Chapter 2111 - 1169: Night Visit to the Cultural Palace (Part 3)

But she immediately followed, it was a high-stakes gamble.

The place did not give her a good feeling.

The heavy door under the dim light had a very peculiar feel, its originally lacquered red had turned into dark red, giving a viscous, blood-like texture.

The red paint on the edge of the door frame was peeling in many places, revealing the dark wood grain underneath, the glass covered in thick dust.

The closer you looked, the harder it was to see inside, as if separated by a fog.

The Cultural Palace’s door had a large iron lock hanging on it, its surface reflecting a cold metallic sheen, but upon closer inspection, one would find the lock was just for show, not locked at all.

Yang Xiao drew close to a relatively clean piece of glass, and from his angle, he could see the porter, an old man sitting at the wooden desk inside.

The old man had a shiny bald head, reflecting light from his forehead, holding a newspaper in his hands, reading it.

Yang Xiao knocked on the door, and the old man was startled, stepping out of the porter’s lodge, came to the door, and after seeing the armbands on the left arm of Yang Xiao and Ye Zheng, he unlocked the door, the door was a latch lock type.

"Master Sun, we are from the Security Service, Chief Zhou arranged for us to come." Yang Xiao introduced himself.

"Got it, received the notification." Master Sun pushed open the left side of the door a gap, about a third, but sufficient for the two to walk in normally, the old door hinge made a dry squeaky sound.

Yang Xiao and Ye Zheng walked into the Cultural Palace hall, there were lights inside but limited to the very center one, with limited illumination range, the corners were shadowy.

Perhaps due to preconceived notions, Ye Zheng always felt there seemed to be something hidden in those less visible places.

Under the guise of inspection, Yang Xiao and Ye Zheng had to make a show of it, otherwise it would be hard to explain to Chief Zhou.

Thus, with Master Sun Delin leading them, they began patrolling the first floor of the Cultural Palace, and Yang Xiao even asked for a flashlight from Master Sun.

The flashlight had mediocre illumination, emitting a dark yellow light, and very heavy, had substantial weight in hand, in an emergency it could be used as a weapon.

Suddenly, as they arrived at the cinema door Yang Xiao sharply noticed, now there were two locks on this door, a red cloth strip tied between the chains, these were not here when they came during the day.

Seeing Yang Xiao notice, Master Sun leading them turned somewhat embarrassed, stammering, "Here... maybe don’t check here, it’s a hassle to find the keys."

"Master Sun, locked here not to prevent theft, red cloth has an evil-warding effect at my hometown." Yang Xiao pointed out.

Upon hearing this, Master Sun immediately got nervous, hurriedly waving hands to interrupt, "Don’t speak nonsense, there’s absolutely no relation to that... to that matter, don’t randomly spread rumors!"

"Don’t be nervous, Master Sun, actually you’re not the only one who thinks this way, it’s spread through the factory, we’ve caught a little wind of it." Yang Xiao comforted.

"It’s all nonsense, we workers are not afraid of those ghosts and monsters, just paper tigers!" Master Sun said defiantly, clenching his fists to show his determination.

Seeing no point in arguing, Yang Xiao didn’t wish to tangle with him either, after all, they were not familiar, and as a member of the factory’s Security Service, Master Sun wouldn’t dare talk nonsense under pressure.

After checking the first floor, Yang Xiao planned to visit the second floor, but Master Sun refused, "I won’t go, your security team will inspect posts later, if I’m not here it’s quite troublesome."

This Yang Xiao knew, Chief Zhou had mentioned when they came, that the Security Service patrol team would conduct random inspections at key spots throughout the factory night, ostensibly to check for slack personnel, but really to guard against enemy agents.

Of course, enemy agents likely didn’t exist, and their inspections were doomed to be futile, but Yang Xiao couldn’t say these things.

Nonetheless, their patrols were definitely beneficial for Yang Xiao, giving them some sense of security.

Though the security was false, practically worthless.

Possibly worried Yang Xiao and Ye Zheng would report him to the patrol team for superstitions, Master Sun was somewhat considerate, leaving behind his flashlight for Ye Zheng before departing.

Thus, Yang Xiao and Ye Zheng ascended the stairs, while Master Sun returned the same path, heading toward the lit porter’s lodge.

After reaching the staircase corner, Yang Xiao pulled Ye Zheng lightly, signaling her not to move, then the two extinguished their flashlights, hid in the shadows, peeked out for a look at the departing Master Sun.

Indeed, after confirming Yang Xiao and Ye Zheng had left, Master Sun did not return directly to the lodge but observed his location for a moment, confirming they wouldn’t suddenly return, then quickly moved to the cinema door.

First clasping his hands together to worship the cinema door, seemed to mumble something.

After finishing, finally reaching for the red cloth, stuffed into his pocket, then turned and hastily left.

"Alright, let’s go." Yang Xiao tapped Ye Zheng’s arm, leading the way upstairs.

Master Sun worried that Yang Xiao and Ye Zheng would report him for engaging in feudal superstitions, effectively destroying evidence in advance.

Yang Xiao and Ye Zheng hardly lingered on the second floor, heading directly to the third floor, planning to loop around, delay some time, finally return to the porter’s lodge, and chat with Master Sun throughout the night.