Host, Please Be Honest! What Exactly Are You?

Chapter 641  Into The Sewers, We Go!

There it was, their entry point. It was on the other side of town, inside one of the city's smaller parks. It was odd to say that when doing something 'bad,' the human senses get heightened. They felt like they were blessed with superpowers, seeing, hearing, and smelling things far better than they could earlier. Looking left and right, they darted and rolled, hiding behind bushes and escaping a few cameras. They only moved through blindspots. As cops, who knows better about their city than them? Additionally, they had scoped the zone before heading home. So they took note of any and all cameras that may have been recently added. Phew~

The duo wiped the invisible sweat on their foreheads. So far, so good… "You keep a look out. I'll check it out first." Jimai made an 'okay' sign with her hand, leaving the heavy lifting for Dom to do. Well, there was not much to lift, as the rats had long unsealed the circular grate. It was odd to say that at the beginning and end of all shifts, police officers and park workers would come over to close it back. However, no matter how many times they sealed it tight, the rats would find a way to get it undone, throwing the lid away without care. For weeks, Jimai has observed a peculiar trend with these rats. It seems that whatever is chasing them, only gets active during specific times of the day and night.

This was why she picked this particular time at night to move in. After all, it would be inconvenient to have rats running amok chaotically in there while they're trying to get in. Heck! Will they even have a chance to jump in with all the rats trying to escape? They'll probably get carried out on a bed of rodents. . n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"All done." Dom announced, his eyes still vigilantly gazing down at the dark rabbit role they were about to venture. "Good job," Jimai nodded, rubbing a few drops of her nose fragrance. The smell was already this bad out here. So can you imagine how strong it will be down there? The moment she leaned over the hole, her body subconsciously acted as though it had received a bullet. Damn. She felt like pouring the whole bottle of fragrance drops down her nose. Houh~

She took several deep breaths to steady herself. "According to my calculations, we've got only 2 hours before they become active again." Jimai advised. "Just to be safe, we'll only investigate for no more than an hour and 15 minutes." Dom advised, knowing how crazy his partner was. "Deal."

They both shook hands, before wearing and adjusting their gas masks. "Let's go." Right. With that, Dom allowed Jimai head in first. Afterall, someone would have to drag the heavy lid semi-closed. Of course, they only left a gap of roughly 3%. If someone accidentally closed the lid fully, they also brought in cool gadgets to force it open from the inside. Equipped with flashlights, walkie-talkies and other gadgets, the duo descended into the sewers.

"It's all wet and yucky." Jimai mumbled, feeling the steel leader's dampness against her gloves. Their dim helmet light allowed them to get a closer look on the gross, greenish-black rabbit hole they were descending into. It was covered in mold, fona, rat hair– possibly rat poop, and a hot of water. Dear God of Science… there it was again. The stench that made her gag and almost let go of the sewer ladder. However, she dared not remove her gas mask. Gritting her teeth, she began wondering how much longer they must descend. It was funny how she thought this way, seeing as they were only going down 1 and a half stories below from this entry point. Yet, every step down the ladder felt like torture. The air was thick with the stench of decay, dampness, and something quite hard to put in words. In absolute silence, the duo descended. The only sounds that echoed through their eardrums, were the faint noises of small creatures squeaking down below. Jimai felt her throat constrict. …

~Splash! They jumped down the ladder, into the waters below that was midway between their ankles and knees. Already, the duo could sense countless rodents running against their boots. It was like a scene from the famous TV series– Fear Maker. Looking at their watches, they knew it wasn't time to get distracted. "7 minutes already gone," Dom muttered, taking out his weapon and pointing in all directions. Jimai did the same. Now, they found themselves at a crossroad. Either they go left or right.

"This way," Jimai gestured. "Based on the underground layout, this should take us to one of the Labyrinth's primary hearts." All underground sewer ways had massive meeting points that are incredulously huge in size. According to the images, some were even the size of 4 stories tall and wide underground. Truthfully, Jimai felt that if any action is going on down here, it must be within or close to these hearts. Dom nodded, saying nothing. What more could he say with his crazy partner around? They were already here, so best to make use of their time. —And after moving for 3 minutes, they stumbled open a widened tunnel path with raised platforms on both sides. They came out of the pool, and carefully ascended 5 dirty and moldy steps. The uneven stony surfaces were a testament to the countless years of history. Know that these underground sewage ways were once underground passageways used in ancient times by soldiers and many others. It's just that once the modern age came, it was reinforced and maintained to accommodate sewage and other aspects. It would have looked incredible if not for the mold, rat poop, and rat hair. Look… the walls still had torch stands, where medieval people used to line up torches along the walls.

.

"Haiii, It burns…"

Sweet mother of Pearls! Why was the stench becoming more poisonous? Their eyes were bleeding tears despite the masks they had gone. "I should have poured the whole damn bottle down my nose!" How can something smell so awful? Squee-squee-squee~

Those pesky rats were running around after sensing their presence. Their footsteps echoed ominously as they moved deeper into the labyrinth.

"Stay close," Jimai instructed, her voice steady despite the unease creeping in.

Dom nodded, shining another flashlight ahead.

Something in his guy told him he would need 2… the one on his head and the one he was holding in his hand, just below his gun. ~Tick-tock, Tick-tock. Time was not on their side. They pressed on, following the trail of rats that seemed to be fleeing from something deeper within.

Once again, unsettling silence enveloped them. Except for the distant drip of water echoing through the tunnels and the rats squeezing away, silence was all that accompanied them. Then Suddenly–

What was that? Jimai felt a slice of fear pierce through her. The skittering noise came from behind. She spun around with her flashlight beam now cutting through the darkness. "D-Dom, did you hear that?"

Mark swallowed hard, nodding stiffly. "I don't like this… I don't like this one bit." Even though he didn't see anything, he could bet his life on it that something was down here with them.

"Are we close to one of the Hearts?" "Yeah…" Jimai confirmed. It seems her suspicions were right. The true danger was lurking around the hearts. As police officers, now wasn't the time to chicken out without answers!

.

1, 2, 3…

Their breaths quickened as they continued forward, every shadow seeming to shift and move.

Then, they made it. They reached one of the hearts, a massive extraordinarily tall and open space filled with all sorts of waterways and sewage collecting in one place. There was a massive swirling tornado at the center of the equally massive pool that directed all collected sewage out of the room. "It's here…" Jimai spoke shakily. "It's definitely here some–"

F***! Without warning, a figure darted across their path—a blur in the periphery of their vision. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!~

Sparkes of flames lit flashed against her gun, as Jimai unleashed hell on whatever it was she saw. In fact, if she had grenades, she would also throw it in too. Lisa's heart raced as she tried to focus on it.

Goddammit!

"What was that?" Dom whispered, fear creeping into his voice.

"I don't know," Jimai replied, trying to maintain her composure. "But I have a bad feeling about this."

No more investigations. It was time to Go! The duo gave each other tactful stares, as they made U-turns back to where they came from.

"Is… it following?" "I-I don't know." Just because they couldn't see it, doesn't mean it wasn't following. Sweet Mommy– Blugh~

They puked in their masks, but dared not take these masks off yet. What the hell did they see? Although it was only for a millisecond the duo felt they had been staring into the face of a black worm hole... And at this point, their minds kept telling them one thing - Run!!!!!!!