After what felt like an eternity, the bone-chilling screams echoing outside suddenly vanished without a trace. Lying paralyzed on the mattress, my eyes snapped open, startled. The surrounding environment instantly collapsed into a terrifying, absolute silence.
I cautiously braced myself, creeping step by silent step toward the massive wooden wardrobe that was currently barricading the door. I pressed my ear flush against the cold wall to listen; there wasn't so much as a faint rustle of clothing from the other side. At this volatile juncture, recklessly shoving the wardrobe aside to investigate would be no different from an blind gamble with the Grim Reaper.
Left with no alternative, I let my eyes scan the perimeter of the room one final time: from the dark void under the bed to the dusty nooks of the cabinets and the old, haunting sun painting hanging on the wall - thankfully, everything remained as motionless as before. I quietly returned to bed, but inwardly vowing not to close my eyes for a single second. In this murky, deceptive darkness, if that predatory creature managed to slip in through a single lapse in my judgment, the price would undoubtedly be my life.
Throughout the interminable night, I lay there wide awake. When a person forces their brain to maintain absolute consciousness, time seems to slow down in a strange, agonizingly distorted way.
Before I knew it, the first pale light of dawn began to seep through the window panes. The distant, muffled sound of car engines tore through the morning stillness, returning the familiar urban bustle to the city outside. The physical toll of staying up all night was far from pleasant; my head felt heavy and hollow, yet my heart was light with relief because that counterfeit entity had not returned.
I sluggishly climbed out of bed, my muscles aching. Just as I was about to clear the barricade and push the door open to scout the situation, a sudden, familiar sound made me freeze dead in my tracks:
Knock... knock...
It was a crisp, light knock at the door. Following it immediately was a familiar, melodious voice:
-"Zhao Tianxia, are you awake in there? It's me, Yashu."
Under the broad, filtering daylight, I was almost certain it was her. However, the psychological obsession from last night lingered like a foul stain, keeping my defenses locked on high guard. I had to verify this thoroughly.
I stood dead still a few meters from the entrance, refusing to rush toward the lock. Instead, I projected my voice outward, adopting a sharp, probing tone:
-"If you're the real Yashu, how can you be so certain the person standing inside this room is actually me, to the point that you'd just casually knock like that?"
The space went entirely silent for a few agonizing seconds. Then, I heard her characteristic, mischievous chuckle drifting through the wood:
-"An impostor would try to play the role of an overly eager teammate to lure me into a trap. Only you would use that obnoxious, 'interrogation' tone to speak to me first thing in the morning."
Hearing this, the heavy stone grinding against my chest was finally lifted. I mustered my remaining physical strength to shove the bulky wooden wardrobe away from the door frame, not forgetting to peek through the narrow peephole one last time to confirm her features before turning the key.
The door swung open, revealing a slender figure framed by that striking, vibrant sky-blue hair. Yashu was still covering her mouth, her sharp eyes curving upward with genuine, teasing amusement:
-"You're being a bit too paranoid, don't you think?"
-"Better safe than sorry; it's just a basic precaution against the unexpected," I snorted, intentionally avoiding her gaze as I stepped aside.
After a brief exchange of dry banter, she stepped into my room to map out our next move. Yashu lowered her volume to a minimum, her playful expression evaporating into an unusually solemn mask:
-"Were you okay last night?"
-"I'm fine, just stayed up all night tracking the perimeter. You... witnessed that aberration too, didn't you?" I looked at her, searching her eyes for an anchor.
-"I did," Yashu recounted, her face momentarily darkening at the memory. "I heard the wall-knocking and those ear-piercing screams out in the corridor, so I checked the peephole. And I saw... someone who looked mathematically identical to me, standing right there in front of your door."
I frowned deeply, pressing further into her memory:
-"When you worked here during your previous shifts, did you ever encounter an anomaly like this?"
I remembered clearly that Yashu had once stated this establishment was relatively peaceful, save for the mysterious, rhythmic clatter from the adjacent room at midnight; nothing else had ever crossed the line into overt hostility.
-"That's exactly the problem," Yashu affirmed, her voice filled with a quiet, unsettling determination. "Before you arrived, aside from the peculiar stares from the customers or the haunting knocks on the walls, everything was entirely under control. Those 'things' never showed their true forms or took direct aggressive action against me."
A heavy, dead silence descended upon Room 109. A sudden wave of self-doubt rose within me: this escalation was definitely tied to my presence. Since the day I moved into this dormitory, these bizarre phenomena had begun to violently accelerate. Or... had I accidentally triggered some hidden system mechanism without even realizing it? The baseline reality was clearly deviating from its original orbit.
Yashu spoke up, breaking the oppressive atmosphere:
-"I was worried sick across the hall. Luckily, you were sharp enough not to fall into the trap and unlock the door."
-"Hmph, it was just a stroke of luck," I replied, my voice still laced with heavy contemplation.
-"Hey, while observing the corridor from the room opposite, I've also deduced a few operational rules about these shapeshifters..." Yashu looked at me, her eyes gleaming with her usual razor-sharp intelligence.
I was slightly startled. It appeared she and I were riding the exact same train of thought:
-"You're analyzing that too? Lay it on me."
Yashu began her clinical breakdown:
-"I have formulated two working hypotheses. One, the demon's physical strength is inherently weak; if it possessed the raw power to breach our quarters, it would have smashed the wooden door down long ago. The second scenario, which I find far more probable, is that there is a hard, hidden system rule preventing them from entering our assigned rooms. A type of 'protective circle' or safe zone that their programming cannot violate."
I stood stunned for a fraction of a second, feeling as though she had just read my very soul. This seamless alignment in our tactical deductions gave me an unexpected sense of peace. I immediately supplemented her theory:
-"You're thinking exactly what I am. Furthermore, I noticed they seem to be highly sensitive to sound triggers. The exact moment I pushed the heavy wardrobe to block the door, the monster outside immediately shrieked violently, as if the sound itself had provoked its aggression."
-"Now that you mention it, that fits perfectly," Qing Yashu said, her words echoing agreement.
In the midst of our engrossed effort to piece the cryptic clues together, a sudden, explosive sound made both of us instantly petrified.
Knock... Knock... Knock...
The knocking rang out again. But this time, its rhythm was steady to the point of being absolutely hair-raising.
Both Yashu and I felt a freezing chill run straight down our spines; our eyes snapped simultaneously toward the wooden door - which was now vibrating violently under a massive, forceful impact from the outside.
( Who? Who on earth is standing behind that door right now?! )
A question filled with absolute suspicion and raw horror flashed through my brain like a bolt of lethal electricity.