Chapter 249: Chapter 246: Time to Depart
At the end of the corridor, there is a corner leading to another corridor, but from here you can see the main entrance of this building.
Upon closer inspection, it is indeed blocked by cement.
The door corresponds to the staircase, whether it is the stainless steel railing or the tiled stairs, all covered in thick dust, even the railing and walls have cobwebs.
The web is intact, showing no signs of damage, reflecting a silvery white glow under the cellphone flashlight, with a spider seemingly having red rust spots on its surface perched on the web.
Its size is no less than a thumb, this poisonous spider makes one’s heart shudder at a glance.
"How long has it been since someone lived here?" questioned Norman Bennett, frowning and scanning the surroundings with a flashlight.
The dark environment is enough to make any adult feel uneasy.
Yates Zander didn’t speak, just stared at the spider on the web and said, "Let’s go up and take a look."
"Why go up?" Norman was puzzled, it was clear no one had been here, so why go up.
Thus he said, "How many years has this building been here? What if it collapses? I think it’s better not to go up."
However, Yates seemed intent on insisting: "Just go up and take a look." As he spoke, he picked up the abandoned broom beside the staircase.
He swatted the cobweb aside and began to walk upstairs.
On the second floor, another dark corridor appeared, with similar signs of being uninhabited.
Norman said, "I’ll go to the third floor and take a look." He said this, regardless of Yates’ reaction, and walked upwards.
"Be careful."
After Norman left, Yates started observing the walls carefully and finally discovered a rubbed mark.
A white scuff appeared on the gray putty wall, relatively short, only about two centimeters. On closer inspection, it seemed not to have been done in one go, but multiple times.
Then he noticed the door beside it was open! The other room doors were closed, though some weren’t locked, but this door was wide open!
He shone his flashlight, discovering the door hinges had fallen off, which explained why the door was open wide, seeming reasonable.
But that new scuff was definitely not reasonable.
Thus, he took a photo of the scuff, and promptly went inside the room.
The flashlight’s beam hit the window, revealing blue curtains, looking quite old, but upon observation, nothing else seemed noticeable.
"What are you looking at?"
The sudden voice startled Yates who was deep in thought, making him shiver! Turning back, he saw it was Norman approaching him.
Perhaps he was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn’t hear him coming.
"I’ve checked the top floor, how come you’re still here looking? What’s up? Are the curtains a problem?" Norman walked to the curtains and pulled them aside, letting the sunlight pour in!
"Hey! These curtains are pretty thick, blocking light so well."
Yates put down the flashlight and asked, "You’ve checked everything? Didn’t find anything?"
"No."
Norman waved his hand, pinched his nose and said, "It’s all dusty upstairs, almost choked me to death, not a footstep in sight, let’s head back."
"Alright." Hesitating for a moment, Yates agreed to leave.
On the way back to the police station, Norman casually looked through his phone, then narrowed his eyes as if he’d found something on a browser push notification.
"Yates, pull over!"
After parking, he handed a video to Yates to watch, the title read: "Exploring what’s inside the abandoned building."
The video began with a guy breaking glass, then sending a drone inside.
It was the abandoned building behind the Red Mansion.
In the middle of the video, the drone scuffed against the wall, then entered a wide-open door.
Finally, the drone lifted the curtain.
Norman frowned, boldly guessing, "I wonder, maybe the anonymous witness saw this? How does this drone resemble Savanna Windsor?"
This was indeed a correct suspicion, the information from South City seemed like a baseless claim.
Even Yates stopped having doubts, the most suspicious scuff can be clearly explained, so what else is suspicious?
"Alright then, let’s go back and inform Captain Wu first."
...
――― North City Police Station.
"Galen Collins, our people checked out the abandoned building, didn’t find anything, you’ve seen the video I sent you, right?" Wu Xing’s tone was extremely relaxed, even finding the matter somewhat amusing.
No one expected the renowned Galen Collins to be fooled by baseless rumors.
However, Wu Xing’s words indeed made Galen somewhat doubt himself, further questioning the authenticity of this whole affair.
Wu Xing said there were no footprints in the abandoned building, which means nobody has been there.
Yet, at the same time, Wu Xing sent him a video raising suspicions, Norman investigated the outskirts initially, finding no broken glass anywhere.
Which indicates this video was filmed afterward.
Checking online, sure enough, this video was uploaded yesterday afternoon by an adventure blogger.
And this information was informed by Elliana Lyle the day before yesterday.
Thinking it over, he decided to inform Elliana about this matter.
...
――― Frontier City.
"Found nothing?" Elliana wasn’t very surprised upon hearing this, knowing Bella’s words were half-truths.
Yet, hearing this news, she felt quite disappointed, initially thinking they had found something but ending up with nothing.
After hanging up, she quietly zoned out for a while.
Currently not in the hotel, but residing in a tent set up in the desert, not just hot but very stuffy.
Even with a generator-powered fan, it felt nowhere near cool, the wind best suited for drying beef.
"Elliana, have some water." Mumu handed her lukewarm saline water once more.
Truth be told, she didn’t want to drink it, wishing for an ice-cold watermelon instead.
Just then, Carina Windor outside the tent shouted to her, "Elliana, time to set out."
Set out? Set out for what? Weren’t they supposed to rest for half an hour? Only ten minutes have passed.
Despite not wanting to move, she still got up and went out.
"Where are we going?" Seeing everyone ready to go, she felt a bit curious.
Yates saw her come out and replied, "The director said we can’t wait for the sandstorm at the outer area anymore, gonna head further in."
"What?" She was immediately shocked, thinking how dangerous it could be! What if the sandstorm hit and they couldn’t escape in time?
Lily Clarke saw her slightly opened mouth, her face filled with shock and confusion, and couldn’t help but laugh, "We’ve been through this, not like Miss Lyle living in such luxury, Miss Lyle if you’re scared, you could spend some money to edit yourself in, it’s the same."
"..." This statement referred to a recent joke.
Someone who couldn’t endure hardship, with the crew spending all the money on them, and since special effects were expensive, ended up using image-editing.
This matter had been criticized inside and out, leaving the person in question being nearly chased out abroad overnight.
She didn’t bother engaging with Lily Clarke, after all, no one likes dealing with a quarrelsome lemon.
Before leaving, Director Yang specifically warned, "Once we see the sandstorm from afar, everyone must get into position, finishing the evacuation within stipulated time."
After all, a sandstorm isn’t a minor issue, negligence can be fatal.