Ch.163Cowabunga!

“So you went ahead and did it after all.”

“Did it? What kind of talk is that?”

“What does Jesse think about it?”

“If I had my way, I’d put her in a steel panty with a padlock on it.”

“You really have no filter, even in front of the person you’re talking about.”

The three people engaged in this unexpected banter were exploring the drainage channel where the Encyclopedia had appeared.

Dexter, unwilling to be caught unprepared like last time, had armed himself with not only a pistol and blaster but also carried an American military rifle loaded with armor-piercing rounds on his back.

“What about the old man?”

“The old man? Oh, Mr. Pilgrim? I told him to wait at the office, of course.”

“He might have enjoyed coming along.”

“He’s probably having an exciting conversation with the Science and Technology Department engineers by now. That’s what he enjoys most anyway.”

As the three searched through the drainage channel, they were surprised to find a pile of surprisingly domestic items in one corner.

“People really do live in drainage channels?”

“Scorpions live here, rats live here, and people live here too.”

Jesse spoke as if this was familiar to her.

“About a thousand people live in these drainage channels and sewers.”

“I guess since it hardly ever rains in Nevada, water rarely flows through these channels… and there’s not much of a smell either.”

“You know Jasper from Block 2, that really skinny Black guy?”

“Oh yeah, I know him. His charge was murder, wasn’t it?”

“He lived here for about three years, they say.”

“Three years in a place like this?”

Himena, who had just flinched at the sight of a passing rat, was astonished to hear this.

“Well, we don’t gamble, but this is Las Vegas. I heard there are many people who get addicted to gambling, lose everything, are too ashamed to go back home… and end up living in places like this.”

“What’s so great about gambling anyway?”

Himena had tried some light games like slot machines, blackjack, and roulette when she first arrived in Las Vegas, but she only bet small amounts of money.

“How much did you bet?”

“About 100 dollars? By the end, I’d won about 2,000 dollars. Those games go by quickly, you know.”

When Himena shrugged nonchalantly, Dexter and Jesse looked at her incredulously.

Of course, that was pocket change from Himena’s perspective, but for Dexter and Jesse, it was a large sum.

The two, unable to comprehend Himena’s financial sensibilities, whispered to each other.

“The rich really are different. Casually betting 100 dollars like it’s nothing.”

“Common folk like us wouldn’t understand.”

“Hey, why are you two whispering without me?”

As Himena grumbled, they came upon a fork in the drainage channel.

“A fork in the road?”

“Looking at the wheel tracks, I think it’s this way.”

When Dexter shined his light down the left passage, they could see tire tracks with some reddish-brown substance and marks on the walls where something had repeatedly crashed into them.

“I guess that’s what made those thumping sounds back then.”

Himena said as she ran her hand along the wall where something had clearly crashed with force.

“So we need to keep going this way.”

As Dexter nodded heavily and rechecked his pistol, the radio attached to Himena’s chest crackled to life.

-…This is Delta, Delta team. What’s the current progress of Alpha team?

“We’ve found traces of the suspect’s vehicle and are focusing on that. How about you?”

-We’ve discovered several illegal residents and are currently handing them over to LVMPD. Please radio if anything unusual occurs.

“Roger that.”

After Himena returned the radio to its place, Dexter casually asked.

“Which one was Delta team again?”

“The rapid response team, I think. They’re probably paired with Las Vegas police…”

-Squeak!

“I really hate this place… I think this is the first time I’ve ever wanted to go back to the office…”

While Himena complained about a passing rat, Dexter observed it carefully.

“It’s plump.”

“Rats are disgusting even when they’re plump.”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

Dexter rubbed his chin as he spoke.

“In a drainage channel like this, the only things to eat would be scorpions or other rats, so what’s making it so plump?”

“Since it’s a drainage channel, maybe it’s eating garbage or something like that?”

Dexter shook his head at Jesse’s speculation.

“If that were the case, there would be a garbage smell, but there isn’t any. There must be something somewhere that rats can feed on.”

“Oh, please don’t talk about things like corpses…”

“Well, we’d have to see to know.”

“See what… I really hate that kind of thing. Ugh.”

Himena shuddered slightly, afraid there might actually be a corpse.

As the three continued their careful exploration of the drainage channel…

Something appeared before them that shouldn’t be in a drainage channel.

It was an iron door that had clearly been installed by human hands, and obviously constructed within the last few years.

The iron door, which opened up and down like a garage door, was peculiar in that it was half-open and painted black.

“An iron door shouldn’t be here, right?”

“Right. There shouldn’t be an iron door in a place designed for water drainage. But it looks like the Encyclopedia came out from here.”

As Dexter shined his light on the door, he discovered that it was dented in several places and had teal paint on it.

“Look at this.”

Dexter scraped off some of the teal paint with his finger and showed it to Jesse and Himena.

“Teal… the Encyclopedia’s car was teal, wasn’t it?”

“It’s not a common color, so there’s a good chance it’s from the Encyclopedia’s car.”

With those words, Dexter gently pushed the door to see if it would move.

It opened and closed smoothly without a sound, as if it had been recently oiled, suggesting it was indeed a recently installed door.

“Let’s go further in.”

After the three passed through the iron door and ventured deeper, Jesse, who had been sniffing the air, frowned and said:

“I smell burning. A bit of gasoline too… and burning plastic.”

“Something was burned here.”

As the three slowly approached the source of the smell, they suddenly entered an illuminated area.

It was a space where rainwater from various parts of Las Vegas temporarily collected, and it was so large that their flashlights couldn’t illuminate the entire area at once.

However, it seemed someone had deliberately blocked it off, as there was no water visible except at the bottom. There were folding metal ladders that looked recently placed and various everyday trash scattered around.

“I can smell burning too, but I can’t pinpoint exactly where it’s coming from.”

Dexter also sniffed the air.

As Jesse had said, there was a faint smell of something burned, but it was difficult to locate the source.

“Over there.”

Himena pointed her light at what appeared to be an ordinary metal swing door with a handle, the kind commonly seen in tunnel facilities.

While it was a typical metal door found in such facilities, Himena shook her head and said:

“Look at this. This is definitely a place for collecting rainwater. But there shouldn’t be any facilities here.”

Himena showed the underground drainage system blueprint of Las Vegas on her phone to the other two.

“According to the blueprint, that should be a drainage channel connected to another area, not a door.”

“So there’s a high probability that something is hidden there.”

Himena nodded at Dexter’s words.

“We have no choice but to go in there.”

“How do you want to handle this?”

If all three went together, Dexter couldn’t protect both of them while also looking after himself in case of danger. If he went with Himena, Jesse would be left alone and vulnerable.

“Well, I guess there’s no other way.”

Dexter looked at Himena and Jesse and said:

“You two stay here. I’ll go in first.”

“You’re going alone? Really?”

“I can’t look after both of you. Unless I had three hands.”

“But it could be dangerous.”

“Better than both of you being in danger.”

Dexter shrugged and approached the swing door.

“The burning smell is getting stronger. This must be the right way.”

“Be careful, honey.”

“Yeah, don’t do anything reckless.”

“It’s fine. My instinct tells me it’s safe.”

According to Dexter’s instinct, there were no living beings on the other side.

Even if there were, they would likely be as small as the rats or scorpions they had seen so far.

Still, just to be safe, Dexter held his gun and slowly opened the door, shining his flashlight around.

“This is…”

When Dexter, who hadn’t fully entered the room and was just illuminating it with his light, couldn’t finish his sentence, Jesse and Himena asked simultaneously:

“What is it?”

“Is there something?”

“No, it’s just… it looks like someone blew everything up.”

Dexter pointed with his finger.

“Blew up? What?”

“You’ll see when you look.”

Only after Dexter entered the room and searched it a few more times did he gesture for the two to come in.

The two entered through the swing door and made subtle expressions.

“It really is completely burned…”

The place was generally messy, and as Dexter had said, the walls and ceiling were covered in soot.

Additionally, there were traces of something that had been shattered and burned, and the floor was littered with half-burned papers and glass shards, indicating that both an explosion and a fire had occurred.

“Looking at how even the metal tables are dented, I’m guessing they used some kind of small bomb to blow it up, right?”

Dexter nodded at Himena’s words.

“I understand they blew it up for security reasons, but if they were going to do that, the Encyclopedia should have disappeared too.”

“But the Encyclopedia came to us… Oh, are you talking about the timing?”

“Yeah. It seems like they blew it up after the Encyclopedia was discovered by us.”

Jesse, who was crouching and looking at the black debris on the floor, listened to their conversation and said:

“There are car tools here too, so this was probably the experimental site.”

“Tools?”

“It looks like they tried to blow up the toolbox too but couldn’t. Probably because most of it is metal.”

Jesse pointed to a half-melted toolbox.

“What do you think, Jesse?”

“There are car maintenance tools here, and there’s a pallet over there… I think most of it was done here.”

Since most car maintenance items were made of metal, many items couldn’t be completely destroyed by a small bomb.

Looking around, Himena realized there was hardly any salvageable evidence, but she thought that more specialized investigators might find something.

“I think the Science and Technology Department should conduct a detailed investigation. We might destroy evidence if we handle it too much.”

“Yeah, well. Their people might know better than us… Jesse, what are you staring at?”

“Isn’t that a bag?”

“A bag?”

Jesse, who had been carefully examining the floor, pointed to a gap between metal tables.

It was a gap between a metal table and another table, wide enough for a fist to easily fit through.

And in that gap was a metal briefcase covered in soot.

“It does look like a bag.”

Dexter approached and pulled the bag from the gap, revealing a silver metal briefcase the size of a standard document case.

“What if there’s a bomb inside?”

“I don’t think it’s a bomb… but just to be safe, can we call EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) to come here?”

“That should be possible. Let’s leave it there for now… and wait for the EOD and investigators to arrive.”

Dexter looked at the metal briefcase on the floor and thought.

‘Is this the only proper piece of evidence left?’

Dexter wondered what could be inside this briefcase.