Shi Rang steered his electric bicycle onto the main road, speeding toward the outskirts of the city.
It was noon, and the sun beat down almost vertically, blanketing pedestrians and vehicles alike in a scorching glare. He lowered his helmet's plastic visor to filter the intense light. However, this also blocked the wind, and a layer of condensation from his evaporated sweat quickly formed on the plastic shield.
Fortunately, it was only April. Otherwise, he would definitely suffer from heatstroke riding all this way.
His mind raced at full speed, listing out the tasks he needed to accomplish one by one.
Find the vehicle, decide whether to drive it into a lake or dump it in a junkyard based on the remaining evidence inside. Then, pretend to just be passing by the Yunling New District, observe from the perimeter to see if anyone had reached the scene before him, and finally decide whether to flee immediately or go back to destroy the tracks...
Shi Rang was no criminal investigation expert, but he had crammed a lot of research materials to outwit game masters and players in tabletop RPGs, so he at least had a general strategy.
The tissue fluid of the Stitched Walker had to be photodegraded, the bloody clothes and shoes at home needed to be destroyed, he had to buy the camera outright, and the broken mobile phone had to be smashed and dismantled...
Leader Jack huddled in the gap between his back collar and neck, bracing against the helmet to avoid the strong wind so he would not be blown away. He seemed to have shouted something at Shi Rang, but Shi Rang could not hear it clearly.
His electric bicycle was modified with extra power, and his ears were filled with the howling wind.
He had to rush to the scene at top speed.
Shortly after turning onto the highway leading straight to the outskirts, he felt a sudden itch in his ear, followed by something bug-like wriggling into his ear canal. He used all his self-control to stop himself from digging at his ear; it was definitely a Mini-Human.
"Hey, can you hear me?" an unfamiliar voice rang out. The sound came from inside his ear, as if Shi Rang was wearing headphones and talking on a call.
"Yes!"
"No need to be so loud, I can hear you. I am The Sheriff. Do you have a plan right now?"
Using the howling wind as cover, Shi Rang briefly explained his intentions.
"That is not enough. If someone tracks you down, no cover-up will ever be perfect. We have to make sure they cannot connect you to this at all, preventing them from even starting an investigation. How did you find that industrial zone? Did you leave any traces?"
The Management Bureau Main Station.
After learning about the existence of the Yunling New District from the operation logs at the Main Station, Shi Rang relied on his familiarity with the city to head straight for the destination. He did not use navigation along the way and simply took a taxi to the vicinity.
The Management Bureau had not come to arrest him, which meant his cover was not blown at the Main Station.
If they found that taxi driver...
He told The Sheriff about the driver, and the latter smacked his lips loudly.
"We could try to find that driver and silence him, but doing so would just be an unnecessary risk that ruins everything. The Management Bureau prefers covert operations. As long as you did not leave any particularly noticeable traces, they shouldn't investigate that deeply."
The Sheriff analyzed.
"Where did you ditch the car? Are we almost there?"
"It should be right around here..."
Shi Rang turned onto a pothole-riddled path that wound between two rows of abandoned brick houses, diagonally connecting to another major road in the northwest that linked two cities.
In his memory, he had taken this shortcut and abandoned the car halfway through.
Accelerating past a few wandering strangers, Shi Rang was about to slow down to observe when The Sheriff instructed him to focus on driving forward.
Only then did he remember that there were over three hundred pairs of eyes on his body helping him search.
A Tiny One clinging to Shi Rang's hair, gripping a stubble of hair as tall as himself, shouted, "Front left, I found some tracks!"
"Front left, someone found it!"
"Tell him it's on the front left!"
The nearby Tiny Ones relayed the message, swiftly passing the information to the miniature Sheriff.
"Front left, Shi Rang!"
Though the Miniature People were tiny, their horizontal vision was remarkably good.
Shi Rang glanced around, confirming that the nearest person was over a hundred meters away. He then pushed his electric bicycle off the road, parked it securely, and cautiously advanced toward the location they pointed out.
Soon, he saw it.
The tall grass had been crushed by something driving down from the dirt road, flattening a large swath. Shi Rang identified two deep tire ruts and the remaining outline of where the vehicle had finally come to a halt.
But the car was not there.
"Where did it go? It was definitely here this morning!"
"What do we do now?"
"Could someone be ambushing us here? Let's run!"
The Tiny Ones shouted anxiously, buzzing with frantic discussion.
Shi Rang instinctively stood on his tiptoes to look around, but quickly came to his senses.
Something as large as a car—how could he possibly miss it?
He followed the tracks on the ground and noticed that the vehicle seemed to have been backed out and driven away along its original path.
In his memory, the car had truly run out of gas. When the engine died, Shi Rang used its remaining momentum to coast it off the road before abandoning it. But thinking carefully about the tricks he commonly used in tabletop RPGs, he found a solution—by pouring a bottle of water into the fuel tank, the remaining fuel at the very bottom would float to the top, allowing the engine to start and run for a little while longer.
He had never actually done it, but it seemed feasible in theory.
Furthermore, this was the Tenth District. Even if Yunling City's overall security was considered decent, robberies still happened every now and then in the messier parts of the city. Shi Rang had no doubt that a car thief operated in this area.
Shi Rang paced around the area for a moment, then crouched down to inspect it carefully, confirming that no bloodstains or debris were left where the vehicle had been parked.
The people trying to catch him wouldn't move the car, and even if they did, they would leave someone nearby to keep watch.
He never expected that one day, he would be thankful for the terrible security of the Tenth District.
The car was definitely stolen.
"Quiet, quiet!" Leader Jack suddenly yelled.
"—Look!"
"What? What are you looking at?"
"I can't hear anything, don't shout all at once!"
"What happened?"
"Shi Rang, hurry up—"
The Tiny Ones were in an uproar. Even though Leader Jack tried everything he could to make them speak one at a time, commanding over three hundred voices was no easy task. He was instantly overwhelmed by the noise, and even the miniature Sheriff inside Shi Rang's ear had no idea what they were actually shouting about.
Until the next second, when a knife was pressed against the small of Shi Rang's back.
...Now he finally understood.
"Don't move," the person behind Shi Rang ordered, pressing the tip of the knife forward slightly. It pricked Shi Rang's skin through his T-shirt. "Hand over your money."
Shi Rang slowly raised his hands. "I don't have any cash on me."
"Don't play games. I saw a phone in your pants pocket. Take it out, now!"
Shi Rang cursed inwardly. He had been too focused on inspecting the ground, and the Tiny Ones had been talking over each other, making it impossible to warn him effectively.
Come to think of it, how could a place where a parked car gets stolen within hours possibly have good security?
Yes, this was the Tenth District.
"Don't be afraid. Stall him for time," the miniature Sheriff whispered in his ear. "We will handle this."
Shi Rang really wanted to ask how they planned to handle it. In such an open area, could they still use their Corrosive Gas? But he didn't dare move, knowing that Leader Jack was clinging right below his collar. If the robber spotted him, the situation would turn even worse.
"I'll get it for you. The phone is in my pocket. Don't do anything rash." Saying that, Shi Rang signaled with his left hand, slowly lowering it to reach into his pocket.
The moment the phone cleared his pocket, it was snatched away.
"Nice ride you got there."
"Leave my bike alone. I already gave you my phone, isn't that enough?"
"I saw a wallet in your other pocket. Give it to me."
"It's empty."
"Are you going to give it to me or not?" The knife pressed harder against Shi Rang's lower back, the tip piercing his skin.
"There's no money inside, I can show you."
"Do you think I'm negotiating with you?"
Shi Rang froze in place, motionless.
The guy probably just wanted money and had no intention of catching a murder charge, but there was no way Shi Rang was handing his wallet over.
His silence caused the robber to lose patience, and the man reached out directly to snatch his wallet.
Shi Rang suddenly spun around, forcefully shoving the robber back, and seized the opportunity to secure his wallet.
He was no martial arts master, nor did he know how to fight. Focused entirely on grabbing his belongings, he completely overlooked the knife.
As the robber stumbled, the blade slashed upward across Shi Rang's arm, instantly drawing blood, and the wallet slipped from his grasp.
The robber tried to step back to regain his balance but tripped over the upward-sloping curb, crashing down onto his rear.
"Fuck."
The robber cursed. Realizing that this temperamental fat sheep hadn't run away and was even trying to snatch his wallet back, his fury flared up.
Gripping the knife, he leaped up, determined to poke a hole in the guy. Yet, the moment he stood up, a dense cloud of static-like spots burst in front of his eyes.
"Ugh..."
The robber clutched his face, his fingers frantically clawing around his eyes, nose, and mouth as guttural, malformed sounds escaped his throat. Within seconds, he staggered and collapsed at Shi Rang's feet, his legs locking out stiffly as his body convulsed on the ground.
After a moment, one by one, Miniature People measuring less than a millimeter tall swam out from the robber's ears, eyes, and mouth, riding the thin streams of blood.
Their clothes were entirely dyed red, making them look like a swarm of tiny crimson bugs. Yet, they excitedly hoisted their pointed drill bits into the air, cheering in triumph for bringing down a giant.
[Subject Codename: Miniature Kingdom]
[Hazard Level: C]