Chapter 02
The man looked at Yìngyuè blankly. Two seconds later, the look in his eyes changed. At this moment, Yìngyuè saw the man snap out of his reverie and recognized her.
"Why are you here?"
Yìngyuè wanted to make small talk, but realized there were far more critical things to say right now.
"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 man was shocked to hear Yìngyuè's words. His reaction was typical. Made sense because that's not a daily conversation.
"We can hide in one of the rooms in this building. How many of them are there?"
"I saw three people. But perhaps there is more," Yìngyuè replied.
"Then we'll just hide in the elevator for a while." He looks at Yìngyuè, then asks.
"Are you willing to risk getting trapped here?"
Nobody had ever asked Yìngyuè such an odd question. Yìngyuè stared at him. But then she firmly answered that unusual question. She didn't have much choice. Getting trapped here with this man still seemed better than dealing with the villains.
"Sure!"
After hearing Yìngyuè's answer, that person right away opened a small panel located beside the elevator buttons. Behind the panel, there were a few more buttons. He was trying to press three buttons simultaneously. On his first attempt, nothing happened. The person pressed three more buttons simultaneously, but this time the third button differed from before. Still, nothing happened. He tried again. This time he pushed with all his might.
Suddenly the lights went off, and the elevator stopped. That person deliberately turned off the elevator from the inside. Yìngyuè didn't know that people could do that. It seemed this was not the first time he did something like this.
Quiet atmosphere. But Yìngyuè could hear faint voices outside. Before this elevator stopped, the indicator showed they had descended to the 8th floor. Yìngyuè guessed those people had reached the front of the elevator on the 8th floor. Most likely, they were pressing the button in front of the elevator. Currently, the only elevator that was still perfectly working is the 3rd one. That elevator was on the 12th floor. Maybe by now, it was going down because someone pressed the down button. After a while, Yìngyuè didn't hear any sound. It seemed those people had already left that place.
"I think we must wait a while longer to be sure they've left," Yìngyuè whispered to that man.
The atmosphere was still tense. It is pitch black inside the elevator.
"Yes. We do have to wait."
His voice sounded calm.
Suddenly there was another elevator sound. The people were going up and down in the elevator next door. Yìngyuè didn't dare to speak a word. Not even whispering a single word.
The situation was silent for about half an hour. They could not hear the elevator's sound going up and down anymore. Maybe those people gave up or thought that somehow Yìngyuè had got out of the building.
"How is it, Sir? Do you think the criminals have left?"
"I don't know," the man whispered. "Maybe they kept quiet on purpose to lure you out of hiding."
This man's thought made sense. They wait again for about half an hour. So they had been in the elevator for more than an hour. The two of them then sit on the elevator floor.
After Yìngyuè felt the situation was already safe, she said something to that man. This time she was still whispering.
"Maybe it's safe now, sir!"
"Do you want to go out now?" Asked the man.
"Yes, Sir !"
"Do you remember earlier when I asked if you will take the risk of being trapped here?"
"What do you mean?"
"My point is that I might know how to turn off this elevator. But I don't know how to turn it back on again. The trick earlier can only turn off the elevator. "
"Oh!" Only that short exclamation emerges from Yìngyuè's mouth.
"Earlier, when you entered this building, was there anyone on the ground floor?" asked the man.
"No one, Sir! Was anyone there before? "
"There is one custodian at the ground floor. When I came, he was still there. He said today he must hurry back home, so he probably can't wait until I finish my business here. He asked me to turn off all the lights and lock the building's doors if he was not there when I finished. I happen to have the front door key and gate key."
"Oh!" Yìngyuè said that exclamation again.
A few seconds later, Yìngyuè said.
"Isn't there a night watchman on duty after that guy left?"
"There should be," the man replied. Then he added, "But there is a chance that the guard won't be able to come tonight. Or even if he can come, maybe he monitors the situation only from the outside, not going inside. This building's security sucks."
"Why is that, sir?"
"I don't know exactly. But it looks like this building is in dispute. All the tenants have left, so there is no activity in this building. It looks like the valuables are not here either. So they don't even maximize security."
"Then what should we do, sir?"
"There is nothing we can do. We wait until tomorrow morning. The guy usually arrives at eight in the morning. It's almost half-past nine at night, so perhaps we should stay in this lovely elevator for over 11 hours. "
"Alright. I think it's still better than getting caught by those people," said Yìngyuè.
Yìngyuè's eyes had adjusted to the darkness after more than an hour of being there. She could see the surroundings dimly. The man was sitting in the back right corner of the elevator while Yìngyuè was in the back left corner. The elevator wasn't too big either, but it's still a lot bigger than the phone booth they took shelter in this afternoon. There was a large bag next to that person. Yìngyuè remembered he carried nothing when they were in the telephone booth. Maybe he got the big bag from this building.
"Are you a tenant in this building?"
Yìngyuè tried to break the silence again.
"Not me. But one of my friends. This afternoon he called me asking for help. Because he was out of town, he could not come here. So begging me to pick up the stuff here and keep it for a while."
Then he continued his words again.
"I have visited this building several times. Okay, maybe not just several, but numerous times. So I already know the custodian on the ground floor. His name is Hànróng. The key that I hold, belongs to my friend. Besides having access to a unit on the 10th floor, my friend also has a key to the front door and the gate. But when I arrived, the custodian was still there, so I didn't need to use the key to enter this building."
"But when I entered this building, there were no people, Sir. Isn't it that before going home, he had to lock the door first?"
"I thought he wasn't going home yet when you came. Maybe he was out for a while, and he felt like he didn't need to lock the door because usually, things were always safe around here."
"Did he get back here?"
"Yes, I think so. And maybe Hànróng met with those people. I hope nothing bad happened to him."
"What about the night watchman?" Yìngyuè asked him curiously.
"There are only two night-watchmen. They take turns guarding this place. One of them is very lazy. So tonight and tomorrow night, the watchman is different. I already told you the security sucks. They only hired two people to guard building this size."
Then man shook his head repeatedly.
"Hànróng told me the watchman on duty tonight is the lazy one. He was often only on guard outside the building. I also knew those two watchmen because I used to go here at night a few months ago. I suspected he is not lazy but afraid of something. The person is a little timid."
"Afraid of something?" Yìngyuè now felt a bit worried. Maybe this building was haunted.
The man laughed softly.
"There's no need to be afraid. I have spent the night in this building several times. So far, nothing has ever happened. And I also witnessed no weirdness. There aren't any ghost rumors or anything like that in this building, anyway."
Yìngyuè felt relieved. She said.
"So you were on your way here when you were caught in the rain, so you had to take shelter in the phone booth."
"Yes, I was on my way here."
"You didn't come by subway? Isn't the station is right there, at the intersection near here."
"Of course, I took the subway to get here. But the one I took didn't stop at that intersection's station. It stopped at a station two kilometers from here."
Yìngyuè nodded at the man's explanation. Then she switched to a different topic.
"In this city, where do you live?"
"I live in Píngyuán. It's in the middle of this huge city. It's far from here. Where do your relatives live?"
“Yuèmíng,” Yìngyuè replied.
"Oh, it's very close to Píngyuán," says the man. "Apart from the name of the area, Yuèmíng is also the name of the typical food there. Lots of people selling Yuèmíng there."
Hearing the news thrilled Yìngyuè. Apart from being happy because this man knew the area she was going to, it was also because there was cuisine whose name is like her name.
"Do you often eat Yuèmíng?"
"Not too often. Yuèmíng is so sweet. I prefer salty food."
Suddenly Yìngyuè yawned. She looked tired.
"Are you sleepy?" the man asked.
"A little. Aren't you sleepy? "
"Last night, I slept very well. So if I don't sleep tonight, it's okay."
"I am sorry. If I didn't enter this building, maybe by now you are resting comfortably at home."
"It is okay. Occasionally sleeping outside is not a bad thing either. Perhaps from now on, I have to get used to it. "
"Eh?"
The man's words sounded odd to Yìngyuè's ears. This man had a habit of saying something weird.
The man laughed again. Then he explained.
"The lease for the house I live in has expired today. The landlord increased the rent fivefold, so I have to find another place to live. He gave tolerance for one week, though. However, I feel that one week may not be enough to find a suitable place. So there's a chance I'll be homeless next week. That's why I consider tonight as a practice."
Yìngyuè also laughed after hearing the man's story.
"Are you not looking for a place today?"
"I live with some of my friends. This morning we went to the subway station near our house to rent a luggage storage locker there. If we have not found a place to live in one week yet, we can adequately store our belongings. "
"Around two PM, I returned home. I planned to take a rest. But my friend called me. He is the one who is a tenant in this building. He asked me to pick up and store his belongings for a while."
"You must be a wonderful person to the point that your friend has entrusted his keys and belongings to you."
The man laughed at Yìngyuè's praise.
"It's nothing like that. This is the first time he asks me to keep his belonging. On the phone, my friend sounded a little panicked. He said his life was in danger. I don't know how true that was. Sometimes the person is a bit over the top. He is very fond of mystery and detective stories. Several times he held mystery or detective games with his friends. The person is still young. He is not yet thirty. So I think it's natural that he still likes to act like that."
After pausing for a while, he continued his story.
"I don't know this time he is really in trouble, or this is just part of his game. But whatever it is, I don't think it would hurt me to help him store things for a while."
"That's right," Yìngyuè said.
"Then, the keys to this place. Did you keep it from a few months ago?"
"I never kept the keys. On the phone earlier, my friend asked if I had received the package he sent. It turned out that the key and an explanation of what to do were in the package. He did not speak much on the phone, fearing for his safety. So I read this instruction in the letter that he included in the package."
"Did the package come after he called?" Yìngyuè asked again.
"The package arrived yesterday afternoon. But because no one was home, we haven't received it. There had also been such an incident before. Fortunately, our neighbor was kind enough to stand in for us to receive the package. I thought maybe this time it happened too. After receiving the call, I went straight to the next door to ask if there was a package for me yesterday. Our neighbor said that at 2 PM yesterday, the package arrived. After reading the instructions, I immediately went here."
When they are silent, Yìngyuè felt the time was running at a snail's pace. One minute felt like an hour. The situation differed from when they talked. So Yìngyuè asked the man further.
"Your friend who asked you to keep his belongings, where does he live?"
"His name is Sōngfēi. I don't know where he lives now. But previously, he lived in the western part of this city. The place is far away from here. He moved from there about three months ago."
"So he never lived here?"
"Never. This is an office building. Though I don't understand why people make office buildings on the city's outskirts where the atmosphere is like this?"
"When did the last time you meet him?" asked Yìngyuè. She leaned forward.
"About two months ago. We met Sōngfēi at a restaurant in a mall in the downtown area."
"Which downtown?" asked Yìngyuè.
"Píngyuán downtown," replied the man.
"Oh, the one near Yuèmíng," said Yìngyuè.
"Right," replied the man. He laughed.
"Sōngfēi said nothing about his new house. In fact, I don't think all of my friends realized that he had moved out of his old house."
"Yesterday, where did he call you from?"
"I do not know. I think from somewhere out of town. He called in a short time, so I didn't have time to ask anything. He only said that he was in danger. I don't know what this time he was involved in?"
It turned out that this man liked to tell stories. Quite different from the impression when Yìngyuè first spoke to him at the phone booth.
Yingyue could understand the man's concern over what had happened to her friend. Hearing that man's story, his friend might be in danger. She remembered what she had been through just a few hours ago. Feeling in danger was not a pleasant experience.
But there was something strange. Yìngyuè didn't feel panic or fear at this moment. In stark contrast to when she ran to avoid the criminals earlier, right now, even though she was trapped inside an elevator with a stranger, Yìngyuè felt safe. Yìngyuè herself also did not understand the calmness she felt.
In all her life, Yìngyuè had always felt insecure. This was understandable because since she was a child, she had lost both of her parents. She had to move from place to place to follow the relatives who took care of her. There was a lot of discomfort during this nomadic life. Yìngyuè'd understood these relatives had their hardships. It was impossible to expect them to care for her as wholeheartedly as they would care for and raise their own children.
Therefore, since a young age, Yìngyuè had tried to be independent. Her level of maturity far exceeded that of girls her age. Although Yìngyuè had never experienced this extreme situation. But mentally, she was ready to face whatever hardship laid before her.
In the dark, Yìngyuè thought back to the things that had happened in her life. Memories of the past swirled in her mind like a movie. There were sweet memories that make her happy, but there were also bitter memories that left tears in her solitude.
They were still chatting for a while. The man gave more details about his friend. But Yìngyuè then felt sleepy. Even though she tried to endure it, the drowsiness attacked her even more. Soon she fell asleep.
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