Chapter 003
Duanmuh Shannchyuan
The next day, Shannchyuan and his friends got up very early. Their sleep was extremely sound. During these two weeks, every day, they looked for a new place to live. Although they had not found a suitable location, especially in terms of price, they found a place to store their belonging yesterday. Today's activity was moving goods to the goods storage area at the station. Iren left first to take care of administrative matters. The four other residents were getting ready to pack their things.
They planned to move the goods gradually to make transporting those things to the warehouse easier. They didn't have a lot of stuff, so it's not that hard. As of today, each person only moved a few items. They put those items into boxes. Shannchyuan, Yihshyong and Shinnshiow, each brought one box. Jenqyih brought two boxes. The other box he brought was Chioujen's. So there were five boxes in total. Iren had brought his own box earlier. All boxes measured 50 centimeters long and 30 centimeters wide. Because the boxes were not big, they could easily take the boxes to the station on foot.
The station was near to their house. There were several stations in this area, but this one was the closest to their home. Apart from its proximity, they deliberately chose that station because they already understood the station's ins and outs. They had been commuting from that station almost every day.
That station was a subway station. Subway was the most popular transportation in this gigantic city. People agree it was reliable, comfortable, and cheap. Like other subway stations in the city, this station was also open twenty-four hours. So, transportation users could take the train at any time they need. There was no such thing as "last train" at any station in this city.
Arriving at the station, they headed straight to the Shindongchaang warehouse, which was deep underground. This station was quite large; there were twelve railroad tracks. The first six tracks were at a depth of 100 meters. The second six tracks were in the layer below, 110 meters underground. They built the station this deep because the soil at that depth was very dense and consisted mostly of a layer of rock so that the ground conditions were very stable. Although the city was safe from the dangers of landslides and earthquakes, they needed to get additional security measures by building stations in hard and dense soil layers. The six tracks above serve Line 15, and the six tracks below serve Line 21. Each line only uses four tracks. Two more tracks were backups for emergencies if they could not use the existing four tracks.
There is actually one more floor below the two floors. However, that floor is closed to the public. Officially the government only said that the floor was a spare facility for the two above it. If, for some reason, the two floors above cannot function, then their role will be taken over by this reserve station. So even though each line already has a backup track, there are also backup stations. From the floor where Line 21's platform was located, people can only go straight down, either using the elevator or escalator, to the floor below the reserve station.
The only way to get to the reserve station was via the emergency stairs. But no one can just barge in there. According to rumors, the door leading to the emergency stairs was heavily guarded at the reserve station. Shannchyuan had heard that there really was another way to get down to it. But the path is still a secret. Because until now, there has never been an incident where the Line 21 and Line 15 platforms failed to function, so the secret passage has never been opened.
There was a mall under the station. Many people entered this subway station to visit the mall instead of taking the train. The mall was quite large, as there were five levels. Below the five levels, there were still more layers. Shindongchaang was one tenant at the lowest level. Including Iren, who came earlier, they had never entered the lower part of the station. So today was the first time for all of them.
Wasting no time, they all headed there forthwith. It turned out the administrative matter was very smooth. When Shannchyuan and his friends arrived at Shindongchaang, Iren had already handled it very well. They could see that the lockers they got were quite large, just like Iren explained to them yesterday, which was two by two by two meters. In addition to the keys, they had to use a PIN, fingerprint, and retina scan to open the lockers. So it was safe because only the tenant could open the locker. Iren also gave them a surprise. Besides the lockers, Shindongchaang also gave them a bonus for access to safe deposit box services. Got a discount, plus a bonus. Their luck was extraordinary this time. Because not all Shindongchaang locations have safe deposit box services, they had to go to other Shindongchaang locations to access it. They had not decided yet where to open the safe deposit box.
They happily put their belongings into the lockers. After that, they tried to lie down in it. Because it was still early in the morning, there weren't many people. According to Tsaehorng, customers rarely go to their lockers because this was a long-term storage locker, not a temporary storage locker. They usually only came when they wanted to pick up or store things. According to statistics, customers usually arrive after lunch.
Iren had already told Tsaehorng that since they would use the locker to store their daily necessities like clothes and toiletries, they would likely come to their locker a lot. Yesterday, Tsaehorng said it didn't matter.
At 10 AM, they felt relieved after they had done everything. Currently, their focus was finding a place to live. Deep in his heart, Shannchyuan felt a bit sad. There was still a feeling of not being willing to leave the house he lived in for this one year. He already felt comfortable living there. Moving to a new place, he will have to adapt again. But he had to accept the fact that they had to move out of the house.
If he insisted on continuing to live there, of course, he could do that. He still had enough money to pay the rent for the house for the next year. Shannchyuan knew his other friends also had some money. But they had to save money because they were all unemployed right now. Not only was Shannchyuan unemployed, but his four friends were also unemployed. Somehow it happened like that. Since Shannchyuan had lost his job three months ago, the other four people had experienced the same thing in succession. This is difficult to explain logically. Maybe it was what people called a shared fate.
A few moments later, they went up and out of the station. After separating at the station exit, they split up. All want to find a place to live close to this station. Even though they had not succeeded in the last two weeks, they were still trying. Actually, last week they already had a suitable place. The place is small, there is only one room. The owner of the place objected to the fact that they crammed the small place with five adult men. They should also take this into account because it turns out that many owners have imposed a maximum limit on the number of residents.
Shannchyuan was walking on the sidewalk with light steps. Although his primary focus was on finding a place to live, he would accept it if he found a part-time job vacancy. He was not penniless, but he had to save money. Two years ago, before deciding to leave his hometown and wander around, Shannchyuan had a steady job. Maybe it was not truly a steady job because he always changed the workplace, although it was still in the same field. It might be more accurate to say that Shannchyuan had a job he could count on. During the decades of work, he had collected enough money. Since Shannchyuan didn't have a wife and kids yet, his expenses were so limited that he could save quite a bit.
Shannchyuan lived with his elderly mother in his hometown. Shannchyuan's younger siblings are all married, so Shannchyuan had to look after his mother. Two years ago, Shannchyuan's little brother, who was long lost, suddenly appeared. Shannchyuan took this opportunity to fulfill his dream. It so happened that Shannchyuan's younger brother did not mind taking care of their mother while Shannchyuan was away wandering. After one year of moving around, Shannchyuan finally arrived in this city and stayed. Currently, one year after Shannchyuan arrived in this city, he felt that there was still much to see and explore. It might be three or four years before Shannchyuan intended to leave this city and return to his hometown.
The streets were bustling. There were so many vehicles passing by on the big road. Suddenly Shannchyuan's eyes fell on a familiar figure. The figure looked like someone he had known several years ago. After paying close attention, Shannchyuan realized this person was the person he had met on the street yesterday. The one who had reminded him to open the umbrella when it rained and then asked him for an address.
Did she find the place she was looking for yesterday?
Shannchyuan talked to himself in his mind. He saw that girl enter a mall across the street. Somehow it seemed as if there was a force that drew Shannchyuan to follow her there. Shannchyuan appeared unable to control his own feet. He automatically walked across the street and entered that majestic building. Arriving inside, he looked around for the figure of the girl he had been chasing. Shannchyuan could not find the figure he was looking for because there were so many people there.
Shannchyuan laughed at himself after realizing how ridiculous he was. A few moments later, he intended to exit the building to continue hunting for the new residence. The mysterious girl he had met yesterday had interrupted his primary goal. But before he could get out of the building, Shannchyuan felt like urinating, so he immediately looked for the nearest restroom in the building.
Inside the men's room, there were also many people. There were six urinals in the room, and those people used all of them. Apart from the six people who were peeing, two or three people were waiting to pee behind each of them. Shannchyuan wondered what these people had been drinking, so they wanted to pee at the same time. On second thought, this one was close to the Food Court, so that might be why this restroom was so crowded.
Shannchyuan decided to find another restroom. He had often entered this building so that, more or less, he knew the ins and outs. He knew which restrooms were quiet in this building. A moment later, Shannchyuan arrived in front of a restroom that was usually quite quiet. The location was hidden enough that only people who had gotten lost had found it by chance. The layout was odd. Sometimes Shannchyuan questioned this mall architect's thoughts when designing the rooms here.
There were two restrooms, namely a men's room and a women's room. On the doorknob of the women's room hung a sign that said "under repair." Shannchyuan chuckled, and his prank's thoughts appeared. He removed the notice board from the women's room door and attached it to the men's room door. After that, he went into the restroom.
Before urinating, Shannchyuan always pressed a button or tapped on the urinal's top to make sure that water came out when he pressed the button. After Shannchyuan pressed the button of the four urinals, none of them let out any water. Shannchyuan sighed. He walked to the latrine stall where the flush toilet was. He quickly entered one of those booths to urinate there.
After he finished urinating and rinsing it with water, Shannchyuan immediately turned around and was ready to get out of that latrine stall. But suddenly, Shannchyuan felt dizzy and lost his balance, so he fell and sat facing the latrine stall door. His head was spinning, then Shannchyuan's gaze darkened. Shannchyuan fainted.
A few moments later, he regained consciousness and immediately rushed out of the booth. Immediately he washed his face and rinsed his mouth. It's weird. Shannchyuan had never experienced it before. It was normal to feel dizzy a few times, but this was the first time he fainted. Usually, he felt dizzy when he was hungry. But before leaving for the station, he had a full meal. Maybe the cause was something else. It had been a long time since Shannchyuan had a medical check-up. Perhaps it's time to care more about his health. He was not young anymore, so he must be more careful in maintaining his health. Shannchyuan decided to go home to rest. Maybe he was too tired because he had been away almost every day from morning to evening during the past two weeks.
Exiting the restroom, Shannchyuan did not forget to return the notice board to its original position. He right away walked toward the exit of the building. He walked fast. Shannchyuan wanted to go out and go home to rest. Inside the building, it was very quiet. Almost no people. So that he could walk very fast without fear of nudging other people.
Arriving outside, Shannchyuan felt something odd. He didn't know this was just his feeling or that some strange things had happened. Even though he felt that way, Shannchyuan did not want to think too far. Shannchyuan directly walked home. He walked so quickly. Right now, his stomach growled. Weird, still at 10 AM, but he was already hungry. A moment later, Shannchyuan arrived in front of his house. He then entered and headed straight to his room. Shannchyuan felt that it was not yet lunchtime, so he lay down before eating for at least half an hour or an hour.
After taking off his vest, tie, and shirt, Shannchyuan at once lay down on the bed. His eyes landed on the clock on the wall of his room. It surprised Shannchyuan; the clock showed 2:10 PM.
Maybe they have done pranks again!
Sometimes Shannchyuan's friends, who lived there, pranked him, including changing the clock in his room so that the alarm went off at the wrong time. Shannchyuan got out of bed and intended to fix the clock. Shannchyuan looked at the watch he was still wearing to see what time it should be. How shocked Shannchyuan was when he saw that his watch also showed at 2:10 PM. Then he looked for the clock on his desk at his bedside. The clock there also shows 2:10 PM. Shannchyuan ran out of the room and checked the other clocks in the house. It turned out that all showed the same thing.
It was still at 10 AM. Why is it already 2 PM?
Shannchyuan sat on the couch in the living room for a moment.
Maybe I was unconscious, not for just a minute or two, but several hours!
If that was so, Shannchyuan's health might be in bad condition. He must thoroughly check his health. Perhaps the problem was severe.
Suddenly the phone rings. Shannchyuan didn't pick up immediately. He waited until the phone rang three times before he answered it.
"Hello!" Shannchyuan said loudly.
It was silence. Shannchyuan could not hear any sound from the other end.
"Hello," Shannchyuan repeated his words.
There was still no reply.
After a moment of silence, there was a sudden voice.
"Uncle Shannchyuan. It's me, Songfei. Help me, please! Someone wants to kill me."
Shannchyuan held his breath at the words. The voice from the other end sounded extremely panicked.
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