Chapter 490: Chapter 490: Alice and the Glittering Gold

After the cake fight, everyone cleaned up, changed clothes, and went back to chatting and playing games in the room.

“Glitter” snuck out of the room, intending to find a place to play by himself. With Alice providing all-round “navigation” and the care of Xiang Kun and others, Xiao Pingguo temporarily did not need its guide.

When it stayed in the room, Yang Lao San, Xia Tianhuo, and those corrupted by them, Tang Baona, Chu Xiaoting and others, would try every possible method to stroke it. Moreover, they took an exclusive bird feed from Xiao Pingguo to lure it over as well.

After falling into their trap a few times at the beginning, “Glitter” realized something was wrong. The bird feed was originally supposed to be its own and Xiao Pingguo would feed it whenever it was hungry. So why should it let itself be petted just to eat now?

It didn’t like being stroked by people.

It wasn’t a cat!

So “Glitter” snuck out, planning to go to the nearby Chongyun Mountain to find some little buddies to play with.

For “Glitter”, living in Chongyun Village was indeed much more exciting than living in the city. There were so many of its kind to order around, and the air and environment were fantastic.

Of course, “Glitter” was a responsible bird as well. It knew what its “official duties” were—to take good care of Xiao Pingguo and function as a powerful guide bird to demonstrate its worth, especially at a time when Alice was about to replace its functions—it definitely wasn’t completely for those super delicious bird meals Xiao Pingguo made for it, um, definitely not completely!

“Glitter” flew a distance and landed on the rooftop of house near Chongyun Mountain. It puffed out its chest, ready to call out to gather some nearby birds for play.

It knew this house was uninhabited, making it suitable for playtime.

Just as it was about to make a sound, “Glitter” suddenly noticed a figure appear nearby. Alice, in a white princess dress, was sitting on the edge of the rooftop, legs dangling slightly.

“Glitter” was briefly stunned, and leaned back a little, assuming this was Alice’s “territory”. It hopped to the side and flapped its wings, preparing to find another place to play.

But just as it took flight, Alice waved at it.

“Glitter” knew it couldn’t pretend not to see. Alice knew its every move. So, reluctantly, it landed back on the rooftop, albeit a meter away from Alice.

But Alice moved herself slowly over and started petting “Glitter”‘s back.

“Glitter” dropped its head in resignation. Why couldn’t she learn something good instead of this?

Truth be told, even now, “Glitter” still could not quite comprehend what kind of existence Alice was. She had joined much later than it had but… she was too powerful and ubiquitous, undeniably frightening!

Alice stroked “Glitter”‘s back with one hand, and pointed to the southeast of the village with the other. She didn’t utter a word, but her intentions were precisely communicated to “Glitter”‘s consciousness through the Super Sensory Item System.

So “Glitter” took flight, flapping its wings and heading in the direction Alice pointed.

Having shown Old Xia her “birthday gift”, Alice then restored the village streetlights. Thus, the area the village road covered was bright again.

However, at the edge of the village, towards the southeast, in the sparsely built area, darkness still prevailed.

There were also several construction sites in the distance. Because excavations were still ongoing everywhere, and the roads had not been laid for certain reasons, neither street lights nor surveillance had reached that area.

Of course, since the area was relatively remote, Xiang Kun hadn’t extended the deployment of the “Super-connected Objects” there either.

However, the “eyes” of Alice were not limited to the range of their surveillance or the placement of the “Super-connected Objects”. As long as there was internet access, signal, and the presence of related electronic devices, Alice could exert influence.

Just like at this very moment, Alice knew in the pitch-black construction site, there were two men sneaking around, loading building materials onto a small truck.

They were not workers from that site but thieves stealing materials.

Alice would mark anyone who entered the boundaries of Chongyun Village through their electronic devices like mobile phones, and then figure out their identity and other information. These two thieves stealing materials on the construction site attracted her attention as soon as they entered the village, because they were discussing their plans and intentions directly on WeChat.

Even at night, Xiang Kun’s Research Base construction site was always illuminated, and sometimes work continued overnight. No matter day or night, at least one of the brothers, Liu Gaoshang and Liu Zhengyi would stay to watch, so naturally, no one dared to touch the construction materials there. Other sites within the surveillance range would also deter people, but this current site was not only outside the surveillance area but also had no workers due to a delay in project schedule, the old man watching the site had gone back to his son’s house in the village, and their guard dog was also knocked out by a tranquillizer stolen from a pet store.

Alice’s ability to gather information is terrifying, and she also has a certain remote influencing ability. In this world where everything is interconnected and electronic devices are everywhere, she is even capable of exerting direct or indirect influence on many things without the “Super-connected Objects”. Therefore, Xiang Kun had requested her that she must get a task directive to exert substantial impact on the real world, with the only exception being Chongyun Village, as she has a standing duty — to monitor and guard Chongyun Village.

So, when she discovered that the two thieves planned to steal from the construction site in Chongyun Village, Alice was quite thrilled, ready to intervene directly.

She didn’t first report to Xiang Kun, as it was within her duty. Although the site was not within the scope of surveillance and “Super-connected Objects”, it was under the administrative jurisdiction of Chongyun Village and was Alice’s territory to guard!

The materials on the construction site here! The dogs in this village! They’re all under Alice’s protection!

Of course, she knew that once she started to act materially, Xiang Kun would know, but she thought, by then, the boss would definitely praise her.

However, to influence those two small thieves, simply relying on their phones was too limited. There was still a need to deploy “Super-connected Objects”.

Regarding the deployment method, Alice set her sights on the “Golden Bird”. The two rings on its feet were carrying a total of twenty “Super-connected Objects”, a moving “Super-connected Object Matrix”.

In fact, she does not need co-manifestation to command or notify the “Golden Bird”, it’s just that she feels conversations with co-manifestation are more “human”.

Moreover, when she co-manifested, Xiang Kun and Old Xia could both sense it and were also being informed – she was getting ready to stir things up!

So when the “Golden Bird” fluttered its wings and landed near the construction site as instructed, Alice began to influence according to her plan.

At the construction site, after some building materials were loaded into the truck’s cabin, the short-haired man with glasses got in the driver’s seat, ready to leave once his companion joined him.

However, after several attempts with the key, the car showed no response, failing to start.

“Damn! Bro, don’t tell me the car broke down at this time?” The young man in the passenger seat fretted.

The short-haired man with glasses frowned and said, “Don’t panic!” He got out of the car, opened the hood, and used the flashlight on his phone to investigate.

“Could the battery have failed?” the man in the passenger seat also got out of the car to ask.

“It shouldn’t be. The battery was just replaced, it makes no sense for it to break down now. Perhaps it’s a contact issue.” The short-haired man with glasses shook his head.

“But what do we do, with the car broken down here we won’t be able to explain ourselves,” his companion said.

“We’ll just have to fix it, it shouldn’t be a big issue.”

“I wonder how much money we can get from these scraps. Speaking of which, do you know about that Baldy in our village? He’s the guest that Liu Caifu invited. You know, he put money into that construction site at the entrance of the village to build a research base. Part of the infrastructure in our village, the road, those cameras, the lights, all partially funded by him. Why would this outsider invest so much money in our village? What’s his hidden agenda? Could it be… that there’s something valuable buried underneath their work-site?”

“Even if there is something valuable, it has nothing to do with us. You think you can steal it?”

“Baldy is certainly wealthy. He often travels with a tall and beautiful woman. I wonder if she is his secretary. By the way, a few days ago, Baldy brought a few guests to the village, carrying a golden bird. It was beautiful, unlike any bird I’ve ever seen. Bro, when we get a chance, let’s catch that bird. We’d be able to sell it for a fortune.”

“How are we going to catch it? The village is filled with surveillance cameras, even if we catch it, can we get away with it?”

“No, bro, you don’t get it. I heard that the bird is actually free-range. It wanders around during the day and sometimes flies into Chongyun Mountain, but it always returns home in time for meals. It’s extremely intelligent. We can catch it when it flies into the mountain, and even if someone finds out, they can’t accuse us of stealing! If we sell the bird out of the province, who’s going to know that it was us? The bird can’t talk!”

The short-haired man with glasses thought for a moment after hearing this and then said: “Hmm, we’ll think about it. You should call Old Zhao first. I need to ask him about this car. It doesn’t seem like a contact issue.”

As his partner complied and took out his phone to make a call, he moved the phone to his ear.

Just as the phone connected, and the short-haired man with glasses, who was inspecting the engine, was about to speak, a soft female voice said, “Hello, 110 emergency hotline…”

The short-haired man with glasses froze, his heart pounding, and he drew back from his partner’s phone in fright, turning to look at him in terror.

“What’s wrong?” His partner looked at him, surprised.

“Why… why are you calling the 110 hotline?” The short-haired man with glasses asked nervously.

“What 110? I didn’t call 110, you told me to call Old Zhao.” His partner replied in confusion. Subconsciously, he lifted his phone to his ear, only to mutter “oh my god” when he heard the voice on the other end and then quickly hang up.

After checking the call record on his phone, he found that he had indeed dialed the emergency hotline.

“What the hell! I didn’t make that call, this is ridiculous!I was definitely calling Old Zhao!” He fumbled with his phone and exclaimed anxiously, “What the hell is wrong with this phone?!”

The short-haired man with glasses, looking puzzled, moved towards his partner and said, “Let me see your phone.”

Taking the phone handed to him by his partner, the short-haired man looked down, but what he saw on the screen made his heart skip a beat. It was a sinister face reflected from the front camera,which had been opened unexpectedly, showing his own face under the light of his own phone. His face appeared strangely distorted, his chin appearing sharp and eyes looking large. The surrounding environment was blurry and dim, but his face was deathly pale, seeming to have suffered a beauty filter malfunction. He seemed to be smiling, but he wasn’t.

Feeling a chill run down his spine, the short-haired man quickly handed back the phone to his partner. “There’s something really wrong with your phone!”

Then, he switched off the flashlight on his own phone, preparing to call Old Zhao himself.

But as soon as he lit up the screen, something dirty fell onto it. He touched a bit with his finger and sniffed it. “Is this… bird droppings?”

The next moment, bird droppings rained down thickly from the sky. Each deposit was tiny but seemingly targeted them specifically. It felt like they were being subjected to an ‘air strike’.

After being hit multiple times on their faces, glasses, and bodies, the short-haired man and his partner rushed back to the car. In the next moment, more bird droppings fell onto the windscreen and the roof of the car.

Under the moonlight and starlight, they noticed several birds flying around in the sky.

But these birds were only fluttering about, not making any sound at all. It was impossible to tell what species they were. Like an army of nocturnal creatures, they exuded an eerie chill.

“Something… something is wrong with this place.” The man in the passenger seat, who had been watching the birds flipping nervously through the windshield, said his voice trembling.

Despite his previous calmness, the short-haired man’s expression now mirrored his panic. He agreed with his companion and once the bird droppings thinned out, he said, “Let’s go. We’ll leave the car here and borrow a motorcycle to head into town and find a repair shop.”

With that, the short-haired man was the first to hop out of the car and stride towards the exit.

But after only a few steps, he stopped. His partner who had followed close behind almost bumped into him. He was about to ask why when he saw the sight at the exit ahead and instantly understood.

The site exit didn’t have a gate. There was “break” in the makeshift wall, and standing there was the silhouette of a little girl in a skirt, facing them.

Because her back was against the lights from Chongyun Village, they couldn’t see the girl’s face.

But the birds that had been scattering droppings all over the place had now settled on the wall on both sides of the opening. Their silent presence was unnerving.

“Little girl, you…” Emboldened, the short-haired man in the glasses began to speak.

But as he started, the little girl at the opening disappeared. Yes, under their watchful eyes, she had vanished.

“What the hell! We can’t stay here! Just forget about the car, let’s run!” His partner said and attempted to make a run for it. But remembering that the little girl had appeared around the exit, he hesitated.

During that moment of hesitation, the birds on the wall fluttered up again, flying towards them. The little girl’s figure reappeared, away from the exit but closer to them.

The two were scared into running back to the car and quickly pulled the doors shut.

No sooner had they entered the car than the passenger’s phone rang again, “Hello, this is the 110 emergency hotline. How may…”

His companion discovered that the phone had redialed the 110 hotline again. But this time he didn’t hang up immediately, instead he looked up at the short-haired man with glasses.

Seeing no sign of the little girl ahead, he hesitated for a moment before nodding to his companion.

“Um…I want to surrender… at Chongyun Village. Yes, that’s correct, Chongyun Village. We were stealing…some construction materials, no one was hurt…we are still at the scene, our car broke down, we are trapped here. Um…there are a lot of birds…and a girl…no, not a girl…anyway, please send someone quickly!”