Did this guy find me?
I held my breath, instinctively lowering my gaze, trying to conceal myself as much as possible.
In the silent space, the only sound was the crunching of potato chips from Evis.
Although I couldn't see anyone on the stairs from my vantage point, a scene materialized in my mind.
An unknown creature stood at the top of the stairs, quietly looking down, and perhaps it had already discovered me!
Damn it, if you're coming down, we'll have a real fight!
My emotions grew restless, and I finally made up my mind.
It's just a test of who has more patience. I don't believe you can stay here all night with me if I stand here all night!
Time ticked by, and suddenly the sound of Evis chewing chips disappeared.
"Lu, what are you doing?"
Not good!
Evis suddenly called my name, breaking the tense silence.
This useless teammate is more of a hindrance than a help. If I had a needle and thread in my hand right now, I would have sewn Evis's mouth shut!
If the person confronting me upstairs is smart enough, they would be able to determine my location from the direction of Evis's voice!
Before I could even think about what to do next, a gruff male voice suddenly came from upstairs.
"My friend, there's no need to be so tense. This is my home. It's not very polite for you two to barge in uninvited."
Is the person upstairs human?
Or is it a monster that can imitate human voices?
Since my position had been revealed, I decided to talk to him.
"We both arrived here inexplicably. We apologize if we've caused any disturbance. Perhaps we can talk."
I re-sheathed my hunting knife at my waist and stepped out from the blind spot, spreading my arms to the side and calling out upstairs as a gesture of sincerity.
"Creak..."
"Creak..."
The man upstairs fell silent for a moment, then seemed to be moved by my words.
I saw a pair of high-heeled boots appear before my eyes, followed by a tall man slowly descending the stairs.
The man looked to be in his forties, with graying temples. He was wearing a denim jacket popular in the United States in the last century, and his face was that of a Westerner.
Seeing that the main occupant appeared to be human and not a monster, I secretly breathed a sigh of relief and then sat back down on the sofa.
"My uninvited guests, my place is quite hidden. How did you find your way here?"
The man walked into the living room, glanced at Evis sitting beside me, and then fixed his gaze on me.
"It's a long story. We wandered into a city shrouded in darkness..."
Seeing that the man seemed approachable, I recounted everything that had happened since I met the man in the trench coat.
After listening to my story, the man chuckled softly, then took a cigar from his satchel and leisurely lit it.
"That's a troublesome fellow. But it seems he was in a good mood, otherwise, you wouldn't be here; he would have sent you to a hellhole like Zone D."
Zone D?
I keenly caught the information from the man's words.
Are we still in that city?
My intuition told me that the rough-looking man before me seemed to have no ill intentions, and perhaps I could get a lot of information about this place from him.
"What is Zone D?"
Facing my puzzled expression, the gruff man didn't rush to answer my question. Instead, he turned and took a bottle of red wine and two wine glasses from a cupboard.
"The night is long, or perhaps this place never sees daylight. There's no need to rush. My name is Richard, the owner of this house. Please, have a drink."
Richard pushed a wine glass, half-filled with red wine, towards me.
Hmm?
I looked at Richard with some confusion, then glanced at Evis beside me, who was still engrossed in eating potato chips.
Even if he considered me the leader between Evis and me, he shouldn't ignore Evis so completely. Did he notice that Evis's current state was very unusual?
I picked up the wine glass Richard had offered, and a rich aroma of wine wafted towards me.
"Good wine." Kuai Shu Ge
After taking a small sip, I placed the wine glass on the table.
"You can call me Lu Ziye. The one sitting next to me is my companion, Evis. Mr. Richard, I have many questions I want to ask you right now, but I don't know where to begin."
"Hahahaha, no rush."
Richard laughed heartily, then his gaze fixed on Evis.
"Lu Ziye, your companion is about to collapse."