"He really does look like he's dead drunk." Chen Ge stared at the monster slowly approaching him, pressed the switch on the tape recorder, and whispered Xu Yin's name.
To his surprise, Xu Yin didn't appear. Instead, the entire apartment building began to bleed, fine cracks surfacing across the walls.
Only after communicating with Xu Yin did Chen Ge learn that he seemed to be blocked by some kind of force and was trying to break through, though it would take some time.
"When I entered the world behind the door of the underground morgue, I ran into a similar situation, but the scenes behind this door are nothing compared to Dr. Gao's underground morgue."
He tucked the tape recorder back into his bag and pulled out the Skull-Crushing Hammer, standing in the middle of the corridor.
"No reason to dodge this one."
The jagged hammer scraped against the old wall paint. Once the monster drew close, Chen Ge swung down at its arm with all his might.
The liquor bottle embedded in the creature's flesh shattered with a deafening crack, sending shards of glass flying in every direction as they embedded themselves in the monster's body.
"Can we talk?"
The monster felt no pain. Its arm had been smashed to pieces, yet it moved faster than before. Once it reached Chen Ge, it extended its other arm, grabbing at his head and pressing its entire body down on him.
"Guess it has no consciousness." Gripping the hammer with both hands, Chen Ge swung upward, smashing it into the monster's chin.
The already grotesque head nearly flew off, with only a thin layer of skin keeping it attached to the neck.
The smell of alcohol in the air grew stronger with each passing second. The wounded monster became even more frenzied and more hideous.
While Chen Ge was still pondering how to deal with the creature, a sudden chill crept up his back. He slowly turned his head to look.
The doors of the rented rooms lining both sides of the corridor had opened at some point. Several twisted-looking monsters stood silently behind him — far too close for comfort!
"It seems the inhabitants behind this door don't make a sound no matter what they do. They can hear my voice, but I can't hear theirs."
Thinking carefully, Chen Ge realized this was exactly Jiang Ming's situation.
He was deaf in both ears. No matter what others did, he couldn't hear a thing, but the moment he made a sound, the people around him would react immediately.
"Am I standing in Jiang Ming's shoes right now?"
This was the first time Chen Ge had encountered such a bizarre world behind a door, and he found it rather troublesome.
The enemy could approach without making a sound and was nearly impossible to kill, while he only needed to produce the slightest noise for them to locate him.
"Deal with this one first." After being wounded, the drunk's face had turned crimson, thick veins bulging across his skin. He had become even more violent, and the hand that had originally been fused with the bottle now flailed wildly in every direction, merging with whatever it touched.
"The world behind the door is woven from Jiang Ming's memories. This man must be someone the child remembers vividly — an alcoholic, short-tempered, driven into a rage when anyone fought back, who'd grab whatever was at hand and keep attacking." Chen Ge stared at the drunken monster just inches away, fixing his eyes on that twisted face. "What a truly despicable person."
He raised the Skull-Crushing Hammer and brought it down hard on the monster's head. The hammerhead sank straight into the creature's shoulder. Chen Ge followed up with a kick to its stomach, giving it no chance to retaliate, then hammered it again and again without pause.
"If it can still get up after that, I'll need to start considering other methods."