The fighter jet swept over the Yanjing skyline like a black peregrine falcon, its passage leaving the dense anti-aircraft radar network silent and unresponsive, as if it had suffered a malfunction.
As Xiao Qing piloted the jet across the moat, her breath hitched. The area beneath them, spanning thousands of acres, was the very heart of power in the Dragon Country. On either side of the central axis, the complex of ancient buildings with their red walls and yellow tiles stood in stark contrast to the modern architecture surrounding them. The glass curtain walls of the National Museum reflected the eaves of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, while the traffic on Chang'an Avenue flowed like a tapestry, separated into a world of its own by the police cordon.
The Prince Consort's Estate sat on the eastern side of the Forbidden City, separated from the royal palace—the domain of the Lord of the State—by only a single moat. The classical compound, with its three courtyards, was surrounded by lush, centuries-old trees. White marble lions crouched on either side of the vermilion gates, and the golden plaque embedded above the lintel shimmered brilliantly under the sunlight.
Chapter 124