Chapter 24 - Lets Go In Deeper (1/2)

Hecathe descended deeper and deeper into the secret emergency passages and eventually got used to the smell and the dust covering the place.

When he finally stepped down to the bottom of the long spiral staircase that seemed to have been going on forever, he sighed in relief before taking out something from his pocket.

It was the pocket-friendly suitcase that could expand with just a button and once he pressed the button, he took out the cloak and mask that he had kept inside the suitcase before closing the suitcase again and contracting it back to the size that could easily fit inside his pocket.

He wore the mask and the cloak before pulling the cloak up to cover his nose, trying to save himself from choking on the dust that seemed to fill this place.

He sighed as he looked up one last time and by now, the entrance that he had come from was so far away that it looked like a mere grain of dust.

Hecathe lifted his left hand and pressed a button on his watch before swiping and going to contacts as he left a message for Xanie, ”You know, I just realized. Why don't I just send you a distress signal if things go wrong down here? You can come and help me sooner. It'll be much faster than waiting to see if I make it out alive or not.”

He looked up and waited for a few minutes and as expected, a response came for him in the form of another voice message.

”Captain, you are right. This is a better idea.”

”...”

”This is why you are the captain and I'm your worker!” The girl didn't forget to flatter Hecathe.

Hecathe pursed his lips and shook his head as he turned his watch back off and put his hand down before stuffing the small pocket-sized button of the suitcase back into his pocket.

He took out the map that he had kept away and looked at it carefully before raising the lamp in hand to see the three passages that went into different directions ahead of him.

”Hmm...” He muttered as he wondered what he was supposed to choose.

All three passages looked absolutely the same and he was a man who had no sense of direction. It was only now that he realized this big problem. Even with a map in hand, if he didn't know which direction was north and which was south, he was still going to end up getting lost in these passages.

He pressed the button on his watch again and contacted Xanie, ”There are three ways here. What do I do?”

Soon enough, the response also came from Xanie who was still waiting in Hecathe's room, looking down at the bottom of the spiral staircase that could be hardly seen, ”Captain, how am I supposed to know? I gave the map to you.”

Hecathe scratched the back of his neck as he glanced at the map in his hand and then back up at the three paths that lay ahead of him.

”Damn it...” He cursed as he tried to come up with a way through which he could find the right passage he was supposed to choose.

Because of the spiral staircase, his sense of direction had worsened even more and he was completely helpless.

Just when he thought that he would have to depend on his luck and choose randomly, the speaker of his watch came to life as Xanie sent him another voice message.

”Captain, try using the direction map inside your QMS.”

”Wait, there is a direction app inside this thing too?!” Hecathe cried out in shock as he immediately tried to find it.

He swiped through a lot of different programs that he didn't even bother trying out and soon enough, he was able to find the direction analysis app.

He turned the app on and held his hand out front. Because the main page of the app looked like a familiar handheld compass, Hecathe thought the arrow on it would move around to tell him the direction, however, he seemed to have been made a fool out of.

The arrow spun around once before it suddenly vanished and in its place came a sentence: You are facing the north.