Zombie Queen transmigration into a book-Chapter 162: I want to go back

The city’s leading figures were all gathered in the meeting room, waiting for Grace to arrive.

"Do you know why we’re here?" one man asked the person sitting nearby.

"Am I as curious as you? I heard from the guard that Madam Grace wanted us to gather. So, it must be something important." The man responded, his eyes darting to the door for the third time.

Murmurs spread across the room as everyone wondered why they were there while waiting for Grace to come back.

Time passed; half an hour later, the door was opened from the outside, their discussions stopped, and everyone turned toward the door.

Grace walked in with Adrian following behind her.

"Good, you’re all here. This is Adrian, for some of you who don’t know him; he was part of the people who went to the surface." Her words sounded like a bomb that had been set off.

Everyone was stunned until their minds processed her words, and all eyes turned to Adrian. He felt uneasy under their intense yet curious gaze.

"Tell them everything that happened on the surface. They need to hear it from the horse’s mouth." Grace motioned for Adrian to speak, a smug smile threatening to spread across her face.

Some people here had doubted her plans, dismissing them as wishful and suicidal—none of them believed it would succeed; now, it has.

Adrian began repeating every conversation he had with Grace earlier to the listening crowd. Their faces showed shock and disbelief, but then a wave of relief and joy washed over them as they realized humanity had found another way to survive.

"Unbelievable! Some pinch me, I must be dreaming." A man exclaimed with a wide grin splitting his face.

The person beside him pinched him, her face showing dazed confusion—she also felt that everything she heard was surreal.

The man hissed in pain but showed no signs of anger at her actions. His blood boiled with excitement like everyone else in the room.

"We need to evacuate right now.’’

"The oxygen level is dropping each day. Now we know there’s a second option; we need to start evacuating.’’

"I agree. I will contact the other minor administrators to start preparing for the move.’’

"But we don’t have enough space users to create a big enough space tear to evacuate everyone at once." The woman’s words plunged the room into silence; everyone realized the difficulty of the matter.

The dungeon teleports people to different locations, leaving non-combat citizens vulnerable to any danger they encounter. This created a dilemma about how to proceed with such a large move to the surface.

Adrian looked around him and stayed quiet. Even with his high-level space power, he couldn’t create a massive space tear to take everyone with him.

Grace frowned at the problem at hand, coming up empty on how to resolve it. Then a thought flickered in her mind. "The hidden families.’’ she muttered softly to herself.

"Everyone, return to your posts and prepare for the move. I might have a way to handle this. Meeting adorned." Grace instructed, then rose to her feet and left the room in hurried strides—she needed to visit her father-in-law.

Adrian jogged after her, sensing that if he stayed here any longer, he would be forced to repeat everything he said about the surface again until they were satisfied.

He fanned himself as he caught up with Grace—feeling tightness in his chest and shortness of breath in his lungs.

"Aunty, is there anything you need my help with? If not, I want to go back. Daniel and the others are waiting for me." Adrian asked; he couldn’t wait to return; it felt stuffy.

He tugged at his collar and tried to breathe smoothly, shaking his head to shake off the sudden dizziness.

Grace observed his expression and restlessness, wondering what was bothering him. "Are you okay? You can go back home and rest," she said with concern, mistaking his agitation for tiredness or stress.

"Aunty, it’s better I return to the surface. I don’t feel so good... hh... the walls are closing in,’’ Adrian whispered in a shaky voice, his face going pale as his vision blurred.

Grace quickly reached out for him before he could fall to the ground. Her heart skipped a beat in fear as she felt his forehead to check for a fever.

Noticing that his temperature was lower than usual and that he was sweating heavily, she quickly sent energy into his body to help ease whatever was happening.

"How is your body? Were you overusing your powers to get here?" Grace asked as she helped him toward the lift. She planned to either take him to a healer or to his home to rest, depending on what he was suffering from.

Adrian couldn’t explain what he was feeling—he just wanted to go back to the surface. The cave walls and oppressive darkness were closing in, making it hard for him to breathe.

"Aunty... take me back... to the dungeon entrance, I need to leave here," Adrian unconsciously pleaded as he unbuttoned his shirt.

Grace frowned, but noticing his desperation to go, she couldn’t help but give in.

"Alright, I’ll explain to your dad when I go see your grandpa. You’re sure you don’t need a healer?" she asked again, staring at his pale face with concern.

"No... Dungeon entrance." Adrian answered weakly as the lift reached the ground floor.

She helped him to the bus and hurried back into the building to bring another space user along.

Adrian watched through the window as Grace and a skinny, dark-haired man headed toward the bus.

"He will help open the dungeon, and the rest is up to you." Grace nodded to the man who entered the back seat as she took the driver’s seat.

"Mhm." Adrian hummed and closed his eyes to relax.

Grace cast one final glance at him before she started the car.

...

Marvin and the others sat around a bonfire, the skewered meat roasting as its grease dripped onto the fire and sizzled.

"Did Adrian tell you when he would return?" Alex asked, turning the skewer to the side so it would roast evenly.

"Nah, he just rushed into the space tear without saying anything, but it won’t take long, I guess," Daniel responded as he took a bite of the washed pear.

"Wash this too." Marvin moved a bowl of fruit closer for Cole to use his water ability to rinse it.

Cole looked at him with a bland expression before filling the bowl with water.

"It’s done," Zoey announced as she pulled a skewer out of the fire. The others grabbed theirs and started eating while discussing their next plans around the fire.

Well into the night, when they were about to go to bed, one of them stayed on guard for the night.

A space tear suddenly appeared ahead of them, and they watched in surprise as Adrian’s pale figure staggered out.

"Well, that was quick," Daniel muttered aloud as he stood up.

"Help him over to my tent," Marvin instructed as he spread his fur blanket on the ground, and Cole and Alex helped Adrian in.

"Hhh...fresh air." Adrian breathed in and out, exaggerating, a comfortable feeling spreading through his body.

"What happened to you? Did you space tear fail?" Alex and Marvin asked in unison.

Assuming he hadn’t gone back to Oasis City at all, or he wouldn’t have returned within four hours.

Everyone surrounded him, waiting for his response

Adrian remained quiet as he looked at the star-filled sky.

"I’m never going back to that place again. It was as if all my breath was being sucked out of my lungs with an overwhelming feeling of suffocation," Adrian explained, his tone lingering with fear.

"Did you go to Oasis City or didn’t you?" Daniel impatiently asked what was on everyone’s mind.