The Doomsday Paradise

Chapter 4: Eerie Parents

"I'll kill you all, you shameless bunch! You're in the car, in the car... with the air conditioning on, while we suffer! Huh?"

With a dull thud on the car door, a slurred angry shout suddenly rang out from the street side - Lin Sanjiu was startled by the dark figure and immediately lost direction. She hurriedly slammed on the brakes, and the car made an unpleasant screeching sound before finally not hitting the roadside guardrail.

Looking back, it turned out to be a man with his shirt off, sweating profusely, who was grabbing a few bricks and smashing the red Mazda that had just passed by, while cursing: "You guys, you guys are not good... Get out for me, get out..." Before he could finish his sentence, he fell back and fainted.

Apparently, she had been inadvertently affected.

Lin Sanjiu let out a breath, retracted her gaze from the rearview mirror, and was still a bit shaken. The madness, the fainting, and sometimes hallucinations are all signs of severe dehydration from extreme high temperatures.

She took a deep breath, accelerated, and drove straight to the community where Zhu Mei lived.

She had been to Zhu Mei's home many times - twenty minutes later, when the headlights shone on the four characters "Rongjun Community," Lin Sanjiu slowly stopped the car and turned off the engine. She took the key, put on her backpack, turned on the flashlight, and walked towards the community gate.

The community is a bit off the beaten path, and there are usually not many people nearby, and it's even more silent like a dead city at this time. However, just as she was about to reach the front of the big iron gate, Lin Sanjiu suddenly felt a shiver in her heart and stopped.

She looked around, and there was nothing unusual - she cautiously waited for another two minutes, and seeing that there was still no movement, she breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that this "keen intuition" is not 100% accurate.

Rongjun Community is an old building from the 1990s, and like all old buildings, there is a security booth at the entrance of the community. Because this area is not very safe, the iron gate is locked after 12 o'clock at night. However, if someone comes back late at night, as long as they knock on the iron gate, the security guard on duty in the booth will come to open the door with the key.

Looking at the watch, it is exactly two and a half in the morning. Lin Sanjiu stepped forward, shook the tightly locked iron gate, and the heavy brass lock hit the iron gate, making a clanging sound - the sound was particularly harsh, and it took a while to gradually disappear. However, the surroundings were still quiet, without a trace of human activity.

"Security brother, are you there? I'm here to find someone in Unit 2, please open the door for me!" Her clear voice spread far in the quiet night. But no matter how much hope was in Lin Sanjiu's voice, there was still no response from the security booth.

Sighing, this was also expected. Lin Sanjiu looked up at the iron bars above the iron gate, which were installed to prevent climbing, and her head began to ache - although the community is old, the iron gate is newly installed recently, and it is so sturdy that it doesn't give people a bit of fluke psychology.

Lin Sanjiu hesitated and put her hand on the iron gate.

"Put it away!"

With her whisper, the white light appeared in her palm again. But this time, the white light seemed a bit insufficient, and it flashed several times in her palm, but the iron gate remained the same. This was the first time Lin Sanjiu tried to transform such a large and heavy object - she felt her heart beating faster and faster, and gradually she was a bit breathless, and her muscles began to ache -

Feeling as if she was carrying thousands of pounds of iron blocks on her body, Lin Sanjiu's arm began to tremble. Just as she was about to give up and let go, the white light that didn't know how many times went out with a "pop" sound.

The iron gate disappeared and turned into a card that fell to the ground. The kindergarten-level wax painting on it was messy, drawing two iron gates, and the lower right corner of the card said:

[Iron Gate]

The two iron gates installed by Rongjun Community in 2012. Apart from being heavy, there are no advantages.

Function: There is nothing special, and it can't stand up when it's not installed in the wall.

... Lin Sanjiu is almost used to this useless broken card. She casually put it in her pocket and hurriedly ran to Building 2 where Zhu Mei lived.

The security booth behind her is still quiet and dark.

When Lin Sanjiu stood in front of Room 401, she was panting like a cow. The act of collecting the iron gate just now really consumed too much of her physical strength, and she just climbed to the fourth floor in one breath. At the moment, Lin Sanjiu only felt that her voice was trembling: "Zhu Mei, are you there... Open the door, it's me, it's Xiao Jiu!"

Room 401 is also quiet. Lin Sanjiu's heart suddenly sank to her stomach - in case Zhu Mei fainted in the house, she really didn't know what to do. Since 12 o'clock tonight, she has transformed three things: Ren Nan's corpse, hair, and iron gate. There is only one quota left today, but Zhu Mei's home has two doors!

Lin Sanjiu unwillingly kept calling while continuously "bang bang" knocking on the door, and she was extremely anxious. - When she got out of the car just now, she noticed that the temperature seemed to be rising continuously. Judging from her hot and uncomfortable body feeling, the current temperature is definitely not only 56°, and Zhu Mei, an ordinary person, can she get through it...

After shouting for a while, Lin Sanjiu felt that her throat was smoking, and she had to stop to drink some water. After putting the water bottle back in the bag, she was about to raise her hand to knock on the door again when suddenly, the door of Room 401 opened a c***k.

"Zhu Mei, how are you -" Lin Sanjiu breathed a sigh of relief and quickly shone her flashlight over.

However, the person who opened the door was not Zhu Mei, but a middle-aged woman with a goose egg face, about fifty years old. The woman was suddenly illuminated by the bright light and quickly shielded her eyes - but in such a moment, it was enough for Lin Sanjiu to see clearly.

"Snap," Lin Sanjiu's phone fell to the ground.

She stared at the half face exposed in the door c***k, and it took a while before she reacted, fumbling to pick up her phone - the trembling flashlight light hit the door again, and Lin Sanjiu finally found her voice: "...Mom?"

She felt her mind had become a mess. "Mom, how are you... How are you here? Are you okay...? What's going on?"

The middle-aged woman almost burst into tears, and she quickly opened the door, "Come in quickly! It's so great that you're okay! Mom has been worried to death..."

Lin Sanjiu was dazedly pulled in by her and stood in the hallway. For a while, she had a lot of thoughts in her mind, but she didn't know what to say; just as she was stunned, Lin Sanjiu glanced with her peripheral vision and saw a white shoe cabinet next to her waist - she was too familiar with this shoe cabinet, which she had bought back with Zhu Mei.

A question came out of her mouth in an instant: "Mom, why are you at Zhu Mei's house? Where is Zhu Mei?"

Lin's mother wiped her tears, pulled up a chair, and motioned for Lin Sanjiu to sit down in the room. After watching her sit down, she choked and said, "Ever since the weather became so unusual, I have been worried about you to death. Tonight, I heard that the power grid here was paralyzed, and I hurried over... I couldn't get through to your phone, so I had to come to Zhu Mei's place first to see if I could wait for you. But... but Zhu Mei seems to be in trouble..."

Lin's mother sobbed a few times and said, "She is a good girl... I know you guys have a good relationship, so don't be too sad."

Lin Sanjiu sat still and didn't move, silent for a while, just turning off the flashlight on her phone. The room fell into darkness again.

"I was mentally prepared on my way here... It's unavoidable if God wants to take her. Fortunately, you are fine, which is better than anything..." In the dark, Lin Sanjiu mumbled.

Lin's mother knew that her daughter couldn't see, but she still nodded. She wiped her face and said with a smile, "Your dad is also fine and is resting in the room. I'll go call him right now -" After speaking, she turned around and was about to leave.

"I'll go too -" Lin Sanjiu quickly stood up.

Lin's mother walked

while nodding, reaching out to push the bedroom door: "Hey..."

Before the words just started, there was a gust of wind behind her head. Lin's mother was caught off guard, and her head was hit heavily with a "clang" sound, and she immediately fell soft to the ground, revealing Lin Sanjiu's figure behind her.

Lin Sanjiu's arms holding the chair high could hardly support it, and she quickly put down the chair - but after putting down the chair, she didn't let go, but instead tightly grasped the chair handle, staring at the direction of the bedroom as if facing an enemy. For a while, in the quiet room, only her own heavy breathing could be heard.

Then, footsteps were heard behind the bedroom door, and then suddenly, the bedroom door was pulled open. A broad-shouldered tall man stood at the door, staring at the scene in front of him in surprise and anger - by the dim light outside, one could barely see his appearance, which was very similar to Lin Sanjiu's.

"What are you doing?! That's your mom!" he shouted angrily.

The face opposite him, which was very similar to his, had a cold expression at the moment.

"I hope she's my mom more than you do." Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath, feeling the muscles in her arms and thighs jumping due to fatigue. "My parents died in a car accident ten years ago, and I handled everything from identifying the body to the funeral... Who are you two exactly? Where is my friend?"