Chapter 73
"Shall we play a game?"
"Hmm? What game do you want to play?"
“Let’s go straight down to the basement level. If you can find me within an hour, then from now on, I’ll do whatever you say.”
"Anna, stop fooling around. The basement is not a place we can go. From now on, I'll listen to you."
Anna pouted, drawing circles on Lin Xiang's chest with her finger. When she looked up, Lin Xiang's heart skipped a beat. Anna said sweetly, "But I want to go to the basement. What's the point of coming to Weiming City if we don't go to the basement?"
Lin Xiang grabbed her hand, leaned down, and pressed his forehead against hers. "Is it really necessary to go?"
"Yes, didn't you say you could protect me? Let me see how much you love me."
Neon lights mingled, casting dappled shadows. On the towering exterior staircase, their eyes met at an intimate distance. Lin Xiang was completely captivated by her, his heart pounding. He tilted his head, about to kiss Anna, when she smiled and pushed him away, shoving open the door to a room with a sign clearly indicating it had an elevator.
Lin Xiang followed him inside, and the door closed behind him like a stretched rubber band. The room lights turned on the instant the door opened, a warm yellow light, illuminated by a square box on the ceiling—it was motion-activated.
Anna didn't even glance at the furnishings in the room, and went straight to the old elevator entrance. "I'll go first, and you can come down in ten minutes."
Lin Xiang's heart pounded even faster. He was attracted to the woman before him. Anna was like a bright rose, her fragrance intoxicating. At this moment, this bright rose exuded deadly venom, dangerous yet full of strange allure, which made her even more captivating.
Lin Xiang clenched his fists instinctively. "I will find you."
Anna smiled and pressed the elevator button. "I'll wait for you."
"bite!"
The elevator arrived quickly, and Anna got in. The moment the elevator doors closed, Lin Xiang saw her lips move, "See you in a bit."
Lin Xiang took several deep breaths to suppress his palpitations, glanced at the time on his wristband, waited as promised for ten minutes, then pressed the elevator button again, got in, and pressed the button for the basement.
At that moment, the door at the other end of the room opened, and Ye Feng and Feng Xiao entered. They only had time to exchange a brief glance with Lin Xiang before the elevator doors closed.
Ye Feng and Feng Xiao rushed over and pressed the elevator button, but the elevator in the room had only one function: it went straight to the basement. Once inside, there was no turning back.
Ye Feng slammed his fist on the wall in anger, “What exactly are Anna and Lin Xiang trying to do? They’ve been trying to shake us off the whole way.”
Feng Xiao: "Could it be that they want to find a space where they don't know anyone to have a proper relationship?"
Ye Feng rolled his eyes at Feng Xiao speechlessly and began to observe the room, which was so old that it could be classified as an antique or living fossil. The yellowed walls looked as if they had been patinated by the years. A small round window was blocked by a floral and tattered curtain. Next to the window was a black cabinet about 1 meter tall. On the cabinet was a white porcelain vase. The flowers inside were so withered that they would be too hard to be used as specimens. On the other side, there was a gramophone that was neither good nor bad.
Opposite the cabinet was a wooden bed with only a straw mat on it. It was dark under the bed. As Ye Feng walked toward the straw mat bed, Feng Xiao curiously went toward the gramophone.
Ye Feng squatted down beside the wooden bed and bent down to see if there was anything under the bed.
"Ta-da!"
Suddenly, a strange piece of music started playing.
Ye Feng jumped up instinctively in fright, "Thump!" His head hit the bed hard, making him dizzy. He shook his head and turned to see Feng Xiao, who also seemed startled by the sudden noise, jumping back and pointing at the gramophone, "It makes a sound!"
Ye Feng looked at the plug that was connected. It had been sitting perfectly fine in the cabinet just moments ago. He glared at Feng Xiao, unplugged it, and the eerie music stopped abruptly. "I must be crazy to be in your group."
Feng Xiao chuckled, then ran to the foot of the bed and pointed to the bulging military green canvas bag hanging on the wall. "Brother Feng, guess what's inside?"
Ye Feng originally wanted to continue peeking under the bed, but fearing that Feng Xiao might make some more noise, he turned and walked to Feng Xiao's side, reaching out to take the cloth bag.
“Don’t touch!”
The door opened again, and this time Xin Ran came in. As soon as he opened the door, he saw the two of them curiously preparing to rummage through his bag.
The two looked up at the newcomers. Xin Ran quickly walked over, took the cloth bags from their hands, and hung them back in their original positions. "Curiosity killed the cat. It's best not to touch the things here casually, or you might get infected."
Xin Ran glanced at the elevator at the other end of the room. "Why are there only the two of you? Where are Deputy Captain Wang, Anna, and Lin Xiang?"
Ye Feng pointed to the elevator, "Anna and Lin Xiang went down to the basement level. Deputy Captain Wang chased after them and got separated from us."
Feng Xiao: "Where are Teacher Lin and Dr. Xun, who were in the same group as Teacher Xin?"
Xin Ran raised her bracelet, sending messages to the other two while jokingly replying, "You still dare to ask? It's because you two ran around aimlessly. With so many sects, who knows which one you entered? Let's split up and look for you."
Ye Feng's expression wasn't as relaxed as when the two were chatting casually. He carefully observed Xin Ran for a moment and decided to give it a try. "We came with Anna and Lin Xiang, and I think they wanted to shake us off. We agreed before we came that we wouldn't go down to the basement, but they went down on their own."
Because Xin Ran and Chi Xia were very close, Ye Feng trusted the other party to some extent.
After listening, Xin Ran looked up at Ye Feng and said, "You and Feng Xiao can play up there. Chi Xia and I will handle Anna and Lin Xiang's matter."
Ye Feng nodded. Sure enough, he wasn't the only one who suspected Lin Xiang of having a problem. Chi Xia and Xin Ran had already begun to be wary of the two. A little while later, Xun Jiang and Lin Keli also came to the room one after another.
Lin Keli looked around and exclaimed, "Wow, what a retro room!"
Xun Jiang: "Have you contacted anyone else?"
Xin Ran: "I sent a message to Chi Xia, and they are on their way."
When the others got bored, they started examining the room again. Lin Keli opened the top two drawers of the black cabinet and asked, "Look, what's this?"
In the two compartments, there were two identical scrolls. Xin Ran and Xun Jiang each picked up one and opened it. Lin Keli said, "They are actually city defense maps of Weiming City. There are two copies, and they are different."
Xun Jiang also took a closer look and said, "They look almost the same to me. What makes you think they're different?"
Everyone stared at Lin Keli. Ye Feng's suspicion stemmed from the fact that he knew her identity was fake, while Xin Ran, who was in contact with Chi Xia, knew that Lin Keli's identity was not simple.
Lin Keli reached out and pointed to a room on the far side that was only the size of a mosquito's blood. "I went here when I was looking for them. The door of that room faces right, and the two scrolls are facing left and right respectively. Isn't that obvious?"
The group: "..."
Xin Ran could tell at a glance that the two pictures were different, but a normal person would have reacted the same way as Xun Jiang.
Instead of what Lin Keli said, that the room's door faced a different direction, who would be able to spot such a tiny dot on a nearly ten-foot-long drawing at a glance?
However, the group did not expose Lin Keli's argument, which, while correct, was based on a tricky angle.
When you're in an unfamiliar place and your companions are missing, any uncontrollable factor poses a significant risk.
The group looked at the two maps roughly. Xun Jiang compared them with the actual blueprints on his wristband and pointed, "The location of the hinterland is wrong on this map, and the floor height is also wrong on this one."
Feng Xiao: "So that means both pictures are fake? How boring to put two fake blueprints here."
At this moment, the door opened again, and the sound of passersby walking on the metal stairs and talking could be heard. It seemed that no one was planning to come to this place with an elevator. Chi Xia led the way, and the group passed by the door, followed by Tong Yue, Cheng Mo, Feng Xu, and Cheng Yang.
Feng Xiao smiled and put down the blueprint. "Teacher, Cheng Mo, you've finally arrived."
Cheng Mo responded and began to look around the room. The others also entered the room one after another, and the already small space suddenly felt a bit cramped.
Chi Xia watched the passersby walk away and the door close by itself before she walked over and glanced at the time. "It's been almost half an hour since we received your message, Anna and Lin Xiang have been down to the basement."
As she spoke, Chi Xia walked towards the elevator, with Xin Ran following closely behind. Chi Xia glanced at the other people in the room and said, "Try not to get separated. Xin Ran and I will go find them."
Feng Xu: "I'll go with you."
Chi Xia: "No need."
As the two were talking, Xin Ran had already pressed the elevator button. After Chi Xia finished speaking, the elevator arrived with a "ding". Chi Xia and Xin Ran entered the elevator, and Feng Xu quickly stepped forward, bracing himself against the elevator door with one hand, and looked at Chi Xia, saying, "Be careful."
Chi Xia nodded.
The elevator doors closed, and the group found themselves once again stuck in the tedium of waiting.
Ye Feng looked at the sea of people in the room and said, "I'm going out for some fresh air."
Feng Xiao immediately responded, "I'll go too. Let's go, Cheng Mo, let's take a walk around the neighborhood."
Cheng Mo nodded, and Tong Yue looked at Feng Xu, "Brother, I want to go too."
Feng Xu and Cheng Yang exchanged glances. Cheng Yang nodded, and Feng Xu opened the door and led the four teenagers out.
Lin Keli walked around the room and couldn't resist taking the canvas bag from the wall. Cheng Yang and Xun Jiang had nothing to do, so they squatted down and looked at it. Lin Keli put the bag on her lap and opened it. The group was blinded by the light and instinctively closed their eyes before opening them again.
"Ah!" Lin Keli cried out briefly, instinctively covering her mouth with the cloth bag as she did so.
The room was suddenly full of people.
Cheng Yang looked at the panicked, ragged, and filthy people. Some were standing, some were sitting, some were lying down, some had bandages wrapped around their bodies, and all of them were sallow and emaciated.
Lin Keli groped for Cheng Yang's hand and asked softly, "What's this?"
Cheng Yang: "It should be footage left over from the Star Wars."
Lin Keli stared wide-eyed at the rows of vibrant people who seemed to be taking refuge. Her eyes instinctively lingered on the direction of the door. "How did we suddenly see them?"
As a doctor, Xun Jiang remained calm. "It was you who opened the bag. The light stimulated our retinas, and this room has been specially treated."
Lin Keli: "If we take another look at that thing, will the image in front of us disappear?"
Cheng Yang: "Let's give it a try."
Lin Keli opened the bag again, and another blinding light flashed. When the three of them opened their eyes again, they could no longer see anything.
Xun Jiang got up and walked around twice, glanced at the time, and finally looked at the elevator. "I'm worried about them, I'll go down and check on them."
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