Khan put everything connected to the spy in the back of his mind to focus on the mission. He wouldn't get anywhere by overthinking the issue. It was better to prioritize goals that could lead to actual answers.
More messages reached Khan's phone while he left the industrial area and began to roam through the city's streets. Luke sent him everything he had on the investigations performed by his families and Milia 222 as a whole.
Khan found himself with relatively detailed maps and a lot to read, but he left the last part for when he had more time. Right now, he wanted to reach the nightclub as soon as possible.
The city on the second asteroid was smaller than what Khan had seen on the first, but it was still too big to explore on foot. He could sprint through its streets, but the random use of martial arts and mana in general wasn't appreciated in that environment.
Khan felt forced to reach the nearest taxi area to get a car that could bring him to his destination. He decided to go for something high-class since Luke would refund those expenses, but his human driver didn't hold back from expressing his curiosity.
"Aren't you too young for [The Loophole]?" The driver asked from behind the glass that separated him from the passengers' seats.
The driver had sounded kind, which probably hinted at honest worry. After all, Khan was only eighteen, and he looked like it, even if his mature gaze carried traces of his harsh life.
"What can you tell me about it?" Khan asked.
"I've never been there," The driver responded through a faint laugh. "My wife would kill me if I spent my days in a nightclub instead of working. I've only heard bad rumors."
"Like?" Khan pressed.
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"Well, all the bad rumors connected to the Orlats," The driver continued to laugh. "A lot of nasty stuff happens in [The Loophole]. It's not a place for respectable people."
"I heard that the nasty stuff only happens in the lower level," Khan questioned, using some information read on the report.
"You shouldn't speak about it so easily," The driver warned. "Are you new on Milia 222?"
"Is it that obvious?" Khan wondered.
"Most of Milia 222's underground activities aren't a secret," The driver explained, "But no one speaks about them. Even asking questions can be dangerous."
"Will you rat me out?" Khan joked, pretending to have a na?ve approach to the topic.
"I want nothing to do with that world," The driver revealed. "Minding my business keeps my family safe, so that's what I do. I only wanted to warn you since you look like a good kid."
"I'll be more careful," Khan promised before diving back into his screen.
Reading the details of the investigation was pointless for now, so Khan focused on the other reports. Sadly, Luke's trusted figure didn't write much about [The Loophole]. The list identified it as the center of multiple illegal activities, but it didn't say how to approach them.
The ride took a while to reach its destination. It was already past lunchtime by then. Khan paid the cab through his phone and noted down the amount spent before jumping on the sidewalk and inspecting the area.
That part of the city was filled with tall buildings that probably contained multiple residential areas, but one stood out due to its shorter size. The shining sign on its front also made its purpose pretty obvious.
Khan couldn't read all those bright symbols, but they matched the images in the report. Moreover, the sign had bright images depicting half-naked Orlats, which told him that he was in the right place.
The building had no windows or guards. It would resemble an immense slab of dark-azure metal if it weren't for its tall door and big sign. Khan approached the entrance to see how he could get inside, and he found an interactive menu waiting for him.
'Language: human,' Khan read on the menu as he tapped on preset answers. 'Level of service: VIP; Type of entertainment: Drinks and spectacle; Table for one.'
An exorbitant price appeared on the interactive door after Khan finished selecting the various options. Even his second-grade knife didn't cost so much, but he didn't hesitate to pay it.
A hole opened on the entrance afterward, and Khan inserted his hand inside it as per the menu's instruction. Something gently tapped its back, and Khan found that a simple triangular black mark had appeared on it.
'Show ticket,' Khan continued to read on the menu before placing the back of his hand on the intended spot. The door scanned the triangular mark, and the entrance finally opened.
An empty, dark corridor unfolded in Khan's vision, but faint red lights lit up when he stepped forward and the entrance closed behind him. The metal walls blocked his senses and prevented him from inspecting anything past them, so he focused on the mark while he advanced.
The mark wasn't mana-related, but it had tiny symbols at its edges that Khan guessed revealed the nature of his ticket. The corridor even forced him to show it again when he reached its end, and the true face of [The Loophole] showed itself afterward.
The loud music was the first thing that hit Khan's senses. The flashing lights came next, followed by hundreds of different types of mana. The scene was so different from the silent and empty corridor that he almost felt to have crossed a teleport.
Khan found himself on a long passage that encircled an immense dancing hall standing a whole floor under him. People of different species stood next to the handrails that prevented them from falling below as they exchanged conversations and held various drinks.
A few tables even appeared in the distance, but the unstable illumination prevented Khan from seeing them clearly. The constant noise of the loud music also made it impossible to overhear conversations. Only his sensitivity to mana remained somewhat reliable, even if the area did its best to disturb it.
'This is messier than a battlefield!' Khan shouted in his mind as he tried to inspect his surroundings.
The people standing next to the handrails had glanced at Khan, but they quickly lost interest in him. Some even decided to head for the staircases that led to the dancing hall or the two counters selling drinks. Actual bartenders worked behind them, and they mostly were women donning revealing clothes.
The extravagance that Khan had seen only inside Reebfell reappeared there. Many inside the nightclub had dyed their hair with bright substances that changed color every few seconds. Others had shining tattoos that made them visible even when the lights went dark.
The same went for a few clothes or other accessories. A world that Khan knew nothing about had just appeared in his eyes, and the surprise that he experienced made him forget about the mission for a few seconds.
'Do normal people really spend their time like this?' Khan wondered as the smell of booze, sweat, and puke reached his nostrils.
Khan quickly realized that he had been a bit optimistic. He didn't even know where to begin to search for illegal activities among that mess, but the day was still early. He could focus on inspecting the area for now.
A tinge of confusion appeared in Khan's mind when he began to think about his first steps, but a human waitress donning the same revealing clothes of the bartenders approached him before he could leave the door.
"Sir, would you like me to accompany you to your table?" The waitress shouted while making sure to bend toward Khan to expose her cleavage as much as possible.
Khan nodded and began to follow the waitress. She led him to the other side of the area, where the deafening music strangely lost some volume. Khan couldn't explain how that happened, but he guessed that some technology was involved.
"Would you like one of the private rooms, sir?" The waitress asked while trying to add cute tones to her voice now that she didn't have to shout anymore.
"I'll take one near the handrail," Khan replied as his eyes continued to wander through the area.
"This way then," The waitress stated while pointing at a corridor covered by red curtains that led deeper into the building.
It turned out that the dancing hall was only the first part of [The Loophole]. Its internal areas had other activities, and one of them was the spectacle that Khan had purchased.
The overall structure of the second part of the building was almost identical to the first. However, instead of the dancing hall, the lower floor had a series of cubes with half-naked strippers dancing on them.
The strippers belonged only to three species. Most of them were Orlats, but Khan also saw humans and Fuveall. The lower floor also had a series of tables around the cubes where people drank, shouted, and tried to steal a touch from the strippers, only to find sizzling barriers blocking their way.
The waitress brought Khan to a table with a perfect vision over the whole lower floor. Its surface was also interactive, which allowed him to order food, drinks, or leave tips to the strippers. It even let him choose to whom give his Credits.
The table also had other not so respectable options. The pornography didn't surprise Khan, but he remained a bit speechless when he saw that he could purchase actual sexual services from a list of strippers.
That wasn't even the end of it. Khan found a whole section dedicated to drugs, and he felt lucky that they had descriptions. He wouldn't have understood what they were otherwise.
'I know for a fact that half of this is illegal!' Khan shouted in his mind as he browsed through the various options. 'How can this place even remain open?'
The answer was pretty obvious. No one checked those places because they knew they would find something illegal. Khan guessed that the Orlats in charge had sealed deals with the authorities of the second asteroid to keep the soldiers outside the area.
The waitress had left Khan alone as soon as he sat at the table, giving him the chance to inspect the area freely. Only half of the seats around him were full, but the people on them didn't pay attention to him. Everyone minded their own business, which told Khan to do the same.
Khan ordered a drink and some food before moving his eyes on the spectacle downstairs. Meanwhile, he relied on his senses to inspect what would be too problematic to look at.
The number of people inside the nightclub was surprising due to the early hour, but Khan guessed that life on Milia 222 worked according to different schedules. Telling the difference between day and night was impossible there, so its inhabitants had developed an odd lifestyle.
The list had told Khan that the nightclub had an underground area where the real shady businesses happened, but he didn't know how to enter it. The menus didn't show any related option either, and asking openly about the topic didn't sound smart.
That left Khan with no option but to continue his silent inspection. He ate, drank, and kept his senses ready as he watched the spectacle and waited for something odd to pop up.
No one disturbed Khan, but he began to hope for someone to pick a fight with him as the minutes passed. He wanted to see a change in that messy but stale environment, but his wishes remained unanswered.
'Should I spend more?' Khan wondered during those silent minutes. 'Should I try to order some special service?'
The lack of experience in that field left Khan hesitant. He had no idea how to approach the businesses that could be related to the stolen leather. He had overestimated his ability to blend in.
'What's the thing that would attract the least amount of attention?' Khan wondered as he watched new strippers taking over the cubical platforms.
Khan found his answer but continued to wait. He didn't want to make a mistake right away, but the situation never changed. He didn't even see secret passages or similar paths from his favorable position.
'I have to expose myself, at least a bit,' Khan eventually decided and pressed on the option to summon a waiter to his table.
A different but equally beautiful human waitress reached the table and bent forward to express as much sensuality as possible. Yet, Khan remained serious as he voiced a vague but meaningful question. "I'm looking to purchase something that's not on the menu. I heard this was the right place."
"Our menus offer all sorts of goods, sir," The waitress gently replied while showing a wide smile. "Are you sure that you can't find something you like?"
"Everything is perfect," Khan said in the politest tone he could muster. "I'm just looking for something more specific."
The statement seemed to trouble the waitress. Her smile remained wide, but she hesitated for a few seconds before giving an answer. "I'll ask my superiors and see what we can do."
Khan hid his excitement as he performed a faint nod and ordered another drink from the table. Another waitress soon brought a glass full of a dark-yellow liquid, but she left without saying anything.
Khan drank as he waited for something to happen, but an entire hour passed uneventfully. He felt the urge to contact someone again, but he held back to avoid looking desperate. He knew that his act was almost perfect, but his young age might betray something that he wanted to keep hidden.
After two hours passed, the same waitress from before approached Khan's table. She didn't perform any sensual gestures at that time. She only voiced a simple request that Khan didn't hesitate to follow. "Please, follow me, sir."
The waitress led Khan back into the first area before descending from the staircase connected to the dancing floor. The two had to slip through the sweaty crowd and reach a spot that stood right below the entrance.
"This way, sir," The waitress shouted while reaching a hidden corner next to the dancing floor and knocking on the dark wall.
A sizzling noise tried to make its way among the loud music, but Khan only noticed how the wall retreated to create a secret entrance. The excitement almost became too hard to contain at that point, but he retained his stern face as he followed the waitress inside the area.
The secret area was dark, but Khan sensed a few presences near its bottom. The smell of cigarettes also reached him, but the waitress accelerated and forced him to follow her closely.
Then, the waitress sprinted forward, and Khan failed to follow her since the whole area lit up. Yellow light filled the secret passage, and Khan could finally add faces to the presences felt along the way.
Six Orlats sat at the end of the passage and shot cold glances at Khan while the waitress continued to run toward them. When she reached the aliens, she hid behind them and placed her back on the metal wall.
"[Don't worry, sweety]," One of the Orlats said to the waitress. "[Stay put and let us handle this guy. You won't get any extra if you get hurt]."
The Orlats then turned toward Khan and shook its head. It clearly wanted to appear menacing, and Khan played along by pretending to take a step back out of fear.
"Curious young human," The Orlats spoke in an imperfect human accent.. "Who told you about this place? Give us a name, and we'll let you go without hurting you too much."
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