After running a good distance away, Isla stopped and hid behind a corner as she looked over her shoulder. She knew that nobody saw her when she snatched the box and she also knew that they would probably never find her again. But, she was always careful with everything she did.
‘Better safe than sorry.’ She mused as she crouched and put the box down. ‘Now, let’s see what they have in here.’
Normally, Isla would assume the box only has meat being transported. However, something within her guts told her that she might be very wrong. The giant business, the legion of carriages they had under their wing, and the weird atmosphere of the entire place made her raise some question marks.
So, before she could move on, she had to confirm if her suspicions were true or not. Opening the box, the first thing she found was large chunks of meat wrapped in parchment paper and surrounded with ice bags to keep it fresh. Slowly, she pulled the meat and looked at it with her sharp eyes.
‘Interesting…’ She thought to herself. Then, she slowly pulled the second and third chunks until she reached the bottom of the box. However, she surprisingly found nothing worth her interest inside the box. Realizing that, Isla stood there for a second, a little confused and a little disappointed. Her gut feeling usually never let her down when it came to such things.
Yet, it seems she was completely wrong about this particular situation.
‘I was wasting time.’ She thought to herself as she was about to put back the meat inside the box and leave. However, at that moment, when it was a little close to her nose, Isla smelled something that made her stop.
Frowning, she sniffed again, trying to catch this weird smell she just had. Then, her eyes went to the piece of meat again as she got it closer to her nose. That was when her eyes frowned even harder.
“What is this smell?” Isla frowned. “It’s sharp… almost too sharp.”
The reason she was confused was because this particular smell didn’t seem to be a part of the meat itself and rather weirdly mixed with it as if it were an external object. It almost numbed Isla’s nose after sniffing a few times.
“…”
Isla didn’t know if this was truly a coincidence or if she was really noticing something very off with the meat. She kept staring at it, unable to find any clues. Until… She finally sighed and gave up.
‘I can’t waste any more time here. The others need me.’ She thought to herself. So, she put the meat back and then closed the box before she quickly left the area. There had already been at least a few minutes after her group had infiltrated the building.
As she ran, Isla was about to open the chat group to send a message to everyone. However, what happened next simply made her stop everything she was thinking about.
*Booom*
Looking up, she heard a loud explosion erupt in the distance coupled with a strong shockwave. Her eyes moved quickly to the building where she saw clouds of fog and ash rise from a section of the building. Then, the sounds of cries filled the entire world as everything was submerged in chaos.
The building had exploded.
“… What…”
***
*A few minutes earlier*
After entering through the door on the roof, Arthur found himself going down a long set of stairs. He could hear noises of people, presumably workers and customers from up there.
But, he still made sure to remain careful and silent as he peeked down every step he took. Eventually, he reached the highest floor of the entire building. There, he peeked through a corridor, left and right. There were not that many people there if any at all.
From what Arthur could see, this area looked like the management section so it wasn’t being visited by many people. However, Arthur still remained careful. ‘I should explore this area and then move down. I doubt they will put the kids here.’
As Arthur was about to make his move, he suddenly heard one of the doors open as a man walked out. Immediately, Arthur hid again as he peeked slightly with his eyes.
“Don’t ever come back here for a raise! I already pay you good enough!”
He heard someone yell from inside the room at the man clad in white and red, appearing as one of the workers and wearing a sanitary mask on his face.
After that, he closed the door and turned around with an extremely sad look on his face. “Dammit… I hate my life…” He grumbled as he started walking toward the stairs, where Arthur was exactly.
The latter clenched his teeth as he looked behind him, intending to make a run for it. However, at that moment, he suddenly got an idea.
“Fuck… I’m definitely going to leave this stupid job. I’m not sta-“
As he took the turn, the man saw a silhouette standing in front of him. Looking up, he realized that it was a rather young boy. For a second, the man was confused.
“Huh? What are you do-“
“Sorry, my friend. I’m about to make your day worse.”
*BANG*
Saying that, Arthur launched a punch at the man’s face, knocking him down with immense efficiency. The man’s eyes rolled to the back of his head as he fell to the ground. However, Arthur quickly caught him and gently put him down.
“That will hurt your jaw for a while. But, you will be fine. Use some ice.” He said as he quickly started undressing the man while keeping an eye on his surroundings.
Then, he wore his attire, wrapping the mask around his face to his face properly.
“Thank you for the clothes.” He said with a wink and then turned around and started moving away, leaving the man naked and unconscious.
Slowly, he walked around the management area, exploring the entire place, and searching for anything suspicious. However, all he saw were boring offices with people drowning in work inside. The atmosphere was exactly like a normal company.
He knew that his friends could be hidden anywhere inside these rooms. However, he knew taking a risk and infiltrating these offices without any plausible reason would only put him in a very bad position.
‘I need to go down first to the lower floors and then come back here if I don’t find anything.’ He decided after a minute of searching around. Then, he quickly turned around and headed downstairs.
He slowly moved down floor, by floor, finding himself in busier and busier areas where the workers were going back and forth. The smell of meat filled the entire place and blood stains could be seen everywhere he went.
Large-looking manual machinery was being handled by workers, cutting and shaping the meat in different sizes for different purposes.
Arthur watched this complicated maze of people working with a fascinated look on his face.
‘Now… Where should I look?’ He asked himself as he was about to start moving, only to feel an arm grabbing his shoulder.
“Where have you been, bastard?! I have been looking for you!”
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3