Fisherman (Bonus Chapter for Alliance Leader Smile 1)
"Long Time No See" is a small coffee shop located on a pedestrian street.
The decor is distinctive and well-designed. Most importantly, it has a bright, floor-to-ceiling window that allows you to see directly into the cashier and most of the store from the outside.
When Xiang Kun arrived in the neighboring city, it was already past midnight. The coffee shop had just closed, and there were very few people on the pedestrian street.
Because he was caught on camera by various surveillance cameras while "patrolling" the streets at night, and was then treated as a "volunteer police officer" by Officer Chen, he is now quite "sensitive" to surveillance cameras. He will try to avoid some of them, walk in blind spots, or make sure his face is not captured on camera.
Of course, in relatively bustling cities, it is very difficult to completely avoid all surveillance cameras and avoid being "pictured".
In addition to various road surveillance and security surveillance, there are also surveillance cameras installed by various shops, residential areas, office buildings, parking lots and other places. Sometimes, if the authorities want to investigate, they can even find cars with dashcams passing by through other surveillance videos and check the recordings on those dashcams. Or, if someone is filming Douyin video or taking a selfie and posting it on WeChat nearby, they may unintentionally capture the footage.
So Xiang Kun also did some basic disguise, wearing a wig and a baseball cap to at least cover up his most distinctive feature: his bald head. Then he took off his glasses, which made his overall demeanor somewhat different from usual.
Xiang Kun sat down on a bench in a park across from the pedestrian street. The lighting there was dim, so he didn't attract attention. Dressed in dark clothes, he sat there so that unless you got close, you wouldn't notice that someone was sitting there.
His gaze was fixed on the entrance to the pedestrian street. This pedestrian street naturally had more than one entrance, but three of them were facing him. Moreover, whether it was someone familiar with that coffee shop or someone who found the shop using a map app, the direction to enter the pedestrian street was definitely the entrance he was looking at.
Xiang Kun judged others by his own standards. If the vampire behind the ID "August's Kasumi" was planning to come see him, he would definitely rush over as quickly as possible to observe the situation first, and even find helpers to set up an ambush.
If it were him, he would suspect that the other person had arranged to meet here, perhaps temporarily staying in a nearby building, or maybe working for a shop.
So he stayed here, making a quick observation of people entering the pedestrian street to determine if any suspicious targets might appear, and whether he would directly target the vampire who had come to "scout" the area.
At this distance, scent is no longer very effective, so he can't identify the distinctive scent of something like a "Giant Owl." But this is also a form of self-protection, because he can't be sure if the other party has similar sensory enhancements or can smell him.
Of course, if the other party's sensory abilities are much stronger than his, and they can detect him from such a distance, then he will have no choice but to run away immediately. Anyway, he has several escape plans.
Xiang Kun sat there until after nine in the morning, when the pedestrian street began to fill up with people and most shops started to open for business.
He didn't see any particularly obvious suspicious targets. There were several suspected targets, but he only marked them in his mind temporarily and didn't rush to follow them.
The other party may not have arrived in the city yet, or they may not have come to scout the location after arriving, or they may have other ways to learn about the surrounding area of the target location.
It's even possible that the other party, after careful consideration, felt there was danger and simply stood Xiang Kun up.
Of course, Xiang Kun had also considered whether this "vampire" might actually be trying to make friends, but based on all the information available, the possibility seemed extremely slim, about as likely as the chances of him being struck by lightning.
Xiang Kun got up and went directly into the pedestrian street.
Once the foot traffic picks up, there's no point in just guarding the street entrance anymore; limited information and overly cursory observations make it difficult to draw effective judgments.
At 10:20, he entered a beverage shop, ordered a drink, and sat down at the entrance.
It's quite a distance from here to the "Long Time No See" café; you need to turn another corner to see it. However, if you're heading directly to the café from outside the pedestrian street, this is the only way to get there. You'd only go in another direction if you were going to explore other parts of the pedestrian street.
Xiang Kun is gradually narrowing down his observation circle, carefully gathering information while ensuring his observation efficiency.
He had already assumed in his mind that the "vampire" also had sensory abilities similar to his own.
Whoever discovers the other first gains a greater advantage and is also safer.
Xiang Kun needed to ensure that even if both of them smelled each other's scent at the same time, he could pinpoint the other's exact location first.
He paid attention to everyone wearing blue shirts, regardless of gender. Of course, if they were in the same position, he certainly wouldn't meet them himself, but would find someone wearing blue to act as bait while he observed from the sidelines.
At 1:35 PM, Xiang Kun arrived at the claw machine shop not far from the "Long Time No See" coffee shop. He sat in front of the outermost machine, but his face was turned away from the coffee shop. He could only observe the machine through the reflection of the metal trim on an advertising board next to the shop's entrance.
Even with Xiang Kun's eyesight, he could only observe the general situation in front of the coffee shop's floor-to-ceiling windows through the reflected mirror.
However, he did not rely solely on vision for observation, but rather used vision to assist in locating sounds and smells.
At 1:46 PM, a young woman wearing a blue T-shirt, a bun hairstyle, and tight jeans passed by the claw machine shop. Xiang Kun quickly used the reflection of the metal panel to confirm that she had entered the "Long Time No See" café, ordered a drink at the counter, and sat down by the window.
Recalling the scent she wore when she passed by, the perfume was quite strong, but not pungent; it must have been a high-end brand. There was a faint smell of smoke, specifically a women's cigarette. Her clothes also had a faint smell of a new T-shirt, indicating that they were newly bought and hadn't been washed.
Judging from her scent, she shouldn't be Mutated Creature or a vampire.
Furthermore, his daily routine seems irregular, his physical condition is average, his stomach is not very good, he has a slight anterior pelvic tilt, and there seems to be an injury to his left Achilles tendon or ankle. He walks with his center of gravity slightly to the right, he holds his phone in his hand, the phone case is covered with rhinestones, and his rather long nails are decorated with embossed nail art. There are sounds of keys and other miscellaneous items rubbing together in his handbag.
Xiang Kun immediately concluded that she was neither a vampire nor, most likely, the person chatting with him through the screen using the ID "August's Kasumi." People who are good at using computers, even if they get manicures, wouldn't have such long nails, as it would be inconvenient for typing.
However, given that she was wearing a newly bought blue T-shirt and appeared at the "Long Time No See" café at this time, buying two drinks by herself, there's a 99% chance she was arranged to Xiang Kun in person.
Xiang Kun didn't turn around to observe the woman in blue sitting by the French window to get more information. Instead, he shifted his attention away from her and focused on the people around him.
The bait has appeared, so how far away can the fisherman be?