Most people thought the same. Although Rice and the other two were late, they soon calmed down and waited silently.

8:30, 8:40, 8:50, 8:55.

Eric frowned, but still said nothing. After all, they were helping everyone for free, so being late for an hour was nothing.

But he had a bad feeling in his heart.

At 9 o'clock, as if it had passed a critical point, the crowd began to whisper.

"What's going on? Why hasn't Mr. Rice come today?"

"Yes! It's already nine o'clock. Are you unwilling to help us?"

"What nonsense! Mr. Rice and Ms. Nami are such nice people. Something must have delayed them."

"Haha, maybe he overslept, let's wait a little longer."

Just like that, people waited in silence again.

Eric whispered,"Go ask Farafra what's going on?"

"Ten minutes later, the soldier came back.

"Staff Officer Eric, Farafola said he didn't dare to disturb Mr. Rice's rest, so he didn't know"

"Well, let's wait a little longer, maybe I overslept."

Eric falsely comforted himself.

Time passed quietly, and it was half past nine in a blink of an eye.

Eric looked at the lifeless square and had to stand up and say,"Everyone, let's go back first. Mr. Rice slept too late last night. It will rain again at noon today."

"Oh, so that's how it is. I thought Mr. Rice was going to abandon us."

"Please let Miss Nami rest more. Actually, this water is enough."

"Miss Nami must have been too tired from making rain for us yesterday, so she slept a little longer today.

The heavy atmosphere was swept away, and people slowly left the venue with a little relief on their faces.

"Staff Officer Eric, why are you……"

"Why lie to everyone? Mr. Rice doesn't know what's going on now, so it's not good to let everyone wait here."

"Okay, let's go to the hotel and check out the situation. I hope Mr. Rice really just overslept."

In front of the hotel, Farafra stood anxiously at the door, hesitating whether to call Rice.

Passers-by stopped from time to time, waited for a while and left again.

Eric hurried over with a team of people, and when he arrived in front of the hotel, he couldn't help but slow down and said to Farafra:"How is it, where is Mr. Rice?"

"Inside." Farafra said in a muffled voice

"Go ask?"

Farafra hesitated and nodded slightly, raised his hand and knocked gently on the door of the hotel, whispering:"Mr. Rice? Mr. Rice? Are you there?"

No response

"Idiot, how can we hear it here?"

Farafra scratched his head, gently opened the door, and walked in carefully.

Eric:"You wait outside, it's not good for too many people to go in." Then he followed Farafra.

He knew that room 202 was the room where Rice slept.

""Knock, knock, Mr. Rice, are you there?" Farafra whispered.

There was no response.

Farafra looked hesitant and looked at Eric.

Eric gritted his teeth and said,"I'm here."

""Mr. Rice, do you need water?" Eric raised his voice a little.

Still no response.

Eric was a little panicked. Thinking of a certain possibility, he felt a sense of fear in his heart.

"Haha, Mr. Rice, I have a special breakfast of Alabasta here and I can't wait to let you try it. I'm coming in." Eric made up an excuse, eager to know if Rice was still there.

Click, the door opened, and it was empty inside.

Farafra leaned over to take a look, and said in disbelief with wide eyes:"Where is Mr. Rice?"

Eric's face was flustered, and he knocked on the door of room 201 quickly, and his voice was raised several tones:"Ms. Nochigo, do you know where Mr. Rice went?"

There was no response.

Eric thought about it, ran downstairs quickly, and brought a girl up

""Miss Nochigo? Miss Nochigo?" Eric's voice gradually rose, almost to the point of shouting.

Seeing no response, Eric and Farafola stepped aside and asked the girl to open the room.

The girl's fingers trembled slightly, turned the door handle and opened the door.

The girl covered her mouth and said in panic:"No one."

Eric hurried over, and sure enough, no one was there. He swallowed and said:"Go open Miss Nami's room."

After shouting so loudly just now, there was still no response. It was estimated that there was still no one in Nami's room, but as long as there was a glimmer of possibility, Eric would not give up.

The two stepped aside again, and the girl opened the door again. As expected, the room was still empty.

The three people were pale, and they felt like the sky was falling.

"Did Mr. Rice and his friends leave on their own or were they forced to leave? Or maybe it was kidnapping or even murder."The three of them couldn't help but think so.

Eric frowned and said solemnly:"Don't spread the news of Mr. Rice and his friends' disappearance."

"How is this possible? Truth will come to light sooner or later. If Mr. Rice and his men don't show up when the time comes, everyone will definitely be suspicious."

"Alas, there is no other way. We have to keep it a secret for a while. We will pick some tight-lipped people to find Mr. Rice and his friends.

As time passed, the news inevitably spread.

One person spread ten people, ten spread a hundred people, and the news of the disappearance of Mr. Rice and his friends spread like a whirlwind throughout the city.

"Missing, didn't you say you just overslept? Are you kidding?"

"Could it be that someone kidnapped Mr. Rice and the others?"

"Mr. Rice and his men are not willing to help us anymore? Why are they leaving?"

People speculated.

At the same time, they were in a state of panic, confusion, and emptiness. It was like losing one's favorite toy when one was a child. It was a feeling of losing a treasured treasure. It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality. People have experienced the feeling of drinking water in big gulps, and naturally do not want to go back to the days of enduring drought in the past.

The rebels, some residents began to search for Rice and his three companions all over the city.

In a remote corner, a middle-aged man took out a Den Den Mushi and dialed a man's number.

"Boss, Les and the other two are missing."The man whispered

"Well, very good, I understand." Crocodile said lightly.

After that, he hung up the phone.

He never trusted anyone.

In the tent, Kosha looked lost and murmured:"Mr. Rice, didn't you say that you would continue to help everyone until Alabasta gets rid of the drought?"

Kosha's expression became firm:"Mr. Rice must not have abandoned us on his own initiative. We must find Mr. Rice and his people."

……

It was 10 o'clock in the morning, in the palace of Albana.

In Cobra's room, Crocodile ran quickly to drink from a bucket, and drank for a full minute before stopping and burping.

Cobra sat on the bed with a note in his hand, beads of sweat the size of beans oozing out of his face, his face as dark as water, and written on it was the information that Vivi had brought after experiencing life and death.

The person who shook, tortured and even wanted to put this country into a desperate situation was Crocodile.

Cobra's pupils shrank when he saw this, and he regretted it and said:"I thought he was a government man and I let my guard down. I didn't expect that he actually wanted to take away this country."

"Ikalem……"After reading the letter in his hand, Gaka couldn't help but said sadly.

Cobra read the note carefully and made a quick decision in his heart.

"Jakka, prepare the soldiers for the expedition immediately"

"We immediately set off to the rainy land where Crocodile is"

"Please wait a moment, Your Majesty, it is difficult to move out immediately, after all, the rainy land is still some distance away from here."

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