Stepping outside, he found a nearly new Sand Off-road Vehicle cheerfully honking its horn. What had started as random honking had turned into the theme song of the 1994 World Cup—"e ill rk yu."
Well, Brazil had won that year, so Mrs. Cardenas had stopped cursing in the Brazilian style and joined Luo Fei in singing to the beat: "e ell e ell rk yu!"
That song was ridiculously catchy. In less than half a minute, the whole street had gathered to watch, then joined in singing as one. It felt just like being at the World Cup.
Luo Xia walked over with a look that said he wanted to hit someone, then opened the Sand Off-road Vehicle's door under everyone's watchful eyes.
First, he unloaded the entire box of military binoculars. Then he carefully tucked the two sapphire-like Energy Activation Devices into the trunk of Luo Fei's car.
They'd be safer here.
Luo Xia slammed the door shut with considerable force, as if the car weren't his.
"Commander, I just wanted to get along with your neighbors," Luo Fei said through the AllSpark, sounding aggrieved.
"I don't see how an unmanned off-road vehicle making a racket outside my house is going to help me get along with the neighbors," Luo Xia replied, thoroughly annoyed.
As a transmigrator who didn't want to draw attention to himself, Luo Xia was at a loss over having such an unreliable subordinate as Luo Fei. He wondered if he could return him. If not, maybe once he had a full roster of robots, he could dismantle Luo Fei to free up a slot.
Luo Fei knew he'd caused trouble again, so he quickly made two drifts and sped away from Hell's Kitchen, heading for Stark Tower. Tony was the best. That place had the finest motor oil, lubricants, and precision gears. After helping with the research for so long, Luo Fei felt like he'd put on a little weight.
With a dark expression, Luo Xia returned to the basement and took out a pair of military binoculars. He began feeding AllSpark energy into them, and the heavy Tactical Goggles started to change shape.
The AllSpark energy altered the material of the binoculars at the nanoscale, and their shape gradually shifted as well. In the end... they turned into a pair of black-framed glasses.
Luo Xia was silent for a few seconds, then said, "This isn't a pair of Tactical Goggles. It's an Endless Life Amplifier, isn't it?"
Well, it seemed that this world of American comics didn't have that legendary figure. Luo Xia was only joking. He put on the Tactical Goggles.
At first, he didn't feel anything special. It was like wearing an ordinary pair of prescription-free glasses. But the next instant, a dazzling panorama appeared before his eyes.
"Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap!"
Some things had to be said three times. Right now, Luo Xia felt that even saying it a hundred times wouldn't convey how excited he was.
Countless lights, shadows, and numbers appeared before his eyes, like a brilliant starry sky had suddenly unfolded in front of him. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
"So this is Data Vision? It's almost too dazzling."
Luo Xia wasn't used to the change. It was seriously interfering with his vision.
But soon, as he focused his thoughts, the numbers and colors before him began to fade. Luo Xia gradually learned to control Data Vision.
He took a set of keys from his pocket. They were the keys to his apartment. Normally, they were nothing but ordinary pieces of metal, but the Tactical Goggles precisely outlined the angles of every notch.
They showed not only the angles but also the thickness, material, color variations, surface temperature, and visual distance—in short, every standard attribute. As soon as Luo Xia focused on the keys, the image automatically zoomed in, magnifying them dozens of times. He could see every scratch.
Luo Xia blinked, and the view switched to black and white. The keys were reduced to outlines, an effect known as light-based see-through vision. He blinked again and saw patches of red, green, and blue. That was thermal infrared imaging.
"Impressive. This thing is incredibly useful," Luo Xia remarked.
With these Tactical Goggles, both combat and daily life would be much easier. The automatic zoom feature alone could help countless people with nearsightedness or farsightedness. And the light-based and thermal infrared functions would let Luo Xia spot danger in advance, making it easy to see traps or weapons on other people.
Excited, Luo Xia wandered around the basement, looking at everything through the Tactical Goggles. Just as he was enjoying himself, he noticed several faint marks on the floor.
"Are these... footprints?" Luo Xia switched to thermal infrared vision. Sure enough, a few spots on the floor were slightly cooler than the surrounding areas, and their shapes looked like footprints.
"Water got on their shoes. Even though it's dried, it left a slight temperature difference." Luo Xia used the Tactical Goggles to analyze the evidence.
These footprints had to have been left by the thief who'd stolen the things. Luo Xia didn't know why the thief's shoes had gotten wet, but he wasn't about to let this clue slip by.
Luo Xia was lucky. Without the Tactical Goggles, he'd never have spotted footprints left by water that had completely evaporated. And if he'd waited a few more minutes, the temperature difference would have disappeared completely. Even the Tactical Goggles wouldn't have been able to detect it then.
There was no time to lose. Luo Xia hurried after the footprints, which were about to vanish.
He climbed out through the basement window and followed the footprints, which were impossible to detect by any normal means. Fortunately, after leaving the basement, the thief had turned directly into a quiet alley. Otherwise, the Tactical Goggles wouldn't have been able to distinguish his footprints on a busy street.
He ran about a hundred meters, weaving around several corners, until the footprints disappeared completely.
Luo Xia looked around. This seemed to be a neighborhood dumping ground, with filthy water everywhere and a terrible stench. The Tactical Goggles weren't magic. In such a chaotic, filthy place, they couldn't find any more traces of the thief.
Switch modes. Light-based see-through vision.
The red and blue patches disappeared, replaced by a black-and-white world made of lines.
Luo Xia looked around with this vision. There was nothing unusual in the garbage pile, and he didn't spot anything suspicious in the abandoned old wooden houses nearby.
But when he looked at a manhole cover, he noticed something strange. The Tactical Goggles showed that there was a lock underneath it.
That was odd. If someone was worried about people stealing the manhole cover, they should put a lock on top of it. If the lock was underneath the sewer, wouldn't people above be unable to open it, leaving only those inside able to do so?
"Hell's Kitchen sure is full of surprises," Luo Xia said with a smile.
Unfortunately, the Tactical Goggles' see-through function was limited. It could penetrate walls and floors only about a meter thick. Luo Xia could tell the manhole cover was suspicious, but he couldn't see what was inside.
Luo Xia extended his right hand. Layer upon layer of silver-gray metal covered his arm, and he hooked his fingers into the hole in the manhole cover. With an ugly tearing sound, he ripped the entire cover out. The lock's thumb-thick shackle snapped right off.
A foul smell wafted out, making Luo Xia feel nauseous.
"Fine. I hope Stark Industries reimburses dry-cleaning expenses." After saying that, Luo Xia jumped down into the sewer.
Before you continue