Hailing deserted city

Chapter 15

Tao Rujiu shuddered at these words, an image of a seductive woman wrapped in a bedsheet, her breasts slightly exposed, flashing through her mind. She immediately wanted to disappear into the ground. Behind her, Ling Li chuckled to himself at his discovery, but he didn't expect Tao Rujiu to tighten the bedsheet around herself, roll off, and lie down on the floor. No matter what Ling Li said, she didn't respond.

Tao Rujiu spent the night on the floor like that. When he woke up the next day, his throat was a little sore, probably because the floor was too cold and he had caught a cold. He sat up unsteadily. It was eerily quiet around him, and there was no sign of the ruthless figure on the bed.

There was a light patter of rain outside.

He walked to the window and drew back the curtains, and there he saw the sky that had been pressing down heavily. It had turned into an indigo sea, with only thick, lotus-gray clouds and fine drizzle on its surface.

Tao Rujiu folded the bed sheet and put it aside. He pushed open the bedroom door and walked out. There was no movement anywhere in the villa. It was 8:30 in the morning. The young man went upstairs and put on the clothes he had taken off yesterday.

Ling Li had already left. Tao Rujiu saw the note he left on the dining table, along with a Chinese breakfast that was rather formal and somewhat strange. The young man should have been touched by Ling Li's extra care, but the appearance of the food made it impossible for him to utter a single word of gratitude.

The food was presented in a lavish manner, arranged as if for ancestral worship, with chopsticks even stuck into the rice like incense sticks. The restaurant was dark, and the eerie scene in the dim light completely killed Tao Rujiu's appetite.

It was raining outside, and Tao Rujiu, who hadn't brought an umbrella, decided to call Ling Li to borrow one. He took out his phone and dialed the number.

"The umbrella? I put the spare one in the kitchen, I think the exact location is..." Ling Li was recalling something on the other end of the phone when someone suddenly spoke to him, "Wait a minute..."

So Tao Rujiu, still holding the phone, walked towards the kitchen as Ling Li had instructed. There were no umbrellas in sight; it was practically a never-used kitchen. Aside from a refrigerator and microwave in the corner, there wasn't even a basic stove. It made sense; someone of Ling Li's status, how could he possibly have time to learn cooking skills?

Just then, Tao Rujiu suddenly realized something was amiss.

Since there is no stove in this house, where did those Chinese dishes on the dining table, which look like offerings, come from?

The only explanation is that it wasn't prepared with swift and decisive action.

Tao Rujiu stood frozen in the kitchen, Ling Li still dealing with other things on his phone. The young man slowly turned around; to leave the villa, he had to pass through the dining room behind him and reach the entrance hall.

Just then, my phone beeped with a text message notification.

"At least the phone still has a signal..." Tao Rujiu calmed himself down and comforted himself. He temporarily disconnected the phone line to check the text message content.

"Open the door for me."

He turned around in alarm and looked up to see a blurry figure reflected in the frosted glass door at the end of the entryway.

The figure told him to open the door.

"It" is not Ling Li; the man is currently in the central control room of Hailing City. Moreover, as the owner, Ling Li himself has the key to the villa.

This person didn't have a key, yet wanted to get in. Furthermore, they had Tao Rujiu's phone number, or rather, they were able to contact Tao Rujiu in some way.

The young man forced himself to calm down, after all, the amulet was still hanging around his neck, and he absolutely hadn't had any contact with Ling Li last night.

He looked down at the number that sent the text message.

It was Qin Huakai.

Tao Rujiu ordered himself to calm down.

Hua Kai is mute, so if the person outside the door is indeed him, he can only contact Tao Rujiu inside the house via text message.

But if the people outside are like flowers blooming in their normal state, then who prepared the sacrificial meal on the dining table?

Tao Rujiu slowly turned around.

It was very quiet around him. The villa had no back door, and he knew that he could only exit through the dining room and the front door in the foyer. Outside, a dark figure was waiting for him.

He once again urged himself to remain calm.

Rather than standing there surrounded by imagination and fear, it's better to walk into the entryway and at least confirm that the person standing at the door is Hua Kai.

So Tao Rujiu quietly took a step forward and walked towards the dining table with a stiff upper lip. The dining table, which was set with offerings, looked more like an incense table in a mourning hall at this moment.

As the young man approached the offerings again, a thought suddenly occurred to him:

What would have happened if I had unknowingly eaten this food offered to the dead? Would I have died? Or become a living corpse controlled by a ghost?

As soon as he began to imagine it, an uncontrollable sour feeling welled up in his stomach.

Just then, the phone he was holding tightly started ringing again.

The crisp chord music tore through the silence, and at the same time, the silent shadowy figure at the door immediately noticed Tao Rujiu's presence and began to knock loudly.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

The hollow sound seemed particularly cold in the rain. Tao Rujiu reflexively rushed out of the restaurant and hid in the space under the stairs. Looking down at the caller ID on her phone, she saw it was Ling Li.

“Hey, I remember where I left the umbrella, it’s right here…” The man on the other end of the phone remained completely unaware and relaxed, but Tao Rujiu’s heavy breathing caught his attention. “What’s wrong? You sound like you’re having an asthma attack.”

Tao Rujiu gripped his phone tightly, unsure where to begin. After a long pause, he finally calmed his breathing and murmured:

"On the table...the offerings on the table..."

He had expected to hear a similarly puzzled voice from Ling Li, but to his complete surprise, the man chuckled softly.

"Really? You were really scared?"

"Did you do this?" Tao Rujiu suddenly raised her voice. "Did you set out the food?"

“Those are props from Hailing City!” Ling Li explained with a laugh on the other end of the phone. “Last time, a Taoist priest said that I should set out food and offerings to my ancestors in my villa so that Hailing Film City could be revived. I found it too troublesome, so I brought over a few wax figures. You can go and take a look and see if they are all fake.”

Tao Rujiu listened with skepticism. He returned to the restaurant, turned on the lights, and approached the food. Only when he reached out to touch it did he realize that they were all imitations made of foam and wax.

"Those are the masterpieces of TV drama prop masters. They make a living by creating fakes that are indistinguishable from the real thing. If they can't even fool someone as nearsighted as you, how are they supposed to make a living?"

Ling Li clearly found teasing Tao Rujiu to be a lot of fun, but after the prank, he still didn't forget to appease him.

"By the way, speaking of which, the flowers should be arriving at your place soon, right? I told him you were still fast asleep and hadn't gotten up yet, so he was going to get you breakfast."

..." Just as Tao Rujiu heard this, his phone beeped with another text message notification. He immediately switched lines to check and found it was from Hua again.

"It's raining harder outside, Tao Tao, open the door quickly."

Tao Rujiu hurriedly ran to the entrance and opened the door. What greeted him was Qin Huakai, who, despite having an umbrella, was still half-soaked, and his pitiful eyes.

The first typhoon of the year made landfall in another province's coastal area last night. According to the meteorological observatory, the typhoon will have minimal impact on Xiyao; although rain will continue until tomorrow morning, it will not cause any natural disasters. Upon learning this, the staff of Hailing City breathed a sigh of relief.

After leaving the villa, Tao Rujiu never went to see Ling Li again. Part of it was because she resented him for using wax offerings to scare people, and the other part was because she had developed some dizziness and cold symptoms from sleeping on the floor the night before.

The heavy rain continued throughout the morning, giving the opera troupe an extra day off. With nothing else to do, they gathered in the corridors around the stage to chat.

Wang Baihu returned around four in the morning, and naturally received a scolding from Master Lü. However, after hearing the news that "the typhoon won't come tonight," his eyes lit up, and he seemed to be plotting something. According to Xiao Li's later secret "whistleblowing," Tao Rujiu learned that Wang Baihu liked to take girls out on stormy days to take advantage of them.

Wang Baihu was tall and handsome, and he was also quite skilled at playing musical instruments, singing, and flirting. It was not just one or two girls in Hailing Village, or even female staff members at Hailing Film and Television City, who had fallen for his charms.

Also because of the rain, Da Afu, for the first time ever, lazily slept among the crowd in broad daylight. Master Lü, finding the ground too cold, picked it up and placed it on his lap. The big white cat didn't struggle. Tao Rujiu, watching this, could hardly believe that this was the same Qi Mao Xian who had been so arrogant and "giving advice" to him just a few days ago.

In the leisurely Cuiying Pavilion, time flies by quite quickly; it gets dark as soon as lunch is over.

Around 6 o'clock, Ling Li arrived again in his tour bus.

Understanding the inconvenience of the rain, the man specially brought some watermelons for Master Lü. However, the main purpose of this trip was to take Tao Rujiu on a night patrol. The reason was no longer important; it was simply about enjoying the feeling of being with the young man. There were some disagreements and awkwardness, but it was undoubtedly relaxing and enjoyable.

Tao Rujiu was also surprised that he hadn't refused Ling Li's invitation. Theoretically, this kind of interaction where one party was being teased or intimidated shouldn't be attractive at all, but in reality, as soon as he saw Ling Li's sunglasses-wearing, half-smiling face, the young man felt an inexplicable sense of security.

Of course, this doesn't apply when you're being fiercely teased.

Although the impact of Typhoon No. 1 was not significant, the control room still decided to take this opportunity to conduct Hailing City's first typhoon preparedness exercise of the year. This is an annual summer tradition in the city. Every year, Xiyao City selects advanced units in typhoon prevention and resistance, and the prize money provided, plus the group's internal rewards, is quite substantial.

"Even if you don't get to see a real typhoon hit, watching the drills is still very rewarding."

Ling Li said this to Tao Rujiu, and although they were sitting in the tour bus, they both wore transparent raincoats. Although the rain was not heavy, the sea breeze blowing obliquely made them feel damp and uncomfortable. Tao Rujiu sat in the passenger seat, gazing at the yellow light of the night patrolman's flashlight in the distance.

“Actually, these typhoon defense drills are quite systematic and methodical, much like ancient military formations. I know a good spot where you can see the whole picture,” Ling Li suddenly suggested. “From there, you can clearly see the steps each department takes during the drill, not just a localized area.”

The "good place" he referred to is a large Buddha statue in the Thousand Buddha Scenic Area, which is a miniature replica of the Leshan Buddha statue. Even so, it is the tallest walk-in building in Hailing City.

Inside the Buddha statue is a Buddhist culture exhibition hall. There is an elevator on each side of the entrance, as well as a spiral staircase leading upwards. When the building is open to the public, visitors use the elevators to move up and down the tower.

"There really is no electricity this time, we'll have to climb the stairs." Ling Li was clearly interested in exercise, and it was obvious that he considered climbing stairs as part of his fitness routine; in contrast, Tao Rujiu was uninterested, and even said somewhat resentfully:

"Those who truly enjoy physical labor are always people like you who don't need to rely on physical labor for a living. As for us small reporters who run around the streets all day, we would rather lie down than stand up."

"If you have the energy to recite such tongue twisters, you might as well hurry up and walk." Ling Li turned around, grabbed his hand, and forcefully pushed him up the stairs.

"See, I told you I was right?"

A few minutes later, from the top of the Buddha's head, he pointed sharply at the panoramic view of Hailing City and asked this question.

Because of the typhoon drill, all the important facilities and employee workplaces in Hailing City were lit up, and the lights of security vehicles and emergency lights were also on the road. All of this wove together a map of lights, which, in the misty rain, took on a hazy, impressionistic quality. Tao Rujiu was moved by the dedication of the Hailing City employees and also felt a sense of beauty.

However, the sharpness of those who were already used to this kind of scene clearly had another nonsensical interpretation.

"It's like the story of the feudal lords being summoned by the beacon fires."

This statement was so nonsensical that Tao Rujiu didn't understand it for a long time. When he finally realized that Ling Li was comparing the lights to the assembled feudal lords, and that he and Ling Li were like King You of Zhou and Bao Si, who brought disaster to the country, Tao Rujiu had a strong urge to push Ling Li out the window.

He hesitated seriously for a while, but finally turned his attention to the side. The Netherworld Palace area not far away was almost completely dark.

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

Just as he was staring blankly, Ling Li stepped aside to answer a phone call. Tao Rujiu didn't know the content of the call, but she could see Ling Li's face gradually darken.

After a while, the man hung up the line, turned to Tao Rujiu and said, "Wang Baihu may be in trouble."

The call was from Master Lü, the troupe leader. He said he had originally punished Wang Baihu by confining him to his quarters for a day, but when he went to deliver watermelons to him, he found the house empty again, so he guessed that Wang Baihu might have gone out to fool around again. Now the entire troupe is out searching for him without the security department's knowledge—the troupe and the security department have always had a bad relationship, and if Wang Baihu is caught by the security department at this critical juncture, even Ling Li would have no reason to keep him in Hailing City.

But misfortunes never come singly.

Master Lü, being elderly, stayed behind at Cuiying Pavilion. Just then, he received a call from the security department, asking if Wang Baihu was there. They said they had seen a man and a woman at the entrance to the underground palace, and the man looked somewhat like Wang Baihu. Master Lü managed to come up with a way to cover it up, but now everyone else was out searching, and they didn't know if anyone happened to be near the underground palace.

"They said they saw Wang Baihu at the door, but that kid was clearly forced in by the security guards..." Although Master Lü complained about Wang Baihu's troublemaking on the phone, his words still revealed his care and concern for the young man. "We can't let anything happen to him..."

“I’m in the Thousand Buddha District. It only takes a few minutes to drive to the entrance of the underground palace. I’ll go there now.”

This was a sharp and decisive answer.

“If you’re scared, you can go back to Cuiying Pavilion first. I’m not mocking you, you can drive the tour bus away.” Ling Li said to Tao Rujiu after putting away his phone.

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

“I’ve been with the opera troupe for almost a month. How can I just stand by and do nothing when something like this happens? 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 resolute. Hearing this sharp answer, he frowned slightly, but in the end, he patted Tao Rujiu on the shoulder and nodded affirmatively, saying, "You're not a coward, you just become a bit troublesome when you're scared."

"Then please, Mr. Ling, stop doing these pointless things that are meant to scare people."

Tao Rujiu retorted without the slightest hint of displeasure.

The tour bus quickly stopped at the entrance of the Underworld Palace area. The two put on raincoats, grabbed spare flashlights, and walked through the ticket gate. At the fork in the road, choosing between above-ground or underground, Ling Li thought for a moment and said:

"Most of the buildings above ground are locked. They can't stay outdoors for long on a rainy day. Let's go down into the underground palace to look for them."

Because of the low-lying terrain, four one-meter-wide drainage ditches were specially built at the entrance of the underground palace, which are now constantly swallowing the rainwater that is being washed down from above. The broad-leaved plants on both sides of the ground are pressed low to the center of the road by the weight of the rainwater.

In the yellow light of the flashlight, the skull embedded in the soil seemed to be shedding tears. The soil, soaked by the rain, shifted slightly due to gravity, slowly changing the posture of the bones.

The gates to the underground palace remained open.