Chapter 04
Songfei is one of their friends. He is not yet thirty, so he called Shannchyuan, uncle.
"What's wrong, Songfei?" asks Shannchyuan
"I am in danger. My life is being threatened. I can't say too much. Have you received the parcel from me?"
Songfei talks with a quick tempo.
"What parcel? I haven't received it yet."
"I am currently hiding in a place outside the city. I don't have the freedom to go anywhere. I ask you to help pick up one of my belongings at Dafeisi Tower and keep it for a while. All instructions are attached to the parcel I sent. Please, Uncle!"
"Okay, I'll wait for the parcel to come."
"Thank you, Uncle."
After that, Songfei hangs up on the phone.
"What happened to this kid? What other difficulties does he face this time?"
Shannchyuan mutters to himself.
As if forgetting about his own business, Shannchyuan sits pensively on the long sofa in the living room. His brain is working hard, trying to digest what he had just heard. While waiting for the package mentioned by Songfei to arrive, Shannchyuan remembers his original intention. He is so hungry, needs to having lunch as soon as possible. This morning, Shinnshiow cooked too much. Because they only ate the food for less than half, there are still some leftovers from breakfast.
Shannchyuan eats heartily. In less than 10 minutes, he finishes his lunch. After being full, Shannchyuan's brain is usually easier to work.
Songfei asked earlier if I had received the package, meaning that it should have arrived. Maybe it had come, but no one was home.
Because of their busy schedule, the house is usually empty during the day. There are several occasions when the postman delivered the parcel. Still, he took it away again because no one at home received it. They have to wait until the postman delivers the parcel back the next day.
Once, the next-door neighbour kindly represented them to receive a parcel. He happened to be in front of the house when the postman delivered the package to their house.
After Shannchyuan remembers it, he immediately got up from the sofa and rushes out of the house. With quick steps, he headed for the house next door, where the kind-hearted neighbour lived. It turned out that Shannchyuan's guess was correct. Yesterday at 14:00 the postman delivered the package. The neighbour represented them receiving the package. Last night he overslept, so he didn't contact Shannchyuan and friends. This morning the neighbour came to the house to inform him. He failed to deliver the parcel because Shannchyuan and his friends were going to the station.
Shannchyuan opens the parcel straight away. Turns out a wooden box containing several keys. Inside there is a chain of keys. For the fence, building entrance, unit and rooms in Dafeisi Tower.
Dafeisi Tower is a building that was initially intended as an office building. Songfei rent a unit in that building. However, for some reason, the building is currently empty. Although previously Songfei had briefly shared this story, Shannchyuan paid little attention, so he does not clearly understand the real problem. Shannchyuan only got the impression that the building is in dispute.
Even though, at this time, the tenants were no longer there. But there are still some tenants who keep their belongings there because the lease has not expired. Songfei is one of them.
Songfei is a very excited young man. He is very fond of detective stories and mysteries. Because of his passion, he often plays games related to the genre. Several times Songfei had played such games, both in Dafeisi and elsewhere. He also often invited Shannchyuan and friends to take part in his games. Therefore, Shannchyuan and his friends are also familiar with the Dafeisi Tower. They had been there several times, both day and night. So it is not surprising that Shannchyuan and his friends know the guards and night guards on duty in the building.
Shannchyuan reads the note attached to the package. Songfei asks Shannchyuan to keep a bag in a room in unit 1008 located on the 10th floor. Songfei also included a photo of the bag he meant so that Shannchyuan would definitely not take it wrong. The time was already 14.50. when Shannchyuan glanced at his watch. The Dafeisi Tower was very far from their home. The location is on the edge of the city, bordering the city next door. If you leave now, at the earliest 17.30, you can get there. Shannchyuan had to hurry so as not to come home too late. He remembered his health condition, which seemed to be deteriorating. The night air will make his health condition worse.
After changing into his clothes, Shannchyuan left for the station. There are no subway lines that stop at the station, close to the Dafeisi Tower. He had to change lanes twice before getting off the train at a station about two kilometres from the building.
Shannchyuan sees the weather is scorching. The weather forecast says it's sunny today. So Shannchyuan decides not to carry an umbrella. He does not want to carry things because later, he had to bring home a large enough bag.
Having to change lanes twice, Shannchyuan makes sure not to fall asleep so he could change trains just in time. If he missed the station where he has to transit, it would definitely take even longer. Travel smoothly, with no obstacles. The watch on his hand is 17:45 when Shannchyuan walks out of the station exit. Unusually, this time Shannchyuan walks casually. According to his calculations, he would arrive in 30-35 minutes.
Halfway through, Shannchyuan suddenly feels a stream of drops of water hit his face. He looks up. The sky was still bright, but there are drops of water falling from the sky. Shannchyuan hopes that the drizzle doesn't become big. However, his hope does not come true. The drizzle quickly turns into heavy rain. Shannchyuan speeds up his pace as he turns to the right and left for shelter. Not long after running, he sees an aubergine-coloured phone box. Immediately he goes inside.
When Shannchyuan is less than two minutes in the phone box, suddenly the phone box door opened. A young girl runs inside. Her clothes were soaking wet. The side of the phone box is not transparent so that people outside cannot see inside the phone box whether there is anyone or not.
"Sorry. It's raining. I have to take shelter."
The girl talks to Shannchyuan.
"It's okay," replies Shannchyuan curtly.
"I am also taking shelter here," Shannchyuan continues with a smile.
The box measuring one and a half meters by one and a half meters is considered wide for a phone box, but that does not apply to two strangers standing close to each other. Under these circumstances, they both agree the place is very small.
Shannchyuan looked at the girl who had just arrived. Then he says.
"Hopefully, the rain will stop soon."
From her looks, she seems very young. Shannchyuan guesses that the girl is not yet twenty. Her skin was neither dark nor too bright, just like Shannchyuan. After that, for a few minutes, the two of them are just silent. Busy with their own thoughts.
"Do you live around here?"
The girl suddenly makes a voice. She tries to break the ice by asking simple questions. The daydreaming Shannchyuan initially didn't pay attention to the girl's words. But then he realised that the girl is asking him.
"What are you asking?"
Shannchyuan asks the girl to repeat the question. After that, there is a conversation between them. It turns out that the girl is an orphan. Her father died before she was born, while her mother passed away when she was only two years old. Her relatives took turns looking after and raising the girl. She never stayed long in a place because she had to change places of residence according to the relatives who took the turn to care for her. Right now it is 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 her relatives. Because the girl asked about his job, Shannchyuan then briefly shared that he currently has no job but previously worked in a secondhand bookshop.
The rain ended after falling on the earth for about fifteen minutes. The girl excuses herself and directly leaves. Shannchyuan continues his journey to Dafeisi Tower. At 18:40, he arrives at the building. Inside he meets Hannrong, the caretaker of the building. Songfei had also told Hannrong that someone would come to pick up his stuff. Hannrong told Shannchyuan to go up to the 10th floor alone. He said he probably couldn't wait until Shannchyuan's business is over because he had things to handle. Hannrong asked Shannchyuan to lock the building doors and the fence outside the building if when Shannchyuan finished, he does not see Hannrong. Hannrong also said the night watchman might not come today. Even if he comes, he might as well be just standing guard outside.
Apart from the two service lifts, which have not been in service for a long time, there are four lifts inside this building. However, only two in service. Lift number three and number four. Shannchyuan goes up to the 10th floor by lift number three. He quickly enters unit 1008. There are several rooms in this unit. Songfei provides clear directions in the parcel so that Shannchyuan could easily find what he needs to pick up. After finishing, Shannchyuan sits on the chair in the primary room of the unit and gets rest.
This time he really doesn't want to push himself. Many of his childhood friends already have serious health problems. Shannchyuan realised that he is no longer a young man. Walking is not a tiring physical activity, but after walking, he should get enough rest. After a few minutes of resting in that place, he feels it is time to return home. He grabs the bag he wants to carry and then leaves the unit.
In front of the lift, Shannchyuan sees lift number three is going down. Apparently, some people want to go upstairs. Shannchyuan suspects that Hannrong has something to ask him. So he decides to wait for Hannrong to get to the 10th floor, where he is now. The indicator in front of the lift shows the lift is going down to the ground floor. Someone gets on the lift, then it goes upstairs. But it turns out the lift doesn't stop at the 10th floor but continues to go up. Shannchyuan sees that lift number three has reached the 12th floor. It is stuck there, not going down again, as if someone was holding it there. Shannchyuan concludes that the lift passenger had no intention of meeting him.
Shannchyuan intends to get off by lift number four. So actually, lift number three is the only lift in this building that is still functioning properly. After pressing the down button, it turns out that the lift does not turn on. This lift number four is weird. Sometimes it turns off by itself. When the lift number four is on, goes up or goes down, it will not turn itself off, but when it is not in use, it sometimes turns off.
Shannchyuan remembers the trick taught by Songfei. There is a way to turn it on again from the outside, namely by opening the panel outside the lift. All he has to do is to press several buttons behind the panel simultaneously. Shannchyuan then carefully opens the panel in front of the lift. Luckily the panel is easy to open; otherwise, he would have to go back inside unit 1008 to find a suitable tool. After successfully starting and opening the lift door, Shannchyuan put down his bag to keep the lift door open while he closes the panel again. After the panel is appropriately closed, Shannchyuan immediately gets into the lift. Then he presses the ground floor button and is ready to go down.
When the lift is closed, it does not go down immediately. It turned out that there are people outside who want to enter. After someone pushes the button outside, the lift door directly opens. A girl hurriedly goes inside. She carries a large backpack on her back. At first, Shannchyuan does not notice the girl's presence because as usual, he is daydreaming. An ingrained activity he can't avoid. Two seconds later, Shannchyuan realised that the person in front of him is staring at him. That person turns out to be the girl who had been sheltering with him in an aubergine-coloured phone box!
"What are you doing here?" Shannchyuan asks the girl while raising his eyebrows.
"Sir. Listen carefully. Outside this building, I witness a crime. I ran into this building to escape the criminals' pursuit. 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 really took Shannchyuan by surprise.
What's with today? Already two people have declared themselves in danger! Songfei and this girl!
Shannchyuan says that to himself while holding his head. Then he says to the girl.
"We can hide in one of the rooms in this building. How many people are after you? "
"I saw three people. But maybe there are more, "the girl replies.
"Then we'll just hide in this lift for a while. Are you willing to take the risk of us getting trapped here?" Shannchyuan asks the girl.
"Yes, I am willing!" The girl answers firmly.
Songfei also taught Shannchyuan how to turn off the lift from the inside. Shannchyuan tries to recall the things that Songfei had previously explained. Shannchyuan opens a small panel located beside the lift buttons. Behind the panel are several buttons. Shannchyuan presses three buttons simultaneously. On his first attempt, nothing happens. He pushes three more buttons simultaneously, but this time the third button was different from before. Still, nothing happens. He tries again—this time with all his might. Suddenly the lights go off, and the lift stop. Shannchyuan manages to turn off the lift from inside.
Quiet atmosphere. But Shannchyuan and the girl could faintly hear the voices of people outside the lift. Before this lift died, the indicator showed that they had descended to the 8th floor.
There seemed to be people in front of the lift on the 8th floor. Most likely, they pressed the button in front of the lift. After a while, there was nothing left. Looks like those people have passed. Maybe they thought lift number four wasn't working. Suddenly there was another lift sound. Apparently, the people were going up and down in the number three next door lift. Shannchyuan and the girl were silent, not daring to make any sound. They stayed in the lift for about an hour before conversing again.
Now the girl wants to get out. Shannchyuan explains he only knows how to turn off from the inside. He doesn't know how to turn it on again. It means the two of them are trapped in the lift until someone finds them. This time the guard would likely have gone home, and the night watchman probably is not in the building either. So they have to wait until tomorrow morning.
The girl doesn't seem too worried about hearing Shannchyuan's words. Shannchyuan himself is surprised. If a girl should be trapped in a lift with a stranger, she must be upset and most likely crying. But this girl is acting normal. Maybe she is used to experiencing extraordinary things like this in her life.
She then briefly recounts the chronology of what happened to her. After leaving the phone box earlier, the girl headed to the underground station to eat and then rest. After finishing dinner, it turned out the capsule hotel in the underground station is full. The simple inn at the station 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 doesn't find it, she will re-enter the station to take the train to another, more giant station. She hopes that there is still empty space in the capsule hotel at another station.
On the surface, she walked down the street. She saw a woman trying to get out of an SUV that had stopped right next to her. There is a man who tries 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 stepped on the gas away from there. But a little later they realised there was a witness who saw their action. The vehicle was reversing quickly to aim at the girl. The girl ran in terror towards the Dafeisi Tower, which happened to be behind her. Then the girl went up to the 12th floor, then went down to the 10th floor to ask Shannchyuan for help.
While in the lift, the two of them talked quite a lot. After tired of talking, the girl fell asleep. Shannchyuan is actually starving. But he did not mention that at all. He felt that he had to endure this extremely uncomfortable feeling. He did not want to add to the burden on the girl's mind. In a state of severe hunger, Shannchyuan finally feels tired and fall asleep.
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