chapter 6
Afterword
It was a year later when I was arrested.
I was indeed suffering from a nervous breakdown, but the death of the family upstairs was not something I imagined.
I truly experienced the Loop. I knew that in the early hours of Thursday, the Debt Collectors would come knocking, banging on the door with knives in hand.
If the Man hadn’t cowered in his room and refused to come out, they wouldn’t have escaped disaster.
By chance, I overheard the Debt Collectors coming, and I also heard that they had been set up by the Man upstairs, each of them ending up in debt themselves.
They often clashed with the family upstairs.
At first, I wanted to let them go. I could tolerate the torment of their noise, but the Man upstairs even followed me. I rushed into my room-thankfully, I had left a knife by the entrance that day. I stabbed the knife into the Man’s arm.
I was terrified. I was bullied to the point where there was no way out for me.
I thought, maybe it would be better if they just died.
What no one knew was that the Silent Earplugs were the key to me entering the Loop.
So, I doctored the receipt, making it look like I had received the Silent Earplugs a week earlier, disguising it as if I bought them in the early hours of this Thursday.
The first time, I went up the stairs and knocked on the door at four in the morning, then quietly left. A group of Drunkards waiting at the door heard the Old Lady’s curses, sobered up instantly, and rushed into the apartment. But I failed-only the Old Lady upstairs suffered that time.
The second time, after I spoke with Officer Li, I realized I was trapped in the Loop. This time, I knocked on the upstairs door before those people arrived. As I was leaving, I heard the elevator doors open. I failed again-I forgot it was windy that day, and the wind blew the door shut.
The third time, I blocked the door with ice.
This time, I finally got what I wanted-the entire family upstairs was dead.
Of course, I would never admit it. I only said I blocked the door with ice, just to escalate the conflict.
Let the neighbors know how noisy their family was.
The sunlight was warm on my skin as I walked out of the Police Station, Silent Earplugs in hand, my phone vibrating.
Someone messaged me, “Are they really silent?”
I replied with a smile, “Guaranteed to solve the problem at its root!”