Chapter 28 Chapter 28 Trespassing
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All high-rise buildings were destroyed, and even the Western-style buildings hidden in the gardens were not spared.
But there are always exceptions. A two-story villa with the worst geographical location and closest to the high-rise buildings avoided all the debris and miraculously escaped.
The wall paint is peeling off, the doors and windows are dilapidated, and green ivy covers three walls. The slightly old building stands in the ruins, almost blending in with the surrounding green plants.
“Boom boom, boom boom!”
Knocking on the dark green double security door, Gu Mengran put his face against the door and pricked up his ears to listen carefully to the movements inside.
Time passed minute by minute, and there was complete silence inside the door, not a single sound could be heard.
Gu Mengran took a closer look at the door lock, which was an ordinary mechanical lock. His experience in his previous life had made him proficient in the art of unlocking. He knew at a glance that he only needed a lock pick or other hard objects to pry open the lock core.
but……
I'm just looking for a place to rest, I'm not a burglar. What if there's someone in the house? Gu Mengran thought about it and continued to knock on the door patiently, "Is anyone there? If there's anyone inside, please let me know. If there's no one, I'll come in."
Before he could finish his words, the door was opened from the inside.
Gu Mengran subconsciously took a half step back, holding the chainsaw tightly with both hands, his thumb hovering above the switch, ready to turn on the chainsaw and fight back at any time.
“—squeak.”
The security door slowly opened, and the rusty and aged hinges made a teeth-grinding sound, like joints that had not been moved for a long time.
In the fog dyed black by the night stood a tall figure, wearing dark brown overalls and a simple, cheap white T-shirt... The more Gu Mengran looked at it, the more familiar it seemed, and the more he felt something was wrong, so he suddenly raised his head.
"Liang Zhao?"
Who else could be standing behind the door except Liang Zhao? Gu Mengran raised his hand and pointed at the wall covered with ivy, and asked in surprise: "Didn't you say you would go to the side to take a look? Why did you go to someone else's house?"
"Walk along the outer wall to the backyard. There is an unlocked back door over there." Liang Zhao opened the security door as wide as possible, and the flashlight shone squarely at Gu Mengran's feet. "Come in. I just walked around the first floor and didn't see anyone."
"That's a good feeling. Did you see the entrance to the basement or something?"
Gu Mengran followed Liang Zhao into the house.
"I didn't have time to look carefully. I came to open the door when I heard your voice."
"Well, we have to hurry."
The community is a bit old, and this two-story building is a detached house that was popular in the past few years. To put it nicely, it is called a single-family villa, but in fact it is not much different from a self-built house in the countryside.
The small Western-style building has no front yard. The entrance leads directly to the entrance hall, followed by the dining room and living room.
It was obvious that Liang Zhao had only said half of what he had said just now. There was indeed no one in the house, but there were signs of life everywhere.
The doors and windows of the house were closed, and the dining table was piled with garbage, instant noodle bags, potato chip bags... basically all kinds of fast food and puffed food. The marble coffee table was covered with a thick layer of dust, and there was only an empty can of dace in black bean sauce on it.
The canned food is eaten very cleanly without leaving any food residue. It is even difficult to tell what was originally in the can after tearing off the outer packaging.
All signs indicate that someone had lived in this house for a period of time after the earthquake. Although the house was messy and dirty, there was almost no rotten or spoiled food.
Now that they were there, Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao searched carefully with flashlights, not missing any corner, nor deliberately moving quietly, they just searched in a big way.
It turned out that the trip was worthwhile. Ten minutes later, the two found a utility room near the backyard where cleaning supplies were stored. Inside the utility room was an unusually incongruous security door.
No one would have the time to install a security door in a utility room unless there was a passage leading to other places, such as a basement.
As usual, they knocked on the door and asked, and Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao waited at the door for two minutes.
Hearing no sound and waiting for no one to open the door, Gu Mengran took out the unlocking hook he had prepared in advance from the space, squatted in front of the door and fiddled with it, trying to open the door lock.
Liang Zhao frowned slightly, his eyes fixed on the pair of bony hands. A hint of surprise flashed across his calm eyes, but the flashlight in his hand was shining steadily on Gu Mengran.
No more than three minutes later, a crisp "click" sound echoed in the quiet utility room.
The lock was unlocked, Gu Mengran was overjoyed, and turned back to smile triumphantly at Liang Zhao. At this moment, before the security door was pushed open slowly, a bright silver light suddenly flashed through the dark door gap under the light of the flashlight.
The light was a little dazzling, and Gu Mengran squinted his eyes to take a closer look.
What is that? A flashlight? A mirror?
Damn, it’s a machete!
The sharp machete flashed a murderous light right in front of the door. Gu Mengran's pupils tightened. Before he could get up, Liang Zhao grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back hard, pressing Gu Mengran to sit on the ground and throwing him out one or two meters.
"Be careful Liang Zhao, there is someone inside, he has——"
"Bang!"
Liang Zhao did not hesitate and did not give the man behind the door a chance to rush out with a machete. He kicked the security door shut decisively.
He kicked with all his strength, and the door instantly opened as wide as it could and collided with the wall repeatedly.
But after just a few seconds, the security door stopped shaking, and the man behind the door disappeared. It was suspected that a basketball had fallen to the ground, and the muffled sound of "dong dong dong" echoed in the deep and silent room.
“Ouch, ouch…”
The painful groans echoed from far away.
Liang Zhao bent down to pick up the chainsaw on the ground, then walked into the house holding a flashlight.
Worried that there might be other people inside, Gu Mengran used his hands and feet to get up from the ground, rubbed his butt, took out a chainsaw and followed Liang Zhao.
There is a staircase leading directly to the underground. The staircase is narrow and long, with more than ten steps. But this is not a real basement. The space is small and cramped, and there is a security door at the corner of the staircase.
After taking a rough look at the surrounding environment, Gu Mengran's gaze followed the light source in Liang Zhao's hand and landed just below the steps.
The thin young man with ordinary appearance was lying on the ground with his arms and legs spread out, with a machete and a pair of black-framed glasses lying beside him. Apparently, he was standing behind the door at that time and was kicked down the stairs by Liang Zhao.
He seemed to have fallen hard, and he was holding the back of his head and grimacing.
Hearing the approaching footsteps of Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao, he hurriedly sat up from the ground, covering his head with one hand and groping on the ground with the other hand, not knowing whether he was looking for his glasses or a machete.
Liang Zhao was one step faster than him. He walked down the stairs and kicked the machete and glasses away.
Although he was the first to attack, the young man seemed to be greatly frightened. He didn't even cover his head. He looked at the two people with horror, supporting himself with his hands and shrinking back. "Who are you? What do you want to do?"
"No, buddy, you were the first one to start it, right? You hit me on the head with a machete, making you look like the victim." Gu Mengran hid behind Liang Zhao in shock, and his tone was not friendly.
Upon hearing this, the boy who was panicking just now suddenly became tough, stiffening his neck and arguing with Gu Mengran: "This is my home! If I don't use a machete to break into my house, what else can I use? Am I going to open the door wide to let you come in and rob?"
"Hey you..."
Gu Mengran wanted to step forward and argue with the other party, but Liang Zhao stretched out his hand to stop him, so he gave up and stood there obediently to argue with the young man: "Let's start from the front door and knock on all the way in, okay? You may not be able to hear it from above, but this door."
Gu Mengran turned around and pointed, "Didn't we knock on the door before unlocking it, and didn't we ask if there was anyone inside? It was you who kept silent, making us think that no one was inside. Even if we didn't dare to open the door, we wouldn't have been able to pick the lock if we heard a squeak through the door!"
"I am the worm in your stomach? How do I know what you are doing? How do I know that you will not continue to pick the lock if I give you a squeak? Breaking into a private house is justified! Am I wrong for self-defense?"
The sharp chainsaws in the hands of the two men seemed like decorations. The young man refused to admit defeat. His voice became louder and louder, and his tone became more and more excited. He argued with Gu Mengran until his face turned red.
The key point is that what he said made a lot of sense. Gu Mengran's momentum suddenly weakened. He stopped arguing loudly with him and muttered softly: "Hehe, if we are really bad people, do we need to knock on your door to remind you?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the young man who had been aggressive just now fell silent.
He lowered his eyes and stared at the ground without moving. After about a minute, he muttered as if talking to himself: "So... you are not from Ninth Street?"
"Huh? What's Ninth Street and Tenth Street?" Gu Mengran was confused by the question.
As if confirming something, the young man suddenly raised his head, his dull eyes instantly lit up, and he asked excitedly: "Aren't you from Shancheng? Where are you from, and where are you going now? Can you take me with you?"
Although he didn't know why this person suddenly changed his attitude, he was in the wrong for trespassing into a private house. After thinking about it, Gu Mengran changed his attitude and said in a gentle tone, "Before answering your question, can we go in and take a look?"
It was getting late and there was a group of people waiting outside.
Gu Mengran raised his chin slightly, his eyes fixed on the tightly closed security door next to him.
"Let's go in and take a look?" The young man looked around blankly, his eyes narrowed into slits, and his hands kept groping on the ground. "Can you help me find my glasses? To be honest, I don't know where you are looking at. Do you want to see my basement?"
"Yes, we are very tired from traveling and need to find a place to rest. Are you alone here? We need to see if your place is suitable for resting before we know if there is any need to continue chatting."
With Liang Zhao's protection, Gu Mengran no longer worried that the young man would hurt him. He stepped forward to pick up the black-framed glasses that had fallen on the ground, checked them and handed them to the young man after confirming that nothing was wrong.
"Hurry up..."
The young man chewed on these two words in a low voice, and his whole body became visibly excited. He took the glasses from Gu Mengran's hand, put them on, climbed up from the ground using his hands and feet, and walked quickly towards the security door.
"You can rest here. It's no problem for you to stay here for a while. I can also provide you with food. I have prepared everything. You will have enough food and drink."
The key was inserted into the lock and turned gently. The door opened. The young man did not rush to open the door. He turned back to look at Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao and said with great energy: "As long as you promise me to take me with you, I will ensure that you will have food and clothing all the way."
No worries about food and clothing? A few peanuts, and you are so drunk.
Gu Mengran was just about to say "Do you know how many of us there are?" when the young man turned the door handle and pushed it hard, and a shelter that was so shocking that it could be described immediately appeared before their eyes.
The underground space is unexpectedly large. There is a 34-square-meter living room at the entrance. There is a sofa, TV, air purifier... The decoration is exquisite and warm, and the supporting facilities are complete.
On both sides of the dark and narrow passage, there are kitchens, bedrooms, and bathrooms. Apart from the dim light, it is bigger and more luxurious than the ground residences of ordinary people.
It was shocking enough to have such a private space on the underground floor, but as the door at the end of the corridor slowly opened, Gu Mengran was completely dumbfounded. For a moment, he suspected that this man was also reborn.
A warehouse that was no less than a dock warehouse came into view, with a variety of tools and supplies piled up like a mountain. He finally understood where this man got the confidence to guarantee "no worries about food and clothing", because the supplies here were enough for one person to survive for many years.
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