In the mall corridor, a pale-skinned young man with dyed blond hair shuffled forward on trembling legs, having to steady himself against the railing as he walked.
A middle-aged man followed behind him in even worse shape.
His eyes were bloodshot, dark circles hung beneath them like smears of ink, and his unsteady steps made it look as though he might collapse at any moment.
Even so, he stayed close behind the blond young man.
These two were none other than the middle-aged man and the blond young man who had gone missing yesterday.
“Jason, wait for me! Wait for me!” the middle-aged man called weakly.
Jaso stopped and reassured him in a low voice, “Old Harris, the camp’s just ahead. We’ll be safe soon.”
“Blondie!”
A startled shout rang out, and both men looked ahead.
Ray stared at them with wide eyes, his face filled with shock and disbelief.
His mouth had even fallen open and stayed that way.
Yesterday, everyone in the camp had already assumed the two of them were dead.
No one had expected them to suddenly come back around noon today.
“Are you two alive or ghosts?” Ray demanded, his voice trembling.
If he hadn’t been on duty, he would have turned around and run.
Neither of the two men in front of him looked like someone who should still be alive.
“Of course I’m still alive! Give me water! I need water!” Jason muttered weakly.
His voice was hoarse, and his lips were cracked.
“Wait here. I’m going to get June.” The moment Ray finished speaking, he turned and ran, giving them no chance to respond.
Quite a few survivors were drawn over by Ray’s shout.
Several elderly people clutched at their clothes, staring fixedly at the two returning men with a mixture of surprise and fear.
“Wasn’t that blond guy dead? How is he alive again?”
“They sure don’t look alive. You don’t think we’re seeing ghosts, do you?”
“Maybe they tried going somewhere else, realized they couldn’t survive there either, and came back?”
“What if this is some Ghost-type monster’s scheme? What if those two are like the ghosts in those novels that lure people to their deaths?”
The survivors whispered among themselves, but none dared approach.
Jason looked gloomily at the survivors gathered around him.
“Would somebody give us a hand already?!”
Unable to hold out any longer, Jason’s legs gave way and he passed out on the spot.
Behind him, Old Harris’s mouth twitched sharply.
His throat was so dry it felt like it was burning, and he urgently shouted, “Water! Give me water!”
An elderly woman looked at Old Harris, then reluctantly at the half bottle of water in her hand.
Finally, she gritted her teeth and slowly made her way over to him.
“Here. Drink slowly. Don’t choke,” the old woman said softly.
At this point, Old Harris was in no state to thank her.
Looking at the bottle of “lifesaving medicine” in front of him, he immediately “snatched” it from her and began drinking in small sips.
With water finally soothing his parched throat, Old Harris collapsed onto the floor as if all the strength had left his body, his back pressed firmly against the safety railing.
“Ahh… I’m finally alive again!” Old Harris exclaimed in relief.
Before long, June hurried over with Ray.
Seeing Old Harris sitting on the floor and Jason lying unconscious nearby, June asked with concern, “Old Harris! Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I just haven’t eaten anything all day. I’m starving,” Old Harris replied weakly, clutching his stomach.
Hearing that, June relaxed and immediately ordered, “Someone carry Jason back. One of you help Old Harris.”
Two able-bodied men stepped out of the crowd carrying a simple makeshift stretcher, while Ray helped Old Harris to his feet.
Leon was called to the office because the two missing survivors had returned.
When he reached the meeting room, he didn’t see either of them.
He simply took a seat beside June.
Since he’d already decided to remain at this camp, he naturally needed to raise his standing here without making it too obvious.
And one way to improve his position was to stay as close to June as possible.
Leon asked quietly, “I heard Blondie and the other guy came back?”
Sitting to his left, Ray nodded and lowered his voice.
“I was the first one to find them. You have no idea how creepy it was.”
“How so?” Leon prompted, playing along.
“Those two looked like they hadn’t eaten in days. For a second, I seriously thought I was looking at ghosts.”
Leon considered that for a moment before asking, “You mean they looked like they’d been starving for several days?”
Ray nodded.
“Yeah, like they’d been starving for days. You’ll hear the details from June in a minute.”
Once everyone had arrived, June gave a soft cough, instantly drawing everyone’s attention in the meeting room.
“Just a short while ago, Old Harris and Jason returned.”
No one reacted much to that.
They had all heard about it already.
“According to Old Harris, some kind of strange monster trapped them inside a bizarre space. While they were there, they couldn’t move or even close their eyes. All they could do was watch what was happening outside through a mirror. And…”
June paused, glanced at Leon, then continued, “He also saw Leon and me.
According to him, that monster attacked them inside the arcade.
“They even saw us searching for them in there, but they couldn’t move or speak, so all they could do was watch helplessly as we left.”
A flicker of understanding crossed Leon’s eyes.
He had already more or less figured out what had happened and why.
But this wasn’t the kind of speculation he could bring up during the meeting.
He decided to discuss it with June once the meeting was over.
“Fortunately, neither Jason nor Old Harris suffered any serious harm. After eating, they went straight to sleep.”
Once June finished speaking, discussion broke out around the meeting room.
Everyone was speculating about what kind of monster the two men had encountered, but even more of them were marveling at their luck.
They had run into a monster and somehow survived, having merely been imprisoned by it for a day.
“June, could that monster have deliberately released Blondie and the other guy so it could follow them back and find our camp?” Ray asked with a worried frown.
June shook her head.
“That’s unlikely. The arcade is less than a hundred meters from here. At that distance, even if that monster were blind, it would’ve found us by now.”
“So… those two were just unlucky enough to get toyed with by that monster?” a middle-aged man remarked.
After all, it had captured them without eating or killing them.
No matter how they looked at it, it seemed more like the monster had simply been teaching the two men a lesson.
“That’s possible. Not every monster eats people.” June nodded in agreement, remembering Leon’s analysis from yesterday.
“Leon, what do you think about this?” June asked, turning toward Leon, who had remained silent the entire time.
Leon answered dismissively, “At least it’s good news. Blondie and the other guy made it back safely. That means the monster doesn’t see us as food.”
June had gotten to know Leon well enough by now to realize that he definitely had more to say—or that there were some things he simply didn’t want to discuss in front of everyone.
With that thought, June came to a decision.