Chapter 591: The Warehouse

The abandoned station Yinisha found was located north of Richmond, about thirty kilometers from the edge of the city.

If one were to depart from the Beaton Family’s Plantation and head north along the steam train line, the journey would be roughly halved.

If the topography of Virginia were broadly divided into “high mountains,” “mountainous areas,” and “plains,” then Richmond was actually built on the boundary line between the “mountainous areas” and the “plains.”

The steam train line naturally followed this boundary, which had the advantage of minimizing the use of the coveted East Coast plain land, but the disadvantage was that the terrain would inevitably be somewhat undulating.

Midnight.

The horses were tied in a small grove by the dirt slope, and three heads quietly emerged on the small hill, stealthily observing the abandoned station a little further away.

This place didn't seem particularly conspicuous at first glance; it was probably just a few parallel tracks built on either side of the main steam train line for switching, about several hundred meters long, with some inconspicuous row houses nearby, strung together somewhat like a “middle” character.

Yinisha’s description of the place was quite accurate; it really resembled an ordinary, usually deserted, railway-side duty or maintenance station.

As it was already near the “mountainous areas,” the land on both sides of the steam train line, in a sense, belonged to the associated “construction land.”

Thus, after a certain distance from the urban area, the greenery here looked quite good; the railway seemed to be built in a forest—the trees along the sides might have been cut down for sleepers back then, but after the steam train line was built, the trees might have been left unattended for many years and gradually grew back.

Lina looked left and right, quickly finding a suspicious spot. “That looks like a small valley, the trees seem dense, and there appears to be a fork extending into it. Is the so-called ‘secret base’ there?”

Yinisha nodded. “If there is one, that area looks the most likely.”

With the approximate location determined, the three uniformly donned their makeshift masks and quietly continued to approach—if this truly was an official secret facility, unauthorized investigation would be illegal, so basic safety awareness was necessary.

The masks were made from leftover wood and paint from the workshop: one red-faced, one white-faced, and one black-faced.

The Detective Agency did have some ready-made masks confiscated from an Indigenous people community before, which were more comfortable to wear, but they were Extraordinary Items with unknown uses and too distinctive features, so there was no need to needlessly leave clues for others.

The term “abandoned station” actually meant it “didn’t receive passengers” normally; at both ends of the abandoned station, there were still things like signal lights and barriers.

Railways in those days occasionally had issues, and when a steam train reached a certain section, it would slow down or even temporarily stop upon seeing such things. Train schedules were already not very punctual, so occasional delays were not a big deal.

The “train delays” that Yinisha discovered to be regular were probably due to these things. Ordinary people usually took daytime passenger trains, and if a train stopped temporarily at night, they were unlikely to specifically get off and look around.

Some night freight trains might discover the regularity, but the regular interval was once every few days, and the delay time was not long, so it could probably be excused with reasons like “routine inspection,” giving it a sense of “great concealment in the city.”

Bypassing the abandoned station, and keeping a distance while following a fork towards the small valley, the trees here were relatively denser, easily giving one the illusion of having entered the “wilderness.”

The relatively flat terrain also provided another layer of deception, much like when people in modern society travel to vast grasslands: although at a glance, it seems like everything within dozens of miles around can be seen clearly, there are actually undulations. After the tour bus turns into certain relatively low-lying areas, tourists often suddenly realize, “Holy cow, there’s actually such a large tourist attraction hidden here; was I blind before?”

The secret facility associated with this abandoned station seemed to use a similar principle.

There were likely sentry posts along the branching railway, so the three did not get too close, but after walking some distance into the woods, they soon saw a barbed wire fence, over two meters high.

Compared to the common wooden or brick walls in America, a barbed wire fence was not only more concealed in the wild but also looked more dangerous. Moreover, the cost of this item was not low at that time, so even an ordinary passerby would know it was a “no entry” area upon seeing it.

However, for Wayne and the other two, discovering this meant that Yinisha’s previous speculation was at least seventy to eighty percent accurate—the remaining suspense was just “whether Connal and his group were inside,” but that was no longer important at the moment.

Lina’s Extraordinary ability naturally countered the barbed wire. When her fingers touched it, instead of “making a hole” as she expected, the barbed wire gradually “coiled into a cocoon” like a python, pulling the thick wooden stakes used to tauten the wire further away on both sides crooked, turning from “two verticals” into an “eight,” almost causing a big commotion.

However, the result was almost the same; there was only so much barbed wire, and when it coiled into a cocoon here, there was a gap nearby. It was still about drilling a hole, and it didn't matter where one drilled.

After passing the barbed wire fence and continuing inward, after about several hundred meters, there started to be “people” in the woods.

This didn’t affect the three much. Peter the Spider scouted ahead, and Lina led the way behind, with occasional “wait” and “detour” commands along the path. After climbing over the last small dirt slope, they looked down.

Good heavens, there was a small “block” hidden in here.

The number of people in the small “block” didn't seem particularly large, possibly related to it being deep night; at least, at a glance, not many people were visible, and not many lights were on in the houses.

The lighting arrangement here was also quite elaborate: the windows of the houses had small awnings, and there was a streetlamp a certain distance outside, but these streetlamps also had mushroom tops, so the light was not very bright and could only illuminate a small patch of ground below. Owls flying overhead might notice something amiss, but normal people would find it difficult to detect the light from outside.

Wayne quickly brainstormed: “Could that largest building be the entrance to the secret base? And underneath, there are dozens of levels of mazes, filled with strange Extraordinary People and Demons?”

Yinisha Teacher actually continued to analyze, “Normally, it shouldn’t be. A deep underground palace requires too much engineering and is prone to collapse. Unless a suitable natural cave is found, what we see here should be all there is. The Richmond area is, after all, mountainous and plain with abundant water systems, so even if there were caves, they would likely be filled with groundwater and couldn’t be used that way.”

Lina ignored Wayne’s brainstorm. “The railway extends all the way to that big house. That should be a warehouse, right? Should we go down and take a look?”

“Since we’re already here, we definitely have to look.”

Wayne pulled down the mask on his head. “Yinisha, you stay here for backup? We’ll go check out that warehouse first, and then that house with iron bars on the windows looks like a prison. If Connal isn’t found in either of these places, he’s probably not here.”

Yinisha nodded first, then said, “Perhaps there’s no need to check that big house. Normally, such a wooden wall structure shouldn’t be able to hold Extraordinary People.”

“How can that be?” Lina’s mask was also back on her face, and her voice became a little muffled. “We came here just to see it, so it won’t delay anything.”

Yinisha did not try to dissuade her further. A figure quickly moved into a tree nearby, stopping within its canopy.

The two “stealthy figures” quietly went downhill, not taking the main path at all, only occasionally cutting across.

The large building was surrounded by walls and guards, but perhaps because this place was already sufficiently “secret” and “internal,” their activity seemed less frequent than in the woods. Although no one was drinking or sleeping at the sentry posts, they weren't overly tense either; some even seemed to be chatting.

It took about an hour of dodging and weaving. With Peter the Spider scouting ahead and Lina helping to keep watch nearby, Wayne dared to “make holes” on the outside of the large building through the wooden wall, like spot welding, connecting small pits into a line, and finally “demolishing the wall to enter.”

This truly was an ordinary warehouse, almost entirely filled with large wooden crates of the same design.

Wayne and Lina excitedly pried open one of them, and immediately understood why such a secret “big house” was still a “wooden warehouse.”

Holy cow, the stuff in the sawdust pile was firearms…

This was a damn arms warehouse.