Emma's find was somehow even more disgusting than Uriel had previously anticipated. Had it been just a bone splinter or a finger bone, it may have been attributed to an accident, but finding a teeth on a taco was hard to explain.
Still, Uriel decided to listen to Emma and wait for the night and see what she meant by saying things got interesting at night because, as grossed out as he was, he was even more curious than before.
They remained in silence by the window of the sixth floor looking outside, all the while Emma addressed him some odd glances from time to time. It got Uriel uncomfortable to the point where he finally snapped.
"What is it? Do I have something on my face?"
"It's just that... did you get a haircut or something?"
"I did." He replied shortly.
While it was true Uriel had his hair done, the reason why Emma looked at him like that was because of the changes he experienced after becoming a heavenly rank hunter. Usually, anyone would be able to recognize someone's rank just by looking at them since the higher the rank of a hunter they were usually more attractive. But Uriel's case was different.
First, because Emma met him when he still had Water warlock's blessing wich turned his skin silky and clear and second, because she hadn't seen him in a while. Because of that, she thought he looked different just by what he did to his hair and didn't know he underwent a promotion event not long ago.
Uriel had still to get accustomed to his new appearance, as it made him look more mature, but he was thankful he didn't become as bulky as most male heavenly rank hunters.
He relied on speed much more than he did strength as he never hoped to overpower cryptids but rather outsmart them, outrun them or kill take them by surprise and growing more muscles would have been a hindrance for his fighting style.
But the changes Uriel experienced didn't only affect his body, his sensibility towards flux energy had also increased a notch. Uriel called it the mystical sense, only because he lacked a better way to define it. It was a known fact that heavenly rank hunters were able to feel flux energy to a certain degree, but Uriel had been able to do it ever since he became an evolved.
He didn't know it, but ut was due to him living on close proximity to a cryptid for an extended period of time.
The 'uncle' that raised him was actually a changeling that impersonated a human being to feed on Uriel for years and his own mind convinced him he was just another victim of domestic abuse to protect him from the truth. But as sad as his past was, it was also very fortunate as it allowed him to sharpen his senses for years without him even realizing it.
Thanks to that, he was able to tell something was going on seconds before a man pushing a cart showed up on the empty street just after the sun set. It was a food cart that looked heavy and bulky, there was also cookware inside and hanging from the frame and the ladles would make a clinking sound as the man pushed the cart.
"Here it comes." Emma muttered and people started going outside their apartments. They formed a long line in front of the cart and the man began handing tacos in an orderly fashion. There was nothing out of the ordinary, except that the man wasn't selling them, he was handing the food for free.
"Why are they accepting those tacos? I was raised on the slums and if there's one thing I know for sure is how suspicious they get when offered a free meal." Uriel asked and Emma had an answer at the ready.
"I thought the same when... well, when I took one for myself," Emma shivered at the memory of the disgusting taco. "but look at the symbol on the food cart, can you see it?"
Upon examining the symbol on the cart things finally started making sense. It was the Fallen corporation symbol, two eyes with eyelashes that resembled wings encircled on a laurel branch. It was tacky for Uriel's taste, but it wasn't difficult picturing Sam chosing something like that.
"So this is the reason why they're investing on the slums..."
"Are they doing it on the other districts too?" Emma's eyes widened.
"Yes, I knew they were big on charity works on the slums, but never thought they would be handing free food. I don't know why they're doing it, but I know they must be doing it for a wrong reason. It bothers me because I know how desperate people from the slums are to taste real food and how grateful they must feel and if I put an end to it they'll hate me.
Maybe this is what Sam wants but I can't let this go on any further." Uriel said as he readied himself to go and wreck the food cart in front of everyone, but Emma stopped him.
"You can't do that! We need to find out why are they doing it first! Don't you think it's weird how empty the streets were during the day?"
"Yeah, but there's still a lot of people, look how long the line is!"
"Yes, but why are they only going out at night?"
Uriel wondered about that too, but something in his gut told him cryptids had to be involved someow. Unfortunately, the only way to confirm it was to get closer and see if there were any hybrids or cryptdis among the crowd.
"This might be even worse than I initially thought."
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"Really? What could be worse than finding a human teeth on a taco!?"
"Finding a human teeth on a half eaten taco." Uriel chuckled, though Emma failed to see the humor in his words.