With a soft chime of the doorbell, Barry walked into the café. The clerk from before seemed to be taking inventory of the store's supplies. When he saw someone enter, he jumped in fright.
"Isn't it martial law right now? Oh, right, you're an agent. You should have special clearance to move around, shouldn't you? Can I see it?"
Barry immediately opened Brainiac's app and showed him the pass interface. This was Brainiac's requirement for everyone: whenever someone came calling, they had to check their pass first. When martial law had first begun, many people had tried to sneak out or flee to stay with relatives. If inspections were not strict enough, it would be no different from having no martial law at all.
Seeing the pass, the clerk relaxed. He smiled at Barry and said, "The employee from the previous shift said someone came in to buy coffee. I thought it was the police, but I didn't expect it to be you. Can I ask what happened?"
Ordinarily, Barry was not supposed to disclose anything, but Brainiac seemed not to care at all, so Barry told him.
"Ah, yes, some important things were stolen. They aren't dangerous items, just research materials, but there's evidence that aliens may have done it."
"Oh, God, aliens again. Do aliens have nothing better to do every day? Why are they always setting their sights on Earth?"
"Of course it's because this is a prime piece of real estate." Barry smiled as well. "Earth has a good natural environment, so naturally people want to get their hands on it. More importantly, many ancient treasures have been left behind here. To many people, they're practically treasure within arm's reach."
"The research materials are among them too?"
"I'm not too sure about that, since I'm not