How Could She Be Here?

Even without entering "Hyper-Sensory State," Xiang Kun could discover the surveillance cameras distributed on the company's perimeter wall using infrared thermal imaging visual mode.

Not only are there many of them, but they are also arranged very reasonably, with both light and dark areas, leaving almost no blind spots.

Basically, for a normal person to enter the perimeter of the wall without damaging the surveillance equipment or being filmed, they either need to do it from the air or camouflage themselves sufficiently so that being filmed wouldn't be a problem.

Of course, if one takes a risk and quickly scales the wall while the guards in the gatehouse aren't watching the security cameras, they might not be discovered. If they don't make any noise that would reveal their intrusion and don't move anything, then no one might bother to check the security footage afterwards.

However, Xiang Kun does not intend to do that—at least not now.

In addition to the external surveillance, the area inside the perimeter wall is obviously not undefended and must have other security facilities.

Through infrared thermal imaging and the perception of sound and smell, he was able to detect that at least five security guards were on night duty, one of whom was patrolling the premises with a dog.

Judging from the nature and size of this company, the number of security guards on the night shift is clearly excessive.

However, if Xiang Kun's previous speculation is correct, and this is "Shenxing Technology's" Research Base for Mutated Creature, then the security measures are far too inadequate.

From this distance, he couldn't discern any secrets about the building inside. He wondered if there might be a basement or something—aren't secret institutions in movies and TV shows often hiding their important facilities underground?

However, judging from the age and structure of those buildings, "Shenxing Technology" had only acquired them three years ago, so it probably didn't have time to build any large-scale underground facilities.

He speculated that this company and this building were probably just one of Shenxing Technology's research institutions.

But if that's the case, where are the others?

Why weren't they grouped together?

Even if they are different in type and direction, as long as the ultimate goal is the same, then many laboratories and research institutions should be concentrated in one area to facilitate communication and exchange, and also to facilitate command and control by any possible behind-the-scenes personnel.

Based on Alice's previous search results, there are no similar companies in Qicheng City that have been acquired by "Shenxing Technology," at least not in publicly available information.

Is it possible that there's something special about Qicheng City that attracted the people behind "Shenxing Technology" to set up a branch there?

Xiang Kun pondered this, he stepped out of the shadowy area by the roadside.

No further information can be observed from here, but the direction he is heading is not towards the target building; instead, he has circled around to the other side, still quite a distance from the target building complex.

Xiang Kun carefully avoided the occasional surveillance cameras on the road, but many of the cameras on the streets in this area were just for show and not actually working. This place was indeed quite remote; at this time of year, there wasn't even a 24-hour convenience store nearby, making it very deserted. No wonder Zhou Rui was willing to commute more than 20 kilometers every day to live in such a far-away place.

He stopped at the street corner. This place was only about twenty meters away from the outer wall of the "Shenxing Technology" subsidiary, but it was not within the surveillance range of the outer wall. Moreover, the place where he stood was very hidden and there were no streetlights. Even if someone passed by, they might not be able to see him.

While observing the distant buildings, Xiang Kun took out a slingshot from his coat pocket, picked up a small pebble he had just picked up from the ground, put it in the slingshot's pouch, stretched the rubber band fully, aimed at the air at an angle, and released it after a second, letting the pebble trace an arc and fall into the wall.

The pebble was so small that it was only thanks to Xiang Kun's night vision and exceptional dynamic vision that he could have known where it had gone. After all, it was just an ordinary pebble, and he hadn't established any "Super-Sensory Link."

He looked up at the sky, sensed the wind speed and direction, and grasped the changing trend by sensing the atmospheric electric field. After calculating in his mind for a while, Xiang Kun took out a small Ballpoint Pen Tip, put it in the slingshot pouch, and launched it at an angle.

This bead is the item that established a "Super-Sensory Link." After being calibrated with small stones before, the bead's landing point was basically within Xiang Kun's expected range—in the green belt near one of the buildings.

Next, Xiang Kun flicked another ball in, then moved his position, changed direction, found a high point, and continued to throw balls around the buildings in the wall.

Xiang Kun had prepared a large number of beads for establishing "Super-Sensory Link" some time ago, and he brought more than twenty with him on this trip. After establishing "Super-Sensory Link" with a large number of the same type of items, his speed in establishing "Super-Sensory Link" with the same type of items will greatly increase, especially when he chooses Ballpoint Pen Tip from the same brand and batch, the speed will be even faster.

Although he can now establish "Super-Sensory Link" with many different types of objects, Xiang Kun feels that the most practical ones are Coin and Ballpoint Pen Tip. The latter, in particular, is not only small and inconspicuous, but also very hard and difficult to damage, making it suitable for various positioning applications, comparable to a miniature GPS.

More importantly, after defeating the mutated spider, acquiring some of its abilities, and initially mastering "Electric Flight," Xiang Kun vaguely felt that he might be able to develop more abilities that utilize electricity and magnetism in the future, and this ball would be a very good carrier.

For example, if he could imbue the "Electric Flight" ability onto the "Super-Sensory Link" beads for a certain period of time and launch them into the air, he might be able to make them fly in the air for a long time and even use the "Super-Sensory Link" for positioning and even control.

If the electric field force could be utilized more effectively, the sphere might even be used as a powerful "weapon".

Of course, those are just future ideas. For the time being, the sphere that has established "Super-Sensory Link" can only be used as a "locator".

Xiang Kun threw a total of seven orbs into the wall, and then placed one under a small bush in the roadside green belt not far outside the wall as a reference point for the distance of the seven orbs—after all, he had never entered the wall and his judgment of the exact location of the orbs inside was not very accurate.

Afterwards Xiang Kun had a basic understanding of the surrounding terrain, and after daybreak, he headed to a breakfast shop.

He wasn't going to buy breakfast, but rather to observe the people buying it—that was the place Zhou Rui bought breakfast at every morning before going to work.

Xiang Kun had already checked beforehand; this breakfast shop was very famous in Qicheng City and had opened several branches. Many people who worked nearby and had a certain amount of spending power would come here for breakfast.

Although Zhou Rui is probably still in the Qinling Uninhabited Zone with Xiang Kun's Rabbit Woodcarving, not all of his colleagues are there. Given the distance between this breakfast shop and the company acquired by "Shenxing Technology," it's highly likely that some of his colleagues will come here to buy breakfast.

Xiang Kun needed to do was to identify those people.

He stood by the bus stop not far from the breakfast shop, looking down at his phone, but his attention was actually focused on the pedestrians nearby heading to the breakfast shop to buy breakfast.

He quickly identified his target, put away his phone, and pretended to be going to buy breakfast, naturally joining the queue.

When the person who had bought breakfast came out, Xiang Kun and the other diners squeezed to the side to make room for him.

Taking advantage of this moment, Xiang Kun discreetly slipped a small square made of two folded pieces of paper into the side pocket of a diner's backpack next to him.

Then, he casually followed the diner with the backpack and bought breakfast with cash.

He slipped two pieces of paper into the diner's backpack; both were cut from A4 paper.

A 3cm x 3cm sheet of paper was used to establish a "Super-Sensory Link"—this is the smallest size through which he can sense a relatively clear location using the A4 paper with which he has established a "Super-Sensory Link."

An 8cm x 8cm sheet of paper was used to "Emotional Injection"—although the paper was small, he spent more than an hour drawing a picture on it with a pencil during his last blood-drinking period, successfully injecting the emotion of "focus."

Folding these two pieces of paper together and stuffing them together gives Xiang Kun the ability to simultaneously possess the characteristics of "Super-Sensory Link" and "Emotional Injection."

After buying breakfast, Xiang Kun strolled leisurely down the road and soon sensed that the folded piece of paper had entered the target company's gate; his guess was correct.

While searching outside the breakfast shop, Xiang Kun noticed a peculiar smell on the young man's backpack. He had also smelled that same odor on Professor Li Yang. Later, he learned that it was a special liquid disinfectant used in the microbiology laboratory to disinfect certain equipment and instruments.

Based on his on-site observation last night and Alice's assisted search, among the businesses within a five-minute walk in this area, apart from the one acquired by "Shenxing Technology," no other businesses would use it.

This judgment is certainly not 100% certain, but he can accept being wrong anyway.

Fortunately, we were lucky.

Xiang Kun found a quiet, secluded spot, sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and tried to enter a "Hyper-Sensory State."

Before long, Xiang Kun entered a "Hyper-Sensory State." He quickly chose the correct passage based on the distance and instantly sensed the situation around the pencil drawing.

In that special sensory world, Xiang Kun could see clearly the surrounding objects, like buoys at sea—these were the spheres that had been thrown into the wall last night and established a "Super-Sensory Link," as well as the "Super-Sensory Link" paper that was stacked into a square with that piece of paper.

Although Xiang Kun cannot instantly project his consciousness and senses through a special channel in his "Hyper-Sensory State" like he can perceive "Emotional Injection" objects, he can still perceive the "Super-Sensory Link" object very clearly if it is nearby.

Therefore, in the "Hyper-Sensory State," in that special sensory world, these "Super-Sensory Link" objects are the most definite reference points that can help him anchor his location in reality.

In this way, under the influence of his "Hyper-Sensory State," Xiang Kun could determine his location by observing the positions of the several beads based on the information he perceived through the pencil drawing.

For example, if a device, a person, or the surrounding terrain and environment is detected, its location can be specifically marked.

A dozen minutes later, Xiang Kun, feeling dizzy, emerged from the "Hyper-Sensory State." After resting for a while, he entered the "Hyper-Sensory State" again.

After projecting his consciousness onto the "Emotional Injection" object, Xiang Kun's perception range was approximately twenty meters. With just a slight movement, he could perceive almost the entire building he was in. His laboratory and the nearby rooms where related professional equipment was used were also perceived. No matter how thick the walls or steel plates were, they could not block this perception.

Although he cannot determine what equipment is around him through this special perception, he can record those basic characteristics. Later, when he uses this perception to perceive known equipment in other places, he will get the same feedback and thus know what it is.

Most importantly, Xiang Kun did not discover the existence of any Mutated Creature.

Although he had never sensed Mutated Creature in his "Hyper-Sensory State" before, he was certain that if Mutated Creature existed, he would be able to detect the anomalies in his "Hyper-Sensory State".

After repeatedly entering a "Hyper-Sensory State" five times, Xiang Kun finally stopped exploring this method.

After resting for a while, he found a general store, bought a pencil, a pencil sharpener, and a softcover notebook, and then sat on a bench at the bus stop by the roadside and started drawing something.

At this time of day, there was no one at this bus stop except Xiang Kun. Otherwise, if anyone had seen what he was drawing, they would probably have thought he was mentally ill. He was drawing irregular black circles on the softcover notebook with a pencil, and sometimes they weren't even circles at all. It looked like he was just rubbing a pencil against paper.

He drew quickly, turning the page as soon as he finished a page, then continuing to draw, and soon he had drawn more than ten pages.

These lines represent some of the information Xiang Kun perceived about the building through his "Emotional Injection" pencil drawings while in a "Hyper-Sensory State."

It is an abstract, Xiang Kun form of expression, since there are no visual elements present in that special sensory state.

Therefore, to be precise, these lines "scribbled" by pencil are the "expressions of Xiang Kun" that perceive information.

Just like when you hear a piece of music, you write down its melody, rhythm, and tone. Once a certain system is formed, it becomes a musical score.

Xiang Kun wanted to use this method to gradually find the formula for the transformation between "Hyper-Sensory State" and normal senses.

Having gained a basic understanding of the company's internal structure and achieved his objective, Xiang Kun prepared to leave Qicheng City.

Just as he got up, preparing to go to the other bus stop to catch a bus to the train station, a black Q7 drove past him.

The back window of the car was rolled down halfway, and a short-haired girl was looking out with a curious expression. Although the car wasn't going very fast, maybe around 50 km/h, most people certainly wouldn't be able to tell anything from that fleeting glance.

However, it was Xiang Kun who gave that glance, and that one glance was enough for him to glean a great deal of information.

How did she get here?

Seeing the car turn right into another road in the distance, which was the direction of the company acquired by "Shenxing Technology", Xiang Kun instantly changed his plans.

Although he had never seen her in person before, and although her dreadlocks had been replaced with short hair, Xiang Kun recognized her at a glance. The person sitting in the back seat of the Q7 was the female hacker with dreadlocks who was with Guo Tianxiang.