Eight Machine Devil Machinery, Two Tenths

"Didn't you say before that there definitely wouldn't be a problem? Why did things turn out like this?" An elderly woman driving a beat-up yellowish-brown car demanded through gritted teeth.

This elderly woman was none other than Thousand-Faced Fox!

As the saying went, names could be wrong, but nicknames never were. She had earned the nickname Thousand-Faced Fox because she was exceptionally skilled at disguise.

At this moment, she was evading Crimson Flame's pursuit.

"I'd like to know why too." A mechanical spider crawled from the back seat into the passenger seat, red light glowing from its compound eyes.

The mechanical spider's voice was exactly the same as the mechanical voice that had spoken with Thousand-Faced Fox before. They clearly came from the same source.

"What do you mean, you'd like to know why? Weren't you the one watching that side?" Thousand-Faced Fox, still in the guise of an elderly woman, demanded angrily.

"Who knew that teacher would be so useless? By the time the subunit in my trunk reacted, the entire gas station had already been surrounded by the Public Security Bureau..." The mechanical spider sounded somewhat frustrated as well.

"What do we do now?" Thousand-Faced Fox asked. "Without kidnapping anyone, we have no bargaining chip. How are we supposed to save anyone now?"

"No rush. I still have a way." The mechanical spider spoke with complete confidence. "I don't know what that brat who ruined things is all about, but he could never have dreamed that another one of my subunits was in the trunk. Catch him first, and maybe we can still negotiate!"

"After all that, where exactly are we supposed to go catch this brat who ruined your plans?" Thousand-Faced Fox asked bluntly.

"Turn right at the intersection ahead. We'll be there," the mechanical spider reminded her.

Upon hearing that, Thousand-Faced Fox quickly turned again at the next intersection.

"North Garden Road?" Thousand-Faced Fox read the road sign aloud.

"That's right, North Garden Road." The mechanical spider sounded confident.

"Are you sure?" Thousand-Faced Fox asked again.

"I'm sure!" the mechanical spider said firmly. "That brat said it himself. His home is on North Garden Road. There's no way it's wrong!"

"Come on, take a look for yourself!"

Thousand-Faced Fox grabbed the mechanical spider from the passenger seat and held it up before the windshield. "Does this look like somewhere people would live?"

The mechanical spider's red-glowing compound eyes immediately scanned the surroundings, and it was instantly dumbfounded.

There were no residences whatsoever on North Garden Road. Both sides of the road were lined with cemetery entrances.

"How could this be..." the mechanical spider muttered.

Bang!

A figure descended from the sky and smashed heavily onto the hood!

Moving at a speed utterly at odds with her elderly appearance, Thousand-Faced Fox instantly burst out through the side door, still clutching the mechanical spider in one hand.

When she turned back, she realized that the person who had suddenly appeared was an old acquaintance of hers, always dressed in yellow.

"Found you. So you really were on North Garden Road—"

Standing on the hood, Director Huang turned his head toward the elderly woman, his tone carrying a trace of obvious surprise.

Mechanical spider: "..."

At that moment, how could it not realize that it had been played—and played by a brat at that?

That nonsense about his home being on North Garden Road had been nothing but lies.

Yet it had believed it completely, allowing Thousand-Faced Fox to be blocked head-on.

"I'll hold him off. You go first—"

The mechanical spider jumped to the ground, moved in front of Thousand-Faced Fox, and signaled for her to leave first.

Before Thousand-Faced Fox could reply, the mechanical spider had already lunged at Director Huang. In an instant, the two were locked in battle!

Seeing this, Thousand-Faced Fox no longer hesitated and immediately fled into the distance.

However, although Director Huang had arrived first, he naturally had not come alone if he intended to catch someone.

The moment Thousand-Faced Fox fled, others immediately gave chase.

"I think I know who you are now, Eight Machine Devil Machinery... There aren't many organizations capable of taking in both Thousand-Faced Fox and you. Why not tell me the truth? I'll let this subunit of yours leave." Director Huang spoke calmly.

"You think I'd believe that?" the mechanical spider said disdainfully.

"Fine. I was only asking symbolically anyway. If we can't come to terms, then we can't..."

Before his words had even faded, a vicious look suddenly appeared on Director Huang's face. His speed abruptly increased as he grabbed one of the mechanical spider's legs!

"If you won't talk, then stay here forever!"

Boom!!

Director Huang viciously slammed the mechanical spider into the ground!

Amid the enormous crash, dust instantly billowed up and blanketed the area. Yet the battle within the dust did not end immediately.

Yellow and red light intertwined and flickered.

A moment later.

Director Huang, once again wearing his pale yellow sunglasses, emerged from the dust, dragging a mechanical spider that had already been beaten beyond recognition.

The Lin residence.

When Lin Xuan learned that the criminals who had tried to kidnap Duo Duo had indeed appeared on North Garden Road, and that Crimson Flame had captured one of them, he could not help sighing. "Looks like these criminals aren't very smart."

Director Huang and the others had gone to North Garden Road to intercept them because of the clue he had passed along through his father, Lin Hai.

He had not actually been certain whether they would catch anyone on North Garden Road. He had merely treated it as a lead and asked Lin Hai to report it.

The reason, naturally, was the groundwork he had laid earlier.

When he had pretended to have a stomachache in the car, he had said that Teacher Hu could drop him home on the way later, and that his home was on North Garden Road.

But the problem was that traveling from the kindergarten to Duo Duo's home would not pass North Garden Road at all. In fact, the two were in completely opposite directions.

Yet Teacher Hu had agreed without the slightest hesitation. That was one of the reasons he had concluded that there was definitely something wrong with Teacher Hu.

That had not been his only test of Teacher Hu along the way, and none of her responses had passed.

There was naturally no possibility that this had all been a misunderstanding.

At the time, however, he had not considered that mentioning North Garden Road would set a trap for the mastermind. He had simply wanted to test Teacher Hu.

Only afterward did he realize that if Teacher Hu was merely a puppet, was it possible that the mastermind had been monitoring her the entire time?

If such a watcher truly existed, then the mastermind must have heard him mention North Garden Road as well.

These people really were reckless. If they'd checked even a little before going, they wouldn't have walked straight into an ambush... Lin Xuan silently sighed.

Of course, he was still quite satisfied with this outcome.

Crimson Flame immediately credited Lin Hai with a merit, and even the Nemesis of Evil title Lin Xuan had just obtained changed as a result.

The title's advancement progress, originally one-tenth, had risen to two-tenths.

Clearly, the panel had counted his act of providing information that led to the mastermind's capture as preventing a crime as well.

He had been somewhat surprised at first, but after thinking about how the crucial clue about North Garden Road had indeed been a trap he set, it no longer seemed strange.

(1/2) The second update will be before midnight~~