Chapter 21: Hide-and-Seek
Mu Mu’s eyes widened like a startled rabbit’s. Anxious and frightened, he looked at Zheng An, pointed to the door, and half-covered his mouth with his other hand, whispering, “Is it the landlord?”
Zheng An’s face was grim as he stared at the peephole inches away, suppressing the urge to peek outside and see who it was.
He was really afraid he’d see an eye staring back through the peephole; it would be a real horror movie.
Zheng An pulled Mu Mu down, pointing to the door lock above their heads. In a voice only they could hear, he said, “Shhh! Don’t make a sound. Let’s pretend we’re not home.”
“Won’t the landlord open the door himself?” Mu Mu worriedly asked.
Zheng An pointed to his brain computer, whispering, “Don’t worry, the access control is on my device. Even if he knows the code, he can’t open the door. Unless the landlord demolishes the door, but he’s so stingy, he wouldn’t be willing to replace it.”
Mu Mu thought about it; it was true. Their landlord was notoriously cheap. Let alone the fact that he wore a faded, almost transparent, short-sleeved shirt that was worn thin from washing.
Every time he came to collect rent, he either mooched nutrient solution from them or found some excuse to make them pay for transportation.
Eight out of ten times, Mu Mu ended up footing the bill for the landlord’s unreasonable demands. So every time Mu Mu saw their landlord, his wallet ached.
This time, knowing the landlord was trying to extort money from them and evict them, Mu Mu’s wallet ached, and his head ached too.
The banging on the door sounded for two rounds before the person outside finally lost patience.
The usually hoarse voice, like a crow’s caw, rose eight octaves, becoming sharp and piercing, reaching Mu Mu and Zheng An’s ears through the door.
“Zheng An! You idiot! I’m the landlord! Are you home? If you are, open the door quickly! Don’t play dead!!”
Mu Mu hugged his knees, curling his body tighter, silently mouthing, “We’re not here, we’re not home.”
Zheng An, sitting cross-legged beside him, also shook his head and mumbled, “I’m not listening, I’m not listening to your nonsense.”
After shouting for a long time without a response, the landlord angrily kicked the door and began to rant and rave.
One of the men with him couldn’t take it anymore and forcefully interrupted the landlord’s stream of curses.
“Alright, alright, stop yelling. There’s no reaction after all this knocking, they must not be home. Why don’t you just open the door? Don’t waste our time.”
“Open it? That little brat Zheng An is too clever! On his first day here, he changed the door access permissions and linked it to his brain computer! I don’t even know their password!”
Besides using passwords, fingerprints, iris scans, and facial recognition, the apartment door also had an access control system linked to a brain computer.
With this access control, even knowing the door code or having correct fingerprint and facial recognition data wouldn’t open the door—common knowledge throughout the Empire.
“Then they must not be here, let’s not waste time, let’s come back tomorrow.”
Seeing the others about to leave, the landlord quickly stopped them. “Hey, hey! Don’t rush! I told you, those two brats are definitely inside at this time, they’re just deliberately not opening the door! Wait a little longer, they’ll eventually get impatient and open it!”
They had been paid, and leaving without doing anything didn’t seem right.
The leader of the group let out a sigh, rubbed his short, bristly hair, and said irritably, “Ten more minutes! If they don’t open the door in ten minutes, we’re leaving!”
Hearing that the men were about to leave, the landlord panicked. “Hey, hey, hey! I paid you, you can’t leave without doing anything!”
A burly man with a fierce face glared at the landlord, scaring him into taking a step back, shrinking his shoulders.
He despised the landlord’s bullying behavior, sneered, and said, “We don’t only take your job! Besides, isn’t it agreed? To get those people out of your apartment, regardless of the time. Once they’re gone, the job is done.”
The landlord nodded; that was true. But those people weren’t giving him that much time! He couldn’t afford to wait.
The burly man spoke before the landlord could express his misery, “So what are you whining about? Are you going to keep knocking or not? If not, we’re leaving!”
The landlord, no longer hesitating, rushed to the door and banged forcefully. He was certain Zheng An and Mu Mu were inside, just unwilling to open the door.
He didn’t believe he couldn’t get them to come out.
The landlord banged on the door and cursed, his voice so loud and his language so foul that it quickly attracted other residents in the building to watch and gossip.
The men were used to collecting debts and being watched. But this time, with a landlord who cursed like a sailor, even they felt embarrassed and red-faced.
The leader of the group, his face dark, spat fiercely, grabbed the landlord by the collar, and carried him like a chick through the automatically parting crowd towards the elevator.
The onlookers, seeing there was no more excitement, dispersed. The noisy corridor returned to quiet.
Mu Mu and Zheng An, separated by a door, listened as the noisy footsteps faded into the distance. They looked at each other, patted their chests, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Zheng An stood up, supporting himself against the door, patted his pants, and said weakly, “That was nerve-wracking! I never knew the old landlord could curse so terribly.”
Mu Mu’s legs were numb from squatting; he couldn’t stand up for a while, so he just sat on the floor, leaning against the door.
He touched his ear, recalling the angry curses that had clearly reached his ears, a clear note of surprise in his voice, “Mu Mu’s hearing aid seems to be fine, I don’t need a new one.”
Zheng An paused, unable to understand how the conversation had shifted from the landlord to a hearing aid. Normally, he would have gotten to the bottom of it, but after experiencing the landlord’s viciousness twice in one day, he was completely drained.
He grabbed Mu Mu’s arm and pulled him up from the floor, “We made it through today, we can finally sleep soundly.”
Mu Mu looked up at Zheng An, his eyes full of hesitation.
But there’s tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that. There will always be a day they can’t avoid.
What would they do then?
Mu Mu didn’t ask, because he knew that even the clever An An wouldn’t be able to answer that question.
Darkness swallowed Mu Mu and Zheng An’s figures, making the silence palpable. The oppressive atmosphere caused them to unconsciously soften their breathing.
They stood silently in the darkness, neither of them speaking, like two lifeless statues.
After a while, Zheng An let out a breath, patted Mu Mu on the shoulder, his voice somewhat heavy.
“Hungry? Let’s go eat. Then take a hot shower and go to bed early. Leave early tomorrow, and don’t let the landlord catch us.”
“Just thinking about it makes me angry! Raising the rent? And trying to evict us! I’ll deliberately stay until the official moving date! I’ll make him mad!”
【Author’s Note】: Hug our Mu Mu, he’s about to become a stray pup.