SFTD -Chapter 399 White Spots Reappear (Part 40)

Hu Nan rolled his eyes. “German-style buildings all have these narrow little windows. It’s a habit they kept for insulation.”

By then, Zhou Hai had already put away his phone and was surveying the surroundings. It seemed like the outside ground level was lower than the interior, but the concrete slabs beneath their feet caught his attention.

“Quick, look at that!”

At Zhou Hai’s shout, Xu Biao, who was standing by the window, leaned out to look. Following the direction Zhou Hai pointed, he saw a narrow passage covered by concrete slabs extending out beyond the courtyard.

Facilities like this were common in the old districts of Southeast City. It was a semi-enclosed sewage trench, generally used to connect drainage pipelines. Some had since been upgraded with pipes laid inside the trench, but the maintenance access structures were still left in place.

Xu Biao hurried outside, circled around the small two-story building, and squeezed through a barricade marked No Entry. Behind the fence was piled with junk—iron barrels, old tools, and other scrap.

The clutter almost completely blocked the entrance. After walking more than twenty meters, he finally reached the spot where Zhou Hai and the others were.

By then, Zhang Wenqi and the others had already gone to inspect where the concrete-covered trench led. Xu Biao walked up beside Zhou Hai.

“What’s wrong?”

Zhou Hai jerked his chin toward the others.

“They’ve gone to check it out. Why did you follow me over here?”

Xu Biao pursed his lips and stared thoughtfully at the direction the concrete slabs extended.

“Hai-zi, if the entrance were outside, getting in and out would be way too inconvenient. I don’t think it’s out there.”

Zhou Hai raised the compass in his hand and passed it to him.

“Zhang Wenqi and the others want to check the drainage route. The basement has plumbing, and that definitely wasn’t added recently. And the spot we’re standing in right now corresponds exactly to where those two doors downstairs should be. Even if the staircase turns, the entrance ought to be somewhere around here.”

Xu Biao took a step back and leaned against the wall. If Yang Duxiu had really been able to stay in the archives room for such a long time—while continuing his work and conducting his own research—then he had to have another way in and out. Otherwise it would have been far too inconvenient.

“Hai-zi, this setup is way too troublesome. I think the door is still inside the archives room. The reason he wanted to blow up the archives room was probably connected to this, not because he wanted to destroy the Third Hospital like we first thought.”

Zhou Hai glanced at him. Xu Biao’s reasoning made sense.

“Let’s head back and take another look. We’ll let them search for the drainage outlet.”

The two of them struggled back through the pile of junk. As Zhou Hai walked past, he cast another glance at the chaotic heap. It almost looked deliberate, as though someone had intentionally blocked people from passing through. Even though the fence was damaged, the debris practically sealed off the path.

The two returned to the archives room. After pushing the door open, Zhou Hai stopped at the entrance and scanned the entire room without moving.

Right inside was a large room lined with low cabinets along the walls. In the northeast corner sat a desk. The other two rooms, with windows facing west, were filled with archives. Xu Biao had already checked those rooms before—nothing but filing cabinets, no suspicious hidden doors.

Standing in the middle of the room, Xu Biao noticed Zhou Hai hadn’t followed him in and turned to look.

Near the doorway stood a massive metal locker.

The locker was enormous, with louvered ventilation slits on the doors. Much of the paint had peeled away. It had eight narrow single doors. They had checked it before—inside were only a few white lab coats and some old shoes.

But now, thinking about hidden doors, Xu Biao quickly strode over to it and yanked open the locker doors. Shelves divided the upper and lower sections. He pulled out the hanging lab coats and shoved hard against the back panel. It felt thick and solid, with no sign of looseness.

Xu Biao sighed. He’d thought there might be a hidden entrance here, but apparently he had overthought it.

Seeing his actions, Zhou Hai came over as well. The locker doors were so narrow that even squeezing a body through would be difficult. He didn’t think this could be the hidden entrance, but…

Xu Biao kicked the locker irritably.

“I really thought this was the entrance. If that bomb had exploded back then, this whole section would’ve collapsed. Guess I was wrong.”

Zhou Hai said nothing. He pressed against the side of the locker. It barely budged. Then he turned sideways against it, braced one hand on the wall, and pushed hard with his legs.

The locker still didn’t move.

Xu Biao looked puzzled and came over to help. The two of them shoved together, but the locker didn’t even wobble. It seemed firmly fixed in place.

“No way… is this thing really that heavy?”

Zhou Hai narrowed his eyes.

“Even for a metal locker, it shouldn’t weigh more than a few hundred kilos. The two of us might not be able to lift it, but it shouldn’t stay this completely motionless.”

Xu Biao’s small eyes widened.

“Could this actually be some kind of mechanism?”

Zhou Hai rolled his eyes.

“You’ve watched too many wuxia movies. There aren’t that many secret mechanisms in real life. But this locker definitely seems suspicious.”

As he spoke, Zhou Hai moved to the other side of the locker, the side pressed against the wall, and beckoned to Xu Biao.

“Maybe we’ve been pulling the wrong direction. Let’s try this side.”

“Alright!”

There was a narrow gap between the locker and the wall, just enough to slip fingers into. Zhou Hai and Xu Biao hooked their fingers into the crack and pulled hard again.

Still nothing.

Both frowned in confusion. Had they guessed wrong?

Xu Biao spat lightly into his palms, rubbed his hands together, planted one foot against the wall, and strained with all his strength.

The locker still refused to move.

Zhou Hai patted his shoulder.

“Move aside for a second. Yang Duxiu’s right hand was disabled. If opening this required that much force, he wouldn’t have been able to operate the hidden door. So brute force can’t be the method.”

Xu Biao thought that made sense. But aside from the remaining wooden cabinets, there was nowhere else to search. Were they really going to have to tear apart the whole room?

At that moment, Zhou Hai crouched in front of the locker and slid his fingers into the gap, slowly moving upward from bottom to top.

When his hand reached about the height of his head, his fingers bumped into a small metal protrusion.

He pinched it between two fingers. It felt a bit like a latch. With a slight upward push—

Click.

At the sound, Xu Biao hurried over.

“You found the mechanism?”

Before Zhou Hai could react, Xu Biao grabbed the edge of the locker and yanked sideways with all his strength.

With the sudden movement, the entire locker slid toward the archives room door.

Clang!

It stopped abruptly against something.

The two stared blankly behind the locker.

A metal door had appeared before them.

Xu Biao stood up and looked at the track on the floor, then at the spring latch Zhou Hai had triggered. Instantly, realization dawned on him.

“Holy crap… it really was a hidden mechanism!”

Staring at the metal door, Zhou Hai reached out to open it, but Xu Biao immediately grabbed his wrist, his face full of alarm.

“What if there’s a bomb hanging behind this door too?”

Zhou Hai thought for a moment.

“I don’t think so. The basement door was bolted from the inside. How would he have planted a bomb here?”

Xu Biao blocked him again.

“Hai-zi, don’t get reckless. Let’s call for backup! That Yang Duxiu is capable of anything. Maybe he’s hiding in some corner watching us right now, changing his plans at any moment. After all, Captain Huang and the others still haven’t found any trace of him leaving.”

Zhou Hai’s expression grew serious as he stared directly into Xu Biao’s eyes.

“Step back.”