70 Show Me The Goods.
Chapter 70: Show Me The Goods.
After a few minutes of driving in silence, Haru looked out of the window. He didn't recognise where they were heading. It looked like they were driving into an industrial park. There were many factories blooming clouds of smoke from chimneys. He could taste the toxins in the air from inside the car.
It wasn't a pleasant experience for any Of them. "What is this place?" Haru asked Cui. Without taking her eyes off the road she replied. "This is the industrial sector. We have to pass through here to get to the docks. Don't worry we won't be here long. I hate the smell too." She looked like she was struggling to breathe.
"The docks? Why are we going there?" Jake shouted from the back seat. "Don't you kids ever listen? We need to meet up with the Militia people. And that is where the goods are stored. We will be driving with a convoy of all the items that the sect needs." She didn't make an effort to explain anything else she just shook her head and silently judges them once again.
Haru got bored and then reached out his hand toward the console to put on some music. "No don't touch that!" Cui shouted as his hand got closer. But it was too late. He had already switched on the radio. "Mr Jackson reached up with his hand whilst licking Mrs, Estor's stomach." It seemed to be an audio book of some kind, playing with the volume turned all the way up.
It only went down hill from there. It wasn't just any audio book but an erotic one. After about fifteen seconds of it playing Jake began to laugh. Haru looked at Cui her face now red and then he switched the channel on to some random music channel. He looked ahead whilst Jake was still laughing from the back of the car.
"Hey say something. If you are going to judge me then at least do it out loud. It feels awful not knowing what you are thinking about me." Cui complained. "I'm not judging you. I understand we all have our needs. Some people fulfil them differently. It's okay there is nothing to feel ashamed about." Haru said with a smile.
It made Jake laugh so much more than before. "Fine. If Haru doesn't want to Judge you then I will, you old pervert. Why do you even listen to stuff like that? Are you secretly a sixty year old man?" Cui's face was as red as it had ever been. She decided to shut up and focus on driving. It was probably for the best. There was nothing she could say that would fill up the grave she had just dug for herself.
After about ten more minutes of driving in silence, they had finally reached the docks. They drove up to a large warehouse. There were two semi-truck and five off-road military style cars waiting for them. "Hey, You two stay here. There are a few things we need to go over before we set off. These people aren't too nice so it will be for the best that you don't go and cause trouble." She warned Haru and Jake before she got out of the car and walked toward them.
Haru waited a few seconds for her to walk out of sight before he turned back to Jake. "You ready?" He asked. Jake caught on to what he meant. "Is it time for our cargo inspection?" Jake asked. Haru began to open the door. "Yep, We need to make sure the goods are all safe and secured. We can't have anything getting damaged before we set off." He got out of the car whilst making sure nobody was looking.
Jake followed closely behind and then shut the door as quietly as he could so he wouldn't draw any unwanted attention. They sneaked around to the side of the warehouse. "How smoothly do you think this operation will go? The higher ups said that they were being paid quite handsomely for sending us here. That usually means it's going to be difficult right?" There was a man's voice coming from the corner in front of them.
It was followed by two sets of footsteps. "We need to hide," Haru whispered to Jake. Jake nodded his head and then cast a spell. [Reactive Camo] The spell practically made them both invisible. As the two men walked around the corner they didn't suspect a thing as they carried on with their conversation.
"I'm not sure. They sent us all the out here so I guess that the client is very wealthy. It might just be a breeze. I doubt that anything will happen." The other man said. "Hmm. You make a good point. But the captain did warn us to keep our eyes out for trouble. He usually only says something like that if he expects us to find trouble…" The carried on talking as they walked right past both Jake and Haru.
"That was a little close," Haru said as they carried on walking. The pro's to the spell Jake had just used is that it is quick to activate and it doesn't require much mana. The one major con is that you can't move whilst it's activated or you will break the effects. They carried on with their mission to inspect the goods.
They found their way into the warehouse through the back door. The had just finished picking up the two semi trucks that were sticking out of the front of the warehouse. There were two men wearing white hazmat suits. They looked at each other and then one of them nodded before they walked away in opposite directions.
"Well… That was a little weird." Jake said as they decided to investigate further. "Yeah. That means there is something harmful in there right?" Haru asked rhetorically and then they both opened the door to the first truck. "Show me the goods," Haru whispered as he pulled open the doors.
There was nothing unusual. There were no funny smells in there that would suggest that anything in there was harmful. In fact, the only things that were in there were stacks and stacks of herbs. It smelled like a traditional medicine store. But if that was the only thing then why would they wear protection to load them into the truck.
The only conclusion Haru came to was that there was something in the other truck. They left the truck how it was and then closed the doors. They made sure not to touch anything so nobody would notice that they had been in there.
"Hey, I'm going to give you a fair warning. You might want to activate a few spells on yourself. There's a good chance that the thing in the next truck could be deadly." Haru warned Jake. "I was thinking the same thing." He replied as he began to activate spells on himself.
"Hey, You need me to put some on you?" He asked Haru. "Sure, It will just be a little extra protection." Before Haru could finish Jake had already activated four protection spells. "Wow, You really have improved a lot." Haru praised him and then walked over to the door of the next truck.
"Be careful," Jake said as Haru reached out for the handle. He pulled it gently and then the door slowly creaked open. It was dark and a lot of dust flew out. It was weird they had just loaded the truck. How was there so much dust? Haru couldn't make sense of it and then his body began to react to the object inside the truck.
Right in the centre. There was a concrete box. It was long and narrow. It almost looked like a coffin. There were old rusted chains wrapped around it. And then Haru noticed what had created the dust so quickly.
It was the chains. They had small inscriptions on each link and gave out the same feeling that had happened when he read the stone tablet that contained the law of time. The chains were probably being used to keep whatever was inside the box from ageing. There was also an ominous feeling coming from it. He couldn't place where he had felt the feeling before but it was familiar.
"What is it?" Jake asked from behind Haru. He was using him as a shield in hopes that whatever was inside would get to Haru before it got to him. "I'm not sure. It looks like a coffin. But we had best not go any further than this. Whatever is inside is locked up for a reason. I don't want to find out why." He warned Jake and then they both took a step back.
Haru closed the door quietly and then they turned to head back. As the door closed the was a small beeping sound that came from the door. Was there a motion sensor? Haru thought. All of a sudden running footsteps emerged from all side.
"Quick Jake hide us." Jake began to activate the spell. [Break] The spell was cancelled before he finished activating it. "Huh?" Jake was confused as a big muscular man with long hair and a headband holding it back walked through the middle of the two trucks. "A mage? It's been a while since I encountered one of you." He said whilst approaching them. Suddenly they were surrounded by armed men all aiming their guns.
"Hey, guys… What's up?" Haru smiled as the all had him in their sights.
