Journey to another world in the subway

Chapter 84 Arrival (add more)
In fact, this is the entrance to a platform.

Apparently, due to the inviolability of Metropolitan Station, even Bolovet Station has no guards on duty.

Five meters from the arched end of the tunnel, there was an entrance made of concrete bricks, next to a body lying in a pool of blood.

When Su Mengfan came into view of the border guards in green uniforms and caps, they ordered him to walk over and made him stand facing the wall.

Seeing the corpse lying on the ground, he immediately obeyed the order unconditionally.

He was quickly searched, his passport checked and taken to the station with his arms twisted behind his back.

light.

It's that light.

They tell the truth, they always tell the truth, and legends don't lie.

The light was so bright that Su Mengfan had to squint to prevent blindness.

But the light even entered his pupils through the eyelids, and he seemed to be blinded until the border guards blindfolded him to stop the burning pain.

It seems that if one wants to return to the above-ground life of previous generations, the pain will completely exceed Su Mengfan's imagination.

The blindfold was not removed until entering a guard shed the size of a small office built of broken tiles.

It's dark here.A candle flickers in an aluminum bowl on a stone-coloured wooden table.

The commander of the guards was a burly man in a green military uniform with rolled sleeves and a beard.

He put on an adjustable tie, and while observing how the liquid wax on his fingers cooled, he looked at Su Mengfan,
After a long time, he asked, "Where are you from? Where is your passport? What happened to your eyes?"

Su Mengfan felt that there was no point in distorting the facts, so he decided to tell the truth that his passport was lost to the invaders of the Fourth Reich, and his eyes were almost left there.

Hearing this, the Commander showed an unexpectedly merciful expression.

"Yes. We know. Just beyond the tunnel is the Chekhov Station, where we've built an entire fortress.

There is no war now, but some friendly folks tell us to always be vigilant.

As they say, the only thing that can make the world peaceful is war. "He winked at Su Mengfan.

Su Mengfan didn't understand what his last sentence meant, but he didn't want to ask either.

His attention was drawn to the tattoo on the Commander's bent elbow.

The tattoo is that of a radiation-distorted bird—it has claws hooked, wings outstretched, and two heads.

This reminded him of something vaguely, but he didn't know what he remembered.

After a while, when the commander turned to a soldier, Su Mengfan saw a slightly smaller tattoo of the same type on the commander's left temple.

"Then why are you here?" the Commander continued.

"I'm looking for someone...his name is Melnik, maybe that's his nickname. I have important news for him."

The commander's expression suddenly changed.

The benevolent smile faded from his lips, and he stared in wonder in the flickering candlelight.

"You can tell me the news."

Su Mengfan shook his head and apologized to him, and began to explain that he couldn't do this because the news was strictly confidential and could not be told to anyone except Melnik himself.

The commander looked him over again, motioning for a soldier to hand over a black plastic telephone receiver with a long enough rubber telephone cord wrapped neatly around it.

After dialing a number, the commander said to the person who answered the phone: "This is Ivashov from the southern outpost, please put Colonel Melnik on the phone."

While the commander was waiting for the other party to respond, Su Mengfan noticed that the other two soldiers in the room also had tattoos of the little bird on their temples.

"How should I ask?" the commander asked Su Mengfan, pressing the end of the receiver against his chest.

"Just Hunter. There's an important piece of news."

The commander nodded and said these two sentences, and he didn't know who was listening to the phone over there.Then it hangs up.

"Go to the administrator's office at the Arbat station at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, and then you will be free," the commander explained to the soldier standing by the door, and the soldier left immediately, then he turned around and said to Su Mengfan ,

"Wait a minute...it seems like you are here for the first time. So, put this on, but don't forget to return it!" He gave Su Mengfan a pair of old metal-framed sunglasses.

Free until tomorrow?

Su Mengfan felt endless disappointment and dissatisfaction.

That's why he came here, risking his own life and the lives of others?

This is why he searched so hard and forced himself to come here with all his might?

He was going to report everything he knew to this guy called Melnik, and the guy didn't have time to talk to him. What kind of emergency was that?
Or, Su Mengfan came late and Melnik already knew everything?
Or maybe Melnik knew something Su Mengfan didn't?
Maybe because he was late, his whole act didn't make any sense?
"Wait till tomorrow?" he yelled out.

"The colonel has a mission today. He won't be back until tomorrow morning," Ivashov explained, "Let's go and rest outside." He said, and then watched Su Mengfan walk out of the guard shed.

After calming down, Su Mengfan was still full of resentment. He put on his sunglasses, thinking that they didn't look bad.

They made him feel as if he saw the light.

The glasses were scratched and made distant objects look distorted, but when he ran outside to the platform to thank the border guards, he realized he needed their help.

Besides, Su Mengfan wasn't the only one who couldn't open his eyes. Many people on this site were wearing sunglasses.

It was also possible, he thought, that they didn't know each other.

It was strange to him to see such a fully illuminated subway station.

There is absolutely no shadow here.

At the VDNKh station, and in all the other subway stations and substations he had visited so far, there were few light sources, and it was impossible to illuminate all the sightlines, but only partly.

There are always places where light cannot penetrate.

Everyone casts a few shadows: shadows by candlelight, dry and haggard.The shadows under the emergency lights, the shadows under the electric lanterns, are black and clear.

These shadows and other people's shadows cover each other, and sometimes they are cast several meters along the ground, which surprises you, puzzles you, and forces you to guess and figure out.

(End of this chapter)