Chapter 030
Jongharng Chioujen
Chioujen's attention was now torn between listening to the conversation of the two people sitting to his left and observing the person sitting on the bench in front of the food stall to his right. Fortunately, the conversation of the two people on Chioujen's left, at that time, only contained things that Chioujen thought were not very important. The person sitting on the bench of the food stall made from tuna was currently wearing a light blue shirt. After ordering food then, the person left the bench. Chioujen heard the food vendor say that it took time to prepare the dish. The dish will be ready in at least twenty minutes. He had already ordered, so it was likely that the person would come back after twenty minutes.
Where did he go? Late at night like this, not many places are still open around here!
The two people to the left of Chioujen had almost finished their meal. Perhaps as soon as they finished eating, they would get up from the bench and leave the stall. Chioujen hesitated for a moment. Now, he had two options. The first option was to follow the two people. Chioujen suspected that the things that person mentioned were directly related to his friends. Chioujen felt he had to know about how far that person's actions could harm his friends.
The second option was to remain seated at the stall and wait for the person in the dark blue shirt to arrive. The two people on Chioujen's left seemed harmless. At least, less dangerous than the person in the light blue dress. But Chioujen couldn't just trust his own hunch. He was completely inexperienced in these kinds of things, so he knew he might be wrong.
Fifteen minutes had passed. Finally, the two of them stood up. They were ready to leave the stall. Chioujen actually also finished eating ten minutes ago. He even paid for the food and drinks he ate. The two of them then started walking, but there was no sign that the man in the light blue shirt would return soon. Chioujen took out a coin from his trouser pocket. On one side of the coin was an engraving of a phoenix. On the other side was an engraving of a dragon. Chioujen spun the coin. The coin then spun on the table. After twenty seconds, the coin stopped and fell to one side. The side facing up was the side engraved with a phoenix. Chioujen stood up. He walked after the two people who had just left the stall.
Maybe it is fate that I have to reveal what their conversation was about!
They went up to the floor above the underground mall. It looked like they were heading to the station platform. Carefully, Chioujen walked some distance behind them. At the moment, the atmosphere at the station was so quiet. If Chioujen was too close to them, they could easily notice that Chioujen was following them. It turned out that Chioujen's guess was correct. They headed to the Line 15 platform.
After paying for the train ticket, Chioujen entered the platform and promptly sat on one of the long benches. The two people he observed were standing about fifty meters away from him. They were still talking. Even though he really wanted to hear the contents of their conversation, Chioujen could not act rashly. If Chioujen approached, they would definitely be suspicious. So, Chioujen just sat there waiting to see what the two of them would do next.
In less than five minutes, the train arrived. One of the two of them then got into the car. The one who didn't get on the train was the one wearing the dark green coat. He waved his hand at his friend, who was now in the carriage. The train then started running. The person standing on the platform was still waving his hand. He only stopped waving when the train had actually left the station. The person then turned around and walked off the platform.
Chioujen did not immediately follow him. He was worried that, at that moment, his luck would end. In such a non-crowded situation, it would be odd for him to always be around that person. After the person was out of sight, Chioujen hastily got up from the bench and ran after him. Right in front of the platform, there was a stall selling hats and sunglasses. Without bidding, Chioujen instantly bought the two items and put them on right away.
Chioujen looked around for a while before finally finding the person with the dark green coat. The person seems to be heading towards the escalator. Luckily, he chose to use the escalator. If he took the elevator, Chioujen would definitely have a hard time guessing the person's destination. Several people had already started arriving at the station. They seemed to be construction workers who had to start work early in the morning. Chioujen caught up with the person while half running. Luckily, he was wearing shoes whose soles were not made of wood or other materials that made a loud noise when he stomped his feet on the floor. Chioujen had suspected that the person was going to take the Train Line 21, whose platform was exactly one floor below the Line 15 platform. He was already preparing to buy a ticket to enter the Line 21 platform when he saw the man in the dark green coat standing in front of the vending machine.
He just ate and drank! How could he is already thirsty again?
After getting the drink he wanted, the person forthwith left in front of the vending machine. This time, he walked back toward the escalator again. This made Chioujen a bit confused and worried at the same time. If he really intended to go down to a floor far below, he shouldn't have had to stop by that floor. Drink vending machines were available on every floor. He could directly buy a drink at the vending machine on the floor he went to. Chioujen was worried about the possibility that the person had already realized that Chioujen was following him. If that was the case, that person dropped by the floor they were on, only to confirm whether Chioujen had really followed him. Chioujen stood frozen, thinking about the possibility. But after a while, he decided to continue his action. Everything was already done. Had that person known, Chioujen would have been ready. Chioujen was sure that person wouldn't do anything dangerous.
While walking, the person did not look in any direction at all. He walked on without stopping at all. This made Chioujen even more confused. In the conversation he had heard earlier, that person had considerable experience observing or supervising people. If that was true, he would have known that Chioujen had been following him all along. Chioujen was worried that the person was deliberately letting Chioujen follow him for some reason. However, since he was determined to continue following that person, Chioujen could no longer retreat.
The person took the escalator to the lowest floor. If people want to go straight to the bottom floor, they usually use the elevator, not the escalator. Chioujen could only guess that the person might be afraid of being in an enclosed space like an elevator. That conjecture flashed through Chioujen's mind.
The bottom floor had several tenants. Because the most famous was Shindongchaang, many people think the bottom floor was identical to Shindongchaang. In fact, several other companies had opened businesses there. But after midnight like that, it was certain that no one was passing by there, so it was silent.
Chioujen strode discreetly. He didn't want to make a sound that would arouse suspicion. Such silence, even the faintest sound, might be heard clearly.
When Chioujen reached the bottom floor, he couldn't see that person anymore. Chioujen noticed his surroundings. There was hardly anyone else there. For a moment, his mind was stuck. He didn't know what to do next.
Chioujen sighed. Due to his careful steps, he lost track of that person. Maybe that person had come down there on purpose to outwit him. He pretended to go down to the lowest floor. But actually, when Chioujen couldn't see him, the person immediately returned to where he was before or went up to one floor above.
In his confusion, Chioujen just circled around in that place. Except for the Shindongchaang warehouse, all the business units there were locked, so it was almost impossible for anyone to enter any of the rooms used as offices or shops on that floor. But then Chioujen realized the possibility that the person was one tenant of the place there. If that's the case, that person could be hiding somewhere on the floor right now.
The atmosphere was tranquil. Two guards were sitting in front of Shindongchaang's office. Not only them but there were also still two other guards on the floor. Chioujen decided to stop looking for that person anymore. He didn't want to attract the guards' attention who were there. He decided to return to where he had previously eaten a delicious meal. If the person wearing the light blue shirt is no longer at the stall selling the tuna dish, then he will posthaste return to his room and resume his interrupted sleep.
Before leaving the floor, Chioujen took the time to stop by the restroom. There were several restrooms on that floor. Intuitively, Chioujen chose the one closest to him. The washroom was in one corner of the floor. Of course, that was just Chioujen's estimation. He didn't know for sure what the shape of the building on the bottom floor was. Chioujen had to go through a winding hallway to get to the restroom. Chioujen had never even explored the bottom floor, so he relied solely on the signs written on the walls there.
He went into the restroom and urinated there. As he came out of the restroom, he realized there was something important. In the hallway, it turned out that there was another turn that did not lead to the restroom. The turn was not visible from the direction he came in earlier, but people walking from the restroom to the outside would notice it easily. Even so, it was impossible for people returning from the toilet to enter the turn because it was so dark. There were no lights in the hallway after the other turn.
Chioujen was in no hurry to do anything else. He decided to see where the turn would lead. He walked carefully. Luckily, he had grabbed a flashlight before leaving the room, so he didn't have to worry about walking in the dark.
The other aisle turned out to be quite long. Chioujen had already walked about fifty meters from where he had turned earlier. Maybe more. Chioujen couldn't be sure because he was focused on the dark passage, not on the distance he had walked. He didn't know what place it was and why people had built the passage. He could only surmise that there might have been a plan to create a larger space. For some reason, the plan was not continued. Some of the hallways that had already been built in the project were abandoned. After that, people might forget about the existence of these passages.
Chioujen finally arrived at the end of the hall. The end of the hall was like a dead end. With the help of the flashlight, he scanned the three sides of the wall at the dead end. There was a door on each side of the wall. So, there were three doors in total. Chioujen tried to open the doors. Turned out he could open all the doors. All three doors were unlocked. He intended to examine the room behind the doors. Chioujen chose to start from the door on the left wall.
The room behind the door was a shed. Maybe the room was not a shed at first, but then it was used as a storage space. The door where Chioujen had entered was in one corner of the shed. The room was quite spacious, maybe about two hundred square meters. Many of the items appeared to have been there for decades. Jongharng Station was an ancient subway station. Chioujen didn't know exactly when the station started operating, but at least it was more than five hundred years ago. Indeed, the station had undergone several renovations. However, renovations only touched the places that were actually used. A secluded and unused place like the room where Chioujen was standing definitely wasn't on the list of rooms that needed repair.
Chioujen opened wide the door on the right wall. It turned out that the room behind the door was exactly the same as the previous room. It was clear that the two rooms were a pair of identical rooms separated by a passage.
Finally, Chioujen opened the door on the wall at the end of the hall. The room differed slightly from the previous two rooms. The room looked cleaner. Not exactly clean, but at least not as dirty as the last two rooms. Chioujen shone his flashlight all over the room. Just like before, there were so many things inside the room. It looked like there was a lot more stuff there. But maybe it was just an illusion. The room was smaller than the other two rooms, so the things there seemed to be more.
Things were not only scattered in the middle of the room but also stuck to the walls. Almost the entire wall of the room was filled with objects. Only a few places were clean of stuff. The clearing of items started from the door where Chioujen had entered earlier. The places that were free of the stuff form a certain path. It was like a path in the middle of a forest. A place filled with goods was a forest, while a path clear of goods was a path. Chioujen sauntered down the 'path.' The path ended in front of the wall, in the right corner of the room.
Nothing special there. Just like the rest of the walls in the room, the walls in that part were also filled with stuff. There was even a big cupboard there. Chioujen tried to open the cupboard. He could easily see the inside of the cupboard made of wood. Unexpectedly, the cupboard was empty. He tried to get into the cupboard.
Inside the wooden cupboard, Chioujen tapped the inside of the entire wooden wall. When he knocked on the back wall of the cupboard, he felt a cavity in the back of the cupboard. Chioujen pushed against the back wall on the inside of the cupboard, but the wall didn't move.
Chioujen shone his flashlight all over the cupboard. He tried to find a lever or other objects that serve to pry or open the back wall. After a while of groping under the cupboard, he found something. There was a lever, or something similar to a lever. Instantly, he tried to move the thing. But nothing happened. The back wall of the cupboard didn't move at all.
Chioujen watched the lever carefully. He could see there were parts, like buttons, attached to the lever. The lever seemed to be moved frequently. Chioujen tried to press some of those buttons. But still, nothing happened. Chioujen highlighted another part of the base of the wardrobe. About sixty centimeters to the left of the lever, there was another lever. Chioujen did the same with the lever, pressing a few buttons before attempting to push against the cupboard wall. But this time, his efforts had yielded no results.
There were seven buttons on the right lever, while there were only five on the left lever. Chioujen didn't know which button on the two levers he had to press to get the inside of the cupboard pushed in. That's just a guess. He was fully aware that no one could guarantee that the levers had anything to do with the inner wall of the cupboard.
After pondering for a while, Chioujen decided to try simultaneously pressing three buttons on the left lever and three buttons on the right lever. After pressing the buttons, he moved the two levers simultaneously and then pushed against the inner wall of the cupboard. Still, nothing happened.
Over the next half hour or so, Chioujen tried the possible combinations of the buttons one by one. It was, of course, very tiring and frustrating for him. Until finally, he could open the wall of the wooden cupboard. He laughed after realizing his mistake. Finding the right combination when he pressed the buttons was not enough to open the wall. He had to move the wall to the left, not backwards.
"Hah!" Chioujen cheered so loudly. He was happy and relieved. Undeniable, the exploration was getting more and more interesting. Chioujen imagined Shannchyuan and the others would be very excited if they were with him at that time. He was excited to see what was behind the mysterious wooden cupboard wall.
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