After Cheng Lele finished visiting the property management, by the time she returned to the cinema it was already seven or eight in the evening.

She had originally planned to go straight home, but having not appeared at the cinema all day, she still wanted to go back and check on things. This year there was a severe drought across the country, and Taixi also had very little rainfall. Today at dusk, strong winds suddenly picked up. By the time Cheng Lele got on the bus heading to the cinema, the sky seemed to have torn open a gap, and torrential rain began pouring down.

Even when Cheng Lele got off the bus, the rain hadn’t lessened at all. On the contrary, it grew heavier and heavier, as if trying to make up all at once for this year’s missed rainfall.

She hadn’t brought an umbrella, but fortunately the bus stop wasn’t far from the cinema. She held her bag over her head and ran all the way. In just a minute or two, her entire body was soaked through.

Thinking there was still a set of clean staff uniform in the office, she had just pushed the door open and hadn’t even put down her bag when Tao Yu knocked on the door in a rush.

“What’s wrong?”

Tao Yu said anxiously: “Manager, Theater 3 is leaking.”

Cheng Lele was startled. There was no time to wipe her face or change clothes. She immediately followed Tao Yu into the theater.

The last showing in Theater 3 had just ended, and all the projection lights were turned on. Tao Yu had originally come in to clean. If he hadn’t happened to pass in front of the screen and gotten dripped on the neck by falling water, he wouldn’t have discovered it for quite a while.

Cheng Lele stared at that leaking spot, her heart tightening. Damn, it couldn’t have leaked through and drenched the screen, could it?

The movie screen was made of metallic film and was extremely fragile. If it got splashed with clean water, it could still be gently wiped with a sponge. But rainwater mixed with concrete pipe leakage coming down was all sewage. If it soaked and damaged the coating, that would be permanent damage—it could only be replaced, not repaired.

Right now the cinema was stretched thin—where would they get money to replace a screen? Besides, replacing a screen required an ordering cycle, and both transportation and installation had time costs. If a dark horse film came along, every missed showing would mean lost money.

Cheng Lele made a quick decision: “I saw tarpaulin when we were organizing the storage room. Let’s go up to the roof. Are there any male employees still on duty?”

“Besides me, there’s Jiang Qi. Oh, Shen Dafeng finished his shift but was blocked by the rain from going home. He’s watching a movie in the theater now.”

“Call him too. The four of us together.”

Chen An had been disheartened all day. He had rushed home for an overseas conference call with India. After the meeting ended and he looked up, outside it was already pouring rain—he didn’t even know how long it had been raining.

Chen An glanced at his watch. It was exactly the time Cheng Lele usually got off work.

He wasn’t sure if Cheng Lele was at the cinema, and he didn’t even dare confirm whether Cheng Lele was in Taixi. All day today he hadn’t dared call Cheng Lele, but the heavy rain gave him a very good excuse.

So he picked up his phone and dialed the number. No one answered.

He called again. Still no one answered.

He frantically called over and over again, but the person on the other end of the line seemed to have no intention of acknowledging him.

Chen An decided to go find Cheng Lele. Seven years ago, Cheng Lele had said she hoped he wouldn’t come looking for her again. But she had said that back then she was being foolish, which meant that now, he could go find her.

Chen An grabbed an umbrella and walked out of the residential complex. After getting in the car, he made several more calls.

Suddenly a muffled thunder rumbled overhead, its aftershock echoing, making even the ground tremble. The neon lights along the street continued to flicker, and the rainwater on the car windows refracted eerie rays of light. Chen An vaguely felt an ominous premonition rising within him.