"What...what is this? Why did the wall suddenly crack?" Xu Cui, a native who had never been exposed to TV dramas, was obviously frightened by this unbelievable mechanism.
"This must be the real warehouse of Rongfa Grain Shop."
This should be the storage point for the supplies that the system was referring to. I've finally found you!
Ruyi walked to the wall and carefully pushed the hidden door made of the wall. She discovered that it was a revolving door, and surprisingly, it was quite smooth and required very little force. The mechanical craftsmanship of ancient times was truly unfathomable!
Peering through the crack, one could see a rectangular courtyard, twice the size of the backyard. It was eerily quiet. A row of houses stretched from left to right, all with their windows closed, except for one door secured with a large iron lock. Piles of white rice were scattered on the ground, along with numerous tire tracks and footprints, clearly indicating that the evacuation had been extremely urgent.
"Wang Liu! I'll count to ten and if you don't get your ass back by then you're dead! One! Two! Three..."
Another furious roar came from the front yard. Anyone could tell that the person shouting was no benevolent person, and that their anger was about to explode.
Startled, Cheng Ruyi immediately opened the hidden door, slipped inside, and then turned to wave to Xu Cui: "Aunt Cui, come in quickly!"
Xu Cui hesitated for a moment, then quickly walked in.
Ruyi then gently closed the hidden door. As the blue brick door slowly rotated to be level with the blue brick wall, a soft "click" sounded, and the hidden door was perfectly fitted to the brick wall. From the outside, there was no sign of anything unusual; it was just an ordinary wall.
Good heavens! This level of skill is definitely not something an ordinary craftsman could produce. It seems this grain shop has quite a background!
"White rice! What a blessing! There's so much white rice here! Thank God!"
"Ding-dong! Congratulations on completing a side quest!"
Two voices rang out at the same time. Cheng Ruyi turned around and saw Xu Cui squatting on the ground, pulling off a piece of cloth from somewhere, and then carefully moving the rice on the ground onto the cloth.
Clearly, Xu Cui cared more about the white rice that would fill her stomach than the magical mechanical arts.
"Aunt Cui, let's not rush. Let's take a look at this house first. I reckon there's more grain inside, and maybe even some meat!"
"What? There's meat too! Come on, let's go see!" Xu Cui didn't even bother with the cloth on the ground after hearing this, and rushed to the door of the house in just a few steps.
This is a row of houses built of stone bricks, which occupy half of the entire courtyard from left to right.
Only four small, tall windows in the entire row of houses were made of wood. The main gate was a very heavy black iron gate, and there was no keyhole or lock in sight. Xu Cui stepped forward and pushed it a few times with all her might, but the gate did not budge. It seemed that it would be quite difficult to enter openly through the main gate.
So the two decided to split up, one searching the left side and the other the right.
While the two were apart, Ruyi quickly opened the task interface to check.
Task Details:
Main quest: Infiltrate Rongfa Grain Shop to obtain supplies (Incomplete)
Side Quest 1: Resolve Wang Liu's revenge for the original owner and escape successfully (Completion: A)
Side Quest 2: ? ? ? (Incomplete)
Note: The main quest is mandatory; failure to complete it today will result in certain death.
Sure enough, Wang Liu was one of the missions!
It seems my previous guess was correct. If I hadn't come here today, I wouldn't have met Wang Liu, and Wang Liu is a ticking time bomb who could explode at any moment.
However, he was only a side quest, so it seems that Wang Liu was not the main factor that led to his inevitable death.
As for the completion rate being "A", it probably means almost a perfect score, right? That means their approach to dealing with Wang Liu will yield a pretty good result. It seems that even if Wang Liu isn't dead, he absolutely cannot pose a threat to them anymore. Once she understood this, she felt much more at ease.
In any case, completing a side quest, eliminating a major threat, and avenging a great grudge made this trip to the grain shop a success. She was increasingly looking forward to the supplies mentioned in the main quest.
In no time, Cheng Ruyi had searched the entire area and found that all the windows were boarded up and locked from the inside. Although it was possible to break them open, there were no heavy objects in the yard.
She tried patting it with her hand and found that with her current strength, it was undoubtedly like throwing an egg against a rock; the wooden plank was thicker than she had imagined.
Having found nothing on her own, Ruyi had no choice but to go find Xu Cui to see if the two of them could come up with a solution together. Unexpectedly, as soon as she walked over, she saw a buttock by the wall.
Cheng Ruyi: "Aunt Cui? What are you doing?"
Xu Cui was kneeling on the ground, her head almost touching the ground, her buttocks sticking up high. "Ruyi, come and take a look. I think the bottom few bricks are a little different from the ones around them. They seem to be newer."
After listening, Cheng Ruyi squatted down as well. Indeed, some bricks were different colors. The surrounding bricks clearly showed signs of age, were darker in color, and had a lot of moss and stains. However, these bricks were very clean, and the mud plastered around them looked very casual, as if they had been hastily sealed off in a hurry.
She thought for a moment, then tried to push hard. The plaster fell down instantly, and the clean stone brick was pushed in a little bit.
The two exchanged a surprised glance; something was going to happen!
A few minutes later, a hole appeared at the base of the wall. It wasn't big; an average adult man would have to crawl to get through. In this way, Ruyi and Xu Cui successfully entered the warehouse.
"Cough cough cough!" As soon as they entered, the two of them couldn't help but cough at the same time.
The warehouse was surprisingly well-sealed; not only was the air quite murky, but the light was also very dim, making it difficult to see anything clearly for a while.
Cheng Ruyi had only taken one step when she almost tripped over something, so she had to feel her way along the wall as she walked, saying, "Let's open all the windows first to let in some fresh air and light. It's too messy in here, Aunt Cui, please be careful."
"Okay!"
Because all the windows were boarded up, it took the two of them quite a while to open them all. The sunlight streamed in, and only then could they truly see what was inside.
The warehouse was divided into three parts. The front door faced rows of tall shelves, which were now completely empty. The left side, where they crawled in, was probably filled with wooden crates, but now only a few rotten crates and a pile of empty burlap sacks were left abandoned in the corner. The right side was the smallest area, with only two empty display shelves against the wall. In front of the display shelves was a desk and a chair, which looked like a simple accounting office.
Cheng Ruyi was standing in front of the window at the far right. After observing the surroundings for a moment, she said, "This place is quite big. Let's split up and search. We need to hurry, it's almost noon."
That's right, more than two hours have passed since they left home, and it's already past 9 AM. Their families must be extremely worried.
"Alright! I'll search this side then, this box is full of white rice!" Xu Cui's eyes hadn't left those boxes since she came in. As she walked over, she muttered to herself, "Most of the box is full of white rice. Goodness, they just left it here like that. What a waste of resources these damn people have!"
Actually, she received a system notification as soon as she entered, but she didn't care to check the interface right now. Since she had already completed it, it didn't matter if she checked it at any time. Wasn't adventure and treasure hunting more interesting?
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