Getting the painting really was simple, or at least Xia Xiu genuinely thought so. He had already slipped silently into the surveillance room, knocking out several men on rotating shifts and leaving them by the door before he entered.
"Yaaawn-"
The security guard watching the monitors could not help stretching in his office chair. As he stretched, Xia Xiu stood behind him. Just as the guard lazily lowered his arms, Xia Xiu's knife-hand struck the carotid sinus on the side of his neck.
The guard's blood pressure plummeted, and he fainted from insufficient blood flow to his brain.
After knocking the guard unconscious, Xia Xiu unhurriedly began deleting some surveillance footage, then disconnected all the cameras around the second floor.
Pfft-
"Done."
Once the last screen went black, Xia Xiu stood and dusted off his hands.
"Jam should have taken care of the patrols, and Valente should have dealt with the alarms."
Xia Xiu headed toward the hall on the second floor that housed The Eternal Smile. When he arrived, Valente appeared there at the same time.
"Everything taken care of?" Valente asked first.
"Yes, everything's handled. All that's left is to get the painting," Xia Xiu replied with a nod.
Then, without prompting, both turned their eyes toward The Eternal Smile, set into the wall. The soft light shining around its glass case was enough for them to see every detail of the painting.
Looking at this painting gave you a peculiar feeling. Standing before this masterpiece, no matter what angle you viewed it from, her gentle eyes always watched you with a smile, extraordinarily lifelike, as though she were right beside you.
Xia Xiu and Valente stood quietly before the painting for a while.
"Abraham, what do you think of this painting?" Valente asked Xia Xiu as he