A woman’s voice pierced through the thick canvas, sharp and clear.
After a moment, a young man with a clean face emerged, his face flushed. He lowered his head and ran off without acknowledging anyone.
Leo and Domingo exchanged a glance, both feeling a sense of foreboding.
Leo lifted the tent flap and led Domingo inside, leaving Christine and the three members of the camera crew outside.
Inside the tent was a desk with a desktop computer on it, though it was unclear where the power and signal were coming from. The desk was cluttered with various receipts and a few stamps. A middle-aged woman was busy working at the desk.
“Excuse me, is this where we get our work badges?” Leo cleared his throat and asked.
The middle-aged woman looked up abruptly, her gaze as sharp as a snake that had been lying in wait. Domingo was startled by her sudden movement.
Despite her fierce demeanor, the woman had a kind face that belied the harshness of her voice outside the tent.
“Which unit are you from?” she asked coolly.
Domingo quickly produced her press card and placed it on the desk. “I’m Domingo from Langstel TV. I’ve been working on the ‘Explore Western Xia Treasury’ program here.”
Domingo felt aggrieved as she spoke. She had never needed special proof to enter Western Xia Treasury before; her face was her pass.
The woman examined the press card and then looked at Domingo’s face, comparing the photo with the real person.
“You had short hair?” she pointed at the press card.
“Oh, I liked a clean look back then, so I cut it short. It’s grown out now,” Domingo explained.
The woman sneered and slapped the press card back onto the desk. “You might want to cut it short again.”
She opened a drawer and handed Domingo a work badge.
Domingo was surprised at how easily she got the badge and asked, “Why?”
“You’ll find out inside,” the woman replied dismissively, turning to Leo. “And you?”
Before Leo could speak, Domingo interjected, “He’s my assistant.”
“An assistant? A small-time reporter like you has an assistant?” The woman’s tone was infuriating.
Leo was about to retort, but Domingo held him back.
“How many people are in your crew?” the woman asked.
“Six in total,” Domingo pointed outside. “We’re doing a special episode with multiple locations, so we brought more people.”
“Fine, take these,” the woman said impatiently, pulling six work badges from the drawer and placing them on the desk. “If you weren’t from Langstel TV, I’d have kicked you out long ago.”
Leo held his temper as he collected the badges and left the tent with Domingo.
Domingo thanked the woman before leaving with Leo.
Christine and the others were curious about what had happened inside when they saw Leo and Domingo emerge with a stack of badges.
Domingo distributed the badges and said, “Let’s go in.”
Leo just wanted to find Chloe and get some answers about why Western Xia Treasury had become like this and why an old woman was guarding it.
The guards checked their badges before letting them in but reminded them that this area was now a temporary military control zone. They couldn’t move around freely or make loud noises. Entry and exit required special badges, and nighttime movement was prohibited without urgent matters approved by leadership.
“Leadership?” Leo asked curiously.
The guard, though stern, answered politely. “Sergeant Woods.”
“Sergeant Woods?”
“He’s in the white tent in the center. You can find him if you need anything,” the guard pointed to the center of the camp.
Leo and the others turned to see a white tent standing out among the green ones like a flower in bloom.
“Sergeant Woods?” Leo repeated, shaking his head as he walked in.
“Leo? Domingo? What are you doing here?” Chloe ran up to them, looking surprised and delighted.
The others had gone to choose their tents, but Leo and Domingo wanted to find Chloe first to understand what was going on.
Though Leo had been in contact with Chloe, this was their first meeting since they parted ways in Langstel.
Chloe wore a dusty military uniform with her hair tied in two buns. Her pants were soaked as if she had just waded through water.
“Were you by the river?” Leo pointed at her pants.
“No, come with me. There’s big trouble,” Chloe said urgently.
Sensing something wrong, Leo and Domingo followed Chloe toward the entrance of Western Xia Treasury.
“What happened?” Domingo asked as they reached the entrance.
The entrance was originally a small hole for one person but had been widened to allow three people to walk side by side.
Chloe led them inside and said, “Water ingress.”
“Where?” Leo and Domingo asked simultaneously.
Seeing the powerful flow of Blackwater Creek earlier, Leo had already questioned the logic of Western Xia Treasury’s location.
“Where else? The Iron Gate. Water started seeping through yesterday.”
“It was first noticed by a worker moving soil. Experts said it was just moisture, but I wasn’t convinced. I got permission from Sergeant Woods last night to check it out. I found water pooling on the ground. Luckily, I caught it early.”
Chloe looked relieved. “If we had waited until today, half of Iron Gate would have been submerged.”
“No leaks elsewhere?” Leo asked.
“That’s the strange part. Only Iron Gate is leaking; there’s no water anywhere else,” Chloe said, signaling that the path ahead was tricky.
Leo lowered his head slightly to see the steps better under the artificial lights installed inside Western Xia Treasury and followed Chloe closely.