Figures Before the End

No words could describe the shock Zhou Ming felt at that moment.

The knocking was not loud, an utterly ordinary sound under normal circumstances. Yet when it rang out in this studio apartment, every knock was like a thunderclap that shook heaven and earth, crashing into Zhou Ming's ears like a sledgehammer!

His eyes widened in an instant. He almost thought it was a hallucination brought on by the string of events and disappointments, but then he came to his senses and realized the knocking was real—and it was still continuing.

He rushed to the Gate like a gust of wind and reached for the handle, but just as he was about to turn it, he suddenly hesitated for two seconds.

Could he really open it? Would he rashly walk into a trap?

If this had been during the first days when he was trapped in this room, he would never have had such concerns. Back then, he had only thought the thick fog was some strange "phenomenon," and still believed that beyond it lay the hometown he knew. But now Zhou Ming knew what had happened to his world—his hometown had long since been reduced to ashes. The only thing left in the entire universe was this little room of his, and deep within that boundless fog... there was nothing but the ashes left after all things had perished.

After the world had died, who could still come knocking on his door?

No matter how he thought about it, it was unlikely to be a normal "living person."

Zhou Ming weighed the possibilities cautiously, while the knocking continued with remarkable patience. It came every three to five seconds, neither hurried nor impatient, fully conveying the patience and persistence of whoever stood outside—as if it were a visitor polite enough,