“Yup, I’m definitely dead this time!”Heaving out a deep sigh, Duncan silently cursed his bad luck that had gotten him into this mess in the first place. As he took a breath, a strange musty scent, like that of fresh dirt dug from deep within the earth, tickled his nostrils.Thump! Thump!As he rapped his fists against the ground, a hollow sound greeted Duncan’s ears along with the feeling of hard soil shifting loosely from his strikes. The space was cramped as Duncan lay flat on what seemed like solid earth, his head barely able to lift up a few inches before striking a solid barrier above him, letting down a trickle of dirt in the process that spilled onto his face.It was dark, the lacking light making it impossible for Duncan to see, yet every single clue gathered pointed to a terrifying conclusion, one Duncan was unwilling to accept…As he almost panicked, a sense of claustrophobia assaulted Duncan’s mind, the darkness and tight space causing a strain on his wits that threatened

“This is bad…”Inwardly panicking, Duncan watched as the single clock hand continued to tremble, with every passing second seeming like it would suddenly move forward another degree.Thankfully, what he feared didn’t occur, which allowed Duncan to breathe out in relief.Completely forgetting about the foul odor surrounding him, Duncan’s mind immediately wandered to the most pressing matter at hand.“What was that just now?”Duncan’s mind spun, his memory going back to the moment before he suddenly fell weakly to his knees.“Before it happened, I heard a howling sound like that of a passing draft without any wind accompanying it. Yet in the next moment, I suddenly felt something enter my body and pass through.”“That’s when I suddenly lost all my strength and fell to the ground… what in hell could’ve caused this?”Recalling everything that happened, Duncan found everything to be very bizarre and mysterious.In fact, everything about this ordeal was bizarre and mysterious, yet apart fro

“This ghost realm sure is huge—how much energy would it require to create something like this, and just how terrifying is the entity that did it?”Duncan spoke to himself while sitting on the bare ground, his body covered completely in dirt and sweat.Raising a dirty hand, Duncan wiped the beads of sweat that dotted his forehead, his face clearly marked with exhaustion as his eyes stared far off into the foggy distance in contemplation, looking like someone with a severe case of homesickness.The handkerchief over Duncan’s face was already black in color, but he didn’t care as it was the only thing keeping the horrible stench at bay, making it much easier to cope in this vile environment.Several hours had already passed since Duncan escaped from his grave, and following the compass, he had traversed a considerable distance from his original location.By his estimates, Duncan thought he’d traveled about ten kilometers, a feat that left his legs sore and his neck and shoulders aching w

“Should I consider myself lucky for not ending up like this poor fellow?” Duncan said to himself, referring to how he was able to escape while this person hadn’t.“No, there isn’t a single element of luck that was responsible for how I was able to escape the grave. The only difference between me and this guy, besides the fact that he’s dead while I’m still breathing, is that I am better equipped to handle these kinds of situations and happened to possess the right tools for the job.”“This isn’t luck... it’s a curse!”While thinking this, Duncan looked down at his hands—specifically speaking, he was looking at the worn-out gloves that were tightly wrapped around his hands.Fingerless and drab-looking, they resembled a pair of plain old leather biker gloves without all the bling and shine.They were thick, covering the palm and back of his hands like armor, but offered little in the way of protection for his fingers, leaving them looking vulnerable and exposed... and yet, despite diggi

“Fuck me! What the hell am I going to do about this?”His voice soft, Duncan cursed uncontrollably while making an effort to restrain himself from shouting out loud—a feat that proved quite difficult given the situation he found himself in currently.Right now, Duncan lay prone, his belly flat on the ground as he snuck a peek into the distance while trying to remain hidden.Just ahead was the entire reason Duncan was in such a sour mood: it was a flock of mindless zombies walking around stiffly and in great number, like a bunch of brainless fans gathered together to attend the concert of their favorite idol.The sheer number of them was staggering, and from where he was, Duncan could already count over thirty, with many more existing beyond his view.This was already more than he estimated the number of people that had reportedly gone missing to be, meaning that there were many more victims than previously imagined.“Just how long has this ghost realm existed?” Duncan wondered to hims