48 Hours a Day

Chapter 916: Knocking

After Han Lu locked the door, she stood behind the door for a while and looked out the peephole to observe the situation in the corridor. There was no one knocking on the door, and no one passed by her room.

After that, she walked to the windows again, checking if they were tightly closed. She even read the English fire prevention instructions on the wall. Even though Yonaguni Island looked quiet at night, Han Lu could always feel a sense of anxiety in her heart for some reason.

Nellie once told her that Yonaguni Island had always been very safe, and almost no crimes took place on this island. The island was so small that everyone knew each other. If someone committed a crime, the assailant would never be able to escape if the authorities set up a roadblock at the airport.

Hence, this small island had always been the safest place in Japan.

Han Lu comforted herself with such a thought. Although she discovered that the garrison on the island was likely connected to the monsters at sea, she believed they shouldn’t be taking any drastic measures against her and Nellie for the time being after observing how they responded. So far, they had tried to eliminate evidence by taking her SD card and figuring out how to make the undersea tunnel disappear.

This was also the reason why Han Lu deduced that she would still be safe for the time being. If the other party wanted to do something to her, they could have detained or killed her when she and Nellie walked out of the military base. Dealing with her afterward would be pointless.

However, Han Lu was indeed a little restless tonight.

In order to eliminate the anxiety, Han Lu turned on the TV and randomly picked a channel broadcasting a reality show. Although unable to understand the language, it did help relax Han Lu a little.

The program deliberately set up obstacles for some young lovers to overcome, to which, the host and celebrities would observe how the couple solved the obstacles. The young lovers would complain, and others would laugh at them. All this while, such reality shows received good ratings in Japan.

However, Han Lu did not really like this kind of show. She had only watched it because there were a lot of people talking and laughing. Since she was all alone now, this was exactly what she needed. After a while, she wasn’t paying attention to the show anymore; staring blankly at the television, her mind drifted with other thoughts.

When it was almost ten o’clock, the front desk called her and told her that there might be heavy rain later in the evening and reminded her to close the doors and windows.

Han Lu then thanked her. At about 10:30, she took a quick bath, mostly to wash away the salt on her skin and hair. From the time she finished diving until now, she hadn’t had time to clean up. And she could not drag on any longer since she needed to sleep soon.

Han Lu kept the door open when she took her shower. By doing that, movements outside her room would be audible to her.

At a quarter past eleven, Han Lu finally finished her shower and dried her hair. After that, she got into bed. She hesitated for a while before finally deciding not to turn off the television.

The reality show had ended, and the channel was now running a soap opera.

Han Lu laid on her back on the bed, and she could hear the thunder rumbling outside. After a while, raindrops started to fall from the sky, knocking the windowpane with a repetitive pitter-patter. Han Lu gradually felt a little sleepy after listening to the sound of rain and TV dramas.

Overall, she had a terrible day. Whether underwater or onshore, she was exhausted. After falling asleep, Han Lu had a nightmare, dreaming that Zhang Heng was being eaten by those monsters. And she could not even find his corpse.

Just when she was thinking about what she should tell Zhang Heng’s parents about this tragedy, she was awakened by a soft knock on the door.

Han Lu immediately sat up from the bed, not knowing whether the voice had come from reality or a dream.

It took only less than half a minute for her question to be answered. She heard a knock on the door again.

Han Lu came down from the bed, without slippers, and walked barefoot to the door. She tried her best to make as little noise as possible. After that, she leaned over the peekhole and looked into it.

Immediately, she felt a bitter chill run up her spine from the bottom of her feet.

Just like the last time, she saw nothing through the peekhole. It was pitch black outside. She knew the person that knocked on her door had to be the one that stuck something on the peephole.

And this time, Han Lu felt that the person had ill intentions towards her. If it weren’t for the storm, she would have considered jumping out of the window now. Han Lu then looked around to search for something that she could use as a weapon while retreating backward. However, she did not expect that the person outside her room would go ahead to unlock her door.

After that, the person used a knife to open the latch on the side of the door.

Han Lu was so scared that she started to scream. Upon hearing her scream, the uninvited guest outside her room barged in and covered her mouth. He then pulled off his poncho hat.

It was Zhang Heng, the person that Han Lu thought was long gone.

She could not believe her eyes!

Although she always had a glimmer of hope that Zhang Heng might still be alive, she realized deep down inside that his chances of being alive would be comparable to a miracle.

And now, the miracle that she hoped for had come true.

Zhang Heng gestured Han Lu to stay quiet. He then walked around the room and found several coin-sized bugging devices. He then threw them into his room next door, closed the door, and dragged an unconscious man into Han Lu’s room.

“Who is this?” Han Lu asked.

“Someone from the Self-Defense Forces. He was the one who knocked on your door and covered your peephole,” Zhang Heng explained.

“Huh?” Han Lu was taken aback when she heard Zhang Heng’s explanation. She did not expect her deduction to be wrong. “Aren’t the people from the Self-Defense Forces trying to conceal the existence of those monsters? Why are they attacking me?”

“That was their plan previously, but now the circumstance had changed. After I got out from the underwater palace, they wanted to continue to use you to threaten me.” Zhang Heng said.

“How did you escape from the bottom of the sea?” Han Lu was puzzled. “We didn’t manage to find you after we got back on the boat. Nellie said that your gas cylinder was probably emptied. We all thought that you were dead.”

“It’s a long story.” Zhang Heng blinked, “We’d better leave this island first.”