Alina's physical fitness wasn't strong, but due to living on the ice fields for a long time, her constitution was still a bit stronger than many city dwellers.
Lucas Reeve controlled Alina's body and charged straight at the two Infected Pickets.
The two of them never expected this young girl to rush at them directly and were completely caught off guard. Then, in their brief state of shock, they were met with two solid punches.
Tsk...
Lucas Reeve shook his hand.
After hitting them in the face, he felt his own fist ache a little...
"You woman!!"
Lucas Reeve's two punches seemed to have enraged the two men. They were just about to retaliate, but Lucas Reeve wouldn't give them the chance.
With the crisp sound of a shattering mirror.
His Spiritual Power was instantly released, shrouding their five senses. Their bodies stood limply in place, their eyes vacant, like mindless idiots.
With the implantation of a new set of memories.
The two Infected Pickets immediately ignored the little Infected girl before them, slung their arms around each other's shoulders, and walked away laughing.
This scene.
Completely dumbfounded the little Infected girl.
This...
This.....
Why did those two damn pickets just leave like that.
Weren't they going to arrest her??
The young girl was full of questions, completely unaware of what had just happened.
In her field of vision.
This pretty older sister, who seemed a bit older than her, had rushed forward and delivered two big slaps to the pickets. The two pickets, who had just gotten angry, then inexplicably changed their tune as if flipping a page in a book, and left with their arms around each other.
However, Lucas Reeve knew.
Mirror Flower, Water Moon was not without its flaws.
This ability was equivalent to him hypnotizing the enemy's senses and then implanting a memory he wanted them to see. Even afterwards, the person would substitute the implanted virtual memory for the real one. However, this had a drawback.
The implanted memory could not be completely flawless.
If some memory loopholes were discovered, it would be easy to uncover the virtual memory and recall the real one. The more people hypnotized at once, the larger the loophole would be. Of course, this was only in theory. So far, Lucas Reeve's hypnosis had never failed. After all, not many people would deliberately scrutinize past memories. Even if they did find a discrepancy, they would at most assume they remembered it wrong and wouldn't bother to investigate it deliberately.
After all, who hasn't misremembered things growing up?
"Are you alright, little girl?"
Lucas Reeve walked forward and helped the rather cute-looking little girl up.
"I'm... I'm fine..."
The little girl was very wary. Even though Lucas Reeve had just saved her, she still cautiously kept her distance when he reached out his hand and stood up from the ground on her own. She looked at the two very pretty older sisters before her with vigilance and caution.
Lucas Reeve also took this opportunity to look her up and down.
The little girl had short, snow-white hair and a slightly chubby, cute face, similar to Jessica's. Her large, watery eyes were filled with fear, and amidst the fear was nervousness and confusion. On her head was a pair of cute little bear ears. These ears were rare in other countries, but quite common in Ursus, a clear sign of her Ursus race.
She bit her lip, seemingly hesitating about whether she should say something at this moment.
Her clothes were old and a little ill-fitting, having faded severely. It was clear she had been wearing them for a long time.
To avoid leaving any openings.
Lucas Reeve didn't plan to let this little girl remember his existence. In such a dangerous place, every additional person who knew of his existence was an additional risk.
[Mirror Flower, Water Moon]
With the activation of the ability.
The little girl froze on the spot.
"What's your name, little girl?"
"Misha.."
The little girl said, her eyes now vacant.
"En... Little girl Misha, how long have you lived in this place?"
Misha: "I was born in Chernobog and have lived here all my life. After something happened to my family, I've been hiding in the slums ever since."
"Do you know of Azazel? Where is it..."
When he asked this question, he didn't have much hope. However, Misha's answer was completely different.
"The civilian district..."
Misha's words made Lucas Reeve and FrostNova's eyes widen at once.
The civilian district!
No wonder he couldn't find it...
Lucas Reeve knew he had fallen into a cognitive bias. He had subconsciously assumed that a place that sheltered the Infected would definitely be in the slums. However, he was completely wrong... it wasn't in the slums at all, but in the civilian district.
"The specific location?"
"I don't know..."
Since it wasn't in the slums, there was no need to stay here any longer. Today's investigation mission was over. But as he prepared to leave, Lucas Reeve found himself in a dilemma. If he left, what would happen to this little girl named Misha...
If he left her here and she ran into the pickets again with no one to help, the consequences could be dire. But if he took her with them, she would be an unknown factor, adding to the risk.
However, after a moment of thought and consulting with FrostNova and Alina, Lucas Reeve decided to take Misha back to the villa. If he hadn't seen it, he could do nothing. But to see it and deliberately not help... Lucas Reeve couldn't accept that...
However, before that, Lucas Reeve didn't immediately release the hypnotic state but first asked about the little girl's family situation.
After asking.
FrostNova sighed silently. The little girl's unfortunate circumstances seemed to have awakened memories of her own childhood.
Misha's family had been considered wealthy in Chernobog when she was young.
However, after her family members successively contracted Oripathy, they were all dragged away by Ursus's Infected Pickets and died in the mines. With only Misha left, she had been living here for many years.
Lucas Reeve glanced at FrostNova.
FrostNova shook her head, a trace of sadness flashing in her calm eyes.
Her family had also died in the mines like that...
However.
Misha was luckier than her. At least Misha had managed to escape. FrostNova, on the other hand, had also been captured and taken to the mines, where she was fortunate enough to meet her current father, Patriot.
Although this little girl had wandered this city as a vagrant for many years.
Her nature, apart from being wary, was not bad.
Lucas Reeve could see that the little girl's soul was also incredibly pure.
Lucas Reeve did not release the girl's hypnosis but took her with them, planning to release it after returning to the villa.
The three of them left the slums through a sparsely populated area. They didn't encounter many people along the way. Even when they did, Lucas Reeve used his ability to erase their figures from those people's sight. This task was not insignificant; modifying vision was simple and didn't consume much, but because there were many people, the journey took a toll on him, leaving his soul slightly drained.
After taking a city taxi back to the villa, Lucas Reeve paid the fare and modified the driver's memory of his passengers' appearances.
Back at the villa.
Lucas Reeve returned the body to Alina.
But he himself couldn't hold on any longer. Even as a soul, he was exhausted. Along the way, he no longer knew how many times he had used Mirror Flower, Water Moon. Although the ability didn't consume much for small-scale modifications, the sheer number of people was overwhelming.
Lucas Reeve cautiously modified the memories of almost everyone who had seen them, including the onlookers in the slums.
The Yeti Squadron members who had gone out to gather intelligence had not yet returned.
Before this, Lucas Reeve had bought everyone a mobile phone. Although they didn't know how to use them, after a simple lesson, they could at least send basic text messages. His instruction was for them to send a message every half hour to an hour to confirm they were safe. In an emergency, they were to immediately and quietly dial his emergency number. One thing was certain.
These Infected Pickets would not kill the Infected. To them, the Infected were their performance quotas. If one died before being handed over, wouldn't their quota be unfulfilled? So Lucas Reeve wasn't worried. As long as they were alive, he had a way to rescue them all.
When Lucas Reeve released the hypnosis on Misha.
Misha's gaze was first filled with confusion, then a flood of memories rushed in, and she instantly remembered everything. Lucas Reeve did not modify Misha's memory.
In Misha's memory.
Lucas Reeve was her savior.
After answering the other party's questions, she had followed her back to her home. As for why she followed, Misha didn't know... it seemed she had agreed in a dazed state.
"Thank you... for saving me, big sisters..."
Finally, after some hesitation, Misha thanked Alina and FrostNova. At this moment, Lucas Reeve was already exhausted and was preparing to sleep, leaving the task of dealing with the child to them.
When it came to talking with children.
FrostNova was not skilled.
But Alina was very good at it.
She smiled slightly, her smile incredibly gentle, like the warm sun of early spring. This easily made Misha, who was not very old, feel a sense of goodwill. And after a few sentences of conversation, Misha gradually came to trust this pretty big sister.
Since Misha's current clothes were a bit worn out, and she might not have bathed in a while, her face was a little dirty.
Alina took Misha to the bathroom for a bath, intending to wash her hair and scrub her back properly, but...
After the bath, Alina discovered a problem...
Misha was not an Infected!
There wasn't a single Originium crystal on her body belonging to an Infected.
When Alina told this news to Lucas Reeve and FrostNova, Lucas Reeve also hadn't expected it at all. They had all been misled by the preconceived judgment of the Infected Pickets. The pickets now didn't just arrest the Infected, but non-Infected as well.
However.
Since they had already brought her back, so be it.
Because 'Alina' had saved her, and because Alina was gentle and had the demeanor of a caring big sister, after just one afternoon together, Misha became very fond of being with Alina, feeling very safe.
In the evening, as the sun was about to set.
The three groups of Yeti Squadron members returned one after another.
With Misha now present.
Some matters naturally couldn't be discussed at the dinner table. After eating, they all moved to the meeting room, where the Yetis reported on their intelligence gathering for the day. The level of detail even included what they had for lunch, whether it was good, and if the portion was sufficient.
Since they had just arrived.
The Yeti Squadron's gains for the day were not significant.
They mostly observed the various passersby to make themselves act more like people from Chernobog's city center rather than looking suspicious. After that, they followed the map to walk through some of Chernobog's streets and alleys.
The next day.
The Yeti Squadron continued to go out and investigate, while Lucas Reeve put Misha under complete hypnosis, implanting a false memory to have her stay at home and play by herself. Meanwhile, Lucas Reeve, Alina, and FrostNova searched the civilian district for Azazel.
It wasn't that Lucas Reeve didn't trust this little girl, but this was a safer approach. As the leader of the entire operation, he needed to be responsible for the safety of all members and could not afford any losses.
This routine continued for a full week.
And after a full week of investigation, they seemed to have found some traces related to Azazel.
A secret underground clinic for the Infected hidden beneath a legitimate hospital—this was indeed something Lucas Reeve hadn't expected...