Chapter 144 - I Think It's Exciting

Wuming's muscles suddenly itched to follow. The three of them exchanged a look. This was already a good opportunity to pass on with Master's office. At least the student who had the most probability to catch them was already out of the building.

They nodded to each other and started looking for their phones. There was a file cabinet with all their profiles. Qing Chen pulled some of them out but nothing there were objects. He pulled the next drawer and found nothing.

Qing Lok was looking at the drawers below the desk. Wuming was looking at the woven baskets but all he found were discarded weapons.

They shook their heads at each other then they looked at the ceiling. Qing Chen pointed Qing Lok. Then Wuming and the floor.

Wuming immediately got down on his knees and started to knock on the floor, looking for a hollow sound. Qing Lok easily lifted himself up on Qing Chen's shoulders and started pushing against the small squares at the ceiling.

The three of them moved about in the room. Qing Chen was already starting to think that the phones might not be there but then, they heard a soft click. His eyes immediately went to the door but it remained closed.

"Oh shit," Qing Lok said and suddenly a ladder slid down the opened ceiling. It was almost at the top of the table. 

"What the hell?" Wuming's voice was full of confusion and Qing Chen could only stare at the thin ladder leading up to the darkness above. His heart suddenly started to beat louder.

Qing Lok dropped back to the ground. "I am not going in there," he whispered.

"I'll go," Qing Chen said and Wuming handed him the flashlight, giving his brother a boost with his cupped hands so they could avoid leaving marks on the table.

Standing on the ladder rails, Qing Chen pushed the button. The stream of the flashlight was not enough to reach the corners of it. No time! his mind whispered. In front of him, tied white sacks of flour were labeled. It was there. He immediately grabbed their bag and climbed down.

The three of them huddled on the small package. Luckily, Qing Chen's phone still have power. He had turned it off before leaving it in the office. There were only two bars of signal from where they were but that would have to do.

He sent multiple copies of his text to his grandmother, father, and their I.T. person. That should be enough.

"Let's go," he whispered to his brothers and they all shut their phones and put it back in the bag. Qing Chen replaced it and they folded the ladder.

Within a minute later, they were out of the office. Everything looked untouched.

**

Feng Xuan had been pacing for the past half hour, torn between following the boys in their little adventure or staying in her dark room. 

She thought she would be less nervous if she had come with them. Being locked in her room, she just felt like her anxiety was going to eat her.

"That is it," she told herself. "I'm going out."

Feng Xuan took a pencil—it was not much of a weapon, but better than none. She had seen a film before where woman killed one another with broken toothbrushes.

She already had a hand on the knob when she heard Qing Chen came in her room through the window. "Goodness," she breathed out. "What happened?"

Qing Chen only went back in his room to lock it and put a shirt on, then he was off to Feng Xuan. "It's done," he said, his chest falling up and down heavily. "I told them to send it as soon as possible."

Feng Xuan sat next to him on the bed. 

"Shao Fang was out again," he informed her. "Lok saw him getting out of his room."

"But this building gets locked at night. He didn't use the window."

"It looks like he had been using the front door all this time." Qing Chen had been wondering, how many copies these keys have? Surely, Master gave a key in turn for the patrollers. But it wasn't Shao Fang's night. It meant he had a copy of it… or made a copy of it.

It wouldn't be so hard. He could use some dough from the kitchen and make a mold. If it hardens, he could make—

"I can't see him." Feng Xuan was at the window. "There's no light."

"Maybe he's already too deep in the woods to be seen. I got pretty far last night." He joined her on the sill. The forest ran throughout the mountain with no promise of another building in sight. 

"If Ma Min was out there right now, do you really think they were doing something in the woods?"

Qing Chen found the Feng Xuan was smiling. "Why do you think that's funny?"

"I don't think it's funny!" she defended. "I think it's exciting."

"In the woods? Doing IT in the woods?"

Feng Xuan gave him a side glance and shrugged. "I don't know, I haven't tried it."

"You can thank the mosquitoes and bugs that would bite you then." 

Feng Xuan laughed and went to the bed. "Let's take a vacation after all this." She computed in her head. "We'll probably be done with The Zookeeper in February. Hopefully."

Qing Chen laid down next to her. "Let's have a great Valentine's day together."

Feng Xuan turned to her side. "What are we going to do if we find out something about one of the students here? Are we going to kill them?"

"We'll let Master know. He's the teacher. He decides for his students."

Feng Xuan nodded. "When will we know?"

"Tomorrow, I hope."

**

The following morning, before breakfast was over. Master spoke, "Qing Chen."

"Yes, Master?"

"I need to speak with you before you start with your morning training. Come to my office."

He only nodded.