He tried to manifest the Nether Mantis armor form again, but limited it to a specific area.
A pair of pitch-black carapaces covered his forearms and hands, along with the phantasmal projections of the Nether Blade.
He concentrated, not on sensing its cutting power, but on perceiving the characteristics of “distorting light” and “merging into shadows.”
Star Energy began to be consumed slowly.
The pitch-black carapace on his arms seemed to deepen in color, and a subtle, almost imperceptible ripple began to emanate from its edges.
The faint light shining from the surroundings was strangely refracted when it neared the carapace, making the outline of his arms appear slightly blurred.
“It’s working!” Su Kai felt a surge of joy.
He increased the output of Star Energy while attempting to extend this concept of “invisibility” to his entire body.
More Star Energy was consumed, but the effect was also much more pronounced.
He walked over to the dirty full-length mirror.
In the mirror, his figure became extremely faint, like a translucent ghost.
Looking closely, one could barely distinguish his outline, but in a dimly lit environment, he would almost blend into the background.
“Not completely invisible, but it’s good enough.” Su Kai was very satisfied.
This was simply a top-tier cheat for nighttime stealth.
He tested his movement again; even with large movements, he could maintain stealth.
Perfect.
“Sneak in, find the Compound V inventory, steal it if I can, take it by force if I can’t.
Try to avoid large-scale conflicts, but if I’m discovered…” Su Kai’s eyes turned cold.
“Then I’ll just have to test the combat effectiveness of the Nether Blade.”
He deactivated the armor and began his final preparations.
He rummaged through his backpack and changed into a dark-colored tracksuit, which was better suited for activity than his jacket.
He also swapped his shoes for a pair with soft soles.
He checked the time; it was past nine in the evening.
“Between two and four in the morning is when people are most drowsy, and it’s the best window for action.”
He sat down, closed his eyes to rest, and mentally rehearsed the steps of the operation repeatedly:
How to use invisibility to approach the factory, how to avoid perimeter surveillance (using the Void Jellyfish to scan and disable electronic equipment), how to sneak inside, how to locate the inventory, how to handle enemies, and how to withdraw after succeeding…
“Wait,” Su Kai suddenly remembered something.
“It seems there’s still a tracking chip inside this body.”
He suddenly recalled that Vought International seemed to have installed tracking devices in the bodies of every member of The Seven.
He had almost forgotten about this.
“Jellyfish, scan my body and see if there are any tracking devices.”
[Scanning…
Signal fluctuation detected in the left calf.]
“Block it for me.”
[Blocking…
Blocking successful, it has lost its function.]
“Very good.” Su Kai nodded.
This way, he didn’t need to worry about Vought being able to track his location at any time.
Besides, by not removing it, he would have an excuse—that it was “broken”—if anyone came to inspect or question him.
He immediately stopped worrying about the tracking device.
Time passed bit by bit.
Outside the window, the surface of the lake was pitch black, with only the sound of the wind.
After midnight, Su Kai suddenly opened his eyes.
His eyes were calm; there was no nervousness or excitement, only a cold focus.
He stood up and stretched his limbs.
“It’s time to go.”
He walked to the door, pulled it open, walked out, and locked it behind him.
The night was thick, with no starlight or moonlight.
He identified the direction; the coordinates of the abandoned factory became increasingly clear in his mind.
It was about twenty miles away, on the edge of an old industrial area.
There was no car, but he hadn’t planned to drive anyway; that would be too conspicuous.
Su Kai walked to the lakeside and looked at the pitch-black water.
A thought popped into his mind.
“Come to think of it, while the original The Deep abilities of this body have been overwritten, the high-speed underwater movement should still be there, right?”
As he spoke, he slowly walked into the water.
The lake water rose past his knees, his waist, his chest, and finally, he plunged into the water.
It felt very natural.
His eyes could see underwater, his breathing was comfortable, his body was highly adapted to water resistance, and his limbs moved with high efficiency.
He gave a light kick with his feet, and he surged forward dozens of meters in the water.
“As expected, the foundation is still there, perhaps even stronger.” Su Kai adjusted his direction underwater and began to move at high speed toward the general target area.
This method was highly stealthy; almost no trace would be left on the water surface.
Star Energy maintained the partial invisibility of the Nether Mantis underwater; perhaps because the light was dimmer, the consumption seemed to have decreased slightly.
Just like that, like a true shadow of the deep sea, he moved silently and rapidly through the pitch-black waters of Lake Erie toward his first prey.
The resistance underwater felt as if it didn’t exist for Su Kai.
He maintained a fluidity akin to a fish, while the partial invisibility of the Nether Mantis covered his body, making him almost nothing more than a blurred shadow in the water.
In his mind, the layout of the abandoned factory became increasingly clear.
It was a rough structural diagram that the Void Jellyfish had previously dug out from Vought International’s encrypted data stream; it wasn’t detailed, but the general areas had already been marked.
Twenty minutes later, Su Kai felt it was about time.
He slowly surfaced, exposing only his eyes and nose.
Not far ahead, the shoreline became steep, and a dark, blocky complex of buildings lay there, like a sleeping giant beast.
That was the target, the “Steel Faith” stronghold disguised as an abandoned factory.
There were no lights, only a few pale security lights hanging on rusted steel frames, illuminating the empty factory area.
Su Kai swam to behind a pile of rocks on the shore and crawled onto the bank silently.
With a thought.
“Armor, Nether Mantis.”
Star Energy stirred, and a cold energy instantly covered his entire body.
His entire person seemed to melt into the night, his outline becoming extremely blurred; only by looking closely from a short distance could one barely distinguish a humanoid phantom.
Perfect.
Immediately, he concentrated again, communicating with the Void Jellyfish necklace around his neck.
“Scan the building ahead, focus: thermal reactions, electronic equipment, energy sources.”
An invisible ripple immediately spread out from him in all directions.
A few seconds later, a three-dimensional “map” marked with various colors was successfully fed back into his mind.
On the perimeter of the factory, several red dots representing patrolling sentries were moving slowly—four in total, in two-man groups, with a very loose formation.
On the outer walls of the building and at several entrances were blue markers representing surveillance cameras, but each camera angle had blind spots.
Inside the factory, nearly a hundred red dots were scattered, most of them concentrated in an area on the east side, presumably a living area or dormitory; they were all sleeping now, so the dots were very dim.
And on the far west side of the factory, in an independent, reinforced warehouse structure, there were a few yellow dots representing abnormal energy sources, with a very familiar fluctuation.
It highly matched the signal characteristics of Compound V that the Void Jellyfish had previously captured from the data stream.
The inventory point had been found.
Moreover, only one dark red dot was guarding the entrance of the warehouse, seemingly dozing off.
“The defense is even laxer than I imagined,” Su Kai muttered to himself.
“Then again, this kind of place might work against ordinary police or the FBI, but against someone like me…”
The corners of his mouth twitched slightly.
An operation route was instantly planned in his mind.
Avoid the patrolling two-man groups, cut in from their visual blind spots, then use a damaged ventilation duct on the side of the factory to enter, and finally move quickly along the shadowed areas to the west warehouse.
“Let’s go.”