"How long did they stay inside?" the person on the other end asked in a deep voice.
"Twenty-seven minutes. Less than half an hour."
The caller fell silent for two seconds, then his tone abruptly turned grave. "They discovered that you broke into the house."
The watcher froze on the spot, disbelief filling his eyes as he argued in a low voice.
"Impossible. I wore disposable shoe covers and latex gloves the entire time, wiped away every fingerprint and footprint, and even concealed my own Spiritual Energy fluctuations. I didn't leave a single trace. How could they have noticed?"
"They set up markers beforehand that were extremely difficult to spot with the naked eye. You failed to notice them." His superior could not be bothered to explain further and directly issued an order.
"Stop dwelling on it. Get in the car and follow them immediately. Keep a certain distance. You absolutely cannot expose yourself.
"They won't be returning to this residential complex afterward. Make sure you find out their new address."
"Understood."
After hanging up, the man slipped his phone back into his inner pocket and hurried over to a dusty black secondhand sedan by the roadside.
He pulled open the door and slid into the driver's seat sideways. He never turned on the interior lights, instead following far behind the two bicycles by the faint glow of the streetlamps, always maintaining a safe distance as he silently tracked them into the Night Scene.
The pitch-black Night Scene hung low, with even the moon mostly veiled by thin clouds.
The streetlights along the suburban road were scattered far apart, their dim yellow glow leaving patches of brightness and darkness across the pavement.
A few moths and small insects crashed wildly around the bulbs, their buzzing unbearably noisy.
The evening