Fortunately, Lin didn't have claustrophobia, but he still felt a strong sense of unease.
Night had fallen, and the fog had grown thicker, obscuring the surroundings completely.
The buildings, usually towering over everything, now stood isolated, cut off from the world.
The night was silent, a silence that brought with it a sense of security.
Lin hoped that this silence would last until dawn.
However, Nan's words seemed to have become a prophecy.
Around three o'clock in the morning, Lin woke up from his dream.
A very unpleasant sound drilled into his ears.
It sounded like a sharp tool chiseling away at the wall, dull but piercing.
One strike, two strikes, the sound was so close; Lin felt like he was only separated from the source of the sound by a single wall.
He opened his eyes and took a moment to realize that he wasn't dreaming.
Nan was still asleep.
Lin hesitated whether to wake him up, but while he hesitated, the frequency of the sound began to accelerate, as if the person outside had lost patience.
"Thump," "thump," "thump,"
One after another.
Lin reached out and gently pushed Nan.
"Nan, wake up."
Nan opened his eyes.
His eyes were clear, as if he hadn't been the one sound asleep just moments ago.
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"What's wrong?"
"There's a noise outside," Lin said. "It sounds like someone is chiseling the wall."
Nan looked at the wall beside them.
Because it was an old building, the walls were not thick, and sound traveled easily.
He reached out and gently pressed his palm against the wall.
Then his expression changed slightly. "Move back a little, further away from the wall."
Lin nodded. "What's wrong?"
"There's something outside," Nan said. "I don't know what it is."
They turned on the light and looked at the wall that was still making noises in the dim light of the room.
The knocking continued without stopping.
If it had only been knocking, it wouldn't have been so bad.
Soon, however, Lin understood why Nan had told him to stay away from the wall.
A small hole gradually appeared in the not-so-thick wall, and a sharp awl slowly poked out from the hole...
Because the room was so small, Lin's bed was right next to the wall.
The awl was long and sharp, and it stabbed towards the spot where his head would have been if he had been lying down.
Lin's expression changed slightly when he saw this.
If he had still been sleeping on the bed, he would probably be dead by now.
After the awl poked in, it retreated again.
It seemed that because it didn't see any blood, it stabbed several more times.
After seeing no blood, it finally gave up and retracted the sharp awl.
The sound quieted down.
Lin said, "It's gone?"
Nan frowned. "Wait a little longer."
"Let me see." Lin suddenly thought of something.
He bent down and glanced at the hole that had been chiseled out.
This one glance almost scared the soul out of him. Outside the hole, a black eye was staring back at him.
The eye was filled with red bloodshot veins and held a look of madness.
The eye also saw Lin.
After realizing that it couldn't kill him, it disappeared in the next second.
Lin broke out in a cold sweat from the sight.
He cursed under his breath, "What the hell was that, a person or a ghost?"
Nan said, "I don't know. Don't go out yet. Let's wait until daybreak."
Lin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
"Yeah..." This was just like a scene out of a horror movie.
He never thought he would see an eye through a hole in the wall, and even make eye contact with it.
"How did you wake up so easily?" Nan asked. "The noise wasn't even that loud."
"I have really good hearing," Lin said.
"That seems to be true," Nan said. "You're always the first one to wake up."
Lin sighed and looked at the hole again.
"Good thing I woke up."
Otherwise, there might be a hole in his head right now.
However, as soon as he relaxed, he heard the thumping sound again.
This time, though, the sound was coming from further away, as if it was now chiseling at someone else's wall.
"Shit, it hasn't given up yet." Lin cursed. "What should we do? Should we go and warn the others?"
Nan glanced at Lin. "You wait here. I'll go see what that thing is."