Fan Meinan hesitated for a moment before reaching out to knock on the door of the surveillance room.
“What’s the matter?” An unfamiliar male voice came from inside the room, leaving Fan Meinan surprised. She believed Zhang Heng had already taken care of everyone inside, but instead, the employee in charge of the surveillance camera was still there. Fan Meinan almost thought that Zhang Heng was no longer inside.
However, she soon heard Zhang Heng’s voice. “He’s okay. He’s a friend of mine.”
After waiting for another five seconds, the door in front of Fan Meinan opened. A slightly chubby employee wearing glasses popped his head out from inside and greeted Fan Meinan warmly. “Come in quickly.”
“Ah, okay.”
Fan Meinan was stunned for a moment before walking in.
He saw Zhang Heng looking up at the video on the monitor and saw Beta jumping off the platform on the screen. Cheng Sihan hesitated for a moment before she took out her phone and quickly typed a few words before jumping off as well.
The bespectacled staff member was also stunned by this. This… This lasted for a long time before he suddenly snapped back to reality. He grabbed the phone at the side as fast as he could, trying to sound the alarm, but his hand was quickly pressed down by Zhang Heng.
The bespectacled worker was taken aback.
“Leave this matter to us,” Zhang Heng said. “We’re here to handle this. Don’t worry, we won’t let you be responsible.”
However, the bespectacled worker was obviously not at ease. After all, if something really happened, he would be severely punished for not reporting it.
Zhang Heng added, “This happened 25 minutes ago. If something did really happen, it would have happened a long time ago. Have there been any accidents on the trains recently?”
“Now that you mention it, I remember. Previously, a driver reported that he saw someone on the tracks next door. However, after that, he said that he didn’t see anyone, so everyone thought that the driver was mistaken,” the bespectacled worker said.
However, he quickly added, “But we can’t just leave this matter alone, or it’ll be all over if someone loses their life.”
“I know, I’ll take care of it,” Zhang Heng reassured the guard. “You wouldn’t have noticed anything if I didn’t check the surveillance anyway, so just pretend that I didn’t come.”
“Well…” the bespectacled worker looked troubled.
Then, after a moment, he said, “You’re the person Inspector Han recommended. Of course, we’re willing to cooperate with Inspector Han, but we have our own rules and regulations here, so it’ll be very difficult for me if I deal with you like this.”
Zhang Heng didn’t force the bespectacled worker. Instead, he asked, “How do you usually deal with it, then?”
“This matter has to be reported to the leader. We’ll wait for the leader’s instructions, and under normal circumstances, the subway on this line has to stop,” the bespectacled worker said.
“Okay, then we’ll do as you say,” Zhang Heng said as he released his grip.
Then, he left the surveillance room with Fan Meinan. After closing the door, Fan Meinan finally asked the question she had been holding back for a long time.
“How did you convince him to let you watch the video? And who is this Superintendent Han?”
“I found a friend to help me contact the local police station,” Zhang Heng said.
He had found the person through Han Lu’s connections but he never expected Cheng Sihan and Beta to jump off the platform. According to the bespectacled worker, the two of them must have found a way to leave the tunnel. No driver would have seen them otherwise.
“We need to take a look at that tunnel,” Zhang Heng said. “I’ll make another call. Even if we can’t go down alone, at least we can go with the subway company when they stop the line for inspection.”
Zhang Heng didn’t know how Han Lu did it. Ten minutes later, the subway really stopped running. Then, the company called in the inspection team most familiar with the tunnel. Their routine work usually started late at night. After the last train arrived at the last station, it was their turn. They would ride a trolley loaded with cranes, maintenance tools, and materials along the track to inspect the bolts along the way.
Thus, they became the ones responsible for the search this time. The patrol team’s leader, a man from the northwest, named Ma Lu, found Zhang Heng and Fan Meinan. He looked like he was in his early forties. He spoke little and had that very calm look on his face.
“Are you guys coming too?”
“Yes.” Zhang Heng nodded.
“Okay, then follow me.” Ma Lu wasted no time and said directly. Then he handed Zhang Heng and Fan Meinan a flashlight.
Zhang Heng carried the large travel bag and followed the patrol team down the tunnel. Other than the road, there were two other young men. Of course, they weren’t the only ones in the entire subway patrol team. It just so happened that they were on the night shift, a time where the others were still sleeping at home.
It was only one station’s distance to the next station, so they had more than enough men.
Without needing instructions, the two young men had already spread out to check the tracks. For the time being, they found nothing wrong. Very soon, they arrived at the iron door.
The young man in front shone a flashlight on it, and it flashed past quickly.
But at that moment, Zhang Heng noticed something.
“Wait.”
“What’s Wrong?” Ma Lu stopped in his tracks.
“Is the lock on this door usually open?” Zhang Heng asked Ma Lu.
The latter moved the flashlight to an escape door and was stunned. “Here? It’s been locked since I came to work here.”
“Is that so?”Zhang Heng looked at the dust on the door. It had indeed accumulated for a long time, but not long ago, traces of it being opened and fingerprints had been left on it. If nothing went wrong, Cheng Sihan and Beta were the ones who opened the door. So Zhang Heng continued to ask, “What’s down here?”
The two younger inspectors looked at each other in confusion, but Ma Lu, who had worked the job the longest among the group, knew something. “Actually, I’ve never been down there before, but I heard from some of the older workers that there’s a subway line down there.”
“A subway line? I’ve taken the subway a lot, but I’ve never heard of it. It doesn’t appear on the map either,” Fan Meinan said.
“That’s because the subway line has been abandoned before it’s actually built. The higher-ups apparently changed the construction plan,” Ma Lu said. He then turned to look at Zhang Heng. “Do you think they’ve gone down there?”
“Very likely, from the looks of it,” Zhang Heng said. “But I don’t suggest you go down there. You can continue to check other places along this road. Just let us search the rest of the place. That way, you can resume your operations as soon as possible.”
However, Ma Lu was clearly a responsible person. “I’ll go down with you,” h. Weresponsibleut hesitation,
