Temporary Bodyguard

It's getting late, this place is far from the city center, and the road is very congested at noon, I'm afraid it's too late to go back to have dinner with Gao Yusheng.Di Chen replied and asked him to eat by himself, then put away his phone and walked towards the path.

The gate of Gaoyuan Mining has rusted.The old-fashioned iron fence door is hung with a thick chain lock, and the small door next to it has fallen down a long time ago. If it is locked, it means it is not locked.The weeds in front of the gate were knee-deep, the old blue glass of the guard booth had been smashed by bear children, and the house was in a mess, with garbage and feces everywhere.

Di Chen stepped in through the small door that fell down.The yard is very spacious, the old-fashioned concrete floor is piece by piece, with mud gaps in the middle.Grass grew in the gaps, eroding the cement bit by bit.Fortunately, the age is not too long, the ground is still hard.

There is a flag-raising platform on the east side of the yard, and there are only three round pits, and the flagpole has gone to nowhere.Under the table, there are marble inscriptions, which have been mottled with age, and engraved on it:

[Gaoyuan Mining Company, formerly known as Zhiyuan Mining Group Iron Ore Second Branch Factory...]

When he visited the orphanage earlier, Zhai Chen heard that Gaoyuan Mining was a state-owned unit before.Because of the reform of the system, it was contracted to an individual.In the past, state-owned units had all five internal organs, including a complete living system including workers’ hospitals, primary and secondary schools, kindergartens, etc., but mining companies were quite special, and even set up orphanages.

Di Chen's eyes stayed on the word "Zhiyuan" for a moment, and checked it with his mobile phone.

There is still some news about Zhiyuan, which is an old state-owned unit that has declined, including iron ore factories, coal mines, and stone factories.By the end of the [-]th century, Zhiyuan was already in decline.To catch up with the tide of system reform, this behemoth was divided into several parts, the larger one was reorganized into a joint-stock system, and the smaller one was contracted to individuals. If no one wanted it, it would be dissolved on the spot.

Due to the old age, the Internet age had not yet arrived when the system was restructured, and there was not much information that could be found.

After photographing this piece of marble, Zhai Chen left the flag raising platform and walked around the yard.

The structure here is simple.The front yard is all concrete, and several cement table tennis tables have been built in the corner.Behind the building is a warehouse, which looks newer than the building in front, but it is also very dilapidated.Everything that could be moved was removed, including light poles, publicity boards, and even the big iron gate of the warehouse.

The corners of Zhai Chen's mouth twitched as he watched, thinking that these should be dismantled by the local villagers, and all the metal objects in sight were probably sold for scrap.

The warehouse without the door was just so wide open.It’s okay to say the above point, if the light can shine in, the depth will be dark and you can’t see clearly.

Fortunately, the night-blind person carries a flashlight with him all the year round, and turns on the flashlight and walks in.The crisp creaking sound of the shoes on the ground echoed in the empty warehouse.Even if he was as bold as Zhai Chen, he was a little startled walking here, so he took out the oxygen bottle and took a breath.

"Who!" A terrified cry suddenly came from the depths of the warehouse.

Di Chen was startled, and quickly shone the flashlight over.A face full of dirt appeared in the light and shadow instantly, screaming like a zombie and rushing towards him, holding a piece of something unknown in his hand.Without even thinking about it, he kicked out, the strength of his feet that had inhaled oxygen was not covered, and he kicked the person directly to a bright place, and fell into the debris pile with a "bang".

The man was like an overturned beetle, flailing his limbs and struggling, but he didn't know how to get up, yelling: "Don't come here, don't come here."

When I got closer, I found that it was an old man.The old man's hair was very long, and it hadn't been washed for a long time, and it was tangled and tied together.Wearing an out-of-season military coat, barefoot, and pitted scars on his face, he looked very strange.

"Are you okay?" Zhai Chen kept a safe distance and asked.

The old man poked his head out from the pile of debris, most of his dirty face was covered by his hair, and he stared at Zhai Chen for a long time with a cloudy eye.Suddenly, he laughed foolishly, opened his military overcoat and patted his belly in three ragged short sleeves: "Hey hey, A Ming, Dad is fine. It's thick, it's not cold!"

Crazy?Now it is rare to see madmen running around in cities, only in places like the suburbs.

Zhai Chen looked around with a flashlight, and there were some messy things in the place where this person was just now, old clothes, broken jars, and some leftover food.The huge warehouse shelters the wind and rain, and it is indeed a good place for the homeless to shelter.Probably because the lunatic is too powerful to fight, there is no beggar living with him, and he is the only one here.

There are many fine black stones on the floor, including where he is standing now, so there will be a crunching sound when walking.Since it is the warehouse of the mining factory, it is natural to store the ore, and these should be the scraps of the ore.

The old man patted his belly for a while, then slowly crawled out from the pile of debris, sat on the ground and stared at him blankly.

"Do you know where this is?" Zhai Chen squatted down to talk to him.

"Hey." The old man grinned, showing his yellowed teeth.

"Do you live here alone?" Zhai Chen purposely raised his volume because he was afraid that he would get old and hard of hearing.

"I'm here to look at the warehouse, the things here are very valuable!" The old man grabbed a handful of black powder, and showed it to Di Chen like a baby.On the back of his hand, there are also pitted scars, which are the same as those on his face.

"What is this?" Zhai Chen asked him.

The old man withdrew his hand abruptly, as if he was afraid that Zhai Chen would snatch it, and put the black stone into the pocket of his military coat in a godlike manner: "I dare not say it, I'm dead, I'm all dead, there are ghosts haunting me."

When Zhai Chen heard this, his eyebrows twitched: "Who is dead?"

The old man looked around in horror, tapped his nose with his dirty black finger, and whispered mysteriously, "I, I'm dead."

Zhai Chen: "..."

This man has completely lost his mind, and he doesn't understand what he said, and he seems to be a fool when he asks him seriously.After confirming that he didn't cause any problems by kicking him out, Zhai Chen stood up, turned off the flashlight and left the warehouse.Further back is the courtyard wall, and there is an old parking shed for employees to park their bicycles.At a glance, there is nothing unusual.

The sky was a bit gloomy, and crows jumped up from the wild grass behind, making hoarse calls.The man was still sitting in the bright place, watching him laughing foolishly, calling "Amin" one after another.Together, it feels a bit like a horror movie.

Di Chen returned to the front yard and stood in the middle looking at the office building.

The five-story old-fashioned office building is square and square without any fancy decorations.The windows are still the brown aluminum alloy windows that were popular in the last century, and they are basically broken.The interior of the building is dark, and the window holes are like scabies on a giant beast, densely packed and uncomfortable to watch.On the tiles of the outer wall covered with vines, a few large characters with peeling paint can be vaguely discerned - Gaoyuan Mining Industry.The building looks exactly like the one in the photo.

Zhai Chen walked backwards towards the office building, trying to find the angle of view in the photo.There is no flagpole in the photo, which means that the flag-raising platform cannot be seen from that angle. Zhai Chen retreated all the way to the gate before finding the location.

That is to say, the person who took the photo was standing at the door.

Zhai Chen raised his phone to take a photo, took a step back to find an angle, tripped over a steel bar on the ground, staggered backwards, and was suddenly supported by a strong arm.He was startled, and reflexively turned around to attack, but saw a familiar handsome face, it was Gao Yusheng who was supposed to have lunch in the office building in the city center.

Di Chen was very surprised, and quickly stopped his hands and stood up straight: "Why are you here?"

Gao Yusheng spoke slowly, or rather with difficulty: "I saw you coming." He held the intimately shared mobile phone in his hand, pursed his thin lips lightly, and his face was pale.

Seeing his appearance, Zhai Chen didn't bother to ask him any more questions, and grabbed him: "There's nothing here, let's go eat." He pretended to be relaxed and wanted to take him away, but he was gently pushed away.

Gao Yusheng walked to the small broken door, looked up at the top of the office building, and raised his hand to take a photo.The angle is almost exactly the same as the photo in the anonymous email, and it is suffocating to look at: "This is the angle in my memory."

"!!!" Zhai Chen was startled, walked quickly to his side, and looked up.The meaning of this sentence is chilling.When Gao Yusheng was a child, he stood in this position and witnessed his mother jumping off the building, and the person who took the photo was beside him!

"Who brought you here?" This place is so far away from the city center, it is impossible for the eight-year-old Gao Yusheng to come here by himself.Which person is so vicious and specially brought him to watch his mother jump off the building!

At that time, Ye Rong had already sent him back to Gao's house. Did his father bring him to persuade his mother not to dance, or did someone else bring him to watch his mother die?The latter guess made Zhai Chen extremely sick, wishing he could grab that person and beat him on the ground ten thousand times.

Gao Yusheng shook his head: "I can't remember, I just remember something that person said."

"What?" Zhai Chen tensed his body, feeling that it was not a good word.

"Aren't you looking for your mother? Your mother is there." Gao Yusheng imitated the tone at that time, pointing to the edge of the building in a trance.He couldn't remember whether that person was male, female, old or young.The sound seemed to be separated by a layer of water curtain, indistinct but deafening.

"Bastard!" Di Chen was so angry that he kicked the iron gate.