Although Ichiyō Higuchi was not the talkative type, she was still very interested in this new Roving Captain.
Female members in the Port Mafia were incredibly scarce; even if there were any, they were mostly in the Finance Unit and Intelligence Unit. For a Combat Unit member like her, who was constantly on the move, there were few opportunities to meet female colleagues.
Furthermore, this new female member had become her direct superior, so there would certainly be many opportunities to interact in the future.
For both public and private reasons, she wanted to get along well with this young woman.
Along the way, the two chatted intermittently.
Fortunately, compared to other women, Ichiyō Higuchi clearly had less "femininity"; most of the topics she brought up were work-related, which made it easy for Kurumi to join the conversation.
If the topic had been something like cosmetics, it would have truly been outside her area of knowledge.
About half an hour later, the two arrived at the target factory.
The factory was located on an open plot of land in the suburbs of Yokohama, a secluded area far from the city, where even passing vehicles were almost nonexistent.
The factory looked abandoned for a long time; its rusty iron gate was dilapidated, and the wire fence had long been overgrown with vines, becoming a habitat for small animals.
"This is the destination."
Ichiyō Higuchi turned off the car lights and parked a good distance from the factory. "According to the informant, this is one of a certain organization's bases in Yokohama. The number of armed personnel and Ability Users inside is unknown, so please proceed with caution."
"I will."
Opening the car door and leaving that remark behind, Kurumi gracefully stepped out and walked towards the factory not far away.
Watching the girl depart, Ichiyō Higuchi put on her Bluetooth headset and answered Ōgai Mori's call, reporting, "Boss, Miss Tokisaki has already set off."
"Very good, Higuchi, launch the drone."
"Yes."
Ichiyō Higuchi took a sophisticated control device from the car's trunk and flipped the switch.
A camera drone, almost invisible in the dark night, was activated and flew into the air.
Controlling the drone to fly slowly, this silent drone caught up to Kurumi and followed her from a short distance.
"Higuchi-kun, although your mission is to figure out Kurumi's ability, it's not absolutely necessary."
"Yes."
"Proceed cautiously. Even if you don't capture anything, it's fine. Prioritize not letting her discover you."
"Yes."
Investigation missions are the most challenging for a person's overall capabilities.
An executor not only needs excellent judgment, outstanding vigilance, and keen intuition, but most importantly, they must also have the ability to calmly escape if discovered.
This is the quickest and most effective way to understand an Ability User's ability.
Indeed, Ōgai Mori intended to use this mission to figure out Kurumi's abilities.
As for Ichiyō Higuchi, she was not just the driver, but also the monitor.
A monitor who could report Kurumi's abilities to him at any time.
Although he could directly ask Kurumi what her ability was, Ōgai Mori knew that people like her were more wary than anyone else, and even if she told him, it might be false information.
Therefore, one of the purposes of sending Ichiyō Higuchi to carry out the mission with Kurumi was to try and understand her abilities.
Tens of kilometers away, in the Boss Building of the Port Mafia headquarters, Ōgai Mori looked at a huge projection screen not far away.
The image on the screen was linked to the camera drone, real-time footage transmitted from Ichiyō Higuchi, captured by night vision.
Under the highest precision night vision, Kurumi's back was clearly captured, allowing him to see her every move.
She seemed unaware that she was being monitored, walking leisurely.
However, as she approached the factory, a huge circular three-dimensional object appeared out of nowhere behind her, obscuring her body.
"Higuchi-kun, fly to her side."
"Yes."
The view quickly changed angle, capturing Kurumi's profile and part of the circular three-dimensional object.
It was a huge clock, like an enlarged version of the clock in Kurumi's left eye, with twelve Roman numerals occupying each hour mark of the clock.
"A classical Roman clock. From its appearance, it seems to have some connection with her two Flintlock Pistols, possibly even a complete set of equipment," Ōgai Mori thought. "What is the ability of this giant clock? And what is its connection to the Flintlock Pistols?"
Just as Ōgai Mori was pondering, a baffling scene unfolded.
On the screen, Kurumi actually raised her Flintlock Pistol and aimed it at her temple.
Even if she held an ordinary Flintlock Pistol, whose range, accuracy, and power were far inferior to any modern firearm, shooting at such close range was still tantamount to suicide.
But Kurumi still pulled the trigger.
"Hmm?"
The expected splattering of brains did not occur; instead, her figure vanished from the camera's view.
It wasn't that the drone's monitoring system had a problem; rather, she had completely disappeared from her original spot the moment after pulling the trigger.
Both Ichiyō Higuchi and Ōgai Mori were utterly bewildered.
What on earth happened?
---
---
"After becoming a Spirit, I've become even more sensitive to concepts like'sight'."
After realizing that Ichiyō Higuchi was monitoring her, she immediately used the Angel Zafkiel's ability to instantly move into the factory through shadows.
Zafkiel has twelve time-related abilities. Among them, First Bullet's ability is to accelerate the flow of time for the object hit, thereby achieving an effect similar to Instantaneous Movement.
Combined with the ability to dive into shadows, Kurumi can infiltrate anywhere she desires.
"I've never done infiltration work before. Although I can use Kurumi's abilities, it's better to be cautious."
She murmured, "I know you're very curious about my abilities, but I'm afraid if you want to investigate my information, you'll have to try a little harder."
Having shaken off the drone behind her, she began to focus on the task at hand.
Investigating this factory.
The factory interior was filled with sealed wooden crates, which filled the entire factory as far as the eye could see.
These wooden crates provided excellent cover for Kurumi; the girl's body was slender enough to hide without being discovered.
"I've never done infiltration work before. Although I can use Kurumi's abilities, it's better to be cautious."
Kurumi peeked out, carefully observing the factory's interior.
Although it appeared to be an abandoned factory from the outside, the interior was not as messy and desolate as one might imagine.
On the contrary, all the wooden crates were neatly stacked around, and precise instruments and various chemicals were placed in the open space in the middle, everything appearing orderly.
Within Kurumi's line of sight, there were probably more than twenty people.
Most of them were unarmed ordinary people, gathered around the equipment in the center, doing who knows what.
The remaining few were armed individuals, though their equipment wasn't sophisticated, mostly just handguns, but still highly lethal to ordinary people.
It seemed this was likely a small base for some organization.
To get more information, just looking wasn't enough.
"This is really troublesome. If these people discover me, I'll definitely be riddled with bullets," Kurumi thought. "But this is my first mission, and I absolutely cannot fail, otherwise the image I've worked so hard to build in front of Ōgai Mori will collapse."
She looked at the Flintlock Pistol in her hand, somewhat hesitant.
Should she summon a clone to help her complete the mission?
There is an accompanying image here, which can be viewed after the updated version.