Hailing barren city

Just as Tao Rujiu heard these words, the notification tone of a short message appeared on the phone again, he immediately cut to check, it was from Hua Kaifa.

"It's raining heavily outside the door, Tao Tao, please open the door."

Tao Rujiu hurriedly ran to the porch and opened the door. He was greeted by Qin Huakai who was half wet even though he was holding an umbrella, and his pair of lovely and pitiful eyes.

This year's No. [-] typhoon made landfall in the coastal area of ​​another province last night.According to the news released by the Meteorological Observatory, the impact of the typhoon on Xiyao is very small. Although it will rain until tomorrow morning, it will not cause natural disasters.The staff of Hailing City who learned of this situation were all relieved in their hearts.

After Tao Rujiu left the villa, he never went to look for Ling Li again, half because he hated him for using the wax sacrifice to scare people, and the other half was because he had some dizziness and cold symptoms because he slept on the floor last night.

Sure enough, the heavy rain lasted all morning, so the troupe had an extra holiday. Everyone chatted in the corridor around the stage when they had nothing to do.

Wang Baihu came back around four o'clock in the morning, so naturally he was scolded by Master Lu.But after he heard the news that "the typhoon will not come tonight", his eyes flashed again, wondering what the hell he was thinking.According to Xiao Li's sneaky "whistleblower" later, Tao Rujiu found out that Wang Baihu likes to find this kind of rainy weather to take girls out to eat tofu.

Wang Baihu was tall and handsome, and he knew how to play and sing and flirt a little bit. The girls in Hailing Village, and even the female staff members of Hailing Film and Television City, were definitely not just one or two who fell for him.

It was also because of the rain that it was the first time in history that Da Fu was lazily sleeping in a crowd of people in broad daylight.Master Lu thought it was cold on the ground, so he hugged it on his lap and lay on his stomach.The big white cat didn't struggle either.Tao Rujiu saw it, and couldn't believe that this was the Qimao fairy who was full of air and "pointed out the world" for him a few days ago.

In Cuiying Pavilion, where there was nothing to do, time passed by quite quickly, and it became dark after lunch.

At around six o'clock, Ling Li drove the tour bus over again.

Considering the inconvenience caused by the rain, the man specially sent a few watermelons to Master Lu, but the main purpose of this trip was to take Tao Rujiu to watch the night.In fact, the reason is no longer important, just simply enjoying the feeling of getting along with young people.Some discord and awkwardness, but there is no doubt that it is relaxed and happy.

At the same time, Tao Rujiu was also surprised that he did not refuse the fierce invitation.Theoretically, this kind of one-sided teased or intimidated getting along should not have any attraction, but in fact, as soon as he sees Ling Li's face with sunglasses and half-smile, there will be a feeling of unease in the young man's heart. An unreasonable sense of security.

Of course, except when being teased fiercely.

Although the impact of Typhoon No. [-] was not great, the control room still decided to take this opportunity to conduct Hailing City's first typhoon defense exercise this year.This is a tradition in the city every summer. Every year, Xiyao City will appraise the advanced units for anti-Taiwan anti-Taiwan.

"Even if you don't have the chance to see a real typhoon coming, it's still rewarding to watch the exercise."

Ling Li said to Tao Rujiu that although they were sitting in the tour bus, they both wore transparent raincoats.Although the rain was not heavy, it was still uncomfortably humid when the sea breeze slanted it.Tao Rujiu sat in the passenger seat, looking at the yellow light of the night watchman's flashlight in the distance.

"Actually, this kind of anti-typhoon exercise is also very particular and well-organized, very similar to the ancient formation of troops. I know a good place where you can see the panorama." Ling Li suddenly suggested, "From there, you can clearly see the various departments during the exercise. Inspection steps, not just a part."

The "beautiful place" he refers to is a giant Buddha in the Thousand Buddha Scenic Area, which completely imitated the Leshan Buddha statue and was built in a reduced size. Even so, it is already the tallest walk-in building in Hailing City.

Inside the Buddha is a Buddhist culture exhibition hall. There are elevators and spiral stairs on the left and right sides of the door.When it is normally open, the activities of tourists going up and down the tower are carried out by elevators.

"This time there is really no electricity, we only have to climb the stairs." Ling Li is obviously very interested in sports, and it can be seen that he regards climbing stairs as part of his fitness; on the contrary, Tao Rujiu has no interest, and even feels a little angry Said: "The ones who really love manual labor are always people like you who don't need to rely on physical strength for a living. Little reporters like us who run around all day long will never stand if they can lie down."

"If you have the strength to say this kind of tongue twister, you might as well go quickly." Ling Li turned around and grabbed his hand, pushing him to the stairs.

"Look, am I right?"

A few minutes later, at the height of the Buddha's bun, he sharply pointed at the panorama of Hailing City and asked.

Because of the anti-typhoon exercise, the important facilities and employees' workplaces in Hailing City were all lit up, and there were also lights from security teams and emergency lights on the road.Everything weaves into a map of lights. In the hazy drizzle, this map is stained with a bit of hazy freehand brushwork. While Tao Rujiu is moved by the dedication of the employees of Hailing City, he also has a feeling for him. Beautiful exclamation.

However, the fierceness that has long been used to this kind of scene obviously has another nonsensical explanation.

"It's like a beacon playing princes."

Tao Rujiu naturally didn't realize this sentence for a long time, until he realized that Ling Li was comparing those lights to the princes who gathered together, and he and himself became the concubine of Zhou Youwang and the disaster of the country and the people. At that time, Tao Rujiu really had an urge to push Ling Li out of the window.

He hesitated seriously for a while, and finally turned his attention to the side. There were still almost no lights in the Netherworld palace area not far away.

It seems that even on the night of the exercise, the fear of ghosts still exists.

Just as he was staring, Ling Li stood aside and answered the phone.Tao Rujiu didn't know the content of the phone call, but he could see that the fierce face darkened a little bit.

After a while, the man pulled up the cord, turned his head and said to Tao Rujiu, "Something may have happened to Wang Baihu."

The call was from Master Lu, the troupe owner. He said that he had punished Wang Baihu for a day, but when he went to deliver watermelon to him just now, he found no one in the house again, so he wondered if he would go out to fool around again.Now the entire troupe is looking outside without telling the security department—the relationship between the theater troupe and the security department has always been bad. If Wang Baihu is caught by the security department at this juncture, even if it is fierce, it will no longer make sense. He stayed in Hailing City.

But the house leak happened to rain all night.

Master Lu was staying at Cuiying Pavilion because of his age. He happened to receive a call from the security department just now, asking if Wang Baihu was in Cuiying Pavilion. He said that he saw a man and a woman at the gate of the underground palace just now. The appearance of Wang Baihu.Master Lu finally thought of a way to avoid this matter, but now everyone else is looking for it, and I don't know if anyone happens to be near the underground palace.

"Why did you see Wang Baihu at the door, that kid was obviously forced in by the security department..." Although Master Lu on the phone complained about Wang Baihu's troubles, his words still revealed his love and heartache for the younger generation . "Nothing can happen..."

"I'm in the Thousand Buddhas District. It only takes a few minutes to drive to the gate of the underground palace. I'll go look for it now."

This is a sharp answer.

"If you are afraid, you can go back to Cuiying Pavilion first. This is not to laugh at you, take the tour bus away." Putting away the phone, Ling Li said to Tao Rujiu.

However, Tao Rujiu shook his head and refused without even thinking about it.

"I've been with the troupe for almost a month. How can I stand by and watch this happen? I was indeed frightened by the things in Corpse Soul Town, but that doesn't mean I'm a coward."

The young man's tone was firm, he frowned slightly when he heard this answer, and finally patted Tao Rujiu's shoulder, nodded and said with certainty: "You are not a coward, it's just that you will become a little tricky when you are scared. "

"Then trouble Boss Ling to stop doing frightening nonsense."

Tao Rujiu retorted uncomfortably.

The tour bus soon stopped at the gate of the Netherworld Palace area. The two put on their rain capes, took a spare flashlight, and walked in through the ticket gate.At the Sanchakou, choose the ground or the underground, Ling Li thought for a while and said: "Most of the buildings on the ground are locked. They can't stay outside for a long time on rainy days. Let's go to the underground palace to find them."

Because of the relatively low terrain, four one-meter-wide drainage ditches were specially built at the entrance of the underground palace, which are constantly swallowing the rainwater washed down from the heights.The broad-leaved plants on the ground on both sides are pressed low to the center of the road due to the weight of the rain.

In the yellow light of the flashlight, the skeleton embedded in the soil seemed to be crying. The rain-soaked soil shifted slightly due to gravity, slowly changing the posture of the skeleton.

The gate of the dungeon is still open.

Ling Li and Tao Rujiu fell silent after entering the main entrance.It's not that I have nothing to say, but I'm thinking about the same question.

The underground palace is a large-scale building designed as a labyrinth, in which there are twists and turns, and there are countless places for people to hide.It is by no means an easy task to find Wang Baihu and his girlfriend here.

However, perhaps it is the so-called "a blessing in disguise, but a blessing in disguise", the nasty rain in the sky turned out to help them a lot at this time.

"Look." Ling Li slowly pointed the flashlight forward.

Where the light of the flashlight could reach, on the gray cement floor of the underground palace, there was a puddle of water stains emitting a faint light.It was the rainwater dripping from Wang Baihu's umbrella, and there were two rows of footprints on one side that were not completely dry, stretching into the unknown darkness of the underground palace.

Tao Rujiu and Ling Li looked at each other, then followed the footprints on the ground and walked on the first floor.Judging from the wetness of the water stains, Ling Li felt that Wang Baihu and Wang Baihu should have arrived only ten to fifteen minutes earlier than them.

There were many times along the way, and water stains dripped behind the wax figures of ghosts. Wang Baihu obviously wanted to scare the girls traveling with him, looking for opportunities to eat tofu.

Finally, next to the group portraits of the mountains of swords and seas of fire, the rainwater dripping from the umbrella tips merged into a palm-sized water spot. It seemed that they had finally succeeded and had a lot of tenderness.

"This scum." Looking around sharply for the next whereabouts of the water stains, he finally couldn't help but swear angrily, "Don't he know how much everyone is worried about him!"

"It's not too late to yell after you find them." Tao Rujiu was also looking for water stains, so far, he seemed to be calmer than Ling Li. "The water stains are going here."

The two stopped and walked in this way, passing through most of the first floor of the underground palace.It wasn't until the two stood in front of the long and narrow door leading to the second floor that Tao Rujiu suddenly realized that Wang Baihu was actually walking along the route to the vegetable garden.

The route of the underground palace is intricate and complicated, although the troupe members often go in and out, they are only familiar with the few routes they often take.Perhaps Wang Baihu's courage was also limited, so he chose to follow the old path──in this way, the burden of the search work was lightened.