Chapter 3: Empty City

"Why? It's obviously easier to leave here!" Xiao Xia asked in surprise.

Mao Fu and Zhao Jiayuan did not reply for a moment, but only looked at each other. Xiao Xia keenly felt that the two of them were exchanging some information with their eyes, which was very sneaky.

"Yes, why don't you walk on Yangguan Avenue? You have to walk on the slightest path?" A reporter from a provincial TV station spoke next to him.

Her name is Liu Hong, and Xiao Xia is the only two women in this industry, so she is weak. Moreover, she is not wearing simple jeans, white shirts, sneakers, and a ponytail tied to her head like Xiao Xia. Instead, she is wearing beautiful suits and high heels. So after walking most of the mountain road, she is exhausted and panting. The exquisite makeup on her face is already exhausted, and she wishes someone would carry her on her back.

"Besides, it might rain soon and I can't walk anymore!" she continued, looking up at the sky.

The sky was even more gloomy at this time, and there was a faint sound of thunder rolling by. Everyone understood that it was too lucky for them to not have fallen. If they were rushing in the rain, they might not be able to walk half of what they are now! But in this situation, we can no longer expect God to give face, and we must make a decision as soon as possible.

"You are not locals, and you may not understand that you cannot pass through the new town that has not been moved into someone." Zhao Jiayuan explained with a gesture of Mao Fu's eyes.

"But why is this for? Do you have to break it apart like a gift?" Before Xiaoxia could refute, Liu Hong started arguing first. The fatigue made her a little angry and she didn't care about maintaining her ladylike demeanor all day.

"No." Zhao Jiayuan waved his hand quickly, not daring to offend the mouthpiece of public opinion. "We have a custom here. We must hold a ceremony before entering a new home, and ask people to sing a three-day drama before moving in. This time we relocated the whole town, so the town has long studied the relocation plan and will be carried out next month. It is not yet that time, if you enter rashly, you will break the Feng Shui and violate the taboos of the people in the town. Although we are all materialists, the people still have to consider it."

"Just pass by, what's the matter?" Liu Hong refused to give in and turned her face to look at Xiaoxia and looked at her, looking for an alliance. But Xiaoxia felt that since she had this custom, she should respect her. Although she felt that Mao Fu and Zhao Jiayuan always had a flash in her expressions, she still didn't say anything.

"Okay, if you don't leave, I'll leave by myself. Anyway, this is just feudal superstition and there is no law prohibition!" Liu Hong saw that Xiao Xia, who was also a woman, and the male photographer who was a colleague, did not help her. She irrationally gambled, ignored others, and strode towards the direction of the new town, without listening to the calls of everyone behind her.

"Let her leave by herself. Anyway, we are feudal superstitions, she is a woman in the new era!" An official in charge of political and legal work threw out impatiently.

Xiao Xia remembers that his name is Wang Wenge, who is in his forties, and is fat and fat. He seems to have a good temper. Unexpectedly, he is the first to not pay the bill for this beautiful provincial TV reporter.

"People here believe that there are always empty places where no one lives, and there will be unclean things hidden inside. The new town has been built for almost a year and has never lived in it. It is still so big. If Miss Liu is not afraid, please beg for your own blessings! Mayor Mao, let's go here!"

He spoke loudly. Under the transmission of the mountain wind, he successfully knocked into Liu Hong's ear drum, making her stop her steps. She was neither going in nor retreating, that is, she did not dare to walk alone in that place that might be "unclean" and was embarrassed to look back.

Seeing this, Xiaoxia quickly smoothed out the situation and asked Liu Hong to come back and be with everyone. She understood that it is easy for people to say that they are bold and strong, but not many people are really not afraid and can deal with it calmly. She has only seen two people since she has grown up.

Xiaoxia greeted her two or three times before Liu Hong returned to the army in disappointment and continued walking on the mountain road with everyone. While walking, she said how unlucky this time was. Not only did she climb the mountain road but she had to get wet in the rain, and she would never come again. I don’t know if it was her. Anyway, the sky was just gloomy. Although the rain was strong, it did not fall. But after she nagged, in less than ten minutes, a shocking thunder suddenly broke out in the air, and heavy rain poured down mercilessly.

This time, the group became even more embarrassed. The only few raincoats were given to Xiaoxia, reporters from the provincial Taiwan and two reporters from the town, and the rest, including Mao Fu, lined up in a queue and walked in the rain.

The rain was so heavy that it was so hard that people could not even open their eyes. It seemed like a thick rain curtain hung around it. People who were a little farther away could not see clearly. Moreover, the soil and weeds on the mountain road were extremely slippery after the rain. Xiao Xia was fine, but Liu Hong fell down almost three steps, and finally she fell to tears!

"Persevere, there is still a short distance to the town." Zhao Jiayuan's scream came from the front.

Xiaoxia had never walked such a mountain road, and was tired enough at this moment. She just gritted her teeth and followed the person in front of her. Although the raincoat blocked the rain, the sweat on her body also soaked her clothes. Moreover, her face was full of rain, which was not much different from whether she was wearing a raincoat.

She walked with her head down, but she didn't expect to hit the object in front of her. It was Wang Wenge's back, and her back was also hit by Liu Hong behind her.

"What's going on?" Liu Hong asked angrily.

However, Xiaoxia couldn't answer because she was like the people in front of her, completely stunned by the images in front of her!

In front of you, a city stood quietly in front of the gray rain curtain, and looked strange and clear in a blur - the square city, although there is no wall, like an ancient city, there is a gate, but it is just symbolic, built of beautiful blue-gray stones, simple and historical. There are rows of neat small houses with green tiles and red walls in the city, and a tall tower higher than all other buildings is located in the center of the town!

Didn’t you say you didn’t walk through this town? Why are you going back now?!

"This is the South Gate!" Wang Wenge murmured, as if he wanted to explain it to Xiaoxia and Liu Hong, and as if he wanted to say it to himself.

This new town that is not yet inhabited is west of the old town. So it is facing the old town with the east gate. Liu Hong insisted on entering the west gate just now, and have they now gone around the south gate of the city?

"Is there anything wrong?" The photographer was originally a local reporter who broke the back, but now he came over. "If we don't walk through the town, we will pass by the south of the city if we walk through the outside."

"This mountain road back to the old town has to turn over a small valley. You should not be able to see the new town from this direction." Wang Wenge answered mechanically.

His reply was not loud, but it was particularly clear in the heavy rain. I recalled everything just now - the car died for no reason, the discussion about uncleanness of the empty city, and the sudden heavy rain made everyone's heart skip a beat, and they had an unknown premonition.

"It's me! It's my fault. Haha, I'm sorry for everyone." Zhao Jiayuan's voice sounded in front of him, but he obviously lacked confidence, his voice was a little trembling, and his laughter was extremely dry. "The rain was too heavy, I took the wrong way, so I turned to the new town. We - we will definitely go back again."

Will definitely go back? What does this mean? Can't they go back? Or have they fallen into a trap?!

But before Xiao Xia could figure it out, the team started moving forward mechanically again. After walking for a while, when Xiao Xia was about to exhaust himself, the people in front stopped again.

Xiao Xia felt very bad. Sure enough, after looking at it, she found that the empty city they had always wanted to bypass appeared in front of her. This time the blue-gray city wall said "East".

It's the East Gate! Then if they walk in the opposite direction, they should return to the old town, but if they turn their heads, they will find that the direction is a towering mountain wall, there is no road at all, and it will not lead to the old town!

"It's me that's wrong, it's me-" Zhao Jiayuan shouted again, but it sounded like a conditioned reflex and was not convincing at all.

"Okay, keep going!" The voice of photographer Hongliang was conveyed behind Xiao Xia to the front, which made the panicked people feel a little calm, although it was not thorough.

His behavior made Xiao Xia look at him with some admiration. She saw that the photographer named Zuo De kept saying Liu Hong and looked down on him a little. Unexpectedly, at the critical moment, he showed some manly courage.

The team moved again, but this time Xiaoxia was careful. Seeing that the scenery around her had not changed much, she began to suspect that they were still in place while walking around, and decided to mark something. She had nothing else on her body, so she had to pull off the silk thread and try to tie it to the branches. Unexpectedly, the tree here was very high and she couldn't reach it. Fortunately, Zuo De helped her.

He probably was following Xiao Xia closely because he wanted to accompany Liu Hong, who started crying.

"Don't come out no matter what happens! If you have something to do, contact me secretly!" She whispered to the bracelet.

If there is danger and Abai comes out to save her, then other people will know that Abai's existence may be detrimental to Abai, so it is better to be cautious!

At this time, the sky became darker and there was no light of stars and moon in the heavy rain. A group of people almost rolled and crawled forward with a flashlight that only every other person had.

Xiao Xia followed behind dizzyly, and only heard a 'ah' scream. Six flashlights shone in one direction in an instant - Xinzhen appeared in the rain again, but this time it was North Gate!

Seeing this, Xiao Xia immediately searched around. Zuo De's flashlight followed her gaze. Sure enough, he saw a slight floating thing on the branches of the two trees that were close to growing, which was the beautiful colorful thread!

Sure enough, they were wandering around. If they were not lost in a rainy night, they would have encountered a long-lost ghost to hit the wall! But what about that city? Why did they stay still but see different doors? Is it an illusion or the city is alive, it would have spinned around on its own?!

Xiao Xia was thinking about it, and she felt that Liu Hong was pushing her behind her. It turned out that the team had started to leave again. This time there was no call and she automatically got off. Perhaps this situation made everyone panic and subconsciously wanted to escape, so she got off without thinking.

Xiao Xia was caught in the middle of the team and followed passively. Although she felt something was wrong in her heart, her mind was frozen and she couldn't turn it around until she saw the marking thread again, and at the same time she also saw the west gate of the town!

"ah--"

Liu Hong wailed, sat down on the ground, hugged Zuo De's legs and started crying for the third time tonight, but this time she cried in fear.

"I'm afraid! I'm afraid!" Her delicate voice seemed shrill and snorted at this time, and her crying evoked everyone's fear and anxiety. Although she did not lose control by shouting, the scene immediately became unstable!

If people's hearts disperse, danger will take advantage of the situation and invisibly increase the index of people's harm, so unity and calmness are the most important at this moment!

"Don't cry! Come together!" Zuo De shouted again. The person who seemed gentle had a very stern tone.

When the others were in a state of lordship, they immediately became quieter when they heard him shouting.

"Now we stay in place and can't get out even if we continue running. It will only waste our energy." Zuo De said loudly, "Sit together, the light shines outside, don't panic if you have anything to do!"

"I agree!" Xiaoxia immediately followed in order to strengthen the reliability of Zuo De's words.

"Okay, I agree too." Mao Fu, who had not spoken for a while, also answered, and then came to Zuo De's side.

When he moved, the others sat around the ground one after another. The people wearing raincoats took off all the raincoats, and asked everyone to hold them in their hands to shelter them together. They also wiped out three flashlights as instructed to preserve power, while the other three were facing the outside.

Although it is very dark now, it is less than ten o'clock when they look at the watch. Although they have been away for four hours, there is still a long night waiting for them and some lighting must be preserved!

Everything was arranged, Xiaoxia looked at Zuo De who was still standing there, hoping that he could help her take the silkworms off the tree. It was given to her by Ruan Zhan. Although it was not worth it, she didn't want to lose it.

Zuo De understood what she meant and reached for the branches, but as soon as he was wrong, Xiao Xia saw a black shadow standing behind him!

The black shadow couldn't see clearly, and her whole body was dark. She stood there in the dark night of wind and rain, floating, unnoticed, and did not know how long she had stood there. It made people unable to tell whether it was a entity or a shadow, and it also made Xiao Xia not understand whether she was the only one who saw the black shadow or the whole person could see it!

And just when she was so shocked that she couldn't even speak, the black shadow floated towards them!

Xiao Xia pointed behind Zuo De and wanted to warn him, but at this moment she found that she was speechless. It was not because of her own reasons, but because she seemed to be covered by something. She wanted to jump up to save people, but found that her body could not move! At this moment, she could do nothing, so she could only look at Zuo De anxiously!
Chapter completed!