“What, what... what is the problem?”“What did I say?”Panting heavily as he ran, the man struggled to catch his breath while responding to Duncan, who was giving him a fierce look that made the man want to hide in a crevice.Not caring for the man’s feelings, though, Duncan quickly repeated himself.“What you said just now; repeat it again.”Pondering what he said that could make Duncan react this way, the man cautiously said, “...I found myself surrounded?”“No, not that,” Duncan immediately denied, his temper rising; but knowing that getting worked up would not resolve anything, he forced himself to calm down before clarifying.“Where did you say you found yourself in after appearing here?”“Oh, that!”Finally understanding what Duncan wanted to hear, the man quickly said, “Yeah, as soon as I suddenly appeared here, I was in a large open field with nothing but those freaking creatures in sight.”“I swear I was completely terrified when I saw their hideous faces. I felt like I’d arr

“It’s good you understand.” Seeing Grant nod, Duncan was relieved; then, he proceeded to say, “Now listen to me very closely because this part is very important...”“You see that big white conical light behind us?” Duncan asked while gesturing behind them.With a quick turn, Grant looked behind him before turning back around to nod his head.“That light is our only exit out of here. To escape and return to our world, we must first get to that because it is our only hope; but we can’t get to it with all these zombies chasing behind us, can we?”“No, we can’t,” Grant shook his head. He could understand all of what Duncan was saying, but there were still some things Grant couldn’t figure out, so he quickly asked Duncan.“How do you know all of this? Who are you? Exactly who are you?”It was only now that Duncan finally realized he hadn’t introduced himself, so he quickly said, “My name is Duncan, and I’m a detective.”Hearing this introduction, a strange expression came over Grant’s face

“It’s working—the zombies are looping around with us just as I expected. With just a few more loops, I should’ve gathered most of all the zombies in the area, allowing me easy access to the core area. If there’s any other secret to this place that I haven’t figured out yet, then it’s definitely in there.”Duncan felt excited within himself. His plan was working, and nothing seemed to be going wrong with it at all.Several minutes had passed since Duncan and Grant began carrying out the plan, and already Duncan had looped around back to the light three times.Every time Duncan did so, he would attract a large crowd of zombies to chase after him before leading them away for another loop.The process was as simple as they come, but this only worked so well because Duncan himself was extremely fit physically and could keep pace with the surge of frenzied zombies.On the other hand, things weren’t so easy for Grant.“I wonder how he’s doing right now?” Duncan wondered, thinking about how G

Duncan witnessed the fall of Grant as he got piled upon by several zombies until he was completely covered up from sight.After a quick look to make sure he wasn’t being feasted upon like a rare delicacy, without a ripple in his heart, Duncan swiftly continued running ahead, unconcerned with Grant’s fate.“This confirms it,” Duncan mused.“The zombies aren’t out for blood; instead, they’re looking to capture us alive and probably take us back to the exit.”“Why... well, that’s what I have to figure out next.”Although Duncan had already confirmed his earlier speculation, it didn’t mean that he was going to surrender himself to be taken to the zombies to be taken away to the exit by them.Without knowing for what reason the zombies needed living people, it was still risky to approach without a plan.So what was Duncan going to do next?“Although surrendering and letting the zombies take me is the easiest way to get to the exit, the risk is too high, so I’d better stick to the original

“No, no—please let me go. Don’t do anything to me. I don’t know anything, I swear I don’t know anything at all. I was doing what I was told. It was just a dare, you see—someone dared me to go into that street and said they’d pay me if I did, that’s all it was. I swear I didn’t mean to intrude at all. If I’d known this is what would happen, I wouldn’t have accepted that stupid dare at all. But I promise I won’t tell anybody about this if you all just let me go, so please let me off just this once… I’m begging you, please!”“Do any of you hear that ticking sound?”“Hmmm!”“Who’s making all that racket? It doesn’t sound like Grant at all.”Duncan, who was buried in the ground, slowly dug himself out with practiced ease, taking his time while doing it so as not to make too much of a commotion.Since he didn’t know where he was buried and what the situation was like outside, in order to avoid digging himself out only to end up being surrounded by zombies, Duncan took his time while digging