Chapter 10: You Answer Me

The manor. Downstairs in the guest building.

Two vampires appeared, bringing a man with them. One vampire pulled out a tablet and showed the man surveillance footage of Mo Yu.

"Can you mimic him?"

"Rest assured, my lords."

After watching the video, the man’s body began to shift. Soon, a perfect duplicate of "Mo Yu" stood before them.

The two vampires looked him up and down, nodding in satisfaction. "Not bad, no flaws visible. Go. You must gain control of that mechanical dog, understand?"

"Rest assured, my lord. Disguise is my specialty; none of the machines currently on the market can see through our camouflage."

After bowing and scraping, the "Mo Yu" clone turned and headed upstairs to the designated room to find the mechanical dog.

The two vampires chatted downstairs.

"The shapeshifting ability of this Thousand-Face Monster is truly terrifying. If I hadn't seen it change with my own eyes, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference."

"Too weak. Ultimately, it’s just scum that can't handle the big stage."

"Why didn't the Young Miss just grab that human and interrogate him directly? Why go through all this trouble?"

"If he truly possesses an ability similar to a 'Strategist,' then he is indeed worth recruiting."

"What is a Strategist?"

"Sequence 133—Strategist. They can discern the methods to win over a target of interest. It’s a form of clairvoyance that can dig up a lot of important intelligence. If you don't understand, just listen to the Young Miss; you won't go wrong."

...

Inside the room.

Alpha was standing by, awaiting orders. When Mo Yu was away, it remained in a low-power state.

The door opened. The "Mo Yu" clone walked into the room.

Alpha reacted instantly. Its camera locked onto the clone, and strings of data popped up as it began comparing biological signatures.

The "Mo Yu" clone stepped forward and crouched down.

Alpha emitted an electronic tone: "Identity verification in progress. Station Chief, please follow the instructions. Blink your eyes."

The "Mo Yu" clone obediently blinked.

"Turn your head left and right."

The clone turned its head.

"Please face the camera and nod up and down."

"Please open your arms and rotate clockwise."

"Please rotate counter-clockwise."

"Verification progress 5%... Please perform 10 push-ups."

"Verification progress 6%... Please perform 10 sit-ups."

...

The two vampires were growing impatient. The Thousand-Face Monster had been in the room for two hours, yet there was no reaction. They quietly went upstairs and eavesdropped at the door.

Inside the room, the verification process continued.

"Verification progress 98%... Please kneel and bark like a dog three times."

The Thousand-Face Monster, looking aggrieved, knelt and let out a reluctant bark. This was the task assigned by the vampires, and he dared not give up. He had been tortured for two hours, but fortunately, the verification progress kept climbing.

"Verification progress 99%... Please perform a backflip."

Only 1% remained. Seeing the light of victory, the Thousand-Face Monster gritted his teeth and persisted. After falling a few times, he managed to perform a backflip.

"Verification 99.1%..."

The Thousand-Face Monster broke down, sitting on the floor with teary eyes. He glanced at the ajar door, noticed the two vampires spying, and could only grit his teeth and continue.

I don't know how much time passed.

Outside the door, the two vampires received a message.

"A report from Number 1. The human is coming back to retrieve something. We must withdraw."

"Damn it!"

The two vampires knocked on the door with great reluctance, signaling the Thousand-Face Monster to retreat.

The Thousand-Face Monster felt a sense of relief and turned to run.

Alpha: "Verification 99.97%... Warning! Leaving now will result in verification failure!"

The door closed. Alpha crouched down and entered standby mode.

A moment later, the door opened. Mo Yu walked in.

After scanning him, Alpha said in its mechanical voice: "Identity verification in progress. Station Chief, please follow the instructions. Blink your eyes."

"You damn moron!"

Mo Yu kicked Alpha over.

Alpha tumbled a few times before successfully flipping back over. "Verification successful. Station Chief, someone attempted to pass the verification earlier."

"Let me see."

Mo Yu crouched down to watch the recording. A man identical to himself was jumping around in front of Alpha.

"Alpha, if I hadn't added secondary verification, would you have identified him incorrectly?"

"..."

"Answer me! Look in my eye! Tell me why? Baby why? You can identify Elise as a vampire, so why can't you identify this thing?"

"Scanning is targeted. Many monster species from the early days went extinct during the latency period; there is no physiological signature information available to identify them. The Alpha Dog is only equipped with a basic identity recognition system, using voice, facial features, and iris patterns to verify identity."

"Add a third level of verification. Better to be safe." Thinking about the morning's events, Mo Yu asked, "Do you have any information on Spirit Rabbits?"

"Spirit Rabbits: Friendly-type monsters. Historical records indicate they created a 'Peach Blossom Spring' where humans and rabbits coexisted. After the start of the Outer Era, contact with the Peach Blossom Spring was lost. No other relevant information available," Alpha replied.

"Friendly-type monsters?"

Mo Yu found this novel. Alpha had never mentioned it before.

Rewind.

He returned to the moment he kicked Alpha over. Mo Yu did this after every conversation with Alpha to avoid being wiretapped.

"Veri—"

"Shut up. Come with me."

Mo Yu cut off Alpha’s report, grabbed his backpack, and left the manor with Alpha, heading toward Elise’s small villa.

From a distance, he spotted police cars parked outside the villa.

The "zero-dollar shopping" spree had come to light.

Mo Yu was completely unconcerned and sauntered into the villa.

The maid was speaking with the security officers. After some questioning and in the face of sufficient evidence, the two of them were not suspected.

The security team left.

The maid glanced at Mo Yu without a shred of suspicion. After all, Mo Yu had been by her side the whole time; he had neither the motive nor the time to commit the crime. She simply dropped a sentence and turned to leave:

"Sort out your own lunch. The Master and Mistress won't be back at noon."

"Yes."

Mo Yu went to the kitchen to cook. He had Alpha keep an eye on the news for him. By the time he finished eating, it was past 1:00 PM, and he still hadn't seen any news about the Kissing Cult being attacked.

If not for the Monster Compendium updating, he would have thought the Mirror Operation had failed.

[Killed Head-Spiders: 112 (Settlement in 3 hours and 11 minutes)]

[Killed Head-Spider Aggregate: 1 (Settlement in 3 hours and 12 minutes)]

He wouldn't be able to unlock the compendium until 4:40 PM.

There was no relevant news.

The matter had been suppressed.

Certain factions possessed significant influence; they could cover up even such a major disturbance.

Mo Yu returned to his small room to take a nap. He had nothing to do for the moment, so he prepared to see what would happen in the next six hours.

Elise’s failed attempt to probe Alpha meant she would inevitably try other methods.

Alpha entered alert mode.

Mo Yu drifted off to sleep.

When he woke up again, it was because Alpha had hammered him awake.

The familiar force of the thumping.

Mo Yu rolled over and sat up, grabbing Alpha’s dog head and shaking it. "Give me an explanation."

"Detected two canine-type creatures infiltrating the villa. The Knight-class vampire is out. There is danger," Alpha replied.

The Knight-class vampire referred to the maid.

"Another probe?"

Mo Yu frowned. He pulled out the titanium alloy dagger from under his pillow—it was his last weapon.

He checked the time: 4:30 PM.

He opened the door and swaggered out. As he turned a corner, he locked eyes with something that resembled a dog.

A Zombie Dog!

The dog's body looked as if it had been pieced together from parts of different dogs; the fur was multicolored, patchy here and there, with bone and dark red flesh exposed in some places. Aside from its four limbs, there were dark red, tentacle-like appendages on its back.

Even stranger, the interface gave no prompt.