As soon as the night ended, the club, as usual, was stuffed with soldiers, gentlemen and local tycoons, who sat in their exclusive seats drinking and smoking cigars, talking about everything from the price of rice in Guangzhou to the figure of an American woman, although the war had spread to the sea, and the Japanese surrounded our sea, but the club's whiskey supply was still very optimistic, as the club manager assured everyone, even if one day the Japanese flag was planted on the top of Baiyun Mountain, the club still served steaks on time every night, rain or shine. Despite the security provided by the club, everyone here tonight still had some uncomfortable expressions, especially when the wall clock on the club closet was close to seven o'clock, and everyone invariably looked back at the open door of the club a few times, and their eyes were full of antiquity, as if something surprising was about to appear at the door. Everyone is waiting. The owner of the Happy Department Store, who was already in his old age, was a regular customer of the club, and he would spend an hour or two here every night, and tonight he seemed to be in a hurry, and he had looked towards the door more than once, and the empty door seemed to disappoint him again, so he called the manager over.

"I don't know what Boss Chen commands?" The manager bent down very politely and whispered.

"Is Mr. Qin coming tonight?" Boss Chen asked with a local accent, "I'm still waiting for him to talk to me about Shanghai." ”

"I'm very sorry, Boss Chen, I don't know if Mr. Qin will come tonight, he usually shows up at the club at six o'clock, and then eats at the place by the window."

"Did you call his house and ask?" A gentleman dressed as a soldier next to him turned around, "I'm also waiting for him to tell me about foreign news." ”

"I'm really sorry, I haven't called his home, and we won't call if the general members don't come, so it's a bit rude, I'm afraid it will disturb them."

"Then send someone to ask, that's polite, right? He promised me to be my advisor last night. The shareholder of Henghui Bank, who was sitting opposite Boss Chen, said.

Everyone was not satisfied with the manager's reply, which made the manager feel embarrassed, and he had to ask the waiter to give each of these upper-class people a free glass of whiskey, but he didn't dare to call Mr. Qin's house, after all, it was a bit of a problem involving the personal life of the guest, so he secretly ordered a waiter to go to Mr. Qin's house to ask about the situation.

So, where is this Mr. Qin?

At this time, Mr. Qin was not on the way to the club, and he had no intention of chatting with those dignitaries today, but stood in front of the door of the Sunshine Hotel early. His tall frame supported a gray suit, with a seven-and-three-point hair, a pair of piercing eyes that made everyone who looked at him involuntarily lower their eyes, and he held a small rectangular leather case with some dollars and clothes in it, and of course, two American-made wheeled pistols around his waist, just like himself, classic and elegant. The title of Mr. Qin is a bit old to him, and he prefers others to call him by his first name compared to the title of Mr. Qin. Qin Qi looks like a young man in his early twenties, graduated from the military academy only for a year or two, has never fought a war, manages the family industry in Guangzhou, often lingers in various banquets of high society, he is a frequent visitor to the club, often explains current affairs to everyone in the club, and everyone appreciates his unique views very much. In addition, he also told the rich about the world other than China, and he spoke to the point, from the Cape of Good Hope in Africa to the Bering Strait in the Arctic, there seemed to be nothing in this world that he did not know. Qin Qi is not one of those lazy and ignorant rich children, he is sitting on empty food, he only knows how to squander his family property, and his flexible brain is something that he is more proud of than rich family property. The business he handled, apart from the irresistible factor of war, he was able to get things done properly. In this high society, many rich people have hinted to him that they want to accept him as a son-in-law, but he refused, not because his vision is higher than anyone else, but in Qin Qi's heart, there has always been a woman who no one can replace, Luo Zhilan. At the moment he is waiting for his goddess.

Fortunately, the goddess Qin Qi was waiting for was in this hotel, and he had already made a marriage contract with him, he didn't have to endure the lovesick pain of "looking for and seeking, but there was no trace" described by the poet, and he didn't have to sing about wine like a madman, what he had to do was to wait patiently before Luo Zhilan arrived. The waiting time was not quite long, and at this time he had already seen Luo Zhilan. Luo Zhilan was coming down the stairs of the hotel, she also saw Qin Qi, and immediately trotted all the way over. The sound of high heels echoed crisply in the corridor of the hotel, and the gray long skirt blocked Luo Zhilan's trotting feet from time to time, she had to lift her skirt, revealing her red high heels, and ran towards Qin Qi not very flexibly, her face was full of excitement and happiness. The golden light shone on her face, and it was difficult to hide her fair skin, which looked almost broken by her fingers. It may be that the momentum of this run is a little bigger, so that Luo Zhilan couldn't stop when he arrived in front of Qin Qi, and directly crashed into Qin Qi's arms, startling Qin Qi.

"You didn't crash, did you?" Qin Qi lowered his head and asked Luo Zhilan in his arms.

"No, no, I can't stop・・・・・" Luo Zhilan glanced up and lowered her head embarrassedly.

"By the way, what about Uncle Luo?"

"Dad? Dad is in the back, he and the waiter are taking the luggage down" Luo Zhilan helped Qin Qi, stood firm, and turned around and pointed to the hotel stairs.

At this time, at the staircase of the hotel, a middle-aged man in a white suit with a slender mahogany cane under his armpit strode forward with a straight waist, followed by a young man dressed as a waiter, holding a cart full of luggage.

This is Luo Zhilan's father, Luo Fangshi. Luo Fangshi's grandfather was a minister of the imperial court, in charge of trade with foreigners, his father took advantage of his grandfather's convenience to stay in the ocean, saw a lot of mechanical foreign cannons, and also got acquainted with some British, in this rotten government weaving the mesh to breathe outward, but since then he has fallen into the root of the disease, always feel that foreigners' things are better than their own, even the bed is more comfortable to sleep. This kind of admiration for foreign psychology made Luo Fangshi's father hire foreign teachers for him since he was a child, and he also studied in foreign countries in the same way. By the time the Qing government had been destroyed, Luo Fangshi had become a returnee scholar, and later came to the United States to marry and settle down, and is now engaged in archaeological work in a department of the United States government.

Qin Qi hurriedly turned around and asked the driver parked across the street to drive the car over. Qin Qi politely opened the co-pilot's door for Luo Fangshi, and he and Luo Zhilan sat in the back seat of the car, and after everything was ready, the car slowly drove into the road and drove towards the dock.

Luo Zhilan was obviously overjoyed to see Qin Qi, although the couple had not seen each other for two months, but for people in love, a minute was often a torment of 10,000 years. Luo Zhilan told Qin Qi for a while that the hotel had a power outage today, and the room was messed up by the waiter, and after a while, she told Qin Qi that her father Luo Fangshi's sick leg had not been good for the past few days, and he had not walked around properly, and he was chirping like a bird out of its cage, calling in the woods. Qin Qi just nodded and smiled knowingly, while Luo Fangshi, who was sitting in front, maintained a serious face. It didn't take long for Luo Zhilan to get tired, so she gently leaned on Qin Qi's shoulder to rest, and calm returned to the car. At this time, Luo Fangshi turned his head, glanced at Luo Zhilan, who was resting, turned to Qin Qi again, and asked, "Qin Qi, is Mr. Qin okay?" ”

"Fortunately, thank you Uncle Luo for your concern, grandpa, he is suffering from a recurrence of his old illness, and now he is recuperating at home in the United States, and he can't watch the business in the company for the time being." Qin Qi said, "I only received a telegram from the United States yesterday, saying that my grandfather was sick and couldn't watch the business, so I asked me to go back and help, and he asked me to go back to discuss the marriage with Zhilan, and it is estimated that the marriage will be held in the United States, this... Uncle Luo, you should have no opinion." ”

Speaking of this, Qin Qi turned his head to look at Luo Zhilan, who lowered her head shyly with a smile on her face.

"Hahaha~" Luo Fangshi suddenly laughed, his serious expression disappeared instantly, and he pointed at Luo Zhilan with his finger, saying: "I have long wanted to send this girl out, but unfortunately, no one has wanted her all these years, and she has been making trouble around me all day long, so I can't calm down, now it's okay, Qin Qi is willing to adopt this girl for me, I'm too late to thank you, how can I have an opinion, right, Xiaolan?" ”

"Dad~ Did you say that about your daughter? I'm not making a fuss, it's a fact, how can you distort the facts? You guys have taboos about facts, you know? Luo Zhilan crossed her hands on her hips and said righteously.

"It's true, I swear by my sick leg."

"Okay, Zhilan, don't fight with your father, let's be polite as juniors, right?" Qin Qi took Luo Zhilan's hand and said with a smile.

"Well, well, can't spoil the atmosphere." Luo Zhilan put down his hand, leaned back on the chair, glanced out the window, thought for a while, suddenly turned around, and said to Luo Fangshi: "Dad, it's so boring, you can tell us about your past, just talk about your military in Egypt, okay?" ”

"Haven't you heard that? Why do you still want to hear it"

"Qin Qi hasn't heard of it, he must want to hear it, right? Qin Qi? Luo Zhilan looked at Qin Qi.

"I also want to hear about Uncle Luo's experience, Zhilan often tells me about his uncle's experience, and I am very interested in this. I wonder if Uncle Luo is willing to share it? Qin Qi said to Luo Fangshi very politely.

Luo Fangshi looked at these two people, coughed, and said, "Okay, it just so happens that I'm in a good mood now, and it's still far from the dock, so I'll tell you about it, but Qin Qi, you have to listen carefully." ”

As he said that, he stared at Qin Qi with wide eyes, as if he wanted to tell Qin Qi some big secret, and the car instantly became a little silent. The driver sitting next to Luo Fangshi involuntarily glanced at him a few times at this time, with a little weirdness in his eyes.

Qin Qi didn't expect Luo Fangshi to talk to him with such a serious attitude, he was a little overwhelmed, and hurriedly responded to him: "It must be." ”

Hearing Qin Qi's answer, Luo Fangshi seemed to have received some promise, breathed a sigh of relief, lay down with his back against the seat, and began to talk about his story.

"When it comes to being a soldier, in Egypt it's not like working in the army. It's been 20 years since this happened, and I was about the same age as you at the time, and I had the idea of going out for an adventure, so I ran from Shanghai to Cairo, and my father was familiar with the British army at that time, and I got a job as a clerk in the British army in Egypt through my father's connections, responsible for the communications of the troops, and the workload in peacetime was not much, and in such an arid area, although the living conditions were difficult, but it was easy. ”

"Has it always been like this?" Qin Qi asked.

"Of course not." "I had come out on an adventure, but of course this comfortable life was not for me, and when I first thought of Egypt, I was still interested in the royal tombs there." At that time, there were a lot of people in Egypt who made a lot of money digging up antiquities, mostly British and Americans, and I had this idea myself, but I was not a rich man, and people like me could only rely on luck. After being in the army for a long time, I had the intention of leaving. When I told my chief about this idea, he also expressed his understanding. But instead of turning me down outright, he offered me another job. ”

"What job?"

"This officer of mine is a typical English gentleman, whose ancestors have served as a guard for the King of England all his life, and I trust him more. He told me very responsibly that I could join a team that went out on a mission and served as a communications soldier in it, and that this mission was a hire, and that the pay was very high when I came back, and that I could leave the army whenever I wanted. When I heard that I could go out and get paid at the same time, I happily accepted the task, which was much better than me returning to Shanghai empty-handed, so I packed my bags and set off with the team that night. It was already one or two o'clock in the morning, and I didn't see who was in the group, and everyone didn't seem to talk much, just walked with their heads down. I had a decent sense of direction, and I could clearly perceive that we were heading south, and it was only when the sun rose over the Red Sea that I saw that the group was led by an old man in a suit and a soldier with the rank of captain. ”

With that, he struck a match, lit his pipe, took a soft puff of his cigarette, and then went on to talk about himself.

"These two men are often discussing very secret matters, and they never say a few words to the people below us other than a few simple orders. It is the duty of a soldier to obey his superiors, and we generally don't take care of other things, and it is not our turn to take care of them, and everyone is very peaceful and do their own things. But I was not a man of self-control, and I looked closely at the captain and the old man, and found that the old man had a small notebook in his hand, and every time they had a private conversation, he would take it out and record something. Curiosity drove me, and I gradually had a thought in my mind: I was going to steal the book. After walking in the desert for about two days, in the early hours of the third night, I found the old man's tent and quietly stole the notebook from his suit jacket. With a notebook in my hand, I was naturally very excited, and I was afraid that others would find out, so I took a flashlight and ran to the back of a sand dune not far from the camp, intending to read the contents of the notebook. It turned out that at this time, something happened in the camp. ”

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know if it's my curiosity that saved me, or if I'm lucky," the corners of Luo Fangshi's mouth turned up slightly. "As I turned the first page of the book behind the dunes, I heard a crisp sound of gunfire, followed by a flurry of machine guns and grenade explosions. I was so shocked by the sound that I immediately turned off my flashlight, stuffed my notebook into my clothes, climbed to the top of the dune, and looked up slightly at the camp, which was already in the midst of a fire, and because there was no light source around the desert, the camp was exceptionally bright. From the rear of the camp, I could see a group of men dressed in black attacking the camp with guns fired, most of my teammates in the camp lying in the sand covering their wounds and panting, and the few others resisting the captain and the old man uselessly. Soon, the team was wiped out, except, of course, me. I thought it was just some local robbers robbing, but the rest of the story made me feel that it wasn't that simple. The men in black were led by a tall man in a metal mask, who dragged the old man who had been shot from the pile of wounded to the outside of the camp and asked a few loud questions, this man's accent was very distinctive, and the voice he spoke was like music from a gramophone, magnetic and penetrating, and I could hear what he was saying from far and wide. He was asking the old man where the map was. “

"The map he was looking for must be the old man's notebook." Qin Qi said.

"Qin Qi guessed right." Luo Fangshi glanced at Qin Qi proudly. "I thought that if the old man could hand over the notebook, he would probably be able to survive. But the old man died before he could answer the question. Fortunately, the old man was too badly injured, otherwise I would not have had a good time in my heart. The masked man looked angry, he roared, pulled out a black sword, stabbed at the old man's body, and strange things began, the old man's face was like poisoning, from blue to black, and soon decomposed, and the corpse turned into black dust in an instant, leaving only a pair of white bones, and it felt like the old man was made of sand. Although there are many strange things in Egypt, I have never heard of such a trick, and it scared me a lot at the time. "Dad, don't talk about this, it's disgusting."

"Who told me about this? Don't want to hear it now? ”

"Uncle Luo, go on, what happened to those men in black?" Qin Qi gently patted the back of Luo Zhilan's hand with his hand soothingly.

The men in black then turned over the camp, and I knew that this place could not be left for long, so I left the dunes in the gap where they were looking for a map. Luckily, I brought a compass and a water bottle and walked back for about two days before returning to the city where I started. I approached our commander and reported the accident to him. Of course, I didn't explain the matter of the book together.,I feel like there's something hidden in the book.,This thing is a little tempting.。 The chief reported this to the above, please, considering that the men in black have weapons, the team needs to be integrated for a day or two before they can set off. So I took the time to read the book carefully, and it turned out that my conjecture was correct, and this book really has treasures. ”

"What kind of treasure?"

"It's not very clear, and I can't remember it very well, but it seems to say that there was once a man who found a map carved on the wall in a temple in Egypt, and according to the map, this person went west from Egypt, from the west coast of Africa, and saw an identical temple on the sea. He entered the temple and found the stairs inside, and finally, the man found a city hidden under the sea, which contained countless gold and treasures, he took some treasures, returned to his hometown, and recorded his experience, but unfortunately the adventurer did not leave a map of how to get to the underwater city, but wrote down the route of how to get to the temple. The man didn't seem to want to share his findings with anyone else. ”

Luo Fangshi took out a worn-out book from his pocket, the cover made of cowhide was as mutilated as a fallen leaf, there were some knife marks on it, the paper was yellowed, and there were some iron-red stains on the corners, which should be regarded as an antique. He cautiously flipped to a page, the pen writing on it was blurred, but he could still see that something resembling a compass had been drawn on it.

"This is the old man's book, it's been a few years, and the handwriting is basically unreadable." Qin Qi leaned his head forward, wanting to take a closer look at the shape of the disc on the notebook, but he didn't expect Luo Fangshi to suddenly close the notebook, take out a handkerchief from his pocket, and wrap the notebook tightly. Qin Qi was a little embarrassed, he felt that his actions just now were a little offensive, and he didn't know what to say, but soon he was confused again, because Luo Fangshi handed him the wrapped notebook again and stuffed it into his hand.

"This is my wedding gift for you." Luo Fangshi said with a smile, with a little relief on his face.

"Dad, you can't send something else, this book can't be eaten, the things on it are not clear, it is better to give me a gem or something, at least it looks comfortable." Luo Zhilan expressed her dissatisfaction with her father on the side.

Qin Qi was holding the book in his hand, and just as he wanted to open it, he was stopped by Luo Fangshi. He looked at the couple and said, "Although this thing is not practical, it means a lot to the two of you, and it is also a testimony of my escape from death." Without me, how could there be you, Xiaolan? Qin Qi, you have to take care of this thing, this is also of great significance to you. ”

"I will definitely take care of this thing, Uncle Luo, you can rest assured." Qin Qi straightened his waist, as if he had made a promise to the chief.

Luo Zhilan said to Qin Qi with a little dissatisfaction: "Then you two big men will keep your promises, and I'll play while I go." ”

Hearing Luo Zhilan say this, Luo Fangshi couldn't help laughing.

After Qin Qi stuffed the notebook into his inner pocket, he raised his head and said, "Uncle Luo, your story is not over yet." ”

"Oh, yes," Luo Fangshi said, glancing at the driver next to him, his brows moved, and he continued: "Later, I followed the contact information left in the notebook and found an address with a person's name on it. It just so happened that the address was in Egypt, and it was not far from where I was in the unit, so I followed the address and found a person, and it was an English lady. ”

"This person is my mother." Luo Zhilan said excitedly on the side.

"It turned out to be an aunt." Qin Qi had a surprised expression on his face, "What a coincidence." ”

"Yes, coincidence, this world is so small," Luo Fangshi continued, "The old man turned out to be a professor, and Zhilan's mother was his student, and the professor has been engaged in archaeological research, and the translation of the map is the credit of Zhilan's mother." The professor had planned to go to the desert to find the temple, but he ran into this group of robbers. Those men in black had 'visited' the professor a long time ago, and for the sake of safety, the professor asked Zhilan's mother to hide in a place, just in case, but it turned out to be really as the professor thought, and the men in black really came to grab the map. The rest of the story is like what I just said, when Zhilan's mother heard about the professor's death, she decided to follow the army to find the camp. Later, when Zhilan's mother and I followed the troops, we found the temple in the notebook, the map engraved on the wall, and the drawing of the underwater city in the temple. From that moment on, I understood what kind of underwater city we were looking for. ”

"What kind of city is that?"

"I don't think you've heard of Atlantis, right?" Luo Fangshi looked a little excited, he grabbed his cane, and continued: "Atlantis, a city that only exists in ancient books, sank to the bottom of the sea thousands of years ago, everyone thought this was a foolish legend, but I didn't expect that someone had really been there, and no one knew that it was at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. However, finding the entrance to Atlantis is not easy, as the sea temple on the map is not always on the surface of the sea, it will surface at certain times, and at other times, it will not be visible at all. However, there was nothing to stop a group of people who wanted to find the treasure, and we ended up entering the temple, and at the end of a long staircase leading to the bottom of the sea, we saw a door with daylight, and when we entered, the sight before us was not something that a mortal could imagine. ”

Speaking of this, Luo Fangshi closed his eyes and meditated, and after a while, he opened his eyes and sighed.

"The city seems to be covered by a huge light surface, which glows like the sun, illuminating the city, the architectural style of the city is very strange, the whole city is arranged like a Chinese gossip, or a compass of navigation, surrounded by a layer of buildings, and in the middle is a slightly higher temple building, by the way, around the city, with the light is connected to a round giant mural, which seems to be painted like some galaxy maps, one of which I am particularly impressed, Because there is the same pattern on the frescoes of the temple, that is, three large balls occupy the three ends of the equilateral triangle, and a four-pointed star is drawn in the middle, which looks like a constellation, and I can't even name it now. ”

"Dad, you didn't tell me this before." Luo Zhilan said dissatisfied, "You only said that it was beautiful inside. ”

"Didn't you say it before? I forgot. "The city is not full of gold and silver jewels, as the adventurer in the book says, and what appears before our eyes is an empty and lonely city, but it is somewhat exciting to find one like this at the bottom of the sea. We spent a long time exploring, and when we reached the central temple, we made a small discovery, and in a room on the top floor of the temple, we found a metal disc that resembled a compass, and of course something that neither of you could have imagined. ”

Speaking of this, Luo Fangshi deliberately stopped and looked at Qin Qi and Luo Zhilan strangely. Luo Zhilan and Qin Qi looked at each other a few times, both showing expressions of ignorance, and they turned to Luo Fangshi again, Luo Fangshi just smiled and said nothing.

"Dad, what the hell is it? You don't want to sell it. Luo Zhilan said impatiently.

"You girl, you don't have any patience at all." Luo Fangshi criticized Law and released the answer to them.

"There's a big living person in there!"

"What?!" Qin Qi and Luo Zhilan both shouted. "What living man?"

"I can't tell you this, it's a living person anyway." Luo Fangshi smiled and said, "This is not important, the important thing is that when we came out of the temple, we met the group of men in black, and it turned out that they had been following us. ”

At this time, the speed of the car began to slow down, and there were more and more pedestrians on the road, and it seemed that the pier was not far away. Ralphonse looked out the window, and he continued, "We got into a fight with the men in black, and they seemed to be very interested in the compass in our hands. The battle was quite fierce, and those black-clothed people were so ruthless that we were already a little overwhelmed with just a scimitar, especially the man in the mask, who killed several of us in a row, and there was almost no one to do it, and the bullets couldn't kill him. In order to solve them, I had to detonate the temple with a bomb and bury the group of men in black alive. After that, we left the underwater city, and according to Zhilan's mother's idea, we blew up the temple. Since then, the entrance to Atlantis has disappeared. The city and the men in black became a mystery. ”

"I see, Uncle Luo, your experience is amazing!" After hearing this, Qin Qi couldn't help but exclaim, and after a while, Qin Qi asked again, "So where did that compass go?" ”

"I handed over the compass to the British government, after all, it was the help provided by the British army that we discovered the city." "But if you want to know what a compass looks like, I have a drawing of a compass here. ”

With that, Luo Fangshi took out a squarely folded paper from his chest pocket and handed it to Qin Qi. Luo Zhilan looked at Luo Fangshi from the side and said, "Dad, I want to know about that living person." Did the living man stay in or go out with you? ”

"I can't tell you this, you still ask." Luo Fangshi pretended to be serious and stared at Luo Zhilan, and Luo Zhilan didn't say anything more when she saw her father's appearance.

Qin Qi took the drawing in his hand, and just wanted to open it to take a look, but the car suddenly stopped, and then the driver turned around and said to Qin Qi: "Young master, the dock has arrived." ”