The city engineer swore under her breath. “That shouldn’t be there.” A colleague unrolled laminated planning maps, tracing the area with a finger. “No records of anything below this property,” he said. “No utilities, no mines, no historical shafts.” The maps showed clean, solid ground. The images in front of them said otherwise.
Officials gathered around the feed, arguing in low voices. Old bootlegging tunnels? Forgotten storm drains? None of it made sense. The soil was too loose, the timber too fresh. Daniel leaned closer, pulse thudding. This wasn’t just nature collapsing on itself. Someone had carved out space down there—and recently.