BXBX NOVEL Chapter 256 - The Ross Estate
"Actually...it might," I said, after some thought.
"H-Huh? You serious?" Feng Mian asked, voicing the thoughts of all the other girls.
I nodded, and pulled out the pouch Yu Ao, the Yu family patriarch, had given me a while ago. Well, on the surface, it was just a pouch. In reality, it was a Space Locket - a rare Magic Artifact that seemingly had an endless amount of space in it, making it incredibly useful for storing things.
Hey, if stealing doesn\'t work, we could always try selling this Space Locket to trade for the Basilisk Dust....yeah, no. We\'re stealing it.
"Don\'t tell me, Feng Mian...you really forgot about this?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Forget about what?"
"About this," I replied, taking out a purple cloak from the Space Locket. It magically increased in size as I pulled it out, and it looked to be able to fit one person, maybe two if they squish together.
"Wait, that\'s..." the four girls who were with me with the Advancement Exams back in Shenzhen all widened their eyes - Feng Mian, Qing Yue, Yu An Yan, and Yu An Xue. The rest, however, merely appeared confused.
"...Yep. The Cloak of Invisibility," I smirked. "Now...from what I can see, the front entrance is only guarded by two guys. This baby should allow one or two people to get past them easily."
"But...they\'re real humans. Won\'t they sense something is wrong? Like maybe a breeze past their face?" Yu An Yan asked.
I scoffed. "It\'s precisely because they are real humans that this method will work. If it were, let\'s say, a heat sensor monitoring the entrance, we would be screwed - invisibility only works on eyes, after all. Their body heat would still be there, rendering the entire mission a fail."
"That makes sense, but...who\'s going?" Feng Mian asked, looking around.
Lan Xiao Su was the first to step up, which was unusual. She was usually content to just lay back and observe, being the quiet type like Yu An Xue.
"I\'ll go," she said. "This was my fight to begin with - it wouldn\'t be right of me to stay behind."
Feng Mian sighed. "And as the owner of the Cloak, I\'ll tag along as well. I know how this thing functions best, after all."
Lan Xiao Su frowned. "I can go alone, really. You don\'t have to risk it - you\'ve all already done more than enough for me."
Feng Mian smiled. "Really? We promised you we would help save your mother, so we will. And besides - what are friends for?"
"But..." Lan Xiao Su still appeared hesitant.
Feng Mian laughed. "I insist. C\'mon."
Lan Xiao Su looked like she still wanted to argue, but under the determined gaze of Feng Mian, she gave in with a sigh of resignation, before smiling in return.
"...Alright then. Thank you...really."
*****
(Lan Xiao Su\'s Perspective)
After settling on our course of action, Feng Mian and I slipped the Cloak of Invisibility on, and after she poured some mana into it, we vanished from sight.
"Alright, you guys can\'t see us anymore, right?" Feng Mian asked. I could still see her perfectly fine, right beside me, but apparently, the guys outside could not.
"Yep. Completely invisible. We can still hear you loud and clear though, so be careful not to make any sounds as you sneak by the guards," Yu An Yan reminded.
Xuan Kai nodded in agreement. "Perfect. This is how it\'s going to work - you two will get as close as you can to the doors, and when you\'re in position, send me a text. Anything underneath the Cloak of Invisiblity, objects included, will be rendered invisible, so using your phone is no problem. Once I receive your text, the rest of us will create some kind of distraction to divert the guards\' attention. You two will take that opportunity to sneak in. Now - let\'s get this over with as soon as possible."
"Got it," Feng Mian and I replied at the same time, and we began heading for the Ross Estate about 500 meters in front of us.
On the way, we passed by many people, but not a single one looked in our direction. We did our best to keep our footsteps as light as possible, and a few times, we nearly brushed past some people, but none of them noticed a gush of wind passing by on their side.
I wonder...how powerful is this artifact? Is it immune to all sorts of detection spells, or can certain magic reveal us?
I couldn\'t ask those questions without giving away our location, so I just kept my mouth shut, breathing as light as possible, and saved my inquires for later. The cloak might render us invisible, but any sound we made, talking and breathing included, still was perfectly audible from the outside.
As we approached the Ross Estate, I noticed that while nearby buildings, such as a movie theatre, a shop, and a restaurant, had people streaming in and out of it, the one we were going to had no one coming in and out whatsoever. The only two people were the two guards, standing at the entrance and looking around for any suspicious activity.
Then, suddenly one of the guards\' eyes looked directly in our direction, and the two of us froze. We went completely still - even our breathing was paused. The guard narrowed his gaze. For a second, I thought he spotted us, seeing through the invisibility somehow, but shortly after, he turned away, before swiping at the air with his hand.
Um...he was narrowing his eyes at a fly near him? Whew...
Feng Mian and I both let out a soft breath of relief, and we continued moving closer to our destination.
At last, we were standing right before the guards...yet they didn\'t seem to notice at all. Looked like the Cloak of Invisibility was doing its job just fine.
Whew...okay...let\'s do this.
Feng Mian and I looked at each other in the eyes beneath the cloak, and we both nodded. Then, each of us raising one hand, we did a little silent countdown using hand gestures - three, two, one.
On cue, both of us took a single step, perfectly in sync. The step was light, completely inaudible under the gentle night breezes of the small hours. After making sure the two guards did not see us, we took another step - again, perfectly in sync. We repeated this process several times, until we were nearly directly in front of the door.
Wait...these doors...they seem...automatic?
If that\'s so, then that means...if we get any nearer, it will open on it\'s own, giving us away. And with a super advanced skyscraper like this one, I doubt the guards would think it was just a simple malfunction.
And so, as Feng Mian moved to take another step, I pulled on her arm and stopped her. She looked at me in confusion, and I did my best to convey what I wanted to tell her through hand signs, since we couldn\'t make a single bit of noise.
Darn it...Psychic Magic would be great right about now...too bad I have Water and Sound elemental affinities instead...
I pointed at the door, then made a gesture with my hands to show that the door slid open sideways. Most normal doors were either push and pull, so hopefully with this, she could understand my meaning...
Feng Mian blinked, then nodded twice in confirmation, as if saying \'I see\'. I nearly sighed out loud in relief, but then remembered where we were. My partner pulled out her phone, and quickly sent Xuan Kai a message. We made sure to mute our ringers beforehand, so the phone didn\'t make any sound when the text was successfully sent out. Feng Mian stuffed the phone back into her pocket silently, and we waited anxiously for our companions to make their move.
But then, suddenly, the doors before us slid open.
Wha-
And out walked a woman, wearing a rich and shiny red dress, paired with black sunglasses. She had long hair, and a nice figure - though not nearly as good as the girls around Xuan Kai (myself excluded), even with her tight garment that was meant to show off her curves.
I immediately turned to Feng Mian, and found her staring right back at me.
Our eyes both said the same thing:
What do we do?!
If we shifted in either direction, we would end up being too close to the guard on each side respectively, and if we moved backwards, the woman would catch up to us unless we moved quickly, which was bound to cause noise...ah, what do we do?!
Right when all seemed lost, a shadow suddenly appeared in front of us, and was at the woman\'s side in an instant, resting his arm on her shoulder and purposely pushing her away from where we were standing, and our jaws dropped upon seeing who it was, and what he was about to do.
"Hey," the newcomer said in a flirtarious manner. "You look fine, girl. Wanna hang out?"