Eye of True Sight

"Pah! Looking down on me with your dog eyes!"

Miao Mu watched the stray dog flee in panic, spat disdainfully, holstered his pistol, and began wandering around the area.

That feeling in his heart was growing clearer and clearer. It was nearby.

But after circling the area twice, he still found no trace of it. Miao Mu picked up a stick from the ground and poked at the dirt.

After thinking for a moment, he used the stick to pry up the trash, scattering it everywhere. The foul stench hit him full in the face.

"Fuck your mother, fuck you!"

The stench brought tears to Miao Mu's eyes, but the feeling in his heart became even clearer. The thing was right underneath.

"I'll endure it!!!"

Miao Mu gritted his teeth and roared, held his breath, and started digging wildly with the stick. He flipped away the top layer of garbage, while the trash beneath had rotted into mud.

When the stick poked into it, bags split open and spilled out like rotten sludge. Miao Mu stirred it hard, and the stick struck something.

Found it!

Miao Mu hurriedly crouched down. Ignoring the terrible smell, he reached in and grabbed it. A pointed metal object landed in his hand, something like a coin with six points.

The instant it touched his hand, Miao Mu immediately understood what it was. His cheat ability gave him an introduction as well.

[Eye of True Sight: Magical item. A scouting accessory created by an occult wizard. Once used, it grants a complete view of the surrounding area for five minutes. It recovers after one day.]

Holy shit.

Miao Mu crouched on the ground, experiencing the marvelous sensation. It was like activating the Byakugan in Naruto—even though his eyes were looking ahead, he could still see what was behind him.

Without even turning his head, he could see to his left and right. He could even see above his head and beneath his feet.

And there were no side effects like dizziness or vertigo.

Miao Mu drew his pistol and rested it on his shoulder, the muzzle aimed behind him. Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger. Bang!

"Yelp!" A miserable cry sounded behind him.

It was a gray coyote that had tried to ambush him from behind. The shot hit it, and after staggering forward a few steps, it collapsed to the ground. It struggled a few times before dying.

Miao Mu happily whistled, shook the filthy mud from his hands, then got up and ran to a torn bag nearby. A little rainwater had collected there, and he scrubbed hard.

The object wrapped in black sludge revealed a golden gleam. It was a golden six-pointed star pendant.

Unlike a traditional hexagram, this one was made from three triangles. An eye symbol had been formed in the center, and incomprehensible runes and incantations were engraved upon it.

"Now this is good stuff!"

Miao Mu shouted with a grin, then checked his cheat ability. There was no change. Maybe it had a time limit, or perhaps it only reacted when he encountered treasure.

Forget it for now.

Miao Mu carefully washed the pendant with rainwater, rinsed the mud off his arms as well, shook his hands, and ran toward the road.

Inside Feiso General Store, Jerry Cabson was arguing with a short, white-haired old man who spoke in an endless stream of words.

"I'm asking you! Has anyone come here to sell you anything?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I hate cops, especially cops who come to my store and don't buy anything. I hate them very much."

The old man curled his lips, punched a string of zeroes and plus signs into a calculator, then pressed equals. Zero.

"You're refusing to cooperate with a police investigation! I have the right to arrest you!" Jerry's face reddened as he slammed a hand onto the table.

"Arrest me already. In weather like this, I need a nice place to sleep. The police station would be a pretty good place."

The old man was completely unmoved, impervious to both threats and persuasion. He held out his hands across the counter, practically daring them to put handcuffs on him.

Jerry's expression worsened. He did not have handcuffs.

More accurately, they only had self-purchased police uniforms and an Enforcer Revolver. They had no handcuffs, much less the authority to make arrests.

Miao Mu rushed in from outside, and both the old man and Jerry instantly scrunched up their faces.

"Oh! Damn, shit! Did you fall into a sewer?"

Jerry pinched his nose and pressed himself against the wall in horror. The old man's face looked even worse as he frantically searched for something behind the counter.

"What are you scared of? It doesn't smell that bad."

Miao Mu spoke as he walked farther inside. The Eye of True Sight was still active. The general store was crammed full of goods, with everything imaginable stacked in box after box.

There was also an unpleasant moldy smell.

But Miao Mu discovered that his ability could see through things as well. More accurately, he could see what was inside the boxes.

Without light, he could not make things out clearly, but he could see behind the counter perfectly. The old man had picked up two spray bottles and was about to stand up.

Miao Mu reached out, grabbed the umbrella Jerry had placed beside a box, and opened it before the old man could act.

Hiss! Two streams of spray shot out.

They both struck the umbrella. The old man stared at the black umbrella in front of him, surprise appearing on his face.

With a rustle, the umbrella closed.

"Old man! Our chief's house was robbed. If you don't tell me who did it, I'll tell him you did. Believe me, that bastard will absolutely throw you into Arkham Asylum."

Miao Mu leaned against the counter, set down the umbrella, pulled out his pistol, and slapped it onto the table with the utterly shameless air of a hooligan.

Whether Miao Mu's words had frightened him, the stench was too horrifying, or it was because of the pistol on the table—

In any case, the old man's expression changed again and again. Finally, as if he had seen a plague god, he grabbed a rag and snapped it against the table.

"Shit, I knew nothing good ever came from running into cops!"

The old man spoke through gritted teeth, as though the words had been squeezed from between his back molars. If he had been thirty years younger, he would definitely have taught these two cops what fear was!

He slapped a thick ledger onto the counter, put on his reading glasses, and examined the lines and boxes inside.

Miao Mu and Jerry leaned over to take a look as well, but they could not understand a thing. It was all written in a special code.

The old man snorted disdainfully, picked up the rotary phone beside him, dialed a number, leaned close and said a few quiet words, then hung up and dialed another number.

A few minutes later.

The old man put away the ledger and slapped the table. "No one came to sell goods, but one guy did ask about prices. He had a batch of goods he wanted to unload. That guy..."

"Where?" Jerry asked hurriedly.

The old man bit his lip and stood on the chair behind the counter, looking down at the two of them from above. He gestured with the corner of his mouth toward a cabinet beside him. "You want information without paying?"

"I'll fuck his mother!"

Miao Mu stood bare-chested in the rain, wearing only boxer shorts and flip-flops, swearing furiously. That old man had been ruthless. He had not intended to leave them even a single piece of clothing.

If they had not pawned Oswald's umbrella to him, the two of them would have had to leave naked.

Jerry wiped rainwater from his face. The tuft of chest hair on his chest was soaked and clumped together as he looked at Miao Mu resentfully. "Didn't you fish up a necklace?"

Miao Mu touched the golden six-pointed star pendant hanging around his neck, along with its black python-skin cord, and awkwardly scrunched his face.

"Fuck, we have to catch that thief! Otis, right? I remember who he is now. Let's go get him!"

With that, Miao Mu took off at a run.

"Wait for me! My shorts don't have a drawstring!"

Jerry grabbed his boxer shorts and hurried after him.

But seeing how serious Miao Mu was, Jerry also felt that this matter had gained a little hope and certainty. After all, Miao Mu was an official police officer.