Ch.173Into the Unknown!

# 173

The building housing Singleton Detective Agency and its surrounding area, while near Las Vegas, was close to the old town, filled with dilapidated facilities and vagrants.

Finding that distinctively well-dressed android wouldn’t be too difficult.

‘There he is.’

As Dexter scanned the surroundings with narrowed eyes, he spotted the only man wearing a long-sleeved coat.

He thought the android would have gone much farther, but he was walking slowly toward somewhere.

‘I didn’t expect to have to tail him.’

Dexter’s original plan was to rough up the man who had filed a request related to him at the detective agency, then mix in some subtle threats to find out who was behind it.

If he had planned to follow someone, he wouldn’t have worn such conspicuous, attention-grabbing clothes.

This certainly wasn’t Dexter’s fashion choice; this “lumberjack” outfit was the result of Jesse and Emily rummaging through his closet and forcibly dressing him up, insisting this style would suit him today.

‘I’m a correctional officer, not a lumberjack. And where are there even trees in Nevada?’

‘It’s my first love’s style!’

‘What, don’t tell me Paul Bunyan was your first love?’

‘It would’ve been perfect with a blue ox.’

‘Unbelievable. Just you wait. I’ll definitely get both you and Emily into bunny girl outfits someday.’

Recalling the morning’s events, Dexter looked over his outfit once more and frowned deeply.

‘How embarrassing. What is this?’

It was definitely eye-catching enough that passersby would occasionally glance his way, making even Dexter, who rarely felt embarrassed, feel heat around his neck.

As he followed the android from a distance, the android suddenly stopped and began looking around.

Noticing this unusual behavior, Dexter briefly hid himself, then realized the android was standing in a somewhat unusual place.

It was a spot with a payphone, something increasingly rare these days.

‘He hasn’t noticed he’s being followed; is he waiting for someone at the payphone?’

Since the android was looking around mainly in front, not behind, it was clear he was searching for someone rather than checking if he was being followed.

Dexter entered the nearest building and carefully observed the android from a second-floor corridor window.

As the android stood motionless in front of the payphone waiting for someone, Dexter fell into deep thought.

‘How on Earth did an android get to Earth… No, wait, Eliya brought in debt collection robots too. But at least those showed life-like responses. Where did they get such an obvious android…’

An Asian man in a suit approached the android.

However, this Asian man didn’t look like an ordinary office worker.

‘A gangster? Mafia?’

There was something “sharp” about him.

Looking closely, Dexter noticed that the inner pocket of the Asian man’s jacket was unusually bulging.

‘A gun?’

Though it wasn’t a crowded city street, there were still occasional pedestrians, making Dexter wonder how to subdue them.

When the two started moving together, Dexter immediately left the building and began following them.

Pretending to look at his phone with his head down, Dexter followed the pair. As they headed toward increasingly deserted alleyways, he increased the distance between them.

‘Where are they going through these back alleys?’

It was strange that they were walking this distance rather than driving.

The two continued into increasingly desolate areas, eventually stopping near a highway where cars zoomed past.

When they stopped, Dexter immediately hid at a distance. The two looked around, including behind where Dexter was hiding, then headed toward a drainage ditch.

‘Another drainage ditch?’

With the reappearance of a drainage ditch, Dexter’s mind flashed to the General and the Encyclopedia case.

Quickly deducing that his tail was working for the General, Dexter stopped near the drainage ditch.

‘I can’t handle this alone.’

Having acted alone to catch his stalker without calling Jesse or Himena, Dexter realized the situation was bigger than expected and immediately called Himena.

-What? What’s going on?

“I was wondering if you still had the area assignments from when we searched with the LVMPD personnel.”

-Yeah, I should still have them. Why?

“Remember I told you about someone following me when I was with Judy? I looked into it and found a guy working with some android. Could you check my current location and let me know if there are any agents assigned to this area?”

-Got it. Be careful, and I’ll find someone to contact you directly.

After the two entered the drainage ditch, Dexter received another call.

-Agent Hughes?

“Yes, it’s fine to talk, there’s no one around. Go ahead.”

-This is Hank, I searched Sector 23. I heard you’re at the drainage ditch in Sector 23, is that correct?

“I was wondering if you noticed anything unusual when searching that drainage ditch. Two suspicious individuals just entered there, and well, you know.”

Dexter said with a bitter smile.

-The police officer I was searching with mentioned that drainage ditch was unusually cold. I felt it too and noted it in my report, but…

“Cold?”

-Yes. It got colder the deeper we went, which seemed strange, but just as we were about to go further, we received orders to end the search. That’s when you three discovered the laboratory.

‘Cold in this weather?’

Even for an underground drainage ditch that received less sunlight and was relatively cooler, it shouldn’t feel cold.

“I see. Do you happen to have the drainage ditch blueprints? Could you send photos to this phone?”

-Yes, I’ll send them right away.

Shortly after receiving the blueprints, Dexter examined them carefully.

“…What’s this?”

Comparing the blueprints of the drainage ditch where he had previously found the laboratory with his current location, Dexter noticed something strange.

‘What’s this empty space?’

It was quite different from the drainage ditch Dexter had investigated before.

Specifically, certain parts of the drainage ditch on the blueprints were unusually thick, and there were empty spaces that hadn’t existed in the drainage ditch Dexter had investigated.

‘Almost like spaces large enough for a person to pass through.’

Dexter was starting to develop a neurosis.

Why did Las Vegas drainage ditches have such features?

The OSA headquarters was also underground, and everything related to the Encyclopedia was connected to underground facilities.

By this point, even Dexter, who had never met the General, couldn’t help but think there was something hidden in Las Vegas’s underground passages.

‘Will I only be able to live in peace if I catch and beat up the General?’

“Tsk.”

Clicking his tongue, Dexter sent a brief message to Himena on his phone before heading to his pickup truck parked nearby. He needed to retrieve his blaster and flashlight from the glove compartment.

* * *

‘This place stinks like hell.’

The sewage from the neighborhood seemed to flow here; the floor was soaked with wastewater, and various pieces of garbage and decaying matter floated around.

Fortunately, his shoes were ankle-high boots; if they had been regular sneakers, Jesse would have beaten Dexter’s back severely.

After waiting at the drainage entrance for about five minutes and hearing nothing, Dexter ventured inside. He checked his phone as it vibrated in his pocket.

-Are you okay?

>Don’t worry too much, just station a couple of available OSA agents near the drainage ditch. Just in case something happens.

-Are you REALLY sure it’s nothing serious???? I’m worried sick!!!

>I survived 15 years in space without knowing anyone, this is nothing.

-If I wasn’t in a meeting right now, I’d seriously give you a piece of my mind!!!

Dexter smiled at Himena’s messages.

>Focus on your meeting, and I’ll see you tonight for dinner.

Wiping the smile from his face, Dexter gripped his non-lethal blaster and ventured deeper into the drainage ditch.

‘If police and OSA agents couldn’t find it, it must be well hidden.’

Plus, as Hank had said, the air in the drainage ditch felt cold.

‘Suspicious.’

It wasn’t cold enough to see his breath yet, but he had a feeling the cold would intensify.

Examining the blueprints on his dimmed phone, Dexter was about to enter the section with many empty spaces on the design.

‘There’s definitely no visible difference on the outside.’

Externally, it looked no different from the drainage ditch Dexter had visited before.

Concrete walls that were visibly thick, and a straight passage that would be endlessly dark without light.

But it was unnaturally cold.

‘Cold enough to make me regret wearing short sleeves.’

It wasn’t the kind of energy that ordinary people couldn’t detect or that would make the body curl up.

Literally, it felt like cold air was being emitted from somewhere, lowering the temperature.

‘The low temperature must be connected to those guys somehow.’

If a suspicious person who hired a private detective to follow Dexter, ostensibly a correctional officer, entered an unusually cold drainage ditch unlike others, it couldn’t be a coincidence upon coincidence.

‘Everything must be inside here.’

There had to be a connection.

With this in mind, Dexter continued walking while carefully examining his surroundings.

As he walked endlessly, Dexter detected that the temperature had risen slightly from before.

‘I can’t tell exactly how many degrees, but it’s a bit higher than before. Then, that means?’

It meant there was a source of cold air in the area he had just passed.

Dexter needed to examine more carefully, and with only everyday items on him, he had to think of a solution.

‘Do I have to use my body after all?’

The method Dexter thought of was very simple, but difficult for anyone but him to execute.

Feeling around.

He would directly touch the concrete walls with his bare hands to detect which part was coldest.

Dexter didn’t close his eyes, but focused as much as possible on his fingertips as he felt around.

‘This wall is damn cold, seriously.’

It felt like touching ice that wouldn’t melt.

Moreover, the concrete wall wasn’t smooth but had many rough parts, making his fingertips quickly become sore.

‘I don’t know why I have to do this crap because of that bastard.’

As Dexter’s anger unconsciously built up…

He found a spot where the cold was so intense he had to pull his hand away, with a gap so tiny it was almost imperceptible unless examined very closely.

‘Found it.’

Seeing weak air flowing through the gap, Dexter began shining his light around the area.

‘If it’s not here, there’s no answer. There should be something to push or a hole to insert something into.’

It definitely wouldn’t be as crude as jamming a crowbar into this tiny gap and forcing it open.

‘I don’t want to do that, and it would increase the chances of being discovered.’

Looking around, he couldn’t see any holes, and wearing a short-sleeved shirt, Dexter was feeling chilly and didn’t want to stay long.

“Haah.”

Seeing no solution, Dexter sighed deeply and decided to lightly tap the opposite wall.

-Tuk, tuk.

It was the solid sound commonly associated with a wall backed by nothing but ground.

-Teng, teng….

The sound was different.

‘There’s definitely a space behind this.’

Dexter continued tapping the wall.

‘There might be a thinner section somewhere.’

-Teng, teng, teng… tong, teng….

A spot with a distinctly different sound.

It was thinner than the adjacent wall.

After continued tapping, Dexter determined that the thinnest part of the wall was closest to the tiny gap and approximately the size of a standard doorway.

It was definitely an entrance.

‘The question is how to get in.’

Dexter fell into deep thought.