"I’m still curious, why would Lionel want us to be here?" Sakonori asked Satoya, in which Satoya replied "Perhaps Lionel wants these people to actually be safe, because like what Rin said, some Iyas are capable of shapeshifting into an actual person" Satoya reminded her in a cautious tone, they then heard buzzing from their phones.
They received a text from Johnathan: "Yo guys, found 2 guards guarding a "restricted" area, I asked one of them, and they said that there are too many Iyas up there, and only scavengers appointed by Colby can enter." An image was also attached to the text of 2 guards with rifles in front of the north-west side, there was also a corpse of a soldier who had a large gash over his head and shoulder, which meant the soldier was killed by a ferocious beast.
"Huh, that is odd, but don't they know Johnathan is a void hunter?" Sakonori asked, Satoya texted back to Johnathan asking him if there was any way to sneak in to the restricted zone, but Johnathan replied back saying all the possible ways to sneak in are blocked completely, he explained further that he remembered the old pathway he went to when he was younger to go into the “secret lair” Which was just the staff lounge, and that “secret passage” was also blocked off, except by a single person holding a pistol.
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“Odd, why would they want to block off all the possible ways to sneak in? I guess it could be because of actual safety, but why?" Satoya thought to himself deeply. “Perhaps someone is purposely making the mall seek shelter on the first floor. Think about it, those soldiers could probably kill a low level Iya with minimal injury, but they are choosing to stay on the first floor.”
"Satoya! I found a restricted area, with 2 guards guarding it." Sakonori called to him, he came and peeked through the side of the wall, and to his expectation, these guards had rifles too, the soldiers were tall, with a badge on their arm that Satoya barely read as “Erideon Military Force.”
While they were peeking at the guards, they heard a woman scream, "NO, PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU, PLEASE DON'T TAKE MY CHILD, TAKE ME INSTEAD!" Sakonori and Satoya heard, and they ran to see 2 people with metal bats taking a mother's son away.
"This child has caught the disease! He must be checked up!" Said one of the men, but Sakonori took out her own bat, planning to intervene, but Satoya caught her shoulder, "Don’t overthink it, I know we need to save the child, but we must see where they go with him, you go calm the mother, I will sneak up behind them and see what they are going to do with him." Satoya suggested to her in a serious tone, she complied and went to comfort the mother, as he quietly walked behind them, making sure to stay hidden along the way.
Eventually he saw them bringing them to a shoe store, Satoya hid under the window, and peeked to see what is going on, and to his surprise, he saw Colby and a nurse giving the child pills, Satoya got even more suspicious, and tried to get back, but Colby caught, and called him, then asked if they could talk in private.