On the hotel surveillance screens, a large number of men in black could be seen converging on Reno's location from various directions.
No matter how Reno changed his direction, he found the men in black getting closer and closer.
Keller sat leisurely in a corner of the hotel, watching the changing targets on the screen. Occasionally, he would send the latest location to his teammates and hum a casual tune.
Suddenly, he felt something and looked up, seeing Clarice still standing there, watching him.
"Why haven't you left yet?" Keller was surprised.
Clarice crossed her arms. "I'm free, right? I don't need you to tell me what to do!"
Keller shook his head. "You're foolish to think I don't know what you're concerned about. But it's useless. He'll be caught soon."
"Or maybe you'll let him escape again," Clarice retorted without reservation.
"Want to watch our show? You'll be disappointed. We're professionals," Keller scoffed.
"Professionals dealing with their own people? What did he do to deserve such a manhunt?" Clarice pressed.
"That's none of your business, woman," Keller replied bluntly.
A man in black had already reached the corridor where Reno was, blocking his path from the front.
Keller's face broke into a smirk as he imagined Reno's despair being cornered.
But then, something astonishing happened.
He saw Reno continue to charge forward while the man in black seemed oblivious, looking instead at his own terminal with confusion.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Keller shouted.
The black-clad figure in the footage responded, "Damn it, Keller, you gave me the target's location on this corridor, but why isn't he here?"
"What are you talking about? He just ran past you!" Keller yelled.
"Are you kidding me? I didn't see anything," the black-clad figure replied.
Before Keller could respond, he saw two more men in black arrive at Reno's location. Like the first, they paid no attention to Reno passing by. One of them stood right on Reno's path, but Reno walked past him without flinching.
He walked past!
Keller felt like someone had squeezed his heart as he grabbed his hair in disbelief. "Oh, my God!"
Then he saw Reno still running, and a group of people including the small mustache gathering, but Reno, like a ghost, passed through them and continued running down the hotel corridor.
"What's going on?" The small mustache watched Reno's mark pass by on the terminal, angrily questioning.
Keller trembled as he replied, "It's a hologram. He pre-recorded his escape route. I fell for it!"
"But that means he had to upload the footage of himself to your light brain beforehand, so it could synchronize with our actions. How did he do that? Damn it, that guy's a mech commander, not a hacker!" The small mustache cursed angrily.
Keller fumbled with the light brain, shaking his head. "I don't know. I'm looking, but I haven't found any traces of intrusion!"
"Professional..." Clarice scoffed. She wasn't surprised by what was happening; after all, Reno had told her the name of the hotel himself.
At that moment, the small mustache suddenly realized something and said, "Maybe he didn't hack into your light brain? Keller, think from a different angle? Maybe he didn't infiltrate you."
Keller was stunned. He finally realized what was happening and blurted out, "Oh, God, he accessed the hotel's light brain. He input the footage data into the hotel system from the beginning. When I successfully invaded, all the data automatically uploaded to my light brain. I didn't expect there to be a trap in the data... I invaded myself."
All the men in black simultaneously slapped their foreheads.
That cunning bastard!
"Quickly clear the data and find his location!" The small mustache shouted. "We have people at the entrance; he shouldn't have left yet!"
"Yes, I'm clearing it!" Keller input commands rapidly, clearing the erroneous data. At the same time, the image matching system restarted, searching for anyone matching Reno among the hotel guests.
As the progress bar moved, Reno's face appeared again on the light brain screen, gradually enlarging.
"We have a match!" Keller shouted. "Locating now!"
Watching the screen become clearer bit by bit, Keller urged anxiously, "Faster, come on, faster."
At that moment, he didn't notice Clarice's body moving backward.
Focused on the screen, Keller watched as the image of Reno became clearer. "I see him, he's still in the hotel, in a corridor, not sure which one yet. He's running forward, there are two people ahead, a man and a woman, that's... oh, damn..."
Keller's eyes widened as he watched the screen.
He turned around in astonishment.
Thunk!
A heavy punch struck him hard in the face.
Keller fell silent.
With a swift motion, Reno picked up the light brain.
"Welcome aboard the Far Voyager."
Reno's face appeared on everyone's terminal.
"Oh, no!" The small mustache groaned in despair.
Snap!
The connection was cut.
"You bastard!" The small mustache shouted furiously. "He played us. What are you waiting for, go catch him, all of you, go catch him!!!"
All the men in black rushed toward Reno's location.
...
Putting away the Invader's light brain, Reno turned to Clarice.
"Hey," he said.
Clarice smiled and walked over. "I knew you would come."
"I didn't know you would still be here. Damn it, they let you go, why didn't you leave?" Reno asked, puzzled.
Clarice replied, "Because I wanted to see what you were up to. Don't tell me you just came for the light brain."
"You really have nothing better to do." Reno retorted. He grabbed Clarice's hand and started running. "Let's get out of here; they're catching up."
Noticing Reno's direction was wrong, Clarice exclaimed, "That's not the way to the entrance!"
"We're not going to the entrance," Reno replied.
"What are you saying?" Clarice looked at Reno in surprise.
Reno didn't respond; he just kept moving forward, expertly navigating through a corridor and opening a door.
It turned out he had booked another room near 4266.
In the room were several pieces of clothing, including wigs, sunglasses, and other makeup items.
Closing the door, Reno went over and first attached a small mustache to himself, then sprayed hair dye onto his head, and finally changed his clothes, putting on a trench coat. With these changes, he looked like a completely different person from before.
"This is yours." Reno handed Clarice a wig, false eyelashes, and other items.
Clarice looked at Reno and finally put them on.
She didn't ask Reno why he had prepared them for her, perhaps he had planned everything from the beginning.
Meanwhile, Reno continued to observe the outside situation through the Invader's light brain.
The men in black were still searching outside; they couldn't easily enter other guests' rooms, which made their search much more difficult.
However, Reno's brow furrowed as he watched the scene.
"What's wrong?" Clarice asked, not understanding.
Pointing at the screen, Reno replied, "The search is very standardized, they're not disturbing anyone unnecessarily."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Clarice asked as she quickly applied makeup.
Reno shook his head. "It means their actions are authorized, so they have to follow the rules to avoid any unnecessary trouble."
"Are you saying... they're all officially authorized to arrest every member of Abrodi? Not just abusing their power in private? But why?" Clarice queried.
"That's what I want to know," Reno said.
A strong sense of killing intent emanated from Reno's face.
Soldiers who risked their lives for their country, only to be arrested by secret police upon their return? He couldn't accept such a result; he had to find out the truth. But not in the interrogation room of the secret police!
Clarice had changed her clothes. Her once tidy short hair now hung loose, her face pale as she looked like a pregnant woman - Reno had stuffed a pillow under her clothes.
With makeup done, Reno helped Clarice out the door, looking like a married couple.
They walked along the corridor.
The men in black were still searching for Reno.
A black-clad figure appeared at the end of the corridor, looking at Reno suspiciously.
Reno lowered his head, supporting Clarice like a caring husband, softly saying, "Walk slowly, don't be afraid."
Clarice leaned against Reno's shoulder, resembling a woman relying on her husband.
They passed by the black-clad figure, continuing forward. At that moment, Reno could feel the black-clad man's gaze burning on his back, like a welding iron, giving him a burning sensation.
Yet his steps remained steady, not even quickening his heartbeat.
For a soldier who had seen the battlefield, who had retired from the gruesome killings, the scene before him was not enough to make his heart race or his blood boil.
Surprisingly, Clarice's heartbeat only increased slightly; her composure was beyond imagination.
A clicking sound came from behind; it was the sound of guns unlocking.
Reno didn't look back, just as if he had been disturbed by some noise, he followed the sound with his gaze.
That was the most normal reaction, neither indifferent nor aggressive.
The man in black holstered his gun behind him.
Seeing nothing amiss, Reno turned back, continuing to support Clarice as they left.
They walked through the corridor, Reno continuing to walk briskly forward.
Clarice followed closely behind. "Where are you going? We've fooled them already."
"I'm not planning to leave just like this," Reno replied as they walked. "I want to know why they're doing this!"
"But didn't you just catch someone?" Clarice asked.
"Capturing the captain and crew of a starship is not a small matter. The underlings wouldn't know the details; it has to be the boss," Reno replied. "Dealing with underlings was just for this."
He gestured toward the light brain in his hand.
Clarice hadn't been wrong earlier; he did indeed attack Keller for the Invader's light brain.
"What do you want with it?" Clarice asked, puzzled.
"Control systems. I'm not a hacker; the most I can do is input footage data into the hotel. So I had to use him," Reno chuckled.
Clarice was amazed. "But even if you control a hotel's system, what's the use? Can you defeat the secret police with it?"
"The hotel system?" Reno's face suddenly showed a mysterious smile. "No, it's the starship system."
At that moment, they arrived at a large door.
Reno pushed the door open.
Before them was a spacious hall filled with a row of instruments.
Reno strode in and stood in the center of the hall.
He said loudly, "Welcome aboard the Far Voyager."