After he stared at it for a few minutes, Tao put the flash drive away into his pocket. He sighed. He then glanced at the Elder. A look of exhaustion was visible on his face.
"You should be thankful there's still some power left down here." Said Tao. "Whoever attacked didn't thoroughly finish and clean the job. Memory drive is still intact; the generators are still working, what else?" He yawned. "Sleep well."
Tao entered the Elevator and returned back up. Lazily, he walked up the stairs, and into his, or what used to be his bedroom. As he reached his door, he immediately turned the knob open. The bed he slept in a while ago was still intact. There alongside the pile of rubbles beside it. That wasn't all. Tao looked up and saw the skies; the bright blue skies. Two thirds of his roof was destroyed, leaving it wide open.
He ignored everything that was wrong with his room and went to his bed. He collapsed as soon as he reached it, unto the soft surface of his mattress. In a little less than a few seconds, he was snoring already.
Tao spent the rest of the day sleeping. Despite his somewhat destroyed room, he was sleeping sweet and soundly. He awoke several hours later. The sun had already set, and the moon was beginning to enter its place. He yawned.
Tao stood up and went to turn the lights on. There was a click, but the light did not work. He sighed. He exited his room, and came down the stairs, into the living room, which was incredibly dark as well.
Then again, the dark wasn't really much of a problem to him. He went up to the door, and went outside.
In front of him, on their front lawn, was the car they used earlier today. A black four seater, shiny and luxurious car. Their car was one of those that came out over the last decade. It has a wide touch screen tablet in front near the steering wheel, and beside it was a USB port. Suddenly, it occured to him. It's just the thing he needed.
Tao entered the car, turned the key, and pressed "start". The lights went on, and the engine began to make noise; it was not loud, but a roar nonetheless.
He took out the flash drive and inserted it. The car computer immediately detected the memory holder, and it appeared on the screen.
"Would you like to view the content files?" Tao read loudly. "Yes … No."
Tao was about to press yes, when suddenly, his hand halted and froze midair. He was unable to continue. He did not take his hand off, nor drive his fingers to press it but instead, he pondered how to proceed.
He sighed.
"Damn it!" He pulled the flash drive and stashed it back in his pocket.
Tao scrolled the windows down, let the breeze in, and breath. He was ruminating, when suddenly, a ringing and the vibrating of his smartphone disrupted the silence of the night. He picked it up, and answered the call.
"Hello?"
'Tao, how's everything going?' Takeo asked from the other end.
"Ah, well… you received my message?"
'I did. So, any update?'
''Nothing's changed. The house is s still destroyed and the Elder is still unconscious.''
'I see… let's move the 3rd Elder to the safe house when I get there. I'm already on my way back.'
"Good idea. I don't think this is a nice place anymore for someone like Raizel-nim."
'How about the assailants, any news on that one?' Takeo asked.
Faced with the question, Tao glanced towards the screen. It took him quite a while to answer.
"No. I, I don't think there's any notable discovery yet."
The two of them talked a little more for a while. At last, they hung up. It was perfect timing though as Raizel had just returned. He was floating above the house. He slowly descended and gradually looked upon him.
"Raizel-nim, the electricity is down, and most of the appliances are probably broken. Let's eat outside tonight. I heard a new restaurant opened a week ago near here."