Chapter 491: The Missing Three Meters

Chapter 491: The Missing Three Meters (Update 4)

“Report: All private buildings in Wu Dong have been fully searched,” one agent announced.

An agent from Special Ops stood before Xiao Yu and Wang Dong. “Four of the buildings are rented apartments with normal surveillance—no irregularities. The only private building is under renovation, but that too shows nothing suspicious!”

“Nothing unusual? Could our assessment be wrong…?” Xiao Yu raised an eyebrow.

There’s no denying the prowess of National Security Special Ops.

If even they can’t uncover any abnormalities, it seems these five buildings truly are clean.

But if not here, then where?

“Even the best slip up eventually.”

Wang Dong grinned at Xiao Yu. “Maybe that underground dungeon isn’t here after all!”

Damn, even Little Brother can make a deduction error sometimes.

If everything were foolproof, how would ordinary folks get by?

Xiao Yu tilted his head at Wang Dong’s “470” expression. “Are you enjoying this misfortune?”

Maybe you should study micro-expressions?

Just as he was about to rib Wang Dong further,

suddenly Xiao Yu recalled, “Have we found the white van?”

“No,” came the reply.

A Special Ops team leader shook his head. “No suspicious vehicle matching that description was found.”

“That can’t be right,”

Xiao Yu frowned. “Did you check? Two months ago, it was reported that a white van frequently came and went here?”

“Yes.”

The agent nodded, certain. “But none of the five buildings could have allowed a van to enter.”

“You said one of the buildings is under renovation, right?”

Xiao Yu raised his hand and pinched his brow. “Then, is the main entrance being renovated?”

“Ah…”

The agent looked astonished and nodded. “Indeed, it is under renovation.”

“Let’s go take a look.”

Lowering his hand, Xiao Yu sneered, “Looks like someone is trying to cover their tracks!”

Through the exchange between Xiao Yu and the ops team, Wang Dong detected something amiss.

Why renovate the main entrance at precisely this time?

Imagine if it hadn’t been renovated at all.

Could that entrance even allow a van to pass?

Soon, the group arrived in front of the suspicious building.

The building stood ten stories high, a standard small private business building.

It seemed poised to be converted into an apartment complex.

Sure enough, the main entrance was under renovation.

The once spacious doorway had been turned into a small entry unit.

Wang Dong called over a renovation foreman and asked, “How big was the original entrance?”

“About four meters wide and three meters high.”

The worker replied honestly, “The owner demanded a rebuild—a unit entrance for an apartment, about three meters wide and two and a half meters high.”

Xiao Yu glanced over at Wang Dong.

Wang Dong’s expression turned icy.

Four meters by three meters… not only could a van fit, even regular large vehicles could pass.

With a signal, Team Two’s members encircled the whole building.

All workers on site were escorted away for questioning.

The first floor, previously a commercial hall, was unremarkable.

From the second to the ninth floors were business office areas.

The tenth floor housed the machine room and storage room.

Even after a thorough search two hours later, nothing was found.

Xiao Yu’s pupils constricted, thinking perhaps he’d overthought it…

Falcon’s Eye, Wangdie’s Nose… Once on the first floor,

Xiao Yu resumed his systematic inspection.

This time he skipped the elevator,

and instead ascended floor by floor via the safety corridor.

He then began searching each level one after the other…

After completing the search of nine floors and preparing to proceed to the tenth via the safety corridor,

suddenly his steps halted as his nose twitched.

The stench of blood—a raw, human scent!

Why would such an odor emanate from the staircase? With Falcon’s Eye scanning, Xiao Yu steadily headed toward the tenth floor.

With each step, he sensed something was horribly off.

Normally, stair steps are about 15 to 18 centimeters in height,

but these steps were a full 22 centimeters high.

And that wasn’t all.

There were 10 steps before the landing,

followed by 13 steps from the landing to the tenth floor.

In total, that amounts to 23 steps.

Do you know what that means?

At 22 centimeters per step for 23 steps,

you get a height of 506 centimeters.

That’s over five meters high!

Why would the height from the ninth to the tenth floor be so excessive?

Puzzled, Xiao Yu climbed onto the tenth floor…

and the scent of blood grew even stronger.

The tenth floor comprised the building’s storage room and machine room.

Inside, there were two elevators.

Given the building’s age, the machine room needed ample space.

Then came the storage room, cluttered with miscellaneous items.

The rest were unremarkable small rooms.

Following the intensified bloodstain, Xiao Yu advanced cautiously.

Until he stopped at the end of the corridor in front of a door.

He pushed the door open.

Inside, a large double wooden bed dominated the room—nothing else in sight.

The bloody odor was emanating from this very room.

As he stepped in, a faint whiff of an odd scent, mixed with what seemed like air freshener, reached him.

Even Xiao Yu’s Wangdie’s Nose was dulled by the overpowering aroma.

He surveyed the room suspiciously; it was plain and unremarkable.

At only about 40 square meters,

it couldn’t be some elaborate underground dungeon.

Could it be that the underground dungeon really isn’t in this building?

Suddenly, a strange glimmer appeared in Xiao Yu’s eyes.

“No, there’s something off with the spacing between the ninth and tenth floors.”

Climbing one flight of stairs led to a five-meter rise?

Science?

…

An hour later,

a Special Ops member presented Xiao Yu with a building blueprint on 3.9 paper.

After a careful look, Xiao Yu’s lips curled into a smirk.

It wasn’t a smile of joy, but one of mockery.

Sure enough, there was something wrong between the ninth and tenth floors!

After all, it’s a private building.

Originally, each floor was designed to be 4 meters high, with a floor slab thickness of about 50 centimeters.

Multiply 4 by 2 and you get 8 meters, plus the slab adds another 50 centimeters.

Two floors together should be nearly 8.5 meters high.

But…

The internal height of the ninth and tenth floors was only 2.5 meters?

Both levels combined reached just 5 meters?

Even with the floor slab, it only totaled 5.5 meters?

The problem is,

according to the architectural plans,

two floors should measure 8.5 meters, yet now it’s only 5.5 meters?

A full 3 meters of height has mysteriously vanished?!