Skin - Chapter 40

Chapter 40 – Climbing Over Walls

　　Meng Zhao did not plan to enter through the main gate. There was no substantial evidence for the speculation that “the sanatorium may have an underground space”. The previous search had yielded no results. If he searched again in a short period of time and still found nothing, how would the city bureau save face…

　　”I’ll climb over the railing and take a look,” Meng Zhao looked at Lu Shichen, “You wait for me outside.”

　　”I’ll go with you.” Lu Shichen said.

　　”Can you even climb over the railing?” Meng Zhao looked Lu Shichen up and down. The man’s well-tailored outfit really didn’t make him seem like someone who could climb over the railings.

　　But Lu Shichen just said “hmm” lightly: “Two people looking together is always more efficient than one person.”

　　”Okay, let’s see if you can climb over it or not.” Meng Zhao said, crossing the green belt and walking to the railing.

　　Although this railing did not seem to provide much protection, it was still difficult to climb up. The difficulty lay in the fact that the wall below was too high. Even if Meng Zhao’s legs were long enough and he raised his legs, he still couldn’t climb up smoothly.

　　There was an easier way, which was to let Lu Shichen bend down, and he would step on Lu Shichen’s back. It is the safest way. If there were his colleagues from the police force around him, Meng Zhao would definitely have adopted this method.

　　‘But…’ Meng Zhao turned his head and looked at Lu Shichen. Although Lu Shichen had broad shoulders and long legs, a good figure, and was not just someone in a fancy outfit, for some reason, he felt that if he really stepped on Lu Shichen’s back, it would be easy to crush him. Lu Shichen gave him a very fragile feeling.

　　‘Forget it,’ Meng Zhao thought about it, walked to the street, and when he was four or five metres away from the railing, he accelerated and sprinted, grabbed the railing with both hands, raised his feet and stepped on the wall. With the friction between his feet and the wall, he jumped up, stepped on the upper edge of the wall with his other foot, and then flipped his long legs and jumped over the railing. Then he jumped off the wall and entered the sanatorium.

　　Meng Zhao looked up at the railing in front of him that was nearly three metres long and connected to the wall. It was only because he had trained in the police force for four years and his physical strength had not been wasted that he was able to climb over the railing without any danger. If it was Lu Shichen…

　　Just as Meng Zhao was about to call Lu Shichen and ask him to wait for him outside, he heard the sound of feet hitting the wall. The next second, Lu Shichen also stepped on the upper edge of the wall.

　　The next second, his two long legs flipped, and Lu Shichen appeared in front of Meng Zhao in the same way.

　　”You can…” Meng Zhao realised that he had underestimated Lu Shichen. “How did you develop these skills abroad? You are not an FBI agent carrying out a secret mission, right?”

　　”I go rock climbing occasionally.” Lu Shichen brushed off the dust from his palms.

　　Meng Zhao didn’t plan to continue to worry about Lu Shichen’s skills. He turned around and looked at the sanatorium in front of him. The place was facing the garden with a beautiful corridor in the garden.

　　If it is true as Lu Shichen speculated, that there are other places outside the building where people could hide, where would it be…?

　　Just when Meng Zhao was hesitating, Lu Shichen stepped forward to the right and said, “Let’s go.”

　　At this moment, Wenyi Nursing Home had entered a resting state. There were only a few dim lights around the garden, which could hardly provide any lighting. Earlier while searching the functional buildings of the sanatorium, Meng Zhao noticed that there was a garden here, but when he was really in this huge garden, he realised that the layout here was more complicated than what he saw outside.

　　The park is full of lush green plants and tall trees. The corridors running through it are winding and there are many forks in the road, but they are all connected to each other.

　　Meng Zhao followed Lu Shichen, observing the surrounding environment as he walked. In the silence, the only sound he could hear was the rustling of leaves in the wind, and the shadows of the trees falling on the lawn, adding a bit of mystery to the garden in the night.

　　‘If Xu Yingying’s body was really buried or existed in that so-called underground space, where would she be hidden…’ When Meng Zhao was pondering over this question, Lu Shichen in front of him suddenly stopped, and Meng Zhao also stopped. They were already at the northernmost location of the sanatorium. Beyond the guardrail and further north, there seemed to be an abandoned area. Compared with the neatly trimmed garden, the few scattered trees in it grew in a disorderly manner.

　　Seeing Lu Shichen looking at the abandoned area and seeming to find something strange, Meng Zhao walked up to him and asked, “What’s the problem here?”

　　Lu Shichen didn’t respond, his eyes fell on the lawn.

　　Meng Zhao took out the police flashlight he carried with him and shined it towards the distance. After shining it around, he shined it towards the lawn not far away.

　　Compared with the carefully groomed lawns in the park, the lawn outside the fence appeared lush and messy, and it was obvious at first glance that it was a wild lawn that grew on its own with poor maintenance.

　　Meng Zhao suddenly realised that something was wrong. He half squatted down and flashed the light towards a spot on the lawn outside the guardrail. There seemed to be signs of being trampled on recently.

　　The wooden guardrail is more than one metre high. It should not be easy for the average elderly person in the sanatorium to climb over it. Moreover, why would they go to an abandoned area with poor management instead of walking on the carefully built sightseeing corridor of the institution?

　　Meng Zhao stood up and looked around. The surveillance camera could only detect the garden area. Further north, it was no longer within the surveillance zone.

　　He climbed over the wooden fence and looked carefully at the small patch of lawn beneath his feet.

　　”What did you find?” Lu Shichen also climbed over the fence and walked to his side.

　　Meng Zhao bent down and pulled out a dogtail grass that was obviously crushed by the soles of shoes. “Fresh traces of trampling. Judging from the surrounding lawns, few people come here, but someone has been here recently.”

　　Lu Shichen took the grass and twirled it in his hand to look at it. Meng Zhao lowered his head and continued to look for other traces of trampling with the flashlight.

　　But the night was dark and the traces of trampling were not very obvious, making it extremely difficult to identify.

　　At that moment, Meng Zhao saw a flash of metallic lustre in the grass where the light swept. He walked over, bent down, dug up the grass with his hands, and picked up the thing.

　　Meng Zhao held the thing and looked at it. It was an earring, a very fashionable style, which seemed out of place in the sanatorium.

　　‘Few people come here, and the person who dropped the earring should be a young woman. Could it be… Xu Yingying?’

　　Meng Zhao put away the earring and walked forward for a distance. The cell phone in his pocket vibrated. He picked it up and saw that it was Zhou Qiyang calling.

　　Meng Zhao picked up the phone and asked in a low voice, “What’s the matter?”

　　”Brother Zhao, why are you still climbing over the wall…? I’ve already filmed a short video of you climbing over the wall and will post it online later. I’ve even thought of a title for it: ‘On a dark and windy night, a dignified policeman actually did something so shameful!’”

　　”Don’t joke with me,” Meng Zhao was in no mood to joke with him. “We went to the inside of the sanatorium and found traces that could be Xu Yingying’s. Why did you come back?”

　　”I thought it would be bad to leave you alone there, so I planned to drive back to pick you up. When I got back, I saw you two climbing over the wall from a distance… What did you find? Is Xu Yingying really still in the sanatorium?”

　　”We are still searching,” Meng Zhao ordered, “Don’t leave yet. Stay outside the sanatorium and don’t allow anyone to enter or leave.”

　　Before he finished speaking, Lu Shichen raised his hand and held his arm: “Wait.”

　　Meng Zhao paused and looked at Lu Shichen: “What’s wrong?”

　　Lu Shichen didn’t respond. He took the phone from his hand and hung up.

　　Meng Zhao looked at Lu Shichen. At first he thought Lu Shichen wanted him to see something, but soon he judged from Lu Shichen’s expression that Lu Shichen did not see something, but heard something.

　　He listened attentively for a while, holding his breath. The rustling of leaves seemed to be mixed with a sound similar to a low whimper.

　　‘No, it’s not sobbing, it seems to be… the sound of the wind?’

　　‘But where does this wind sound come from? It doesn’t seem to be a natural wind sound, and it seems to be more regular…’

　　Meng Zhao carefully identified the sound, and suddenly a guess came to his mind: ‘This seems to be… the sound of an exhaust fan?’

　　‘But this place is a long distance away from several buildings of the sanatorium. Will the exhaust facilities be installed here?’

　　‘Or… is there really some airtight place hidden here that needs to be ventilated by an exhaust fan?’ Meng Zhao’s expression became solemn. He realised that Lu Shichen’s speculation that “the sanatorium may have an underground space” was very likely true.

　　‘The dead don’t need to breathe. If the place where Xu Yingying is hidden needs ventilation facilities, does that mean… Xu Yingying is very likely still alive?’

　　Meng Zhao carefully identified the sound of the wind and moved closer to where the sound was more obvious. The beam of the police flashlight swept across a patch of weeds and stopped on a grey-white pipe.

　　The wind comes out from this pipe. Meng Zhao shined the flashlight towards the pipe and suddenly felt that there seemed to be something wrong with the lawn next to it. There was a not-so-obvious gap between the lawn and the pipe.

　　Lu Shichen also walked over, half squatted down, and looked at the iron door.

　　Meng Zhao handed the flashlight to Lu Shichen, then groped for the gap with his fingers and tentatively inserted them in, and the grass actually moved!

　　He raised his eyes and met Lu Shichen’s gaze, and at the same time realised that there was something fishy going on here – or maybe it wasn’t a fishy thing, but a shocking secret.

　　The two of them breathed softly at the same time. They knew that if they were not careful, they might alert the enemy and all the secrets hidden below might disappear.

　　Meng Zhao carefully lifted the grass, and the area underneath the grass gradually revealed its full appearance – a black iron door about one square metre in size.

　　Meng Zhao took the flashlight from Lu Shichen’s hand and flashed it on the lock on the iron door. It was a mechanical lock commonly used on safes.

　　‘What is under the iron door?’ Meng Zhao was a little anxious at the moment, but he knew he had to be patient. He couldn’t open the iron door by himself, and even if Lu Shichen had a high IQ, he couldn’t unlock it without professional training. He had to have a professional locksmith to help. Fortunately, he was lucky, Zhou Qiyang was still waiting outside the sanatorium.

　　Meng Zhao stood up, walked to the side with light steps, and called Zhou Qiyang.

　　The call was connected, and Meng Zhao said to the phone: “Xiao Zhou, come here quickly, and bring the lock-picking tools if you have any.”

　　Zhou Qiyang said with some difficulty, “Ah? I can’t climb over this wall, my legs are not long enough…”

　　”Why are you climbing over the wall?” Meng Zhao frowned and said, “Come in through the main gate, hurry up.”

　　”Oh, okay.” Hearing Meng Zhao’s serious tone, Zhou Qiyang also calmed down, “Where are you guys, Brother Zhao?”

　　Meng Zhao told Zhou Qiyang the approximate location. While he was talking, Zhou Qiyang had already started running on the phone.

　　Three minutes later, Zhou Qiyang ran over breathlessly: “Brother Zhao…”

　　Meng Zhao motioned him to be quiet, then led him to the iron gate and lowered his voice: “See if you can open it.”

　　As soon as he saw the iron gate, Zhou Qiyang realised the seriousness of the matter.

　　Lu Shichen stood up and made room for Zhou Qiyang.

　　Zhou Qiyang lay on the ground and looked closely at the combination lock. Meng Zhao stood by with the flashlight to illuminate the door.

　　Zhou Qiyang tried to turn the mechanical lock with his fingers, and lay down to listen carefully to the movement inside.

　　”Can it be opened?” Meng Zhao asked.

　　”I’ll try my best.” Zhou Qiyang always liked to joke around, but he looked serious at this moment. He knew that if he made the slightest mistake, all that Meng Zhao had done that night might be wasted, and if there were living people hidden under the iron gate, they might also be in danger.

　　Zhou Qiyang lay on the ground with his face turned sideways and his ear close to the mechanical lock. He held the mechanical lock and turned it quickly several times, listening intently to the subtle sound of high-speed rotation inside the lock.

　　In just a few minutes, sweat broke out on Zhou Qiyang’s forehead.

　　After a while, there was a light “click” sound, and Zhou Qiyang breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at Meng Zhao and said, “It’s open.”