Chapter Thirty-Six: Heartbeat-Demon Slayer Across Worlds(The Simplicity of Simplicity)

Bang, bang, bang...

The familiar sound of knocking echoed through the apartment, and Zhang felt a surge of irritation. How many days had it been now? Who on earth was it? Every night, without fail, someone would knock incessantly, disturbing his peace. Wasn’t this enough to drive anyone mad?

Anger flared within Zhang; the nightly disturbance had left him restless and agitated. He’d lived in this aging apartment complex for several years, and until recently, things had been uneventful. But now, this relentless knocking had begun to haunt him, rattling his nerves with every beat.

It didn’t sound like someone knocking from outside the door—it felt as if the blows landed straight upon his chest, each one sending panic through his heart.

"Damn it, tomorrow I'll get a camera. I have to see who it is that's always knocking on my door," Zhang resolved, his patience worn thin. He promptly ordered a camera online, and, following the seller's instructions, soon had it installed outside his apartment. Now, he was determined to finally expose the culprit who disturbed the neighborhood night after night.

He waited, eager for dawn to reveal the face of the nocturnal offender, ready to unveil the lunatic disturbing everyone's sleep.

Yet, after the camera was set up, the knocking simply ceased.

Zhang skimmed through the night's recordings. Aside from a few late-returning residents, nothing unusual appeared. None of them had knocked on his door.

"Strange. Could they have seen the camera?" Zhang mused. The device was installed in the hallway and was fairly conspicuous; it wouldn't be surprising if someone noticed.

"Well, lucky for them. If not, I would have caught them for sure..." Zhang grumbled, frustrated that his pricey equipment had gone to waste.

But it wasn't a total loss; with the camera in place, no one dared knock anymore, and at least he could finally sleep peacefully.

A good night's rest was worth it.

Zhang relaxed, letting go of his irritation, and enjoyed several tranquil nights.

But one evening, the familiar knocking returned!

Zhang was incensed. Was this person shameless? Even after the camera was installed, they continued to knock brazenly outside his door?

He suppressed his anger, deciding not to open the door this time. In the first couple of days, he had checked each time, only to find the hallway empty.

Whenever he lay back down, the knocking resumed. Whenever he opened the door, there was no one there—only an empty corridor. After days of this, his patience was worn thin.

But tonight was different. The camera was ready and whoever was outside couldn’t escape. Tomorrow, their true face would be revealed!

Zhang shouted angrily, "Knock, knock, knock! Are you banging on a dead man's head? No one can deal with you? Just wait, tomorrow I'll expose you!"

At that outburst, the knocking suddenly stopped.

Zhang exhaled, feeling a breath catch in his throat, and coughed, sensing as though something was expelled from his mouth.

He paused, touching the sheets, and felt a patch of dampness.

"Damn, I’ve made myself choke. Now I'll have to wash the sheets again," Zhang muttered, shaking his head. He paid little mind to the inconvenience, tossing the blanket aside—the temperature was high anyway, so it didn’t matter.

He slept through the night, waking the next morning around ten. Though he’d rested for hours, Zhang felt as if he hadn’t slept at all; his whole body was uncomfortable.

Most of all, his throat was dry and itchy, as if something was lodged inside.

He hurried to the bathroom, washed up, and when rinsing his mouth, the dryness and itch intensified, causing him to spit out the water.

But—was the water tinged with red?

Zhang hesitated, then checked his teeth, frowning. "Bleeding gums again? Must be from all the stress that maniac has caused!"

Irritated, he sat down at his computer and opened the surveillance footage from the previous night.

The screen flickered to black, and a strange sense of suffocation settled over Zhang. He felt short of breath, his body uncomfortable.

"Damn, it’s definitely that guy's fault for making me lose sleep..." Zhang gritted his teeth and continued reviewing the footage.

There was a lot to sift through. He dragged the progress bar back and forth, but found no evidence of anyone knocking.

His throat grew increasingly uncomfortable, but his anger kept him going. He was determined to find the culprit who had been tormenting him.

Finally, after countless attempts, he noticed something odd.

On the footage, a small creature appeared—something resembling a puppy.

"Eh, why is it so blurry?" Zhang wondered. The camera was cheap, but its previous recordings were clear enough. Only when the puppy appeared did the image blur.

Bang...

The puppy-like creature began repeatedly ramming Zhang’s door, making his eyes widen.

No wonder when he questioned his neighbors, everyone insisted they were home and hadn't been out—it wasn’t a person after all.

"This building only has Ms. Wang with a dog, but her pet is her darling son, she’d never let it roam outside. Besides, her dog is much bigger than this... So it must be a stray?"

At that moment, Zhang’s voice echoed from the video: "Knock, knock, knock! Are you banging on a dead man's head? No one can deal with you? Just wait, tomorrow I'll expose you!"

The stray dog-like creature slammed the door once more, then collapsed outside, motionless.

"Eh? Did it die?" Zhang muttered, rushing to open the door, but found nothing outside.

Frowning, he returned to his bedroom and glanced around, spotting a patch of deep red.

"Eh, did I cough up blood last night?"

He stared at the bloodstain on his sheets, his face pale. Was he ill?

At that moment, the dry itch returned to his throat.

Cough, cough, cough... Cough, cough... Eh, eh, cough!

A violent cough shook him, and a large splash of red burst from his mouth, accompanied by the sound of something hitting the floor.

Zhang looked down in confusion, and saw, within the pool of blood, an object strikingly similar to the puppy in the video—only much smaller.

He reached out, picked it up, and examined it closely.

"Oh, it’s my heart..."