Highway to hell

The walls were twice as large as the Great Wall, dwarfing their bodies after arriving at its outskirts.

"It's glowing..." Keni observed. He remembered the voice mentioning a reinforcement type when they were still far away.

After the walls occupied his vision, Keni noticed their appearance resembling structures made of Portland concrete. Their surface appeared grayish beneath their faint glow.

"Oy! Bet you're still thinking hard about how we knew your name, right?" The driver snickered, making Keni uncomfortable and curious at the same time.

'Y-yeah... How did they know my name? It's not like I introduced myself to them.'

Suddenly, scar-faced Pico leaned over, facing Keni's strapped body. The goggles, barely concealing his scar, hid whatever expression was worn underneath.

Keni could only lean because of the tight rope squeezing his body. He was surprised to see Pico revealing a Goldilocks smile.

"Ey! Welcome to Dubai..." Pico greeted. Definitely, not cute.

Glancing up, Keni could barely recognize the Arabic characters etched on the wall's surface. And as usual, he could also read it.

'It really is Dubai...'

Below the monolithic wall lay a giant steel gate. It was plain-looking, except for its familiar glow, blending with the wall.

Observingly, the gate served as the only exit and entrance through the territory. Moreover, it was gigantic enough for a Lady Liberty statue to walk through, towering over a human figure like an ant.

It confused him why such a size was needed.

'Why would they even need a gate this large? Won't this just be... I dunno, a waste of materials?' And as an engineering student, he couldn't shake the anxiety about the labor costs and effort a wall of this scale would require.

'There's no skyscrapers or buildings around, though.'

Because of the gigantic height of the wall, the surrounding area was brightly lit, almost as if it were morning. It revealed the empty terrain of sand and dunes around.

'Looks like there's nothing except the same old sand here. There's not even a single person—heck, even a monster, here. What the hell could have happened?'

Despite the absent wind, the sands were climbing beneath the walls. And if Keni forcibly looked, it was only a desolate area. Whatever a person could see, everything was just sand, a giant wall, and a lone monolithic gate.

'How would they even open a gate this large, anyways? It's not like anything could easily swing that thing open.'

After their vehicle reached the foot of the entrance, a loud creak shook the sand beneath them. Suddenly, the men giggled, sounding like crazed hyenas as the noise grew louder.

"U-uh, guys?" Keni panicked.

He never realized how comical his expressions were as the vehicle shook along the ground, vibrating his body from the bottom. Then, a hollow bang stopped the tremor.

The walls glowed brighter as Keke revved the engine. It took a while before Keni realized a ramp heading below the gate had appeared, leading into Dubai's underground.

"Ey! Bet you thought we were entering through the gate, hah?" Pico laughed, enjoying the betrayed look on Keni's face.

Meanwhile, the ramp led to a corridor descending further below the surface. Keni immediately noticed the layers dividing the underground, and they continued to go deeper, almost imagining a highway to hell.

At first, their vehicle sped through thick steel walls. Nothing unusual; the design was familiar to engineering knowledge. However, the path ahead was dim, and the limited car light was their sole source of visibility.

["Answer: Magna Detected."]

After about five minutes, they entered a layer of walls thick with gold. It glowed brightly under the car's light, and Keni realized that the track beneath the wheels was also made of gold.

'I think we're maintaining a constant velocity. Any second from now, there could be another layer ahead,' Keni thought, trying to gauge their progress as they continued descending.

His intuition proved correct as the walls around them changed, now made of an absolutely black material that seemed to devour the car's light.

The temperature remained unchanged, strangely, although they drove deeper underground. The pressure should have been worse.

Before Keni could even count to the end of five minutes, a loud creak, accompanied by an intense tremor, erupted around them.

"Shoot!" Keni suddenly cursed, fearing that the dark walls might collapse on them. Feeling betrayed, the men only snickered at his fearful ruckus.

"Just you wait, Keni... Any second now, you'll be screaming like you've never screamed before—w-wait... Oy! No way!"

Keni disliked the last statement Keke made after laughing. Even worse, he couldn't see their expressions or whatever was causing them to panic. It made him sweat bullets from his forehead, almost showering himself.

["Answer: Magna Detected."]

<BANG!>

The vehicle suddenly appeared to be descending from a free fall, making Keni yell at the top of his lungs. It felt like he was strapped inside a faulty rollercoaster, and he closed his eyes in fear.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

'What the fudge are they laughing about! Weren't they mentioning some kinda problem along the way? They're crazy to be laughing this off!'

Suddenly, Keni could feel the usual vibrations of the tires against the floor. He glanced around and noticed the corridor was wider. Moreover, everything was brightly lit by a long line of runes within the ceiling.

"Ey! You should have heard your scream! HAHAHA!" Pico laughed, clutching his chest.

Meanwhile, Keni was racing for breath. He thought he had gulped a massive lump in his throat. "What the HELL just happened!"

Within an instant, the vehicle exited the corridor. A blinding light soon filled Keni's vision. Then, he could hear the sound of birds nearby—a sound in what felt like the longest while.

'Wait... It smells like flowers.' After the light subsided to a tolerable intensity, his eyes darted around.

Skyscrapers and buildings were rising above clear blue waters. They were arranged perfectly, conserving enough space to occupy every corner.

When he noticed the seemingly transparent tracks, they appeared to be floating mid-air. The two-lane webbed along other routes, leading to a central structure built in the middle of the city.

"How the heck is this possible?" Keni's jaws dropped.

He was mesmerized by the structural design holding a city underground. Despite hearing no laughter or snickers from the men, he could clearly imagine their smug expressions.

'How can even a road be fine mid-air? There's not even a single beam supporting this. And are those...'

Keni leaned to the side, observing the external walls surrounding the city. They appeared like the sky outside. It was almost a perfect replication of the Earth's atmosphere.

Surprisingly, there were also birds flying in this enclosed city. And when Keni squinted his eyes, he noticed artificial clouds drifting beneath the external walls.

"It's a domed underground city..." Keni muttered.

***

Almost ten minutes later, they arrived at a white structure where all the floating highways intersected.

It was a busy highway. An endless stream of vehicles were exiting and entering through tunnels called gates. Wherever these roads lead, Keni instantly knew they were routes that led to the surface.

Unusually, thin films were covering the mouth of the gates. Kenny squinted; he could see afar the different numbers in various colors were floating in the center. Most of them were yellow-colored, sometimes with repeating numbers.

In Keni's case, they came from a tunnel with a yellow number '2', with a nondescript label below the digit which read 'Emirates.'

Despite the interior being covered by walls and enormous glass, it was a little breezy when they stopped at what appeared to be a car station.

Keke parked the car inside a glass-walled compartment before shutting off the engine.

Almost immediately, loud vehicle noises filled the interior. They came in various types other than sand cars, but most appeared crude and significantly modified.

"Ey! We should get these horns dropped at the [branch]." Pico said. He placed a heavy-looking duffel bag on his partner's lap.

"Gawd! You really massacred 'em, you know? It even got our tripper slack-jawed." Keke commented, slowly exiting his seat.

"What's with calling me a tripper, anyways?" Kenny finally asked.

Unfortunately, nobody replied. Although Pico was still snickering at Keke's compliment. His gruff voice continued from behind Keni, seated on the passenger seat. He surprised him within a moment when Keni asked.

Suddenly, Pico appeared in front of him. Keni's blinking revealed an anxious expression.

"Time to make some money..." Pico leaned in, removing his goggles. It revealed red pupils that had been concealed earlier, making Keni uncomfortable.

'Am I getting sold?'