The sun was setting on the horizon, providing a place for the world's rats to hide.

"Could you tell us what you saw that day to warrant such a criminal investigation, Chief Marquez?" an interviewer asked during a press conference with the local police chief.

"Seven bodies—all female students from Hasakure High. At first, it seemed like an unfortunate accident. But the hundreds of bite marks on their limbs, resembling rat bites in pattern, told another story," Marquez answered solemnly, his gaze steady on the crowd.

"They were all victims of something far worse than a mere criminal or predator. The post-mortem revealed that three of them were still alive during the... bites," Marquez continued, his tone growing even more grave.

"Miranda Likton, Shara Trut, and Atima Hazu endured approximately seven hours of constant biting. We are now awaiting forensic analysis, which I am confident will reveal the perpetrator's identity," he concluded.

Marquez ignored the reporters' follow-up questions, leaving quietly to vomit as the memories overwhelmed him. He hadn't shared the full truth of what he had seen—simply because, to him, it was unnecessary.

This documentation covers the Rat Night case, which terrorized the city of Lixen for 17 days, resulting in 27 deaths, mutilations, and other horrors that will not be detailed in this section.

---

I slid down a plush chute illuminated by metallic white neon lights. I saw the light at the end of it, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that Hollow wasn’t with me—I was alone again.

I raised my hands to shield my face from the impact. I had been ejected from somewhere near the ceiling, and the gleaming white floor struck my arms hard. It hurt, but I didn't dwell on it.

I looked up and saw only a pristine white ceiling, no sign of a hole or chute—just the familiar ceiling of a mall.

Glancing around, I found myself in an immaculate, brightly lit shopping center. Every store was open, every light was on, as though bustling with life just moments ago.

But it was eerily deserted, as if everyone had vanished into thin air, leaving the scene feeling profoundly wrong.

I scanned for Hollow but couldn’t find him. Gripping my dress tightly, I noticed that, for some reason, my uniform was gone. Only what truly mattered to me had traveled here. But if that were true... where was Hollow?

The echoes of my parents’ arguments had faded. I still remembered how, whenever they fought, the house would seem to quake under their voices. Whenever I heard yelling or anything similar, I’d curl up with Hollow, thinking it was them.

"What’s the point of being here if I’m alone? Maybe I should do what Hollow told me to find peace," I muttered.

"Leave you for a moment, and you’re a mess. I’m here, don’t worry."

My frantic thoughts stopped when I heard a warm, familiar voice. Turning, I saw Hollow—but he looked different.

He seemed... alive. His stitched-up, burned appearance was gone. He even blinked.

"Hollow..." I whispered.

I ran to him and hugged him tightly. He chuckled softly, as if trying to comfort me. His warmth and a steady pulse reassured me in a way that hadn’t been possible before. For the first time, he felt truly alive.

I cradled him in my arms and stood, scanning the area with growing concern.

"What do we do, Hollow? It’s so quiet... Maybe, just maybe... it’s finally just you and me?" I asked, a newfound tranquility in my voice.

"Don’t jump to conclusions. I saw you fall through a hole in the ceiling, but I appeared somewhere else. Honestly, I feel like we’re being watched," Hollow replied calmly, as though reading my thoughts.

Iris looked around cautiously, quickly heading toward the central plaza intersection for a better view.

"Do you think Mom and Dad are here?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"...You’re something else," Hollow sighed. "But I suppose you’re right. Other than them, everything is... quieter, and in some ways, better."

Their conversation was interrupted by distant, childish screams echoing from the other side of the mall. Iris turned to Hollow, silently asking what to do.

"Let’s run the other way. It’ll save us trouble. Even if we went, we couldn’t do anything," Hollow suggested with his usual calmness.

Iris nodded, placed Hollow on her head, and began jogging in the opposite direction, fleeing the screams.

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"I’m glad you understand, Iris. You don’t know what’s happening, but if it’s making them scream like that, it must be serious. I know you’re kind, but we need to think carefully," Hollow said, stroking Iris’s hair as she ran.

"I know. Everything will be fine. You always do what’s best for me, Hollow," Iris replied, comforted by his warmth.

She trusted him completely. Even though fear lingered, she only wanted to stay with Hollow and make sure everything turned out all right.

"Let’s go. I feel there’s a long journey ahead," Hollow said, patting her head reassuringly.

"Yes. Everything will be okay as long as you’re with me."

"And you with me."

Hollow smiled and held onto her hair tightly, ensuring he wouldn’t fall—or perhaps ensuring she was still there.

Their footsteps echoed through the mall as the screams faded. Together, Iris and Hollow distanced themselves from the danger, ready to face whatever lay ahead—this time, truly together.

---

Two hours earlier, at the Union’s gathering point.

Chris woke up that day with a bad feeling. It had been four years since he and his older sister were hit by a truck and ended up in this strange world.

When they first arrived, they were confused and had to flee from horrors he preferred to forget. Eventually, they found a community that accepted them—on the condition that they became useful members of society.

His older sister, Sira, worked tirelessly to secure their place, eventually rising to lead the exploration team. Chris had learned many things about this eerie place, including the existence of three types of travelers...

The first type were those who arrived here dreaming and left upon waking. The second type were those who came here after dying, though Chris knew this didn’t apply to everyone, as the conditions for arriving here after death remained a mystery. The third type were people who ended up teleported here from somewhere else.

Everyone needed to eat and drink, sharing the same daily necessities as they did in life. This still struck Chris as strange since, in his experience, both he and his sister had died. Why did it still feel like they were alive?

This is where his sister came in. As the leader of the exploration group, she brought back all the food and supplies people needed or asked for. It wasn’t too difficult to find these things here, as shelves or places that would normally hold food in the real world regenerated constantly in this place.

The community lived in a safe hotel free from creatures or entities. The hotel was next to the mall they explored for resources. This place was so distorted that various locations seemed to be mashed together, yet everything worked perfectly. Chris appeared to be the only one interested in understanding how and why everything functioned in such a strange place.

He left his room and walked down to the hotel lobby, where most people gathered to go about their activities. At fourteen years old, he was old enough to wander on his own.

His sister had left for a long exploration to gather the month’s food supply. It was relatively safe since the level she was going to didn’t pose many dangers, aside from the occasional risk of a shelf falling on someone’s head. As far as they knew, the food was collected from an infinite supermarket.

“Hey Chris, did you wake up late? That’s unusual for you,” Mr. Kim greeted him warmly as Chris passed by his ration station.

“Yeah, I think I stayed up too late… Have there been any problems with the food distribution?” Chris asked with genuine interest, ready to help if something was wrong.

“Other than the usual troublemakers, no. Besides, there’s no need for you to worry about that. You’re too young for these things, and your sister has done twice as much as most of us,” Kim replied reassuringly.

“...I’m going to talk to them and see if I can finally get them to calm down,” Chris said after a moment of silence.

“Hey, hey, there’s no need for that. They’re just a bunch of spoiled teenagers who aren’t used to this place. They only tried to take more food than they were allowed, so I sent them away. Don’t worry. People like them bark but don’t bite unless you show weakness,” Kim explained, trying to dissuade him.

“Exactly. That’s why someone needs to stop them before they do something stupid. Don’t worry, I’ll handle it,” Chris assured, trying to sound confident despite his youth.

Kim shook his head and let him go, knowing it was pointless to stop him—or maybe he simply couldn’t bring himself to try.

Arthur had been a whirlwind of negative emotions these past few days. He and his friends had been graffitiing when the ground suddenly warped, and they were teleported into a mall.

After some exploration, they found a passageway leading to a group that called itself “The Union”, a pathetic group taking refuge in a hotel.

Arthur didn’t understand much about what was happening, and his friends even less, but they managed to adapt. However, problems kept arising. They were constantly being told to contribute to this stupid society, especially by that arrogant Sira.

Her self-important attitude irritated him endlessly, and he was glad his friends felt the same way. The final straw was when the ration provider, Kim, refused to give him more food even though he was still hungry, telling him to earn it.

This couldn’t go on. They had to show they weren’t people to be messed with. It was the same in the old world and this one—wherever there were people, things would always work that way.

Arthur knew fear was the best way to achieve this, and what better method than using Kim’s daughter? He’d heard there were creatures out there that, luckily, he and his friends hadn’t encountered yet, but they would do the job.

After the accident, a little persuasion would break Kim. If not, the same would happen to him. Arthur also planned to do the same with Sira’s brother—it would be perfect.

His thoughts were interrupted when he and his friends, while following Kim’s daughter, Trish, saw her talking with Chris as they walked together.

It seemed they had stumbled upon both targets. A few younger kids were trailing behind Chris, but they wouldn’t matter for the plan.

Arthur looked at the spray paint bottle he’d used for graffiti before arriving here and smiled. He and his friends had discovered something others seemed unaware of. For some reason, he was the only one who had brought his spray can with him—none of his friends had, even though they all owned one.

A few days earlier:

“Hey, Arthur, you brought your spray can, right? I can’t find mine, and we’re lost in this mall. What if you mark the walls so we don’t get lost? This place is giving me the creeps—everything looks the same,” Bryan, one of Arthur’s friends, said, rubbing his arms as if he had chills.

“Good idea. I’ll leave an X at every intersection. That should do it,” Arthur said, staring at the graffiti bottle for a moment before painting an X on the wall at a three-way intersection.

“What the hell!?” Bryan yelled behind him, startling Arthur.

“What?” Arthur turned around to see Bryan’s astonished expression directed at his graffiti. Then, Arthur saw it too, and his own eyes widened in shock.