"Gasp—"
After carefully reading the item description on the panel, Luca drew in a sharp breath, making his own small contribution to global warming.
It wasn't that he didn't know about Conan's Tracking Glasses. It was just that this was the first time Luca had learned that the little thing had so many functions built into it.
In theory, none of the individual functions—wiretapping, tracking, telescopic vision, thermal imaging...—were particularly fantastical pieces of technology.
But a tracking and listening range of 20 kilometers, along with all the other miscellaneous functions, crammed into a pair of ordinary-looking glasses?
And they were freaking half-rim glasses with a slim frame, at that??
The only thing Luca could think of that might have the edge was EDITH, the pair Tony Stark would make for Spider-Man in the future.
"Still, it looks like I happen to have pretty much all the components needed for these synthesis materials?"
He rummaged around the living room in a flurry once more.
Baymax stood nearby, watching Luca's movements blankly, apparently unsure whether he should help.
Fortunately, it didn't take long for Luca to gather all the materials needed for the [Criminal Tracking Glasses].
However...
"Does a bone-conduction Bluetooth headset count as a micro earpiece?"
There was no use just thinking about it. Luca promptly flopped onto the floor and drew another magic circle.
He carefully placed the glasses frame in the center, then set the other synthesis materials down one by one.
"Mm, no problem with the tracker and listening device."
He ignored the matching equipment for the tracker, which was the size of a suitcase.
"The micro battery is fine, too."
He didn't even consider how much power a button battery could actually supply.
"As expected, since it doesn't specify a size, the antenna qualifies too!"
A satellite dish the size of a wok was placed at the edge of the compact magic circle.
"Phew. Thank goodness. I really am clever!"
Since the requirements called for a micro earpiece, Luca had a sudden inspiration and dismantled the bone-conduction headset that had just arrived, leaving only a few ribbon cables and the essential vibration speakers. He even tossed the microphone aside.
Sure enough, the final item passed the assessment, too.
"But if that works, then if the Synthesis Panel ever requires a large speaker, could I just put a Bluetooth headset inside a huge megaphone and pass the assessment that way?"
He put that unconfirmed theory aside for now.
Looking at the magic circle, now complete with all the materials, Luca pressed both hands down once more.
"Synthesis!"
White light surged and faded.
A pair of ordinary-looking black half-rim glasses sat quietly in the center of the magic circle.
Without hesitation, Luca stepped forward and picked them up.
But when he saw how clean and simple the glasses were, with just one button at the end of each temple, he froze again.
"What? All those functions, and they only gave me two buttons? Not even a user manual?"
Only then did Luca finally remember Baymax, who had been standing silently beside him the whole time.
"Baymax, can you scan this and figure out how it works?"
At his words, Baymax's eyes immediately lit up as he rapidly scanned the [Criminal Tracking Glasses] in Luca's hand.
But after Luca watched expectantly while Baymax finished scanning, the robot spoke in a blank voice.
"The structure is similar to that of nonprescription glasses. It is not a medical device, and my database contains no related user manual. I recommend wearing it."
Clunk...
Luca, who had been waiting for Baymax's answer, toppled onto the floor and rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"You don't know, but you scanned it so enthusiastically..."
Unexpectedly, as soon as Luca said that, Baymax extended a chubby finger and pointed at the [Tracking Glasses] in his hand.
The projection screen on Baymax's belly immediately lit up, and all sorts of miscellaneous images flashed by rapidly.
"The target electronic device contains no information related to a user manual. There are also no similar products in the online data."
Luca was now completely dumbfounded.
He just held the glasses up in a daze and watched Baymax go through all those motions.
Only after Baymax spoke did Luca close his mouth again. He asked in utter shock,
"Baymax?? You can do that, too??"
By now, the screen on Baymax's belly had gone dark. At Luca's question, he tilted his head and looked down at Luca, answering as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Yes. Under my protocol, I can use devices with network access to download any publicly available online information and improve my medical care capabilities."
Luca was taken aback, then quickly realized that the description of the [Tracking Glasses] had indeed mentioned network connectivity.
But for Baymax to be able to connect just by tapping something, without any interface—or, for that matter, the "other device's" consent—and even access the data stored on it...
That was still a bit too absurd.
"Publicly available online? Any information?"
"My protocol only allows me to download information related to medical care and store it in the relevant partition. It will not affect any other modules in my program."
"Uh, okay, okay."
"Looks like I underestimated the capabilities of this high-tech stuff. It can do something like that, and they're using it to study medical care? This thing would be a freaking master of network intrusion!"
Setting aside his investigation of Baymax for the time being, Luca turned his attention back to the [Tracking Glasses] in his hand.
After a moment's thought, he didn't hesitate. He took off the gold-rimmed glasses on his face and put on the [Tracking Glasses].
"Mm, not bad. They're nonprescription, but the original body's nearsightedness isn't that severe, so I can still see just fine."
"But how do these things work? And where are the promised tracker and listening device?"
As he wondered, Luca reached over and pressed the button on the left temple.
The lens in front of his left eye glimmered and lit up.
At the same time, a faint click came from the left temple.
"What's this?"
Luca's left hand moved to the little bump that had appeared on the temple. He gently pressed it, and a button-shaped device the size of a fingernail came off in his hand.
Looking at the button-shaped device in his palm, along with the translucent, radar-like display filling his left lens and the red dot flashing continuously at the very center of the radar...
"So this is the tracker?"
"So this is the tracker?"
The slightly delayed echo came through the bone-conduction earpiece inside the temple.
"All right. A tracker with a listening function, too."
With a helpless laugh, he put the tracker back in place. To figure out the other functions, Luca lightly pressed the button on the right temple.
This time, the tracker didn't pop out again. The only thing that happened was that the screen on the left lens shifted to the right.
"What? Weren't there supposed to be a bunch of functions? Where's the magnification? The thermal imaging?"
Just as Luca thought that, the image on the right lens changed repeatedly.
First, it turned into a rectangular frame that magnified the view in front of him. Then it immediately switched to a red-and-green thermal image, and the distribution of heat sources throughout Baymax's body appeared before Luca's eyes.
"Voice control? No! I didn't say anything just now!"
After a few rounds of testing, Luca was astonished to discover that all the functions of these so-called [Criminal Tracking Glasses] could be controlled with his thoughts, as long as he held down the button on the temple.
Whether he wanted to deploy the tracker, switch to tracking mode, zoom in or out on a specific spot in his field of vision, lock onto and analyze a target, or use thermal imaging or connect to the internet...
All of it happened in an instant, just by thinking about it.
The speed of recognition and precision of judgment were beyond comprehension.
As for the one button on each side, their only real purpose was to switch which screen was active.
"Holy crap! They've even built a brainwave sensor into a pair of glasses this small??"
Before you continue