The Glasses Squad

A limousine in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.

Little Apple held a wine glass, sipping orange juice while touching and looking at the oranges with great curiosity.

"Sister Nana, why are we riding in such a beautiful and luxurious car when we're on a mission?" Little Apple asked. They were chatting in the car, which was isolated from the driver's seat, so the driver wouldn't hear them.

In her opinion, when going out on missions, shouldn't you usually travel in those kinds of functional vehicles? Like off-road vehicles, armored vehicles, or modified vehicles with a bunch of equipment. When she went on missions with Sister Nana and Sister Bing before, they all rode in those kinds of vehicles. But today, this extended luxury car felt more like going to a banquet or a ball.

Tang Baona was also pouring herself a soda into her wine glass and said with a smile, "Alice arranged it. She asked me what my requirements were for the transportation, and I said I didn't have any, just that it should be as comfortable as possible. As a result, she arranged this car for me."

"It looks like our mission this time shouldn't be too difficult," Little Apple said, looking out the car window.

"It should be, otherwise they wouldn't have let Yang the Third come along," Tang Baona joked.

However, after she said this, the expected retaliation from Yang the Third did not occur. Instead, she looked at Yang Zhen'er sitting opposite her, wearing a denim jacket with a cotton hood and sunglasses.

Yang Zhen'er pulled up the hood of her coat and put on sunglasses, covering most of her face. Only her tightly pursed lips could be seen. She was sitting in a comfortable seat, but leaning forward, holding a tablet computer in both hands and carefully looking at the details of the action plan.

"Yang the Third? Yang the Third?" Tang Baona called out twice, then raised her voice. "Zhen'er!!"

"Huh?" Yang Zhen'er finally realized what was happening, and looked up blankly at Tang Baona through her sunglasses.

"Zhen'er, why are you wearing sunglasses in the car? Are you trying to look cool? And why are you wearing a hood? Aren't you hot?" Tang Baona laughed, "You've been influenced by Little Bell, haven't you? But even Little Bell only wears a hood when she uses her 'little magic,' right? If you keep wearing it, you won't get any buffs when it's time to fight!"

Yang Zhen'er chuckled and tugged at the two drawstrings of the hood, saying, "Wearing a hood makes me feel quite safe. Now I understand why Little Bell always likes to wear hooded clothes."

Little Apple laughed and said, "Zhen'er, Little Bell is wearing a hood to imitate a magic robe."

"Yes, of course I know. The magic robe has a hood, which makes you feel safer," Yang Zhen'er immediately said. "Just like wearing a helmet, hehe."

In the more than five years that Xiang Kun was away, Yang Zhen'er was arguably the person Liu Shiling was closest to and spent the most time with. In terms of the time they spent together, Yang Zhen'er even spent more time with Liu Shiling than with Shiling's Mother.

Generally speaking, children are more easily influenced by the adults who take care of them, but in the case of Yang the Third and Little Chubby Girl, it is the other way around. Over the years, it is Yang the Third who has been more influenced by Little Chubby Girl - he likes to choose clothes with hoods, he likes to buy clothes, bags and other items with cat or bird patterns, his tastes are more spicy and sweet, and even the songs he likes to listen to are 99% the same.

Perhaps because their diet, daily routine, and dressing were almost identical, as the Little Chubby Girl grew older, she and Yang Zhen'er gradually began to resemble each other in appearance. When they went out together, they were less often mistaken for mother and daughter, and were instead treated as sisters.

Of course, this mutual influence is not limited to Little Chubby Girl and Yang Zhen'er; the others also influence each other. For example, now, whether it's Little Chubby Girl, Yang Zhen'er, Little Apple, or Tang Baona, if their little secrets are exposed or their proud things are discovered, they all habitually imitate Alice's "hehe" laugh rhythm when they laugh.

Tang Baona suddenly reached out and snatched Yang Zhen'er's sunglasses, staring into her eyes and saying, "Yang the Third, are you nervous?"

Yang Zhen'er subconsciously said, "No way! Why would I be nervous..."

Little Apple smiled and sat down next to Yang Zhen'er, putting her arm around her shoulder and saying, "It's normal to be nervous on your first mission. When I went on my first mission, I was even more nervous than Zhen'er today. Gold Glitter was affected by me and got anxious, jumping around and almost had diarrhea."

"I was with Sister Bing back then, afraid of holding her back. But guess what... hehe, Sister Bing told me that the 'Mutated Creature' we were dealing with was actually weaker than Gold Glitter, and that Gold Glitter -one. And Gold Glitter actually did go and fought it, and he actually won, although it was mainly Little Radish and Alice who helped... So, Zhen'er, those 'Mutated Creature' are generally pretty weak. We have Little Radish and Alice as our doctor and bodyguards, so there's nothing to worry about. It's a sure thing!"

"Yes! Very stable!" Alice's clear voice came from the car's speakers as expected.

Actually, Little Apple had already told everyone about her first mission. The process of "Gold Glitter" completing the mission for her and Lao Xia was even illustrated by Little Chubby Girl, but she didn't mention at the time that she was also extremely nervous when she went on the mission.

Tang Baona smiled and took off her own glasses, putting on Yang Zhen'er's sunglasses. She tilted her chin slightly, struck a pose, and reached out to press down on Yang Zhen'er's hooded head. "Don't worry, little Zhenzhen, your sister Nana will protect you!"

"Go away, go away! I also participated in the battle against the 'Ultimate Predator' in my dreams, okay? Back then, I single-handedly withstood all the monster's attacks! It's just that Lao Xia wouldn't arrange for me to go on missions earlier, otherwise my record would definitely not be worse than yours!" Yang Zhen'er said unconvinced.

However, after being teased by Little Apple and Tang Baona, she wasn't as nervous as before.

Tang Baona pulled her sunglasses down a little, looked at her friend through the top of the sunglasses, and laughed, "When we face that old vampire later, Yang the Third, you go up and fight him one-on-one. Little Apple and I will back you up."

"Huh?" Yang Zhen'er was taken aback, her mouth slightly open, and she subconsciously reached for the drawstring of her coat hood.

However, she quickly realized that Nana was joking with her, so she pounced on her and pinched her stomach. "I'll fight you one-on-one! Take a claw from the White-Armored Fairy!"

Little Apple quickly reached out and took the soda from next to Tang Baona to prevent it from being knocked over by the two of them. Then she moved to the other side and took out her phone to film their "fighting scene".

Amidst the laughter and banter of the three, the extended luxury car slowly came to a stop, and the driver's voice came through the intercom:

"Ms. Tang, we have arrived at the target location."

Upon hearing the sound, the three people in the carriage immediately stopped fooling around and gathered to one side, looking out the window towards their destination for this mission—a very lively nightclub.

"Alice told me before that the target of this mission is an old-fashioned Europe vampire. I was looking forward to seeing their castle, but it turns out they're hiding in the city." Little Apple said as she put on the special glasses that Xiang Kun and Alice had made to help her restore her eyesight.

She can now see like a normal person, but when she needs to go on a mission or enhance her special visual abilities to obtain more information about her surroundings, she still wears these glasses. Although the enhancement is limited, just like the Little Chubby Girl likes to wear a hood and imagine herself wearing a magic robe, Little Apple also thinks that she looks cool wearing these special "glasses," like a superhero.

Yang Zhen'er and Tang Baona also put on their own sunglasses and glasses. Their "combat team" was quite in sync, all wearing glasses, even though they were all different types.

"I still think we should get a uniform combat uniform. Nana, you can give Lao Xia your opinion later. Remember to make sure it has a hood." As Yang Zhen'er got out of the car, she couldn't help but tug at the hood drawstring, pulling the hood tighter.

Tang Baona said, "Why don't you go and apply to Lao Xia yourself?"

"I've already applied..." Yang Zhen'er said helplessly.

Seeing the three of them get out of the car, a two-meter-tall blond man at the nightclub entrance immediately strode over, bowed, and said to Tang Baona, who was in the lead, in somewhat broken Chinese, "Tang Xiaojie?"

"Please..." Seeing Tang Baona nod, he quickly gestured for the two to go inside. The young men and women still queuing nearby immediately hissed, but after being glared at fiercely by the blond man, they quieted down.

When the blond giant turned around, he looked at Tang Baona and the other two with a cautious and respectful expression, leading them into the nightclub.

After entering the gate, they did not go directly to the most lively and noisy disco area. Instead, led by the blond man, they walked through the side passageways all the way down to the second basement level.

The blond, burly man stopped in front of a deep underground passage, turned around, and nervously whispered to Tang Baona in English:

"It's down there, but I don't have the key to that door."

Tang Baona replied in English, "Okay, you can go now."

Upon hearing this, the blond giant breathed a sigh of relief and quickly left without daring to look back.

Tang Baona took a small flashlight out of her coat pocket and continued walking down the street with Little Apple and Yang Zhen'er.

Little Apple was alright, Yang Zhen'er's heart was pounding. She couldn't help but hug Little Apple's arm and kept looking back. They were already on the second basement level, and the music from above was barely audible, with only a faint low-pitched echo.

"Is that old vampire hiding in such a place with so many people, planning to suck all their blood?" Little Apple couldn't help but ask in a low voice. From the mission description given by Alice, they knew that the target, the humanoid "Mutated Creature," the so-called "old vampire," would drink human blood and had taken the lives of many people in the past hundred years.

"Very likely," Tang Baona said.

Yang Zhen'er hugged Little Apple's arms even tighter.

Reaching a metal door, Tang Baona didn't try to push it open or check the lock. Instead, she took a small cloth bag, about the size of a steamed bun, from her pocket and placed the opening of the bag against the keyhole.

A cluster of tiny tungsten steel beads seemed to come alive as they emerged and entered the keyhole. A few seconds later, with a soft click, the metal door opened a crack, and Tang Baona pushed it open and entered. The tungsten steel beads then flew back into the bag on their own.

People from the nightclub will guide them at the entrance, and they need to use "props" to unlock things below. All of this is written in the detailed instructions Alice gave them; they just need to follow them.

Below was a sloping passageway, with pedestals for holding torches on the sides, but at this moment it was naturally empty, without any lighting.

Yang Zhen'er and Little Apple followed the flashlight in Tang Baona's hand and walked forward, observing the situation in the passage. It looked like an old building, completely different in architectural style and building materials from the previous upstairs and the first and second basement floors.

It appears that this underground space and the nightclub were not built at the same time, nor was the nightclub built first and the underground space dug later. Rather, the underground space existed long before the nightclub was built.

Recalling the description of the "old vampire" in the mission, the three of them couldn't help but feel like they were playing an adventure game or watching a horror movie. Even Little Apple, who was the bravest, subconsciously slowed her breathing and made her footsteps lighter.

At the end of the sloping passage, after turning several corners and descending a few stone steps, and opening another large door using the same method, the space suddenly opened up ahead.

It was a huge underground hall, about the size of two standard basketball courts, with a ceiling height of seven to eight meters.

In the center of the hall was a huge stone coffin, surrounded by a dozen other stone coffins of different sizes. Some were covered, while others were open. They were connected to the huge stone coffin in the center by a long, narrow, three-dimensional stone trough. If Alice hadn't included the word "stone coffin" in the mission instructions she gave them, their first reaction upon seeing this scene would probably have been to think that these were some ancient brewing or bean-grinding contraptions.

Tang Baona shone her flashlight on the open stone coffins, which were all empty. Little Apple and Yang Zhen'er stayed close to her, cautiously looking left and right, not daring to touch them.

After wandering around for a while, the three of them came to the middle and looked at the largest stone coffin.

"What's next? What do we do?" Yang Zhen'er couldn't help but ask.

"How about we try to open the largest stone coffin? The target is probably inside," Tang Baona suggested.

"That's not a good idea... This isn't mentioned in the mission details, is it?" Yang Zhen'er hesitated.

Little Apple nodded, raised her hand and pressed the touch button on the side of her assistive glasses a few times, directly seeing the mission details Alice had given them, and said, "The mission details tell us to prepare for battle after entering the underground hall."

So the three of them began to prepare for battle—each taking out one of the "Super Coin" that Xiang Kun had left for them.

But after waiting for five or six minutes and still nothing happening, Little Apple couldn't help but say, "Let's open the stone coffin..."

Tang Baona said, "Okay, rock, paper, scissors, the loser goes first."

So the three of them huddled together, and in the light of the miniature flashlight, two soft, white fists and two slender fingers appeared in the middle.

Yang Zhen'er paused for a moment, looked at her two fingers that she had tried to bend but hadn't managed to, and whispered, "Best of three?"

"Three people, what's the point of best two out of three! Let's go, Yang the Third, this is your first mission, the 'hunter' bonus is yours!" Tang Baona said with a low laugh.

Little Apple laughed and said, "Don't worry, Zhen'er, Sister Nana and I will back you up. We'll be fine!"

Yang Zhen'er, with a mournful face, took two steps toward the huge stone coffin, then turned back and said, "Um... I don't think I'm strong enough to push this coffin open. Why don't we let Alice push it? She's strong!"

As soon as she finished speaking, a low, unpleasant voice, indistinguishable between laughter and tears, rang out in the hall.

Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Yang Zhen'er jumped up and quickly ran behind Tang Baona and Little Apple. She crouched down and peeked out from between the two of them to look in the direction of the stone coffin.

Amidst the strange groans and moans, the largest stone coffin began to slowly move to the side, releasing a foul stench. Tang Baona and the other two instinctively covered their mouths and noses and took a few steps back.