Chapter 129: Into the Depths

Time to Hunt[6]

Chapter 129:Into the Depths

I sat in the back seat and placed my bag on my lap. Marven sat beside me, a little too close... He pulled out his phone and started fiddling with it as the doors closed. The music and voices outside vanished all at once.

I glanced at the rearview mirror.

The man behind the wheel had short hair, graying at the temples. When I noticed the scar above his right eyebrow, I immediately recognized his face from the photos.

Dorian Hale.

Marven’s Guardian bodyguard.

His gray eyes turned toward me in the mirror. In the brief moment our gazes met, my fingers tightened around my bag. I looked away and turned toward the window.

Even with Marven sitting so close, it felt as though Dorian Hale was still between us.

Marven was still busy with his phone when the car started moving. Every so often, he tapped the screen. Sometimes he smiled at something he read before typing again.

Thankfully, he wasn’t talking.

I enjoyed that peaceful silence for the first part of the journey.

After a while, though, my eyes drifted toward Marven.

He was focused on his phone. His head was tilted slightly forward, leaving his neck completely exposed.

There was barely any distance between us, either.

For a moment, I considered killing him right here.

I could reach out and touch his neck right now. If I moved fast enough...

"Is something wrong?"

I looked up.

Dorian was watching me through the rearview mirror.

"Huh? N-no. Why?"

"You’ve seemed uneasy for a while."

"Ah, well... I’m just a little tired."

Instead of saying anything, he watched me for a few more seconds, then turned his attention back to the road.

I kept staring at the mirror.

Fuck...

Had he noticed?!

No. Impossible. I hadn’t even done anything yet. All I’d done was look at Marven.

But what if he suspected me?

I slowly leaned back and tightened my grip on my bag.

Apparently, I even had to watch where I looked around this man.

There was no traffic. As we passed through brightly lit streets, restaurants, supermarkets, and bus stops slipped by behind my reflection in the window. Then the buildings grew farther apart. Signs became scarce, and long stretches of darkness replaced the streetlights.

About an hour later, there were only trees on either side of the road.

I stopped watching my reflection and leaned forward. The asphalt illuminated by the headlights curved between the trees and disappeared from view.

"Marven..."

"Hm?"

He answered without looking up from his phone.

"Are you sure we’re going to the right place?"

I didn’t have to fake the concern in my voice. I was genuinely worried.

Sure, I’d agreed to go with him, but I’d imagined a factory or a company building somewhere in the city center.

A dark forest?

Fuck! What kind of idiot would agree to come somewhere like this with a perverted, deranged psychopath?!

If he tried something out here, there would be no one I could call for help.

There was a world of difference between what I’d envisioned at the start and the situation I was in now.

An assassination and a direct fight were completely different things, and under the current circumstances, an assassination didn’t seem very likely.

My gaze drifted toward the driver’s seat again.

I didn’t think I could handle both of them at once. I needed to catch Marven off guard. Right now, I was sitting in a cramped car, only a few steps away from his bodyguard.

"Yes," Marven said. "Places like this are dangerous, so there’s a stupid law requiring them to be built away from residential areas. Besides..."

He didn’t finish.

He turned off his phone’s screen and looked out the window.

"We’ll be there soon."

Besides what? Spit it out, you crazy bastard!

He’d just admitted the place was dangerous. What was he planning?

I wanted to ask, but I swallowed my curiosity, loosened my hands on my bag, and tried to hide my nerves.

I’m the hunter here.

Yes, I was!

This psycho is just my prey. There’s no reason to be afraid.

I reminded myself of that a few more times.

Unfortunately, it didn’t help much.

After a while, lights appeared between the trees. The road widened, and lamps along its edges began illuminating the car’s interior at short intervals.

Then the iron fences came into view.

Barbed wire ran along the top, with cameras facing away from the grounds at regular intervals. Small security booths stood on either side of the well-lit entrance.

As the car slowed in front of the gate, two guards approached. One leaned toward the driver’s side. After seeing Dorian, then Marven in the back seat, he straightened and signaled to the other guard.

They didn’t ask any questions.

A moment later, the iron gate opened.

Once we were inside, I realized just how large the grounds were. Three factory buildings stood side by side on the left. White light spilled from their high windows, and thick pipes attached to their exterior walls wound between the buildings. Farther ahead, cylindrical tanks and smokestacks rose into the air.

Containers lined a wide loading area. A few workers standing beside an enclosed truck watched the car pass. Yellow lines painted on the ground separated the lanes from the storage areas.

Everything seemed to be operating. Metallic noises came from somewhere in the distance, and a sharp smell mingled with fuel in the air.

The car didn’t stop in front of the illuminated buildings.

It passed them and headed toward the rear of the grounds. The windows of the buildings here were dark. One had a crumbling exterior, with weeds growing in front of its loading door.

When the car finally stopped, Marven pocketed his phone and got out. Just as I reached for the handle, he opened my door from outside and offered me his hand.

"We’re here."

I can see that.

I stared at his outstretched hand in disgust.

Is this pervert addicted to touching people or something? Why does he try to hold my hand every chance he gets?!

As much as I hated it, I took his hand, and we started walking.

I think I’ll have to cut this hand off and grow a new one once this is over...

Dorian followed behind us. The muscles between my shoulders tightened with every footstep I heard.

Marven didn’t lead me toward the operating factories. Instead, we approached an old building with peeling paint and a wide metal door.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Where the really fun toys are."

He turned to smile at me, then gestured toward the illuminated buildings.

"All that ordinary stuff is just for show."

Cold, heavy air drifted out when the old factory’s door opened. In the darkness, I could barely make out the pale light filtering through broken sections of the roof.

Dorian reached past us and pressed a switch on the wall.

Some of the overhead lights flickered on.

Dust-covered machines, empty shelves, and rusty parts scattered across the floor came into view. Old tire marks streaked the ground. Paint had blistered along one section of the wall, and a cable hung in a loose curl from the ceiling.

Clearly, nothing had been manufactured here in a long time.

We walked toward the rear of the building. Dorian moved ahead and stopped beside a wide metal panel resting against the wall. When he reached into the narrow gap at its edge, a brief mechanical sound came from within.

The panel slid aside.

There was an elevator behind it.

Its gleaming metal surface looked out of place among the rusty walls.

"A secret passage?"

Marven laughed at the surprise on my face.

"It’s a little early to be surprised."

I was about to approach the elevator when Marven suddenly stopped.

"Layla."

"Hm?"

He studied my face for a moment.

"Are you scared?"

The unexpected question made me hesitate.

"No. Why would I be?"

"I don’t know."

He smiled and squeezed my hand a little tighter.

"But it would be fine if you were. Most people are scared the first time they come here."

"..."

Most people?

Wait a second.

Who had he brought here before?

Remembering the human heart he’d shown me earlier made my stomach turn.

"Do you bring a lot of guests here?"

"Every now and then."

Marven shrugged.

"Of course, not everyone gets the chance to come here. You’re quite lucky, Layla."

Am I...?

I didn’t feel lucky at all.

In fact, I felt like one of the unluckiest people in the world right now.

"I hope you like what you see."

He was smiling as he said it.

I tried to return the smile.

"I hope so too."

What happens if I don’t? Are you going to give me a refund, you psycho?!

Dorian was waiting for us inside the elevator.

Without letting go of my hand, Marven pulled me in beside him.

My stomach dipped slightly as the doors closed and the elevator began to move.

We were going down.

Lights passing beyond the narrow window washed my face in blue, then white. We passed a floor; an enclosed corridor appeared for a moment before sliding out of sight above us. Then another...

The cycle continued.

"How far underground is this place?"

Marven looked up at the ceiling, pretending to think.

"Thirty meters or something, I think. I don’t know. Who cares?"

I do!

I was about to ask him something else when the elevator passed another floor.

This one was different.

The corridor’s lights were red.

Two people in white protective suits stood near the walls. Masks covered their faces, and a wheeled stretcher stood between them.

Whatever lay on it was completely covered by a white sheet.

At first, I couldn’t tell what it was.

But as the elevator descended a little farther, something hanging out from beneath the sheet caught my eye.

A hand.

A human hand.

Its long fingers dangled over the edge of the stretcher, reminding me of a monster’s claw.

What...

I blinked.

The elevator kept descending, and the corridor disappeared from view.

"Marven..."

"Hm?"

"Just now..."

As I tried to figure out how to phrase it, Marven turned toward me.

"Ah, did you see them?"

"..."

He’d seen it.

He’d seen the stretcher, and he hadn’t been surprised at all.

"Don’t worry. We’re not going to that floor."

"...I see."

What do you mean, don’t worry?!

What I’d just seen was definitely a person!

Or it had been once...

Whatever that thing was, I didn’t think it was human anymore. Those fingers couldn’t possibly belong to a human.

I looked at Dorian.

He stood facing the doors as though nothing had happened.

Marven, meanwhile, had taken out his phone again.

Are you two even human?

After a while, the elevator stopped.

The doors opened onto a corridor lit by white lights.

There was no trace of the dark, dusty factory above. The walls were clean, the floor gleamed, and long ceiling lights stretched all the way to the end of the corridor.

Dorian stepped out.

Marven finally let go of my hand and followed him.

Oh, finally!

I was about to take a step when a voice behind me made me stop.

"Sir Henry."

I turned my head.

Oswald stood behind me.

He was still inside the elevator, his hands clasped behind his back. His expression was as calm as ever.

"I believe in you."

He believed in me, huh...

It was a little unfortunate to hear that from an old man instead of a pretty girl. Under different circumstances, I probably would’ve gotten pretty fired up.

Still, the tightness in my chest eased.

Oswald was with me.

For some reason, just knowing that made me feel at ease.

Smiling, I turned back toward old Oswald and discreetly flashed him a victory sign with each hand.