Chapter 16 Chapter 15 Mobile Phone

Finally, Leon went down. When he usually patrols the construction site, Leon always puts on work clothes to ensure his own safety.Now, his fingers gripping the metal rungs are covered in non-slip work gloves, and the thick rubber soles of his steel-toed booties keep him from slipping. He let the long-handled flashlight on the belt of his overalls shine vertically downwards, and he couldn't resist looking into the depths as he climbed down. Along the metal straight ladder, Leon stepped down one step at a time, walking towards the depth where the cell phone rang.However, the second he grabbed the threshold with both hands, the ringing of the phone suddenly stopped.right in the well.Leon called this ventilation shaft the "water well," and he was only halfway there.

Although it felt colder as it got closer to the bottom of the well, there were still beads of sweat on Leon's forehead.He originally wanted to ignore it, until finally the sweat was pouring down, forcing him to stop his climb and wipe the sweat from his eyes with the back of his hand. When there was only about one-third of the distance left to the bottom, Leon had already developed a set of climbing skills on his own.He roughly grasped the distance between each step, and thus knew how far he should stretch his right leg in order to step on the next step.At the same time, he can also release his left hand and grab the next fulcrum at a clear angle.The right hand and the left leg cooperate with each other according to this movement.Leon thought, for the last meter, he should be able to close his eyes and lie down directly.But it was precisely because of this wrong perception that he fell into an irreversible catastrophe.

When it was only two body lengths away from the ground, a series of things happened at the same time: he heard a faint knock on the door, which seemed to come from the gate of his house, and at this moment, his foot stepped empty.The distance between the steps changed, and it was different from what he was familiar with all the way. Although there was only a slight difference, his body still lost its support point. At the same moment, the mobile phone below him rang again. This time, it was also the classic ringtones that he could not mistake, because this set of ringtones was carefully selected by Natalie recently.Only this time the sound was significantly louder.

Leon was so taken aback by the sudden bell that he let go of his right hand early with his left leg hanging in the air.He had no choice but to jump to the next step, but the step he chose was not firmly embedded, which may be caused by poor construction quality at the beginning, or a long period of disrepair, or other reasons.As soon as he stepped on it, he realized that the fulcrum might not be able to bear the weight of his body, but it was too late. One of his hands grabbed the metal crossbar just in time, and the speed of his fall was slowed down.At this moment, he was like a shutter locked on its hinges, swinging away, and his unfortunate buttocks hit a protruding brick, causing the flashlight that was originally fixed on the belt to come loose and fell.Because the phone was ringing loudly, he didn't hear the sound of glass shattering, but the instant extinguishment of the lights clearly explained the final result.

"Damn it!" Leon yelled in the dark, and the cell phone lying on the floor looked like a firefly, flickering with a faint light. Because he didn't want to make a second mistake, he spent almost the same time on the last short distance as the previous long distance.When he finally felt that he was stepping on a solid floor, the ringing of the mobile phone had been silent for a long time, and at the same time, the knocking sound from the door also stopped.Leon groped in the dark for a while before he found the mobile phone on the floor covered with a thick layer of dust. He raised too much dust, and couldn't help but sneezed. The sound waves that hit the wall reflected low echoes, creating a shocking effect of small explosions underground.In contrast, it is not surprising that Leon was startled by the ringing of the phone before, because in this place, even a slight cough may become a loud noise.

Where the hell am I? Leon opened the top cover of the foldable phone while breathing in desperately.After glancing at the background photo of the phone screen, he was even more sure that the phone in his hand was indeed Natalie's.Natalie is grinning and, like anyone who takes a selfie with a phone, she has her head slightly tilted back to get the right angle. First the birth bracelet was found in the developer, and now the mobile phone was found at the bottom of the ventilation shaft.Natalie, what happened to you? He deleted the notifications of sixteen missed calls and countless voice messages, almost all of which were dialed by Leon; as for the records of other calls, including the last call, no numbers were displayed.

Although the screen of this phone is extremely bright, it is still not enough for people to see this mysterious place clearly at a glance.Terrified, Leon tried to sort out some clues, so as to determine what to do next.He imagined the circular base of the ventilation shaft as a clock face, and marked a supposed twelve o'clock direction on the dusty ground.From this he then groped his way along the wall about three-quarters of a time to about nine o'clock, where he came upon a projecting step.However, this step doesn't seem to have much effect, because Leon can't find a follow-up fulcrum, so naturally he can't set it as the second route back to the bedroom.

Leon stuffed the phone into his breast pocket, grabbed the step and shook it vigorously.It seemed a little loose, and for a moment, Leon thought he was going to pull it out of the wall.However, compared to the force of pulling, Leon's pressing force was still too great. It wasn't until he heard the creaking sound that he realized that he had found another door. This door is different from the one he found in the bedroom. It is not made of metal, but plywood, so it is easier to open; moreover, this door is actually only not much bigger than the door of the dog house——Leon’s chest He only discovered this fact when his phone turned on again.

In order to illuminate the endlessly extending tunnel behind this door, Leon held the phone in his hand as a lighting tool, while extending his arms as much as possible.Since the entrance was fairly narrow, he guessed that the same was true of the connecting passage at the rear.But when he looked up with his phone, he found no obstacles, which meant that once he climbed through the narrow entrance, he could stand up straight again in the back room. But do I really want to do this? Leon looked up and saw a light coming from the bedroom into the ventilation shaft.Now he felt like he was buried alive, with only weak signals left to connect with the outside world.

He stood up and shook the protruding steps again, making sure that all but the one that had thrown him off balance were firmly seated in the curved wall.As long as he doesn't get lost, getting back to his place shouldn't be a problem. In my deep sleep, I seem to know my way. The rationality in Leon's head was screaming, asking him to climb up again and ask for help.But what if something terrible had actually happened down here, and he'd obviously been a part of it? What if it's my fault? Leon remembered this feeling he could no longer ignore.Just like people may be able to eliminate the early symptoms of a cold, but soon, these symptoms will not be suppressed, and finally cause general discomfort.He was terrified, because he was afraid of a real person, that person stayed underground and always appeared not far from him. Even so, Leon had never seen him in his life—— What he was afraid of was himself, the second self in a deep sleep state.

Paradoxically, in the end it was the cowardly voice inside him that prevented him from notifying the administrator, Mr. Bauer, Sven, Dr. Wowalt, and even the police. Before seeking foreign aid, Leon wanted to find out what was waiting for him under the ground.When he poked his head through the narrow door and crawled towards the darkness, he had already secretly prepared the worst plan in his heart.