Courtyard House: Home Alone

Lin Yifan walked out of the coffee shop and headed towards the restaurant. When he arrived at the door, he hailed a rickshaw and headed towards Victoria Road in the British Concession.

They weren't far apart to begin with, and the rickshaw took only fifteen minutes to reach Victoria Road. Xu Zheng hadn't contacted him yet, nor did he have a specific location.

Lin Yifan decided to walk around and see what was going on, so he took out a silver dollar, paid the driver off, and strolled off. At the same time, he opened his communicator: "Xu Zheng, how's it going on your end?"

A faint static crackled through the communicator, like sandstorms sweeping across the Gobi Desert. A moment later, Xu Zheng's voice broke through the static interference, carrying a hint of relief: "Young master, it's done. I just got off at the concession government bureau."

"Oh, that's good. I just arrived at Victoria Road too. What's the house number you bought?"

17 Victoria Road

Xu Zheng's voice carried an undisguised hint of smugness. "It has an attic and a basement, and a well in the backyard. Tang Juye and Qi Haishan are inside. Liu Quande went to keep an eye on the Japanese. You can go ahead first; I'll be there in a bit."

Lin Yifan paused slightly. 17 Victoria Road—the number swirled on his tongue, carrying a sense of fateful coincidence.

He looked up and saw the plane trees lining the street, their jagged silhouettes outlined in the twilight. Amidst the swaying shadows, rows of Victorian buildings stood silently, like a group of English gentlemen in tailcoats, reserved and aloof.

"Understood." He ended the call, put his hands in his coat pockets, and continued pacing forward.

Number 17, located in the middle of the street, appears remarkably simple compared to the surrounding mansions with their bronze nameplates and cast-iron flowerpots in front.

The gray-white exterior walls were covered with withered ivy, swaying gently in the evening breeze, like a silent disguise.

Lin Yifan's spiritual power spread out like mercury, penetrating three floors and "seeing" the camphor wood chests piled under the sloping roof of the attic, the empty basement, and two figures talking quietly in the living room on the second floor.

Tang Juye sat in a rattan chair by the window, toying with a purple clay teapot in his hand. The patina on the teapot shone with a warm luster in his spiritual vision. His posture was relaxed, but his shoulders were slightly hunched forward, a posture unique to someone who had been vigilant for many years.

Qi Haishan stood in front of the fireplace, his fingers unconsciously stroking the bronze candlesticks on the mantelpiece, his gaze occasionally sweeping towards the window.

Lin Yifan withdrew his mental energy and rang the doorbell.

The doorbell's brass reed vibrated dully behind the door, like the lingering note of some ancient instrument. While waiting, Lin Yifan noticed the mailbox on the left side of the porch—its cast iron surface was rusted, but the mailbox slot was polished to a shine, clearly indicating that someone cleaned it regularly.

Footsteps echoed from the second floor all the way to the foyer, the wooden staircase groaning softly under their weight. The door opened a crack, revealing half of Qi Haishan's face. The wariness in his eyes turned to brief surprise upon recognizing the person, quickly replaced by deliberate warmth: "Young master? Captain Xu said you might be a little late."

"The matter is settled." Lin Yifan walked into the living room, his gaze sweeping over the furnishings. The furniture was left by the previous owner: a Victorian carved wardrobe, a mahogany writing desk, and a yellowed group photo framed above the fireplace—a group of Englishmen in polo attire raising their glasses on the lawn, their smiles frozen in another era.

He walked to the window and parted a corner of the heavy velvet curtains. Across the street was a three-story apartment building, its windows emitting a dim yellow light, through which he could vaguely see shadowy figures moving about.

Number 17 has a good location; it's neither too conspicuous on a street corner nor too cramped at the very back, making it a good choice for both entry and exit.

"Have you seen the basement?" he asked.

"I saw it."

Qi Haishan walked over from the fireplace. "While Captain Xu went to handle the formalities, we thoroughly inspected the place inside and out. We also checked the well in the backyard; the water depth is sufficient, and the water quality... I tasted it; it's a bit astringent, but edible."

Lin Yifan nodded slightly. The astringent taste meant a high mineral content, which, in a place like the concession, was actually a good sign that the water was not polluted.

His mental energy extended downwards again, this time examining every corner of the basement with greater detail. The cement floor was newly poured, thicker than usual; there was a hidden door at the base of the west wall leading to a smaller, empty room, but with traces of ventilation ducts.

"Xu Zheng is getting more and more meticulous in his work." He withdrew his mental energy and sat down in the leather chair in front of the writing desk. The chair seat was slightly sunken, but it unexpectedly conformed to the curve of his back.

Tang Juye poured him a cup of tea; the tea was amber in color, with a mellow aroma. "Young master, this house..."

"From now on, this will serve as our warehouse and base. You two go and move those five wooden crates by the door in; they contain the weapons we're providing you." Lin Yifan interrupted him; these were the crates he had left behind when he first entered.

Tang Juye and Qi Haishan exchanged a glance, then rose simultaneously, their footsteps making hurried sounds on the floor. After the creaking of the door hinges, the living room fell into a brief silence, broken only by the occasional soft crackling of the unburnt firewood in the fireplace.

Lin Yifan got up and walked towards the stairwell. He had already used his mental power to check and found that there was a door leading to the basement in the stairwell.

After entering the basement, he carefully checked its moisture-proofing.

The cement wall gleamed with a bluish-gray hue under the dim electric light, and felt slightly cool to the touch.

Lin Yifan crouched down, pressing his palms against the ground, feeling the temperature difference emanating from beneath the cement layer. The basement's moisture-proofing was quite good.

He moved slowly along the west wall, stopped at the hidden door, and tapped the wall with his fingers, the echoing sound dull and solid.

"Ventilation vent."

He muttered to himself, his gaze sweeping across the corner of the ceiling. There stood a cast-iron grille, twice the size of one in a typical house, its screw holes still gleaming with a fresh metallic sheen—clearly a recent renovation.

The biggest concern with underground storage is moisture damaging pharmaceuticals, and penicillin is particularly sensitive to humidity. Fortunately, the original homeowner had high standards for the basement.

His mental energy spread out again, this time deliberately controlling the depth of his exploration. Thirty centimeters below the cement layer was a layer of compacted soil, and further down, he could "see" the underground water veins flowing beneath.

Victoria Road is located in a low-lying area of ​​the British concession, where tributaries of the Hai River weave a complex network underground. The fact that the well produces astringent water indicates that they happened to be standing on a layer of impermeable rock.

"Young Master," Tang Juye's voice came from the stairwell, accompanied by the dull thud of a wooden crate hitting the steps, "Where should I put the crate? Should I move it down?"

"No need, move everything to the second floor, I'll be up right away." After saying that, she turned and walked upstairs.

Upon reaching the second-floor porch, three wooden crates were already placed there. A moment later, the sound of two people breathing heavily could be heard outside the door.

Lin Yifan got up and walked to the stairwell, where he saw Tang Juye and Qi Haishan each carrying a wooden box up, with the five boxes lined up in a row in the porch.