Chapter 138

Chapter 138: The Decoy

“The clown at three o’clock, the pancake stall owner at six o’clock, and the square dance team leader at nine o’clock—all of them are showing slightly more frequent left-and-right glances than usual…”

“Isn’t this just being surrounded?” Jim turned his head in a panic.

He had no idea how many among these people were undercover special police officers. Last time at the gas station, he had witnessed firsthand the brutality of super-criminals. 

In an instant, everything went dark before his eyes, and he almost thought he was dead on the spot. Luckily, a sister with optical powers saved him just in time, but more people never came back.

It was impossible not to be afraid.

Besides, not all special police officers knew about his “whitelist” identity. The fewer people who knew about his undercover status, the better. If he got accidentally hurt by his own side during a fight, that would be a disaster. In terms of hard power, the special police were definitely leagues ahead of the “Tian Xing Xao” group.

His already heated mood, coupled with a sense of urgency, made the sweat seep through his inner layer of pajamas.

“Don’t look around, move toward the home appliance store. No one knows our identities,” Isaac whispered to Jim.

If they wanted to keep a low profile and not expose their target, the best way was definitely not to launch a terrorist attack and scare away passersby, that would only make them lose their best camouflage.

This was also the main reason they chose to act during peak hours in the shopping plaza—at least, that’s what their superiors had told them.

“Aji and Hongyi, block the view of the cold drink stall owner. Group B, rendezvous at the furniture store. Group A, come with me to buy a computer case.” The mechanical voice in their earpieces assigned the tasks. This was the leader of “Tian Xing Dao,” but Jim had never seen him before.

It seemed he was responsible for providing cover.

Jim let out a sigh of relief. “Actually, I feel like it would be safer if we came in the middle of the night when there’s no one around…”

“Less talk, more action,” Isaac only replied with these four words.

Following orders, Jim went to the cold drink stall, ordered a slushie, and started to pick a fight:

 “Boss, your ice doesn’t look very cold at all?”

The stall owner: “…”

“Three people entered the home appliance store and bought a computer case, refusing the delivery service offered by the staff,” Yiwen reported from a distance.

“The three are overly nervous, their heart rates far exceeding that of a shy boy confessing his feelings,” another voice chimed in.

“Old Xing, pay attention to the psychological state of the other people in the central plaza. Report all suspicious targets. White Whale and Ninja, keep a close eye on these three. If they leave the crowd, act immediately—don’t wait for them to return to their base,” the dispatcher ordered.

“Just the two of us?” Yiwen was puzzled, but she didn’t question why they weren’t playing the long game.

“Yes, because this could be a decoy used by Tian Xing Dao to divert attention. But still, be careful not to damage the computer case they’re carrying.”

Officer Chen chimed in: “Amari Yota once hacked into the Easter database. If the server contains Easter’s information, we’re in luck. Maybe we can develop a more advanced security system. Two days ago, our database was hacked again, and all the facial photos of the black-clothed people were deleted.”

This was also the main reason they couldn’t post wanted notices, some unknown hermit didn’t know who did it. Modern official data ability users are actually less skilled than before, and it’s a headache that superpowers are hard to actively cultivate.

“Understood,” Yiwen instantly perked up and tried her best to keep the three in sight.

From this perspective, it was clear that some people in this route were deliberately blocking the plainclothes officers’ view to cover for them. There were quite a few, and their faces were hard to remember. It was probably due to interference from a mental suggestion ability user.

“Some nervous passersby are leaving the central plaza and heading toward vehicles, but there’s no obvious sign of lingering. The clown has made no move,” the telepath reported.

“Keep watching. If they don’t all act, it could be a decoy,” the dispatcher said.

“They’re on the road, license plate number XXX. There are no cars ahead. Intercept them directly when they pass the traffic light,” Yiwen said.

As soon as she spoke, a heavy throwing knife split the air and pierced the tire of the Tian Xing Dao trio’s car. At the same time, five or six special anesthetic bullets shattered the car window—their penetrating power was enough to kill someone.

The corner of Yiwen’s mouth twitched beneath her mask. Shooting so decisively—what if they got the wrong people and it was just innocent bystanders? That would be a huge embarrassment.

‘Me and my friends just bought a computer case. After all these years, I finally have a computer with specs good enough to play Minesweeper. Just because I was a bit excited, I got shot with anesthetic bullets and my car window was shattered.’

“Attention, another person with an unusually high heart rate just bought a phone. Also, at the furniture store…”

“Maybe they’re just feeling the pinch in their wallet,” Yiwen quipped, roughly kicking the door open and using her ability to neutralize the bullets fired from the car.

They have guns? That makes it even better if they’re not innocent.

It was all too easy to subdue these people—just one injection each and they were all knocked out.

“I can still tell the difference in nervousness. Those people who left the plaza are already within ten meters of you. The reason you haven’t noticed might be due to interference from an optical ability user. Also, there’s someone whose emotional state is always in the middle, staying at about fifty meters behind you at six o’clock, at a higher position.”

Being followed?

Yiwen was startled and pretended to casually glance back.

She noticed some human-shaped outlines approaching her through the air, almost like invisible people. This level of visibility would be quite obvious during the day, but at night, under the dim lights, it provided them with excellent cover.

Yiwen turned her head back, silently counting for two seconds as these individuals entered her ability’s effective range—a six-meter radius was not small by any means.

Like a conqueror’s aura, more than a dozen invisible people suddenly appeared and collapsed in front of her, an impressive sight indeed.

After simply breaking their arms and legs, Yiwen continued to ask, “Is the Salamander here yet?”

It was important to note that, due to Lu Mingxue’s importance, she was never assigned to field operations.

“We’ve caught three separate groups from Tian Xing Dao acting independently. Each of them truly believed their own mission was to retrieve the real server, thinking everyone else was just a decoy to cover for them,” Lu Mingxue answered. 

“Can I go back now? There’s a couple over here not wearing clothes underneath and thinking about disgusting things… blegh!”

This was truly the most troublesome situation.

In other words, the person who planned this operation for “Tian Xing Dao” told different groups of teammates similar things, making each of them feel uniquely important.

Apart from the higher-ups, even they themselves didn’t know who actually had the real server, which directly restricted Lu Mingxue’s abilities.

The most troublesome part was that the server probably wasn’t even in the central plaza to begin with.

…

“The feds have already made their move? I think I’ve been spotted. Has the princess taken any action?” The clown girl bared her teeth to scare a little boy who was buying a balloon, then popped the balloon in her hand with her nail.

One by one, she released the balloons, which floated up to about three meters high before exploding in a chain reaction like a game of Candy Crush. Red, green, and all sorts of colored powder rained down, causing screams and blocking people’s vision, followed by intense coughing fits.

Taking advantage of this, she successfully escaped from the tight encirclement.

“She’s tailing the feds,” came a buzzing reply. “The feds have gotten their hands on the computer case that ‘Tian Xing Dao’ was looking for. A whole bunch of people are surrounding a computer case—should we try to snatch it?”

With so many people fighting over a computer, anyone would think it was the real server.

“No need. All this commotion is probably just to divert our attention. The server most likely isn’t here anymore,” the clown girl shook her head. “Don’t panic. The server will come to us on its own.”

She was extremely confident in her boss’s abilities.

“Mmm, but the princess has already taken advantage of the chaos to steal the computer case,” said the crow man, squatting silently on the rooftop and watching the scene below.

Mi Xiaoliu, who had originally been tailing Yiwen, quietly sneaks over and takes the computer case the moment the two sides clashed, then immediately flees, playing a game of Batman chasing the Clown with Yiwen.

“What?” The clown girl, who had been so confident, instantly lost her composure.

The key was, she had a history of multiple “fifty-fifty” judgments all failing.

Could that computer case really be the server set up by the Electronic Ghost? Otherwise, why would the princess snatch it so decisively?

And, that girl really is trying to steal their mission.

“Stop her, but keep your distance and don’t get too close. Despite all the bad reviews, her ability is really tricky,” came Rutherford’s voice.

“Understood.”

A pair of black glider wings unfolded from the crow man’s back, and like a knight of the night, he chased the shadow darting between the high-rises.

Then, from above, someone accurately landed on his back. The crow man’s glider frame snapped instantly, and with a muffled groan, he plummeted heavily to the ground.

Meanwhile, that person performed an impossible, physics-defying double jump by stomping on the air, landing on an air conditioning unit outside the building.

Drawing a pistol from his sleeve, he pointed it at another air conditioning unit: “Freeze, you child-abusing pervert.”

A man in a red priest’s robe raised his hands. Unlike the others, he made no attempt to conceal his face, boldly exposing his true appearance. In one hand, he held a handheld camera, smiling at the man pointing the gun at him:

“Do you want to start the infighting, Jack-of-all-trades?”

[Translator’s Note: See the index page for this Novel if you want to see the Amazon Link for the eBooks.]