The three knocks cease. The damaged door becomes unnaturally still, while the word LISTEN lies wet and black beneath it.
As Pǔtōng Rén examines the paper, faint answering sounds rise from beneath the floorboards. Each creak of the house returns below a heartbeat later, perfectly repeated.
The bear remains braced over the old man with the sledgehammer, who stays facedown and surrendered. Alaric points sharply toward the rug near the sitting room wall.
Alaric
The hatch is under there. I heard the same sounds below it.
The rug's fringe trembles without wind. Beneath the floor, the copied creaks pause, then reproduce the bear's breathing and the old man's strained movement in exact order.
The Old Man with the Sledgehammer
Do not lift it. The room was never built above ground. It only learned the shape of this house.
From beneath the rug comes one final imitation: three slow knocks, not on the door, but directly under the concealed hatch. Everyone in the room hears the invitation.
Locate the source of the listening presence beneath the house
Stop the listening presence