While maintaining low visibility in Vendu ruins, I searched for a secure spot to hide and bide my time until it was the right opportunity to make my move.

“Hmm, what are those men up to?” The extra muscles that tagged along with the cops were setting up some sort of barricade using metal braces. I had no idea what they needed those engineers for.

This was one of the main reasons why I didn’t rush in right away to recover what was rightly mine. I wanted to see for myself the elaborate scheme they had planned. Sure enough, it was going to be an exciting show, for me at least.

A short while later, one of the engineers came over to where the detectives were stationed with the brat and told them, “We’ve finished setting up the braces as you’ve asked. Do you mind telling us what this is all about?”

I too wanted to know the answer to that engineer’s question. “What the hell are they planning, some sort of soft ritual?”

I lingered in my concealed spot, scoping out the surroundings for anything unusual. The time was beginning to go dark, which meant that dusk was approaching. A part of me was rather impatient for the cops to get started with what they were doing already. This unsettling feeling stemmed from the possible outcome of a Smokepire attack. I bet those shit-for-brains wanted to get their revenge on me for making them shit worms after their resurrection.

“Hurry the hell up already.” Directing my eyes back to the main area where the metal braces were set up, I spotted the female detective heading to the dead centre of the concentric structure with the boy.

She knelt at his height and offered him some comforting words. “Are you ready for this Andy? I’ll be by your side every step of the way. The moment anything extraordinary bad occurs, I want you to toss away that puzzle, ok?”

“Hm.” The brat didn’t respond with proper verbiage, he only shook his head and immediately reach for my Rubik’s Cube from her hand.

“You’re still excited about this, aren’t you?” She came to this quick assumption based on how eager the brat took away the Rubik’s Cube.

“I’ll take that as a good sign. We’ll bring you right back to the orphanage to your peers when this is all over.” She turned and signalled to the other cops who were way outside the concentric structure. “We’re about to get this show on the road.”

Giving her head back to the brat, she told him, “You can start whenever you are ready.” After telling him this, she stepped back a little to give him some space.

All eyes were fixated on the autistic brat as he commenced twisting around the physical manifestation of my power. While I was watching the show, I overheard several officers speaking in a manner of confusion.

“Can anyone tell me why those detectives brought us here in these red getups and what’s with this many armed troops?”

“I’m dying to know the answer to that as well. It’s not like we are at war or anything. Aside from the dregs freeloading in those ruined complexes, this place is desolate.”

“I agree with you. This is confusing. I’m going to ask Lewis if he knows what’s going on.”

“He should know. He was one of the main ones who ordered us to come here.”

“I thought it was that foxy babe, Detective Sleuth.”

“She is also involved. I heard they are taking precautions against an earthquake or something. That’s why they brought along those mechanics.”

“An earthquake? What the hell is all that about? Are you sure you heard correctly?”

“Of course I did. If you don’t believe me, you can go over there and ask her yourself.”

“No, I’m good where I am at. Let’s just stay here and see how this plays out.”

The chatter among the cops eventually died down. Due to this place being so isolated from the core of Clown City, the only audible sounds were that of the officers breathing, the nocturnal insects, and the constant turning of the special grade Rubik’s Cube.

“Hmm… that brat is seriously going at.” I watched him maintaining a strict focus on the Rubik’s Cube. A minute after he began operating, that ringing sensation I had earlier was slowly coming back to torture my mind.

“Ah!” The sudden pain that hit me compelled me to release a grunt that caught the ears of an officer stationed nearby.

“Did you guys hear someone moaning?”

“I think it came from over there. You 2, go check it out.”

“We’re on it, sir.”

Thud! Thud!

While I had my head tightly locked between my knees, my ears picked up the sound of 2 people incoming. Just before they bend their heads around the corner, I swallowed my pain and used Smoke Dash to retreat a few paces.

Whoosh!

“Huh? Ricky, do you smell something burning?”

“I do. Where did all this smoke come from?”

“I don’t know, but the trail leads over there.”

‘Dammit!’ They knew where I was hiding. In the broken complex where there was barely any sustainable wall to hide behind, my presence was hidden behind a partially shattered pillar. Seconds were ticking by as the searching steps of the officers drew closer to my position.

The intensity of the moment forced me to question myself. “What should I do? Should I whip out the big guns and start a bloody massacre? No, it’s too early for that. I might not be able to utilize all of my skills because of this damn headache. I need to stop that brat before he unlocks my power.”

I heard one cop say, “Ricky, the smoke is not fading away. It is concentrated by that column there.”

The other one uttered, “Let’s take a look. You go left, I go right.”

The officers were slowly coming up on both my flanks with their pistols at the ready to shoot me. I could hardly keep my head level.

‘These cops are going to discover my presence any second now. Fuck it, I’m going to have to get my hands bloody.’

Rumble!

Just as I was about to unleash the full force of my vapours on these 2 piggies, a sudden earthquake came along and distracted them. It gave me the chance I needed to retreat further away under the guise of the smoke.

“What the heck?” I could hear the worry in a cop’s voice. “Is this the earthquake the detectives were talking about earlier?”

“It must be a coincidence right, Ricky?”

“I don’t know. Let’s go back and take a look.”

Both of them started rushing back to the main area. During the race, the ongoing earthquake caused the cop at the back to tumble on his ass. He was left behind by the other cop who wasn’t aware that he fell.

“Jackpot.” I saw this moment as an opportunity to get closer to the autistic brat without being found out.

I hurriedly caught the cop while he was down and bashed his head in with a rock. Afterwards, I activated my Smoke Walker ability. It had been a long time since I utilize this skill. The first time was back at the morgue when I went into that woman’s body. Unlike my other frequently used skills, Smoke Walker didn’t level up. Which meant that I couldn’t possess this cop’s body for long.

Whoosh!

My entire figure became vaporized. The faint flow of the wind carried me into the nostrils of the deceased cop. A few seconds later, I was in complete control of his body. Bits and pieces of his recent memories flowed into my mind.

“I am now Ricky Harborne. A constable of the Clown City Police Department. I must say… it feels damn amazing to be the law for once.” After picking myself up from the ground, I dusted off my uniform then caught up with my partner who was already at the front row of the show.

He saw the dirt on my uniform and said, “Ricky, what happened back there, did you trip?”

“A little. But it’s no big deal.” I quickly deflected the argument and asked, “What’s happening here?”

He gave me some room and pointed at the concentric structure. “See for yourself. That kid is still messing around with that puzzle thing. The quakes are getting more serious.”

“Ah!” When I glanced over there, the annoying noise become amplified in my head.

“Ricky, what’s wrong with you, mate?” My partner caught me and prevented me from falling.

Trying my best to look tough, I told him, “It’s nothing, this quaking is just too much for me.”

“Then step back a little.” He tried looking out for my best interest but I refused his help.

“No, I think I’ll go closer.”

Rumble!

“Dammit!” Another violent quake toppled me over. Even so, I continued to crawl my way to the source of my pain. I noticed that the closer I got, the vibrations were less severe. Probably because of the structure that was there.

The detective was clinging tightly to the brat. I overheard her saying, “You’re doing great Andy. You’re almost finished. You have one row left. I’m here to protect you. Continue to solve it.”

That bitch was encouraging him too damn much. He took her words to heart and continued to solve the last piece of the puzzle. “No! I will not allow him to succeed!”