Jenqyih closed his eyes.
<
"When did she leave?" Iren's voice sounded so panicked.
"Miss Dihwuu doesn't know when Miss Liuchiou left the apartment. Miss Liuchiou came out quietly. Ms. Dihwuu already asked the security at the apartment. The guard on the apartment lobby floor said that Miss Liuchiou had left the apartment building earlier," said Tsaehorng.
"She must have gone here," Iren guessed.
"That's right, Uncle! "Miss Liuchiou wrote a message that she was going to this mall," replied Tsaehorng.
"How did she know we were here?" Chioujen frowned.
"Earlier, when Uncle Duanmuh called to the apartment, he told Miss Liuchiou that the police used this mall as a transit point. Maybe she already guessed that when we arrived here on the way home, we were hungry and would buy food here."
Jenqyih smiled wryly. Miss Liuchiou, who just got to know them, could already easily read their minds.
"Then she's already here!" said Iren.
They all looked at each other as they realized the worst that had happened. But before they could digest it all, a buzzing sound was suddenly heard. This buzzing sound seemed to have a rhythm. Very similar to drum beats in music. They felt very uneasy when they listened to that voice.
"What is this sound?" Chioujen raised his hands. He tried to cover his ears. "How can a sound like this cause anxiety?"
"Maybe there is another voice that accompanies this voice. It is the other sound that makes us nervous," said Jenqyih.
"So Yihge means, maybe this sound is a low-frequency sound that bothers us?" Iren asked.
"There are certain institutions that often make low-frequency sounds to make prisoners feel restless when they are interrogating people. The prisoners can't hear the sound, but they can feel its effect, which is a sense of heightened anxiety. In such an agitated state, they will find it much more difficult to lie during interrogation," Jenqyih said.
The sound was getting more and more annoying. Their ears hurt. Instantly, Jenqyih followed what Chioujen did. But it was not very useful. He could still hear everything because his ears were not tightly closed. In addition, covering both ears did not make his anxiety disappear.
"I don't think this is the same as the one used to interrogate people," Chioujen said.
"I don't know. Maybe this is the development of the previous technology," said Jenqyih.
"I mean, this pain comes from the sound we're currently hearing, not from the low-frequency sound we can't hear!" Chioujen again covered his ears. This time he did it differently than before, which was to close it tightly. At least, that's what Jenqyih saw.
As before, Jenqyih also followed what Chioujen did. He covered his ears to ease the pain a little. But over time, this method also did not work. The sound was getting louder and more painful to the ears. The other people in the diner were already rolling on the floor, covering their ears. Almost everyone screamed in pain.
When he ran out earlier, Shannchyuan had nothing with him. He left the small waist bag on the table. Jenqyih took the small bag. He quickly opened it. He remembered that he had bought Shannchyuan a pair of earplugs a few months ago. At that time, he bought it just for fun. While walking on a busy street, he saw street vendors selling their wares. Among the items being sold, there were various earplugs. Because the price was so low, he bought several pairs. When he got home, he distributed the earplugs to all his friends. Shannchyuan accepted the earplugs happily. Jenqyih remembers well that Shannchyuan immediately put the earplugs he gave him into this small waist bag. After that, Jenqyih never saw Shannchyuan wearing those earplugs. So, the earplugs should still be in Shannchyuan's waist bag right now.
Turned out his guess was correct. The earplugs were still inside. It's even still in the plastic packaging. Apparently, Shannchyuan had never opened the packaging at all. Without wasting time, Jenqyih immediately tore off the plastic packaging that wrapped the earplugs.
"You wear this!" Jenqyih held out the earplugs to Iren.
"No! Please, use it. You have more right." Iren brushed off Jenqyih's hand.
Jenqyih held out the thing to Chioujen, who also immediately rejected it.
"No need. Thank you. Yihge is older than me."
Tsaehorng also shook his head when Jenqyih handed her the earplugs.
"I'm still young, Uncle," he said briefly.
<
Since no one was willing to accept it, Jenqyih immediately put the earplugs into his own ears. The earplugs turned out to be very useful. Jenqyih couldn't hear any sound. Regarding the anxiety and pain that hit him, it did lessen, although it didn't completely disappear.
Jenqyih looked at his surrounding places. His gaze fell on a room.
<
"All of you follow me!" Jenqyih pointed to three of his friends.
Jenqyih then ran to the toilet in the restaurant. His three friends followed closely behind. Jenqyih went into the restroom and took the toilet paper roll provided inside. He handed the toilet paper roll to Chioujen, Iren, and Tsaehorng. They quickly tore off the tissue paper and used it to plug their ears. Jenqyih knew that might not help much, but at least it was much better than nothing.
The four of them were still crammed into the toilet when suddenly the lights went out.
<
None of the four of them were carrying flashlights. They left the house in the morning. Of course, it was unthinkable that they would need the help of a flashlight. In complete darkness, Jenqyih could not see anything.
<
In the darkness, Jenqyih felt a hand touch his shoulder. Jenqyih didn't know whose hand it was. The hand gesture was sign language. Jenqyih recognized the cue, which meant telling him to stay calm and not move. Jenqyih didn't know who invented such sign language, but it was Songfei who taught them. He could only hope that Tsaehorng would also know what the hand gesture meant. Had he not known and had chosen to run outside, things would have been much worse.
Even though he couldn't see, Jenqyih knew their circumstances. Because the toilet was narrow, Jenqyih could feel that his three friends weren't standing. Maybe because their ears hurt so badly, they had to squat or curl up on the floor to reduce the pain. Jenqyih, even though he was wearing earplugs, he still felt pain in his eardrums. He could only imagine his friends must have been in much worse pain than he had.
<
Jenqyih felt that every second they passed was like a snail. He really hoped that such discomfort would pass soon. On the one hand, such a thing was very annoying. But on the other hand, it was a precious experience. Jenqyih imagined that someday he would have a lot of material to tell his grandchildren.
After being in that state for a while, the pain in his ears seemed to have lessened a lot. Jenqyih wasn't sure if the pain had subsided because the cause had stopped or that he had gotten used to it a bit, so it wasn't as painful as before. But over time, the pain did go away little by little. And finally, Jenqyih did not feel the pain in his ear anymore. Actually, it's not that he didn't feel pain at all, but there were no attacks of pain like before. The pain that was still there was a remnant from a previous pain attack.
He ventured to remove slowly one earplug in his ear. After removing the thing, he didn't hear the buzzing sound that had been so annoying. He didn't feel the restlessness that had plagued him before. Jenqyih then removed the earplug from his other ear.
"It's stopped! The sound has stopped!" Jenqyih shook the bodies of his friends, who were huddled together in the toilet. They didn't react. Jenqyih was worried that they had lost consciousness. He shook their bodies again until one of them squirmed.
"Ouch! My head hurts so bad!" The squirming body let out a sound.
Jenqyih could tell that it was Chioujen's voice. He touched Chioujen's body and motioned with his right hand. He told Chioujen that the noise had stopped. Chioujen could release clumps of toilet paper that clogged Chioujen's ears.
"Ah! What a relief," said Chioujen. Apparently, he had removed the lump of tissue from his ear.
The two of them then shook the bodies of their other two friends. After trying for a while, Iren and Tsaehorng came to their senses. Jenqyih could hear their voices.
"How long have I been unconscious for?" Iren asked.
"I don't know. But I think it's only for a moment," Jenqyih answered.
"My ears still hurt a lot," said Tsaehorng.
"Let's just stay here for now," said Chioujen. "It's even more dangerous if we go out."
"What about Dahge?" Jenqyih asked.
"We just hope he found a way to protect himself," Chioujen replied.
"Then, what about Miss Liuchiou?" Tsaehorng asked.
Chioujen sighed. "We're not absolutely sure that at the time of the incident, Miss Liuchiou was already in this building. It's possible that she was still on her way here."
"Or she was still outside the building," said Iren.
Jenqyih nodded. "I really hope she hasn't had the chance to enter this building yet."
"Eh! What time is it?" Iren slapped his forehead.
They all fell silent, realizing that they had something else to do.
"It's not twelve o'clock yet," said Tsaehorng. His watch was a special watch that could give off a little light. Although it could not be used as a flashlight, the long and short hands of the watch could be seen clearly.
"We can't possibly go down to the parking lot in a situation like this," said Iren.
"So, now what?" Tsaehorng's voice sounded like a very anxious person's.
<
"Actually, it doesn't have to be Dahge, does it? The one who has to take calls from those criminals?" Jenqyih asked.
"It doesn't have to be Dahge. The thugs want to talk to Dahge because Dahge is the leader of our group. But I think they already know who the people in our house are. So even if Shyongge takes their call, that's okay too," said Iren.
"Hopefully so," said Tsaehorng.
"Now we wait here quietly until the electricity comes on," Chioujen said.
"Eh! What is this?" shouted Jenqyih. He was currently sitting on the toilet floor, just like the others. His palm touched something like soft plastic wrap.
"Ah! That must be our food." Chioujen laughed. "Just when I ran here, I brought the packages here."
"What for?" Tsaehorng asked. "Did you know that the electricity would go out?"
"I didn't know that the electricity would go out. It was just my instinct. When I had to go somewhere, and I didn't know what was going to happen next, then the things I could reach I would take with me."
"I also had time to bring Dahge's waist bag," said Iren.
Tsaehorng laughed. "Uncles are all wonderful. All right, now let's just sit here nicely."
"Que será, será!" said Iren.
"Que será, será." said Jenqyih.
The four of them sat on the slightly damp toilet floor. Patiently waiting for the power to come on again.