Chapter 25: Food Thief 3

"The food that you're supposed to receive when we returned. Looks like it was stolen."

The green-haired person named Gurim answered. There might be some kind of friction between the two. But the information broker seemed to have chosen to stay professional. Albeit his words were terse and his tone was serious.

Allen Stryka did not mind this treatment. They would have to sort out what they had to do next since they did have a business agreement. Still, he could not help but wonder. He asked,

"You're going to give me food upon our return?"

"Not me. The cook. As a thanks for the compliments you've given."

The young man was touched upon hearing the answer. There was still hope in this city after all. There was a saying that people would return the attitude you would show them. Being a nice guy was definitely worth it!

Or maybe not since it was stolen in the end.

Allen shook his head to return his thoughts to the situation at hand. He then looked at the strict city guard. He inquired,

"When did this happen?"

"Not sure. We only tried to grab the container when we saw you approaching."

The strict city guard replied. He then glanced at his fellow guards. They nodded with one another as if they had reached an understanding. He continued,

"That was when we noticed that the container was too light. We then opened it and was saw that it was empty."

Allen furrowed his eyebrows. The strict city guard kept on saying 'we' on his statement. He was probably implying that whatever he was saying was representative of the entire city guards involved. He was also most likely saying between the lines that there was no use asking the other guards. Since their answers would be one the same.

Nonetheless the young man further asked,

"Were you not keeping an eye on it the entire time?"

"No we did not."

How can you argue with that?

Allen was at a loss with what he heard. It was one thing when the person being asked expressed remorse or even gave excuses. But the person in front of him did not do so. He was implying that whatever happened was none of their concern.

Food theft was supposed to be a heinous crime. But apparently that was only applicable if the concerned party was someone in a position to pursue the offense.

What would have happened if it was Gurim asking the questions?

Allen wondered. But in the end, he scratched off the idea. The green-haired person also had no concern on the matter. It was not his to begin with anyway.

The one who should pursue this case had to be him. Thus he called out,

"Hey Gurim."

"What?"

"What was inside the container? What was the dish?"

"…"

The green-haired person paused for a few seconds. He was probably taken aback by what he heard. He soon regained his focus though. He sighed,

"Stir-fried meat cutlets."

"I see."

Allen was saddened with what he heard. The texture of the mutated cat meat was unique and interesting. It would have been quite an experience to learn how that would have tasted in its stir-fried version. The oils and spices used would have definitely been something to write home about.

Alas, that was no longer possible. The young man gave a solemn bow to what was lost. He then reached out his hand towards the strict city guard. He requested,

"Give me the container."

"Huh?"

"Just give me the container please."

The guard in front of him seemed to have been taken aback. Thus the young man repeated his request. The former looked dumbfounded but complied anyway.

Allen then took a seat on the ground near the city gate. He opened the container as he began sniffing its remnants. But it was not because he was desperate to have a waft of the stolen food. He was doing this to somewhat hide the fact that he was using his second skill.

[Life Detection]!

Allen has the ability to sense the soul energy of every being around him. However he always kept this effect restricted in order to not overload his mind with all the information that he could perceive.

A special application of this effect that he was further developing was the function of recognizing trace soul energies in a target. And the target for this matter was the container he was currently holding. He singled out the life forces that lingered on the container.

He then filtered out the soul energies of Gurim, the strict city guard, the other guards behind him. There were now three unidentified soul energy signatures remaining. One of them was probably the chef who cooked the dish. The second one was perhaps the assistant of the chef. The third would be the culprit.

The problem here now was how to determine which of the three signatures belong to whom exactly.

'There was no other way.'

Allen thought. He began concentrating as he fixed his posture. He then removed the restriction on his second skill. The target range was the entire city of Nosales.

He had already experienced covering the entire world with his detection skill. But that only happened once when the skill was newly developed and unstable. He estimated that doing such a feat again would be improbable. Either he would faint from the surge of information or from the sudden energy depletion.

Compared to that covering a single city was trivial. Nonetheless this was a feat that he could probably only perform once a day. And only if he was given enough time to gather his concentration.

'There!'

Allen was able to identify the approximate locations of the three unidentified energy signatures. Two of the three were together in a single place. They were probably be the cook and the assistant.

The young man quicky stood up. He threw the container back to the strict city guard. He then ran towards the remaining soul energy signature that was moving alone.

He raced through the streets of the city. Then he sprinted further when he sensed that the target was around 200 meters away.

However,

The target suddenly moved faster. Perhaps the person had sensed the presence of the young man approaching. The curious part here is, the person was moving towards Allen.

'Pretty bold!'

Allen was surprised with the actions of the person. But he decided to face the target head-on.

100 meters. 50 meters. 25 meters. 10 meters.

And then,

"Found you!"

"That's my line!"

The targeted person called out. Allen was a second later in speaking. Thus he ended up protesting instead.

The two strangers had crossed paths in the park within the city square. People were looking at them. But at this moment both of them only had each other on their eyes.

""Time to pay for your crimes!""

""?!""

""Food thief!""

There was a belief that if two different persons were in synched with one another they could complete each other's sentence. An even higher-level synchronization would allow the two to speak in unison.

But that should not be the case. Allen had never met this person before.

The stranger in question had black hair with streaks of aqua blue scattered along his head. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt under a no-sleeved button jacket.  He was also wearing jeans coupled with a pair of outdoor boots. In simple terms, he looked like a low-cost cowboy of some sort. He then called out,

"You! Stop copying what I said!"

"I'm not! I'm just stating your crimes."

"Crimes? Big words coming from you, criminal!"

"What? No, you're the criminal here!"

"No, you!"

This…

Allen was taken aback on how the stranger replied to his answers. He wanted to scratch his head for some reason. But he could not afford to do so. He did have to keep an eye on the stranger after all. A thought suddenly occurred in his mind:

What if he was mistaken?

Just because the other two unidentified signatures were together did not mean that the remaining one was the criminal. But then again, why would he be accused as the criminal instead?

Allen took a deep breath. He tried to calm himself down as he considered the situation once again. He asked,

"Brother – "

"I am not your brother!"

The young man rolled eyes when he was cut off. How come the stranger was still hostile? He was supposed to be the suspect here!

Allen sighed. He then reasoned out,

"Listen here, you stole my food. Now you have the gall to call me the criminal? How dare you?"

"Ha! You claim that I stole your food. But can you even prove that I really did?"

"…"

Allen was taken aback by this. There was no way he could prove his claims. Not unless he revealed the existence of his second skill. Which would be a different problem of its own.

The stranger grinned. Perhaps he thought that the silence was a sign of guilt. He then said,

"I on the other hand, can prove your crimes?"

"?!"

Allen was further surprised. What was this low-cost cowboy accusing him of exactly?

The young man narrowed his eyes. He dared,

"Then do it!"

"People have seen you, witnesses, that you've been eating military-grade food rations along the streets."

"!"

Allen dropped his jaw. He could not believe that people would be looking at him when he ate those rations. He only did that because he wanted to save time. Packed meals like that were meant to be eaten while on the move after all.

But apparently that was a big deal in the apocalypse.

He sighed from how ridiculous the accusation was. He tried to explain himself,

"Those are mine! I earned them fair and square."

"Hmph, only members of the city guards are allotted with those food rations. Are you saying that you are a part of the forces?"

"No, I'm not a city guard."

Allen could not believe that such a bland-tasting food ration actually meant that much. He did understand that every food was crucial in every settlement. That was why he admitted that he was not a member of the organization.

However, his admittance of the fact meant differently to the stranger. The person snorted,

"Then you stole it!"