After finishing this first group fight, they drove down another half mile and repeated the cycle. Aida decided that they would slowly increase the number of Reapers brought in each round to increase the amount of pressure on the team. The day continued with these endless fights until the sun started going down. At this point, it was still not wise for them to venture out and continue fighting when it got dark.
Only one major incident cropped up when Rin reappeared from the shadows in an unexpected location and almost ran straight into a fire elemental's attack. He was able to evade the attack just in time and got his hair singed. Everyone noticed Rin's close call which threw off the rhythm of their respective fights, allowing the Reapers an opportunity to counter attack. Fortunately, Little White, who had been standing on the side most of the time, reacted quickly and got rid of all the Reapers in one go.
When Aida saw this, she began contemplating having Little White go and hunt on his own. They would yield far more gems if they did this. The only challenge was communicating effectively with him. She wasn't particularly worried that Little White would get lost since he was able to track them down and follow them all the way out of the city, but he would certainly struggle with knowing when to return. Shaking her head, she set aside these thoughts for now.
In total, they had accrued 63 level 1 gems in total and 1 level 2 gem. This should be enough stockpile to last them a few days. None of the Reapers they encountered today seemed to be the right fit for Light or Yukio. They would have to keep hunting to find the right one for the two of them.
Everyone spent the night meditating or absorbing gems except Ace who continued to type furiously into his laptop for the whole night. The next morning, they ate breakfast together and prepared to set off.
Aida made a passing comment, "I still find it quite strange that despite having searched most of the city, we still didn't find any human or Variant. I wonder where they all went."
Right then, Ace's hand shot straight up like a straight A student in class. Aida tilted her head to the side, indicating Ace to speak.
"Master! I knew you would ask this question, so your most loyal and wonderful servant has compiled the data for you."
He got up to bring his laptop to the tatami where they all sat. "I hacked into the satellites and used the cell towers to triangulate the positions of all nearby cell phones that are still transmitting. Based on this, I'm able to determine that there is a sizable population about 40 miles East of the city."
Ace shared the map with everyone by displaying it onto the t.v. screen. After hearing this, Lucifer's jaw had dropped to the ground. His mouth was so wide, you could fit an egg in it. Light's eyes only had appreciation, he had long known that Ace was a genius hacker. Rin and Yukio didn't fully comprehend what was going on so they kept silent. Xiao Ai quietly scoffed at Ace's handiwork and mumbled cutely under her breath, "Stinky doggy is trying to steal Xiao Ai's job. Hmph hmph."
"It was easier than usual to hack in because governments are a lot less focused on their cybersecurity protection and hacks, and more focused on mitigating the virus itself. The only thing they're focused on protecting now is the nuclear launch codes, but I can hack into those and get them for you too if you want them Master!" Ace finished saying this and looked towards Aida with puppy-like hopeful eyes. He clearly wanted her verbal permission to gain control over the nuclear weapons system.
Aida rolled her eyes and smacked Ace's head, "What are you thinking? I'm not looking for world domination."
"Do you think this is another base of Variants?"
"Likely. Reapers lack the intelligence to use phones and keep them charged. It will be interesting to see another Variant base." As a former base leader albeit for a very short duration, Lucifer was curious to see how this new base matched up to his former one.
"Well then, it's decided. Let's go to this new base."
Nodding, Ace went to the driver's seat and they set off to the base. Light continued to study the map that Ace left on the screen while the twins went to clean the dishes from breakfast. Aida opened the windows to begin a "fishing" expedition.
Lucifer's telekinetic abilities had grown more adept and they could actively kill Reapers while driving by and have Lucifer retrieve the gems for them. Xiao Ai was in charge of stunning the Reapers and freezing them in place. Aida would then shoot the Reapers through the heart, targeting the gem specifically. After the gem made its appearance Lucifer was in charge of collecting the gems and bringing them back into the RV to add to their collection. In this collaboration, Aida had the trickiest job as her target was the size of a sunflower seed and moving. She considered this her gun training for the week. Little White just sat on the side, watching their seamless cooperation with curiosity.
Yukio and Rin soon finished the dishes and joined them as well. To them, this felt like a real life first-person shooter game and they took turns competing to see who could hit the target first. As they exited the city, the number of Reapers got increasingly sparse. The drive to the base would be a little over an hour, so everyone went off to do their own thing. Aida began watching a new episode of her favorite anime. One hour was the perfect amount of time to finish an episode.