The Beauty CEO's Personal Expert

Chapter 1601 - 1906: Coordinates

After getting off the car, Ling Chen looked around at his surroundings. Although it was just after eight o’clock, the area was shrouded in darkness, with only one dim street lamp. Perhaps due to the place being relatively remote, there were no residents, and the few shops were already closed.

Qiu Yong glanced around and asked, "Are you sure this is the place, Ling Cheng?"

Ling Chen nodded and said, "There’s no mistake, the coordinates are right here." As he spoke, he took out his phone to check the precise position of the coordinates. Walking along the road for more than ten meters, Ling Chen looked left and right before spotting a small alley on the right side. The group crossed the alley and immediately arrived at a wall over two meters high. Yuan Yun spoke, "Ling Cheng, there isn’t even a house here, just a wall. Are you sure you didn’t get it wrong?"

"No, there’s no mistake, the reason we can’t see anything is because..." Ling Chen cast his gaze downward, "They’re beneath us."

"You mean..." As the group listened to Ling Chen, they immediately understood, "So where do we enter?"

"Let’s look around, there’s definitely an entrance nearby. If it were me, I’d choose a place that’s not easily discovered as a cover." With that, Ling Chen pointed to a row of shops not far away and said, "Those shops are not far from here, maybe the entrance is hidden within them. Let’s go, since there aren’t many people now, let’s search first."

The shops Ling Chen referred to weren’t many—only four in total, so it wouldn’t take much time. These included a supermarket, a breakfast shop, a restaurant, and a repair shop. The eight people discussed and divided into groups of two to search, which saved them a lot of time.

Soon, Ling Chen and Wei Jiahao reached the repair shop. The door was locked, but Wei Jiahao excelled at mechanisms, and a regular lock posed no challenge to him; it was quickly opened.

Entering the repair shop, a strong smell of motor oil filled the air. The shop owner had already gone home, and Ling Chen was not worried about being discovered, so he directly turned on the light. The repair shop wasn’t large, about twenty or so square meters, with a metal rack next to the north wall holding tools and car repair parts, and a pile of materials removed from cars in the other corner.

In the middle of the repair shop was a small car hanging by a machine, seemingly still being repaired.

Due to the small size, Ling Chen and Wei Jiahao quickly searched without finding any secret passages or entrances. Exiting the repair shop, they saw Yuan Yun and Zhang Zhongfeng’s teams coming out of the restaurant. After regrouping, they shared their findings and then focused on the supermarket.

At this point, Xia Yue and Qiu Yong, who were responsible for searching the supermarket, had not come out yet. Ling Chen and the group walked over directly.

Upon entering the supermarket, Qiu Yong and Xia Yue were seen inspecting the wall shelves. Seeing everyone enter from outside, Qiu Yong said, "You came just in time; I found something here."

Upon hearing this, the group immediately gathered. Qiu Yong pointed to a shelf next to him, which was over one meter wide and two meters tall, and said, "I’ve checked all the shelves with Xia Yue—only this shelf is fixed to the wall without a gap."

Wei Jiahao approached, inspected carefully, and nodded, "You’re right, this is indeed a secret door and should be controlled by a mechanism. Let’s search for it."

The group responded in unison and spread out to search for the mechanism. Ling Chen walked while observing and quickly arrived at the cashier’s table. He took a closer look and then crawled under the cashier table, finding a hidden button below. Extending his finger, he pressed it lightly, and a ’click’ sound was heard nearby.

"It’s open!" Hearing Wei Jiahao’s voice, Ling Chen immediately returned to the shelf. Indeed, the shelf tied to the wall protruded outward, revealing an entrance over one meter tall.

"I’ll go in first." After saying that, Ling Chen strode forward through the entrance. Inside, there was a spiral staircase descending about five or six meters before reaching the bottom, replaced by a spacious passage. Long strip lighting on the walls ensured no one could suddenly sneak up on them.

Moving along the passage, though Ling Chen’s pace wasn’t slow, his focus was highly concentrated, ready for any sudden attack. However, to everyone’s surprise, they encountered no obstructions or noises, as though the place was deserted.

Before long, the group passed through the passage into a spacious basement. The basement was extremely large, about a hundred square meters. Despite its size, it was quite empty, with only a few office desks.

"Ling Cheng, look at this," Yuan Yun pointed to the spot along the wall in the basement.

Ling Chen quickly walked over and immediately understood Yuan Yun’s meaning. Numerous rectangular marks on the floor along the wall indicated the previous presence of objects. Moreover, the office desks bore traces of a computer setup. Ling Chen pulled out his phone to check the coordinates, which matched his current location precisely.

This indicated Jiang Yue’e had sent out the emergency message from here.

"Ling Cheng, there’s another passage here."

Hearing Qiu Yong’s voice, Ling Chen looked up and saw a door in the southern end of the basement—an enforced blast-proof door that had already been opened. Generally, anything behind such doors would be significant, warranting protection by a blast-proof door.

Entering the door revealed a rather narrow passage with dim lighting. Walking and observing, Ling Chen discovered that the sides of the passage were lined with small cells only a few square meters each, equipped with beds and toilets. Furthermore, each cell emitted a foul odor. Xu Ming frowned slightly, saying, "This must be where captives were held."

Ling Chen nodded without speaking and continued forward. Reaching the end of the passage, he suddenly stopped, scrutinizing the left cell. Next, he pushed the door open and walked inside.

This cell arrangement was similar to the others, but what caught Ling Chen’s attention was its tidiness, with the bed sheets neatly folded. Additionally, a faint fragrance lingered inside.

If he guessed correctly, this should be a woman’s room.