Chapter 589: Power Outage

Achoo—!!

Wang Jincheng, sitting at his desk, suddenly sneezed. He rubbed his nose with a strange expression, feeling an ominous premonition for some reason.

At the same moment, the office door opened.

"Director, the report you asked for is here."

"What's the situation?"

"In the past two days, there have been a total of eighteen large-scale power outages and two accidental asphyxiation deaths... We've investigated the asphyxiation deaths thoroughly; they were caused by aging gas pipes leading to gas leaks, which filled enclosed spaces and suffocated people in their sleep. There's no possibility of foul play... However, these power outages are indeed troublesome. Frequent blackouts have already affected the daily lives of some residents. The power company has received thousands of complaints in the past two days, and they came to us because they had no other options."

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

"They suspect someone is deliberately sabotaging the circuits; otherwise, the power system wouldn't malfunction so frequently, so they reported it to the police."

Wang Jincheng pondered for a moment. "So, did you send someone to investigate?"

"Yes, we did, but no one was damaging the wires, nor was anyone secretly stealing electricity. The lines just inexplicably stopped working... I guess it's probably due to disrepair over the years," the officer said nonchalantly.

"Ineplicably stopped working..." Wang Jincheng murmured the phrase, as if something had just occurred to him, and his expression suddenly turned grim.

"Damn it... It can't be..."

"What's wrong, Director?"

Wang Jincheng didn't answer. He paced back and forth behind his desk for a moment, his expression growing increasingly solemn. After a full thirty seconds of silence, he spoke in a deep voice: "Go, get the director of the power company here... I want a map showing the locations of all the faulty power lines during this period. Also, mark the two aging gas pipelines on the map for me. And... tell the officers under your command to be vigilant. Any abnormalities in the main city recently, no matter how small, must be listed and reported to me, especially regarding damaged, aged, or malfunctioning objects."

Although the officer didn't understand, he quickly nodded: "Alright, I'll go take care of it right away!" With that, he turned and rushed out of the office.

Wang Jincheng stood alone behind his desk, like a statue, for a long time before slowly walking to the window. He gazed out at the city, stretching endlessly to the horizon, and murmured to himself: "I hope I'm just overthinking this. The Mortal Realm, it can't be this unlucky, can it..."

***

**Jinghong Tower**

Bzzzt—Bzzzzzt—

With a faint electrical hum, the light above Chen Ling's head flickered and finally went dark. Chen Ling, who had been deep in thought, staring at the large map of the main city on the table, looked up at the extinguished light, a flicker of doubt in his eyes...

"Power outage?" Jian Changsheng, who had been dozing on the map, also looked up at the bulb.

"...Looks like it."

"Perfect, now I can sleep even better." With that, Jian Changsheng flopped back onto the table, squirmed around a bit, and comfortably closed his eyes.

Chen Ling couldn't help but ask, "Didn't we say we needed to find the Mortal Realm base? Why are you sleeping again?"

"Don't you have me? What do I have to do with this brain-intensive work?" Jian Changsheng retorted stubbornly. "You asked me to scout, and I did. I've practically covered the entire Mortal Realm main city these past two days. What's wrong with sleeping a little more now? Do you expect my pig brain to be of any help to you?"

"...Never mind, you can keep sleeping."

Jian Changsheng lifted his chin, like a victorious general, and proudly flopped back onto the table.

Chen Ling: "Sleep all you want, just don't lie on my map."

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

Chen Ling looked at the map in his hands, which was twice the size of the table, and sighed inwardly. He held a red pen, but hesitated, unsure where to mark it.

For the past few days, they had been searching for the blood-red petals from that painting. Chen Ling had asked Huang Suyue and leveraged the connections of the Huang Family Consortium, but they still hadn't found the species of the flower, nor any place in the Mortal Realm main city where it grew.

It was now certain that the Mortal Realm base was not within the conventional "Mortal Realm main city," nor did it have a physical location on the surface. They suspected the base might be buried underground or hidden in some other way.

Although Diamond 10 had a way to survey underground, his speed alone was too slow. Searching inch by inch would take at least a year to cover the entire Mortal Realm main city, and Chen Ling and the others couldn't afford to wait.

"Wang Jincheng had been busy with something these past few days and hadn't come to the theater. Showing up unannounced would easily raise suspicion, so they needed to find a suitable excuse first... Or, they could think again if there were any other methods..."

Faint snores echoed in the quiet room. Chen Ling glanced at Jian Changsheng, who was already asleep on the table, rolled his eyes, stood up, and walked out the door.

***

Swish—Swish—

Looking down from the second floor of the theater, Kong Baosheng was sweeping the floor at the entrance, while Li Qingshan held a script, pacing and practicing his voice. The soft rustle of the broom against the ground mingled with the melodious operatic singing, instinctively relaxing Chen Ling's taut nerves.

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

"Brother Lin, you're finally downstairs." Li Qingshan saw Chen Ling descend, put down his script, and smiled, "Have we decided on tonight's performance?"

"Not yet... Is there anything you'd like to sing?"

"Oh, there's so much I want to sing: The Legend of the White Snake, Stratagem of the Empty Fort, The Drunken Concubine, Fourth Son Visits His Mother..."

Li Qingshan rattled off over thirty classic pieces, barely even thinking. Watching Li Qingshan earnestly counting on his fingers, Chen Ling couldn't help but chuckle: "You want to sing so many? When will you finish them all?"

"Very quickly," Li Qingshan said matter-of-factly. Then, as if realizing something, he scratched his head sheepishly, "Even if I sing one piece a day, I can go through all of them in a little over a month. Sorry, Brother Lin, I almost forgot you're the boss here... When I performed in Willow Town before, hardly anyone listened. Now, not only are there more and more audience members, but what we sing is also returning to the mainstream... I think I got a little carried away."

"Nonsense," Chen Ling said, shaking his head. "Everything you have now is what you deserve. However... we probably won't be able to perform tonight."

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

"The theater's power is out. We can't perform without lights at night..."

"Power's out?!" Before Li Qingshan could answer, Kong Baosheng, who was outside the door, perked up his ears, immediately scurried back inside with his broom, and fiddled with the light switch a few times.