It was a round, rusty pipe, full of garbage and debris. The walls had stains and cobwebs. There were food cans scattered around, some crushed, others half-open. There were also poorly assembled machine parts.
"Turn on the cameras," ordered the captain as they entered the darkness. "Be careful not to touch anything; everything must stay as it is."
The clicks of the cameras were heard, and the flashes illuminated the place. As they advanced, they saw ordinary objects and disassembled technological devices. The most notable thing was a very old mattress on top of some wooden boxes and a computer with disconnected cables. Further ahead, beyond the mattress, there seemed to be nothing until, faintly in the light, they saw a line of dried blood on the floor. They followed it, and a shadow appeared on the wall, revealing something horrible: the figure of a dismembered man, nailed by the wrists to the wall. Only the upper part of the body remained. The forehead and eyes were intact, but the rest had deep slash wounds.
The captain tilted his head silently for a few seconds and ordered:
"Take pictures!"
Some of the team obeyed while others raised their submachine guns.
"He must have died recently," he added to himself.
They kept moving forward, turning off their flashlights in total darkness. They were afraid of finding the killer, but they also had a duty to catch him. Time passed very slowly, not knowing how far they had walked, until suddenly, a noise echoed in the pipe, as if someone were dragging something metallic. The captain stopped upon hearing more movement nearby, as if the source of the sound was just a few steps away.
In a synchronized act, the flashlights were turned on immediately. The light revealed, for an instant, a robotic skeleton crouched at a pipe intersection. It was covered in pieces of human flesh. When illuminated, the skeleton stood up and ran, disappearing from sight. Everyone instinctively began to chase it. They turned a corner and saw it again. The lights shone through its mechanical frame, and the skeleton turned to look at its pursuers as it fled, but it was shot directly in the head. The sound of the gunshot echoed through the halls. It fell, but its arms and legs kept moving as if fighting to the end.
The guards surrounded the fallen android. The captain, still aiming his pistol, ordered:
"Everyone, search! Don't let anything escape!"
The group split up and ran down every hallway, but they only found the echo of their own footsteps.
Outside, the atmosphere was different. The guards had kept the onlookers away. Distant murmurs could be heard, but there was silence nearby. Lizen and Ymonesou, already inside the mansion, approached a window to look. They watched as a white bundle was carefully removed from the pipe. They also pulled out a gray box with a glass lid. Through the glass, the robotic skeleton could be seen.