Chapter 60: Five-Tier Facial Disguise

Two pens rolled across the desk, dropping off the edge with two distinct clatter sounds.

Chi Feichi calmly bent down to pick them up. "Sorry, did I startle you?"

Feimo turned his head to look at Feichi: *The master really walks without making a sound. It's way too terrifying for a crow. Has my hearing gotten worse, or were we just too deep into our conversation? You know what I mean, right?*

Feichi looked back: *Oh, so you were startled too. What a coincidence!*

Feimo tried to discern from Feichi's face whether the snake understood his meaning, but in the end, he despaired. A snake's face has no expression, and its gaze didn't even shift a fraction.

Feichi also looked at Feimo's dark face, then at Feimo's rolling red eyes, and grew baffled. What was his little buddy trying to express?

Chi Feichi placed the pens back on the desk and just reached out to grab his workbook when a small paw and the tip of a small tail pressed against it, inching it backward.

"Master, this is private..."

"Master, maybe we shouldn't look at it..."

Chi Feichi didn't insist. He withdrew his hand, pulled out a chair, and sat down. "I think you two need to change your communication method. Using paper and pen isn't very convenient."

Feimo nodded, glancing sideways at the workbook. *That thing definitely needs to be destroyed.* "Then... how about using Morse code?"

Feichi nodded as well. "Talking a lot does make me a bit dizzy. Using my tail to draw characters is still easier than biting a pen..."

"Morse code won't work. If both sides tap at the same time, it'll likely become a mess. Finding a sandbox to draw characters in isn't convenient either, since sandboxes are hard to carry around. Computers and phones are better. I'll get each of you—" Chi Feichi realized his slip of the tongue.

"One..."

"Strip..."

"..."

ー_ー

The air fell silent for a brief moment.

Chi Feichi chose to skip past it. "Tomorrow, I'll go buy two computers and two phones. I'll take care of getting the phone cards for you. By the way, Feimo, can you see in the dark?"

This question needed to be clarified, because except for nocturnal birds like owls, nightjars, and night herons, most other birds suffered from some degree of night blindness.

"Relatively dim places?" Feimo reminisced. "I can still find things if I slowly search on the ground. If I'm just flying in the air, I can vaguely make out human figures. But cities all have lights; places with lights are no problem."

"Feichi told you about the bounty, right?" Chi Feichi asked again.

"He told me, he told me!" Feimo nodded frantically for a moment, then violently shook his head to force himself to stop, giving a dry cough.

Chi Feichi: "..."

He had only ever heard that Huskies were highly contagious, and thought better of raising other animals alongside a Husky. He hadn't expected Feichi's contagion to be just as strong...

Feimo put on an expression as if nothing had happened, saying with utter solemnity, "Apologies, Feichi said there was an operation tonight, so I got a bit excited and lost my composure. Master, let's analyze this first. For night searches and such, Feichi alone is enough. I'm suited for hunting down those wanted criminals. I can command my brave subordinates to search together. Also, anything that's convenient to do in the air is fine by me, like terrain reconnaissance, group fights, and high-altitude assaults."

Chi Feichi nodded. This was a crow with ideas of its own. He continued rummaging through the drawer. "That's pretty much what I had in mind, but the fighting won't be necessary. You can wander around normally, look for people along the way, and when there's an operation, you'll be responsible for reconnaissance or disabling surveillance cameras."

Judging by their personalities and habits, Feichi liked clinging to him and was suited to staying by his side, effectively acting as a built-in infrared detector. Feimo, on the other hand, preferred going out to roam, which truly played to its strengths—it could hunt for wanted criminals while having fun.

"No problem!" Feimo resumed its chicken-pecking-at-rice nodding, then forcibly reined it in. Seeing that Chi Feichi was still looking down rummaging through the drawer, it let out a sigh of relief.

It couldn't help it either. Seeing Feichi nod continuously earlier, it had curiously imitated him. Nodding like that all of a sudden to show excitement was quite addictive. As it kept nodding, it even brought a sense of emptying out everything, wonderfully relaxing...

***

It was addictive!

Chi Feichi rummaged through the four drawers under the desk, finding a pile of workbooks, gaming cards, Kamen Rider action figures, and marbles, but not a single thing that could be used as a whistle.

After finishing the search, he realized he had fallen into a mental trap.

Using a whistle to train birds was, first, because birds had sensitive hearing and could catch the sound of a whistle from a great distance, and second, because it provided a fixed point of reference so the birds could confirm their location by sound and fly back.

He and Feimo didn't have communication issues. Each of them would carry a small communication device and could simply report their coordinates directly.

"Master, it looks like something fell out!" Feichi reminded him.

Chi Feichi looked up and saw a thin slip of paper fall out of a comic book. To be precise, it was an old receipt with the printed text already somewhat blurred. He picked it up and looked at it. "Chicken hot pot?"

Had he ever eaten something like this?

Japan had a lot of cold food, and hot pot restaurants were rare. In all his memories, the number of times he had eaten hot pot could be counted on one or two hands, and all of them had been seafood hot pots.

Considering it was left behind by the original consciousness, Chi Feichi didn't throw it away casually. He tucked it back into the comic book and put everything else back into the drawer, save for the workbook used for pet communication.

Checking the time, it was already 10:06 PM.

"Feimo, go check if the others are asleep."

"Got it!"

Feimo flew out, circled the house once, and quickly flew back. "That big brute of a driver is keeping watch in the living room, and everyone else is asleep."

"Go outside and wait for me." Chi Feichi reached out, allowing Feichi to slither up his arm and into his sleeve.

Before flying away, Feimo also used its claws to grab the 'chat' workbook from the desk and take it along.

Chi Feichi opened the door and went straight downstairs.

Judging by that driver's physique and his posture while walking, he had definitely received rigorous training—not ordinary fitness training, but rather a master of close-quarters combat or hand-to-hand fighting. He was presumably both a driver and a bodyguard.

Chi Zenonosuke had only brought one bodyguard, which meant this single individual was enough to give Chi Zenonosuke complete peace of mind. His qualifications in all aspects must undoubtedly be among the absolute elite.

Someone of this caliber would master more or less the tricks of anti-tracking, security checks, and night watch. Sneaking out blindly would only make things more troublesome if he were mistaken for a thief; it was much better to walk out openly.

As soon as he reached the first floor, the man was already standing by the stairs, greeting Chi Feichi with slightly strange-sounding Japanese pronunciation, "Master Feichi."

Chi Feichi nodded. "I'm heading out for a bit."

"This..." The man instinctively glanced upstairs, then quickly withdrew his gaze. "Will you be needing the car? I have to keep watch here, so I'm afraid I won't be able to drive you."

"Give me the car keys," Chi Feichi asked by the way, "Care to spar in close-quarters combat another day?"

The man looked somewhat surprised, raising his eyes to appraise Chi Feichi.

Asians weren't as robust in build as Europeans, and Chi Feichi was wearing loose, casual clothes, looking no different from any other college student. However, in the eyes of an insider, whether someone had practiced combat could still be discerned to some extent.

Since the man worked as a bodyguard, his discernment wasn't poor. After observing for a moment, though he couldn't gauge Chi Feichi's exact skill level, he could roughly confirm that Chi Feichi had indeed trained in combat. He nodded and handed the car keys to Chi Feichi. "I'll be on break for shift change tomorrow and will be staying at the villa, sleeping through the afternoon. Master Feichi can call for me then if needed. Please be mindful of your safety while you're out."

"Thank you."

Chi Feichi took the car keys and went out, driving all the way to his own apartment to retrieve his firearms and disguise props before heading out again. He found a quiet public restroom to apply a disguise.

Feichi and Feimo watched curiously from the side.

***

Chi Feichi crafted the disguise of an ordinary middle-aged man, then suddenly stopped, tore off the newly applied fake face, and fumbled around to put on a skull-patterned disguise instead. He applied a barrier cream, and on top of that layered the disguise of One-Punch Man Saitama...

Applied barrier cream, layered the disguise of a balding middle-aged man who was slightly chubby...

Applied barrier cream, layered the disguise of an ordinary young man with his face a size rounder...

Applied barrier cream, and finally layered the disguise of a heavy-set person whose face was practically indistinguishable from a pig's head.

"My technique still needs improvement."

Chi Feichi turned his head to inspect the image in the mirror.

While tearing off faces was indeed satisfying, his main goal was to test whether he could stack multiple layers of disguise, allowing him to simply peel off a layer whenever he needed to change faces.

However, even considering that stacking too many artificial layers would cause things to pile up strangely—he had started with the skull, bald, and receding hairline images to control the top of his head from sticking up too high—facial padding combined with barrier creams still made it impossible for his facial features to hold the bulk.

Five layers of disguise was pretty much the limit.

Moreover, he had to be careful when peeling them off; if the barrier cream didn't hold firmly, he might easily tear off too many layers at once...

By the time Chi Feichi stepped out of the restroom stall, having changed into loose-fitting clothes and stuffed in inflatable gear to make his physique look thoroughly rounded, Feimo couldn't bear to watch any longer. It lowered its head and muttered to Feichi, "Humans really love torturing themselves..."

Listening to Feimo cawing in its ear, Feichi thought for a moment and murmured, "I feel like I've gone blind too."

Chi Feichi remained speechless as he coated his palms with transparent film to obscure his fingerprints and palm prints. Did those two idiots really think their whispering voices were quiet?

He had heard every single word, all right...

The most impressive part was how two different species could engage in mutual mockery despite their language barrier; this was definitely a friendship that transcended species.

Stepping out of the public restroom, he purloined a car along the way and drove all the way to the vicinity of the Ekoda Station. Feimo flew out through the car window.

The car didn't stop immediately; it circled around once before pulling up onto the overpass opposite the station.

Ten minutes later, Feimo flew back, slipping through the open car window. "Master, there are three drunkards stumbling around inside the station, a couple making out on the chairs in front of the waiting room, and a homeless person resting in the corner near the lockers..."

"Is there a problem?" Chi Feichi calculated that it shouldn't have taken Feimo this long just to scout the situation.

"That couple and the three drunkards aren't a problem, but that homeless person definitely has issues," Feimo stated with certainty. "Although his clothes are ragged and very dirty, and his hands are grimy too, I noticed his wrists are clean and his skin is delicate. His gaze kept drifting toward the lockers, and he was also keeping an eye on the three drunkards on the other side."

"Is anyone carrying firearms or other weapons?" Chi Feichi asked.

"No!" Feimo answered with absolute certainty.

"Feimo, you're an excellent scout," Chi Feichi praised, taking Feichi with him as he got out of the car and walked toward the station. "Let me brief you on my situation. Generally speaking, unless there's an ambush of more than three people or a sniper involved, I can escape safely. If no one is carrying weapons, my situation can be considered safe as long as I'm in disguise. In the future, you can also help plan out our advance and evacuation routes."

"Advance and evacuation routes..." Feimo reminisced for a moment, then asked with great enthusiasm, "Master, can you sneak in through the ventilation window? If you can, you could go in through there. Utilizing the cover of the back row of lockers, I have a route mapped out where we can take the items without alerting a single soul."

"Okay, let's go try it out." Chi Feichi agreed.

Any partnership required a process of mutual understanding and coordination; only with sufficient understanding could true synergy be forged.