As we all know, floor noise is always a big problem that is unavoidable in modern society.

However, when there is no one living upstairs or downstairs, and it is quiet at night, you suddenly hear a "dong-dong-dong" noise from the floor.

Then the problem is even bigger

At this moment, Higashinohara suddenly lost all sleep.

At this time, under the dim moonlight outside the window, in his eyes, only the vague black outlines of the dilapidated and decaying furniture around him were left, like some indescribable things hiding in the darkness.

The collision sound of "dong dong" seemed to be awakened at any time.

Higashinohara shook his head, knowing that these were all his illusions.

He took a deep breath and turned on the tactical light switch without thinking. The sudden white light was a bit dazzling in the darkness, but it also dispelled the surrounding darkness.

The moment he turned on the light, the movement on the ceiling above his head suddenly became smaller and lighter but did not disappear. It was like a strange visitor wandering outside the door who didn't know if anyone was at home and knocked experimentally from time to time.

Although Higashinohara has a big heart, the more dangerous he is, the calmer he becomes.

But dangerous and scary are completely different things.

No matter how arrogant he was, he would not be able to cover his head with a quilt and continue to sleep under such circumstances.

Thinking of this, Higashinohara picked up the lighting at hand without thinking, got up and walked outside the house.

That's right, Higashinohara planned to go up and see what was going on.

Perhaps to other members of the investigation team, this dead steel forest is an indescribable "city of hell". From the moment they arrive in this world, everyone's heart is shrouded in a layer of fear that no one is willing to take the initiative to speak out about.

But that's not the case for Higashinohara.

He knows this place better than anyone in the investigation team and knows clearly that this is not a "hell" city, but a prosperous river and sea city in the country where he lived in his previous life.

He just didn't know why, but this city and this world had turned into what he saw before him. But the more this happened, the more urgent he wanted to know what was happening here than anyone else.

Now the opportunity seems to be right in front of you.

Higashinohara didn't know if this was a unique opportunity in his life, but he knew that if he seized this opportunity, he might be able to get a glimpse of the truth behind this "city of hell".

Even if it's just the tip of the iceberg of the truth.

Squeak—!

Higashinohara opened the door. The moon was high in the sky outside, and the dim moonlight cast a layer of dark silver brilliance on his body. There was no sound in the dim corridor outside the door.

quiet!

Extremely quiet!

People who are accustomed to the noisy city and having their ears filled with noise all day and all night find it difficult to adapt to this kind of quietness. As if they are in an extremely dark deep sea thousands of meters below, an emotion called fear will arise uncontrollably in their hearts.

.

But at this moment, Higashinohara was standing in the quiet corridor, staring at the empty corridor.

Behind his ears, he could still vaguely hear the "dong-dong-dong" sound of hitting the ceiling from time to time in his room, but he couldn't help but frown slightly.

This is a little different from what he thought.

The soundproofing effect of this old-fashioned residential building is obviously not very good, so the sound from the ceiling above his room was so loud just now. If it was like what he imagined, his face bones would probably be smashed.

There was such a loud noise. There were more than a dozen residents living in a row on the second floor. There was no reason that only he could hear the sound - unless the other party could limit the sound waves to a certain area like water waves.

Higashinohara pondered these in his mind.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of "squeaking" the door opening in his ears.

In the dark second-story corridor ahead, which was as dark as a bottomless tunnel, suddenly the door of a room was pushed open from the inside.

Higashinohara subconsciously raised the light in his hand and turned on it, but from his angle, he could only see five slender white fingers on the side of the door slowly pushing the door open.

"who is it?"

Facing this scene that was full of weirdness and horror, Higashinohara's heart suddenly tightened slightly and he couldn't help but ask.

He vaguely remembered that the room was occupied tonight.

The next moment, a man's figure appeared behind the door. He was wearing earphones like him, with one sleeve hanging empty by his side. He opened the door and closed it behind him.

It turned out to be him.

Higashinohara breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this. Although he took the initiative to speak just now, it was still a little scary to encounter this scene unexpectedly in the middle of the night.

Fortunately, he also knew the man in front of him. He was the esper sniper who cooperated with him to kill the seventh adjudicator Gaius Rhine under the sky tree at the end of last month. But this time he joined the investigation team of the adjudication department for some reason.

It is said to be called "Nanami-ken". It sounds like I don't know whether it is a real name or a pseudonym, but no one cares about that.

"It turns out to be Nanami-san, is it your turn to change shifts now?" Higashinohara greeted with a smile. He remembered that tonight Nanami Ken and a member of the black-robed execution team were responsible for taking turns on duty in the middle of the night.

At night, when the man no longer wore the pair of sunglasses, Higashinohara discovered that the man's eyes were lifeless, like dead fish eyes, and seemed to glow with a strange glimmer when the light shone on them.

Even though I know the other person is one of my own, I still feel a little weird.

Nanami Kenjiro glanced at Higashinohara who appeared in the corridor in the middle of the night. Higashinohara was observing him just now. He was keenly aware of his footsteps and was actually observing Higashinohara as well.

Hearing Higashinohara's words at this time, Nanami Kenjiro was silent for a moment and replied calmly, "There is no shift change, I will be on duty tonight."

Higashinohara was slightly startled after hearing this. He wanted to ask where your heavenly "partner" had gone, but when he said it, he felt that the question was a bit unnecessary, so he could only say with a slight sympathy:

"Those guys went too far. They didn't do the tasks assigned by their boss, so thank you Nanami-san for your hard work."

"I don't care."

Nanami Kenjiro's lifeless dead fish eyes still didn't have much expression. He turned to frown slightly, looked at Higashinohara and asked, "What are you doing out at night?"

Not to mention that every room in their row has its own bathroom, and Higashinohara's fully alert look did not look like he got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.

"Nanami-san, did you hear any strange noises just now?"

"Strange sound? What sound?"

Seeing that Nanami Kenjiro's expression was not fake, Higashinohara thought for a while and decided to confess. There was nothing to hide about this kind of thing, and one more person would give him more strength.

He pointed directly at the top of his head, "When I was sleeping, something seemed to hit the floor upstairs. I wanted to go up and have a look."

Something is hitting the floor upstairs?

Nanami Kenjiro couldn't help being slightly startled when he heard this, and his eyes, which were lifeless and dead fish, finally showed some fluctuations.

At this time, he seemed to realize that except for the second floor where they settled, all the other floors were empty, without any trace of people.

Then why is there a sound in the middle of the night?

He stared at Higashinohara carefully for a few times, as if he was sure that Higashinohara was not joking. He couldn't help but frown slightly and said, "You must go up?"

Higashinohara knew that according to the rules of Gray Mine, the captain of the investigation team, after crossing the border gate and arriving at "Hell", any situation must be reported to the superiors as soon as possible.

But Higashinohara did not take the risk to join the investigation team of the Adjudication Division just to "obey the rules."

Grain Helm

And he knew very well that the man he met in front of him with lifeless fish eyes could not be a stickler for rules.

"That's right." He nodded simply.

As expected, Nanami Kenjiro didn't mean to stop or report, he just nodded and said, "Be careful, I'll wait for you at the entrance of the corridor."

After hearing this, Higashinohara looked at the other party in slight surprise. Nanami Kenjiro's words not only meant to let Higashinohara go out, but also seemed to mean that he wanted to serve as a sentry for him.

Why did the other party help him so much?

Higashinohara doesn't think that he has a life full of charm and can make people convinced with just one look. Could it be that he is also very curious about this?

But no matter what the other party's purpose is, as long as the two people's purposes do not conflict, it will be fine. The way to deal with people is to seek common ground while reserving differences. There is no need to clarify everything clearly.

"Thanks."

Higashinohara nodded.

At this moment, as he was walking along the corridor on the second floor, the faint knocking sounds coming from the ceiling of his room behind him had gradually stopped.

Hardly audible.

If Higashinohara hadn't been so sure that he heard it right, someone else might have started to wonder if he was too nervous when he first arrived and had auditory hallucinations.

He held a tactical light to clear the way, and saw a vague black spot on the stairs ahead.

Higashinohara knew that it was a large, damaged hole, so he deliberately went around it when he approached.

The stairs in this kind of low-rise old residential building are not too long. After a few steps, Higashinohara climbed to the corner of the corridor, and he could see the entrance to the corridor on the third floor.

When he took another step, he glanced behind him from the corner of his eye and found that Nanami Kenjiro was waiting behind him as he said, with his lifeless fish eyes looking at him quietly.

Well, it's a bit scary.

Dong Yeyuan vomited in his heart.

He took a deep breath, stepped forward, and quickly walked towards the third floor.

But then, when he stepped onto the third floor, looking at the empty corridor on the right, Higashinohara's eyes couldn't help but condense slightly.

When he was inspecting the building in the evening, he clearly remembered that along the stairs, there was a black sanitation trash can in the corner of the third floor. He couldn't see it clearly at the time and it shocked him.

But when he returned to the third floor in the middle of the night, tactical lighting flashed from left to right, but the entire corridor was empty.
To be continued...