8.

Las Vegas…

The city of tourism and gambling was also a city of crime. Those who lost everything were often more likely to be criminals, and those who gained everything were more likely to be targeted by criminals. There was no better environment for crime to play. Las Vegas was full of hideouts with crime syndicates and secret spaces that were nowhere in the city's design.

Even in the days after the monsters appeared, those facts did not change.

One of the high-end houses with swimming pools lined up on South 14th Street in Las Vegas, one of the fine homes of a lawyer or accountant, was one of those places. In the basement of the house, where the leader of a small drug-trafficking organization lived, there was a bunker built for a nuclear explosion, and inside it was filled with untraceable methamphetamine, guns, bullets, and dollars. It was a place to turn the eyes of criminals red.

"Failed?"

But the two men who were now there, apparently related to their superiors and subordinates, were not paying any attention to the mess around them.

"We've confirmed that… Mayor, uh, Dean, moved to lure away the Desert Dragon as planned."

"But why is Mayor Dean okay now?"

"I don't know..."

It was proof that they weren't just criminals whose greatest pleasure was to get high on drugs. Of course, it didn't mean they were good, righteous, and just people.

"The number of reasons I see is three. One, Mayor Dean succeeded in running away from the Desert Dragon. Two, Mayor Dean killed the Desert Dragon on his own. Three, you guys were like shit.

"I don't think the two things in front are likely."

"Well, that's, uh..."

The leather jackets they wore, made of Dragon's skin, and the Pentagon designs were far from subtle. They were Hunters from the Pentagon.

"Stop the damn excuses! This case does not allow an excuse!"

They were now gathering in this secret place and talking. Of course, there would be no such thing as a normal story.

"Damn, unless Mayor Dean is a fool, he'll solidify the guard from now on, and find the traitor."

James Dean was the target of the Pentagon Hunters who were now in Las Vegas were. It was a story to be shared only in private. In addition, Colon, who was now running wild in front of his men, was a Hunter, sent from Texas for this important mission. Of course, he was a trusted, strong man with good experience. The Pentagon would not have sent just anyone to get rid of James Dean, who was considered a hero of Las Vegas. That's why Colon knew better than anyone else how the Pentagon would treat the incompetent and the failed, and how they would deal with him and his men who had failed to eliminate Mayor James Dean. He knew it so well that Colon didn't bother himself for long at this moment. There was only one thing he had to do now.

"If we leave Mayor Dean alive, we will die. They will kill us to get rid of the tail, damn it!

"Gather."

"Yes?"

"Gather them all together. All the Hunters in Las Vegas. No, not just Hunters. Gather everyone you can. Gather the mafia, the gangs. Gather them together…"

"We will kill Mayor Dean directly." To eliminate Mayor James Dean himself was the only way Colon and his men could survive.

Boom! The door of the underground bunker where they were hiding was broken in loudly.

"What is it?" Colon and his men sprang up from their seats in astonishment. The two of them could see a man crossing a broken door. He was an Asian with a sharp appearance.

The Asian man stepped slowly towards Colon. Thud! Then he took the chair that Colon had just sat down with, and sat down between him and his men. All this was done while Colon and his men stood firm and watched. There was no resistance, no rebellion at all.

'What, what…'

'What is it?'

It was because invisible forces were entangling them.

The man sitting between the two men who were as helpless mannequins spoke slowly, "Let's start a conversation."

"Yes…" At his words, the closed mouth of Colon was allowed to open. "Who are you?"

At the question, the man didn't show a flicker of expression, let alone an answer.

Colon also realized that what he was talking about could not even be carried away by a man.

So Colon quickly changed his words.

"Do you know who I represent?" It was a sneaky threat.

There was a manly response to the threat. "A Hunter of the Pentagon."

The reaction was not very good for Colon. The fact that his opponent came to him even knowing who Colon was meant that he was ready enough. But Colon didn't give up.

'This is… dangerous.' He had a hunch that the moment he gave up here, he would be dead.

So he was going to do everything he could before he died. That was the reason why Colon had gone beyond the frivolity of a child and was now speaking childish threats. It was the only thing he could do.

"If you touch me, the Pentagon won't stay still!"

"I know. That's why I'm here."

"What's that…"

"From now on, you only answer my questions."

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9.

Hoover Dam…

There were many words attached to this huge block of concrete. One of them was that it was the last structure of mankind. It was not an exaggerated expression.

Buildings that were no longer under human control, or their roads, could last for only two to three hundred years, but Hoover Dam could last for thousands of years. It was a building that would survive to the last minute when mankind died.

"I think the Pentagon really wants my head." James Dean, the owner of Hoover Dam, had an expression on his face that was not characteristic of the master of the great structure. "It was not unexpected, but…" His face was dull and grim.

"I didn't expect they were going to make a real plot like this. They bought off a colleague of mine."

James Dean had known for a long time that Pentagon considered him an eyesore. It was natural. The two were opposites in what they were pursuing. The Pentagon wanted to divide the world into kings and slaves, and James Dean wanted to make the world a good place to live in. It was natural that the two of them were in one land and collided. The reason for the lack of collision so far was that the Pentagon was located in Washington DC, and Las Vegas was located in western America. It was too far away to make a move.

"I didn't even know that a man of that kind, Colon, had come to Las Vegas, which means that not just a man or two was bought off, but a whole part of the city was bought off."

But the distance to the Pentagon was now colorless. The evidence was that they had tried to kill James Dean far away in Las Vegas. It was why James Dean looked so terrible.

"This is my situation now."

On the other hand, the man, who was drinking coffee and looking at James Dean, had not changed much.

"I don't know how I can help you, but you can tell me what you want, because as you say, my life is in your hands."

Kim Tae-hoon listened to James Dean with a cool expression and swallowed the coffee he was holding. "What I want is a man's life, and now he's at the center of the Pentagon."

"You want to attack the Pentagon? You want me to help you? No problem. There's no reason not to go on that." James Dean laughed bitterly. At the same time, his eyes were sharp. He had fear of the war against the Pentagon.

However, Kim Tae-hoon's expression was still cool. "It's okay to take down the Pentagon. I can do that without other people's help." With a calm expression, he uttered words that were not calm.

"What the hell is that..."

"It's exactly what I said. If I am just knocking down the Pentagon, I wouldn't have to be here."

James Dean was embarrassed for a moment. Kim Tae-hoon's appearance came to mind: he killed the Desert Dragon, a blue-grade monster, with just a gesture. It indicated strongly that Kim Tae-hoon's words were not just bluffs.

Kim Tae-hoon continued to explain to him. "It took a year or so to bring down the group that committed the crime on September 11, 2001, but it took ten years to catch the main culprit."

In that explanation, James Dean was able to draw a clearer picture of what Kim Tae-hoon wanted.

"I understand." James Dean was able to understand the picture enough. "So what should I do for your plan?"

"Oppose the Pentagon."

"Do you mean I should distract the Pentagon while you find the target?" James Dean thought for a moment and said, "The power of Las Vegas will not be enough to deal with the Pentagon."

The idea of fighting against the Pentagon was already happening. The Desert Dragon hunting was also to build forces to resist the Pentagon. If so, it was a great opportunity, not a crisis, now that Kim Tae-hoon could support it.

"We need to establish an organic partnership with at least San Francisco and Los Angeles, and the Western Alliance, that is the least we have to do." James Dean immediately brought out his plan.

"The problem is that these three places need to remove the monsters that are the obstacles to organically cooperate, but ... it's not easy." He also brought out the greatest difficulty in carrying out the plan. "Especially in Yosemite National Park, there are seven blue-grade monsters, the most troublesome."

At the end of his words, Kim Tae-hoon answered briefly. "That's no problem."

James Dean was happy with that. "If you help me, I'll be able to subjugate the monsters as soon as I can!"

"You don't have to."

But at the answer of Kim Tae-hoon, James Dean had to tilt his head sideways. "What does it mean..."

"I removed everything on the way."

At this moment James Dean looked blank for a moment. In more detail, James Dean could not grasp the meaning of Kim Tae-hoon's words and could not accept the facts he had deduced.

In front of James Dean, Kim Tae-hoon took a sip of coffee in his hand.

'Oh my God.' After the long silence, James Dean's sigh burst out. James Dean stroked his face with his hand. Clearly, what Kim Tae-hoon had told him was good news, and he should be pleased. But James Dean could not feel the joy of this fact.

"What the hell..." The efforts he had made so far seemed to be just a trivial struggle.

But Kim Tae-hoon did not intend to comfort him. "How long would it take to build a Western alliance that combined LA and San Francisco?"

Kim Tae-hoon knew better than anyone that comfort was not very helpful in the current era. He knew that only those who felt discontent could survive until now.

James Dean did the same. He did not retreat from his fear. "The Pentagon has forces in the West, so it will take time to move away from their eyes. I expect it will take about a month."

"What if you move, regardless of the Pentagon's movements?"

"Ten days is enough, but the Pentagon won't be quiet unless they are distracted elsewhere…" A plan flashed into James Dean's mind as he spoke. "Texas," he said immediately. "If we can destroy Texas, we can build stronger forces to fight against the Pentagon, as well as to earn time."

The word "Texas" narrowed Kim's eyes.

"As you know, Texas has oil fields." The Texan oil fields were the largest oil fields in the United States. They were basically supplying the rest of the country. In addition, the value of oil fields would be absolute in a situation where most civilizations had collapsed, like now.

"And Texas is in the center of America." Texas was located in the central southern part of the United States. If the Pentagon and the Western League started a war, Texas would determine the scale of the victory and defeat.

"So the Pentagon used all its means and methods to make Texas more secure." Of course, the Pentagon was more focused on securing Texas than anywhere else.

"That's why the Pentagon has the greatest influence in Texas, and at the same time, their anger at the Pentagon is the greatest." The Pentagon had never done anything with charity, mercy, or morality there. As he had said before, there were only kings and slaves in the world of the Pentagon.

"The Resistance is there, and the people of Texas believe in the Resistance because real values are admitted everywhere." In Texas, which had suffered the greatest damage and persecution of the Pentagon, the number of people who resisted the Pentagon was also the highest.

"Who should I go to Texas and help?"

"Jennifer Mitchel is the head of the Resistance."

"What are her outward features?"

"Don't you know her?" She was a big actress who had starred in more than a dozen Hollywood films. She was a woman everyone knew.

At the question, Kim Tae-hoon made something other than a cool expression for the first time.

"I'll show you a picture." James Dean said quickly. Instead, he asked, "Can you do it?"

Kim Tae-hoon did not answer the question. "I need two identities that I can get into Texas City quietly with, so I can contact the Resistance."

Kim Tae-hoon was here to make it work even if it did not work.