CHAPTER 465: CHAPTER 279: HUNTING GROUND, THE GREAT ESCAPE PLAN_1

"To tell the truth, I’ve never seen so many excavators in action simultaneously, even during the construction of the main plaza," an older police officer murmured to his companion as they squatted on the ground, watching the dust rise in the air ahead.

In front of them, dozens of excavators weaved through the ruins. They had cleared the entire collapsed theater and even dug a pit more than a meter deep, exposing the steel supports and concrete below.

Dean and his group were currently standing with another group of people in front of a machine.

On this machine, a jumble of red, blue, and green lines outlined a virtual and abstract microwave image of the underground world.

Ross had already rushed to the scene, watching the operator of the observation machine with a tense expression.

Louise, a detective from Las Vegas, tugged Dean aside and whispered, "Agent Dean, who exactly is this Ross? In such a short time, he managed to mobilize all the construction companies in Las Vegas. He even got this advanced microwave ground-penetrating radar; I haven’t seen anything like it, even in the military."

Dean shrugged. "I’ve said before, Ross is a very capable man!"

He meant financially capable.

In fact, Dean hadn’t expected Ross to solve this exasperating situation in such a way.

In front of the microwave ground-penetrating radar, a middle-aged man suddenly stopped his rapid keystrokes. He turned a small knob, manipulating the machine and adjusting its direction.

Suddenly, an expression of joy spread across the middle-aged man’s face.

He spoke rapidly, "Mr. Ross, we’ve found them! I’ve detected two... no, three human-shaped objects. They’re right below us, in the lower part of a cavity at this location!"

"That’s great! Thank you, Mr. Swell!"

At these words, Ross’s tense expression relaxed.

The middle-aged man grinned. "This is just an improved model that hasn’t even left the research institute. It’s a small matter. In fact, I should be thanking you for the five million US dollars you donated to our university’s research institute. This..."

Ross was not in the mood for pleasantries.

He looked at his friend Dean. "What do we do next?"

There wasn’t much of the concrete layer left. Continued excavation with those heavy machines might cause the area below to collapse.

"With the support of the microwave ground-penetrating radar data, we can now perform a targeted demolition of the remaining concrete layer," Dean replied and then waved his hand.

Louise nodded and walked away.

A few moments later, a series of explosions rang out. Blasts of air sent dust surging skyward amidst the tremendous noise. A man’s roar from underground was drowned out by the aftershocks of the explosions.

When a fully armed Las Vegas Special Action Team rappelled rapidly into the underground space, they stumbled upon a bizarre sight:

They saw a man in an old tailcoat, dragging his right leg, which had been crushed by rubble. He had thrown himself over the remains of a wheelchair, smashed to smithereens. He was holding a mummified head, pressing it against his face, and wailing "Mama!" while crying hysterically, seemingly oblivious to the pain from his broken leg.

Further away, a woman in a dress lay atop a stone platform. She was asleep with her eyes closed, reminiscent of Sleeping Beauty from the fairy tales.

Gaia was extremely lucky.

She had been on the verge of experiencing the murderer’s raw passion—heart-gouging, skin-peeling, and bone-breaking. However, because she was anesthetized, the demolition experts had placed the explosives only in the area where human activity was detected. Thus, she was spared from the shower of falling rubble from above.

「Above ground.」

Seeing the police in action, Ross clenched his fists, anxiously pacing back and forth.

He didn’t know if his fiancée was unharmed, nor did he know if the operation might accidentally injure her.

But this was already the best course of action. The rest was in God’s hands.

Dean, meanwhile, was calmly waiting for the notification to appear in his mind.

He did not participate in the operation.

Still, as the saying goes: A gentleman does not stand beneath a collapsing wall.

Ross’s fiancée wasn’t worth him risking his life in a confined underground space with limited maneuverability.

Cheston En’s gaze, however, remained intensely fixed on Dean’s back.

As someone who had accompanied Ross the entire time, he was the only one on site who knew just how many US dollars Ross had spent to rescue his fiancée.

Over thirty million US dollars! Thirty million US dollars, in the year 2001!

To assemble the current team, Ross had paid out over thirty million US dollars to various institutions—university research institutes, all construction companies in Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Police Department, and others—under various pretexts!

With that kind of money, Cheston En felt, Ross could do more than just dig three feet deep.

Cheston En, who earned less than four thousand US dollars a month, suspected that if necessary, Ross could even request the military to help with certain things!

After all, there had been numerous corruption scandals within the United States military...

During his academy days, Cheston En had even heard instructors joke, "If anyone wants to become a king, they could just bribe the military. They’d take off their uniforms and help you seize control of a small country’s armed regime..."

While they waited, a notification appeared in Dean’s mind: Las Vegas Serial Corpse-Dropping Case solved. Experience Points +300. Current Level: 20 (2,900/3,800).

The rescue was successful!

However, Dean’s expression turned sour.

The Experience Points were far too low! A case involving a psychopathic killer who had brutally murdered five people had only yielded three hundred Experience Points upon being solved!