As they fell through the gate, they landed slightly softer than the first time in front of the entrance of a mall, they got up and cleaned the dirt off of themselves, and entered the mall expecting something to jump out and attack them, but to their surprise, there were just normal people in there, "Huh? These are just normal looking people, why do we need to investigate this place anyway?" Sakonori said while she was looking around.
"Oh look newcomers!" Said a person in the crowd enthusiastically, as if he was happy to see them. The crowd of people surrounded the group, with a single person in the middle approaching them, some of the people were whispering to each other on how they were void hunters, but they didn't look experienced at all.
"Welcome to Vaxotis Mall, the new haven for people who survived the first attack from the Iyas." According to the same person, Satoya looked at the man with brown hair, orange eyes, and wearing a brown business attire, the man shook his hands and said his name is "Colby Sullivan." Satoya glanced at him again, trying to see if there are any signs of hostility, but the only peculiar thing about him is that the business suit seemed to be perfectly new, and cleaned quite recently, compared to the rest of the people whose clothes were quite dirty.
Satoya asked how they are still alive with caution and Colby claimed to be saved by the void hunters committee, "Come, come, relax, sit down, enjoy the limited time we have on this Earth!" Colby said with passion, he brought them to a table for 6, and called a lady named Marissa, Marissa asked them if they would like anything, and the group declined politely, as they are still sceptical about the situation they are in, meanwhile Rayna looked around the 1st floor of the mall.
"It's eerie, why is this place safe? I don't see anyone with the same insignia as us, plus I can't see anything weird about it either," Rayna whispered to the group, a child with her mother and father came with the child asking if they were the ones who saved them, the child was holding a horribly stitched up teddy bear, with some scratches on his face, while his parents were bruised with bandages on their arms and face.
"Oh, us? We are new to the committee, but I know whoever saved you guys is somewhere, perhaps you can say hi to them when this is all over?" Johnathan said to the child, the child and the parents looked back at him and smiled, before the father thanked him for assuring their child.
"They all look so ordinary. Is Lionel really sure this mall contains an Iya?" Sakonori asked them, Colby came back and invited them over to a large tent which is labelled "Honorary Members." The tent was ragged, with also horribly stitched up holes, which made Satoya even more suspicious, with the voice in his head pointing out "His clothes seemed to be freshly cleaned as well as in perfect condition, unless this guy was lucky to find a good condition suit, I'll keep my eyes on him for now."
"Found a place for you guys to stay over for a couple nights, are you sure you guys don't need anything? You guys seem starving." Colby said to them, in which the group hadn't realised how long it had been since they initially ate, so they ask for some food, in which Marissa came with some food that seemed to be from a convenience store, they ate it but is still suspicious, the group got up, and left the table.
They all huddled up, then Edward suggested that they split up, and if they saw anything weird, text them in the group chat for them only, they also got wifi and Internet provided by the VHC headquarters.
"Alright, Johnathan, you go to the west side of the mall, Isaac, you go to the northern side of the mall, Edward, you go to the east side with me, Satoya, can you go with Sakonori to the southern side?" Rayna asked, as she doesn't trust Sakonori to be by herself in a serious mission, Sakonori was more clumsy than the rest, when she was in track for her high school, she would often trip halfway or even a second after the race started, and she also gotten fined for accidentally making a mess inside a makeup store for her aunt's birthday, which her mother paid for angrily..
"I guess that'll be alright." Satoya answered before walking to the southern side alongside Sakonori. The rest walked to their respective directions, looking around to see if anything, a small hint that something was off, but Satoya kept thinking, "Did they also notice Colby's suit?"