Chapter 334: Patrol

Hu Mo is a young security guard; having just graduated from university, he chose this profession that everyone sees as a "shortcut to avoid thirty years of detours."

It is not that he lacks ambition or is indifferent to fame and fortune; if his major had better prospects, if his school were more prestigious, and if the world were a little gentler to him, he too would want to choose a job that others see as more promising and respectable.

It is unfortunate, yet also fortunate.

The place where Hu Mo works is the landmark of Baizhou City, the Baizhou TV Tower; as a 4A-level scenic spot, the Baizhou TV Tower has always been a tourist destination that visitors flock to.

Although working in such a place is more difficult than being a property security guard for a typical residential complex, commercial area, or office building, the salary he takes home is "a whole lot" more than that of a conventional security guard.

With a pre-tax salary of seven thousand, after deducting the six insurances and one fund, plus holiday subsidies, high-temperature subsidies, and the like, he can bring in about six thousand per month on average; his income is no worse than those office workers doing administrative tasks, and the salary is not fixed—the company will adjust it upward based on seniority, work performance, or special events.

As far as he knows, that veteran who stands guard at the entrance of the TV Tower every day, occasionally enduring the wind, sun, and the torture of cold rain, has been standing his shift here for 10 years; he is gentle and friendly to others and takes great care of newcomers like him. As the most senior employee in the security team, he was already earning a pre-tax monthly salary of ten thousand ten years ago; Hu Mo's team leader once sighed with emotion and secretly revealed to him that the old man probably has a stable monthly income of ten thousand now.

Hu Mo feels very emotional about this; no wonder that dark-skinned old man often smiles like a chrysanthemum—if it were him, he would also have a bright smile and be kind to others.

Hu Mo's work is on a three-shift rotation, and the focus of each shift is actually different, mainly depending on the team leader's mood...

Today, Hu Mo is responsible for the night shift patrol; the night shift work is the simplest and easiest, but it also means it is the most boring and tedious, and the working hours are longer. He has to patrol back and forth within the patrol area from time to time; he can return to the duty room to rest when tired, but at this ungodly hour, even the internet has no entertaining activities, and playing on his phone or computer in the duty room is meaningless.

Watching livestreams? Hu Mo doesn't like watching those.

Playing games? Hu Mo has long since grown weary of them.

As a young person who has not become an electronic slave, Hu Mo seems somewhat out of place in this era.

The entire Baizhou Tower has 118 floors; he is responsible for patrolling the area above the 80th floor, after which he hands over the shift to someone else and inspects the areas others have patrolled; once he finishes a complete round, he can go back to the duty room to slack off.

After working here for nearly half a year, Hu Mo does not know when he started to feel bored with the scenery from such a height.

Those views are actually nothing special, Hu Mo thought; if he hadn't come here to work, he would probably have taken out two hundred yuan to go up and take a look when passing by as a tourist.

But then he thought again, a ticket actually costs two hundred yuan; Hu Mo felt that he would probably have given up on the idea the moment he saw the ticket price.

Hu Mo's extreme stinginess is probably the reason he has been single since birth.

Hu Mo knows he is a stingy person, but he also has his own sense of shame.

As the saying goes, do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself; he is not willing to be generous, so naturally, he does not mind if others are stingy. He relies on himself for everything, does not accept favors, and always repays his debts.

Friends, girlfriends, and the like—he does not need them; he only needs to be a solitary, non-social animal, like a tiger or a leopard.

"Hey, hey, hey, sightseeing area, sightseeing area..." Hu Mo heard the call from a night shift colleague responsible for another patrol area coming through his communicator; he walked unhurriedly along the main path of the sightseeing area, which was packed with people during the day, pressed the communication link, and responded, "Hey, hey, hey, this is the sightseeing area, I am Hu Mo."

He recognized the voice; despite the poor sound quality of the communicator's speaker, that tone and cadence were definitely the captain, whom all the security guards both respect and fear.

Don't look at his seniority as not being very high, but his social savvy is there; he is the brother-in-law of the person in charge of Baizhou Tower, and there is no good outcome from offending him.

Of course, the reason people submit to him as captain is not just his personal background; although he has some minor flaws of speaking without thinking, he can also be called upright, straightforward, and is actually quite loyal. If any colleague is in trouble, he is always the first to step forward and the last to finish up, and if anyone is sick or in pain, he will always send his condolences as soon as he hears the news.

It is said that the captain actually comes from a well-off family, and coming here to be a small security guard is probably to experience life.

"Hu Mo, how is your patrol going over there?" the captain asked.

Hu Mo secretly thought it was bad; his efficiency today was a bit slow, but he still lied: "Ten more floors and I'll be at the top."

"Good, then I'll take over your shift in half an hour, over," the captain said.

"Received, over," Hu Mo quickened his pace.

"Stop using that foreign language, damn it," the captain heard this and immediately contacted him again on the public channel to curse.

Hu Mo raced against time, quickly finishing the remaining twenty floors, and finally managed to meet up with the captain when he arrived at the 80th floor by elevator.

"Everything below the 80th floor is yours," the captain didn't say much more, patted Hu Mo on the shoulder, and gave a simple instruction, though his hand was a bit heavy.

"Received," Hu Mo felt the pain in his shoulder and gave a dry laugh in response, knowing that the sweat on his body had betrayed him, and accepted this punishment-like work task.

Muttering to himself that he was truly unlucky, Hu Mo rode the elevator with the captain to the top floor.

To save electricity, only one elevator is kept running after the night shift ends at Baizhou Tower; security guards patrolling high-rise buildings naturally walk from top to bottom, so Hu Mo naturally had to ride up with the captain first.

During the elevator's ascent, the captain chatted with Hu Mo off and on; the other party didn't put on airs, and Hu Mo chatted relatively easily.

"Alright, I'm here; don't slack off this time..." After the captain stepped out of the elevator, he didn't forget to remind Hu Mo, but just as his foot stepped out of the elevator, the elevator emitted a beep-beep-beep alarm.

The captain and Hu Mo looked at each other in a daze; they were all too familiar with this sound—it was the elevator's overload warning.

Hu Mo scratched his head in confusion and stepped out of the elevator; the moment his feet left the elevator car, the alarm stopped.

The captain pressed the down button outside to help stop the elevator, and Hu Mo walked back into the elevator car; as a result, the alarm that had just stopped began to ring again.

"What the hell," the captain said "hey," let Hu Mo hold the button, and this time he switched to try it himself.

The captain stepped on, and the elevator car emitted a loud alarm again.

The captain stood inside the elevator, hands on his hips, and walked out of the elevator with a wry smile, saying: "This elevator is really..."

Whoosh!

Suddenly, Hu Mo only felt a violent flash before his eyes, followed by a spray of blood; his eyes were numb and blank, failing to close in time, and blood dripped into them. He blinked, and his irritated eyes instinctively shed tears, washing out the blood that had fallen into them.

Hu Mo looked at the severed flesh twitching in the pool of blood, and fear spread from his brain to his entire body, which also began to twitch just like them.