“Sorry, I couldn’t catch him.”
The Pure White Storm, who was the first to chase after the “thief” when he ran, soon circled back and landed on the balcony of the bedroom, head hanging low, looking a little guilty.
“When I finished getting dressed, the culprit had already disappeared.”
This wasn’t Sista’s fault—the enemy simply ran too fast, as if his feet were greased, vanishing into the dense rainforest in an instant.
“It’s alright.”
Clara stretched up on her toes and patted Sista’s head.
In the past, she’d always comforted Lucia this way.
“Speaking of which, I’ve always wondered…”
She couldn’t help but complain, “Your transformation method, being totally enveloped in lasers—during the transformation, you can’t see anything, right? Don’t you have to close your eyes so you won’t get blinded?”
“We can see. Our helmet is the first thing to get teleported in, and it has adaptive shading. No matter how bright or dark it is, we can see clearly.”
“Then why didn’t you see where the enemy went?”
“He seemed to use some kind of optical camouflage. Once he entered the jungle, he vanished. Even the sensors on my exoskeleton armor couldn’t find him…”
“Does Miss Damo’s gadget have that function too?”
“No, that seemed to be the culprit’s own equipment… As for the gadgets Miss Damo gave us, they aren’t exclusive either. You can buy them on the market.”
“So many gadgets… He’s a professional thief, huh?!”
But lately, these thieves are getting way too brazen!
He clearly heard me open the door, yet he was still swaggering around the bedroom, waiting for me to come upstairs? Is he that confident in his escape skills? Or was he deliberately provoking me?
And in the end, he did get away.
Clara stood on the balcony with a broom in hand, looking around.
The cabin was surrounded by an artificially created, dense rainforest. She couldn’t see any trace of the target; there was no way to even start a “pursuit.”
“Sigh, I’ll let the resort staff know later.”
Clara sighed helplessly, “For now, I should check if anything’s missing from the room.”
Nyx, any leads?
Clara asked in her mind, and Nyx scanned the surroundings.
At the same time, Nyx voiced her own theory.
[Nyx doesn’t think he’s a thief.]
Then what is he?
[There’s an identity that explains his actions… He might be one of those paparazzi who specialize in investigating the true identities of heroes and idols. As a rising new hero who’s become the talk of the town, a lot of people are curious about your real identity.]
Investigating a hero’s private identity is illegal.
And it’s a serious crime.
But Nyx was unfazed.
[Even if it’s illegal, as long as there’s enough profit, someone will take the risk. What’s more, all the major villain organizations have special departments dedicated to this sort of thing.]
I actually got targeted so soon?
It’s not easy being a hero.
Thinking this, Clara checked her luggage—nothing was missing. The room itself was spacious, and she could see every corner at a glance, including the bathtub in the bathroom.
“Looks like nothing’s gone.”
Clara sat on the bed, musing aloud, “That guy deliberately waited for me to come upstairs—was he trying to get a front shot of me? Even if he used a gadget, that shouldn’t affect his recording, right?”
“We can test it.” Sista said.
Still in her exoskeleton, she took out that badge-shaped gadget, pressed it lightly to the breastplate, and then her whole figure became blurry and indistinct.
Sista quickly came to a conclusion.
“I can see what you look like. This gadget doesn’t interfere with filming.”
D
Tch, that’s dangerous.
Fortunately, Clara had put on her mask when she left the restaurant. Otherwise, her true face would’ve been exposed to that possible paparazzi.
If it’s that kind of person…
Would they have installed things like ** or secret cameras in my room?
[Clara, I’ve finished scanning.]
Nyx’s full-room scan came up with results.
[There’s a bug in the gap between the nightstand and the bed, a monitor stuck over the peephole on the door, and inside the lamp covers in the living room and bedroom there are surveillance devices that can see through the glass.]
So there really are some?!
Clara reached into the gap between the nightstand and the bed and actually fished out a coin-sized bug, her brow immediately furrowing.
She looked up at the lampshade.
In the light, the edge of the lampshade did have a tiny black dot, but without Nyx’s tip-off, she’d never have noticed.
All this spying equipment was hidden way too well.
“Sista, there’s something in the lampshade too, could you fly up and check?”
As Clara spoke, Nyx interjected: [No need to remove them. I’ve already hacked and taken over the surveillance devices, replacing the real footage with fake content.]
She might have zero privacy, but in situations like this, having Nyx as her little assistant was really handy.
[The culprit won’t get any real info through these devices, but since the fake footage is being sent back regularly, we can just trace the signals and find out where he’s hiding.]
“No need to take them down.”
Seeing Sista floating lazily inside the room, Clara corrected herself, “Let’s use these devices as clues to track down that guy’s hiding place.”
There was still a solar storm raging outside the site, so the culprit couldn’t have escaped. He had to be hiding somewhere in the resort…
With people like that in the resort, the truly dangerous one wasn’t Clara.
She turned to Sista and warned:
“For the next while, even when it’s not shooting time, be careful and don’t give anything away. At least use that gadget wisely.”
Sista nodded and, after removing her exoskeleton, sat beside Clara.
“I’ll stay with you.”
As she spoke, she reached into Clara’s hair and pulled out a little tentacle, holding it in her palm to play with.
Her squishing technique was like pressing a cat’s paw pads, but she didn’t realize the tentacle itself had feeling, and her actions made Clara terribly ticklish.
“No, if you react too much, the enemy will be alerted.”
Clara pinched her chin in thought and added, “Just tell Miss Damo about this. There might be a mole among the Sigma Heroes staff or the resort workers… Until we’re sure, we can’t trust them.”
Clara’s little squid head pondered deeply and came to this conclusion.
D
After all, the island was only so big—if the culprit could hide here, he had to have a disguised identity.
But Sista asked back, “What about Dr. Fran and Miss Lucia? Can we trust them?”
“Of course,” Clara answered without hesitation.
Speaking of which, where had Fran gone all morning?
Well no you can’t trust them.