The sound of "tick-tock, tick-tock" water came one after another, sounding extremely loud in the empty bathroom. The fluorescent lights above the head flickered from time to time, making people's vision flicker with light and darkness, as if they would be completely plunged into darkness at any time.
Same as in.
Exhaling tiredly, Lin Sanjiu reached out to turn the rusty faucet - she really needed to splash some cold water on her face now; however, after two "squeaking" sounds, what was in the dry faucet?
It didn't drip out either.
She raised her eyes and stared at herself in the mirror.
Under the flickering fluorescent lamp, her face in the mirror looked so pale that there was no trace of blood; the bones behind her stood thickly, and most of them were hidden in the shadow.
"...What should we do next?" Teacher Yi, who had not shown his head for a long time, suddenly asked quietly.
Lin Sanjiu didn't answer.
...Because she doesn’t know either.
A few minutes ago, she had walked through the entire apartment building - starting from the first floor, Lin Sanjiu did not miss every detail; she searched carpet-like until she reached the seventh floor, and the apartment came to an end. The stairs there disappeared.
There was only the old and heavy ceiling, blocking her way as if mocking her.
The whole building looks like it was cut out with a brick. Don't tell me, there isn't even a crack.
Knowing that violent destruction was probably useless, Lin Sanjiu still tried to hit the wall at the end of the corridor. The wall bricks broke easily and were not very hard; but no matter how many times she hit them, the broken bricks fell down in clusters, revealing the
There was still an endless thick wall, as if the wall had no end - when I went downstairs a few minutes later, even the gaps she had made had disappeared, and the white and green walls were still intact.
Every minute he was trapped here, Lin Sanjiu couldn't help but wonder - where is the puppet master now?
"We have been trapped for almost three years." The girl's smile seemed to appear in front of her eyes again, and every word seemed to be as clear as in her ears: "...At the beginning, I still wanted to find an exit.
, but now I have looked back. Where can I live my life? I don’t have to suffer the sin of reincarnation here, my life is not in danger, and everything else is available... You’d better change your mind as soon as possible. How about some more whiskey?”
Three years——
It was the girl's words that made Lin Sanjiu rush out of the door in a few steps, and reluctantly searched the entire building again, but still found nothing.
...Sighing, she suppressed her anxiety and walked out of the bathroom door.
It is obviously an apartment building, but there is a public bathroom on the seventh floor - although it is in disrepair and leaks all over the floor, it is still usable.
The wooden stairs creaked under her footsteps. Lin Sanjiu followed her back to the third floor. The corridor was still the same as before, except for the loud music that had disappeared at some point.
After thinking about it, she walked towards the room No. 320. In any case, those people had entered the dungeon before her, and they might also know some other news...
Stopping at the door of 320, Lin Sanjiu raised her fist and knocked a few times. Dust fell in clusters from the dark gold number plate. After she took her hand away, it was covered with a layer of dust.
The deep red wooden door immediately bore the marks of her joints.
After knocking several times, the room was still as quiet as death.
"Is there anyone there?" She shouted suspiciously: "...I am the person just now. Open the door!"
The sound echoed far away from the corridor, but no one answered; she put her ear close to the door and listened for a long time, and there was only silence in Room 320.
When she raised her hand again, a low voice suddenly came from the dead silence behind Lin Sanjiu's ears: "Stop knocking."
Lin Sanjiu's whole body was covered with hair. When his bone wings suddenly opened, he took a few steps back hastily. However, the owner of the voice did not follow him. He still stood there and looked at her quietly, with a pair of glasses.
The reflection shines under the fluorescent lamp.
"Who are you?" - and when did you come? Why didn't she catch any sound?
Facing the tense Lin Sanjiu, the thin young man stretched out his hand to adjust his glasses, and pointed his vein-covered hand at the door of Room 320. He did not answer her question: "...Stop calling the door.
Trust me, you don't want to meet the person who opens this door a second time."
"…What do you mean? Who are you?"
The thin man's voice was very low and soft, as if every word he spoke was afraid of disturbing someone.
"You just came in today, right?" He said, turning around and walking a few steps to see that Lin Sanjiu didn't follow him. He couldn't help but turn around and frown. "...I came in last month, already.
I've been stuck here for almost twenty days. My name is Ye Lan."
It seems that he is also one of the growth types who entered the Starry Sky Amusement Park - Lin Sanjiu was a little unsure whether he was from the Growth Alliance, so he only nodded cautiously: "...My surname is Lin. Why didn't you let me just now?
Knock again? What do you know about this attraction?"
The thin man tilted his head. He seemed to be caught by some news in her words; but soon, he responded in a low voice: "Last time you knocked on the door here, I heard it and saw it.
Already."
Ye Lan seemed to be a man with few emotions, his tone was calm and cautious; he pointed to the stairs and said: "I was standing on the stairs at that time... No, don't think it's impossible. In this building
, no matter what kind of investigation method you have, the result will always be chaotic...just like just now, didn't you notice my approach?"
Lin Sanjiu was stunned for a moment. She really didn't sense anything from her pure touch... This was almost unimaginable outside.
Seeing that the other party didn't seem to have any hostility, Lin Sanjiu showed his back to him again, keeping a distance and followed him.
"I won't let you knock on the door because..." At this point, Ye Lan seemed to be at a loss for words. After thinking about it, he continued: "It's because you and I don't know what's behind the door."
--thing."
"In the past twenty days, I have also seen several evolved people in the dark... I once knocked on the door. I don't know if the people they met inside are the same people you met; but they are all the same.
Just like you, after searching the apartment, you will often come back to call the door a second time or a third time."
"I also understand that in order to find the exit, everyone dare not let go of any clues... If I hadn't been lucky enough to discover something was wrong, I'm afraid I would have followed suit and knocked on the door to ask questions." When Ye Lan spoke,
He had arrived at the edge of the stairs; he put his hand on the handrail of the stairs, turned to Lin Sanjiu and said: "I found that all the evolved people who came to answer the door for the second time -"
Before he finished his sentence, his eyes suddenly widened behind his glasses. Ye Lan's eyes turned behind Lin Sanjiu, and then his face suddenly turned white. Before Lin Sanjiu could say anything, he turned around.
He rushed down the stairs without saying a single word——
Lin Sanjiu's scalp went numb, and before she could even pull her heels off, she heard a "squeak" from the door - the sound came from behind her, and it seemed to be coming from Room 320.
...She finally knocked on the door of Room 320 for the second time.
A drop of cold sweat slid down her back and flowed into the groove of her spine.
"...You're back. I fell asleep just now and didn't hear the door." The girl's voice sounded from behind. She still sounded like last time, with a hint of drunkenness and laziness after anesthesia in her voice: "I
Is that right? You haven't found the exit, have you?"
Holding down the urge to turn around, Lin Sanjiu took a step forward, almost stiffly, with straight eyes.
Ye Lan ran away without finishing what he said, but this did not prevent her from getting information from the few words he left - "Every evolution who has seen the person who answered the door for the second time..." - how is it,
Lin Sanjiu didn't know; but she was absolutely sure that the fate of those evolvers would definitely not be good.
...In other words, no matter what, she can't look back now.
The Converse shoes seemed to be walking towards her, Lin Sanjiu couldn't be sure; the soft carpet and the weird apartment building made her unable to trust her five senses - she suddenly opened her bone wings backwards, and
In the strong wind, Lin Sanjiu ran towards the stairs quickly, braked suddenly and twisted her body. She rushed downstairs.
At the moment of turning a corner, the corner of her eye vaguely seemed to capture a huge, round black shadow, which had approached the back of her head at some point. It seemed to be a face; from the round face,
In the shadow, he also uttered: "Why don't you come over? Come over..."
Covering her left eye with one hand, Lin Sanjiu didn't dare to move towards the corridor at all. She almost ran and fell down the stairs. She rushed to the first floor in one breath and saw that there was no way to go anymore.
He was like a little beast that was forced into a corner, his whole body tensed up. He quickly glanced upstairs.
...No matter who the girl is, she doesn't seem to be catching up.
After waiting attentively for a few seconds, the stairs were still quiet, with no one coming down.
…As long as we don’t see the “person” who opens the door for the second time, that’s fine?
Lin Sanjiu thought with fear as her heartbeat pounded - After waiting for a while, seeing that the surroundings were still calm, she cautiously let out a breath.
The place where she was at this moment was exactly where she had just come in; looking around, Lin Sanjiu had a doubt in her heart.
...where is Ye Lan?
This apartment building goes straight up and down, with no exit. He just ran down from the third floor, so he should be at the bottom now, right?
Did he stop on the second floor?
Lin Sanjiu didn't dare to say a word. He stepped on the carpet and slowly walked through the corridor on the first floor step by step. However, in this corridor with a straight and simple layout, there was no place to hide people. A big man who was alive just now
The man seemed to have evaporated in the blink of an eye and could not be found anywhere.
"Ye Lan...? Where are you?"
It took a lot of effort to meet a normal person. Although he didn't seem very moral, Lin Sanjiu still wanted to see him again - Ye Lan had survived in this apartment building for more than 20 days, so he must have mastered it.
She learned a lot of things she didn’t know...
If there is any difference between the first floor and other floors, it is that where the entrance should be, there is an arched, closed small hall. After standing in the small hall helplessly for a while, just when
When Lin Sanjiu was about to go back upstairs to check on the situation, a familiar "squeak" sound reached her ears again.
...That was the sound of the apartment's unique dark mahogany door being pushed open, almost right next to her; in Lin Sanjiu's almost blank gaze, the door of No. 101 opened.
A pair of spectacle lenses shone under the lamp, and the thin man who had just exchanged names poked his head out from behind the door.
Ye Lan saw Lin Sanjiu at a glance, but he did not move. Instead, he glanced at the stairs cautiously. When he saw that no one was coming down, he turned to Lin Sanjiu and said softly: "I didn't expect you to be quite smart.
!You didn’t look back?”
Lin Sanjiu's bone wings were pressed against the wall, motionless.
"It seems that my guess is correct. The 'residents' on each floor only move around on that floor..." Ye Lan pushed up his glasses, "...what's wrong with you?"
Lin Sanjiu swallowed hard.
She didn't forget... she just opened the door of Room 101 after calling "Ye Lan" several times.
From a certain perspective, this is the first time Room 101 has opened the door——
"You... why are you in the room?" Lin Sanjiu asked in a dry voice, a little afraid of the answer she was about to hear.
It's not that there is something in the room...
Ye Lan tilted his head and understood immediately - he said "Oh" in sudden realization, "This? This room 101 is the only place in the entire apartment that can provide protection for evolved people...that is, our 'student door'
.There is nothing here, just some sofas and drinking water, which will be updated every day.”
"How did you find out?" Lin Sanjiu stared at him without blinking, as if trying to find anything suspicious on Ye Lan's face - but the man's skin, hair, eyes and
The body looks very normal, no different from before.
"Because... the first door I knocked on was luckily Room 101." Ye Lan scratched his hair as if he was a little embarrassed, "Seeing no one answered, I came in as soon as I opened the door. Later.
I found that this is the only room in the entire apartment building that is truly empty——"
He walked out and stood in the corridor, following Lin Sanjiu's gaze and clicking his fingers forward; two rows of dark red wooden doors stood quietly on both sides of the corridor, making no sound.
"It's so quiet that no one lives there...if you knock on these doors, every one of them will eventually open." (To be continued.)
