85 Hide and Seek

Aida, Lucifer and Light cautiously stepped into the mall, armed with guns. Their objective was to get in and out with the least amount of force necessary. Before entering, Aida, with the help of Xiao Ai, scanned the entire mall and found 2 Reapers i and only a handful of Enraged.

Light pointed out earlier that there were no Variants that appeared on scene which can mean one of two things. Either all the Variants got together and left or that there's a powerful Reaper in the city that killed all the Variants. Of course, there is always the slim chance that the Variants had a base that was on the other side of the city, but that was less likely. This was a rather small city, so it theoretically wouldn't be hard to pay attention to the entire city. Regardless of which outcome it was, they had to be cautious.

Aida had the psychic scan so she led the way. She already had a map of the mall in her head, so it was no problem identifying the various potential routes and exits. The first store was the kitchen appliances. They needed a large assortment of pots, pans, dishware, and utensils in addition to the larger items like a microwave and refrigerator. Since they were grabbing this for the first time, they also looked for mini-ovens, rice cookers, and more. There was no one in the store so Aida quietly helped them break in as she closed the door. They could load everything onto a trolley and then wheel this first set of items out first.

As they were collecting the items, Aida suddenly sensed a larger dot on the scan, it was one of the two Reapers in the building. "Hide!" she whispered to the other two as she quickly ducked behind the cash register.

Hearing this, the other two reacted quickly and hid as well. Using her scan, she was able to detect where the Reaper was. It seemed to pause for a while, before continuing on. This experience made her realize that they need some kind of hand signal to communicate with each other as well as short wave radios to talk to each other. With that, they would be able to handily split up and transport these items. This being the case, her next target would be the technology store.

Seeing that the Reaper had left with quite some distance between them, she got up and called out to them, "It's clear, let's move."

They quickly moved all the items and placed them on the trolley. Using her scan, she focused as she expanded the search to the limit. Sensing the placement of the two Reapers being on the far side of the building, she called out to the two. "Now's our chance."

They efficiently rolled the items out of the store and made a dash for the mall exit. Calmly making their way to the RV, they placed the items into the RV and instructed the kids on how to install each item. Yukio was in charge of cleaning all the items while the others were to follow Ace's lead in placing each item in the right place.

Aida had a thought, 'If only Rin could use his ability more proficiently, now would be the perfect opportunity to use it.' Unfortunately, he was not ready yet and she didn't want to risk his life just for the sake of convenience.

Instead, she brought Xiao Ai with her this round. Xiao Ai could help her maximize the range of the scan so she could cover most of the mall and actively track everything. Their main objective now was to obtain hand radios so they could split up.

As they sneaked in, Aida noticed that one of the Reapers was walking towards this direction again. Quickly reacting, she threw everyone into the bathroom and quickly shut the door. After the Reaper passed, they stepped out again. Xiao Ai bounced while laughing, "Hehe~ this is like playing hide and seek! Fun fun!"

Aida chuckled and patted Xiao Ai to get her to settle down as they quietly made their way towards the store. Successfully entering, she handed each of them a radio while collecting the rest of them for future use. "Channel 16. For this operation, I will be your eyes. Trust me. I won't let any of you get caught. Make sure you always have a place to hide in a moment's notice."

She asked, "Do you know how to pick a lock?"

Lucifer nodded while Light responded calmly, "No."

Nodding sharply as she expected this response, "Ok, I will follow you to the next store and help you unlock the door before moving on. Move!"

Light was in charge of obtaining daily necessities, clothes, shoes and bedding. Lucifer was in charge of survival tools, the grill for the RV, toolkits, tents and other miscellaneous items. Aida had the hardest task and was in charge of bringing down the mattresses, food, and all other items that were not covered. She had the most difficult tasks because she would be able to respond more adeptly to the situation despite being in her weakened state.

She first took Light to the mattress store to pick up the mattresses, pillows and other items. It was a huge store, but no one was around at all. Since this was slightly more inland, the people here had more time to respond to the outbreak. Most of the stores remained closed even when the virus reached the city, which is why there were much fewer Enraged and Reapers in this mall.

Having grabbed all the items, they swiftly moved back up to the front of the store, preparing to move out.