Chapter 19 — Mystery At 3 A.M

“We meet again.”

Khuong Hoa unconsciously blocked An An's face. But she herself could not stand. The man in black looked at the mother and child, with a smile in his voice.

“It's really troublesome.”

“Why is it that someone who has died once is more difficult to deal with than someone who is alive?”

Dong Dien's eyes darkened.

“Shut up.”

But the man in black didn't seem to be afraid of him.

“What is Mr. Dong afraid of?”

"Afraid they'll know you're not the last one?"

An An's heart suddenly pounded. There are still people. The person behind Dong Dien is not Luong Thua Vien. Suddenly there was a crash outside the photo studio. The rolling door was hit hard by someone outside once. Immediately followed by Captain Dien's voice.

“People inside, listen.”

“Release the hostages.”

Dong Dien immediately pulled Khuong Hoa in front of him. But the man in black did not panic. He took a small round tube out of his pocket and threw it down the dark room door. White smoke immediately spewed out. The photo studio was once again covered by thick smoke. An An immediately covered her mouth and nose and lay close to the ground. She remembers last night. Smoke rose upward. People must bow low. Khuong Hoa also wanted to lie down but was held tightly by Dong Dien. An An heard her mother's suppressed cough, feeling like she was being burned by fire. She couldn't rush forward. Rushing in would only get them both caught. She felt a wooden stick under the counter. It grabbed the wooden stick tightly, crawled along the ground towards the underground door. The voices of Dong Dien and the man in black were interwoven in the smoke.

“Where are the things?”

“Go out first.”

“You promised Boss Luong.”

“What the hell is Liang Thuayuan?”

When crawling to the underground door, An An's fingers touched a cold iron box. It's not the box my grandmother left behind. This box is still very new, just brought out from the underground door. She felt a piece of paper at the bottom of the box. There are protruding letters on the paper. She couldn't see clearly, so she could only touch it over and over with her fingertips. Three short, one long. Here's the link again. An An immediately understood. This box is also fake. What grandma left behind is not in the box. The girl put her hand inside the underground door, touching a rough wall. There are many numbers engraved on the wall. Those numbers are not years. Which is the same as the file cabinet code. The sound of the door crashing outside became more and more urgent. Dong Dien suddenly roared.

“Bring the child.”

The man in black walked towards An An. An An held her breath, picked up the iron box, and threw it hard into the old chemical barrel next to the wall. The chemical barrel fell down, and the remaining solution flowed all over the ground. The man in black slipped and fell hard. An An took the opportunity to crawl into the underground door. Behind the underground door is not a tunnel. It's a cramped room. At the end of the room there is a row of old filing cabinets. On the middle cabinet door is a faded photo of paperwork. The person in the photo is my grandmother when she was young. She lowered her head to look at the camera, as if she had known for a long time that one day An An would find this place. On the back of the photo were written four words. Don't go down. An An stared at those four words, her mind buzzing. Don't go down. But at the end of the room there is clearly a staircase going down. The stairway door was dark, the bottom could not be seen. The man in black stood up from outside. His coughing sound grew closer and closer. An An did not hesitate. The girl turned around and pulled out the mortar cabinet profile. The cabinet door has rusted hard. She used a wooden stick to insert it into the slot, using all her strength to pry it out. The first time it didn't move. The second time, the wooden stick broke. The broken wooden tip cut the girl's palm. Blood immediately gushed out. The girl gritted her teeth and continued to stuff the broken wooden stick inside. Finally, the cabinet door cracked a crack. There are no documents inside. There was just a row of old negatives. The rolls of film are sealed in transparent bags, each bag has a code number written on it. An An picked up the top bag. The code is thirteen. She remembered her grandmother's words on the tape. Thirteen children's names were changed. Her heart was beating so fast that it almost hurt in her chest. Original documents are not paper. It's a negative film. Before their names were changed, each child had their photo taken. As long as the negatives still exist, the altered identities of those children can be found again. An An quickly stuffed the film into the inside pocket of her jacket. But just as she picked up the third bag, the voice of a man in black was heard from behind.

“You took the wrong thing.”

An An turned her head. The man stood at the door of the clamp room, his face covered in ash and smoke. His eyes were bright. Like an animal that has been hungry for a long time. An An's hand pressed on his pocket.

“What you want isn't this?”

The man laughed.

“What we want is to know who is still alive.”

“Photos are just the first step.”

He walked towards the child.

“Your grandmother's cleverest point was to separate the names of the dead from the faces of the living.”

“But her stupidest point is that she doesn't have the heart to destroy them.”