The Razor's Edge [[Feitan x Reader]]

38: The Letters

"You're not going to get it open like that."

   "Told him that before."

   Phinks had brought the safe into the main room of the base and resumed his previous method of trying to pry it open with brute strength. Oddly enough, this strategy was still just as ineffective back at the base as it had been in the closet of the mansion.

   Machi and Feitan were hovering near him, judging his methods.

   Phinks shot a look at them. "Then how bout you two quit standing around and give me a hand?!"

   Machi shook her head. "It's pointless. Didn't you notice the faint aura surrounding it? That safe is sealed with nen. You can't just break into it. Look, Shalnark is working out a way to get it open, so you might as well give it up."

   "Wasting your time," Feitan agreed.

   "Well, when I get this safe open by myself, Shal's gonna feel pretty stupid for wasting so much time trying to figure out some fancy way to do it."

   "Not going to happen."

   "Oh, don't worry about me," Shalnark said as he entered the room. "I didn't spend long figuring this out at all."

   He had his phone in his hand, but it had a couple of wires poking out of it in different directions. He knelt down in front of the safe, analyzing the electric keypad that was used to unlock it.

   "Phinks, do you think you could try to open this for me? I just need you to rip the front of it off so I can plug these wires in. It looks like the nen barrier doesn't extend past the metal of the safe, so I think you should be able to."

   Phinks cracked his knuckles. "Damn right I can!"

   He placed his fingers along the edges of the keypad and pressed them closer together, cracking the plastic. He then pulled the front of the keypad away from the safe, letting it dangle by the wires. Shalnark took a few of these and connected them to his phone. He typed something in and we all waited in anticipation until we heard the sound of the lock turning. Shal smiled to himself, satisfied with the work he'd done, and opened the safe, passing the contents around to the rest of us so we could determine whether or not they'd be important.

   Phinks excitedly waved the envelope Shal had given him in the air. "I've got five thousand jenny right here!"

   Machi smirked and held up her envelope. "I've got a check for fifty."

   "Awesome!" Shalnark said. "Maybe something in here will have his signature so we can forge it. Y/n, what about you? What have you got?"

   I looked down at the letters in my hands. "I've got. . . some sort of business correspondences."

   Phinks looked excited. "If it was locked up in his safe then it must be pretty shady. What's this guy movin?"

   I swallowed hard. "People. Kids."

   Shalnark's jaw clenched. "Let me see those." I handed them over to him and he flipped through the stack, his eyes quickly scanning each page. "Based on these letters, it looks like this guy is involved with some group that's taking kids out of Meteor City and bringing them to orphanages to be groomed before being auctioned off. It's been going on for forever, some of these letters are over twenty years old."

   "That's sick," Phinks said, his eyes dark. "Where the hell are these orphanages? We've gotta put a stop to this."

   "There's letters sent from Yorknew, Beeskafmarro, Doli City, and—"