Atsushi Nakajima ♪

A feeling of uncertainty had been weighing on Atsushi for a while.

Some time ago, the Agency had received a request to investigate a laboratory. There had been numerous complaints about excessive noise and contamination coming from the facility. Atsushi had been ready to take the mission and look into it himself, but Ranpo stopped him.

He said the mission was dangerous, that it would be better not to investigate and leave the case alone.

Atsushi walked toward the laboratory cautiously. He knew he shouldn't be there. He knew he was being reckless. Even so, he felt a strong urge to find out what was really happening.

Several scientists greeted him with calmness, offering reasonable explanations for the complaints in an attempt to avoid trouble.

For a moment, Atsushi believed them. Just as he was about to leave, one of the workers casually asked where he worked.

Atsushi answered without much thought, he is a detective from the Armed Detective Agency.

That single statement changed everything. The scientists immediately restrained him and injected multiple sedatives into his body. Within seconds, Atsushi collapsed onto the floor.

Everything went dark. When he finally woke up, he found himself staring at an artificial landscape. It looked like a beach. There was an ocean in the distance, yet patches of grass stretched across the ground.

Whatever this place was, it was obviously fake. Atsushi quickly rushed toward the walls, pounding against them and shouting for someone to let him out.

This was bad. Nobody knew where he was and who knew what those lunatics planned to do with him.

The sedatives still lingered in his system, leaving his body weak and sluggish. To make matters worse, there was a collar around his neck that made him deeply uncomfortable.

His shouting continued until he suddenly felt someone's presence behind him.

Hey... He greeted the person behind him, somewhat nervously.