Chapter 114: The Missing Pair
Morning came quietly.
The desert was cold before sunrise.
Only when the first rays of light touched the dunes did the heat begin to return.
Kai had barely slept.
The distant explosion from the previous night lingered in his mind.
It wasn't close enough to threaten Kharim...
But it was close enough to matter.
The Outlaws were already awake.
Weapons checked.
Hovercraft inspected.
Crates tied down.
Someone was arguing over breakfast.
Another was asleep on top of supplies.
Munnu walked through camp.
"Roll call!"
One by one they answered.
"Here!"
"Present!"
"Still alive!"
"Barely!"
Laughter erupted.
Kai smiled.
They really did act like one big family.
Then—
"...Where's Jamil?"
Silence.
Another Outlaw looked around.
"He was with Sadiq yesterday."
"Sadiq?"
More silence.
Munnu frowned.
"Sadiq?"
Nobody answered.
The laughter disappeared.
Persia adjusted his glasses.
"They probably overslept."
"They never oversleep."
"They could've wandered off."
"They know better."
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Munnu's expression hardened.
"When did anyone last see them?"
A woman raised her hand.
"Last night."
"They said they were going to check something near the western dunes."
"Together."
Kai felt a chill.
Pairs.
Always pairs.
He remembered...
The laboratory.
The ruined city.
The memories.
People disappearing.
Again.
Munnu immediately barked orders.
"Search teams."
"No one goes alone."
"If they're hurt—we bring them back."
"If someone took them..."
He didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't need to.
Kai found himself paired with Munnu.
The two walked through endless sand.
Only footprints disturbed the dunes.
Fresh ones.
Munnu crouched.
"...Two people."
Kai knelt beside him.
"You can read footprints?"
"I've lived here my whole life."
He pointed.
"They weren't running."
"They were walking."
Kai nodded.
Then...
The footprints stopped.
Just...
Stopped.
As though the two men had vanished into thin air.
Munnu slowly stood.
"...No."
His voice became quieter.
"They didn't disappear."
Kai looked around.
Nothing.
Just sand.
Wind.
Silence.
Then—
Kai felt it.
That same sensation.
The one from the Forest.
The laboratory.
The false archive.
Like invisible threads pulling somewhere beneath the ground.
He closed his eyes.
"...This way."
Munnu frowned.
"You sure?"
"No."
"But..."
"I feel something."
Munnu stared for a few seconds.
Then nodded.
"Lead."
The dunes grew quieter.
Even the wind seemed weaker.
Kai continued following the strange feeling.
Every step made it stronger.
Then—
He noticed something.
A stone.
Barely visible beneath the sand.
Not natural.
Too smooth.
Too straight.
Kai brushed away sand with his hands.
Another stone appeared.
Then another.
Ruins.
Buried.
Munnu narrowed his eyes.
"...I've never seen this."
Kai's heartbeat accelerated.
Neither had he.
Yet...
It felt familiar.
Several more Outlaws arrived.
One called out.
"Found anything?"
Munnu pointed downward.
"Dig."
Within minutes—
Shovels struck stone.
Broken pillars emerged.
Collapsed walls.
Ancient pathways.
Half-buried staircases.
Then...
Someone shouted.
"There's a hatch!"
Everyone rushed over.
A heavy metal door lay hidden beneath centuries of sand.
Its surface bore strange markings.
Kai's eyes widened.
Magic circuits.
Faint.
Almost erased.
But unmistakable.
Exactly like those he'd seen inside the laboratory.
Munnu slowly exhaled.
"...We're going in."
Persia immediately objected.
"No."
Everyone turned.
"The missing men are probably already dead."
"We don't know that."
"This place could collapse."
"We've entered worse."
Persia adjusted his glasses.
"My vote is to leave."
Munnu crossed his arms.
"My vote is no."
The others looked between them.
For the first time—
Kai noticed something.
Persia wasn't afraid.
He was...
Annoyed.
As if entering the ruins would inconvenience him.
Not endanger him.
Just...
Delay something.
Kai silently stored that thought away.
The hatch finally opened.
A blast of stale air escaped.
Darkness waited below.
One Outlaw lit a mana lantern.
The light revealed old stairs disappearing underground.
Kai felt his chest tighten.
That feeling again.
Stronger than ever.
As if something beneath the earth...
Was waiting.
Munnu looked back.
"Stay close."
"No heroes."
"If something goes wrong—"
"We leave."
Everyone nodded.
Persia sighed dramatically.
"...Fine."
But he quietly placed one hand on the large radio strapped to his back.
Kai noticed.
He didn't know why.
But he remembered the strange black crystal Persia had hidden inside it.
One by one—
The Outlaws descended.
The metal door slowly creaked shut behind them.
Darkness swallowed the entrance.
Above—
The desert wind erased their footprints.
As though nobody had ever entered.
Far deeper underground...
Hidden far beyond where the Outlaws could see...
A pair of frightened voices echoed through the darkness.
"...Please..."
"We won't tell anyone..."
Chains rattled.
Then—
A calm voice answered.
"You already have."
Silence.
A surgical tool glinted beneath dim magical lights.
The owner smiled.
"Now..."
"Let's continue the procedure."
A scream echoed through the forgotten laboratory.