Just as Eric was about to steer the conversation elsewhere, there was a sound at the door.
The door creaked open, and a silhouette stepped in from the twilight.
Eric turned his head.
The newcomer was a man in his thirties, wearing a dark gray trench coat, carrying a medium-sized suitcase.
His appearance was very ordinary.
Not tall nor short, not fat nor thin, with unremarkable features, the kind that gets lost in a crowd.
But the moment Eric saw him, his body instinctively tensed up.
He couldn't explain why.
The man's attire, his gait, even his breathing pattern, all appeared to belong to a regular traveler.
Yet Eric's intuition was screaming alarm bells: Something's off, this person is off!
It was a deeper sense of misalignment.
Like seeing someone walking with a shoe on the wrong foot, looking fine at a glance, but something felt awkward.
Instinctively, Eric stepped back half a pace, his shoulder bumping into a bookshelf, causing a slight sound.
