When Chen Zi'an said that, I realized that the strange feeling Huixiang gave me wasn't just because of the air and atmosphere. More than anything, it was the environment itself.
Chen Zi'an had been born and raised in Huixiang, while I had been born and raised in People's Celebration City. There were low-rise buildings in People's Celebration City too; entire residential districts were made up of them, no more than five or six stories tall. But in the city center, whenever you looked up, you could always see one or two skyscrapers. High-rise apartment buildings and office towers were common, and if not those, then there were bustling shopping centers or university campuses. The buildings weren't tall, but the atmosphere was lively.
The vast stretches of gray sky in Huixiang made me uncomfortable. Maybe I'd subconsciously realized there were no skyscrapers here, and that elevators were unlikely to be found either.
My expression turned awful.
In my dream, I hadn't seen anything, but I'd heard the elevator. Chen Xiaoqiu and Officer Zhuang had walked and then stopped, which also proved that they must have taken an elevator.
"Are there any hotels here with elevators?" I blurted out.
Chen Zi'an started the taxi again and turned around toward the police station. "I'm not sure about that. The only places I've seen elevators in Huixiang are the hospital and the city shopping center."
The country had laws requiring certain types of buildings to have elevators installed. Low-rise residential buildings and small shopping centers wouldn't install them voluntarily, since that would increase construction costs.
I quickly checked the map again.
Chen Zi'an spoke up first. "Oh, right. Take a turn up ahead, and see that white building? That's the biggest hospital around here."
Lu Qiaolan and I instinctively turned to look.
The building