Chapter 347 - 151: "03

Chapter 347: Chapter 151: "03

They said it would be a quick trip, but no one was clamoring to go down right away.

First, Ruoping had Du Kang take off his jacket. The two of them worked together to wring the water out of it while Qingyi pulled out his phone to do a quick search.

"Hmm, I was just looking up air-raid shelters. We should probably wait up here for a bit, let it air out first."

Zhang Shutong went ahead and set an alarm, then picked up the flashlight.

"You guys rest for a bit. I’ll go take a look and be right back."

’It’s still debatable whether the air-raid shelter is truly abandoned,’ he thought. ’These kinds of long-sealed underground passages often have a buildup of harmful gases.’ He recalled a few ways to test the air, like tossing down a torch or, in a pinch, even a lighter. But they had nothing like that on hand, so he would have to go see for himself.

But before he could take a step, Du Kang grabbed him.

"Wait, I’ll go. With your hand, what if you trip and fall in the dark down there? Look..."

As he spoke, they shone the flashlight toward the entrance. The rainwater on the stairs had mostly drained away, leaving only a thin layer of yellow mud. In fact, it wasn’t just the stairs; the very ground they stood on was slippery.

Zhang Shutong thought it over and didn’t push it.

"Alright then, hold your breath. Try to feel for a breeze down there. If anything feels wrong, come right back up."

"No problem," Du Kang readily agreed.

He took a deep breath. Kids who grew up near the lake were all excellent swimmers. Du Kang dramatically puffed out his cheeks and slowly descended the stairs.

It was best not to talk at a time like this, so Zhang Shutong didn’t ask how deep it was, instead just counting Du Kang’s steps in his mind.

He peered down, following him with the beam of the flashlight. After he had counted about ten steps, the beam suddenly swiveled back up.

"There’s a breeze down here! I can feel it, so the air should be safe! But man, it stinks—total mildew smell..."

"I told you to hold your breath," Zhang Shutong said, exasperated. "Come back up before you say anything else."

"It’s really cold..."

Du Kang came back up, hugging his arms. He didn’t even finish his sentence before letting out a massive sneeze.

"Look at you..." Zhang Shutong hesitated. "Maybe we really should wait until tomorrow. What if you get a fever?"

"I’m fine, I’m fine. You know me, I sleep with a fan on in the fall," Du Kang said with a sniffle, unable to stop a laugh. "Look at you now, Shutong. First you were trying to talk Ruoping down, now me. Do you even remember what you said last week when we were the ones trying to stop you? I’ll say the same thing you did: we’ve come all this way. If we don’t go down for a look, I honestly don’t think I’ll be able to sleep."

Qingyi said,

"Seconded. Shutong, where’s all that enthusiasm from last week? I do have one correction to make, though."

He put away his phone and propped his chin on his hand out of habit.

"The reality is a bit different from what you’re imagining. What I mean is, we’re going into an air-raid shelter, not a cellar. It could be very, very long. This probably isn’t a ’take a quick look and come right back up’ kind of situation."

"Then let’s just go down and take a look first. We can figure out the rest later. Today’s all about going with the flow, right?" Du Kang had a more carefree side than the others. "You two are just too calculating, always trying to plan everything out. It’s not that complicated. If it’s boring, we’ll come straight back up. If it’s interesting, we’ll explore a little further."

Everyone had to agree he was right.

They leaned their umbrellas against the wall and pulled the door to the old house shut.

This time, they didn’t have to go in single file, as the passage was wide enough for two. Zhang Shutong walked near the front, steadying himself with a hand on the tunnel wall. It felt wet and slick under his palm, probably moss. ’If there’s moss, that means there’s no lack of oxygen...’ Sure enough, after only a few more steps, a faint but definite breeze brushed past his body.

They were all soaked, so the passing breeze made them shiver. The air was damp and cold. The sound of the pouring rain finally began to fade and, after a few more steps down, it vanished almost entirely. It was hard to believe that only a few minutes earlier they had been in the middle of a downpour.

The four of them walked slowly, the only sound the squelch of their shoes in the muddy water.

"Shutong, hold the flashlight for a sec."

"What are you doing?" Zhang Shutong asked, watching Du Kang pull out his phone.

"Recording a video. Something to brag about when we get back to school tomorrow." He enthusiastically tapped the record button.

"You know, this is a classic horror movie setup," Qingyi said languidly. "Usually, the person holding the phone suddenly vanishes. Their teammates find the recording, see something they shouldn’t have, and then they all try to go be heroes, getting picked off one by one... Ow! Ruoping, stop messing with my hair."

"Can’t you say anything positive?"

"Just setting the mood."

Zhang Shutong listened to the three of them bickering. It was better than a silence broken only by footsteps and dripping water. He let his attention drift to the walls. Their surfaces were rough and uneven; he couldn’t tell if they were made of concrete, stone bricks, or were simply the walls of a natural, excavated cave.

The tunnel echoed with their voices. Without the flashlight, the darkness was so complete you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. In conditions like these, it was easy to lose all sense of distance; the only way to gauge it was by counting their steps.

After about twenty-something steps, Ruoping cried out in frustration,

"Shutong, switch places with him! I can’t take it anymore!"

Qingyi had been trying to tell ghost stories, but Ruoping wouldn’t let him. So, he had switched to listing all the creatures commonly found underground—bats, salamanders, snakes, moles... for which he was now being thoroughly shunned.

Zhang Shutong switched places with Qingyi. He did a quick bit of math in his head. ’Okay, I’d walked twenty-two steps, then took two steps back to switch. I’ll just round it down to twenty.’

’Since this is an air-raid shelter, it can’t just be stairs forever. Once we hit level ground, as long as I can gauge the length of this staircase, I can estimate how deep this passage goes.’

"Hey, I think we’re almost at the bottom!" Du Kang suddenly shouted.