Peach Blossoms in Chang'an

Chapter 270 A Sudden Shadow

Wu Tao wore a Tang-style dress designed by herself. The elegant style and exquisite embroidery made her look even more gentle and charming. She stood on the stage, facing the guests from all walks of life, and introduced the concept and goal of the cultural exchange center in a graceful manner. Her voice was gentle and firm, like clear spring water, flowing in the hearts of every audience.

Offstage, Hu Bugui, dressed in a straight suit, followed Wu Tao with his eyes full of pride and love. He knew how much effort Wu Tao had put in for this moment. From the initial conception to the collection of information and then to the perfection of the plan, Wu Tao did everything herself and strived for perfection. Seeing her standing on the stage now, confident and dazzling, Hu Bugui was filled with joy and emotion.

However, at this moment, a young man in a waiter's uniform walked up to Hu Bugui and whispered, "Sir, here is a letter for you."

Hu Bugui frowned slightly and took the envelope. The envelope was very ordinary, without any signature or address. He felt a little suspicious, but he still opened the envelope calmly and took out the letter inside.

There was only one line of words on the letter paper, but it sounded like a thunderclap in Hu Bugui's ears:

"I know your secret. If you don't want it to be exposed, come and see me..."

Hu Bugui's face suddenly became solemn, and he slightly exerted force on the fingers holding the letter, and his knuckles turned blue and white. He knew what this meant.

"What's wrong?" After Wu Tao finished his speech, he returned to Hu Bugui, keenly noticed his abnormality, and asked softly.

Hu Bugui took a deep breath, handed the letter in his hand to Wu Tao, and whispered, "Read it yourself."

Wu Tao took the letter, read it carefully, and his face turned ugly.

"They... they haven't given up yet!" Wu Tao said in a low voice, with a hint of fear that was hard to conceal in his tone.

Hu Bugui held Wu Tao's hand, gave her a comforting look, and said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, I will protect you."

"But..." Wu Tao wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Hu Bugui.

"No buts. We must figure out who they are and what they want to do." Hu Bugui said, with a sharp light flashing in his eyes.

As night falls, the lights are on.

Wu Tao and Hu Bugui did not follow the instructions in the letter, but instead went to a secluded cafe.

"We can't just sit there and wait for death," Hu Bugui whispered, "We must take the initiative and find out their details."

Wu Tao nodded in agreement.

"I have asked someone to check the sender's address, and I believe there will be results soon," Hu Bugui continued.

Just then, the door of the cafe was pushed open, and a man in a black windbreaker walked in. He was tall and wore a black hat with the brim pulled down so low that his face could not be seen clearly.

The man walked straight up to Wu Tao and Hu Bugui, took off his hat, revealing a resolute and unfamiliar face.

"Long time no see, you two." The man said with a meaningful smile on his face.

"Who are you?" Wu Tao asked vigilantly.

"I'm here to help you." The man did not answer Wu Tao's question, but said to himself, "I know what you are worried about, and I know what you are looking for."

"What do you know?" Hu Bugui asked in a deep voice, with a hint of oppression in his tone.

The man did not answer directly. Instead, he took out a USB flash drive from his pocket, placed it on the table, and said slowly: "The things in this may be able to help you."

Wu Tao and Hu Bugui looked at each other and saw a hint of surprise and confusion in each other's eyes.

"Remember, time is running out." After saying this, the man stood up and left the cafe, disappearing into the night.

Wu Tao picked up the USB flash drive on the table, her fingertips trembling slightly. She had a hunch that the contents of this USB flash drive would completely overturn their cognition. Wu Tao's fingers gently stroked the cold metal shell of the USB flash drive, and a chill spread from her fingertips to her whole body. Hu Bugui held her hand, trying to use his warmth to dispel the uneasiness in her heart.

"Do you want to see what's inside?" Hu Bugui asked, with a hint of inquiry in his tone.

Wu Tao hesitated for a while, but finally nodded. The contents of the USB flash drive might be the key to solving the mystery, or it might lead them into a deeper vortex, but she had no way out.

They returned home and inserted the USB drive into the computer. An encryption program popped up on the screen, requiring a password to unlock it.

"What's the password?" Wu Tao frowned, with a bad feeling in his heart.

At this moment, a deep voice sounded in their ears: "I will tell you the password."

Wu Tao and Hu Bugui turned around suddenly and saw a figure wearing a black robe and a hooded head appearing behind them. The lights in the room seemed to dim a little, and an invisible pressure enveloped them, making it almost impossible to breathe.

"Who are you?" Hu Bugui's tone was cold, his eyes full of vigilance.

"I am the guardian of time and space," the black-robed man said slowly, his voice seemed to come from far away, "My duty is to maintain the order of time and space and prevent anyone from destroying the balance between the two worlds."

"Guardian of Time and Space?" Wu Tao was full of questions, "Why are you telling us this?"

"Because you are facing great danger," the man in black robe said solemnly, "That mysterious organization has not disappeared. They have been operating in secret, researching a more powerful time-space weapon, attempting to overturn the balance between the two worlds again."

"What?!" Wu Tao and Hu Bugui were shocked when they heard this. They originally thought that after defeating the leader of the mysterious organization, everything was over, but they didn't expect that this was just the calm before the storm.

"Why are they doing this?" Wu Tao asked anxiously.

"They come from a world torn apart by war and disaster," the black-robed man explained, "and they long to conquer this world and take it for themselves."

"We will never let them succeed!" Hu Bugui said in a firm tone, with rage burning in his eyes.

"I know," the man in black robe nodded, "That's why I came to you. The information in the USB drive is the latest intelligence about the mysterious organization. I hope you can use this information to stop their conspiracy."

After the man in black robe finished speaking, he turned around and prepared to leave.

"Wait," Wu Tao stopped him, "Why did you choose us? We are just ordinary people and have no ability to fight against them."

“Because you are the chosen ones,” the black-robed man stopped but did not look back. “The gears of fate have begun to turn, and you will be the key to this battle.”

After the black-robed man finished speaking, he turned into a wisp of green smoke and disappeared into the air, leaving Wu Tao and Hu Bugui looking at each other in bewilderment.

"What should we do?" Wu Tao looked at the USB flash drive in his hand, feeling it was heavy, as if it carried the fate of two worlds.

"Take the initiative," Hu Bugui's eyes flashed with a gleam of light, "Find them and completely destroy their plot before they launch an attack."

Wu Tao nodded, his eyes full of determination. They had no time to hesitate and had to act immediately.

Hu Bugui entered the password provided by the black-robed man, and the contents of the USB flash drive finally appeared before their eyes. It was a list of names and photos of some people, as well as their connections with the mysterious organization.

"These people..." Wu Tao looked at the names on the list, his face gradually becoming serious, "They are all from the Cultural Exchange Center..."

Before she finished her words, Hu Bugui's phone suddenly rang. He glanced at the caller ID and his face suddenly turned pale.

"What's wrong?" Wu Tao noticed that something was wrong with him and had a bad feeling in his heart.

Hu Bugui took a deep breath, answered the phone, and asked in a low voice, "What's the matter?"

An anxious voice came from the other end of the phone: "Mr. Hu, something bad has happened, something happened at the Cultural Exchange Center..." "Something happened at the Cultural Exchange Center?!" Wu Tao's heart sank suddenly, and an ominous premonition came to his mind.

Hu Bugui hung up the phone, his face terribly gloomy. He stood up abruptly and said in a hurried tone: "People from the mysterious organization have infiltrated the Cultural Exchange Center. They want to turn it into a tool to spread evil ideas!"

Wu Tao also realized the seriousness of the situation, and she said decisively: "We must rush over immediately!"

The two drove quickly to the Cultural Exchange Center. There were few cars on the street at night, and only the street lamps emitted a dim light, adding a bit of solemnity to the tense atmosphere.

When they arrived at the Cultural Exchange Center, Wu Tao and Hu Bugui found the atmosphere here to be extremely strange. The building, which was originally brightly lit, was now completely dark, with only a few windows emitting faint light. There were several unfamiliar vehicles parked at the door, with the license plates deliberately obscured, which made it even more suspicious.

"It seems we are late." Hu Bugui looked solemn and clenched his fists.

Wu Tao looked around and whispered, "Let's be careful and go in to see the situation first."

The two of them sneaked into the cultural exchange center quietly under the cover of night. As soon as they entered the hall, a cold breath hit them. The hall was empty. The exhibition stands that originally displayed various books and exhibits were all pushed to the ground, a mess, and some documents and broken items were scattered on the ground, as if they had just experienced a catastrophe.

"They shouldn't have gone far." Hu Bugui said, pointing at the messy footprints on the ground.

They followed the footprints and came to the screening room of the Cultural Exchange Center. The door of the screening room was ajar, and a faint light shone from inside, accompanied by some vague voices.

Wu Tao and Hu Bugui exchanged glances, carefully pushed the door open, and hid behind it to observe the situation inside.

In the screening room, several people in black clothes and masks were sitting around a table with a laptop and some documents on it. From their vague conversation, Wu Tao and Hu Bugui learned that these people were the remnants of the mysterious organization, and they were planning to use the platform of the cultural exchange center to spread their evil ideas to the outside world.

"We can't let them go on!" Wu Tao said in a low voice, with a cold light in his eyes.

Hu Bugui nodded, signaling her to get ready. The two took a deep breath, pushed open the door, and rushed into the screening room.

"Who is it?!" The men in black were startled by this sudden change. They stood up and looked towards the door vigilantly.

"You have been surrounded. Put down your weapons and surrender!" Hu Bugui's tone was cold and his eyes were full of intimidation.

The men in black were not intimidated. They reacted quickly, pulled out pistols from their waists and pointed them at Wu Tao and Hu Bugui.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The sound of gunfire echoed in the silent screening room, and flames splashed everywhere.

"Let's go!" Hu Bugui grabbed Wu Tao and dodged the bullet attack. At the same time, he took out a smoke bomb from his pocket and smashed it on the ground.

"Cough cough cough!" The pungent smoke quickly spread and the entire screening room fell into chaos in an instant.

"Let's go!" Hu Bugui pulled Wu Tao and took advantage of the chaos to rush out of the screening room and ran outside.

However, at this moment, Wu Tao suddenly felt a huge force coming from behind, pulling her violently...

However, just as Wu Tao and Hu Bugui rushed out of the screening room, the lights in the corridor suddenly went out, and the entire building fell into darkness. Wu Tao felt his feet go empty, and his body fell uncontrollably.

"Wu Tao!" Hu Bugui exclaimed and reached out to grab her, but he only grabbed a corner of her clothes.

"Don't worry about me! Let's go!" Wu Tao's voice came from the dark abyss, becoming weaker and weaker.

Hu Bugui's heart seemed to be tightly grasped by an invisible hand. He tried desperately to rush into the darkness to find Wu Tao, but was pushed by the crowd rushing up from behind and could not move forward even a single step.

"Damn it!" he cursed angrily, but to no avail.

When Hu Bugui finally got rid of the crowd and rushed to the trap at the end of the corridor, there was no one there. There was only a piece of torn cloth on the ground, which was part of Wu Tao's clothes.

Hu Bugui picked up the piece of cloth with trembling hands, and held it tightly in his palm, letting the cold cloth sting his palm. His eyes gradually became firm and sharp, like a sword drawn from its sheath, emitting a cold murderous aura.

"I will definitely find you, Wu Tao. No matter what the cost, I will rescue you!" He swore secretly in his heart, his voice low and firm, as if it was an oath from hell, with determination and desperate madness.

At the same time, Wu Tao was thrown heavily onto the cold and wet ground. She struggled to get up, but found that her hands and feet were tied tightly and she could not move.

"Awake?" A cold voice came from above, with undisguised malice, "We meet again, Wu Tao."

Wu Tao raised her head with great effort, and with the weak light, she could clearly see the figure standing in front of her. It was the man in black whom she had seen in the cinema before. He still had a mask on his face, so her expression could not be seen, but his eyes were like a venomous snake, emitting a cold light.

"What do you want to do?" Wu Tao asked coldly, enduring the pain in his body.

"Don't worry, we have plenty of time to talk slowly." The man in black squatted down and gently lifted Wu Tao's chin with his fingers, his tone full of teasing and cruelty, "I really want to know, how much pain can a weak woman like you endure?"

Wu Tao didn't say anything, just looked at him coldly, her eyes full of determination and unyielding. She knew that a storm was coming, but she would not give in. She wanted to live strong for herself and for Hu Bugui...