Courriels mortels

Chapitre 26

This deal has already made a fortune.

Within just one week, the "Tianji" reality show has generated tens of billions of yuan in advertising revenue for "Dragon TV," and the company's stock price on the New York Stock Exchange has soared several times over, making it the biggest dark horse among global listed companies.

If calculated solely on paper, Dragon TV has become the world's largest television station!

But what's most frightening is that Li Xiaojun did this not just for money.

At this moment, with his head full of white hair, he raised his head again and looked up at the silent starry sky of Nanming City through the wide roof of the stadium.

The trial has begun...

"A helicopter!"

Xiaozhi pointed frantically to the sky, where a deafening roar echoed through the night. Even though it was hundreds of meters in the air, it still created strong winds on the ground.

Ye Xiao jumped out of the ambulance and looked up at the night sky. He had just stepped on the gas and driven out of the stadium, speeding back to their base camp on the other side of the city. He finally managed to help Tong Jianguo out of the ambulance. Xiao Zhi re-bandaged his wound in the ambulance, and it seemed that the bleeding from his left arm had stopped.

The fierce wind tousled their hair; in fact, the helicopter had already disappeared from sight. Ye Xiao, however, felt his head burning. He ripped off the bandage wrapped around his forehead, grabbed Tong Jianguo's arm, and said, "Looks like they're going to escape!"

"We...we...we need to escape quickly too..."

Tong Jianguo regained consciousness and was helped into the villa in great pain.

The wolfhound "Heavenly God" guarding the living room had been barking wildly, but it quieted down when it saw Xiaozhi. The three of them went back upstairs, hurriedly bursting open the bedroom door, startling the people left behind.

Elena and Lin Junru were both in a desperate state of mind, while Sun Zichu kept muttering nonsense, and Dingding stood quietly by the window.

Apart from Yu Ling, who had just died, and Qiu Qiu, who had been missing for a long time, all the survivors of the tour group had gathered. Tong Jianguo didn't have time to explain the cause of Yu Ling's death; he just struggled to shout, "Let's go quickly! We can't waste a minute!"

"Go? Go where?"

Lin Junru thought they were going to have to change their base again.

"Get outside—we must leave Nanming City as soon as possible, because a massive explosion is about to occur here!"

Tong Jianguo was not exaggerating. When he noticed the helicopters leaving, he felt that this "heavenly secret" reality show had come to an end. And buried beneath the stands of the stadium, tons of high explosives were about to blow the entire sleeping city into eternal slumber!

He gave a brief explanation, which sent chills down everyone's spines, but Sun Zichu shook his head and said, "How do we get there? If there were a road, we would have gotten out of there days ago!"

"I know a way!"

Tong Jianguo sat down and took a big gulp of water. Yu Ling had told him about this escape route, and now it was up to him to lead everyone out.

"What? How did you know?"

"I only found out an hour ago, stop nagging! If I hadn't risked my life to find the serum for you, you would have been poisoned to death long ago!" Tong Jianguo's words left Sun Zichu speechless. "If you don't want to be blown to bits, you'd better get going!"

Ye Xiao stared coldly at him and said loudly to the others, "Everyone, believe him. Let's leave now."

In fact, the few people who stayed behind were at a loss. As long as there was even a sliver of hope of escaping, they would never give up.

The survivors quickly gathered their belongings, collected essential supplies such as flashlights, stocked up on over a dozen bottles of clean water, and some remaining dry rations. Sun Zichu was able to walk again, but still needed Lin Junru's support.

Five minutes later, they walked out of the house together and came out into the night sky of the sleeping city.

The city was damp after the rain, and there were still many puddles on the ground. Elena looked back at the base camp, trembling, and silently prayed for the protection of the Virgin Mary.

The wolfhound "Tian Shen" and the cat "Xiao Bai" followed closely behind Xiao Zhi. Lin Junru was frightened when she saw the fierce wolfhound and asked with a furrowed brow, "Are you going to take the cat and dog out too?"

"Perhaps they will help us."

Ye Xiao seemed to have become a friend of the "god," and touched its ear to answer for Xiao Zhi.

No one dared to question them anymore; they all got into the ambulance, including a wolfhound and a white cat.

Now only Ye Xiao was driving, with Tong Jianguo sitting beside him giving him directions. The rest of the people and animals sat in the back, in the place where patients used to be treated. So many different lives were crowded together, making them feel a little suffocated.

Before Ye Xiao stepped on the gas, Dingding suddenly asked softly, "What about Qiuqiu?"

"Perhaps this girl is already dead. I'm so sorry!"

As he uttered those words, he felt he had never been so heartless before. He could only mutter a curse to himself before starting the ambulance. The rapidly spinning wheels rolled over the silent road, splashing up several meters of water on both sides.

Ye Xiao, Xiao Zhi, Tong Jianguo, Ding Ding, Elena, Lin Junru, Sun Zichu.

Seven people, along with a dog and a cat, boarded Noah's Ark, a vessel carrying all living beings, embarking on an emergency escape. The stadium, which could explode at any moment, was like a giant fireball capable of destroying everything, chasing after the nine lives behind the ambulance.

"Please tell us, where is the escape route you mentioned?"

Tong Jianguo stared into the deep darkness ahead and uttered four words—

"The Land of Rakshasa!"

01:00

Early morning.

The ambulance roared through the sleeping city, heading towards the western edge, onto that familiar tree-lined avenue. The stream, which had been irrigated overnight, had overflowed. Ye Xiao had to drive carefully, his eyes fixed on the road illuminated by the high beams, to prevent water from entering the vehicle and causing it to stall.

"careful!"

Amid Tong Jianguo's loud shouts, Ye Xiao slammed on the brakes and finally stopped in front of a pool of black water.

If the wheels rolled another half meter, the entire ambulance would have driven into the water, drawing out the perpetually hungry crocodile.

Everyone on the bus broke out in a cold sweat, and Ye Xiao took a deep breath: "Get off the bus quickly! We have to walk from here."

Everyone hurriedly jumped out of the car, along with a wolfhound and a white cat. In this dark, desolate wilderness, everyone took out a flashlight and looked after each other to make sure they didn't get lost.

The pool water exuded a deep chill, and crocodiles could pounce at any moment. Lin Junru and Elena's legs were so weak that they dared not move.

"Don't be afraid, everyone stay close together, don't leave anyone behind!"

Ye Xiao walked at the front of the group, holding a flashlight in his left hand and a pistol in his right.

However, the wolfhound "Tian Shen" quickly darted ahead of him; its sensitive and alert nose was more suited to be the leader.

Xiao Zhi followed closely behind him, still holding her "Little White" in her arms. Next were Dingding and Elena, with Lin Junru supporting Sun Zichu. Bringing up the rear was Tong Jianguo, whose wounds had healed, and he vigilantly scanned his surroundings.

We carefully circled around the crocodile pool, and thankfully there was no further movement on the surface; perhaps the crocodiles were resting at the bottom.

Beyond the Black Pool lies an even darker forest.

In the pitch-black midnight, nothing could be seen. Ye Xiao, who was walking at the front, took a long time to find the forest path, thanks to the "god's" nose.

They entered the path one by one. Except for Tong Jianguo, who stayed at the back, the others shone their flashlights ahead. The dense forest looked like a deep doorway, and ahead seemed like an endless underground tunnel.

Entering this mysterious place again, most people still trembled with fear, even though they were forced to flee. Sun Zichu, who had just survived the poison, wrapped himself in a blanket and asked weakly, "Are you sure this is the Land of Rakshasa? Is there really a way to escape from there?"

If it weren't for the fact that one of his arms was still in a sling, and if Sun Zichu wasn't half-dead, Tong Jianguo would have really wanted to beat him up right away: "Shut up, of course there is!"

But Sun Zichu persisted: "How can you be so sure?"

"Damn it, I'll tell you!"

A dozen minutes later, the group walked out of the forest path with trepidation, desperately shining their flashlights ahead, only to see darkness and shadows of leaves.

Xiaozhi whispered a few words to the wolfhound "Tian Shen," and it quickly ran into the darkness, because its nose was like its eyes, allowing it to see clearly.

Not long after, the barking of wolfhounds came from ahead. Following the barking, they crept over and, sure enough, the beam of their flashlights illuminated a row of ancient stone walls—the Kingdom of Rakshasa had arrived! And the "god" stood beneath that towering doorway, his mysterious smile from eight hundred years ago watching them once more.

Dingding suddenly felt the urge to kneel down and worship again. Ye Xiao turned around and said softly, "Let's go in quickly!"

Beneath the Buddha's thick lips, they filed into the midnight land of Rakshasa.

The beam of the flashlight pierced the dark night, illuminating two rows of grotesque stone statues on the left and right. These demons and monsters made Elena scream, and Dingding quickly covered her mouth to prevent her from causing even greater panic.

The group carefully passed through the stone statues and slowly entered the second stone gate. Soon they would enter another world, one of the greatest wonders of the Middle Ages.

Led by the wolfhound "God," we passed through the stone gate and entered the empty square. The flashlight could no longer illuminate anything, and the towering building ahead was completely hidden under the cloak of night.

Ye Xiao blinked hard, making sure he was in the right direction. He tilted his head back at a 45-degree angle. There was no moon or stars, but he seemed to see an outline in the darkness: five majestic pagodas pointing to the center of another world.

They walked slowly forward, and when the first flashlight shone on the stone steps, a dazzling light suddenly flashed.

At first glance, it looked like lightning—but then a second light appeared, illuminating the entire square as if it were daytime, including the hundreds-of-meters-high Eastern pyramid atop the layers of stone steps!

Everyone backed away in fear, their eyes stinging from the light. After a few seconds, their eyes adjusted and they realized that several electric lights were hanging on the upper steps, each radiating a dazzling light like a small sun, illuminating the huge and magnificent building above and the wide square below in perfect clarity, like a light concert held at an ancient Greek ruin.

Under the inexplicable lights of midnight, this group of last refugees looked up at the incomparably magnificent Great Rakshasa Temple, as if they were about to travel back to the grandeur of eight hundred years ago.

On the second platform of the pyramid, the light illuminates the silhouette of a man.

He stood in the center like a god, with the focus of two lights on him. Behind him was an ancient, magnificent, and magical building, overlooking the terrified masses and these nearly desperate fugitives.

"Li Xiaojun!"

After repeatedly rubbing his eyes to confirm, Tong Jianguo calmly called out the name.

Yes, it was him—everyone else stared wide-eyed. They had seen him on television at 8 p.m., speaking eloquently for several tens of minutes like a judge in front of the camera, and calling himself "God"!

To Tong Jianguo's surprise, just over an hour later, Li Xiaojun's hair had turned completely white, as if he had aged ten years in an instant, and was no longer the energetic global media tycoon he once was.

Li Xiaojun, with his full head of white hair, took a step forward and suddenly a gun appeared in his hand. He pointed the gun at the sky, pulled the trigger, and fired a bullet.

Gunshots echoed throughout the ancient land of Rakshasa.

In the forest outside the square, many birds that had been roosting there for the night were startled and took flight in an instant, their wings flapping as they swept across the sky, their cries echoing through the millennia.

Everyone's heart raced as Li Xiaojun's gun barrel swiftly dropped, aiming at the people about to be interrogated.

Lin Junru covered her eyes in fright, as if she could see flames shooting from the muzzle of a gun, bullets piercing her chest, and then killing everyone else one by one...

"No!" She hugged her grandson tightly. "We don't want to die!"

The wolfhound "Tian Shen" was eager to try, but Xiao Zhi held it down by the back, preventing it from making any rash moves.

At this moment, Tong Jianguo stepped forward. With his injured left arm in a sling, he walked to the front of the line, straightened his chest, and faced Li Xiaojun's gun barrel, saying, "They are all innocent. Please come at me!"

"Brother, you're still as brave and stubborn as ever."

Li Xiaojun nodded in satisfaction; he had been waiting there for quite some time.

Actually, the helicopter Ye Xiao and the others saw at midnight wasn't the large transport helicopter that took away the staff, but a smaller one. This smaller helicopter, which had also landed on the grass of the stadium, was Li Xiaojun's private plane. However, he didn't order the plane to fly out of the world of Tianji; instead, he ordered the pilot to head to the Kingdom of Rakshasa.

Also present were two lighting technicians and a batch of lighting equipment. After landing in the ancient square, they quickly set up several lights and left behind a diesel generator.

Finally, Li Xiaojun ordered the helicopter to leave the area, while he remained alone on the massive pyramid, quietly waiting for Ye Xiao and Tong Jianguo to appear.

But Tong Jianguo was still full of questions: "How did you know we would come here?"

"The Sleeping City is covered in cameras. Your every word and action will be under my control!"

It turned out that Li Xiaojun was so twisted that he had even installed several cameras in the upper-level maze of the secret base. All of Yu Ling's conversations with Tong Jianguo, including the escape route she discovered, were overheard by Li Xiaojun.

Li Xiaojun knew that Tong Jianguo would definitely bring them to the Kingdom of Rakshasa, so he took a helicopter here before them.

There will be no more global satellite broadcasts. The entire crew of the "Sky Secret" reality show has left. Even though cameras are still hidden here, no television viewer will be able to see the most exciting and decisive moment. This may be a lifelong regret for "Sky Secret" fans.