"This shouldn't be the airport line either. Neither the old airport nor the new airport is in this direction," Milliped muttered. "What was the person who designed the line thinking? Why did they design this section to be so long?"
He then looked at Zhang Heng and Mei Nan behind him and said apologetically, "I didn't expect the two stations to be so far apart. I didn't bring any water with me when I left. If you feel thirsty and tired, you can go back first. Also, help me inform the higher-ups about the situation here and ask them to send a few more people down."
Zhang Heng shook his head when he heard this. "We won't go back until we find them."
Milliped was stunned. He saw that Zhang Heng and Mei Nan had been following them silently, and they did not show any signs of anxiety. He thought that they had nothing to do with the two missing girls, or at least, they were not relatives or friends. They just had to follow them to look for the missing girls for some reason.
That was why Milliped suggested that the two of them go back first. They had been gone for so long, and there was no signal down there. Indeed, they needed someone to contact the higher-ups and explain the situation to them. It was the best of both worlds, but he did not expect Zhang Heng to refuse.
After that, Zhang Heng continued, "I think you should go back. You have been shouting for so long, and your voice is a little hoarse. You need some water and rest."
"I'm fine." Milliped shook his head. "The sooner we find the two missing girls, the sooner we can be at ease."
After that, he saw that Zhang Heng and Mei Nan had no intention of leaving, so he raised the flashlight and continued to walk forward. However, Zhang Heng was right. He had been shouting for forty minutes, and his mouth was a little dry. So, after setting off, he did not shout again.
The three of them walked forward in silence.
After about five minutes, Zhang Heng spoke again, "Master Ma, you have worked for the subway company for many years. How much do you know about this subway line?"
"This is my first time here. In fact, no one in the company has been here before," Milliped said. "The construction of this place was stopped before it was completed, so it was never handed over to the subway company. So, like you, I know nothing about the length, direction, and number of platforms of this subway line. To be honest, I didn't expect the tunnel to be so long. Besides, this section is basically completed, and the construction materials look good. It would be a pity to just abandon it."
"Mm, what about the rumors?"
"What?" Milliped thought he misheard Heng's words.
"I remember you mentioned it before when you were up there. You said that there were some rumors about this place. Can you tell us about it?"
"Now? You want to listen to those rumors now?"
"Is there any inconvenience?" Zhang Heng asked.
"Erm, most of those rumors are absurd, and we happen to be in this tunnel. Although I'm not superstitious, there are some things that should be avoided."
"Yes, but it just so happens that we have nothing to do right now." Zhang Heng said, "After walking for so long, everyone should be a little tired. Chatting can relieve some of your fatigue."
Milliped glanced at Meinan and realized that the frail young lady didn't seem afraid at all. He nodded and said, "Alright. Where do you want to start?" "What do you want to hear?" Meinan asked.
"Why don't we talk about why this subway line was abandoned?" Meinan said.
"The official statement is that because of the change in administrative planning, the subway line became unnecessary, so it was not built anymore."
"But in reality?"
"No one knows the actual situation," Milliped said. "But when I first joined the company, I did hear some old employees say that the real reason the subway line was abandoned was because no construction workers were willing to work on it anymore. When the construction was about a third of the construction site, people began to fall ill. But at first, no one paid much attention to it, thinking that it was just the construction workers themselves who fell ill.
"Because the machinery and equipment at that time was not very advanced, and the labor intensity of the workers was very high, it was normal for them to have health problems. Usually, they would recover after a period of rest. But soon, a second and third person fell ill … The construction company also began to pay attention to the situation. They reduced the labor intensity and paid more attention to ventilation. They also changed the cooks at the construction site, but it didn't work. More and more people fell ill. At that time, the diagnosis of the person who was sent to the hospital came out.
"From the routine examination, they couldn't find the cause of the illness. His bodily functions were normal, but he did show signs of weakness, memory loss, and other symptoms. Later, it developed to a certain degree of cognitive impairment. Not only him, but the workers who were sent to the hospital later also showed similar symptoms to varying degrees. But this also ruled out the possibility of a genetic disease.
"The diagnosis report didn't dispel the workers' doubts and worries. As the number of people who fell ill increased, the remaining people didn't know when it would be their turn. They began to panic. In the end, under the leadership of a few leaders, they all went on strike and refused to work anymore. The construction company had no choice but to transfer another construction team from elsewhere to replace the striking workers. In addition, they also found an expert to do an examination.
"But unfortunately, the expert stayed here for two weeks and didn't find anything. He took some samples and left. Fortunately, with a new batch of people, the project could finally continue. But the good times didn't last long. About half a month later, another worker fell ill, with the same clinical symptoms as the previous batch.
"And this batch of workers somehow found out what happened to the previous batch of workers. They were furious that the construction company hid the truth from them, so they went on strike as well. To make matters worse, the news spread among the workers. The construction company couldn't find any workers who were willing to continue the construction. At the same time, it alarmed a few of the higher-ups. In the end, after some research, they decided to give up on the railway completely, "Milliped said.
"What about the workers who fell ill? What happened to them?" Zhang Heng asked.
"I don't know. The rumors didn't mention them anymore," Milliped said. After a pause, he added, "But it's said that this wasn't the only thing that happened during the construction. Before the first worker fell ill, other workers had actually gone missing."
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