"Ah!" Sun Fatty screamed, reaching out with his other hand to grab the little furry ball. Only then did I realize the creature that bit him was Sun Fatty's precious pet—his "wealth mouse." It had been only two years since I last saw it, but this fat rat had clearly followed Sun Fatty's lifestyle and had easily tripled in size. No wonder I didn't recognize it at first glance. Despite the bulk, its movements weren't sluggish—in fact, it seemed even quicker than two years ago.
Sun Fatty pinched the fat flesh on the mouse's back and brought their faces close, eye to eye, saying, "I'm just saying, what's your problem? Can't we talk this out without biting?"
The mouse opened its mouth, revealing four neat rows of small teeth (for the story behind the wealth mouse's four rows of teeth, see my brother's wedding story), and squeaked noisily at Sun Fatty.
"Dasheng, how did your mouse get so fat? Did you feed it fertilizer or something?" I was having trouble accepting this new image of the wealth mouse and said to the rat, "Compared to two years ago, these are basically two different rats."
"If I knew, I'd have told you." Sun Fatty gave the mouse a wry smile and said, "Since returning from Xinjiang, it's been acting strange—though it was hard to notice at first. During the two years you were out, it went crazy growing. It didn't even eat more—just the same stuff. In these two years, the mouse got so fat it's almost like a cat."
Sun Fatty paused, glanced toward the door to make sure no one was there, then lowered his voice and said, "Lazi, I'm just saying, I suspect this is a side effect of whatever old Wu fed it last time." After speaking, his eyes returned to the two short swords, and he reached out to grasp one.
As soon as he held the short sword, Sun Fatty suddenly turned to face me with a conflicted expression. Then, like he'd been shocked by electricity, his whole body started trembling uncontrollably. Unexpectedly, the fat wealth mouse in his hand mimicked his owner's movements, shaking nonstop.
I figured a little lesson for Sun Fatty wouldn't hurt, so I snatched the short sword away from him. The moment the sword left his hand, Sun Fatty collapsed to the floor with a thud. After a while, he came to and looked at me: "I'm just saying—did you know this was going to happen all along?"
With the sword in hand, I flourished it once and said to Sun Fatty, "Dasheng, are there even any good people in your eyes? Look, if there was a problem, wouldn't I be suffering the same fate?" As I spoke, I helped him up from the ground. The huge wealth mouse also calmed down, climbing back up his owner's pant leg and into Sun Fatty's jacket pocket, only its little eyes darting around as it kept watch.
Sun Fatty stared at the short sword in my hand with envy but didn't dare touch it. After a moment, he looked up and said, "Lazi, what exactly are these swords? Is it true only people with white hair like us can hold them?"
Seeing he had completely given up trying to figure it out, I put the swords back in the wooden box and said, "Based on what you said earlier, since you know, I'll just tell you everything." Then I recounted everything I had seen in the small warehouse (except for the physical changes I experienced when first holding the sword) to Sun Fatty.
Sun Fatty's eyes grew wide with fascination. When I described how the two short swords resonated with all the objects in the warehouse, he couldn't help but step closer and cautiously touched the wooden box—but didn't dare open it again. Then he looked at me and said, "Lazi, I'm just saying—you already gave you the key, why hold back? Are you only satisfied with two short swords? If it were me, I'd clear out the whole warehouse, leaving only a couple of things as mementos for old Wu."
After that, Sun Fatty winked at me, grinning mischievously, and said, "So, next time you go down there, help me pick something I can use. It doesn't have to be too good—just don't be worse than those two swords you're carrying." He paused briefly, not waiting for a response as if it were already agreed, and added, "Lazi, carrying around a wooden box like that isn't practical. Come on, I'll find you a better place to stash things."
I glanced at Sun Fatty, waved my hand, and said, "No need, I feel more secure holding it myself."
"Let me see first," Sun Fatty made a face at me and walked directly to a set of control switches at the far end of the room. He looked at me and said, "Not many people know about this dark room—only Boss Gao, me, and a few directors. Lazi, you better not talk about this place carelessly." As he finished speaking, Sun Fatty pressed one of the switches.
With a grinding "gala gala" sound, the entire wall at the end slowly lifted, revealing a pitch-black iron door inside. Sun Fatty took out a bunch of keys and found one to insert into the lock. After turning the key, he didn't rush to open it but called out, "Lazi, come give me a hand—I can't open this door by myself!"
Surprised there was a secret door here, I was curious what might be inside. I instinctively walked over. Standing beside Sun Fatty, we pushed the door open together.
I had thought Sun Fatty might be pretending or holding back strength, but it turned out we really had to use all our effort to slowly push the door open. Inside was an empty dark room.
This dark room was surrounded by outrageously thick steel plates on all sides. Standing inside felt like being locked in a steel box. The room was roughly a hundred square meters, and looking at it, it could easily hold 150 to 160 people.
I had expected treasures to be hidden in such a place, but the room was empty except for about thirty or forty neatly arranged oxygen tanks lining the walls. Before I could ask, Sun Fatty grinned and said, "So? Lazi, no problem hiding your treasure here, right? Look at this lock—did you see it? I personally had it made; only two keys can open it. Without the keys, not even explosives could blow it open." Saying this, he took off the key and, without letting me refuse, stuffed it into my pocket.
When have I ever seen Sun Fatty so willingly give something away? Looking at his mischievous grin, I felt even more uneasy and asked, "Dasheng, tell me honestly—this place is built like a bunker, what's it used for?"
"This was Boss Gao's idea when the Bureau building was first constructed. Back then, he wanted to catch live mountain monkey spirits and keep them here for live research. But catching them alive was costly—often they'd catch one, but the Bureau would lose several people. Old Wu could catch them alive, but he was too ruthless, hardly any survived intact, so bringing back live ones was rare. The lab was built and used for several years but only caught a few kittens at best. Later Boss Gao got bored and sealed this place. Then Secretary Yang parachuted into the Bureau, and Boss Gao, fearing trouble, converted this into a dark room."
Sun Fatty paused, then burst out laughing so hard his face squished up. I stared, confused. Noticing my gaze, Sun Fatty finally stifled his laughter and continued, "Funny thing is, Secretary Yang didn't even last a night—he shit his pants and ran off. This dark room never got used. Lucky for you."
I spun around and pointed at the oxygen tanks on the walls. "What are these oxygen tanks for? Are they for rescuing creatures after torturing them and nursing them back to health?"
Sun Fatty pulled out a cigarette, about to light it, but stopped when I mentioned the oxygen tanks, and said, "According to Ouyang Pianzuo, some mountain monkey and wood spirits exhale poisonous miasma. These oxygen tanks are probably to neutralize the miasma. But honestly, these tanks have been here for years. Not sure if they still work. This morning Boss Gao mentioned the dark room again. He said it was built but never properly used. It was mainly meant to stop Secretary Yang, but the old man never dared come down."
Hearing Sun Fatty mention Secretary Yang multiple times reminded me that since returning to the Bureau, I hadn't seen him. "Dasheng, where's old Yang? I haven't seen Secretary Yang around these days. I heard two years ago he wanted to transfer through connections. Has he left already?"
"He wanted to leave," Sun Fatty grinned, "but no place wants him. Old Yang even begged to be demoted two ranks just to find a job, but no one would take him. He's still mucking about in the Bureau."
After Sun Fatty finished, I nodded and said, "Almost time for lunch. Dasheng, let's eat in the canteen and talk." Holding the wooden box, I headed out. Sun Fatty shouted from behind, "Lazi, you forgot to hide your stuff here."
I looked back and said, "Don't bother. This place is too big for me. Somewhere the size of a palm outside is enough." Sun Fatty hesitated, then said, "I'm just saying, where exactly do you plan to hide it?"
I chuckled, "Doesn't matter, as long as you can't find it."
With that, I hugged the wooden box and left the area, heading toward the elevator. Sun Fatty followed closely, trying to persuade me and recommending several places to stash the short swords. But I know Sun Fatty too well: wherever I hide those swords, he'd find a way to grab one by the next day. Even if he can't use it himself, he'd stash it away first. If one sword went missing, and I came looking for him, he'd play innocent as can be. When Wu Renyi discovers the sword missing, I'd be the one to take the blame.
On the way back to ground level, Sun Fatty kept lobbying me. If it were ordinary items, I'd have given them to him long ago, but since it involves Wu Renyi, I didn't dare let go. Fortunately, the heavens were on my side: just as we stepped out of the elevator, Sun Fatty was intercepted by Secretary Gao Liang. They said Boss Gao had an urgent matter for him, and Sun Fatty reluctantly went to Gao's office, giving me some free time.
Before entering the dark room, I had already thought of the best place to hide the wooden box. Taking advantage of the empty moment, I took a shortcut to Office One.
Office One was now only nominally existing. According to Sun Fatty, when I was unconscious, he mentioned rebuilding Office One to Gao Liang, but the boss insisted on waiting for Hao Wenming's return for the reconstruction, so for now, Office One was just a name with no staff.
Returning to Office One brought back bittersweet memories. It felt like yesterday when Sun Fatty and I first came to the Bureau. The desk where Po Jun used to work was cleared, and Hao Wenming's office door was locked tight. Looking at Po Jun's empty desk, tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.
That moment two years ago felt like a nightmare, but unfortunately, it would never end. Po Jun never got a chance to speak to me again.
After a while, I slowly regained my composure. Wiping my tears, I walked to the storage cabinets in Office One. Between my and Po Jun's cabinets, I found the key Po Jun had hidden. I discovered it by chance—he probably found it troublesome to carry the key around and hid it there.
Po Jun's storage cabinet was empty. Someone from logistics must have opened it with a spare key and cleared its contents. This was actually convenient because unless someone came to rebuild Office One, no one would think Wu Renyi's treasure was still hidden there.
I put the wooden box containing the two short swords into the cabinet. Just as I was about to lock it, I heard a faint noise coming from Hao Wenming's office.