He Ao moved through the casino crowd when Selina's voice reached his ears. "You... there's a miniature tracking device beneath the metal button on your Combat Suit pants, sewn to the left side of the button. If you need to track someone, tear it off. It has adhesive on the back, so you can stick it to her car or clothes. Be careful."
The voice came from the glasses Selina had given him. The frames themselves were fitted with Bone Conduction Headphones.
"Thank you."
He Ao nodded slightly, pretending to be just another man weaving between the gambling tables. His left hand rested on his pants as he casually tore open the fabric beside the metal button. A metal chip no larger than his little fingernail appeared in his hand.
He held the chip between his fingers and walked step by step toward the woman in the tight red dress.
This was the second time He Ao had seen her. The first had been at the Hot Dog Shop, when he had watched her enter the casino.
Though the woman appeared unrelated to Mu Xiu, He Ao vaguely sensed that there was something unusual about her.
Finding traces of Mu Xiu through surveillance footage was something He Ao could not help much with. No matter how quick his mind was, it could not match the data collection and processing speed of Selina's Prosthetic Eye.
So after spotting the Red Dress Woman's back in the crowd, he had followed her directly. He intended to find out what was special about her, while also taking a look around the casino's VIP area to see whether he could find any trace of Mu Xiu.
After all, Ludo had said that Mu Xiu had entered through the VIP passage.
Though it was called the VIP area, it was far from empty. It was really just a place with higher minimum bets.
He Ao slowly made his way through the crowd, closing in on the Red Dress Woman step by step.
The Red Dress Woman was bent over the table, apparently placing a bet, while the men around her knowingly pressed themselves tightly against her.
She did not reject their advances. Instead, she shifted her body from time to time, as though she had been squeezed by the crowd and was too embarrassed to say anything.
That only made the men more excited.
The men surrounded the Red Dress Woman so completely that He Ao had no way to get close.
"Big!" "Big!" "Big!" "Small!" "Small!" "Big!"
Amid the men's clamor, He Ao simply changed direction and walked to the other side of the gambling table. Since all the men had crowded around the Red Dress Woman, this side was relatively empty.
Standing beside the table, He Ao finally saw the Red Dress Woman's face.
She leaned over the table, her chest slightly pressed against its surface and faintly distorted. Her neckline plunged low, vaguely revealing the fair skin beneath.
She was very attractive, prettier than most of the beautiful waitresses in the casino. Compared with Selina, however, she fell somewhat short, though overall, He Ao felt that the gap between them was not that great.
What made up for that difference was her unique temperament. If Selina was sharp and valiant, then the Red Dress Woman before him was enchantingly seductive.
She was not thin. Her waist was slender, but her chest and hips were excessively full, and even the thighs connecting to those hips carried a soft, lush fullness.
A night with this woman would be immensely pleasurable.
And winning her over would be easy.
The thought surfaced in He Ao's mind without warning.
He glanced at the men frantically crowding toward the Red Dress Woman. They probably held the same thought in their minds.
A word rose in He Ao's thoughts that could describe the scene before him.
Desire.
The Red Dress Woman seemed to notice that He Ao was watching her, but she did not look at him. Instead, she slowly straightened up, and the softness distorted by the tabletop returned to its original shape.
She took half a step back, forcing away the men who were almost pressed against her and carving out a somewhat roomier space for herself.
Then she lightly gathered up her hair, seemingly intending to tie it back.
But she could not find a suitable hair tie.
After hesitating for a moment, she placed a hand on her left thigh. Only then did He Ao notice a strip of cloth tied around it.
Everyone stopped what they were doing. Even the dealer held down the dice cup, staring blankly at her performance.
He Ao's mind remained calm, but his body began to enter a strange state of excitement.
The woman did not seem to think anything was wrong. Half-crouching, she bent down and shifted her left foot, freeing her beautiful, full bare foot from its high-heeled sandal.
She lifted her lovely foot and slowly slid the cloth strip tied around her thigh down along her thigh, ankle, arch, and toes painted with red nail polish.
Then she slowly stood up, tugged at the strip in her hand, and found its elasticity just right. She gathered her hair again and tied it up with the strip.
In a daze, He Ao seemed to hear people swallowing. Her movements were utterly ordinary, yet every gesture was filled with a soul-stirring seductiveness.
"Much better," she said with an apologetic smile to the dealer. Picking up chips from the edge of the table, she leaned over it. "I'm betting big."
At that moment, a faint rustling sound came through He Ao's glasses. Selina had connected the line.
"He Ao, I found traces of Mu Xiu. Go left now, all the way to the end. You'll see a small door. Go out through it. I'll wait for you at the exit."
Selina's voice suddenly rang in He Ao's ears. Her tone was calm, but it seemed to lack some of its earlier warmth, carrying a trace of coldness.
His first reaction upon hearing that was:
Is Selina watching me through some surveillance camera right now?
"Place your bets!"
The dealer's shout jolted the men awake from their excitement. After hesitating briefly, they took out their chips and began placing bets. The gambling table became lively again.
Taking advantage of the chaos during the betting interval, He Ao flicked his finger. The tracker held between his fingers flew precisely into a corner of the Red Dress Woman's clothing, sticking there amid the folds of the fabric.
Then he slowly withdrew from the crowd and quickly headed left.
After he left, the Red Dress Woman looked for the first time toward where he had been standing.
She smiled, stepped back twice, and slowly squeezed out of the crowd.
The men seemed not to notice that the person who had originally stood at the center of the crowd had vanished. They continued shoving one another excitedly.
The woman watched the excited crowd, slowly untied the cloth strip from her hair, and bound it around her full thigh, cinching it into a shallow ring-shaped indentation.
Then, amid the deafening clamor, she turned and walked deep into the crowd, as though she had never been there at all.
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