"Huff... huff... huff..."
The short, stout detective sprinted desperately onward without looking back. He rarely ran, but now he had no choice. His lungs felt as though they were burning, yet his survival instinct forced him to keep pumping his two short legs and running for his life.
He burst out of the passage and struggled up the stairs. Already difficult to climb, they were even more treacherous now, and several times his legs nearly gave out, threatening to send him tumbling down. Still, he gritted his teeth and made his way up along the wall, then collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath.
"Hey, what happened to you?"
Everyone waiting in the hall was startled to see the short, stout detective rush out. They hurried over and helped him up.
"Why are you alone? What's down there? Where's Li Wei?"
"D-down there... hah... hah... there's... a monster..."
The short, stout detective was panting too hard to get his words out. The tall, thin detective hurriedly pulled a flask from his coat, opened it, and handed it over. The stout detective took it and gulped down a generous mouthful. Only then did he catch his breath and hurriedly explain what had happened below.
After hearing his account, everyone stared in stunned silence.
"Mr. Rogers was behind all of this? And he turned into a monster?"
"There are lots of bodies down there, too?"
Everyone looked utterly bewildered after hearing the stout detective's account. It felt as though someone had taken a hammer to their brains, leaving them barely able to think.
"What about Mr. Li Wei?"
Katie looked anxiously at the short, stout detective as she asked.
"He's down there fighting that monster... he told me to come back first. I wanted to stay, but there was really nothing I