Ch.174Into the Unknown! (2)

#174

“Wait a minute, how did they get in there anyway?”

Dexter, who had been pacing around with his flashlight off, pointed the beam toward the floor.

Shining the light directly onto the filthy sewage-covered ground, Dexter grimaced at the garbage and waste before noticing a footprint.

The drainage channel was shaped like an octagon with a long width and short height, resembling a rectangle. The diagonal vertical width was only about the size of Dexter’s foot.

And there, a damp footprint remained.

There was about a 1mm difference in height around the footprint, suggesting someone had stepped precisely on that spot.

This had been Dexter’s blind spot—he’d been looking only at the walls, not properly examining the floor.

‘No way.’

When Dexter placed his foot on that section and pressed down firmly, part of the wall retreated with a rattling sound, creating an opening large enough for a person to pass through.

Along with it came a biting cold that cut through his skin. Dexter shivered violently but grinned.

‘Here it is.’

As Dexter entered the passage, he found very dim lights embedded in the ceiling, just bright enough to prevent light from leaking outside.

Seeing round, faintly glowing objects embedded in the wall that weren’t connected to any wiring, Dexter glanced at them briefly before moving forward, thinking:

‘Judging by the slight metallic taste in my mouth, these must be radioactive materials.’

Dexter tasted the inside of his mouth with his tongue as he pondered.

The radiation didn’t seem concentrated enough to cause illness, so he continued through the winding passage until he was greeted by illumination incomparably brighter than before.

“…What do you mean? You gave them an extra week?”

“Well, that stupid private detective couldn’t complete the job properly.”

“This is so frustrating! And you call yourself a mafioso?”

“You said if I pushed too hard, he’d run away…”

At the end of the passage was a large room with a thick blast door.

The room was positioned below the passage level, with a metal mesh floor connecting them, requiring one to descend via metal stairs.

Inside were outdated electronic equipment that looked like Cold War relics, devices of unknown purpose, and three men surrounding a slumped android.

‘Is this a Cold War-era bunker?’

The scene of three Asian men who appeared to be mafia members in a Cold War bunker was an unusual sight.

‘Triad? Yakuza? Who are these guys?’

Dexter crouched low, eavesdropping on their conversation.

“If it weren’t for what that bastard ordered, we wouldn’t be suffering like this.”

“Watch your mouth. Who knows what that bastard might do.”

“Ugh.”

‘That bastard?’

So there was someone else who controlled these Asian mafia members who in turn controlled the android.

‘Judging by how they call him “that bastard,” he seems quite different from the project leader the Director General personally hired.’

Dexter concluded that these three men weren’t hired through secretive, loyal employment, but rather through extremely coercive means.

‘Based on their conversation, it’s half blackmail.’

“But why are we investigating a prison guard? Did we commit a crime against him?”

“Even with the voice distortion, you could feel how much he hated that guard. Maybe the guard stole his girlfriend.”

“But have you seen that guard’s arms? Even Liu wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“Don’t even mention it. That bastard claims he can take someone down in less than 10 seconds. That’s why I hired the private detective.”

“True, how could we tail someone like that? We’re not crazy.”

“I hope that Sinkerton or Pinkerton guy didn’t get caught, but it seems like he did.”

‘Pretty sharp.’

Dexter silently laughed at the man who had correctly guessed that the private detective Sinkerton had been caught tailing him long ago.

“Instead of sending the android, later we should directly… Wait, that sewage smell…”

The man who stopped mid-sentence looked around and began sniffing.

“Didn’t you and that android wash up?”

“Yes, you told us to wash because of the smell, so we did.”

“Then why does it smell again?”

‘Oh shit.’

Dexter’s shoes were still covered in sewage.

Never dreaming he’d be caught by something like this, Dexter immediately raised his blaster and aimed at the man who appeared to be the leader.

Then he launched a preemptive strike.

-Pong!

With a light sound, the plasma flew straight into the man’s face, instantly preventing him from breathing.

“What the!”

“Over there!”

When the leader was attacked first, the man with the shortest hair among the two who were looking around pulled out a pistol from inside his jacket and tried to fire at Dexter.

“Where do you think!”

Dexter leaped up, jumped over the metal railing, and landed on the floor.

Then he drove an attack with his blaster-holding hand into the short-haired man’s chin.

“Gak!”

With a short cry, the short-haired man collapsed. The remaining man also tried to pull out his gun but flinched when he saw Dexter approaching him rapidly.

In that moment of hesitation, Dexter delivered an effective jab to his solar plexus with his left fist, while his right hand holding the blaster targeted the right side of the jaw.

After this quick hit-and-run attack caused the man’s head to jerk to the left, Dexter followed with an uppercut to the lower jaw with his left hand.

“……”

The last man also collapsed to the floor after the attack that came like the wind.

Having subdued all three men without breaking a sweat, Dexter scanned the surroundings and took out his mobile phone from his pocket.

‘Is there a signal here?’

The mobile phone signal showed only one bar, but at least it was working.

Dexter sent a text message to Himena with a brief description of the situation so agents could come to the bunker, and in the meantime, he began to explore.

While bunkers themselves weren’t unusual, Dexter had never seen one hidden so secretly. He glanced at the three men.

‘How did these guys know about this bunker? And where did they get the android?’

Detecting a faint scent of men’s cologne from the still motionless android, Dexter pondered deeply.

Even Dexter had only discovered this hidden space through his heightened senses, finding the location through subtle cues that ordinary people would have missed.

This bunker was too well-hidden for these seemingly weak mafia members to have found on their own.

‘They don’t look particularly intelligent, wealthy, or powerful.’

As Dexter wandered around the bunker, he noticed a small metal nameplate about the length of a finger on one of the electronic devices.

[Property of HTC]

He could tell the inscription was an abbreviation for a company or owner, but he couldn’t determine exactly what it meant.

‘HTC?’

It sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite remember where he’d heard it before.

‘I’ll have to ask the agents when they arrive.’

* * *

“HTC was the holding company of Howard Hughes, known as the Baron of Las Vegas.”

William, with a beaming expression now that his area of expertise had come up, explained.

On the large monitor behind William was a presentation slide showing Howard Hughes standing with his hands behind his back in front of an airplane.

“HTC stands for Hughes Tool Company. Originally, it was Howard Hughes’ company that manufactured drills for oil drilling. As you know, Howard Hughes was quite an eccentric character. He would buy a hotel because its sign was too bright near his bedroom, or purchase a broadcasting station because they wouldn’t show his favorite movie as a late-night feature.”

“Yes, I know he was eccentric. I’ve even been teased by kids asking if my grandfather’s name was Howard because we share the same last name.”

“Is your grandfather’s name really Howard?”

At Jesse’s question, Dexter replied with exasperation.

“Your last name means blue bug, so are you from ‘A Bug’s Life’?”

“The ‘bug’ in my name doesn’t mean insect, you know?”

“I just happen to have the same last name!”

“Are you children? Fighting over something like that? Let’s listen to Mr. Pilgrim, shall we?”

As Himena frowned and spoke, Dexter and Jesse grumbled at each other.

William cleared his throat to get their attention and continued.

“Ahem! I didn’t know this until I joined the OSA, but Howard Hughes played a significant role in establishing the OSA headquarters beneath Las Vegas.”

“Are you saying Howard Hughes participated in building the OSA headquarters?”

“That’s what they say. When the early OSA wasn’t receiving much support, he provided land and made many technical suggestions. Is that right?”

William looked intently at Himena, who nodded in affirmation.

“Mr. Pilgrim is correct. I was taught that Herbert Dashwood, the first Director of the OSA, received a lot of help from Howard Hughes. That’s why some products from Howard Hughes’ company incorporated alien technology. But, um… his tastes were quite unique, and the technology at that time had many limitations, so I heard there were many failures.”

“Wait, so it sounds like Howard Hughes didn’t get much in return for helping the OSA?”

“No, they thoroughly avenged his death.”

“Didn’t he just die alone in Mexico?”

Himena shook her head at Dexter’s question.

“To be precise, I heard he was attacked by an alien monster called El Chuero while living in Mexico, and they tried to treat him in the US but failed. So OSA agents captured El Chuero. If you go to the underground repository, you can see El Chuero’s taxidermy.”

“There’s really a taxidermied El Chuero?”

“Yes, Mr. Pilgrim should go see it sometime. It’s smaller than you might expect.”

As the two continued their conversation about El Chuero, Dexter waved his hand to interrupt and brought the topic back to the main point.

“Anyway, Howard Hughes helped the OSA a lot, but died because of an alien monster. So?”

“There’s a rumor that circulated within the OSA.”

Himena, seemingly uncertain, pursed her lips a few times before speaking.

“They say Howard Hughes died because he possessed alien technology and treasures unknown even to the OSA.”

“Isn’t it natural for such rumors to circulate about the richest and most famous person in Las Vegas?”

“If that were all, it would have remained just a rumor. The problem is that some OSA agents seriously believed it and went looking for it. Besides, Howard Hughes had no children.”

“Come on, that doesn’t make sense.”

“He actually had many connections with alien engineers when he built airplanes. So they say the rumor isn’t completely baseless.”

“Agent Himena is right. The idea that Howard Hughes’ legacy is hidden somewhere in Las Vegas circulated even among ordinary people, and some are still searching for it today.”

When even William confirmed this, Dexter looked at both of them with a dissatisfied expression.

“Fine, let’s assume Howard Hughes’ legacy exists. Is it related to this case?”

“Of course! One of Howard Hughes’ bunkers has been discovered! And if those connected to the Director General are involved, Howard Hughes’ legacy might be one of the Director General’s objectives!”

“Himena, isn’t that too much of a stretch? What do you think, Mr. Pilgrim?”

“Agent Himena is simply following her intuition, but I don’t think it’s impossible. It’s hard to believe that individuals connected to the Director General coincidentally discovered a Howard Hughes bunker unknown even to the OSA.”

At this point, Dexter had to admit that all these incidents were connected.

‘So all of this is because of Howard Hughes’ legacy?’

It meant that the reason Director General Olivia was conducting a Negative-related project in Las Vegas where the OSA headquarters was located, and why many Las Vegas citizens were suffering, was all because of Howard Hughes, the Baron of Las Vegas.

‘What kind of legacy is it that would cause all this trouble?’

Dexter could only wonder about Director General Olivia’s actions—what connection could Howard Hughes’ legacy possibly have with the Negative that would prompt all this?