The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 1027: Overthinking

Old Harbor, District 17, three o’clock in the morning.

The place had been abandoned for years; commercial vessels or cargo transports ever moored here, but deep into the night, private ships could be found smuggling various items in and out. The intel indicated that the smugglers and the mysterious ware were hiding in No.8 warehouse at the back of the harbor.

Lithe Snake parked a hundred meters away, using the zooming function of his prosthetic eye to scout the warehouse.

The artificial moon hung high above the city. Silver moonlight washed over the weathered structure. There was no drone around and no signs of an ambush.

“There’s nothing outside the warehouse,” Lithe Snake said, his cold blue prosthetic eye dimming as the zooming function was deactivated.

“Really? Are they that careless?” Can asked, incredulous.

“This is an abandoned place,” Vermilion Bird said. “It’d only attract more attention if they had visible security measures outside.”

“True.”

“It can very well be regular smuggling,” Xiran said.

“That is a possibility.” Vermilion Bird made the decision after a bemused pause. “Dark Horse, wait in the car. Everyone else, follow the plan.”

“Yes, Captain!”

Gao Yang moved to the driver’s seat. His recent attempts to use his “S-class superpower” had all ended in failure, making this supporting role his current best way to contribute.

Vermilion Bird stealthily approached the warehouse with the others, taking cover behind a cargo container. Lithe Snake and Can moved out first. Can jumped onto his back, rendering both of them invisible.

The now invisible Lithe Snake climbed to the rooftop of the warehouse, using his prosthetic eye’s penetrating vision to get a clear view of the situation inside from the vantage point.

Nine people—the smugglers—circled something covered by a tarpaulin. Through it, he could make out a fridge-sized metal box, though the metal itself remained impenetrable to his vision.

A minute later, Vermilion Bird’s prosthetic eye flickered, receiving Lithe Snake’s encoded message.

[Lithe Snake: Nine people, seven men and two women, all with S Chips and low degree of augmentations, not military-grade. No Silencer sighted. Low guard, low risk, high success rate.]

[Vermilion Bird: Copy.]

She turned to Xiran and said, “Mute.”

“Yes, Captain!”

Xiran sat down cross-legged, rolling up his sleeve and raising his right hand. His forearm split into four small drones within two seconds, each flying to a different direction of the warehouse.

The drones flickered blue, shooting lasers to connect with their adjacent units, forming a square. The square extended downward, creating four blue screens that trapped the warehouse and its surroundings in a large blue box.

Hum.

Three seconds later, the blue cube vanished as if it had never existed. From the outside, the warehouse appeared unchanged, but it was now a projection. Everything happening inside would be concealed both visually and audibly—a combination of advanced technology and Mute, Xiran's superpower.

Vermilion Bird approached the front door with Ronnie and Gray Bear. Once they were close enough, Vermilion Bird pressed on her Red Scorpion and closed her eyes, quickly locating and locking on the S Chip port of everyone inside.

Ten seconds later, she opened her eyes and nodded at Ronnie.

Without missing a beat, Ronnie touched his Adam’s apple. It bulged and flickered with energy particles running along artificial veins. He tipped his head up and opened his mouth wide.

Pzzt—

Electric noises threatened to split eardrums. In that instant, everyone nearby—whether inside or outside the warehouse—felt their thoughts scramble under the head-splitting pain.

This was the power of artificial vocal cords combined with Disorientation.

Gray Bear had sealed his hearing in advance, but his face still twisted with discomfort. Vermilion Bird, also with her hearing blocked, quickly infiltrated the minds of the targets inside. @@novelbin@@

The smugglers didn’t even have time to react before their minds fell into chaos. Their S Chips were forced to reboot, cutting off their consciousness. They collapsed.

Bam! Gray Bear barged through the door to the warehouse.

Looking at the smugglers lying prone on the ground, he had a visible look of disappointment on his face. He had hoped that a couple of them would endure it and exchange a few blows with him, but things went so smoothly it was no fun.

“That’s it?”

“We only have five minutes. Hurry up.” Vermilion Bird strode to the center of the warehouse, her prosthetic eye glinting blue.

Whoosh. Lithe Snake jumped down from the rooftop with Can on his back. He lowered Can down and walked up to lift the tarpaulin.

Underneath was a fridge-sized rectangular black metal box. There was the logo of Cloudland on the surface: a cloud with patterns that resembled cracked magma.

“This is the S-class weapon?” Gray Bear’s disappointment deepened. “How do we use it?”

“Uncle Bear, have you considered that this is only the container, and the weapon’s inside?” Can said.

“I know that!” Gray Bear shot back. “Do we open it?”

Vermilion Bird quickly assessed their situation. This was certainly equipment developed by Cloudland, but whether it was the rumored S-class weapon remained questionable. If they simply turned this over to the client, there would be nothing she could do if they claimed it was something else and refused to pay.

They had to open the box and verify its contents. Besides, the true nature of the S-class weapon was valuable intelligence in itself. Only a fool would let that slip.

Vermilion Bird glanced at Lithe Snake. “Keep watch outside. Tell Dark Horse to drive over.”

Lithe Snake turned and walked away.

Vermilion Bird looked at the metal box. “I’ll first do a regular access to check for firewall and traps.”

Looking it over, though, she found no switch or data port.

She attempted wireless access, but nothing responded. With time running short, Vermilion Bird risked touching the metal box, yet the system remained inactive.

“How is it?” Gray Bear asked urgently.

“Can’t open it.” Vermilion Bird frowned. “Strange, it’s not reacting at all.”

Can moved around the box curiously, then suddenly stopped. “Look here!” she exclaimed in excitement.

The others gathered around as she pointed at a slight dent on the left side. “Look! What is this?”

Ronnie inspected it. “A hidden port?”

“No, there’s another on the right, too!” Can said.

Realization dawned on Vermilion Bird. “Ah, handles! We were overthinking.”

Gray Bear and Ronnie exchanged a look, still not catching up.

Vermilion Bird chuckled. “This is just a regular box. We only have to open it manually.”

“Huh?” Gray Bear gaped. That was it?

“Get on with it already,” Vermilion Bird said.

“Gotcha!” Gray Bear went up to hold the handles and threw the lid open. He immediately backed away in case there were some hidden mechanisms.

Puff. A wave of white smoke surged out, carrying the smell of industrial disinfectant, flow battery, and energy liquid.

A few seconds later, the smoke dispersed and settled.

Vermilion Bird went up first to glance inside the box. Then Can, Gray Bear, and Ronnie followed suit.

Their expressions all turned confused and shocked.