Qiuzhen waited for a few minutes. He hesitated to get out of the box. He didn't want Hanrong suddenly entering the room just as he came out of the box. Qiuzhen also didn't wish Hanrong to see him when he left the room. He thought for a while. He didn't know where Hanrong was. After about ten minutes, Qiuzhen finally got the courage to come out. He planned to run straight out through the back door of the building. After that, he would exit the building through the gate in the backyard. He planned to hide there for about ten to fifteen minutes before going back into the building. Qiuzhen knew that this time he was betting on fate. If Hanrong caught him later while he was trying to get out of the building, he would come up with an excuse to explain it. Right now, Qiuzhen hadn't thought of a proper reason. Hanrong didn't seem as stupid as he had previously thought. Therefore, the explanation that he would have to put forward must be completely reasonable.

After squaring off, Qiuzhen opened the box from the inside and quickly got out and closed the box again. He walked towards the door of the room. Balancing speed with silence was not a simple thing. He must move quickly but as much as possible not make a sound. As he was about to head for the door, Qiuzhen turned his steps. He went to a corner of the room. That was when something caught his attention. There was a large shelf. As long as Qiuzhen remembered, Hanrong always put his bag there. After arriving right in front of the large rack, Qiuzhen grabbed Hanrong's bag. It wasn't difficult to identify Hanrong's bag, as it was the only bag there.

Qiuzhen opened Hanrong's bag. Nothing was special or conspicuous inside the bag, but a brown envelope caught Qiuzhen's attention. Qiuzhen himself didn't know what made him not afraid to do something like that. Furthermore, he then ventured to take the envelope. The envelope contained about twenty photographs. Among the photos, three photos made him very surprised. The three photos were pictures of their house in Pingyuan. Of the three photos, there were two photos that not only contained pictures of their house but also the people who live in it. One photo showed Shanquan standing right outside the gate, the other photo showed Yiren and Yihshyong opening the gate to enter the house.

This is so weird! Where did Hanrong get these photos from? And why did Hanrong keep these photos?

Qiuzhen put the photos back inside the envelope. Then put the envelope back into Hanrong's bag. Wasting no time, he moved towards the door of the room. With a strong bang, Qiuzhen opened the door of the room. There didn't seem to be anyone outside. He walked over to the reception desk. Hanrong wasn't there. Maybe he was upstairs or in the front yard of the building. Qiuzhen hoped Hanrong wasn't in the backyard. Hanrong ran towards the back door of the building. When he got there, he quickly opened the door. With all his might, he ran across the backyard. There was a door on the back wall. Behind the door was a not-so-wide alley. One end of the alley was very close to the entrance to the subway station.

Hanrong looked right and left. Quiet atmosphere. He breathed a sigh of relief. There was no one in the alley. Qiuzhen was squatting right in front of the door where he had just come out. He was not going anywhere. Just curled up in that place.

After waiting for about a quarter of an hour in that place, Qiuzhen got up and walked back into the building complex. He crossed the backyard at a slow pace while still looking to the right and left. When he looked up, he saw the towering Dafeisi building. He realized that if Hanrong had been upstairs and happened to be standing by the window facing the backyard, Hanrong might have seen him as he ran across the building. It was even possible for Hanrong to see him crouching in the alley behind the back wall. Qiuzhen only hoped, that this time, luck was still on his side.

Qiuzhen, with a pounding heart, walked into the building. He kept walking all the way to the reception desk. There he saw Hanrong sitting. The young man seemed to be working as usual.

"Good morning, Sir!" Hanrong greeted in a friendly manner.

"Good Morning, Hanrong." Qiuzhen smiled.

"How are you now? Are you full?"

Qiuzhen hoped it wasn't a trick question Hanrong had deliberately asked to see his reaction.

"I only had a little breakfast. This morning I have a bit of a lack of appetite. But as soon as I walked back here, my appetite suddenly came back. So maybe I should eat some more soon. Hahaha..." Qiuzhen laughed hard.

This is the right excuse!

Qiuzhen praised himself.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

I don't have to pretend I'm full because, in reality, I'm starving right now!

Hanrong nodded. He also laughed at Qiuzhen's words. "I have something to report, Sir!"

"About what?" Qiuzhen's heart was pounding again.

"It turns out that your suspicions are correct. The person trapped in the elevator was Mr. Duanmu. He wasn't even alone in the elevator. There's someone else with him."

"Someone? Who?"

"A girl who looked so young."

Qiuzhen frowned.

I have to look so convincing!

"Please tell me more details."

Hanrong began to talk about what had happened. Even though Qiuzhen already knew everything, he still had to be willing to listen to Hanrong's story to the end. It was unreasonable for Qiuzhen to refuse to listen to what Hanrong had to say. So Qiuzhen stood there for about ten minutes, listening to Hanrong's ramblings. Every now and then, Qiuzhen would interrupt to ask something he didn't seem to understand clearly.

"It's great that Dahge is okay. Since he doesn't blame you, you can rest easy now."

"That's right, Sir," said Hanrong. "I am glad."

"Now I want to go up to the tenth floor to get the backpack I live above. After that, I will go straight home."

"Okay, Sir!"

Qiuzhen then went straight up to the tenth floor. He cleaned the room so that no sign of his presence could be seen. About twenty minutes later, he came out of unit 1008 and went straight down to the ground floor. After saying goodbye to Hanrong, Qiuzhen immediately left for the station. Just like before, he chose to go out through the back door.

The hunger whacking Qiuzhen's stomach had made him walk quick, even half running. Arriving at the station, Qiuzhen looked for a payphone right away. He chose a public telephone in the box to be quieter, so that the other person would not know that he was at a fairly busy station.

Qiuzhen called home. The one who answered the phone was Yiren. Qiuzhen briefly explained that the company he worked for had decided to send him back to work at the head office in this city. He also said that he would be home tomorrow around after midnight. At that time, He did not tell anything else to the people at home. Qiuzhen had no intention of going home today. Some of the things that had just happened had aroused Qiuzhen's suspicions, so he decided to first observe some of these rather odd things.

Before boarding the train, Qiuzhen had breakfast at a restaurant inside the mall at the subway station. Because he was so hungry, he ate voraciously. The many things running through his mind didn't make him lose his appetite. In less than ten minutes, he had finished his meal. Immediately, he boarded a train bound for a subway station close to their residence in Pingyuan. The station left a deep impression on him because the station's name was exactly the same as his name, namely Zhonghang Station.

It took several hours before he finally arrived at Zhonghang station. When he set foot there, Qiuzhen, who was hungry again, immediately stopped by one stall in the station for lunch. This time he ordered spicy eggplant grilled chicken. Although he had known for a long time that the menu existed in one restaurant there, he had never tried the dish. Whether it was because he was starving or if the food was really delicious, Qiuzhen ordered another serving. During this half-year, he was so busy working that he rarely got the chance to travel or just have fun in public places. Qiuzhen's salary was indeed quite large at the company where he works, but his work is very time-consuming. Sometimes he just didn't have enough time for lunch. So often, he only eats modestly in the office or in other places where he was assigned to work.

After all the food slid into his stomach, Qiuzhen headed to the mall to look for clothes. He had to buy clothes that could cover his face and body. Qiuzhen purchased a magazine, a baseball cap that he could bend to fit in a pocket, two pairs of sunglasses of entirely different styles, trousers, and a reversible jacket with a hood. He then replaced his pants with the pants he had just bought. After that, he walked towards the luggage storage section at the station. The backpack he was carrying, although not too heavy, was enough to limit his movement. He intended to put it in the station locker until tomorrow night when he returned home.

Coming out of the station, Qiuzhen ambled towards his house. He wanted to check something. Among other things was the existence of unknown people who were watching their homes. Entering their housing complex, Qiuzhen sat at a substation not too far from their house. The substation was not walled. It only comprised eight pillars. Its unique octagonal shape made Qiuzhen happy to sit there. It just so happened that the booth was empty, so Qiuzhen could freely sit there without worrying about disturbing others. Usually, there was always someone sitting there.

He watched the area while pretending to read the magazine he was carrying. Several people were seen passing by in front of the substation, but they did not stop. There were also people sitting not far from where Qiuzhen was sitting. They all didn't care about Qiuzhen's existence at all.

Qiuzhen was really nervous and restless. Never before had anything like this happened in his life. He couldn't calm himself down. Qiuzhen repeatedly looked left and right. He'd never done anything like that before. Qiuzhen wondered to himself about the clothes he was wearing now. He didn't know that the clothes were effective enough or whether they made him more conspicuous so that he would be easily recognized by passersby. Qiuzhen was not an undercover agent or someone who had received training in espionage. So he really didn't know if what he was doing was right or wrong. The things he was doing right now were purely based on his instincts.