The Black Swan Behind

151 Entering Chingsu District

Emma Hilland and Rachel Markway were strong girls who practice weight lifting a lot. With ease, the two of them lifted the big motorbike onto the sidewalk that connected to a little field with a large swamp in it.

“Try to slow down the bike and make it move as close to this wall, so that the tire tracks wouldn’t visible,” Rachel said and immediately responded with a nod by Emma.

The two of them pushed the motorbike through the thick snow that made the weight of the bike feel to be doubled. If it was ordinary girls who did it, maybe they wouldn’t be able to.

Finally, they managed to push the motorbike up to the big old tree that was growing alone. It turned out that between the tree trunk and the big wall was a gap that big enough to hide Emma’s motorbike.

“The owner of Chingsu District still strongly believes in customs and myths. This large tree and swamp are said to have existed since Chingsu Paper was founded. A Feng Shui expert said some spirits inhabit this tree and swamp. The spirits were not evil, but would be angry if their home was vandalized. Therefore, not even the successor of the Chingsu Paper would dare to touch these two things.” Rachel explained, helping Emma to position her motorbike so that it could be perfectly hidden behind the trunk of the huge tree.

Emma lifted her head up to see how tall the tree had grown. The branches have spread everywhere like the paths in an anthill. She couldn’t imagine how shady the tree would be in summer.

Emma took off her black jacket and pants. Underneath the clothes, she was wearing the uniform that Rachel had given her when they had just met today. She changed it at the gas station toilet which was near the campus earlier. Not to forget, she wore a mask that contained the logo of the name of a company where Rachel’s grandfather worked. Factory employees in the Chingsu District were required to wear masks as they work with a variety of chemicals. It was also what made Rachel very confident in doing this disguise. Their identities would remain hidden, although they didn’t have to disguise themselves as men wearing helmets.

“How did you find out about this place, Rachel?” Emma asked.

“My grandpa used to take me fishing for mud crabs in the swamp. However, for the past two years, my grandpa has not been able to take me anymore because his legs often hurt when exposed to strong winds for too long.” Rachel answered as walking towards the swamp. Emma followed beside her. Rachel herself had changed into a factory uniform too. She had changed in the campus toilet before Emma came to pick her up.

.....

“Look over there,” Rachel pointed away at a long fence made of wire, “The secret shortcut is there,”

Emma frowned. If that was true, the problem they face was that the fence was in the middle of the swamp.

Rachel smiled faintly as she looked at Emma, ??”That’s why I’ve checked earlier to see if the water is still frozen or not. As I expected, it is.”

“Woah.. I didn’t think it was the shortcut,” Emma muttered.

“We’d better move quickly. Be careful, the ice is slippery,” Rachel said as she stepped onto the ice. “You don’t have to worry about the ice will be cracking. Actually, this swamp isn’t deep at all. It’s probably only as high as an adult’s chest. That’s why the water freezes quickly.”

“Relax, Rachel. I’ve had experienced something worse than this,” Emma answered, instantly remembering her experience walking on thin ice, risking her life to save a cat.

The expanse of ice made Emma remember the moment when she learned to ice skate with Levi Wargos. Maybe, it would be fun to play Ice Skating in this place. That time was the moment when Emma realized that Levi was a nice and fun person. There, she saw his warm side.

The swamp stretched into the Chingsu District area. That way, the fence that was built as the boundary of the factory area was also built across the large swamp water. That was the reason why the fence only used a sheet of wire which was more elastic and easy to build than a fence made of steel bars.

“I found this a few years ago while playing here in the winter,” Rachel said when they reached the wire fence. It turned out that there was a sheet of wire that part of it was detached from the support pole. The wires were quite rusty. Indeed, it was difficult to see from a distance. You have to approach it like this, then it would be seen that there was actually damage to the fence.

The girls were on the north side of Chingsu District which was the back of a sewage management plant building. It was very quiet there and no guards were hanging around.

Rachel widened the loose opening of the wire fence with both hands, so that it was wide enough for the two girls to pass, “You can go in first Emma. Watch your step.” she said, still holding the wire open.

“Thanks,” Emma said as passing the fence while bent down. Then, she switched to holding it back so Rachel could follow in. Now, the two of them were inside Chingsu District.

“Yeah! We made it in!” Emma whispered by giving Rachel a high five. They were so excited to have made it past the first hurdle.

“We’d better make the most of this opportunity. If the waters have melted, then we won’t be able to enter this way anymore. Winter is our only chance.” Rachel said.

“I understand,” Emma nodded.

Then, they walked stealthily to reach the factory site where Rachel’s grandfather worked. Their goal was to ask elderly employees at the factory about where to loan money. As Rachel knew, it was only the paper company where her grandfather worked that still employed quite a number of elderly people. They were assigned to do the wrapping work. Usually, the elderly were only scheduled to come to work on certain days of the week.

But, before the girls found the paper factory building they were looking for, they were presented with a view of a group of men in factory uniforms who were dealing with two other men in guard uniforms.

They were five men carrying a stroller with two large blue barrels on it. It seemed the guard men were intercepting them. But not long after, the five factory workers were quickly let through after one of them gave an envelope to the guard.

“That’s the bribe,” Emma whispered.

Rachel nodded. The issue of bribery between employees and guards was an open secret. There was no employee who did not know that they could pay the guards to cheat while working. And of course, Rachel’s grandfather knew this as a former employee at the Chingsu Paper factory before being forced to move to another paper company in Chingsu District. Rachel had previously told Emma this during their trip.

“I don’t understand whether the Creeper’s leader was aware of this practice of bribery or not.” Rachel said.

“I didn’t think they could be both a villain and a guard at the same time. They are like two-headed snakes.” Emma muttered.

After the incident had passed, Emma and Rachel started moving again. Now, they were no longer sneaking around because they were already in a production factory area, which was normal for employees to roam around.

“Hey!” Suddenly, two guards approached Emma and Rachel.

“Show me your exit permit,” One of the two guard men ordered. If someone was assigned to leave the factory building, they would be given an exit permit by the manager in their field.

“Permit?” Emma repeated, trying to be calm. She and Rachel didn’t understand what the guard meant.

“Yes. Permit to roam out of the factory building. Show it!” The man nodded once by sticking out his palm.

“Oh.. The permit letter, huh? Sorry, but we don’t have one.” Rachel said in a very friendly tone.

“So you two are just spending shit outside?” The man asked again.

Emma nodded, “Actually, we’re not just hanging around, but we’re very hungry, so we intend to find food out for a while.” she explained.

The two guards glanced at each other. From the way the two girls spoke, which was so calm, it seemed they already knew how things worked in the Chingsu District.

Emma smiled as she reached into her trouser pocket and took out a few bills, “We are sorry. Actually, we are new here. But a senior said the guard could be kind enough to give us a little time to fill our stomachs.”

“New guys, huh?” The thick eyebrows man muttered while taking out a long small book from his pants’ pocket. Then, he opened it, “I’ll get you an exit permit. One person has to pay five dollars for an hour outside.”

“How about two hours?” Rachel asked.

“You can multiply it.” He answered.

Emma separated twenty dollars from her wallet, “Okay. We’d like to take two hours, please.” she said as giving the money to the man.

The man raised his eyebrows casually and pointed his pen at the notebook, “Name?”

“Rossa Swan,” Emma said.

“I’m Jessi Moon,” Rachel added.

The man continued to write on the two pages of the small book, then glanced at the clothes of the two girls before writing again. He glanced at his watch and took notes again. When he was done, he tore off the two pieces of paper and gave them to the two factory employees standing in front of him.

“I noted the time when this letter was written. So you should be back in two hours, from now on.” He said.

“Understood. Thank you.” The two girls answered.

“If you want to find food, you shouldn’t be hanging around here. Ha.. It seems like Unipaper Company is reshuffling its workers into young people.” The blonde-haired man said as looking around. It looked like he was looking for another prey.

“Since we’re new, we still don’t familiar with this area. Would you mind showing me the way?” Rachel asked.

“Of course. Two dollars,” The blonde man replied.