Leave The Monster Alone

The door to the room opened with a bang loud enough to startle the recipients inside the room. All four of them looked at the opened door with a confused expression on their face.

This was the thirteenth room in the regular quarters he had been to. The residential section was divided into three major parts - researchers, regular and everything else.

Research quarters are the most ludicrous of the bunch, housing dignitaries and so-called important people as well as research personnel. It was a classified area not everyone could enter.

The general waters were occupied by the teams who did all the exploration and fighting. Mainly, rooms were shared between the team members of a single unit to strengthen their relationship. This was the place they had decided to start from since these people had the highest chances and funds to purchase the Vials.

Then there was the last section which housed everyone else. Those were huge halls occupied by a dense majority of people. Really, that place didn't look to be habitable much but people still made do in these difficult times.

"Oh, it's only the shopkeeper. Did anyone order anything from there?" one of the guys asked his teammates who shook their head in an affirmative 'no.' "I'm sorry but you made a mistake. Don't worry, it happens to the best of us"

The tone clearly packed a mocking punch which Mark ignored in favour of entering. This jestering tone and familiarity people showed with him was nothing new.

Perhaps, these people were not even aware that they had been acting more than friendly with him as the system never made them aware.

But to not even bother to know his name and reduce him to a post did hurt his feelings a little. Can they not even have the decency to learn how he is?

"Not here for delivery. Base captain Liam gave me the order to check for those stolen Vials in your room" Mark made his way deeper inside the room  and finally the team seemed to pay attention to him.

"Those Vials? Sure, go ahead" the closest one to him said as he moved away. The female of the group clearly did not look happy with a male invading her privacy and she did, over forward to complain but her companion stopped her by placing a hand on her arm.

"Don't cause trouble with him or we'll not survive for long here" that was clearly the same person who had cooperated with him. He was clearly smarter than anyone else inside here and he knew that life would get difficult should he mess with the shopkeeper.

The bulk of material and other facilities inside the base were only available from the shop and it was not wrong to say that it was 'base lifeline.'

The earlier groups had the unfortunate incident of protesting but one threat of being banned from the shop feature left them silent. No one wanted to make their lives any more difficult than they already were at this point.

Most rooms followed a similar setting which made it really easy to check them manually. The rooms had no extra nodes which could be used to hire things anyway but even if someone tried to be creative, the scan exposed them immediately anyway.

Once the room was checked thoroughly by hand, Mark made sure he scanned it with his system too. It was a backup and he was just not willing to risk it at this point. 

The room was clear of any suspicious material.

"All clear" Mark made a note in his list and stood up.

"Hope you find them soon" with a nod of acknowledgement, Mark left that room for the next one. The rumor of his cleaning had already spread and despite his best efforts, people were beginning to hide things in creative places. Too bad for them, Mark could easily find all those places with the help of his system scan. Already, too many questionable things had been found which ranged from illegal food hoarding to weapon theft. 

That was some of the worst he had seen which at least gave him hope that everything was not so bad. At least some of these people have enough sense to look guilty when their illegal things were found. 

It would not save them from punishment though.

Mark had not said anything to those people but he had made note of it all the same. He would pass it onto Liam later.

As Mark walked toward the next room he found himself in a new corridor. One look and Mark could tell that this was a higher area than before. The walls looked better and the air was fresher. Clearly, this was not an area normal soldiers lived in.

"Mark?" A very familiar voice asked from behind him, the confusion evident inside it, "what are you doing here?"

Mark turned to face Alan who looked at him with wide eyes. The kid looked better than even the last time he saw him, which was a few days ago now. But the more important question was -what was he doing here.

"Have you not heard the rumor? I'm checking for the stolen vials" the teen gave him a sheepish smile in return.

"I did hear that but still, it's best to confirm isn't it? Is our room next" Mark wanted to tell the other that there was no need for that. Luna and Alan had a room of their own while their other members shared one room. A necessary arrangement since their team had 5 members now and more would join in later when they would be found.

Since they were the best team here, none of those people had any reason to buy any of the Vials from the store. But before Mark opened his mouth, he rethought his options and changed his mind.

"If you don't mind" even if Mark knew that these people had no hand in the theft, he could not actually leave their rooms unchecked. People would get suspicious and it would escalate things too quickly.

It was better for everyone if he treated this team as he treated everyone else.

"Come with me then" the teen led him through the next corridor which held empty rooms and into the one where he shared the room with his brother. It was dead silent, no sound coming from anywhere which was a rarity in a space filled with young blood.

"Everyone else is in the training field so it's only me and you here. They miss Kuro though and wanted me to ask you when she will be back" the teen was trying to fill the gap with his chatter and Mark decided to humor him. 

"She's actually undergoing a metamorphosis to become stronger. It's a divine beast thing so I don't know when she will be over it" Mark did know but if he told Alan that then he might have to answer more questions. It was just better to pretend he knew nothing about it anyway.

"I see. Good for her" they arrived in front of a heavy pair of doors and the teen placed his hand on it. After a few seconds the door opened into a living room and two further doors made his acquaintance. The quarter was planned like a small 2BHK flat, a real novelty in such times.

"Should I start from here?" Even if Mark had the authority to search, he still felt it was best to ask first. He would not find anything here anyway. 

The teen looked at him as if he had lost his mind which Mark found to be odd. Just what made the other so skeptical in this situation?

"I don't think it's normal to ask for permission in your position" Alan's dry voice reached Mark's ears and a small chuckle left his lips in shock. The teen wasn't trying to be funny but Mark still found it funny. 

"Don't worry, it's a special service for you. I already know that no vial made its way here since you guys don't really need them. It's more of a formality here than anything else" the teen gave a small laugh at that and Mark just allowed his system to handle things.

This was the most relaxing time he would get for a while since there was no way he would find anything here anyway. 

Or that was the plan at least before his system beeped with a warning which scared him.

"Alan, I think I made a mistake. Someone here has something which they should not. Call every available person of the team who is currently here" the teen seemed to understand him but the confused look on his face did not flatter at all.

Mark could feel a small headache from behind his temple which was lowly due to stress. To find a thing here if all places were not in the plan and this would really change things in the future.

What should he do now?