"Why, is there any problem?" Srini asked.
"Take out the knife, just to be cautious, in case there's anything that could harm us," Manu said.
"Yeah, you're right," Srini replied.
Both Manu and Srini took out their knives. The blades were sharp on both sides—top and bottom. One side's sharpness was natural, but the other side seemed man-made. On closer look, it resembled a kitchen knife.
Then they entered the building. The ground floor was empty and full of bushes. Slowly, they climbed the stairs and stepped cautiously onto the first floor.
"Are you scared?" Srini asked, walking behind Manu.
Manu turned around and saw Srini trembling.
"Don't worry, I already told you it's safe," Manu said, placing his hand on Srini's shoulder.
They continued moving through the first floor. There were six doors, each of them broken as if they had been forced open. The building looked like a residential complex, which meant there was a high chance of finding something useful.
First, they entered one room. It was completely empty—nothing but dust and a few wooden pieces. The next room was the same, only dust and spider webs.
But there was one thing present: footprints. They were all over the dusty floor, clearly visible.
"I think everything was already taken away by the previous raid team," Srini said.
In the same way, they searched the entire first floor, room by room. Everything was covered in dust and cobwebs in the corners of the walls.
"They didn't leave a single thing—not even a piece of scrap metal. Imagine how bad their condition must have been. I think their financial situation was worse than ours," Srini said.
"I don't know about their condition, but I do know we'll find something. They couldn't have taken everything," Manu replied.
"Come on, let's search the second floor," Manu said.
They moved upstairs. The second floor had four houses, and the doors looked like they had been destroyed with weapons.
"I think we should just move on to the next floor," Srini said after seeing the damaged doors.
"No, let's check here first. The doors look like they were destroyed recently. On the first floor, the damage looked old. That means we might still find something here," Manu said.
"Okay, let's search separately. It'll be faster this way. If we don't find anything, we'll go to the third floor," Srini suggested.
Then they each took a side and began searching the houses.