Chapter 10 Maomao Chapter Ten A Crazy Hunt and a Calm Escape

Old Beppo rode back to town overnight in his rattling wagon.He hurried on, as if the gray judge's words were still ringing in his ears: "We shall learn about the noteworthy child... You may now be sure, Mr. Defendant, that she will never harm us again... We will do everything we can to…” There is no doubt that Mao Mao is in great danger!It was necessary to go to her immediately and warn her of this dire situation.She must be protected from Mr. Gray - although he didn't know how to act, he was sure he would figure out a way.Old Beppo was pedaling hard, his white hair fluttering in the wind.It's a long way to the ruins of the amphitheater.

However, the entire ruins of the amphitheater had been surrounded by a number of luxurious gray cars, their headlights shining brightly there.Dozens of Mr. Gray scurried up and down the overgrown steps, searching every hole. Finally, they found the entrance of the small stone house, and several Mr. Gray climbed in.They checked under Maomao's bed and even the brick stove. They crawled out, patted the dust off their coats, and shrugged. "The kid has gone far away," said a Mr. Gray. "It's really annoying." Another Mr. Gray said, "The child doesn't sleep in the middle of the night, why is he running around?" "

"What I find most irritating," said the third Mr. Gray, "is that it looks as if someone warned her in time." "Unbelievable," said the first Mr. Gray, "unless that person Before we know our decision." Gray gentlemen, you look at me, and I look at you. "If this child really got that person's admonition," the third Mr. Gray pondered, "then she must not be around here anymore, and we can only waste time in vain if we continue here." "Do you have any better ideas?" "In my opinion, we must report to the central government immediately. Then the central government will order a large number of manpower to reinforce it."

"Then, the central government will first ask whether we have really searched the area thoroughly, which makes sense." "Okay." said the first Mr. Gray, "now, let's search the surrounding area thoroughly first. If that little girl is really helped by that person at this moment, we have made an unforgivable mistake." "Ridiculous." Another Mr. Gray scolded viciously, "In that case, the central government can order more manpower to be deployed at any time, and all the current staff will participate in the hunt. That child can't escape our grasp. What? So—do it, gentlemen! You know what can happen if you don't take it seriously."

That night, many people in the neighborhood felt strange. They didn't know why the cars always passed by one after another. It lasted until dawn, which is normally only the case on the main streets. The noise of the cars made it difficult to sleep.But at this moment, Xiao Maomao followed the tortoise slowly through the city that was restless all night. The gray gentlemen were chasing desperately in groups, chasing each other in a mess, some impatiently pushing others aside, they were cursing, some lined up in an endless file, listlessly following the front. People walked slowly. The cars on the street are crowded, surrounding the huge trolleybus, and the car engine rumbles from time to time.

The light advertisements at the entrance of the store flickered, sprinkled colorful lights on the messy vehicles and people for a while, and then went out for a while. It was the first time in Maomao's life that she saw such a scene. She followed closely behind the tortoise as if in a dream.They crossed the wide squares and bright streets, cars speeding past them, pedestrians crowding them, but no one noticed the child and the turtle. They didn't have to give way to anyone else, they weren't hit by anyone once, and no car slammed on their feet because of them, because the tortoise seemed to know very well in advance that there would be no cars somewhere at a certain time. Drive by as if no pedestrians have passed by.So they don't have to rush or stop and wait.But what surprised Mao Mao was that although they walked very slowly, they could move very fast.

Old Scavenger Beppo finally came to the ancient amphitheatre. Before he got off his bicycle, he found many tire tracks around the ruins in the faint light of the headlights. He threw the bicycle on the grass. , and ran to the hole in the wall. "Maomao!" He yelled softly at first, and then shouted a little louder: "Maomao!" No one answered. Old Beppo swallowed, his throat felt dry.He crawled through the hole in the wall, and into the dark room below, tripped him and sprained his foot.He struck a match with trembling hands and looked around. The small table and two small chairs made of box boards were overturned on the ground, and the quilt and mattress were also torn off the bed, but there was no sign of Mao Mao.

Old Beppo bit his lips tightly, trying to restrain his hoarse sobbing, and for a moment, he felt a heart-piercing sadness. "God!" he said to himself, "Oh, God, they've taken her. They've taken Momo. I am too late!what should I do now?What to do? The match hurt his finger, he threw the match away, and stood dumbfounded in the darkness. He quickly climbed outside again and limped toward his bike, dragging his sprained foot.He jumped onto his bicycle and left quickly. "Go to Jiji!" he kept saying to himself, "Go to Jiji! I hope I can find the warehouse where he sleeps."

Old Beppo knew that recently, in order to earn some extra money, Gigi slept in a warehouse where auto parts were stored every Sunday night, showing the warehouse, because the parts stored there used to be often lost. Old Beppo finally came to the warehouse, and he pounded on the door with his fist every step of the way.At first, Jiji listened with bated breath inside, thinking that someone was going to steal auto parts!Then he recognized old Beppo's voice and opened the door. "What happened?" Jiji asked in surprise, "I can't stand you waking me up from my sleep so rudely."

"Maomao...?" Old Beibo said out of breath, "Maomao is in danger!" "What did you say?" Gigi asked, sitting up from the bed involuntarily at the same time, "Maomao? What happened?" "I don't know what happened. Anyway, it's not a good thing." Old Beppo still panted.He then tells Gigi what he's been through: the Supreme Court trial on the dump, the ruts around the ruins, and Momo's disappearance.Of course, it took him a long time to finish all these things, because he was afraid of what he had experienced and worried about Mao Mao's safety, so he stammered a bit.

"From the beginning, I knew it," he concluded. "I knew it was going to be good. Now, they're getting their revenge. They've got Momo! Ah! My God, Gigi, we have to Help her quickly! But what to do? How to do it? " Just as the old Bepo was telling the story, Gigi's face gradually lost its color.He felt as if the ground under his feet had been suddenly sucked away.Until just now, he thought all this was just a big game.He treats every game and every story very seriously, but he doesn't think about the consequences.For the first time in his life he felt that there was a real story going forward, that no imagination in the world could bring it back, and that he was not participating! He felt powerless as if paralyzed. "You know, Beppo," he said after a while, "It's possible, it's possible Momo just went for a walk. She does go for a walk a lot.Once she even wandered in the countryside for three days and three nights.So I think we may have absolutely no reason to be so sad now. " "What about the ruts?" Old Beppo asked unconvinced, "And what about the quilt that was pulled under the bed?" "Oh, then," Gigi stammered, "we're assuming someone was there. But who told you they actually found Momo? Maybe she'd gone beforehand. Otherwise, they It won't be so earth-shaking and pinching everywhere." "And if they do find her?" cried old Beppo, "what's going to happen?" He grabbed the sleeve of this young friend, shook it vigorously and said, "Gigi, don't be stupid! Mr. Gray really exists! We must act now!Should act now! " "Be quiet, Beppo," Gigi stammered, a little panicked. "Of course we're going to take action, but we've got to think about it. We don't know where to find her yet." Old Beppo let go of Gigi. "I'm going to the police!" he said excitedly. "Don't panic!" exclaimed Gigi, terrified. "You can't do this! If they do come out and find our Momo, do you know what they'll do to her? You know, Bepo? You know they Will put no parents. Where are homeless children sent?They'll send her to an asylum with iron bars on the windows, would you put our furry through that? " "I don't want to." Old Beipo murmured to himself while staring at the front in bewilderment, "I don't want to do this, but what if she is really in danger?" "But, you should also think about it, what if she's not in danger?" Gigi continued, "What if she really just wandered around and you reported her to the police? When she's taken away and she looks back at you one last time... oh don't want to be in that position." Old Beppo sat down at the table with his face on his arms. "I really don't know what to do," he sighed, "I really don't know what to do." "I think," Gigi said, "we're going to wait until tomorrow or the day after tomorrow anyway, and then we Take action. If she hasn't come back by then, it won't be too late for us to go to the police. However, maybe everything will be back to normal by then, and by then, maybe all three of us will laugh at these unnecessary troubles Laughing!" "Do you think so?" grumbled old Beppo, and at the same time he felt suddenly overwhelmed by an unbearable weariness. Too much had happened to the old man today. "It will," Gigi replied, taking old Beppo's shoe off his sprained foot, helping him onto the bed, and wrapping his foot in a wet towel. "It will be back to normal," he said softly, "everything will be back to normal." When Gigi saw that old Beppo had fallen asleep, she lay down on the floor with a long sigh, using her coat as a pillow.But he couldn't sleep.That night, as he thought about Mr. Gray over and over again, he felt afraid for the first time in his hitherto carefree life. The Time Savings Bank headquarters issued an order to invest more manpower.All the agents in the city have been ordered to stop all normal work and go all out to find the little girl Mao Mao.As a result, every street was covered with gray figures, they even climbed onto the roofs, got into the sewers, secretly watched the train stations, airports, buses and trams—in short, they were everywhere.However, they did not find Mao Mao. "Hey, little turtle," Momo asked, "where are you taking me?" They were walking through a dark backyard. "Don't be afraid!" Two words appeared on the turtle's carapace. "I'm not afraid." Mao Mao said after recognizing the writing on the turtle's carapace. In fact, she mainly said it to herself, to embolden herself, because she was indeed a little scared. The path that the tortoise took her became more and more strange and complicated.They walked through the garden, crossed the bridge, passed through the underpass of the overpass, the city gates and the corridors of the buildings, yes, they even passed through several underground passages. If Fluffy knew that all the Mr. Gray were after her, looking for her, she might be more scared, but she doesn't know anything about it, so she is now able to patiently follow the tortoise on the intricate path.Everything is going well, just like the tortoise can accurately find the right direction when walking through the intersection, now it can also predict when and where the pursuer will appear.Sometimes, as soon as they left somewhere, Mr. Gray would arrive.But they never ran into each other. "I'm so happy, I can already recognize the writing on your carapace very well." Mao Mao said carefreely, "Didn't you notice it?" On the tortoise's carapace flashed the words like an alarm: "Quiet!" Mao Mao didn't understand why, but she understood the meaning of this instruction.Suddenly, three black figures hurried past them. At this time, they had come to the urban area, and the houses here looked more and more gray and dilapidated.On the tall apartment buildings, the walls have fallen off, and the streets are full of potholes and water.The surrounding area is dark and there are few pedestrians. The headquarters of Time Savings Bank got the news that the little girl Mao Mao had been found. "Okay." The command staff replied, "Have you caught her?" "No, she seemed to be swallowed by the earth suddenly, and disappeared in front of us again." "How is this possible?" "We asked that ourselves. She wouldn't be in that place." "Where was she when you saw her?" "Just for a moment. It was in an urban area that we were completely unfamiliar with." "There is no such urban area." The staff of the Time Savings Bank headquarters said affirmatively. "But, obviously, that's the way it is. At that time—how should I put it?—it was as if the downtown area was at the edge of time. The kid was approaching that edge." "What?" Mr. Gray from the headquarters exclaimed, "Hurry up! You must catch her at all costs! Understand? " "Understood!" A dead gray voice replied. At first, Maomao thought it was dawn, but the rare light really came suddenly, that is to say, the light appeared at the moment they just turned the corner and came to a street.It is neither night nor day here. That crisp scene makes people feel neither dawn nor dusk.The light here makes the outlines of all objects barely clear, but it seems that it is not emitted from a certain place, more precisely, it is emitted from all directions at the same time. For the long, dark shadows extended in all directions at once, and even the smallest stone in the street was illuminated by light from front, back, left, and right at the same time, like that tree, that house, and that monument there. Also, the monument looks very special, with an oversized white egg on a huge black stone base. This is that monument. The houses here are also completely different from the houses Mao Mao has seen before. They are very white on the outside, but the windows are dark inside, so it is impossible to tell whether there are people living inside.Therefore, Mao Mao always feels that these houses are not for living at all, but for another mysterious purpose. The streets here are also empty, not only without pedestrians, but also without dogs, birds and cars.Everything is still, as if locked in a glass cover.There is not even a whiff of wind here. Mao Mao was very surprised. Although the tortoises were moving slower than before, they were moving faster here. It was still night outside this peculiar city, where three luxury cars, with bright headlights on, were chasing down a bumpy street, with several Mr. Gray in each.When they were about to turn into the strangely glowing street lined with white buildings, a Mr. Gray sitting in the front car spotted Momo. However, when they first reached the corner, something extremely incredible happened.At that point, the car suddenly stopped moving.The driver slammed his foot on the accelerator, the wheels squealed, but the cars stayed put, as if they were on a conveyor belt that was turning at the same speed in opposite directions.The faster they speed up, the more the car can't move forward.As soon as Mr. Gray found out about this situation, he immediately jumped out of the car cursing and wanted to chase Mao Mao on foot.At this time, they happened to be able to see her from a distance.Gritting their teeth and sprinting forward, when they were exhausted.When I had to stop, I found that I had just run about ten meters forward, but Mao Mao disappeared between the white houses in the distance. "It's over," said one of the Mr. Gray, "it's over, it's all over! Now we can't catch her anymore." "I don't know how it works either," said the former Mr. Gray. "The main question, though, is whether we can get pardon for the car's breakdown as a condition of our sentence being reduced." "You mean we're going to be judged, don't you?" "Yes, we will certainly not be rewarded." All the gray men who participated in the pursuit had their heads drooped, some sat on the radiator of the car, and some sat on the bumper. They feel that things are already like this, and there is no use in worrying. Mao Mao followed the tortoise, and she had walked a long, long way, and she didn't know how many empty, snow-white streets and squares she zigzagged.Because they walked so slowly, she felt as if the streets were sliding under their feet and the buildings seemed to fly past them.The turtle turned another intersection, and Mao Mao followed closely behind—suddenly, she stopped in surprise. The scene on this street is unique again, even more different from what she saw just now. This is really a narrow alley, and the houses on the left and right sides that are next to each other look like small palaces, with beautiful small bell towers, small protruding windows and small balconies, as if they had never been seen before. It has stood on the bottom of the sea since the 19th century, and now it suddenly rises and appears to emerge from among the seaweed and kelp, with shells and corals.The whole town shone with colorful and soft light like a pearl oyster. At the end of the alley, there is a building with a bronze gate in the middle, and some very exquisite statues of people are decorated on the gate. When Maomao looked up, he happened to see the road sign on the wall.It was a piece of white marble with three gold characters engraved on it: Never Alley Mao Mao only looked at the street sign and the words on it, and after a little delay, the tortoise had already crawled a long way, almost reaching the building at the end of the alley in front of. "Wait for me, little turtle!" Mao Mao shouted loudly, but she felt strange that she couldn't hear her own voice. On the contrary, the tortoise seemed to hear it, because it had stopped and looked around.Maomao wanted to catch up with the turtle, but when she walked into "Never Alley", she suddenly felt like swimming against a strong torrent in the water, or in other words, like facing a violent rush but couldn't feel it. Like a hurricane that was about to blow her back. She turned sideways to resist the mysterious pressure, and at the same time grabbed the protruding stones on the wall with her hands. Later, she even had to crawl forward on hands and feet. "I can't get through!" she finally yelled to the turtle squatting at the end of the alley. "Help me!" The turtle came back slowly.When it finally climbed up to Mao Mao, the tortoise shell displayed these words: "Go back!" Mao Mao tried to turn around and walked back.Sure enough, she succeeded, and went on without any difficulty.Especially notable was what happened to her at the same time.That is to say, as she walks backwards, she also thinks backwards, breathes backwards and feels herself smaller and smaller, in short—her life is also going backwards. Finally, her back hit something hard.She turned around and found that she was standing in front of the building at the end of the alley.She couldn't help but feel a little scared, because the bronze door carved with human figures suddenly looked huge from a close distance. "Should I climb up?" Maomao thought suspiciously.However, at this moment, the two heavy doors opened automatically.Mao Mao still stood still, because she found a large sign on the door.A white unicorn carried the sign, and there were three words written on the sign: Nowhere Building. Because Maomao read these words very slowly, when she finished reading these words, the two gates were about to slow down. Closed again. She ducked in quickly, and the next moment, the heavy door slammed shut behind her with a muffled boom. Now, she stands on a high porch.A row of nude statues of men and women stand on the left and right sides, and the distance between them is exactly the same. It seems that they are carrying the roof.The mysterious countercurrent just now is no longer noticeable here. Mao Mao followed the little turtle through the corridor.At the end of the corridor, the tortoise stopped at a small doorway, and Mao Mao had to bend down to barely pass. "We're here." A few words appeared on the turtle shell. Mao Mao squatted down and saw that she was facing a sign on the small door, which read: Secundus? Minu Toast? bell. The little door opened, and inside she heard various musical clicks and jingles.Maomao followed the tortoise and walked in, and the small door closed automatically behind her.