Chapter 044
Jongharng Chioujen
Chioujen managed to persuade Hannrong to let him go to the basement. The place was closed because the building was no longer active, not because it was dangerous down there. So, it was actually okay if there were tenants who wanted to have a look. That was the essence of Chioujen's justification regarding the matter. Of course, Chioujen was not a tenant. However, he stated he represented Songfei, who was the tenant of the unit in the building. The lease agreement clearly stated that the rented space also included parking in the basement.
If Hannrong is a little brighter, I will definitely have a hard time conducting an investigation!
Because Hannrong had to be on duty, Chioujen went down alone to the floors below the ground floor of the Dafeisy Tower. Chioujen couldn't go down to the basement via the elevator because, since about a year ago, service elevators and occupant elevators have been programmed to only be used up and down from the ground floor to the twelfth floor. To be able to reactivate the elevator function to go down to the basement floor, they had to call an elevator technician who used to repair elevators in the building. It was not a simple thing because the only person who could call an elevator technician to come to the building was the building management at a level above Hannrong. So, like it or not, Chioujen had to go down via the stairs.
Went down the stairs was not as easy as Chioujen had initially imagined. On the two stairs, namely the occupant stairs and the emergency stairs, iron bars had been padlocked. Chioujen had brought a small waist bag with the contents of the ring of keys from the iron bar lock and the rooms on the basement floor. Since the keys were very similar to each other, Chioujen had to try several times until he found the right key to open the lock on the iron bars.
The atmosphere on the B1 floor was the same as the atmosphere in the basements of other buildings designated as parking lots. The difference was that it's very dark in there. Each floor had its own electrical panel. The panels were connected to an electrical substation outside the building. The building management had disabled the connection between the basement floor panels and the electrical substation outside.
The electricity supply to the basement could be turned on again at certain times, such as when there were repairs to certain parts of the building. Chioujen's visit to the basement, of course, did not include as an important incident where the electricity in the basement had to be turned on again. Even if Chioujen could persuade Hannrong to turn on the electricity in the basement, it would still be impossible. Hannrong didn't have the key to the substation. So, only the building management and officers from the electricity company could open the panels at the substation. Luckily, Chioujen didn't forget to bring a flashlight so that now he could freely explore the place without worrying about bumping into or tripping over something in the dungeon.
After being satisfied walking around on the B1 floor, Chioujen went down to the B2 floor. The situation there was precisely the same as on the previous floor. The parking lot was empty. There weren't any vehicles there. Singing alone, Chioujen walked around the floor. He didn't know what he was looking for. He walked here and there, just following his intuition.
The B3 floor, which housed the generator and the rooms supposed to be used by the people who work in the building, looked even more mysterious. The generator that was there was never used. According to Hannrong, the last time they turned on the generator was more than a year ago. Some rooms on the floor were locked, but others were unlocked. Chioujen didn't know that because Hannrong had forgotten to lock the doors, or some rooms had been left unlocked on purpose.
Stairs and elevators only reach the B3 floor. It was clearly written in the building plan that there was a B4 floor. It seemed that the plan of the building that Chioujen had seen earlier was a copy of the blueprint of the building. Blueprints were actual plans for the building, not plans from initial designs. So, if the B4 floor was drawn there, then the B4 floor should really exist.
Squinting, Chioujen stood in front of the service elevator in the building. Chioujen observed the service elevator. There were two elevators. So, in the building, there were a total of six elevators. In addition to the elevator, people could also go up and down via stairs and emergency stairs. Nothing special with all the elevators and stairs in the building.
The service elevator had not worked for a long time. Not broken, but just never turned on. According to Hannrong, the two elevators were not turned on at all for months. When the building management came to have a look at the building, they turned on both elevators. It happened about three months ago.
Chioujen circled around for a long time and couldn't find his way to the B4 floor. He decided to go up and re-examine the floor plan of the building he had seen. When he got there, he saw Hannrong was in the room.
"Do you still want to look around this room?" Hannrong opened his mouth when he saw Chioujen enter the room.
"Sure. You can lock this room when I leave the building."
Hannrong nodded with a broad smile. "How are things down there, Sir? Did you manage to find the B4 floor?"
"No. Therefore, now I want to check the floor plan of this building again."
Chioujen returned to the table where he had placed the scroll of tracing paper that contained the building plan. He spread the papers again on the table. Firmly, Hannrong stood beside Chioujen. He seemed curious, too.
"Hanrong! Take a look at this. This is the floor plan of B4!"
Hannrong looked at the paper. He looked like he was thinking. Two seconds later, Hannrong opened his mouth. "How do you get down there, Sir?"
"This plan clearly depicts stairs and elevators." Chioujen pointed at the stairs and elevators clearly depicted in the plan.
"But the stairs and the elevator only get to the B3 floor, sir!"
"That's what amazes me. The blueprint should be the actual building plan. So, if there are stairs and an elevator down to the B4 floor in the plan, then, in reality, it should really be like that."
"What if, in fact, there used to be stairs and an elevator up to the B4 floor? But for some reason, the entrance to the B4 floor was closed."
"Have you ever heard people talk about it?"
"Never, Sir!" Hannrong's tone was so sure. He looked at the floor plan that was still spread out on the table. Frowning, he tilted his head. "Are the dimensions in this plan the same as the actual sizes, Sir?"
"Are you asking about the dimension size consistency? I mean, are you curious about whether the dimension ratio used in the plan is consistent with the actual room dimension ratio?"
Hannrong looked at Chioujen with a frown. Perhaps Chioujen's question was too heavy for Hannrong to digest.
"Are you asking about the ratio of the length and width of the room in this plan to the ratio of the length and width of the actual room?" Chioujen repeated his question in simpler words.
"Right sir! That is what I mean."
"Yes, the ratio should be exactly the same!" Chioujen nodded vigorously.
Hannrong shook his head. "But, Sir...!"
"Do you think there is anything strange about this plan?"
"Service elevator in this plan is very long." Hannrong stuck out his hand. His fingers touched the plan.
"Isn't the service elevator should be like that? Because, to get up and down the goods, the size must be much longer than the elevator to get up and down occupants."
"But, Sir! The service elevator in this building is not that long. In this plan, the length of the service lift is three times the width of the lift. As far as I remember, the length of the service lift here is only about one and a half times its width."
"So you mean this plan is ridiculous?"
"I didn't say that, Sir! It just doesn't accurately describe the service elevator size."
"What is the width and length of the service lift in this building?"
"The width is the same as the width of the occupant lift, which is two meters. While the length is about three and a half meters. That's definitely not three times the width."
Chioujen looked at the plan again. He just realized that it was an oddity that had been bothering him for the time being. The length of the lift service was unreasonable. In the plan, the service elevator protruded into the room behind it.
"Come on, let's take a look at the location!" Chioujen said in a steady voice.
After saying that, he immediately ran out of the room. Hannrong hastily followed Chioujen. The two of them right away headed for the service elevators' location. From the outside, the service elevators looked normal.
"You can't turn on this service elevator?" Chioujen pointed to one of the two elevators there.
"I can't turn on the elevator, Sir! They tell me to save electricity!"
"What if it's just for a little while? I just want to see the inside."
Finally, Hannrong was willing to grant Chioujen's request. It was apparent that the young man was also curious. After Hannrong turned on the elevator, it took a while for the elevator doors to open fully. As soon as the elevator doors opened, Hannrong rushed inside. It was true. The length of the elevator from the elevator door to the end of the inside was only about three and a half meters, far below the size written in the plan, which reached six meters. It meant that there was a difference of two and a half meters from the size stated in the plan.
Chioujen checked the room behind the elevator. Indeed, there were parts that protruded inward. The room that contained the elevator was the exact size as depicted in the floor plan they had seen. Two service elevators were located in a row. So, the room designated as the location of the lift service had dimensions of about four by six meters. But what was actually used for the elevator was only four by three and a half meters. So, there was still a space of about four by two and a half meters that Chioujen didn't know its function. Except for the elevator door, there was no other door to enter the space.
Chioujen got back into the elevator. He looked at the ceiling of the elevator. It was not like in movies, which often depicted how easy it was to open the elevator ceiling from the inside. The ceiling in this elevator seemed solid. It could not be opened from the inside. Chioujen was silent while racking his brains to find the other entrance.
"Top floor, Sir!" Suddenly Hannrong broke the silence.
"You mean we can check this elevator room from the top floor?"
This kid's suggestion makes sense!
Hannrong nodded. "I remember when a technician came to fix the elevator. At first they always went upstairs if they wanted to check the inside of the elevator."
"You mean the twelfth floor?" Chioujen asked for Hannrong's confirmation.
"No, Sir! The twelfth floor is the last floor that can be reached by the elevator. Above that, there are still several rooms whose function I also do not know clearly."
"You mean above the twelfth floor there is still a thirteenth?"
Although he had come to this building several times, Chioujen had never once climbed to the roof. So he really didn't know.
"No, Sir! The twelfth floor is the last floor. Above it, there is only a roof. However, in some parts of the roof there are small buildings that I do not know their function. Maybe some of them are used as warehouses. There's a room right above the service elevator, occupant elevator, stairs, and emergency stairs. The technicians usually checked the elevators from there."
"Those rooms must be locked, right?"
"That's right Sir! It's locked."
"Do you have the key?"
"I only have the keys to the rooms whose positions are the stairs and the fire escape on the roof, Sir."
"Then, the other rooms. Who holds the keys?"
"The Managing Manager should be the one holding the keys. However, since there is currently no Managing Manager, the building owner is the only one holding the keys to the rooms on the roof of this building. He also holds the keys to the rooms on the floors below this ground floor. When a technician came, a representative from the building owner always came with the keys. After the technician finished work, the representative from the building owner took the key away again."
"Then, let's go upstairs. At least I'll have to see by myself."
"Okay! I'll take you up," said Hannrong.
Before leaving, Hannrong turned off the lift service. He then carried Chioujen up to the twelfth floor via the resident elevator. Arriving on the twelfth floor, Hannrong guided Chioujen to the roof via the stairs.
"Ah! So this is how things are on the roof!" Chioujen looked around after they reached the roof.
Just as Hannrong had explained, several small buildings were on the roof. Chioujen looked at the place they had just passed. The place, namely the building that housed the stairs, was also one of several small structures on the roof. Hannrong walked to another building which was directly above the service elevator.
"This is the place, sir." Hannrong pointed at the building with his index finger after they arrived there.
Chioujen surveyed the building. Its dimensions were slightly larger than the dimensions of the service elevator, as shown on the building's floor plan, approximately seven meters by five meters. It was about four meters high. There was a door in what appeared to be the front.
"The technicians came in from this door, sir, when they had to repair the elevator from the inside," said Hannrong.
The front part of this space must have been a cavity whose upper part was used as the end of the hook to hang the elevator. As for the back part, it is the entrance to the mysterious room we're looking for!
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