The innkeeper's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this.
At the cellar entrance, Alai also heard it and started to ponder.
This time, the leader no longer dared to sit alone in the main hall. His earlier confidence was completely gone. He kept two burly men close by for protection and ordered the others to search every room with their flashlights, conducting a large-scale search.
One of the burly men harshly ordered the innkeeper, "Get some candles, now!"
The innkeeper didn't dare to delay and quickly went to the kitchen, grabbed a handful of candles, and lit them one by one with a lighter.
The main hall soon brightened up.
In no time, shadows flickered in the hall.
One by one, the men returned empty-handed to report to the leader.
The leader, deeply disappointed, suddenly grabbed the innkeeper by the chest and coldly asked, "Did you hide them? Did they give you some special reward?"
"Boss, how could you say that? Guests are guests. I'm just an honest worker. Do you think I'd dare go against the security patrol? That would be asking for death."
"If I knew anything, I would've told you already."
The leader sneered sinisterly, "If I find out you tipped them off or are hiding thieves, you'll spend the rest of your life in prison!"
The innkeeper felt both wronged and resentful, saying, "The inn's business has been getting worse, as you know. The cook leaves before six o'clock, and I'm the only one here. During the day, I'm exhausted like an old dog, and at night, I just want to sleep. I fell asleep at the door and was woken up by you. I really don't know anything."
The leader, growing impatient, interrupted, "You'll lead me in the search. If you help me find them and confess, I won't make things difficult for them. I might even reward you with a good job."
"That would be great."
Just then, there was a knock at the large iron door. A middle-aged man was supporting a drunken man who could barely stand, bringing him into the hall.
The innkeeper quickly helped him sit down, paid the man, and said, "Thank you for bringing my boss back."
The man replied, "No problem. Boss Huang seems to have lost over fifty thousand today and drank quite a bit."
"Oh."
"Oh, oh, thank you very much." The innkeeper made small talk as the man took the hundred yuan and left.
Boss Huang, his eyes bleary from drunkenness, sensed something was wrong. Seeing the candles lit in the dark, he thought he was in the underworld.
He noticed many people standing around, with a mess in front of him. When he looked up and saw that half the corridor had collapsed, he angrily shouted, "Zhao, Zhao Da'an, what the hell is going on?"
The leader signaled one of the men beside him to respond.
A burly man coldly said, "We're with the security patrol, chasing a notorious thief, and we tracked him here."
"Security patrol? So what? You destroyed my inn, damn you!"
"Smack!"
The burly man slapped him across the face, mimicking his boss's tone as he cursed, "You're harboring criminals, and we haven't even started with you yet. Say one more dirty word, and we'll arrest you right now."
Boss Huang, dazed from the slap, felt his chest churn, and he vomited everything he had eaten and drunk.
The innkeeper quickly intervened, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. My boss drank too much and said things he didn't mean. Please don't take offense."
The leader coldly said, "If you don't want to be held accountable, help us find the thief. If we catch him, we'll not only fix everything here, but we'll also give you a big reward."
The innkeeper's heart sank. He thought, if Boss Huang mentions the cellar, everything will be over.
He quickly said, "My boss is too drunk to even stand. I'll lead your men in the search."
"No, no! No!" The leader, sly and cunning, said, "You'll take me. I'll follow you personally!"
The innkeeper, trying to buy time, said, "Let me help Boss Huang back to his room to rest first."
The leader, seeing the innkeeper's loyalty to his boss, appreciated it and nodded.
Boss Huang, an old hand at this, was clear-headed despite his drunkenness. He thought, "Who believes these thugs? What security patrol? They're clearly robbers, trying to act all high and mighty."
Knowing that he couldn't afford to provoke these local thugs, he slumped over the dining table and pretended to sleep.
The innkeeper quickly placed his hand on his shoulder and helped him back to his room to rest.
...
Miyoshi tugged at Alai's leg and said, "I heard it too. What do we do?"
Alai moved the discarded toilet to cover the entrance and climbed down into the cellar.
Fangfang anxiously asked, "What did you hear?"
Miyoshi replied, "The leader said they'd dig three feet deep to find us."
"What?" Fangfang panicked. "Then we're trapped like fish in a barrel!"
Miyoshi analyzed, "It seems we can't stay here much longer. Alai, we have to leave. They'll find this place soon."
In the darkness, Alai nodded.
Boss Huang's return had shaken him because the innkeeper had mentioned that only he and the boss knew about the cellar.
Alai checked the time on the phone he had taken.
Fangfang noticed it wasn't her phone and coldly said, "Did you steal someone else's phone?"
"So what?" Alai replied coldly.
"If the police find out, they'll consider you a robber."
"Ha! I'm already a rapist; do you think the police will believe me?"
Fangfang was silent for a moment, then said, "Give me back my phone. I'll call the police. If we get caught, they'll torture us to death."
"You're finally waking up. Can't you see these people are here to kill me? You think they'll let us go?" Alai snapped.
At that moment, they heard the sound of people rummaging through everything outside.
"I'm not wasting time arguing. I need to deal with them before they find this place," Alai said as he prepared to leave.
Fangfang grabbed his leg, "You'll die if you go out like this! Let me go and distract them."
"Shut up! I'm going out to take a crap."
"Crap? Just do it here!" Miyoshi said.
"We're not afraid of the smell," Miyoshi added.
"Are you all idiots? I'm going out to crap for a reason," Alai said as he climbed out and noticed that the kitchen's back door had been quietly locked by the innkeeper.
He quickly started crapping near the cellar entrance.
Miyoshi, realizing his plan, quickly followed and squatted nearby to do the same.
Before long, they heard someone angrily say from behind the door, "What's this back door for?"
Hearing this, Alai pulled up his pants, crouched down, kicked Miyoshi's butt, and they both quickly crawled back into the cellar, covering the entrance with the discarded toilet.
They then heard the innkeeper's voice, "The back is where we dump garbage, I didn't want you to hurt yourselves."
A man, suspicious, said, "Then we need to search it."
"Hehe..." The leader chuckled darkly, "Makes sense. And it's locked? Must be hiding something."
"Bang!"
He kicked the door open.
"Search every inch! Thoroughly!"
...
In the cellar, Fangfang's heart pounded so hard it felt like it would jump out of her throat. She clutched Alai's hand tightly, not daring to make a sound.
"Dammit, what's that smell?" One man, rummaging through the junk, quickly covered his nose and shone his flashlight around. When he spotted the crap, he recoiled and hurried out.
"It stinks like hell!"
Another man shone his flashlight around the leader.
"Boss, you stepped in it."