Rubik's Cube World
Chapter 1021 The meeting is over
ps: Thanks to "157747860 XX" and "z882339" for their valuable monthly tickets, and thanks to "nxx" and "nykfny" for their rewards.
At this time, a middle-aged blond man with a height of about 1.9 meters, a burly figure, a rigid and majestic face, and a casual suit that can be seen to be hand-cut at a glance, and who looked about forty came out from the side , walked slowly towards the center of the banquet hall, five or six centimeters higher than the ground, and walked over to the platform covered with a red cashmere carpet.
As he moved, the whispers in the banquet hall disappeared quickly, and everyone focused their eyes on that person.
"Who is this person?" A western man not far from Ito Cheng asked the acquaintance around him.
"It seems to be Queen Elizabeth's guardian knight." The person who was asked replied in a low voice with uncertainty.Then he whispered to himself with some sighs, "It seems that what happened in the British Islands has attracted Her Majesty's attention, and even sent out her guardian knight." [
"I have to take it seriously. It is said that some time ago, two nuclear submarines that were dispatched to carry out the elimination mission were sunk by monsters, and the nuclear blasting did not achieve much effect. The incident has far exceeded the point where ordinary military strength can solve it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have sent invitations to other countries to hold this conference.” Another man who heard the conversation between the two leaned over and whispered.
"Cough!" At this moment, the stereotyped man who walked to the small platform suddenly coughed softly.Even though he didn't use amplifying equipment such as a microphone, his light cough sounded as clearly as if it was heard in everyone's ears, showing this person's subtle skill in controlling his own energy.
"I, Valtore Saint-York-Windsor, am here to extend my heartfelt welcome to all of you on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen." The rigid man saluted everyone with standard etiquette like a textbook.
"There is [San]'s middle name and Windsor's last name. The identity of this guardian knight is not simple." Hearing the self-introduction of the stereotyped man, Ito Cheng secretly thought.
In Western countries, those with the word [Holy] at the beginning of their names are basically saints who left glorious achievements in ancient times, such as those saints in the Bible stories.The one with the word [Holy] in the middle means that there are people among the ancestors who have obtained the achievements and achievements comparable to those of the saints.Or the person himself has achieved some special title - such as the highest honor in the Church [Knight Templar].
And Windsor is the name of the country, and the United Kingdom has always been called the Windsor Dynasty by members of the European royal family.Therefore, being able to hang Windsor on the surname means that this person has a strong background, at least one of the members of the royal family, and is of the same family as the current Queen Elizabeth-Alexandra-Mary-Windsor.
In fact, for those who know the family line of Queen Elizabeth II, they already knew it when they heard the former surname of York.Because Queen Elizabeth II's grandfather was the Duke of York.
"I'm a relatively straightforward person. I don't like to say something related to the matter before talking about the matter, so I announce here that the conference has officially started. Please send your opinions on the recent monster incident." Then , announced the stereotyped middle-aged man named Valtore-St.-York-Windsor.
Fortunately, the people gathered here are not ordinary people, except some guys who pretend to be elegant.Not many people like to make a long opening speech, let alone in the current situation where every second counts, so no one feels that there is anything wrong with Valtore's speech.It's just that because no one took the lead, the entire banquet hall couldn't help but fell into a cold scene.
Even though Val Torre, who was rigid by nature, also noticed the situation at the scene, he didn't bother to make a speech to reconcile, he still kept his words on the sidelines, maintaining that annoying look of who owed him how much money.
Fortunately, this is the UK, Valtore's main venue.Soon, a relatively tactful middle-aged man raised his voice to express his thoughts, and used it as an introduction to remove the cold field effect and mobilize the meeting.
Regarding the proposal to jointly eliminate monsters, all the organization members or persons in charge at the scene agreed meaninglessly, but when it came to specific steps and methods, they fell into disagreements and fierce quarrels.
"Since the church is the largest organization in the world, the church should be the main offensive force. This is the time for your church to show its righteousness to the world. Why are you against my proposal!?" A man in a hand-cut black tuxedo with golden hair The long hair was neatly combed back and tied into a ponytail. The handsome young man in his 20s looked at a white-haired man wearing a bishop's uniform and smiled.
"For this annihilation operation, our church will naturally not back down. But it is impossible for all members to come out. There must always be some elite knights to guard against the reckless sneak attack of some dirty dark creatures." Bishop Baifa glanced at the man in uniform, and the majestic middle-aged man standing next to him and the cold man in black robe and said.
Obviously, these three people are the so-called dark creatures in his mouth.
"Mark Sproul. Are you provoking us!" Before the young man could speak with a flash of anger on his face, the majestic middle-aged man next to him, who was wearing a rough table, opened his eyes sharply. After a change, it turned into beast eyes exuding a wild aura, staring at the bishop named Mark Spro and said in a deep voice.
Seeing the situation of these two groups of people, everyone who already had a vague understanding stepped back one after another.Clear a large area for the two gangs in the confrontation.
"Mr. Sen-Wolf, Bishop Mark Splow, please don't forget the purpose of calling everyone here." Just when the two groups were at war, the knight Valto who had been listening to others' discussions Lei walked out from the crowd, looked at both sides with a slightly gloomy face and said.
Sen-Wolfe and Mark Sproul, who didn't want to really piss each other off, heard the words. After staring at each other, they slowly dissipated the aura that had just accumulated on their bodies, which was very embarrassing to Valtore. stepped aside. [
"Continue, everyone." The knight, who temporarily resolved the dispute between the two sides, gave a slight salute to the crowd, stepped aside again, and listened quietly to the discussion.
With the scene just now, no matter if it was true or false, the members of the various organizations who were or are still in a state of hostility all restrained themselves and continued to discuss in a relatively amicable manner.However, these are only superficial phenomena after all, so until half a year later, they couldn't really come up with a final plan.
In the end, I don’t know who came up with the idea of “attacking monsters with one heart in the general direction. In small details, the original organizational form is still maintained and fighting in separate divisions.” This kind of combat plan is the same as the initial attack on monsters except for the size of the personnel. .Because the members of the various organizations who could not trust each other agreed to this perfunctory battle plan almost without much consideration.
Now that the battle plan was decided, everyone immediately discussed and selected their respective battle zones on the huge three-dimensional world map unfolded in the banquet hall.Among them, China, which is the main theater, Japan, which is about to become a theater, and India, which is about to fall, naturally don't have to choose. They just quit the discussion and sit and watch the results of other people's choices.
In this way, after nearly an hour of wrangling and discussion, all organizations selected combat areas around China, Japan, India, and South America based on the relationship between distant relatives and allies.
So far, the purpose of the entire meeting has been basically achieved, and everyone simply drank a cup of pre-war wine.They left the big wine point one after another, and rushed back to their respective countries and organizations.
"For this matter, our two countries need to cooperate a lot." On the way out of the hotel, Uma Tsuchimon, the head of the Ministry of the Environment, stretched out his hand and said to the Chinese government representative.
"It's easy to say, I'm afraid we won't be able to take care of ourselves at that time." The middle-aged person in charge of the Chinese side, who was obviously from Guoan, stretched out his hand and shook hands with Tsuchimikado Uma with a fake smile on his face.He replied with words in his words.
"With the strength of your country, how can it be difficult for mere monsters to get you?" Tsuchimikado Uma complimented.
"Maintaining the current situation has already exhausted a lot of our combat strength. If there are such a group of monsters joining us, we will not be able to resist." The person in charge of Guoan shook his head with a half-true half-fake smile.
"I still believe in the strength of your country, and I will definitely be able to overcome this difficulty. Therefore, if possible, I would like to ask your country to help our country. At that time, the whole country will be grateful." Tsuchimikado Right really finished.He made a ninety-degree bow to the representative of Guoan.At the same time, the Natori Grand Priest of Ise Shrine, the two monks of the Shingon sect and the Jodo sect also saluted each other in their own ways.
"I can only say, it depends on the situation. After all, it is not up to you or me to decide what the battle is going to be like." The Guoan representative replied unmoved.
"We understand." Tsuchimikado Uma said with an understanding face.
"Okay then, I have to send the news back to the country as soon as possible, so I'll take my leave first." The representative of Guoan, who didn't want to talk too much nonsense with Tsuchiyamon Youzhen, said.
"Okay." Tsuchimikado didn't bother him knowingly, and watched the representative of Guoan and the Taoist on the other side wearing a Taoist robe, who seemed to be leaving towards the Taoist representative of the traditional forces.
"Let's go too." Tsuchimikado Uma, who withdrew his gaze, said in a low voice to the Natori High Priest, two monk masters, and the gloomy-faced Hokkaido Monster Race leader Wolf Suta Masamune who was found by them. .Ito Cheng, who is not good not to get together temporarily, said.
Everyone nodded, jumped into the sky one after another, and flew back towards Japan.
Fortunately, although the flying speed of Tsuchimikado Uma and others is not as fast as the four times the speed of sound under the power of Ito Cheng Nian, they all exceed double the speed of sound and reach about double the speed of sound, so after flying for more than ten hours , and finally returned to Japan in the evening of the next day.Just this time.Monsters have landed in Japan from the coastlines of Shikoku and Kyushu.
Fortunately, Tsuchimikado Youma notified the cabinet and the imperial family in advance, asking them to issue notices and dispatch police forces to transfer members from those two places to the main island and Hokkaido.As for the Japanese people who have already experienced a battle with monsters, they were already prepared to flee when they learned about these situations, so they cooperated with the police to take the things they had prepared in advance.Once again embark on a journey away from home.
Of course, no matter which country there is an old man who is thorny or unwilling to leave home, for these people who cannot be persuaded for a long time, the police force will take away those who can be forcibly taken away, and those who cannot be taken away will be allowed to stay at home , and let them fend for themselves.
Shikoku and Kyushu, without the guards and most of the residents, immediately became empty islands. Under the attack of monsters, they were occupied by the whole front within half a day, and then marched towards Hyogo, Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto.
At the beginning, the monsters encountered an empty city with almost no residents, but when the monsters rushed into Kyoto, Kyuubi, who felt that his territory was occupied by alien creatures, suddenly became furious and mobilized the monster army in Kyoto Fight against the monster army.Under the obstruction of dozens of super big monsters, three or four S-level big monsters, and a legendary nine-tailed monster, all the monsters that rushed from the Kyoto side were wiped out on the spot, and only a small number of monsters from the guardian , Hatsukayama area to the Nara, Mie front-line monsters can advance. [
But soon, the monsters on this front line were resisted by a front line composed of Shintoism, Buddhism, the Ministry of the Environment, and traditional forces, and they were completely intercepted.
"It's really surprising that Kyuubi, which was originally a big problem, has become an important combat power." Sitting at home, Ito Cheng said with a strange smile when he looked at the information sent by the Ministry of the Environment.
"Yeah, no one thought that Kyuubi would suddenly get into trouble." Ito Suzu also agreed with a smile.
"However, the existence of Kyuubi is a problem after all. It is uncertain when it will change from a helper to an enemy again." Said Ito Cheng, who casually threw away the information page.Then he stood up, walked out and said without looking back, "I'm going to work."
"Remember to come back early." Ito Ling instructed.
Ito Cheng, who walked out of the house, sprinted and flew directly above the shrine. The population density suddenly increased by a level due to the monster incident and the transfer from Shikoku, Kyushu, Kobe, Hyogo, Osaka and other places to various parts of the peninsula. , who was visiting his shrine at this time, accidentally saw him flying into the sky and the people kneeling on the ground flew towards Akiruno City.
The city of Akiruno is not big at all. In less than a minute, he flew to the destination he wanted to reach and landed. Then he took out a black pillar about 1 meters long, 1.5 centimeters wide, and shaped like an eight-sided tower. The body is inserted into the ground forcefully, leaving only a small section exposed outside.
Then, as if the purpose of coming here was to insert this cylinder, Ito Cheng flew up again, flew to another location and landed, similarly inserted an eight Ling-shaped cylinder into the ground, and then flew away again, go to another...
This goes on and on until it gets dark again. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point to vote, monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users, please go to read.)
At this time, a middle-aged blond man with a height of about 1.9 meters, a burly figure, a rigid and majestic face, and a casual suit that can be seen to be hand-cut at a glance, and who looked about forty came out from the side , walked slowly towards the center of the banquet hall, five or six centimeters higher than the ground, and walked over to the platform covered with a red cashmere carpet.
As he moved, the whispers in the banquet hall disappeared quickly, and everyone focused their eyes on that person.
"Who is this person?" A western man not far from Ito Cheng asked the acquaintance around him.
"It seems to be Queen Elizabeth's guardian knight." The person who was asked replied in a low voice with uncertainty.Then he whispered to himself with some sighs, "It seems that what happened in the British Islands has attracted Her Majesty's attention, and even sent out her guardian knight." [
"I have to take it seriously. It is said that some time ago, two nuclear submarines that were dispatched to carry out the elimination mission were sunk by monsters, and the nuclear blasting did not achieve much effect. The incident has far exceeded the point where ordinary military strength can solve it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have sent invitations to other countries to hold this conference.” Another man who heard the conversation between the two leaned over and whispered.
"Cough!" At this moment, the stereotyped man who walked to the small platform suddenly coughed softly.Even though he didn't use amplifying equipment such as a microphone, his light cough sounded as clearly as if it was heard in everyone's ears, showing this person's subtle skill in controlling his own energy.
"I, Valtore Saint-York-Windsor, am here to extend my heartfelt welcome to all of you on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen." The rigid man saluted everyone with standard etiquette like a textbook.
"There is [San]'s middle name and Windsor's last name. The identity of this guardian knight is not simple." Hearing the self-introduction of the stereotyped man, Ito Cheng secretly thought.
In Western countries, those with the word [Holy] at the beginning of their names are basically saints who left glorious achievements in ancient times, such as those saints in the Bible stories.The one with the word [Holy] in the middle means that there are people among the ancestors who have obtained the achievements and achievements comparable to those of the saints.Or the person himself has achieved some special title - such as the highest honor in the Church [Knight Templar].
And Windsor is the name of the country, and the United Kingdom has always been called the Windsor Dynasty by members of the European royal family.Therefore, being able to hang Windsor on the surname means that this person has a strong background, at least one of the members of the royal family, and is of the same family as the current Queen Elizabeth-Alexandra-Mary-Windsor.
In fact, for those who know the family line of Queen Elizabeth II, they already knew it when they heard the former surname of York.Because Queen Elizabeth II's grandfather was the Duke of York.
"I'm a relatively straightforward person. I don't like to say something related to the matter before talking about the matter, so I announce here that the conference has officially started. Please send your opinions on the recent monster incident." Then , announced the stereotyped middle-aged man named Valtore-St.-York-Windsor.
Fortunately, the people gathered here are not ordinary people, except some guys who pretend to be elegant.Not many people like to make a long opening speech, let alone in the current situation where every second counts, so no one feels that there is anything wrong with Valtore's speech.It's just that because no one took the lead, the entire banquet hall couldn't help but fell into a cold scene.
Even though Val Torre, who was rigid by nature, also noticed the situation at the scene, he didn't bother to make a speech to reconcile, he still kept his words on the sidelines, maintaining that annoying look of who owed him how much money.
Fortunately, this is the UK, Valtore's main venue.Soon, a relatively tactful middle-aged man raised his voice to express his thoughts, and used it as an introduction to remove the cold field effect and mobilize the meeting.
Regarding the proposal to jointly eliminate monsters, all the organization members or persons in charge at the scene agreed meaninglessly, but when it came to specific steps and methods, they fell into disagreements and fierce quarrels.
"Since the church is the largest organization in the world, the church should be the main offensive force. This is the time for your church to show its righteousness to the world. Why are you against my proposal!?" A man in a hand-cut black tuxedo with golden hair The long hair was neatly combed back and tied into a ponytail. The handsome young man in his 20s looked at a white-haired man wearing a bishop's uniform and smiled.
"For this annihilation operation, our church will naturally not back down. But it is impossible for all members to come out. There must always be some elite knights to guard against the reckless sneak attack of some dirty dark creatures." Bishop Baifa glanced at the man in uniform, and the majestic middle-aged man standing next to him and the cold man in black robe and said.
Obviously, these three people are the so-called dark creatures in his mouth.
"Mark Sproul. Are you provoking us!" Before the young man could speak with a flash of anger on his face, the majestic middle-aged man next to him, who was wearing a rough table, opened his eyes sharply. After a change, it turned into beast eyes exuding a wild aura, staring at the bishop named Mark Spro and said in a deep voice.
Seeing the situation of these two groups of people, everyone who already had a vague understanding stepped back one after another.Clear a large area for the two gangs in the confrontation.
"Mr. Sen-Wolf, Bishop Mark Splow, please don't forget the purpose of calling everyone here." Just when the two groups were at war, the knight Valto who had been listening to others' discussions Lei walked out from the crowd, looked at both sides with a slightly gloomy face and said.
Sen-Wolfe and Mark Sproul, who didn't want to really piss each other off, heard the words. After staring at each other, they slowly dissipated the aura that had just accumulated on their bodies, which was very embarrassing to Valtore. stepped aside. [
"Continue, everyone." The knight, who temporarily resolved the dispute between the two sides, gave a slight salute to the crowd, stepped aside again, and listened quietly to the discussion.
With the scene just now, no matter if it was true or false, the members of the various organizations who were or are still in a state of hostility all restrained themselves and continued to discuss in a relatively amicable manner.However, these are only superficial phenomena after all, so until half a year later, they couldn't really come up with a final plan.
In the end, I don’t know who came up with the idea of “attacking monsters with one heart in the general direction. In small details, the original organizational form is still maintained and fighting in separate divisions.” This kind of combat plan is the same as the initial attack on monsters except for the size of the personnel. .Because the members of the various organizations who could not trust each other agreed to this perfunctory battle plan almost without much consideration.
Now that the battle plan was decided, everyone immediately discussed and selected their respective battle zones on the huge three-dimensional world map unfolded in the banquet hall.Among them, China, which is the main theater, Japan, which is about to become a theater, and India, which is about to fall, naturally don't have to choose. They just quit the discussion and sit and watch the results of other people's choices.
In this way, after nearly an hour of wrangling and discussion, all organizations selected combat areas around China, Japan, India, and South America based on the relationship between distant relatives and allies.
So far, the purpose of the entire meeting has been basically achieved, and everyone simply drank a cup of pre-war wine.They left the big wine point one after another, and rushed back to their respective countries and organizations.
"For this matter, our two countries need to cooperate a lot." On the way out of the hotel, Uma Tsuchimon, the head of the Ministry of the Environment, stretched out his hand and said to the Chinese government representative.
"It's easy to say, I'm afraid we won't be able to take care of ourselves at that time." The middle-aged person in charge of the Chinese side, who was obviously from Guoan, stretched out his hand and shook hands with Tsuchimikado Uma with a fake smile on his face.He replied with words in his words.
"With the strength of your country, how can it be difficult for mere monsters to get you?" Tsuchimikado Uma complimented.
"Maintaining the current situation has already exhausted a lot of our combat strength. If there are such a group of monsters joining us, we will not be able to resist." The person in charge of Guoan shook his head with a half-true half-fake smile.
"I still believe in the strength of your country, and I will definitely be able to overcome this difficulty. Therefore, if possible, I would like to ask your country to help our country. At that time, the whole country will be grateful." Tsuchimikado Right really finished.He made a ninety-degree bow to the representative of Guoan.At the same time, the Natori Grand Priest of Ise Shrine, the two monks of the Shingon sect and the Jodo sect also saluted each other in their own ways.
"I can only say, it depends on the situation. After all, it is not up to you or me to decide what the battle is going to be like." The Guoan representative replied unmoved.
"We understand." Tsuchimikado Uma said with an understanding face.
"Okay then, I have to send the news back to the country as soon as possible, so I'll take my leave first." The representative of Guoan, who didn't want to talk too much nonsense with Tsuchiyamon Youzhen, said.
"Okay." Tsuchimikado didn't bother him knowingly, and watched the representative of Guoan and the Taoist on the other side wearing a Taoist robe, who seemed to be leaving towards the Taoist representative of the traditional forces.
"Let's go too." Tsuchimikado Uma, who withdrew his gaze, said in a low voice to the Natori High Priest, two monk masters, and the gloomy-faced Hokkaido Monster Race leader Wolf Suta Masamune who was found by them. .Ito Cheng, who is not good not to get together temporarily, said.
Everyone nodded, jumped into the sky one after another, and flew back towards Japan.
Fortunately, although the flying speed of Tsuchimikado Uma and others is not as fast as the four times the speed of sound under the power of Ito Cheng Nian, they all exceed double the speed of sound and reach about double the speed of sound, so after flying for more than ten hours , and finally returned to Japan in the evening of the next day.Just this time.Monsters have landed in Japan from the coastlines of Shikoku and Kyushu.
Fortunately, Tsuchimikado Youma notified the cabinet and the imperial family in advance, asking them to issue notices and dispatch police forces to transfer members from those two places to the main island and Hokkaido.As for the Japanese people who have already experienced a battle with monsters, they were already prepared to flee when they learned about these situations, so they cooperated with the police to take the things they had prepared in advance.Once again embark on a journey away from home.
Of course, no matter which country there is an old man who is thorny or unwilling to leave home, for these people who cannot be persuaded for a long time, the police force will take away those who can be forcibly taken away, and those who cannot be taken away will be allowed to stay at home , and let them fend for themselves.
Shikoku and Kyushu, without the guards and most of the residents, immediately became empty islands. Under the attack of monsters, they were occupied by the whole front within half a day, and then marched towards Hyogo, Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto.
At the beginning, the monsters encountered an empty city with almost no residents, but when the monsters rushed into Kyoto, Kyuubi, who felt that his territory was occupied by alien creatures, suddenly became furious and mobilized the monster army in Kyoto Fight against the monster army.Under the obstruction of dozens of super big monsters, three or four S-level big monsters, and a legendary nine-tailed monster, all the monsters that rushed from the Kyoto side were wiped out on the spot, and only a small number of monsters from the guardian , Hatsukayama area to the Nara, Mie front-line monsters can advance. [
But soon, the monsters on this front line were resisted by a front line composed of Shintoism, Buddhism, the Ministry of the Environment, and traditional forces, and they were completely intercepted.
"It's really surprising that Kyuubi, which was originally a big problem, has become an important combat power." Sitting at home, Ito Cheng said with a strange smile when he looked at the information sent by the Ministry of the Environment.
"Yeah, no one thought that Kyuubi would suddenly get into trouble." Ito Suzu also agreed with a smile.
"However, the existence of Kyuubi is a problem after all. It is uncertain when it will change from a helper to an enemy again." Said Ito Cheng, who casually threw away the information page.Then he stood up, walked out and said without looking back, "I'm going to work."
"Remember to come back early." Ito Ling instructed.
Ito Cheng, who walked out of the house, sprinted and flew directly above the shrine. The population density suddenly increased by a level due to the monster incident and the transfer from Shikoku, Kyushu, Kobe, Hyogo, Osaka and other places to various parts of the peninsula. , who was visiting his shrine at this time, accidentally saw him flying into the sky and the people kneeling on the ground flew towards Akiruno City.
The city of Akiruno is not big at all. In less than a minute, he flew to the destination he wanted to reach and landed. Then he took out a black pillar about 1 meters long, 1.5 centimeters wide, and shaped like an eight-sided tower. The body is inserted into the ground forcefully, leaving only a small section exposed outside.
Then, as if the purpose of coming here was to insert this cylinder, Ito Cheng flew up again, flew to another location and landed, similarly inserted an eight Ling-shaped cylinder into the ground, and then flew away again, go to another...
This goes on and on until it gets dark again. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point to vote, monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users, please go to read.)
You'll Also Like
-
Fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood's wolf mentor
Chapter 209 21 hours ago -
Naruto: Uchiha is not the Raikage!
Chapter 139 21 hours ago -
Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords
Chapter 319 22 hours ago -
Finished! After rebirth, the prince secretly held my hand
Chapter 200 23 hours ago -
As expected: the son-in-law of a wealthy family breaks into the house to rob love
Chapter 229 23 hours ago -
The end of the world: I can do whatever I want to anyone
Chapter 800 23 hours ago -
Quickly wear! Bind to the scumbag transformation system
Chapter 516 23 hours ago -
Jiu Zhang Ji: The Daily Life of the Reborn Daughter
Chapter 243 23 hours ago -
Rebirth: The game has just been released, why are you killing people randomly?
Chapter 592 23 hours ago -
Rebirth: I Farm in Hell to Live a Lifelong Life
Chapter 159 23 hours ago