Chapter 54: The Reunion (4)

Shengyao’s eyes immediately caught sight of Tong Bin rising from his seat. He watched as Tong Bin entered the corridor marked with the restroom sign, and at once thought of Kong Yajie, who had not yet returned.

Shengyao waited a moment, then swiftly strode to the corridor. The men’s and women’s restrooms were on opposite sides; further down, there were two doors without labels—likely staff rooms. At the corridor’s end, instead of a wall, there were two heavy metal doors, above which hung a green “Emergency Exit” sign. In front of the women's restroom stood a yellow “Caution: Wet Floor” sign, with a piece of paper taped to it.

Shengyao’s eyesight was excellent; he caught the words on the A4 paper immediately: “Restroom Out of Order” and “Do Not Use.”

Tong Bin approached, only then noticing the notice. He turned to enter the men’s room, but paused just at the threshold, glanced back at the sign, and his head shifted slightly.

Shengyao could tell he was looking toward the emergency exit at the corridor’s end.

Normally, each floor in a building like this would have restrooms arranged in the same position. With the second-floor restroom broken, Kong Yajie must have gone either to the first or third floor.

Tong Bin seemed to have realized this as well.

After a brief hesitation, he moved toward the emergency exit.

The emergency doors were not tightly closed. The two doors overlapped, the latch caught between them.

Tong Bin pushed, and the door opened.

The hinges gave a tremendous screech; evidently, the door was very heavy.

Tong Bin entered, and the moment his hand released, the door slammed back, the latch thudding against the panel with a dull noise.

Shengyao quickly entered the corridor, approaching the door.

He held his breath, pressed his hands gently against the door, tensed his arms, gripped the handle, and held the door steady.

He opened it slowly, just a crack—so little the hinges made no sound.

Carefully, Shengyao peered through the gap.

Beyond the door was a stairwell. Each landing had an energy-saving light overhead and a green “Emergency Exit” indicator at the mezzanine. The energy-saving light cast a cold white glow; the indicator was a faint oily green, dividing the stairwell into asymmetrical, strange layers.

A subtle sensation welled up in Shengyao’s chest.

He was standing in the brightly lit hotel banquet hall, and before him, through that narrow gap, lay the dark stairwell.

Though the sign above promised “Emergency Exit,” this passage offered no sense of safety.

Shengyao heard footsteps echoing from above.

He took a deep breath and, nimble as a cat, slipped through the crack, turned, and quickly drew the door closed behind him, careful not to make a sound.

The footsteps ascending above were undisturbed.

They continued.

Shengyao did not rush to follow. He sensed a presence, a flow of air.

He glanced at the stairs descending below.

The staircase spiraled downward, more than one floor, more than four...

He recalled the directory in the office lobby.

This stairwell connected to the underground parking lot; from the second floor, it descended more than one floor, perhaps several... The parking levels must be unusually tall.

Shengyao thought of the vast lobby at the building’s entrance.

The first floor’s ceiling was exceptionally high, at least two stories. The ring-shaped staircase from the hotel’s reception to the second floor was not only grand but unusually steep. The elevator beside it was ordinary, with only buttons for the first and second floors.

Yet as Shengyao turned his head, he saw the number “3” stamped on the wall.

Here, though called the hotel’s second floor, it was not the office building’s second floor, but the third.

The opulence of the office tower and hotel seemed to be shattered by this gloomy stairwell, as if a beautiful woman’s painted face had been torn away, revealing the ghastly visage of a ghost.

The underground chill, smelling of concrete, rose endlessly, sweeping against Shengyao’s face, carrying the footsteps and their echoes, letting both sounds float feather-like through the stairwell.

Shengyao squinted, gazing upward.

On the upper landing, the wall bore the numbers “3??”.

The handrails spiraled upward, endless; staring too long made one dizzy.

The footsteps seemed to wind along the rails, echoing upon echo, floor after floor, without end.

At last, the footsteps paused, only the faint echoes still rising.

Creak—

A deep, twisted sound came from the door hinges.

Then silence. The footsteps did not resume.

Tong Bin seemed to have opened a door but halted at the threshold.

Shengyao’s heart gave a jolt.

Thud, thud, thud...

Footsteps sounded—not from the stairwell above, but with a heavy, forceful beat, unmistakably from high heels.

The steps drew closer...

“Ouch!” A woman’s startled cry.

“Ah, sorry... Excuse me.” Tong Bin’s voice followed instantly.

Shengyao reacted swiftly, descending the stairs.

He moved like a cat; though wearing leather shoes, his steps were silent. Even as he gripped the railing and vaulted to the next landing, not a sound escaped him.

Overhead, the hinges screeched again, and high heels clicked across the floor.

Bang.

The door closed.

Thud, thud, thud...

The woman descended in her heels.

Creak—

The stairwell door on the second floor opened.

Bang.

The door closed.

Shengyao vaulted upward, taking the stairs two or three at a time, soon reaching the third floor, then the fourth.

He paused, carefully pushing open a crack in the door.

The corridor beyond was nothing like the hotel’s second floor.

No lights were on, only green indicator lamps in the corners, and an eerie purple glow from the emergency lights overhead.

The corridor stretched deep, ending in utter darkness.

Shengyao squinted, barely making out that the end was a wall.

Unlike the banquet hall below, which had no columns or partitions, the fourth-floor corridor emerging from the stairwell formed a T-shape, connecting not to spacious rooms but a horizontal passage.

Shengyao had no idea what purpose the fourth floor served.

The lobby directory only listed the hotel on the first and second floors and the office spaces from the fifth floor upward. The third and fourth floors did not exist.

Shengyao glanced sidelong at the wall.

In the dim, ghostly light, the white wall bore the number “4.”

It was as if the fourth floor existed only within this stairwell...

Tong Bin had entered here.

Perhaps Kong Yajie had as well.

Sweat beaded at Shengyao’s temple.

Ever since entering this stairwell, he had felt something peculiar.

As if something was here...

The underground chill kept rising, whistling upward.

A mechanical breeze brushed Shengyao’s face.

He abruptly drew back his gaze, looking at the door crack.

Only now did he notice Tong Bin standing in the dim corridor.

Tong Bin stood before the women’s restroom, head bowed, his expression unreadable. His hand at his side clenched and relaxed, clenched and relaxed.

Shengyao saw him raise his head slightly, frowning, uncertainty clouding his eyes.

Bang!

Suddenly, a door slammed below.

Quick as lightning, Shengyao closed the door he’d been holding.

His heart hammered in his chest.

He turned his head, looking down the stairs.

“Hey? Did she go to the downstairs restroom?” Gao Yan’s voice floated up.

A second later, Zheng Yichao spoke: “She probably went upstairs. The hotel lobby restroom on the first floor is on the other side. This side is their kitchen—if there’s a restroom, it’s inside the kitchen, for staff. Upstairs is property management; she’s probably using the restroom there.”

“Oh. You’re pretty well-informed. Yaya said you’re very attentive…”

“Not really. I rent an office upstairs, so I know these things.” Zheng Yichao chuckled.

Shengyao immediately grasped the situation. He turned and hurried up, climbing to the mezzanine of the fourth floor, then quickly stepping up to the fifth.

Below, footsteps approached, growing nearer.

Two sets of footsteps stopped below.

Creak—

The door was pulled open.

“Huh? Tong Bin?”

“What are you doing here? The men’s restroom below isn’t broken—only the women’s is.”

“I... oh... I thought…” Tong Bin stammered, unable to finish.

Bang.

The door closed, cutting off their conversation.