Chen Ge wanted to warn the middle-aged man, but it was already too late. The cat's cries grew louder, and he quickly hid in the stairwell nearby.
The elevator stopped on this floor. There were no footsteps, no sound of breathing.
A moment later, a knock came from the hallway.
It sounded as if it had come out of nowhere, without any warning.
"The middle-aged man might tell them about me." The knocking was loud, but no one came to the door. Chen Ge stood on the stairwell. Even though he had lost his sight, he remained calm. He didn't flee. Instead, he chose to stay.
Ying Chen still didn't know anything about him, so the situation was temporarily in his favor.
After a long bout of knocking, the security door finally opened. The middle-aged man's voice rang out in the hallway.
"Ying Chen? What are you here for? To remind me to pay my property fees?" The middle-aged man sounded a little impatient. He hadn't taken Chen Ge's earlier warning to heart.
"My little brother, Ying Tong, snuck out to play and hasn't come home yet. I heard someone moving around here when I came upstairs, so I thought I'd ask. Have you seen him?" Ying Chen sounded very young, and his appearance in the World Behind the Door seemed younger than in reality.
The World Behind the Door was woven from the Door Pusher's memories. From that, one could draw a conclusion: Ying Chen's youthful voice was the one Ying Tong remembered most vividly.
In other words, Ying Chen might have done something to Ying Tong a long time ago. Whatever it was had become the deepest shadow in Ying Tong's heart, and he remembered his brother's voice from back then every moment of every day.
"If you're