The laboratory door opened, revealing a faint creamy yellow light inside.
Laboratories set up in dark sewer pipes always instinctively terrified people, as though some horrifying creature like a "sewer crocodile" might suddenly burst out from the depths.
But unless the hidden danger posed by the worm inside his body was removed, he would never be able to eat or sleep in peace. It might suddenly awaken one day, or mutate somehow and drain him dry, turning him into a mummified corpse.
Rein let out a long breath and stepped through the door, moving with great caution.
The pipe was drier than expected. It looked as though this sewer had been abandoned for a long time.
Dim lamps had been installed at intervals, illuminating small patches of the passageway.
After walking some fifty or sixty meters, he saw that the pitch-black tunnel continued ahead, but he did not venture deeper.
Following the little boy's earlier directions, he turned left and saw a brightly lit laboratory.
Through the curtain, he could vaguely make out an eerie green glow flickering inside.
Rein did not barge in. Instead, he stopped at the entrance and politely asked, "Hello, are you Dr. Ilubeck?"
A somewhat elderly voice answered from within, "Are you the surviving case of worm infestation from the Storm Lake Incident that young Bic mentioned?"
The question had a strong purpose behind it. It seemed the person inside was interested only in the patient, not in him as a person.
Even the vice director of the renowned Winst Hospital was merely "that kid" in this man's mouth.
"Yes, Doctor."
However, Rein felt relieved. A medical eccentric so obsessed with studying patients probably would not gossip about his former identity as a phantom thief.
"Oh, then come in."
From behind the curtain, the man