Chapter 590: Power Outage

"Achoo—!!"

Wang Jincheng, sitting at his desk, sneezed violently.

He rubbed his nose with a strange expression, not knowing why, but he had a foreboding feeling in his heart...

At the same time, the office door was opened.

"Director, the report you wanted is here."

"How is the situation?"

"In the past two days, there have been a total of eighteen large-scale power outages and two accidental deaths by suffocation... We have already investigated the suffocation deaths; it was due to aging gas pipes causing a leak, which filled the enclosed space and caused them to suffocate in their sleep. There is no possibility of homicide...

But these power outages are indeed very troublesome. The frequent outages have already affected the daily lives of some residents. The power bureau has received thousands of complaints in the last two days, and they were truly at their wit's end, which is why they came to us."

"What do power outages have to do with us??"

"They suspect that someone is deliberately sabotaging the circuits; otherwise, the power system wouldn't fail so frequently, so they called the police."

Wang Jincheng pondered for a moment. "So, did you send people to check?"

"We checked, but there was no one sabotaging the wires, and no one was stealing electricity secretly. Those lines just inexplicably stopped working... I estimate it's probably due to lack of maintenance," the officer said dismissively.

"Inexplicably stopped working..."

Wang Jincheng muttered these words, and as if he had thought of something, his expression suddenly became ugly.

"Damn it... no way..."

"What's wrong, Director?"

“……”

Wang Jincheng didn't answer. He paced back and forth behind his desk with a solemn expression for a while, his face becoming increasingly grave. After a full half-minute of silence, he said in a deep voice:

"Go, call the Director of the Power Bureau over for me... I want a map of all the locations where the wires have failed during this period. Also, mark those two aging gas pipes on the map for me."

"And... tell the officers below to stay alert. Any abnormalities in the main city recently, no matter how small, must be listed and reported to me, especially regarding damaged equipment or aging malfunctions."

Although the officer was puzzled, he nodded quickly:

"Okay, I'll get right on it!"

Having said that, he turned and rushed out of the office.

Wang Jincheng stood alone behind his desk, and after standing there like a statue for a long time, he slowly walked to the window.

He looked at the city that stretched to the horizon and muttered to himself:

"I hope I'm just overthinking it."

"The Red Dust Domain can't possibly be that unlucky..."

……

Jinghong Pavilion.

Buzz—buzz—

With a faint sound of electricity, the light above Chen Ling's head flickered and finally plunged into darkness.

Chen Ling, who was staring at the large map of the main city on the table in deep thought, looked up at the extinguished light bulb, a flash of confusion in his eyes...

"Power outage?" Jian Changsheng, who was dozing off on the map, also looked up at the light bulb.

"...Seems like it."

"Perfect, I can sleep even better now."

After saying that, Jian Changsheng lay back down on the table, shifted around, and closed his eyes comfortably.

Chen Ling couldn't help but speak up. "Didn't we say we were going to find the Red Dust Base? Why are you sleeping again?"

"Isn't that what you're here for? What do I have to do with this kind of brain-work?" Jian Changsheng replied firmly. "You asked me to scout, and I did. I've almost run all over the Red Dust main city in the last two days, so what's wrong with sleeping a bit more now? Do you expect my pig brain to help you with anything?"

"...Never mind, go back to sleep."

Jian Changsheng lifted his chin, like a general who had won a battle, and proudly lay back down on the table.

Chen Ling: "Sleep if you want, but don't crush my map."

Jian Changsheng silently lifted his elbow, let Chen Ling pull the map out, and then buried his head on the table and went to sleep.

Chen Ling looked at the map in his hand, which was twice the size of the table, and sighed inwardly. He held a red pen in his hand, but didn't know where to start.

For the past few days, they had been searching for the blood-colored petals from the painting.

Chen Ling had asked Huang Shuyue and used the connections of the Huang Consortium, but he had never found the species of this flower, nor had he found any place in the Red Dust main city that had such flowers.

What is certain now is that the Red Dust Base is not in the conventional sense of the "Red Dust main city," and there is no actual location on the surface. They suspect that the base is likely buried underground or hidden in some other way.

Although the Ten of Diamonds has a way to explore underground, his speed alone is too slow. Searching inch by inch like this would take at least a year to turn over the entire Red Dust main city, and Chen Ling and the others can't afford to wait.

"I don't know what Wang Jincheng has been busy with these past few days; he hasn't come to the theater. It's easy to arouse suspicion if I approach him rashly. In any case, I have to find a suitable excuse..."

"Or, I can think about it again, is there any other way..."

Faint snoring sounded in the quiet room. Chen Ling looked at Jian Changsheng, who had already fallen asleep on the table, rolled his eyes, got up, and pushed the door open to leave.

Swish—swish—

Looking down from the second floor of the theater, Kong Baosheng was sweeping the floor at the entrance, while Li Qingshan was holding a script, pacing while practicing his voice. The soft sound of the broom sweeping across the ground mixed with the melodious opera singing, making Chen Ling's tense nerves relax subconsciously.

He took a deep breath and slowly walked down the stairs.

"Brother Lin, you're finally downstairs." Seeing Chen Ling come down, Li Qingshan put down the script and smiled. "Have you decided on the repertoire for tonight's performance?"

"Not yet... Is there anything you want to sing?"

"There's too much I want to sing: The Legend of the White Snake, The Empty City Strategy, The Imperial Concubine Gets Drunk, Silang Visits His Mother..."

Li Qingshan listed more than thirty classic repertoires fluently, almost without thinking. Looking at Li Qingshan, who was counting on his fingers seriously, Chen Ling couldn't help but laugh:

"You want to sing so much? When will you be able to finish singing them all?"

"Very soon. Even if I sing one a day, I can finish them all in over a month," Li Qingshan said as a matter of course. Then, as if he realized something, he scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Sorry, Brother Lin, I almost forgot that you're the boss here... Back when I was singing in Liu Town, almost no one listened. Now, not only are there more and more audience members, but the things we sing are also starting to return to the mainstream... I seem to have gotten a bit carried away."

"Not at all. Everything you have now is what you deserve," Chen Ling shook his head.

"However... we probably won't be able to perform today."

"Huh? Why?" Li Qingshan looked outside. "It's not raining today, is it?"

"The theater has lost power. There are no lights at night, so we can't perform..."

"Lost power?!"

Before Li Qingshan could answer, Kong Baosheng outside the door pricked up his ears, immediately grabbed his broom, ran back into the room, and fiddled with the switch with his hand.