The two pens rolled on the table, then dropped to the floor with two distinct clatters.
Chi Feichi calmly bent down to pick up the pens. "Sorry, did I startle you?"
Feimo turned his head to look at Feichi: Master really walks without sound. It's too scary for a crow. Is my hearing getting worse, or were we just too engrossed in our chat? You know what I mean, right?
Feichi looked back: So you were scared too. What a coincidence!
Feimo tried to discern from Feichi's face whether the other party understood his meaning, but ultimately despaired. Snake faces have no expressions; even his gaze doesn't change.
Feichi also looked at Feimo's black face, then at Feimo's darting red eyes, feeling lost. What is my buddy trying to express?
Chi Feichi put the pens back on the table. Just as he reached out to grab the notebook, a small claw and the tip of a small tail pressed down on it, inching it backward bit by bit.
"Master, this is privacy..."
"Master, maybe you shouldn't look..."
Chi Feichi didn't insist. He withdrew his hand, pulled out a chair, and sat down. "I think you need to change your method of communication. Using paper and pens isn't very convenient."
Feimo nodded, glancing at the notebook. Must remember to destroy this thing. "Then... how about Morse code?"
Feichi also nodded. "Chatting too much makes me dizzy. Drawing characters with my tail is easier than biting a pen..."
"Morse code won't work. If both sides tap at the same time, it will likely get messy. Drawing in a sandbox isn't convenient either; sandboxes are hard to carry around. Computers and mobile phones are better. I'll get you each a..." Chi Feichi realized a slip of the tongue.
"A bird..."
"A snake..."
"..."
ー_ー
The air was silent for a moment.
Chi Feichi chose to skip over it. "Tomorrow I'll buy two computers and two mobile phones. I'll sort out the SIM cards for you. By the way, Feimo, can you see things at night?"
This question needed to be clarified because, apart from nocturnal birds like owls, nightjars, and night herons, most other birds suffer from night blindness.
"In dim places?" Feimo recalled. "Searching slowly on the ground is fine. If I'm flying in the air, I can vaguely see human figures. But cities have lights; places with lights are no problem."
"Feichi told you about the bounty, right?" Chi Feichi asked again.
"Told me, told me!" Feimo nodded frantically, then shook his head, forced himself to stop, and coughed dryly.
Chi Feichi: "..."
I only heard that Huskies were highly infectious; don't raise other animals with Huskies. I didn't expect Feichi's infectiousness to be weak either...
Feimo pretended as if nothing had happened and said seriously, "Sorry, Feichi said there's an operation tonight. I got a little excited and lost my composure. Master, let's analyze first. For night searches, Feichi is enough. I'm suitable for finding those wanted criminals. I can direct my brave subordinates to search together. Also, I can do anything convenient in the air, like surveying the terrain, gang fighting, or high-altitude attacks."
Chi Feichi nodded. This is a crow with ideas. He continued rummaging through the drawers. "Pretty much what I thought. But no need for fighting. You can usually wander around, look for people on the side. During operations, you'll be responsible for reconnaissance or destroying surveillance cameras."
Judging from personality and habits, Feichi liked to stick to him and was suitable to stay with him, acting as a built-in infrared detector. Feimo, on the other hand, preferred to roam outside and could indeed utilize his advantages to play while searching for wanted criminals.
"No problem!" Feimo nodded again like a chicken pecking rice, then forced himself to stop. Seeing Chi Feichi still looking down and rummaging through the drawer, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He couldn't help it. Seeing Feichi nodding all the time earlier, he got curious and tried it. Suddenly nodding like this to express excitement felt very satisfying. The more he nodded, the more he felt a sense of relaxation, letting everything go...
It was addictive!
Chi Feichi rummaged through the four drawers under the desk, finding a pile of notebooks, game cards, Kamen Yaiba models, and marbles, but he didn't find anything that could be used as a whistle.
After rummaging, he realized he had fallen into a rigid way of thinking.
Whistles are used for training birds because, first, birds have sensitive hearing and can pick up the whistle sound from a long distance. Second, it provides a location so birds can confirm the position by sound and find their way back.
He and Feimo didn't have communication issues. If both parties carried a small communication device, they could just report their location directly.
"Master, something seems to have fallen out!" Feichi reminded him.
Chi Feichi looked up and saw a thin piece of paper falling out of a comic book. accurately speaking, it was an old receipt with blurred printed text. He picked it up and looked at it. "Chicken hot pot?"
Did I eat this kind of thing?
Japan has a lot of cold food, and hot pot restaurants are rare. In all his memories, he had eaten hot pot only two or three times, and they were all seafood hot pots.
Considering it was left by the original consciousness, Chi Feichi didn't throw it away. He put it back into the comic book and put everything except the notebook used for the pets' communication back into the drawer.
He checked the time; it was already 10:06 PM.
"Feimo, go see if the others are asleep."
"Okay!"
Feimo flew out, circled the house, and quickly flew back. "That big driver is keeping watch in the living room. Everyone else is asleep."
"Wait for me outside." Chi Feichi extended his hand, letting Feichi crawl into his sleeve along his arm.
Before flying away, Feimo grabbed the 'chat' notebook from the table with his claws and took it with him.
Chi Feichi opened the door and went downstairs directly.
Judging by the driver's physique and walking posture, he definitely had training. Not just general fitness training, but combat or killing techniques. He was probably a driver doubling as a bodyguard.
Chi Shinnosuke only brought one bodyguard, indicating that this single person was enough to reassure him. His qualities in all aspects must be top-notch.
Such a person would more or less know some tricks of counter-tracking, security checks, and night watch. Sneaking out rashly and being mistaken for a thief would be troublesome. It was better to go out openly.
Just as he reached the first floor, the man was already standing by the stairs, greeting Chi Feichi in Japanese with a strange accent. "Young Master Feichi."
Chi Feichi nodded. "I'm going out for a bit."
"This..." The man subconsciously glanced upstairs, then quickly withdrew his gaze. "Do you need the car? I have to keep watch here, so I'm afraid I can't drive you."
"Give me the car keys," Chi Feichi asked casually. "Want to spar in close combat sometime?"
The man was somewhat surprised, looking up to scrutinize Chi Feichi.
Asians generally don't look as robust as Europeans in physique, and Chi Feichi was wearing loose, casual clothes, looking no different from other college students. However, in the eyes of an expert, whether someone has trained in combat can reveal some clues.
Being a bodyguard, the man's eyesight wasn't bad. After observing, although he couldn't determine Chi Feichi's level, he could roughly confirm that Chi Feichi had trained in combat. He nodded and handed the car keys to Chi Feichi. "I'm off duty tomorrow and will stay at the villa. I should wake up in the afternoon. Young Master Feichi can call me then. Please be careful when you go out."
"Thanks."
Chi Feichi took the car keys and left. He drove back to his apartment, picked up his gun and disguise tools, and went out again, finding a secluded public restroom to put on his disguise.
Feichi and Feimo watched curiously from the side.
Chi Feichi made a disguise of an ordinary middle-aged man, then suddenly stopped. He tore off the finished mask and fiddled around to change into a skull-like disguise. He applied a separator, then put a Saitama-style bald head disguise over it...
Applied separator, put on a balding middle-aged man disguise over that, looking a bit chubby...
Applied separator, then put on an ordinary young man disguise, the face puffing up a size...
Applied separator, and finally put on a fat man disguise. The face was now indistinguishable from a pig's head.
"Technique needs improvement."
Chi Feichi turned to look at his image in the mirror.
Although tearing off faces was satisfying, he mainly wanted to test if he could layer multiple disguises. If he needed to change faces, he could just tear one off.
However, even considering that too many wigs would pile up weirdly, and starting with a skull, bald head, and balding head to control the height on top, the facial filling plus the separators still made the face unstable.
Five disguises were about the limit.
And he had to be careful when tearing them off. The separator wasn't very reliable; one slip and he might tear off too many layers...
By the time Chi Feichi went into the stall, changed into loose clothes, and stuffed in inflatable padding to make his body round as well, Feimo couldn't watch anymore. He lowered his head and muttered to Feichi, "Humans really love torturing themselves..."
Feichi listened to Feimo cawing in his ear, thought for a moment, and whispered back, "I feel like I've gone blind too."
Chi Feichi speechlessly applied a transparent film over his palms to hide fingerprints and palm prints. Did these two think their whispers were quiet?
He heard everything, okay...
The most amazing part was that they could complain together despite speaking different languages. It was definitely a friendship transcending species.
After leaving the public restroom, he 'borrowed' a car on the road and drove all the way near Haido Station. Feimo flew out of the car window.
The car didn't stop. It circled around before stopping on the overpass opposite the station.
Ten minutes later, Feimo flew back and drilled into the open car window. "Master, there are three drunks wandering inside the station, a couple making out on the chairs in front of the waiting hall, and a homeless man resting in the corner near the lockers..."
"Problem?" In Chi Feichi's estimation, Feimo shouldn't take this long to scout.
"The couple and the three drunks are fine, but that homeless man definitely has issues," Feimo said with certainty. "Although his clothes are old and dirty, and his palms are dirty, I saw that his wrists are clean and his skin is smooth. His gaze keeps drifting towards the lockers, and he's also observing the three drunks on the other side."
"Is anyone carrying weapons like guns?" Chi Feichi asked.
"No!" Feimo was very sure.
"Feimo, you are an excellent scout," Chi Feichi praised, getting out of the car with Feichi and walking towards the station. "Let me state my situation. Generally, if the ambush is no more than three people and there are no snipers, I can escape safely. If no one carries weapons, I can be considered safe while disguised. In the future, you can also plan our advance and retreat routes."
"Advance and retreat routes..." Feimo recalled for a moment and asked excitedly, "Master, can you climb in through the ventilation window? If you can, you can enter from there. Using the rear lockers as cover, I have a route that can get the item without alerting anyone."
"OK, let's try it." Chi Feichi agreed.
Any partnership requires a process of mutual understanding and adjustment. Only with enough understanding can chemistry be developed.