"Little Gao, why aren't you talking?"
The voices from outside continued.
It was as if the preceding silence had been nothing but a hallucination, as if the stillness in the hallway after the footsteps appeared had never existed at all.
Knock, knock, knock—
The knocking continued.
Inside the room, the three of them stood in shared silence.
What was going on?
After all the sounds outside had gone quiet, although the three of them had expressed uncertainty about the situation, the truth was that Gao Hai, Kaguya, and Maki had all braced themselves for the possibility that everyone in the hallway was dead. This conviction had only solidified for Maki and Gao Hai after seeing the frozen corpse in the refrigerator.
But now, their voices had returned.
Why now, of all times?
They had been silent for so long, with absolutely no sound. Could it all have been a misunderstanding? Could it be that no deadly, bizarre event had occurred, and the footsteps had merely blocked out the sounds of the people outside, preventing them from hearing anything?
"Alright, alright, nothing's been happening out here. Stop hiding."
"Yeah, we've been knocking on your door for a long time. We've been calling for you ever since you went inside. Why aren't you answering?"
"You just hid away for no reason. What's wrong? Nothing even happened."
The voices of the three people outside continued to ring out.
Along with the knocking, the sounds persisted.
Knock, knock, knock—
The knocking was steady, as if its rhythm would never change.
Should they answer them?
No, they couldn't act rashly. There were far too many suspicious things.
The thought had barely formed before Gao Hai immediately rejected it.
If it were truly safe outside, then the large white man and Lao Guo wouldn't be doing nothing. At the very least, Lao Guo, who had initially acted like he would lead everyone, shouldn't be silent; he should be among them.
But it was just the three people who had remained in the hallway who were now constantly talking and knocking. There were too many suspicious things about this.
"Lao Guo won't open his door either, we don't know why, and he won't talk to us. It's the same with that foreigner. We had no choice but to come knock on your door."
"Exactly! Hurry up and open the door! Please, at least say something. What's the point of you just standing there in the hallway in silence?"
"It's really fine out here. We're all residents of this apartment, we can discuss any problems, right?"
Knock, knock, knock—Knock, knock, knock—
The knocking and talking continued.
For some reason, this group was incredibly persistent. Even though the people inside were ignoring them, they kept knocking without giving up.
Gao Hai remained silent.
Beside him, neither Kaguya nor Maki made any move to approach the door.
On the contrary, all three of them stepped back a little, distancing themselves from the door with a tacit understanding.
"I say, do you really need to be so wary of us?"
"Why are you backing away? Come on out, we can talk things over."
"We're all neighbors. Is there anything we can't discuss face-to-face?"
Thud—Thud—Thud—
The knocking seemed to grow louder.
It was as if someone was pounding on the door with their fists.
The force wasn't excessive, but a growing sense of impatience was becoming apparent.
Something was wrong.
Something was definitely wrong somewhere.
Gao Hai rubbed his head. His mind felt a little foggy, and he subconsciously wanted to respond to the voices outside, but instinct kept his mouth shut, maintaining his silence.
He couldn't put his finger on what was wrong.
He just instinctively remained silent, staring at the door without saying a word.
"What could be wrong? It's not like you haven't seen us before."
Sun Dajun's impatient voice rang out, accompanied by a sound like someone was trying to break down the door.
*Yeah, what exactly is wrong?*
Gao Hai wondered silently.
"What's so wrong? You're being racist, aren't you?"
The young Black man's voice followed, speaking Chinese as fluently as a native, tinged with a faint displeasure.
But, he just felt that he shouldn't do it.
Gao Hai still felt that there was definitely something wrong with the current situation.
"Please, come on out. Open the door. There's really nothing wrong with us."
The woman with dyed hair spoke in Japanese with a helpless tone, the sound of her pounding on the door accompanying her words.
*Why do you keep insisting there's nothing wrong with you?*
Gao Hai desperately wanted to ask this out loud.
"Because there really is nothing wrong with us."
*Then why aren't you knocking on the other two doors, and are instead camped out at ours?*
"We did knock. What can we do if they don't open up?"
*Then I'm not opening this door either.*
"Why not? Is this any way to treat your neighbors? Open the door. We can talk things over."
*Talk about what? We don't even know each other. What could be so important that we have to talk to you?*
"What are you saying? Aren't we all neighbors? Neighbors should be friendly to each other. That's what everyone says. Ask anyone if you don't believe us."
*I don't want to talk to you. Go away.*
"Don't be like that. We all live in the same place. We should get along. Open the door."
*I said, I don't want to talk to you. I'm not opening the door.*
"Open the door, open the door, open the door."
*I already said I don't want to talk to you, I don't want to... talk?*
It was like having a bucket of ice-cold water dumped over his head while half-asleep.
In that instant, Gao Hai was wide awake.
Talk?
What the hell kind of talking was this!?
From the beginning until now, he hadn't opened his mouth to say a single word!
These damn things could read his thoughts directly? They could hold a conversation with his mind? What the hell were these things waiting outside the door?!
Turning to look beside him, Maki Shijo was still standing in place, but Kaguya had already subconsciously taken a step forward. Their expressions shifted between serious and confused, as if they were conversing with someone, even though their lips weren't moving.
"Open the door, open the door, open the door."
Dong—Dong—Dong—
The sound of knocking, accompanied by the voices of the three, grew heavier and heavier.
Smack!
Gao Hai reached out and patted both Maki's and Kaguya's shoulders with some force. The two girls froze for a moment, then quickly came to their senses, realizing in that instant that they had been acting abnormally without even noticing.
"Open the door."
BOOM!
An incredibly heavy pound on the door was accompanied by a slight tremor in the floor.
Gao Hai took a step back. He had now retreated to the corner of the corridor, almost to the point where he could no longer see the front door.
"Open the door."
BOOM!!
The second pound on the door was as violent as a small earthquake.
Caught off guard, Gao Hai was shaken and fell to the floor.
Maki quickly put a hand on the wall to keep from falling, while Kaguya managed to stand firm. She immediately steadied Maki and also retreated, still holding the wall clock she had taken from the hallway earlier.
"Open the door."
BOOM—!!!
With the third heavy crash, all three of them were inevitably knocked to the ground again.
"Open the door."
"Open the door."
"Open the door."
The voices outside began to repeat themselves.
The closed door trembled violently, and faint cracks began to appear on the doorframe.
The voices of the three people had lost all distinction, merging into a single, overlapping, emotionless sound that repeated like a machine.
"Open the door!"
The three people outside shouted in unison, pounding on the door together.
"Open the door!!"
The doorframe started to warp. The supposedly sturdy iron security door seemed to be faintly bulging outward.
Gao Hai scrambled up from the floor, one hand on the wall for support and the other steadying a slightly trembling Maki beside him. They both looked forward, wanting to retreat further.
Slightly ahead of them, Kaguya remained in a half-crouch to counter the tremors, also planning to move back.
Thump—
The heavy sound of pounding rang out once more.
But this time, the sound made the three of them stop in their tracks.
"Open the door."
The three voices rang out in sync.
They rang out in sync from behind the three of them in the corridor, from behind the closed door that led to the living room.
Crack—Crack—
The flimsy wooden door began to splinter.
"Open the door."
And the three perfectly overlapping shouts echoed from behind that door, from the living room, along with the sound of pounding.
________________________________________
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