Chapter 458 – Underground Prison
I suddenly came to a realization after I heard Xiong YaoYue said she wanted to lock herself inside the bas.e.m.e.nt as a punishment.
She was punishing herself because she accidentally caused Gong CaiCai to get claustrophobia. Last time, when she locked herself in the cabinet, she wasn’t able to persevere for two hours because she had to go to the washroom. So this time she would make sure she learnt her lesson.
Is it really necessary? Gong CaiCai can’t even see, so she has no idea what you’re doing. Why not try to stop yourself from flipping her skirt next time instead of wasting all this effort.
I got a ride on Ai Mi’s RV and returned to Qing Zi Academy’s VIP building.
I had another reason why I got a ride on the RV. I was carrying the 111mm Swiss army knife with me, so if I rode the subway, it might have been found by the security. Although in one of my idle chats with one of the customers from the Happy Valley Love shop told me he always carries a 91mm Swiss army knife on the subway everyday in Shanghai, my blade was longer and my face looked fiercer. If I was caught, the security would definitely mistake me as a terrorist.
Other than the Swiss army knife, I was also carrying a box of souvenirs and Ai Mi asked what was inside.
“Um… it’s a bunch of Swiss souvenirs someone gave me. Do you want to see?”
I opened the box and Ai Mi came closer out of curiosity.
She wasn’t interested in the Swiss franc, but she saw the mortally wounded Lion’s monument refrigerator magnet.
“What’s this?” Ai Mi frowned, “Who would use the picture of a dead lion?”
“It’s an almost dead lion on its last breath.” I corrected her.
“Then what’s this.” Ai Mi pointed to a miniature version of the Swiss alps cowbell and I told her.
Ai Mi rolled her eyes and called Peng TouSi who was waiting outside the door.
“Peng TouSi, bring Obama here.”
Obama, who was let out of the diet cage, threw himself at Ai Mi and licked her knees.
“Manservant, help me hold down his neck.” Ai Mi commanded me as she picked up the cowbells.
I then realized what she was planning.
Poor Obama. He was expecting to receive food, but his heartless master put cowbells around his neck for fun. It was a bit tight as a collar and no matter how hard he shook, the cowbell wouldn’t fall off, but instead let out a series of lively jingles.
Ai Mi clutched her belly and laughed.
“Look, look, now Obama can’t sneak food anymore. Everyone would hear him once he moves!”
I also thought it was pretty funny putting cowbells on a dog.
But in my memories, a dairy cow was black and white and so was Obama, so it might seem reasonable for him to wear cowbells.
Anyway, after Obama was watched by the bodyguards, Ai Mi and I also laughed at him. Ai Mi decided to make Obama wear the cowbells until he successfully lost weight.
It looks like it wasn’t easy being ‘man’s best friend’.
Dogs are loyal while humans are deceitful.
It’s their own fault that dogs chose to go separate ways from wolves and chose to live with people.
After returning to the VIP building, I found the entrance to the bas.e.m.e.nt with Peng TouSi’s help.
I originally thought the bas.e.m.e.nt must have been small and narrow since it was supposed to help Xiong YaoYue feel claustrophobic. I walked down the stairs and opened the heavy steel door and the lights from behind me shone inside the bas.e.m.e.nt area. The inside was huge, enough to open a small supermarket.
I wasn’t sure if it was for the punishment, but the lights were all closed inside the bas.e.m.e.nt room. I cautiously took a step a forward, then I heard the steel door close behind me with a bang.
I didn’t panic. I was planning to use my phone as a light, but I remembered the Swiss army knife also had a flashlight function. What better time to use it than now?
I felt around and selected the flashlight from the Swiss army knife based on memory. I twisted the head to turn it on and a cold white beam of light shot out from the flashlight.
In the pitch black bas.e.m.e.nt, the white light was like lightning cutting through the dark night sky.
After shining the light around, I realized the bas.e.m.e.nt was even larger than I imagined.
The area was the combined total of all the rooms upstairs. It was probably even big enough to open a Wal-mart.
When the beam of light swept to the center of the bas.e.m.e.nt, I was so scared that I took a step backwards and almost dropped the Swiss army knife on the floor.
Where did those steel cages come from? Some were large, some were small, and standing in a locked large cage in the center was Xiong YaoYue.
“Eh, Ye Lin, you’re here.” Xiong YaoYue greeted me from inside a cage and it felt weird.
I inspected the cage Xiong YaoYue was locked inside and each steel bar was as thick as a thumb. Isn’t this cage used to lock up bears? Even if your last name is Xiong (bear), you can’t lock yourself inside!
“Winnie, why are you inside the cage?”
“I’m punishing myself.”
“Shouldn’t it be long enough? How many hours have you been in there?”
“Uh…” Xiong YaoYue raised her head and thought about it, “I didn’t keep track of the time, but since I’m a bit hungry it should have been already close to four hours.”
“Four hours? Are you crazy? How could you hold out for so long?”
“Hehe.” I wasn’t sure why she was so pleased, “I made sure to empty out my stomach and didn’t drink any water, so I wanted to see how long I could stay.”
I thought this was supposed to be a punishment, so how did it turn into you trying to break your own record?
“What cage is it?” I asked.
“It’s for locking up animals.” Xiong YaoYue quickly answered.
“I know it’s for locking up animals. If you already know, then don’t lock yourself inside. I was asking where did all these cages come from?”
“Miss Ai Mi doesn’t know either.” Xiong YaoYue scratched her head. Even though Ai Mi already made an exception and said Xiong YaoYue doesn’t need to call her ‘miss’, but it seems Xiong YaoYue was really planning on becoming Ai Mi’s bodyguard in the future.
“I heard from Peng TouSi, the princ.i.p.al of Qing Zi Academy seems to be an animal lover, and also the chairman of the Dong Shan city animal protection a.s.sociation, these cages were used to hold smuggled animals…”
“What? The chairman of the Dong Shan city animal protection a.s.sociation personally smuggles animals?”
Also, isn’t the princ.i.p.al of Qing Zi Academy also gramps Ren’s son, Auntie Ren’s brother, or Xiao Qin’s uncle? It looks like their entire family causes trouble.
“No.” Xiong YaoYue sighed loudly, “These smuggled animals were confiscated by the police and they kept them here temporarily. But when they came to get the animals, they suspected the cages all had bacteria, so they only took away the animals and left the cages…”
“If you know it’s full of bacteria, don’t stay inside it.”
“It’s fine. The princ.i.p.al already disinfected the cages. There’s also a rumor going around Qing Zi Academy that you would be locked inside these cages as punishment if you break over seven school rules in a week.”
So you crawled into the cage and told Peng TouSi to lock you inside, all to simulate the situation where Gong CaiCai got claustrophobia, but Xiong YaoYue didn’t feel anything even being locked up for four hours.
“I am a bit hungry… I think this is a good place to try to treat Gong CaiCai, perhaps it could completely cure her claustrophobia.”
“Cure my a.s.s.” I yelled out at her, “If you lock her in this dark bas.e.m.e.nt inside a cage, then get ready to collect her corpse.”
“It’s not a good idea?” Xiong YaoYue looked as if it took her a long time to think of that ‘good’ idea.
“Ah, I can’t hold it anymore.” Xiong YaoYue clutched her stomach and said, “After speaking with you, I’m already so hungry I could eat myself. Can you call Peng TouSi and ask him to let me out.”
The connection was poor inn the bas.e.m.e.nt, and after I was finally able to get a call through to Peng TouSi, he told me the key was in my pocket.
I felt my pockets and I found an unwieldy key. When did this get here and how come I didn’t notice?
Peng TouSi laughed, “I caught a thief at film city last week. He said he would teach me his ancestral pick pocketing technique if I let him go. I learned it a bit and found it pretty interesting, who knows when it would come into use.”
So first you learned picking a lock with tin foil and now pick pocketing? I know Peng TouSi wouldn’t use it to do evil, but it really feels like he wants to change his profession. Don’t tell me the thief he caught was the one who tried to steal my wallet, but got caught by the security?
Don’t tell me he traded his ancestral techniques to the security guard to let him go too. How worthless are his ancestral techniques?