Chapter 17: The Mysterious Construction Site

The tranquility of the café was shattered by the chilling images from the Hengtai Foundation’s construction site. The eerie pattern of pipes at the bottom of that deep pit twisted in Yang Rui’s mind like cold, venomous serpents. This was no ordinary municipal project!

“Let’s go!” Yang Rui and Su Jin rose simultaneously. The coffee and cake on the table still emitted warmth, but neither of them cared to linger. Under the cloak of night, the West Riverside Cultural and Creative Park and the silent Zhenhe Tower became their sole focus.

As Su Jin hurried toward the parking lot, she rapidly tapped on her tablet. “I contacted my friend Amy, who works at the park’s art gallery. She’s in charge of new media installations and knows the area well. I told her we’re interested in environmental art in old building renovations and want to shoot some atmospheric footage tonight. She agreed to open a back door for us, letting us enter through the gallery’s service corridor, which is close to the tower area.”

“Smart!” Yang Rui praised, starting the car. “Having an insider makes things easier. But we’ll need to prepare some ‘professional gear.’”

Instead of driving straight to the cultural park, the car circled back to Jishantang. Yang Rui retrieved his toolkit, which contained not only an heirloom “star compass” but also a powerful flashlight, a multifunctional Swiss army knife, a small bundle of specialized climbing rope, and various small tools. Su Jin supplemented their equipment with a high-precision handheld magnetometer, an infrasound detector, a miniature thermal imager, and a portable DV camera with night vision.

“Dr. Su, your gear… is pretty professional,” Yang Rui remarked, impressed by the compact, sophisticated instruments.

“Occupational hazard—better safe than sorry,” Su Jin responded with a slight smile, inspecting the equipment. “It’s far better than relying on some guy’s ‘high-energy-consuming’ copper disk.”

Yang Rui: “...Alright, you’re well-equipped. You’re in charge.”

The West Riverside Cultural and Creative Park shed its daytime artistic charm under the night sky. The streetlights cast a dim yellow glow. The renovated old factory buildings had been transformed into studios and shops of various styles, most already closed for the night. Only a few cafés still glowed warmly, illuminating the empty streets. The air carried the river’s distinctive dampness mingled with faint scents of paint and pigment. Standing atop an artificial hill at the park’s center, the seven-story Zhenhe Tower loomed like a silent black silhouette. Its weathered exterior and broken eaves, set against the backdrop of modern structures, only deepened its lonely and timeworn aura.

At the art gallery’s back entrance, Amy was already waiting, dressed in a flowing Bohemian skirt. She was a lively and outgoing girl who greeted Su Jin with a big hug before casting a curious glance at Yang Rui. “Jin Jin, is this your ‘atmosphere expert’ friend? Not bad looking!” she teased, winking playfully.

Su Jin’s cheeks flushed slightly as she cleared her throat. “Amy, stop it. This is Yang Rui, Master Yang. We want to shoot some night footage of the tower, especially around the base to capture that sense of historical gravitas.”

“No problem! Follow me!” Amy cheerfully led them through the gallery’s service corridor into the heart of the park. The passage opened onto a secluded inner plaza, bordered by a landscaped walkway encircling the tower’s base. “Nobody patrols here at night, so you can shoot freely. But the base is fenced off by Hengtai with construction barricades—they say the protective restoration isn’t finished and no one’s allowed inside. Just film from outside, and be careful.”

Amy pointed toward the tower’s base, where tall blue construction barriers tightly sealed the area, leaving only a locked iron gate.

“Thanks, Amy. Dinner’s on me next time!” Su Jin expressed her gratitude.

“Make it fancy!” Amy called back with a wave before returning to the gallery.

As soon as Amy left, the atmosphere grew tense. Su Jin immediately activated the magnetometer and infrasound detector. The screens glowed faintly in the darkness.

“The magnetic field strength… it’s even higher than what we measured this afternoon!” Su Jin whispered, astonished. “And… there are regular pulse fluctuations! The infrasound detector picked up a faint, continuous 18Hz signal! The source… it’s inside the barricade!”

Yang Rui’s heart sank. Just as he suspected! The Hengtai team was still active beneath the tower, conducting some operation that produced magnetic pulses and infrasound! He approached the barricade; a heavy plastic sheet blocked the view, but a sharp, pungent odor seeped through the gaps—a mix of earth, rust, and an indescribable ozone-like sting.

“We can’t wait any longer. We have to see what’s going on inside!” His eyes scanned the barricade. It was tall, topped with barbed wire, making a forced climb too risky. His gaze fixed on a corner near the tower’s stone base. Due to uneven ground, a narrow gap less than half a meter wide existed between the rough stone wall and the barricade, partially concealed by discarded waterproof tarps and debris.

“Here!” Yang Rui signaled to Su Jin. Carefully shifting the rubbish aside, he revealed a slit just wide enough for a person to squeeze through sideways. The gap was pitch black and smelled strongly of damp earth and decay.

“I’ll go first. Follow me carefully, watch your step.” Yang Rui slung his toolkit over his shoulder and slipped into the crevice. Su Jin followed closely, clutching the DV camera and detectors tightly.

The gap was short but claustrophobic. Emerging on the other side, their breath caught at the sight before them.

The tower’s base area was enclosed within a space roughly the size of a basketball court. The ground was bare, churned dark red earth, disturbed by excavators. Directly south of the base was a massive square pit, partially covered by waterproof tarps. Fresh tracks from construction machinery rimmed the edge. The bottom was obscured, but thick pipes wrapped in black insulating material extended from the pit like monstrous tentacles, crawling up the ancient stone walls of the tower. They disappeared into an irregular hole roughly half a person’s height, crudely carved into the tower’s body.

The exposed tower base was a shocking sight: bare earth, a huge pit half-shrouded by tarps, and fresh machinery marks. Even more disturbing were the twisted metal structures forcibly welded onto the tower’s weathered stone. Thick dark-red alloy pipes and sharp triangular steel plates intertwined, forming a vast, menacing, three-dimensional metallic web—a grotesque scar grafted onto the old tower. The thickest main pipes were violently drilled into the tower through the irregular hole.

The scene was at once awe-inspiring and horrifying, a brutal clash of past and present, history and invasive technology.