Chapter 30 - The Green Door

聽 聽聽Another one to finish before dawn. Is the contaminant more active in the middle of the night? 聽 聽聽Janet still had to finish her theory class. She had to figure it out while incorporating the lessons she had taken. 聽 聽聽Janet arrived at the address on the post, a neighborhood with Roman Town written on the door. 聽 聽聽The density of the buildings in the neighborhood was very high, and the buildings were very close to each other, which was depressing. 聽 聽聽A security guard was at the gate, and the neighborhood was still inhabited. 聽 聽聽Janet's five senses were opened up after she took the gene potion. 聽 聽聽She listened for a while. Roman Town is very noisy, and thousands of families live there. 聽 聽聽So Janet still couldn't use the bomb. 聽 聽聽Janet didn't intend to bother the security guard's big brother, so when people weren't paying attention, she climbed over the wall and jumped in. 聽 聽聽The post said it was on the neighborhood's 13th floor of the 22nd building. 聽 聽聽Janet used the safe passage. After being beaten up by hunters for two days, her physical strength was excellent, and she climbed the 13th floor quickly. 聽 聽聽Janet entered the 13th floor. This neighborhood is a two-family building with one staircase, and compared to the slums of Beehive, it's already considered a "mansion." 聽 聽聽As described in the graveyard post, two households were on this floor, one of which was a typical house with a vermillion-colored security door. 聽 聽聽But the one across the street from his house looked weird. 聽 聽聽The forest-green door had been quite lovely. But no one had taken care of it for years, and it was covered in a layer of gray and looked dead. 聽 聽聽Janet flipped over the wooden sign on the door, which, sure enough, said "Cozy Little Home." 聽 聽聽The forest green door had some stains, and Janet rubbed them off. 聽 聽聽What kind of blood is this? 聽 聽聽May hadn't made a sound since she entered, so was she still alive? 聽 聽聽There was no time on this grave post, so Janet couldn't speculate on what time things happened. 聽 聽聽Janet thought about it. She would go to the house across the street and ask first. 聽 聽聽Janet stopped in front of the door. Someone seemed to be inside, and she could hear the person breathing through the thin door panel. 聽 聽聽A man was lying on the door panel listening to the commotion outside, surveying the outside world through monstrous cat's eyes, just a wall away from Janet. 聽 聽聽His breathing was strained. 聽 聽聽Janet knocked on the door, "Anyone there?" 聽 聽聽She could feel the man inside tense up for a moment. 聽 聽聽Janet said, "I know someone's home, is it convenient to ask what's going on?" 聽 聽聽The person inside never said anything. 聽 聽聽Janet thought she could either break in and forget about it. 聽 聽聽The person in the house was probably observing Janet's attire. She was wearing a full black protective suit and carrying a huge backpack. 聽 聽聽Any average person would think Janet looked like a criminal. 聽 聽聽It took a minute or so before the person inside slowly said, "Are you official?" 聽 聽聽Janet thought momentarily that the Cleaning Center counted as an official agency, "Yes." 聽 聽聽"Are you here to arrest me?" What? 聽 聽聽Janet wondered a little. As a result, the door suddenly opened. 聽 聽聽A bearded man came out from behind the door. His eyes were all red and bloodshot as he shouted, "Are you from the Security Bureau? Quickly arrest me. I can't take it; take me to jail; I'd rather go to jail." 聽 聽聽Janet "锛燂紵锛燂紵锛�" 聽 聽聽How could anyone want to go to jail? 聽 聽聽However, this person was a normal human being. He wasn't a contaminant. 聽 聽聽Janet patiently inquired, "Speak slowly." 聽 聽聽"Okay, I'll take my time." The man seemed to be shaking with restraint, as if it was the first time he had encountered someone who genuinely wanted to help him. 聽 聽聽"Can I come in?" Janet reminded him. 聽 聽聽The man's whole body was in a trance now. "Yes, you can! Come in and talk." 聽 聽聽They walked into the house but left the door open. Janet could hear the movement in the hallway. 聽 聽聽The house was a messy interior, with beer bottles piled up on the table and lots of cigarette butts. 聽 聽聽Janet surveyed the place and didn't sit on the couch. She just stood next to it, looking very professional. 聽 聽聽"Introduce yourself first." 聽 聽聽"My name is Charlie," the man was so nervous. He kept shaking his legs, "I'm a thief." 聽 聽聽Charlie continued, "I came into this house the other day. I was going to steal something and leave, but I circled and realized that no one seemed to be in this house." 聽 聽聽"I'm very experienced, and I could tell immediately that the owner had been home for a long time. I just thought, I have no place to stay, I'll stay here." 聽 聽聽Charlie shook his leg as he said, "I didn't have anything different at first. The owner of this house probably paid a lot of utility bills before, and I lived here for a month without having my power or water cut off. I made this place my home and moved in all my luggage and furniture." 聽 聽聽Janet raised an eyebrow as if she guessed what would happen here next. 聽 聽聽"I have a neighbor across the street from my house. He has a green door. You just saw it when you came in." 聽 聽聽Janet echoed, "I saw it." 聽 聽聽"I didn't put much thought into it at first. But I felt something was wrong since I moved in that day. There's been a noise behind that green door." 聽 聽聽"At first, it was a woman crying, and I thought it was just a normal young couple disagreeing, but I didn't pay any attention to it. Then I thought, it's been two months since I've lived here, and I've never seen what my neighbor looks like." 聽 聽聽"But I didn't think much of it, and then I was woken up in the middle of the night one day. That household was boisterous. It seemed like someone was sandbagging inside, and when he punched, my house shook, and I couldn't take it anymore, so I thought I'd go knock on the door." 聽 聽聽"I went and knocked on the door, but no one answered me inside. I was in a bad mood that day from the noise, so I knocked extra loud." 聽 聽聽"But no one answered me, so I looked through the cat's eye. Then." 聽 聽聽Charlie suddenly raised his eyes, "I saw an eye inside." 聽 聽聽There was an eye inside staring at him. 聽 聽聽Those eyes were blood red, and you couldn't even see a bit of the whites of the eyes. 聽 聽聽Charlie said, "That eye seems to be alive." 聽 聽聽Charlie could feel a puff of hot air. It was as if it wasn't a cat's eye, but a rolling eye was right next to Charlie's. 聽 聽聽"I was so shocked, I ran away on the spot." Charlie said, "I ran away that day." 聽 聽聽"For the next few days, there were noises behind the green door. Someone was in there, not knowing what they were doing, and the commotion got worse and worse. But I couldn't complain to the security service; after all, I don't even own the place, and I'd go to jail if someone found out." 聽 聽聽"Then I thought, it's not my house anyway. I'm just going to get out of here." Charlie clenched his fists as he said this, seeming stuck in some horrible memory: "And then I ran away, and something even more horrible happened." 聽 聽聽Janet asked, "It caught up with you?" 聽 聽聽"Yeah," Charlie cursed. "It followed me after I moved. I was so scared after my first move I thought I was hallucinating." 聽 聽聽Charlie moved and woke up the next day to find that the door across the street from his house had turned green. 聽 聽聽It followed him. 聽 聽聽"I didn't believe it. I just kept moving, and it followed me everywhere I moved. Then I even moved to one of those buildings without neighbors." 聽 聽聽"It was one elevator coming up to only one home, and I was like, I don't even have a door across the street. I'll see where you can drive to, and then I woke up the next day to find it embedded in the wall across the street from my house." 聽 聽聽"Fuck, it got into the wall. And every day it's extra loud. Someone was punching in it every day, and my floor was vibrating, and I was going crazy." 聽 聽聽Charlie yelled, "I'm going crazy. It keeps following me!" 聽 聽聽"I know I've done wrong; this is God's punishment for me. You save me, please. Hurry me to jail, lock me up." 聽 聽聽Janet was silent. 聽 聽聽The person she had read about in the grave post was named May, and now the victim was Charlie. 聽 聽聽The house had reclaimed itself, and then the hunt was on. 聽 聽聽There were two known victims alone so far. 聽 聽聽And Charlie didn't even enter the green door. 聽 聽聽Janet asks, "How many times have you moved?" 聽 聽聽Charlie: "Fourth." 聽 聽聽The fourth move, and the opposite door, is still the Green Door, proving that it is the home base. 聽 聽聽Janet asks, "Didn't you try to open the green door?" 聽 聽聽Charlie: "I thought about it but was afraid to go in. I always thought I'd go in and not be able to get out." 聽 聽聽"But," Charlie licked his dry lips, "I want to go in more and more. Obviously, I don't want to go in at all, but I want to go in more and more. I don't know if you can hear me." 聽 聽聽Janet nodded, "I probably get it." 聽 聽聽Reason told Charlie not to go in, but reason suffered when a person was mentally contaminated. 聽 聽聽Charlie had been continuously drawn to the green door. 聽 聽聽"I just called Security today. If Security doesn't care about me, I'll walk in and see for myself. I had a feeling inside me that that green door was going to kill me today. And then you came." 聽 聽聽No wonder Charlie thought Janet was an investigator sent by Security. 聽 聽聽The system said the mission was only twelve hours long, meaning that if Janet didn't show up, Charlie could die today. 聽 聽聽The mission would close automatically. 聽 聽聽However, the mission description was also weird in that instead of having Janet protect Charlie. The system told her to find May. 聽 聽聽Charlie asked, "What are you going to do about it? Are you going to take me away?" 聽 聽聽Janet: "I'm going in first." 聽 聽聽Charlie went pale, "You're going in?" 聽 聽聽Janet: "Yes, I'm going to help you out." 聽 聽聽"You can't go in there!" Charlie said, "I've searched the internet and found other people's posts. Someone else was in the same situation as me. But I didn't turn up that post to follow up. Anyway, they won't let anyone in." 聽 聽聽Charlie babbled, and Janet asked, "Let me see the post you read." 聽 聽聽Charlie showed it to Janet. However, this time, the main character is not May; it is another girl. 聽 聽聽The description resembled Charlie's and May's description, with someone commenting below Don't go in. You won't be able to get out if you do. 聽 聽聽Her posting was three years old. 聽 聽聽"There are other people's posts." Charlie should have investigated long enough on her own to show Janet the information she'd gathered. 聽 聽聽There were twenty posts in total. 聽 聽聽It聽wasn't聽straightforward. 聽 聽聽Janet felt that Charlie must have something he didn't tell himself. He might not be a simple thief. 聽 聽聽Janet: "I'm guessing that if you don't go in, the connection between you won't be broken." 聽 聽聽Janet glanced at the clock. She had been listening to Charlie's story for twenty minutes, and it was now one thirty. 聽 聽聽Janet needed to hurry. According to the mission description, she had to stay inside for the night. 聽 聽聽Janet: "It's too late. I have to sleep in there." 聽 聽聽Charlie's eyes widened. 聽 聽聽Janet had already walked up to the green door. Charlie asked, "What about me?" "What about me if you go in there." 聽 聽聽Once Janet was inside, Charlie could get into some trouble alone. 聽 聽聽After all, the house is bound to Charlie, not Janet. 聽 聽聽Janet already had one hand on the doorknob, "I have two suggestions. I don't know which one you like." 聽 聽聽Charlie: "You tell me." 聽 聽聽"First option," Janet, "You can come in with me." 聽 聽聽If she didn't die, then Charlie would probably live. 聽 聽聽If Janet died, Charlie itself wouldn't survive. 聽 聽聽Instead of letting Charlie run amok, following Janet would be the safest option. 聽 聽聽"I can't." Charlie immediately refused. 聽 聽聽He would rather kill himself than open the green door. 聽 聽聽"Then it's the second," Janet said. "You turn yourself in." 聽 聽聽"Huh?" Charlie thought he'd heard wrong. 聽 聽聽Janet: "Go to the security detention center for a night, as you originally thought. With any luck, they might be able to protect you." 聽 聽聽She hadn't been in contact with the Security Bureau, but there might also be a few shifters. 聽 聽聽"And if I'm unlucky?" Charlie stared at Janet, hoping she'd give him an answer again. 聽 聽聽What if no one in the Security Bureau cared about him? 聽 聽聽But this time, Janet didn't say anything; she was silent. 聽 聽聽Then, it was just his luck. 聽 聽聽She waited for Charlie's choice.