Chapter 591: The Source

Sure enough, all the electric lights in the room were unresponsive.

"How could the power just go out like this..." Kong Baosheng muttered to himself. "No... I have to go to the Power Bureau and see what's going on."

"Why go to the Power Bureau?"

"The power is provided by the Power Bureau, isn't it? Now that the electricity isn't working, I definitely have to go find them," Kong Baosheng replied subconsciously. "Even if the circuit is broken, at least I have to ask when the power will be back on, right? If the power comes back late, I'll have to prepare kerosene or something in advance..."

As he spoke, Kong Baosheng had already put on his coat, hurried out of the theater, and ran toward the Power Bureau.

Hearing this, Chen Ling seemed to have suddenly thought of something, and he froze in place.

The power is provided by the Power Bureau, and if something goes wrong, you go to the Power Bureau—this is tracing the source, which is only natural... Since that's the case, why can't the existence of the Red Dust Base be traced to its source?

The Red Dust Base is the cornerstone of the Red Dust Domain, and the Red Dust Base was built by the Lord of Red Dust herself;

If I can't find where the Red Dust Base is, why not just ask the Lord of Red Dust herself?

Chen Ling's eyes gradually brightened. He turned and ran toward the second floor without hesitation. This sudden change startled Li Qingshan, who asked blankly:

"Brother Lin, where are you going?"

"I have something to do! You can decide the repertoire for the theater for the next few days!"

Before Chen Ling finished speaking, he had already run into the room and closed the door behind him, leaving Li Qingshan standing in the empty downstairs, looking bewildered...

He looked at Chen Ling's closed door and replied blankly:

"Oh..."

……

As Chen Ling inserted the USB drive into the desktop, the next moment, the familiar dark green code automatically appeared before his eyes:

[ID 129439]

[Reading...]

[Read Complete]

Chen Ling only felt his vision quickly plunge into darkness, and when his consciousness recovered, the surrounding scene had already changed.

The first thing Chen Ling saw was the screen of a familiar flip phone, showing himself coldly making a peace sign, with drizzling rain falling on its surface and flowing down his fingertips.

He had returned to the moment he logged off from the Era Archive last time.

Chen Ling closed the flip phone casually with a soft "click" and slowly stood up to look around... Most of the museum had already been reduced to ruins. In the gray drizzle, a young man was struggling to move three beds under the eaves.

Yao Qing had finally managed to settle Yang Xiao, Su Zhiwei, and Xiao Chunping down to keep them from the wind and rain. When he turned around and saw Chen Ling standing there calmly,

He was stunned for a brief moment, looking as if he had seen a ghost.

"You... you you you... how did your injuries heal instantly??"

Yao Qing clearly remembered that Chen Ling had been covered in blood just a moment ago, with his intestines spilling out of his stomach, looking like he was about to die... He had even asked him if he needed an ambulance, but he refused. And now, when he turned around, this guy was completely healed?!

"I told you it was just a minor injury, nothing serious."

Chen Ling waved his hand casually and walked straight to the three beds, his gaze falling on Su Zhiwei's pale face.

He only had twelve hours this time he entered the Era Archive. He had better ask for clues about the Red Dust Base within these twelve hours; otherwise, if he missed this opportunity, the next time he could enter would be a month later...

A lot can happen in a month, and it's hard to say whether the Red Dust Domain will still exist by then.

But Su Zhiwei had overdrawn her mental energy in the previous battle, and it was uncertain whether she would wake up in time. Now, Chen Ling had no other choice but to sit here and wait, leaving it to fate.

Chen Ling sighed helplessly, walked to the steps at the entrance, sat down, looked at the gray sky, and fell into silence.

"No, what do you mean by sighing?" Yao Qing became anxious. He ran to Chen Ling's side and couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong with them? You... you tell me the truth, I can handle it!"

"...What kind of nonsense is that?" Chen Ling glanced at him. "They just overdrawn their mental energy and passed out. Didn't you check their condition?"

"Who told you to suddenly walk over, look at them with a grim expression, and then sigh... It's scary."

Chen Ling: ...

"Then when will they wake up?"

"It's hard to say, it just depends on the extent of their individual overdrafts... I hope they wake up as soon as possible."

Chen Ling shrugged and said truthfully.

Although Yao Qing was anxious, there was nothing he could do. He could only sit idly by Chen Ling's side, looking longingly at the ruins of the dilapidated museum, sighing constantly...

Half an hour, an hour, two hours...

Yao Qing checked on the three of them several times, but there was still no sign of them waking up. In desperation, he simply walked into the ruins to search.

Waiting idly is still waiting, so he might as well take this opportunity to save some collections from the ruins. Many of the things buried underneath were the works of his predecessors; regardless of their value, they had extremely important significance to him and Xiao Chunping.

Yao Qing moved one stone after another, his hands covered in dust. Occasionally, he could dig out a few embroidered pictures from underneath. Although the frames and glass around them were broken, the soft embroidered pictures themselves were not damaged much, just covered in dust.

Yao Qing brushed the dust off these embroidered pictures, his eyes full of heartache. He brought them back under the eaves from the drizzle, carefully smoothed them out, and finally pressed them down with a stone to prevent them from being blown away by the wind.

Chen Ling watched this scene without saying a word, just standing quietly like a statue.

I don't know how much time passed, but a soft sound of surprise came from the ruins.

Yao Qing walked over from a distance, holding a smashed photo frame, looking puzzled. At the same time, he used both hands to dismantle the broken frame on the outside and pulled out the photo inside.

"Strange... where was this photo kept before?"

"What photo?"

"It seems to be a photo of Grandma with someone... I don't think I've seen this person next to her much?"

As he spoke, Yao Qing handed the photo to Chen Ling. The latter glanced at it casually and suddenly froze in place.

In the photo, it was a picture of Xiao Chunping and a young man. Judging by the background, it looked like it was on an old street in Guangdong, and the neon signs behind them were traditional snacks with traditional characters.

The young man posing with Xiao Chunping was wearing a red performance costume, dotted with colored threads and sequins, and a mighty Eastern dragon was embroidered on the cuffs... He held a bright lion dance head in his left hand, made a "V" sign at the camera with his right hand, and was grinning, wearing a pair of small round-framed sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, giving people a sense of slightly roguish coolness.

"Lion dance?" Chen Ling turned the photo over in confusion, and a line of dates entered his eyes:

【2020.06.14】