Chapter 007
Duanmuh Shannchyuan
At the second transit point, nothing happened. Along the way, Shannchyuan's mind was filled with questions. Linqhwu Ueideng's explanation only confirmed that Songfei was really in trouble. This was not part of the games he often designed. But the essence of the problem Songfei was facing was still a mystery. Shannchyuan hoped his visit to Dafeisy Tower would shed some light.
The next trip, he passed smoothly, without any significant obstacles. Without realizing it, Shannchyuan had arrived at the station he was going to. It was 5:45 PM when Shannchyuan walked out of the station exit. Unusually, this time, Shannchyuan walked casually. According to his calculations, he would arrive at the building in thirty-thirty five minutes.
Halfway through, Shannchyuan suddenly felt a drop of water hit his face. He looked up. The sky was still bright, but there were drops of water falling from the sky. Shannchyuan hoped that the drizzle doesn't become a downpour. However, it didn't come true. The drizzle quickly turned into heavy rain. Shannchyuan sped up his pace as he looked right and left for shelter. Not long after running, he saw an eggplant-colored public phone booth. Immediately, he lunged into that phone booth.
Less than two minutes after Shannchyuan entered the phone booth, the phone booth door suddenly opened. A girl ran inside. Her clothes were soaking wet. The phone booth sides were not transparent, so people outside could not see whether or not anyone was inside.
Shannchyuan shrieked in surprise. He really did not know what to do. The atmosphere became awkward.
"Sorry, sir. It's raining. I have to take shelter." The girl said to Shannchyuan with a pitiful face.
"It's okay," replied Shannchyuan curtly. "I am also taking shelter here," Shannchyuan continued his words. He was smiling.
People considered the box measuring one and a half meters by one and a half meters wide for a phone booth, but that did not apply to two strangers standing close to each other. Under these conditions, Shannchyuan was sure they both agreed that the place was tiny.
Shannchyuan looked at the girl who had just arrived. He intended to calm the girl, who looked cold. "I do hope the rain will stop soon." He knew his words sounded cliché. But that was all he could say. He really didn't know the right way to calm a girl down.
Looking at the girl, Shannchyuan thought back to his old job before he decided to venture out. Throughout his life, Shannchyuan met many young women. Most of them were the same age as the girl before him. This girl looked very young. Maybe not yet twenty. Her skin was neither dark nor bright, roughly the same as Shannchyuan.
For a few minutes, the two of them were just silent. Busy with their own thoughts. Many things were running through Shannchyuan's mind. Starting from finding the best way to get a decent place to live as soon as possible, the possibility of him suffering from a severe or even chronic illness and finally to the things he should do if the worst happened to Songfei.
"Do you live around here?" Suddenly the girl spoke. The daydreaming Shannchyuan, at first, didn't pay attention to the girl's words. Fortunately, he soon realized that he was being questioned.
"What are you asking?" Shannchyuan asked the girl to repeat her question. He guessed she was trying girl tried to break the ice and lighten the mood by asking a simple question.
After that, there was a conversation between them. It turned out that the girl was an orphan. Her father had died before she was born, while her mother passed away when she was two years old. Her relatives took turns to take care of her. She never stayed long in a place because she had to change places of residence according to the home of the relatives who took the turn to care for her. Right now, it was the turn of the relatives living in this city. She had just arrived three days ago and planned to take a four-day walk before seeing his relatives. Because the girl asked about her job, Shannchyuan then briefly shared that he currently had no job but previously had worked in a bookstore as a part-time employee.
It rained for about fifteen minutes. After the rain stopped, the girl excused herself and immediately left. Shannchyuan continued his journey. At 6:40 PM, he arrived at Dahfeisy Tower. Inside the building, he met Hannrong, the custodian of the building. Hannrong said two weeks ago, Songfei had also told him that one or two of the six dragons would come to pick up his stuff. Songfei called Shannchyuan and the people who lived with him as six dragons.
Hannrong let Shannchyuan go up to the tenth floor alone. He said he probably couldn't wait until the Shannchyuan business was over. That night Hannrong had important business. After Shannchyuan said he had the key to the fence and the key to the main front door, Hannrong looked relieved. If Shannchyuan did not see Hannrong by the time Shannchyuan had finished doing his business, then Hannrong asked Shannchyuan to lock the front door of the building and the gate outside the building. According to Hannrong, today, the night watchman might not come. Even if he came, he might as well be just standing guard outside. Although Shannchyuan felt a little strange when he heard that there was a possibility that the building would not have a night watchman tonight, he did not inquire further about it.
Apart from the two service elevators that had not been in service for a long time, there were four elevators. However, only two elevators worked, namely the third and fourth elevators. Shannchyuan went up to the tenth floor using the third elevator. He quickly entered unit 1008 on the tenth floor. There were several rooms in this unit. Songfei had provided clear directions in the package so that Shannchyuan could easily find what he needed to pick up.
After finishing the job, Shannchyuan sat on the couch in the unit's living room and rested for a while. This time, he really didn't want to push himself. Many of his childhood friends already had severe health problems. Shannchyuan realized he was no longer young. Walking was not a challenging physical activity, but people still needed to rest after walking. After Shannchyuan rested in that place for a few minutes, he felt it was time to return home. He grabbed the bag he wanted to carry and then left the unit.
In front of the elevator, Shannchyuan saw the third elevator going down. Apparently, someone wanted to go upstairs. Shannchyuan suspected Hannrong had something to ask him. So he waited for Hannrong to get to the 10th floor, where he was now. The indicator, in front of the elevator, showed the elevator was descending to the ground floor. Someone got on the elevator, and the elevator went upstairs. But the elevator didn't stop on the 10th floor. It continued to move upward. Shannchyuan concluded that the elevator passenger, Hannrong or whoever he was, had no intention of meeting him. Shannchyuan intended to go down using the fourth elevator.
After pressing the button, the elevator didn't turn on. This fourth elevator was weird. Sometimes it turned off by itself. So actually, the elevator in this building that functions properly was only the third elevator. Shannchyuan saw that the third elevator had reached the 12th floor. Then the elevator stuck on that floor as if someone held it there.
Shannchyuan remembered the trick that Songfei taught him. Songfei had said when the elevator went up or down, the fourth elevator couldn't turn itself off, but it sometimes turned off when it was not in use. There was a way to turn it on again by opening the panel outside the elevator. All he had to do was to press several buttons on the panel simultaneously.
Shannchyuan then carefully opened the panel in front of the elevator. Luckily the panel was easy to open; otherwise, he would have to go back into the room to find a suitable tool. After successfully turning on the elevator, Shannchyuan put down his bag to block the elevator door while he closed the panel again. After the panel was appropriately closed, Shannchyuan directly got into the elevator. He pressed the ground floor button. Shannchyuan was ready to go downstairs.
When the elevator was closed, it did not go down right away. It turned out that there were people outside who wanted to enter. After someone pressed the button outside, the elevator directly opened its doors. A girl hurriedly went inside. She carried a large backpack on her back. At first, Shannchyuan didn't notice her because, as usual, he was daydreaming. Two seconds later, Shannchyuan realized that the person in front of him was staring at him. That person turned out to be the girl who had taken shelter with him in a phone booth!
"What are you doing here?" Shannchyuan asked the girl while raising his eyebrows.
The girl recognized him. Glaring her eyes, the girl said things with a super-fast tempo. "Sir. Listen carefully. Outside this building, I witnessed a crime. I ran into this building to escape the criminals. Currently, they are already in the building. Maybe soon to be on this floor. Is there a way they can't find us?"
The girl's words surprised Shannchyuan.
What's with today? Already two people have declared themselves in danger!
"We can hide in one room in this building. How many people are chasing you?"
"I saw three people. But maybe there are other people," the girl replied.
"Then we'll just hide in this elevator for a while. Are you willing to take the risk of us getting trapped here?" Shannchyuan asked in a doubtful tone. He wasn't sure that she would agree to his proposal.
Unexpectedly, the girl nodded vigorously. The look in her eyes conveyed approval.
"What?" Shannchyuan was still unsure.
"I do!" The girl answered firmly.
Uh? Is she willing to be trapped in this elevator with me?
Shannchyuan nodded. He then asked the girl to stand behind him. In critical moments like this, Shannchyuan thought of Songfei again. That young man had also taught Shannchyuan how to turn off the elevator from the inside. Shannchyuan tried to recall the things that Songfei explained. Shannchyuan opened a small panel located beside the elevator buttons. Behind the panel, there were several buttons. Shannchyuan pressed three buttons simultaneously. On his first attempt, nothing happened. On the second attempt, he pushed three more buttons simultaneously, but the third button differed from the previous one. Still, nothing happened. He tried again—this time with all his might. Suddenly, the lights went off, and the lift stopped. Shannchyuan successfully turned off the elevator from inside.
Quiet atmosphere. But Shannchyuan and the girl could hear faint voices outside. Before this elevator went off, the indicator showed they had descended to the eighth floor.
There seemed to be people in front of the elevator on the eighth floor. Most likely, they already pressed the button in front of the elevator over and over. After a while, they could hear nothing. It looked like those people had gone. Suddenly, they heard a sound from the elevator next to them. Apparently, those people were going up and down using the third elevator. Shannchyuan and the girl were silent, not daring to make any sound. After that, they stayed inside the elevator for about an hour before conversing again.
Now the girl wanted to get out of the elevator. Shannchyuan explained he only knew how to turn off the elevator from the inside but did not know how to turn it on again. It meant the two of them trapped themselves inside the elevator. Until someone found them, there could not get out. This time, the custodian had most likely gone home, and the night watchman might or might not come. So they had no choice except to wait until tomorrow morning.
Shannchyuan observed the girl didn't seem too worried about hearing Shannchyuan's words. Shannchyuan himself was surprised to see the fact. When a girl got stuck with a stranger inside an elevator, she must be felt distraught and most likely cried. The terrible situation would agitate her. But this girl was acting normal. Maybe she was used to experiencing extraordinary things like this in her life.
The girl then briefly recounts the chronology of what happened to her. Shannchyuan listened carefully to what the girl told him. After leaving the phone booth, the girl had headed to the underground station to eat and then rest. After finishing her dinner, she found that the capsule hotel in the subway station was full. There is no more space left. The station's simple inn was too expensive for the girl. Then she walked out of the station to see if there was another capsule hotel in the area. If she couldn't find it, she would return to the station to take the train to another station. She hoped there was still empty space in the capsule hotel at another station.
While walking down the street, an SUV stopped right next to the girl. She saw a woman trying to get out of the vehicle. A man tried to prevent the woman from getting out of the car. Another man got out of the car and beat and pushed the woman into the vehicle. After that, the car driver stepped on the gas away from there. But a little later, they realized that there were witnesses who saw their action. Immediately, the vehicle was backing up towards the girl.
Terrified, the girl ran towards the Dahfeisy Tower, which happened to be right behind her. Then the girl had gone up to the twelfth floor, then had gone down to the tenth floor to ask Shannchyuan for help.
While in the elevator, the two of them talked quite a lot. After tired of talking, the girl fell asleep. Shannchyuan was actually starving. He didn't mention that at all. Shannchyuan felt he had to endure this extremely uncomfortable feeling as might as he could. He did not want to add to the burden on the girl's mind. In a state of extreme hunger, finally, Shannchyuan fell asleep too.
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