A quiet alley.
A house not far from the garbage collection point.
Creak~
With a groan from the long-neglected doorframe, the door was gently pushed open.
A boy around middle-school age furtively slipped out of the house.
He glanced left and right, then asked into his phone in a hushed voice, "Where is he?"
A boy around his age emerged from a dark corner, clamped a hand over his mouth, and pushed him back inside. "Shh! Keep your voice down."
"What's going on?"
His friend was sweating profusely.
He hurriedly shut the door and, speaking as quietly and quickly as he could, explained, "Don't make a sound. I saw someone killing people! Over by the trash cans."
"What are you talking about?"
The middle schooler looked completely baffled.
His friend gave him a rough description. He explained it clearly enough, but that only left the middle schooler even more confused.
"You're joking, right? What do you mean, someone chopped a guy's head off with a long blade?"
"I'll say it again: I'm not joking."
His friend shook his head nervously. "Anyway, we can't go out. There really is a maniac nearby."
Seeing how tense his friend was, the middle schooler couldn't help believing him at least a little.
He thought back to some recent news and seemed to recall something. Hesitantly, he asked, "Uh, wait. Could what you saw be those Parasitic Organisms people are talking about online?"
"Doesn't seem like it. Didn't the experts online say those Parasitic Organisms split their heads open?"
"Where'd you see it? Why don't we go take another look together? Maybe you saw wrong."
His friend looked incredulous at the suggestion. "Are you crazy?"
"What are you scared of? There are two of us. What, you chicken?"
Middle schoolers were at the age when