Placide’s rage-filled scream scattered into a faint echo, and Ji-hwan, treating that stream of curses like a triumphant cheer, kept sprinting through the deep underground tunnels of Pacifica along the escape route Mr. Hands had opened for him.
Tap, tap-.
Ji-hwan’s footsteps sliced through the darkness, then came to an abrupt stop.
"This is..."
Where his gaze landed, the end of the narrow maglev tunnel opened into a massive underground cavity split into dozens, then hundreds, of branching paths.
A sprawling, endless nest of corridors that looked like some gigantic ant hill. It was easy to see why Mr. Hands had been so certain that coming here would shake off any hounds on his trail. The scale alone was overwhelming.
But there was one problem.
The blue holographic map Mr. Hands had been projecting in the corner of his vision cut off right at the entrance to this ant nest.
Empty data. No direction left behind at all.
Ji-hwan let out a short sigh and pulled Hands’ two-way communicator from his belt.
When he switched it on, a blue holographic screen popped into the air with a pair of beeps.
Beyond the screen, Mr. Hands’ silhouette appeared as before, his face completely hidden under deliberate layers of shadow.
What a guy. Secretive as hell.
Ji-hwan clicked his tongue inwardly and got straight to the point.
"You didn’t mark it on the map."
At that, Hands shrugged and answered with easy nonchalance.
[To be honest, I thought you’d get caught by those bastards in the tunnel. Well... seeing you now, I suppose that was unnecessary worry.]
"Then which of these dozens of tunnels am I supposed to take?"
At the question, Hands’ voice lost its playfulness and sank into something heavier.
[The passages in front of you are part of an old underground network built sometime between the 2010s and the 2020s. It used to be the veins connecting all of Night City, but for reasons unknown, the whole thing was shut down.]
"Then..."
Ji-hwan was about to ask him to just tell him already, but Hands’ cold warning cut in first.
[One thing I can say for certain is that not a single vagrant who sneaked in there, or wandered in out of curiosity, ever made it back out alive... And there are plenty of places where perfectly intact tunnels have collapsed for unknown reasons, or been flooded deep enough to drown a man.]
"..."
Ji-hwan’s eyes drifted toward the dark tunnel and the abyss linked by multiple openings.
[So from this point on, do not leave the blue safe route I’m sending you. Not even once.]
Beep.
Then Hands’ voice cut out, and the blue dot frozen in Ji-hwan’s field of view lit up again, snake-like, pointing toward a single path inside the ant nest.
"Sounds like some third-rate urban legend."
With a light grumble, Ji-hwan started walking along the blue line the hologram map had marked out.
But not long after, a rough curse slipped from his mouth.
"Dammit, Mr. Hands."
Blocking his way was a massive flooded section, completely submerged.
Ji-hwan tried to pull out the communicator at his belt and switch it on again to complain, but—
Ksshhhk!
Instead of a blue hologram, blue sparks snapped across the device, and it went dead. Ji-hwan immediately sensed something nearby was jamming communications.
Hoo—.
"...Guess there’s no other way."
Tatatatang!
From behind Ji-hwan, beyond the dark tunnel, urgent footsteps echoed toward him.
The mercs and corpo hounds who had finished their clash with Placide were already narrowing their search through this maze, following Ji-hwan’s trail.
Ji-hwan steadied his breathing once more and, with no other choice, stepped into the murky water.
Splash.
The water was an unpleasant temperature against his ankles. Broken concrete and jagged rocks lurked everywhere beneath the surface, making visibility terrible, but Ji-hwan didn’t stop. He kept moving toward the section where the water grew deeper.
Before long, the filthy water swallowed him all the way to the top of his head, and his presence slipped silently beneath the surface.
Only a few minutes after Ji-hwan disappeared underwater, sharp searchlights tore through the darkness and the corporate pursuit team arrived at the flooded section where he had been standing.
"The footprints stop here."
The tracker scanning the ground pointed at the water.
But the agents’ faces stiffened with confusion as they looked over the murky pool.
"He went in here? Is he out of his mind?"
"What the hell..."
The lead agent and the man beside him swore in disbelief, and the one behind them asked in confusion,
"Why are you reacting like that? If the trail continues, we should just swim after him..."
"Stop, you idiot!"
The lead agent barked and shoved himself in front of the other man.
"This isn’t just water. It’s mixed with chemical waste and toxic runoff dumped by Night City corps. If you were going in there, you’d need at least a proper diving suit."
The agent’s eyes fixed on the rotten water.
"...If even that bastard went in there on his own feet, then he’s already a dead man."
"Damn it, then this was a waste of time!"
"If he went into a place like that, his bones are already melted down. Stop wasting time and pull out!"
With a string of curses, the sound of boots receded into the darkness. The corporate pursuit team had given up and turned back.
Ignoring the commotion behind them, Ji-hwan was now facing a far more immediate problem while swimming through the filthy wastewater.
Ssssshhhk...
A red haze wrapped around his entire body underwater, bubbling violently as it boiled.
The toxic acid in the wastewater was eating through his skin without mercy. As the pain of his flesh burning away tore through him, his regenerative ability kept forcing the wounds back together.
If I stay in here any longer, this is going to get dangerous.
Grinding his teeth through the agony of his whole body being ripped apart, Ji-hwan lashed his arms and legs harder toward the blue dot on the map data.
But the flooded tunnel stretched on and on into the abyss.
Under the crushing pressure of the water, his oxygen supply began running low.
As his breath was squeezed up into his throat and he felt his limits closing in, Ji-hwan’s brow furrowed sharply.
Then, while he forced his way through the murky water, something strange came into view.
Dozens of skeletons scattered across the flooded floor.
The flesh had long since dissolved away in the wastewater, but between the bones, corroded implants and traces of chrome were grotesquely tangled together.
The fate of those who had tried to cross this tunnel and drowned. As Ji-hwan looked upon the graveyard of white bones swaying in the current, a bad feeling brushed down his spine. The situation was growing stranger, colder.
He pushed forward through the water, but soon that ominous instinct blocked his path.
A massive collapse of concrete debris and twisted rebar.
Just as Mr. Hands had warned, the passage beyond the blue dot on the map was completely sealed off by the wreckage.
The moment Ji-hwan faced the dead end, the horror of the skeletons he had just passed flashed through his mind.
Rumble...
Even the slightest pressure sent an ominous vibration through the collapsed wall, shaking the water around him.
If he tried to tear the debris apart with brute force, the weight of the collapsed ceiling would come crashing down on him, burying him alive in this toxic flood.
The blue dot on the map flickered wildly across Ji-hwan’s retina as he stared at the wreckage.
The location of the point was clear.
As he held his breath and focused on the sensation underwater, he could feel the faintest current beyond the pressure melting his skin.
There’s space beyond this.
Even as the lack of oxygen made his vision blink with panic, Ji-hwan’s thoughts cooled to ice.
If he exploded his strength recklessly and touched the load-bearing ceiling, the whole tunnel would come down and bury him alive in this toxic flood.
After making up his mind, Ji-hwan slowly backed away without once taking his eyes off the blocked wall of debris.
He put distance between himself and the wreckage, kicking up murky spray.
Then he planted both feet firmly on the muddy floor of the flooded tunnel. The muscle fibers in his legs compressed to their limit.
In the next instant, Ji-hwan shot forward like a shell fired underwater, breaking through the resistance of the crushing pressure and slamming into the center of the collapsed wreckage. His body struck the pile of boulders and tangled rebar, and although the water dulled the force of the impact, the shock still sent the debris around him caving in in real time, a heavy vibration pressing down over his whole body.
Ji-hwan fought through the crushing pressure of the stones bearing down on him, forcing aside the heavy wreckage blocking his path with his shoulders and both arms as he pushed stubbornly toward the other side.
My consciousness...
The strength in his muscles gave out all at once, and his vision began to flicker wildly.
At the end of that desperate, oxygen-starved blur, one last massive boulder stood in front of him like a wall.
This was filthy water, with no solid ground to plant his feet on.
It was the worst possible condition for unleashing the full force of [One-Inch Strike], the peak of power that transmitted shock through a planted stance.
But Ji-hwan clung to the last thread of his fading consciousness and jammed every bit of remaining strength into his right fist, swinging it brutally at the boulder blocking his way.
Kraaaack!
With a dull impact, Ji-hwan’s fist drove deep into the rock’s surface.
But then, with too little oxygen left to keep him conscious, his body swayed weakly like a candle going out.
Spiderweb cracks spread across the stone where his fist had landed, but cruelly, the boulder did not collapse. It held firm, still blocking his way.
Damn it...
With no strength left to push through, Ji-hwan finally lost consciousness completely, and his body began sinking helplessly.
On the other side of the tunnel, where no water had pooled, the old stone wall that normally only saw a thin trickle seeping through its cracks shuddered with a heavy vibration.
Boom...
At the center of the boulder struck by Ji-hwan’s final blow, an ominous crack began spreading outward from the core that had been holding firm, branching like a spiderweb.
Crack, crack-crack...
The sound of stone splitting. Through the gaps swept open by the shockwave, the trapped wastewater could no longer withstand the pressure and began blasting out violently.
The aftershock of Ji-hwan’s strike and the immense water pressure meshed together like gears, widening the fracture in the rock until the entire boulder sealing the passage shattered into pieces.
Kwaang!!
Like a dam bursting, the tunnel collapsed, and a massive torrent of filthy water thundered through the newly opened space.
And in the middle of that explosive pressure, Ji-hwan’s body, already unconscious from oxygen deprivation, was helplessly swept away by the surging current and violently spat out onto the cold dirt beyond the toxic flood.
Swoooosh...
Ji-hwan rolled and slammed across the rough ground for dozens of meters along with the torrent.
"Cough! Cough—!"
He coughed up the rotten water pooled in his lungs and spat out a ragged fit of coughing before finally going limp, unconscious again, with only shallow breaths left.
And just before Ji-hwan’s dimming consciousness was cut off completely, a shadow silently fell over the back of his head as he lay face-down on the ground.
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