「Half an hour later.」
CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!
The steel cables hanging outside the concrete building drew taut, their mechanical force pulling the yellowed iron-frame lift slowly upward.
A sturdy iron mesh, like a cage, was welded fast to the metal frame to prevent anyone from accidentally falling out.
A group of seven or eight inspectors stood inside, including Luo Xuan, the Secretary-General of the special commission. As the lift rose, they surveyed the concrete complex before them.
An open-air steel staircase was bolted to the concrete wall, mottled with yellow rust, flecks of it flaking off.
Each floor of the building had a steel platform where the lift could stop, as well as a single, dark entrance to that level.
Whether on foot or by lift, this was the only way through. Two meters inside lay a concrete corridor connecting the densely packed rooms.
