering, and was even more frustrated, thinking about dismissing him immediately.

But the harsh reality now hit the Vice President like a loud slap in the face—’Harden’ wasn’t disobedient; this was clearly absolute loyalty, venturing deep into enemy territory!

To get work done, he had to know people, right? He had already offended too many by ruthlessly ordering the abandonment of treatment for ’elderly patients,’ with no retreat left.

It must be that bastard Alvin, having failed to win him over, feared ’Harden’ would play a role, and shamelessly tore his face, pulling off this ’crash’ incident.

"Alas... it’s all my fault, for not trusting ’Harden’ enough, not valuing him enough, not arranging special agents to be by his side."

The ’countryman’ didn’t have many of his own people around him; it was hard enough to recruit someone with no background, exceptional ability, and unwavering loyalty, only for him to die so casually.

This filled him with a profound sense of powerlessness and regret.

The Chief of Staff also looked distraught—the ’crash’ of ’Harden’ dealt a significant blow to the Vice President’s influence—how could a leader who couldn’t even protect his own subordinates expect others to pledge their loyalty?

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North of the ’Norfolk’ Naval Base, about a hundred kilometers away. The sky was dark, as if one couldn’t see their hand in front of them.

Half an hour ago, a ’Bell 407’ helicopter, originally flying smoothly, suddenly lost control, the rotors spinning wildly, shrieking through the air as it plunged into the dark river below in a terribly awkward manner.

"Splash——!"

A massive splash shot up into the sky, briefly making a loud noise, then swiftly swallowed up by the darkness, vanishing without a trace.

At the moment of impact, the tremendous potential energy converted into a powerful shock, roughly tearing apart the fragile fuselage of the helicopter.

Inside the cabin, including the pilot and co-pilot, four people were hit like being struck by a giant hammer, their consciousness instantly engulfed in darkness, falling into a coma.

Only Zhou Qingfeng, relying on his exceptionally strong physique, withstood the nearly irresistible impact, struggling to maintain a sliver of consciousness.

The fuselage floated and sank on the water surface, the intense pain like countless steel needles piercing his marrow.

But at this moment, he couldn’t worry about these, gritting his teeth, breaking free from the tightly bound seatbelt, pulling open the deformed cabin door, peering out, desperately searching the surroundings in the blurred night.

The situation was dire!

The fallen helicopter was like a twisted iron coffin, rocking on the icy river surface, each sway producing a teeth-grating metallic scraping sound.

More terrifying, it was gradually sinking downward.

With the faint starlight and the water’s motion, Zhou Qingfeng judged this wasn’t a calm bay, but most likely the estuary of a river.

But looking around, besides endless darkness and shimmering water, it was impossible to discern the riverbank’s direction, as if he were in a boundless black ocean.

Recalling the moment before the crash, the hydraulic system suddenly failed, but the helicopter’s engine still roared, making its final struggle.

The experienced pilot and co-pilot demonstrated their high professional skills in this life-and-death moment, struggling to control the out-of-control fuselage, miraculously stabilizing the attitude when the altitude fell to less than a hundred meters.

In the end, the unfortunate helicopter plummeted into the river surface north of ’Norfolk’ in a relatively gentle manner.

However, the fuselage’s capsizing caused those in the cabin to be twistedly strapped into their seats by the seatbelts tightly.

Before the crash, Zhou Qingfeng instinctively made an incredibly correct decision—taking advantage of his good balance, he fastened seatbelts for Old Xiao and Shanni.

But that wasn’t enough, in that life-threatening moment, he even recklessly tore off his clothing, swiftly securing the heads and necks of the two to the deformed seatbacks.

This seemingly simple act played a crucial role, minimizing the severe shaking of their fragile cervical spines under the enormous impact, sparing them the fate of fractures.

Despite this, Old Xiao and Shanni were still severely injured in the violent collision, blood gurgled from their mouths and noses, their faces covered with horrifying bloodstains, appearing utterly wretched.