"You two stay here, don’t go inside, wait for us to co back." Yang Xiao planned to walk back with Xiao Lin Zhengyan and find another staff mber to confirm the identity of this old employee first.
Yang Xiao moved quickly, and after returning to the hall, he happened to bump into a young staff mber around 25 years old. The young man wore a hat and white gloves, was dressed in a uniform, wore a smile, and appeared to be very professional.
Yang Xiao casually found an excuse to bring the staff mber in front of the room, and at this mont, the old employee was explaining sothing to Takagi Reina through the door.
"Director Gongben, do you need any help?" After seeing the old employee, the young staff quickly walked forward to inquire.
The elderly man referred to as Director Gongben waved his hand and smiled as he explained, "These guests want to learn so things about vintage tickets, so I brought them to the exhibition room to have a look. Sorry for the trouble, Mr. Nakamura."
"Not at all, you’re too polite. I’ll take care of this, you go ahead and handle your work." The young man referred to as Mr. Nakamura was very respectful.
After Director Gongben greeted Yang Xiao’s group, he turned and left. Under the guidance of the young man, Yang Xiao’s group began to tour the small exhibition room.
"Here is our Renyuan Shrine Station’s historical exhibit, which records the developnt of Renyuan Shrine Station. It hasn’t been open to the public for many years." The young man explained as he led them through the tour.
Yang Xiao saw many old photographs here, and judging from the backgrounds, the history of the Renhe Line was even older than they had expected.
"This is..." Staring at a large photograph on the wall, Takagi Reina couldn’t help but stop. This was a black-and-white photograph of a group photo with dozens of people, and the background was a deep, dark tunnel entrance.
"This was taken on the day the Youjian Mountain Tunnel was officially completed. The Youjian Mountain Tunnel is also on the Renhe Line, located between Shirahata Station and Old Valley Town Station."
The young man explained with pride, "This is a very long mountain tunnel, and the construction difficulty at the ti was extrely high. Building a tunnel like this is undeniably an engineering miracle."
Below the photograph, there was a brief description filled with standard content, but what really caught Yang Xiao and his group’s attention was the date: the Youjian Mountain Tunnel had been completed over 60 years ago.
And this is just according to this world’s tiline. If calculated according to the real world’s tiline, it has been close to 80 years already.
Yang Xiao intentionally guided the topic towards the Youjian Mountain Tunnel, but unfortunately, the young staff didn’t know much about it either; he only reiterated what had been ntioned in the photo’s description.
But this made sense. If the man were to boast and claim to know everything about events from decades ago, Yang Xiao and Takagi Reina, veterans in this field, would certainly beco suspicious.
Soon, under the young man’s guidance, Yang Xiao’s group entered the door Director Gongben had gone through before, and as soon as they entered, Takagi Reina’s eyes lit up.
The room wasn’t large, only about 20 square ters, but it displayed many tickets, like a ticket exhibition hall.
"This collection contains all types of tickets issued during the Renhe Line’s operation, and it holds great historical research value and commorative significance." The young man introduced.
Yang Xiao realized he was in the right place today; he and Takagi Reina imdiately began searching, and before long, Yang Xiao made a discovery first. In the first-generation ticket display case, he found so tickets closely resembling those described by Watanabe Gou.
He called Takagi Reina over, and she was deeply captivated by the tickets. Both believed these might indeed be the ghost train tickets Watanabe Gou saw last night.
But upon careful inspection, these tickets had corresponding station nas, such as Renyuan Shrine Station, Central Renhe Station, and so on.
And tickets were arranged in order from left to right; Yang Xiao easily found the tickets for Old Valley Town Station and Shirahata Station, but there was nothing between the two—no ticket for Youjian Mountain Station.
Yang Xiao noticed that the station nas on these tickets didn’t completely correspond with the current stations on the Renhe Line, as so seed to be missing.
After asking the young man, he offered an explanation: at first, the Renhe Line didn’t have as many stations, such as Daogangwa, Jing Bridge, Moguchigawa Station, and others that were added later, which was reflected in the second-generation tickets.
Following the young man’s guidance, Yang Xiao and the others arrived at the second-generation ticket display case and indeed found these "missing" stations.
"Besides these stations, were any others added in between?" Takagi Reina pursued the question.
"No, only these. You can see this just from looking at the tickets." The young man responded without hesitation.
"Mr. Nakamura, is it possible that during the additional station construction, a station was also built inside the Youjian Mountain Tunnel but later shut down after only a brief operation due to so reasons?" Yang Xiao carefully articulated his question, trying to lower the young man’s guard.
Unexpectedly, after hearing this question, the young man laughed, "That’s absolutely impossible. Major construction in an already completed tunnel would severely disrupt the tunnel’s stress system, breaking the original balance of forces. It’s extrely dangerous and strictly prohibited."
While Yang Xiao kept the young man’s attention, Takagi Reina took the opportunity to use the phone Yang Xiao had given her to take photographs.
She captured images of both the first and second-generation tickets, planning to take them back for Watanabe Gou to identify.
Having asked all they could, and with the young man knowing little about the history from decades ago, Yang Xiao’s group expressed their thanks and left.
When the new train stopped, Yang Xiao boarded again. Yamamoto Chunai was puzzled when she realized Yang Xiao was headed in the wrong direction; they originally planned to return towards Shirahata Station, but the train Yang Xiao boarded was heading towards Daogangwa.
"No need to talk too much. Whatever Mr. Chu plans to do, we just follow. We’re not in a position to offer him advice." Having learned that Yang Xiao had survived the Water Ghost’s attack last night, Xiao Lin Zhengyan was convinced that Yang Xiao was an expert and followed his arrangents completely.
This ti, after just one station, Yang Xiao led them off the train, stopping at Central Renhe Station.
The area was relatively lively. Yang Xiao felt his stomach, saying he was hungry and wanted to eat sothing to fill it.
Professional matters should be handled by professionals. Not being a local, Yang Xiao allowed them to choose what to eat.
"Let’s eat at the food stall, I think this place looks good." Takagi Reina was also hungry. Since last night, they hadn’t eaten much, and she was getting tired.
The group of four arrived at a street snack stall, which looked like a simple wooden hut with a canopy. Outside was an L-shaped bar with a row of tall stools, and inside the bar, a middle-aged man was busy.
Upon nearing, Yang Xiao slled the aroma of kanto stew; the environnt here was simple and holy, filled with the taste of life.
Yang Xiao liked eating at street stalls, reminding him of past days ward by a serving of chicken rice with two extra ladles of soup.
All four sat side by side, and Takagi Reina adeptly ordered food, her fingers deftly dancing across the nu, "This, this, this and that, and each of this too, and four beers, please!"
Soon, the steaming hot dishes were served.
Following Takagi Reina’s recomndation, Yang Xiao tried the stall’s signature fried noodles, several skewers of grilled chicken, kanto stew, grilled squid, and finally paired it with a cold beer.
Half an hour later, Yang Xiao put down the still cold beer bottle, patted his belly, and let out a satisfied burp, feeling life was complete.
"That’s about it; let’s clean up and head out." Yang Xiao stood up.
"Where to?" Takagi Reina asked while still holding a grilled chicken skewer.
"Back to Renyuan Shrine Station to see if those two guys are still around."
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