Trouble At The Restaurant

The detectives exchanged puzzled glances. They saw a young man fitting both Yan Qincheng's and the security guards' descriptions walking out from an underground tunnel.

"What's in the tunnel?" Kris asked.

"We suspect it's a time vault…"

"Suspect?" Lang asked, looking more confused.

"Yes," replied Han as he readied to explain.

"It dates back to the construction of the museum. When the foundations were still being laid, the contractors stumbled on a sort of containment. They thought it was a time capsule and tried countless times to open the door but failed. They then tried to move the containment elsewhere, because it got in the way of the museum's foundation, but it still didn't budge. So, they had to make adjustments with the foundation and made the containment into an underground chamber outside public knowledge until what was inside was revealed."

The detectives listened attentively to the explanation. Lang processed the information bit by bit before he spoke up,

"I'm sure you've already seen this footage. Did you check on the underground chamber… this time capsule?"

"Yes, we did…"

"And?"

"It was already open when we got there…"

The detectives exchanged looks as they contemplated.

"Can we see it?" Kris asked.

"Sure,"

Han led the detective to the underground chamber. After several failed attempts to open the door, no one bothered the look after the place again, but now, the dark passage was lit up, revealing thick brick walls. At the extreme of the passage was a door left wide open. Taking aside the museum's restriction tapes, Han and the detectives entered the little room.

The detectives couldn't help but be amazed at the structure of the room. It was a simple small room, but the decor was nothing short of antique. A decor of this nature would cost a lot presently, but everything about this room was screaming old-fashioned.

After looking around the room for a while, Kris spoke up,

"So… what if our guy is a thief and he came here to steal something? I mean, the items here could be sold for a fortune… what say you, Lang?"

"I was going to say the same thing too. But there's no way to confirm that if we don't know what was in the room to begin with."

Saying this, he looked at Han to confirm, and Han did confirm that they had no idea what was in the room before it was open.

"I couldn't help but notice there were char marks on the door as well…"

"Oh, that was when the contractors decided to use explosives to get the door open..."

"Wait, let me get this straight," Kris couldn't bear it again.

"Explosives were used on the door and it did nothing but leave burn marks on the door? A steel door would pop open under the force of an explosive, much less this one, and it's not even a few inches thick…"

As Kris stated these facts, Lang carefully analyzed the door. Besides all Kris said, the door's locking mechanism was as simple as they come. In other words, it was old-fashioned as well.

"The door's locking mechanism is too simple, a child could break it down if they wanted to. So, how come explosives didn't do the trick?"

Han awkwardly laughed,

"I guess there's a lot we didn't consider. In the end, it's best to leave the detective work to the professionals."

"We've seen all we can for now, but if it's no trouble at all, we'd like to come back if there's still more to find out."

"Of course. Just come straight to me if there's anything you want to know," replied Han.

The detectives inquired about the location of the assaulted security guards. They wanted to visit them to hear what they had to say. After that, the detectives left the museum.

~Shen's Appetite~

It was another day to do business at the restaurant. The place was boisterous, filled with the aroma of sizzling cuisine where patrons savored every bite. Old man Shen had an important assignment to attend to and put Lu Yu and John on it. Since their workstations were vacant, old man Shen had to reassign chores between Yu Lu and Zhi Luan. Yu Lu and John worked at receiving customers and so, given her experience, she handled it alone, while Zhi Luan handled the cash register at the counter. Everything went smoothly, though tiresome because they were short-staffed.

At this time, a group of five rough-looking men swaggered into the restaurant, their raucous laughter and menacing stares silenced the boisterous restaurant the moment they arrived. Amid the awkward silence, a young man with a toothpick in his mouth and a tattoo on his left forearm led the group over to a table and they made themselves a little too comfortable.

Yu Lu took a deep breath before walking over to their table.

"What can I get you?" she asked politely with a charming smile.

A young man from the group sized her, deliberately revealing his licentious look, especially when he stared at Yu Lu's female appendages. Yu Lu trembled slightly but tried to remain calm with a smile still on her face.

"W-What would you like to have?" she asked again.

"We're still thinking about it. Why don't you keep doing what you're doing, we'll call you when we think of something."

The man with the toothpick answered.

Yu Lu politely withdrew as she let out a sigh of relief. But the moment was short-lived when she was called back,

"Hey, I think my boys and I are in the mood for some stimulating herbal green tea. We had it rough earlier and we just want something to ease our exhaustion."

The young man with the toothpick sounded polite, but his eyes still lingered licentiously on Yu Lu.

Yu Lu awkwardly smiled as she replied,

"W-We don't sell green tea here…"

"Oh, that's disappointing. We'll just have a round of beer then."

Again, Yu Lu felt awkward as she replied,

"We don't sell that too… sorry for the inconvenience…"

The young man's expression darkened,

"A big restaurant like this and nothing to serve customers… what a disappointment. What should I eat then, your dog food? Even dogs will spit your food out…"