Chapter 49 – Discovered
Due to the limitations of the camera, it could only capture the scene from the knees down.
The person was wearing a skirt, and the hem could be faintly seen.
The person kicked Karen Singh’s head.
This caused the back of the head to face the camera.
Seemingly dissatisfied with the position, the person paused for a moment and kicked again.
Karen Singh’s head then rolled into the bushes, with the eyes once again facing the camera lens.
The entire field of view of the camera was blocked, and it was impossible to see when the person left.
“Sister Ran, are we supposed to find the woman in high heels from the video now?” Ding Naiqing asked beside her.
Tu Ran shook her head, “We won’t be able to find her. The shoes she was wearing are part of the standard maid uniform at this farm. It’s hard to identify her by just a pair of shoes, and she might have already switched to a different body. Looking for her is a waste of time.”
“So, what do we do next?” Ding Naiqing asked, frowning.
This group of alien parasites that could change their appearance at any time was truly a headache.
He must have been crazy to take on this task.
It was better in the Threshold; at least there, apart from himself, he could consider all other creatures as enemies. If he could fight them, he would; if not, he would run.
But now, he had to carefully distinguish between real people and those possessed by the aliens, without making mistakes. For someone like him, who wasn’t very bright, it was truly difficult.
“Let’s pay a visit to Mrs. Egan first.” Tu Ran removed the camera from the communicator, put it in the pocket on her leg, and walked towards the villa.
Since arriving at this farm for the investigation, she had yet to meet the lady of the house.
Given the current situation, there was a fifty percent chance that the lady had already been possessed.
This time, a properly dressed butler in a suit led the way for them.
“Madam, the investigation team from the Federal Center wishes to visit you,” the butler said softly to the ornate door.
“Come in,” a weak female voice responded from inside, and the door opened accordingly.
The woman was lying on the bed, covered with a beautifully embroidered quilt.
Upon seeing them, the woman gave a proper smile and spoke gently, though her voice was somewhat feeble, “Please, have a seat.”
Tu Ran immediately noticed the dark circles under her eyes, suggesting she hadn’t rested well for a long time.
“We won’t sit down. We are here to ask you a few questions,” Tu Ran said.
“Alright, please go ahead,” the woman replied softly and cooperatively.
Tu Ran glanced at Ding Naiqing, handing over the questioning to him.
Ding Naiqing was a bit surprised; he had assumed Tu Ran would conduct the questioning herself, given her superior insight and better ability to detect inconsistencies and determine the truth.
However, Tu Ran had no such intention. She consistently suspected that this type of alien could inherit part of human memory, which was why they could hide so well.
Relying solely on language and logic to determine if someone was an alien was nearly impossible.
For instance, despite her extensive questioning yesterday, she only identified one alien, which was a minimal success.
She was here merely to follow protocol.
While Ding Naiqing began his line of questioning, Tu Ran leisurely observed the room.
The walls were adorned with many artistic paintings, each a handcrafted oil painting. Tu Ran’s nose twitched slightly as she caught the scent of aged paper and paint mingling, indicating their authenticity.
Each of these paintings was worth a considerable sum.
Kenny Egan was a wealthy man.
Tu Ran wasn’t entirely clear on the definition of wealth in this world, but she was certain Kenny Egan was among the rich.
As her eyes roamed over the paintings, Tu Ran’s gaze fixed on a piece whose colors were somewhat more muted compared to the others.
In a gloomy rainy day scene, against a dim background, a little girl in a red dress held a rose-colored umbrella. The umbrella tilted slightly to the left, sharing its cover with a mechanical snake lying in a stinking gutter.
As she focused on this spot, it appeared as though she was admiring the painting. In reality, Tu Ran’s attention was entirely on her earpiece.
It was as if a faint electric current buzzed through a damaged line, or like whispers from ancient times, low and calm, high and urgent, an exchange of words—a conversation between “people.”
The source of the conversation was not Ding Naiqing and Mrs. Egan but rather Li Wu and Liang Feng, who had been taken away by Tubin.
When she arranged for them to leave, Tu Ran had tapped their shoulders a few times as a reminder. During this brief contact, she had attached nearly invisible listening devices to their shoulders.
These listening devices were borrowed from two pioneers sent by Xie Xu earlier that morning.
Generously, they had given her four.
She had used two on Liang Feng and Li Wu, who had left her sight yesterday to search for Karen Singh.
The remaining two were intended to be secretly placed on the other two guards who had been out of her sight and who had used thermal imaging to locate the Tibetan Mastiff.
Given the current situation, it seemed her luck was good, as her first attempt had hit the mark.
The other side of the listening device continuously transmitted sounds.
But Tu Ran couldn’t understand the conversation.
Was it a language unique to the alien species?
She thought of Xie Xu.
He was a senior member of the research institute and had been dealing with the alien species for a long time; perhaps he could decipher the conversation.
Tu Ran forwarded the recording to Xie Xu.
Shortly after, Xie Xu sent back the deciphered conversation.
“Has she become suspicious?”
“No.”
“What are her plans for today?”
“Don’t know.”
“So, what use are you?”
“We are of no use.”
Tu Ran thought: Are they really that straightforward?
The conversation continued.
“Why don’t we just kill them all?”
“What’s the point of killing them? The human base will just send more skilled people. We need to confuse them, make them think the farm has been completely cleared of aliens. That way, we can continue to grow.”
These aliens understand sustainable development, not lacking in intelligence.
“If it weren’t for a few of you idiots letting things slip, they would have left after dealing with Naya Rivera.”
“What should we do now? Should we try to control their leader too?”
“That one is too cautious, it’s not easy to find an opportunity to attack.”
Tu Ran felt a strange sense of pride hearing their high evaluation of her.
“What should we do next?”
Tu Ran focused intently, eager to learn their next move so she could counteract it.
However, after this question, there was a long pause.
No more sounds, not even the faint whispers, came from the listening device.
Tu Ran was puzzled, wondering what had happened, when she received a message from Xie Xu.
[They discovered it.]Tu Ran’s heart skipped a beat.
Discovered it? The listening device was so well-hidden, yet they had found it so quickly.
