Taro's POV
"What???" I commented.
"Fifty people?" Mariya added in shock.
The police officer, dressed in blue and a few shades of it, then nodded. "Yes, and most of them, or the majority of them, were last seen near Karne Kalye."
"Most of them were students, orphans, and young runaways," one of his coworkers added as well.
"How about any trace of them?" Sha asked back. "Like IDs, gadgets, and such?"
"We found them scattered around here in Baguio," responded the first officer, "but no trace of them."
So, we began to enter the rabbit hole of the owners of Karne Kalye, who had something to do with the disappearances. "If that's the case," Leonardo said, "then the owners of Karne Kalye had killed them and turned them into food for their customers."
And then, a hint came when one of the police officers said that he once ate a meal at Karne Kalye for lunch, and she had tasted something funny in it, that is, a meat taste not of chicken, pork, or even beef. She also said that the burger she had eaten at that time was labelled as a chicken burger.
"Wait…" Hoshi replied while readjusting his glasses, which, according to Bokuto, had been bought from a gas station on our way here in Baguio City, "…did you taste something other than that meat?"
The female officer then replied, "I tasted chicken in that burger patty, po."
Wait, so that means that the supposedly human meat was mixed with other meats to hide it from the tongues of the people?
So, I voiced that thought to them, and all of them were shocked by my suggestion. "Mixed?" Saki gasped.
"Mixed meat?" Hoshi asked.
I nodded. "Yes, she said that she also tasted chicken meat other than that suspicious meat."
So, because of this, the police decided to give it a try by letting us infiltrate Karne Kalye in the middle of the night at closing hours so we could check the meat they were using in their dishes. This included meat freezers and walk-in meat freezers, which were the primary and usual storage for storing meat. We agreed to it, and the police gave their approval for that. Leonardo also planned to ask for help from his men at his bar, which we agreed to.
And so, we waited until nighttime. At that time, we went there while sneaking in stealth, while wielding our weapons. We saw something: a young man turning to the right towards it from an intersection. But then, 2 hooded figures came out of the eatery and abducted him indiscriminately, much to our shock. The surroundings were quiet, which was perfect for this. So, we came out and fended off the abductors to save the young man while Reo and Paula stayed behind.
But then, they had claws, natural, sharp claws and used them to attack us back. Most of us dodged it fast, but none of us got a cut from them. Luckily for us, the young man managed to break free and fled the place, running towards Reo and Paula for help.
"They came out from that eatery, po," Reo said.
"Opo, can you call for help?" the young man responded while still in fear and shivering.
Before any of them reply, while fighting off the kidnappers, Hoshi said to them, "Yung batang iyan kailangan umalis dito! Please take him somewhere safe and far away!" Reo and Paula did so and went to a secluded area with the young man.