Chapter 108 : Jongharng Chioujen

Chioujen walked around the small rectangular building. At the rear, there was no door, but there was an iron staircase embedded in the building's wall. The iron ladder led to the roof of the small building.

"What is this?" Chioujen pointed at the iron ladder.

"Something we use to go up, Sir!" Hannrong answered innocently.

<<Of course it's a ladder to get up there! However, that's not the answer I wanted to hear!>>

"What's on the roof of this building?"

"I don't know, Sir! I've never been up there." Hannrong shook his head with a confused face.

Doubt clouded Chioujen's mind as he stared at the iron ladder. He still vividly remembered what had happened years ago. Chioujen's memories drifted far back. At that time, Chioujen had just moved to another city as his father's workplace moved. Chioujen's new house was located a bit on the outskirts of town, so there were still many vacant lands. The distance between one house and another was so wide.

The school where Chioujen studied was not far from home, so his father told Chioujen to walk on foot to school and return home. The journey from home to school only took about fifteen or twenty minutes. Chioujen, who by then had imitated Shannchyuan's walking speed, could cover the distance in ten or twelve minutes. That's why some of Chioujen's new friends find him strange.

Because there were some friends whose houses were in the same direction as Chioujen's house, Chioujen often walked home with them after class. However, Chioujen's unnatural walking speed made him always sprint away from his friends. This made some of Chioujen's friends dislike him. They thought Chioujen was too arrogant to hang out and joke with them.

There was a very large grass field in the middle of the journey between the school and Chioujen's house. Chioujen didn't know what the actual function of the field was. The people around there have never held any events or activities there. Chioujen and some of his friends always passed by that field. In fact, they could have taken another route, but because that route was the closest, they chose to walk that route.

At the end of the field, protruding deep into, was a small building of a rather odd shape. Chioujen had never crossed the field to take a close look at the building, so he didn't know what it was.

One day, when Chioujen arrived in front of the field. Some of Chioujen's friends were shouting loudly. Chioujen turned around. He saw his friends, who were far behind, signaling for Chioujen to stop walking. He then stopped to wait for his friends to arrive.

As soon as Chioujen's friends arrived, one of them, who was so big, took the school bag that Chioujen was carrying. The kid, carrying the bag, ran across the grass field, which was so wide. The rest of the friends, about eight or nine people, Chioujen forgot the exact number, trying to stop Chioujen when he was about to chase the kid who ran away with his school bag.

With great difficulty, Chioujen finally managed to catch up to the boy. But it was too late. The boy had arrived in front of the strange building at the end of the field. He threw Chioujen's bag onto the roof of the building. The boy's strength was so great that the bag landed right on the roof. The brat laughed and immediately ran away, leaving Chioujen, who could only stare in annoyance. Chioujen's friends, without wasting any more time, immediately left Chioujen alone there.

On the building wall, there was an iron ladder embedded in it. After hesitating for about ten minutes, Chioujen finally got up the courage to climb onto the roof up the ladder. He stomped his feet cautiously. When he almost reached the roof, one of the iron steps suddenly fell off. Maybe because it's fragile. Chioujen, who lost his balance, fell to the ground right away. He was unconscious.

When he opened his eyes, Chioujen found himself in the hospital. Chioujen's father and mother were at the bedside. The two of them looked at Chioujen with worried eyes. Chioujen's father said that when Chioujen didn't come home until the sun went down, he immediately followed the path Chioujen used to take to and from school. Fortunately, Chioujen's injury wasn't too serious, so after three days in the hospital, Chioujen was able to go home.

The physical injury that Chioujen suffered was not insignificant. But mentally, he was very hurt. Chioujen refused to go to school. He didn't want to meet his friends. When his friends came to Chioujen's house to apologize in person, Chioujen was also unwilling to accept them. Chioujen was only ready to go to school again when his father finally transferred Chioujen to another school that was located opposite the previous school.

It took about two years for Chioujen to be able to forgive his friends. He had no longer blamed his friends, but the damage had already been done. Chioujen got scared every time he had to climb the iron ladder like that.

Chioujen took a deep breath as he stared intently at the iron bars. The iron ladder seemed quite sturdy. Dafeisy Tower was relatively new, so Chioujen felt that all parts of the building were still very usable. Everything was still good. There was nothing for him to worry about. After thinking for a while, he ventured up the courage to climb onto the roof of the small building that houses the service lift.

Arriving at the top, he called out to Hannrong. "Come on! You come up here too!"

From above, Chioujen could see Hannrong looking up. He looked at Chioujen with wide eyes. His face was full of doubt.

"It's all right! Come on! There's something you need to see here!"

Chioujen's persuasion worked brilliantly. Hannrong was willing to follow Chioujen. He climbed up through the iron ladder embedded in the building's wall. In an instant, Hannrong was at the top. At that time, Chioujen was in one corner of the back of the building on the roof of the Dafeisy Tower.

"You see this!" Chioujen stood up while pointing at the floor he was standing on. He stepped on an iron plate that seemed to be the lid of a hole. The plate was locked.

Hannrong then crouched down on the iron plate. He tapped it with his knuckle.

"Come on, now let's open this plate!" Chioujen launched those words excitedly.

"I don't have the key to this padlock, Sir!"

"That's in your hands. There are many keys!" Chioujen pointed at the object in Hannrong's hand.

"True Sir! But not the key to this padlock?"

"Do you memorize all those keys in your hand?"

"No, Sir!"

"Then how can you be sure that there isn't a single key in there that can open this lock?"

Hannrong was silent. He seemed at a loss for words to answer.

<<I don't know if this kid really doesn't know, or he's just pretending!>>

"Here! Let me try." Chioujen took the string of keys from Hannrong's hand. Then he tried the keys one by one. After more than twenty attempts, there was finally a key that could open the lock.

"Ha ha ha!" Chioujen exclaimed. "Now, let's open this iron plate!"