"Mr. Speaker, isn't today's meeting starting yet?"
Inside the spacious City Council chamber, a brown-haired Bearded Man looked up at the old speaker standing behind the podium and asked hoarsely, "The ones arresting people have left, and the ones arrested have left too. What's the first item on today's agenda?"
The somewhat empty council chamber stirred slightly at the Bearded Man's words. All the council members looked up at the old speaker.
"Sigh,"
The old speaker sighed. Looking at the Bearded Man, he opened the E-Paper Book before him. "The first item on today's agenda is..."
He paused slightly, then said hoarsely, "Mayor Lynn will deliver a speech on the bills he is promoting."
The moment he said that, the previously noisy council chamber fell silent.
The council members seated below looked at one another and fell into silence.
"If he wants to speak about his bills and lobby for them, he should have been here by now,"
In the end, the Bearded Man broke the silence. "The meeting has already started. Does he look down on us, or does he think the council no longer needs to exist?"
"The first agenda item doesn't begin until fifteen minutes after the meeting starts. The time before that is free time,"
Someone in the crowd retorted. "There are still three minutes left. What's the rush?"
The Bearded Man heard the rebuttal but said nothing. He simply kept looking up at the old speaker.
Second by second, time passed. Someone raised their wristband and silently watched the numbers change.
A soundless stillness settled over the entire chamber. As time drew ever closer to fifteen, hurried heartbeats seemed to rise and fall within that dim silence, echoing in everyone's ears.
Someone in the crowd looked up at the doors ahead. They remained shut, showing