Colby brought him to a store, which was formerly a clothing store, some of the clothing that was still hung up were horribly stained, with several holes and scratches, there was also a lot of blood stains in the store as well. “What's with all this tense action, do you really not believe that this is a haven?” Colby said to Satoya while he rested his arm on his shoulder, Satoya seemed to be uncomfortable, but Colby ignored him before saying.

“C’mon we have guards, who were from the military here, former void hunters too, we are safe, fret not, the child is fine, so take that beautiful friend of yours and relax.” Colby said in a calming tone, he removed his arm from Satoya’s shoulder, then tried to walk away but Satoya needed more answers.

“What are these restricted zones,” Satoya demanded seriously, while also adding on, “if this place is a safe haven, then why are there restricted areas, and what is this disease you speak of.” Satoya asked him further, preparing to attack him head on.

“Ha! That is where you are confused, you see Satoya, this whole mall is not safe, the 2nd floor has too many level 3s and 4s, it is simply not safe to get up there, only my trusted scavengers are able to get up there, if we have a shortage of food, and the disease is something I do not know either, but I do know that it is fatal.” Colby assured, while also having a joyous expression, he knew Satoya was provoked, but figured provoking him further would ruin the fun.

“Now let's leave, you seem like you would need rest.” Colby recommended Satoya. Satoya sighed and walked back, telling Sakonori that their business is done for now, Sakonori tried to ask for what happened, but Satoya shushed her, before quietly telling her that he’ll see if they got time for him to explain what his interaction with Colby was.

After the group met up, and discussed their findings, Satoya decided he would be on guard duty, watching the group, as he is sceptical, he waited until everyone was asleep, Satoya was looking around the tent, occasionally looking through the entrance, although there was a sort of “pungent” smell, he figured that the mall was already abandoned, and the only people who clean up the place are people who are kind enough to.

After about 30 minutes, he saw something sinister that caught his eye, while he was peeking from the inside of the tent, he saw a group of men taking a child who was unconscious, as well as the mother and father dead corpses being dragged by the men, as Satoya slowly conjured up energy to summon his katana.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“What the hell?” Satoya thought to himself, he heard a voice in his head, the same voice that said “Take a picture of it, and show it to your friends, but still keep on guard, who knows what will happen if you sleep like the group.” The voice in his head ordered sternly, Satoya thought about it for a moment before he stopped conjuring up his katana, but he still watched where the men were heading, before they turned to the left, making him lose track of them.

The group woke up the next morning, with Satoya leaning on the tent’s frame, “Satoya, wake up, i’m quite surprised that none of us died.” Sakonori mumbled while she was nudging him, Satoya was half asleep, with his hands crossed trying to sleep more. “C’mon I slept at 4 am.” he mumbled sleepily.

“Fine, but won’t you tell us what happened during your guard duty?” Sakonori asked, in which Satoya jolted back up, even though he hadn’t slept for a while, he jolted back up as if he had a week's worth of energy.

“Oh nevermind then, but here, I took a picture of what had happened.” he showed them the picture, everyone went silent, Johnathan’s jaw dropped before he looked down trying to think.

“Aren’t they the same family we met after we came in?” Rayna asked, completely in shock by the picture, Johnathan looked back up after being deep in thought then nodded.

“Confident that they are in fact, the same family we encountered, the one who Johnathan promised that we’ll find the one who saved them.” Edward answered, as he examined the picture, he also pointed out how the men both had 2 purple marks on their neck.

“We need to confront them, where the hell is Colby?” Rayna pleaded, as she prepared to go into combat, conjuring up her own sword.

“I guess we found out why Lionel was suspicious of this mall.” Sakonori shrugged as he looked at Isaac, who was still sleeping. She was planning to slap him awake, but remembered that Isaac is a heavy sleeper who slept through an entire tree falling into his house.

“Wake up Isaac, you slept the earliest and you will wake up the latest.” Rayna teased as she poked Isaac in the face with her finger, “BOO!” Isaac cried, scaring her completely. “Woah!” Rayna screamed, “Don’t do that!” she scolded before she punched him in the face from instincts, before sighing.

“So what is the plan?” Isaac asked, while there's a visible mark on his cheek. “We should probably stay together, Edward, do you know any way we can differentiate between normal and non-human people?” Satoya asked Edward.

“To be honest, no, since I have never encountered a single Iya in my life, which is probably because the void hunters already exterminate them before the public eye sees them.” Edward shrugged off. The void hunters typically work under the public eye, but that is mainly because the 1st capital (or the Erideon Capital)’s headquarters are often really secretive, unlike other capitals who are essentially regarded as the task force or police. The reason why the first capital’s VHC is more secretive is because they fear that if the public saw an Iya, they’ll cause a panic that’ll get in their way, so they decided to be a “hidden” organisation.

“Hmm, you and Johnathan, go “fetch” some food for us, by that, try finding a pattern between the people here.” Satoya suggested as his renewed energy faded after him showing the group what he saw.