This message spurred me to take drastic action in order to recover what was mine. I toughed through the pain I was feeling in my head and continued to crawl my way over to the concentric structure. The rumbling in the environment not only delayed my advance, but also finished toppling over the ruined buildings.

“I can’t let that brat unlock my power.” As I was getting closer, several other messages popped up in my face, highlighting the remaining time for my Smoke Walker ability.

“Oh, shit, this can’t be happening right now. I need to move faster.” This pressing issue prompted me to exhaust all the control I had over Ricky’s body to get to the ring.

“What is that guy doing?” I overheard someone speaking about my actions behind my back. Naturally, I ignored them and continue to move forwards.

“I’m almost there.” Just as I was about to set foot into the circle, the tremors stopped shaking me around. The aftershock landed me on my face.

“It stopped? Does that mean he unlocked it?” I was curious about the status of the special grade Rubik’s Cube. The ringing noise in my head stopped.

“This can only mean one thing.”

My curiosity drove me to lift my head. While looking at the lady and kid, I soon realized that neither of them had the Rubik’s cube, instead, it was in the hands of a petite robber who was posing from atop one of the metallic structures.

“So she has it.” I didn’t need good eyes to see that the robber was feminine. Although she was covered in black from head to toe, her camel toe was pretty hard not to look at, especially with that lewd pose of hers as well as the low angle where I was present.

“Who the hell is she? She has my Rubik’s Cube?” In the blink of an eye, I saw her vanish from there. The cops realized shortly what was going on. Some of them ran over to protect the little boy while the others gave chase to the culprit.

“Hey, get back here!” I also join the group that was chasing after her, but I couldn’t move as fast as the others because my skill was slowly wearing off.

While following these men, I overheard them making assumptions about the identity of the culprit.

“That costume-wearing woman is Slippery Fingers!”

“So she’s the thief who has been hitting the jewel stores in Clown City recently. Do any of you know which criminal association she is aligned with?”

“I heard she’s a solo act.”

“That’s can’t be true. She must have a broker who she sells all her stolen goods.”

“I agree. But there’s no time for that discussion right now. She’s going into that building up there. Follow her!”

The cops went after the thief into what was left of a collapsed building. Instead of joining them inside, I slipped around the corner where there was less visibility from my law enforcer comrades. From there, I quickly scaled the side of the walls to catch up with Slippery Fingers in the building.

“Hey, you there! Stop where you are!”

“Huh! When did you get here…?” Based on the tone of her voice, I could tell that she was surprised to see me only a few paces behind her. She ran alongside the wall to boost herself to the upper part of the stairs. She flipped over the rails then started dashing through a corridor where the ground was barely intact.

“Be careful guys!” The cops behind me found it difficult to swiftly cross through that corridor. Most of them lingered behind to prevent themselves from falling through the floor. We were pretty high up and neither of us have wings, so I didn’t blame them.

This Slippery Fingers was very agile and fast. I watched her flipping over the obstacles as if she had spring in her legs.

This sudden pop-up told me that I didn’t have enough time to be messing around. “Come here, you thief.” I forced myself ahead using my heightened physical prowess. I tackled Slippery Fingers to the ground.

“Give me that damn Rubik’s Cube!”

“Get off!”

We rolled around for a little bit while I tried to grab the object from her hand. It accidentally fell out of her grasp and rolled close to where a gap was in the floor. Before it could fall through, we both got up and rushed towards it.

However, Slippery Fingers beat me to the punch. Additionally, she spun around like an acrobat and used the swift tip of her slender leg to knock me through the decapitated window frame.

“No!” My fall to the ground was very brief. The moment I land, the body I was temporarily commandeering got splattered all over the derris. I was fortunate that my Smoke Walker ability was deactivated seconds prior to my fall so I could escape that meat suit without suffering any damages.

My vaporous body returned to normal a few metres away from where the incident occurred. My naked ass was out watching the starry sky as I stared through a gap at the police officers crowding around the dead cop’s body. They were all bitter inside that they couldn’t stop Slippery Fingers from killing their comrade and from escaping the scene of the crime.

Later, the lead detectives showed up to check if they have recovered the stolen item. “That person went to such a drastic length to steal the puzzle before it was fully unlocked. I’m sure now that it has something to do with the monster plaguing Clown City.”

“Well, that’s that.” Seeing that my presence was no longer required to be there. I quickly sought a safe escape route where no one would be suspicious of a nude man roaming the streets at night.

It was then that it dawned on me. “I should carry a spare set of clothes in my inventory just in case shit like this happen again.”

I didn’t roam about long in the nude. I ran into a homeless man rolling a trolley and took from him what I needed to clothe my nakedness. Afterwards, I continued to follow the scent trail Slippery Fingers left behind. She could never escape me, especially when she had a part of my power with her. I was already locked onto the scent trail of the special grade Rubik’s Cube; combined with her scent, this made me tracking her a lot smoother.

2 hours later, the scent trails brought me to the inner part of Clown City, specifically to a residential district where I used to live prior to my death. As a matter of fact, I was standing in front of my old home.

“Why did that person come here?” I was very confused. It took me a while to get over my confusion to go see what was going down inside. You would never believe what I came across.

I snuck my way around the back and entered through the secret tunnel I had built a while back. As I got closer to the living room, I started hearing 2 persons having a conversation.

“Slippery Fingers, we should have met somewhere more private.”

“And where is more private than my own home? You worry too much, doctor.”

“This instinct of mine has kept me alive for many years. You’re just a brat, still in her teen years. What do you know?”

“I might be young but I’m not stupid. Anyway, let’s cut the small talk. I’ve brought the item just as requested.”

“But I don’t see the boy. Our employer tasked us to retrieve him also.”

“Give me a break. I went through hell getting that Rubik’s Cube as it is. There was no way I could have brought along the kid. I simply don’t have the strength for it.”

“More excuses. The boss will be disappointed. You should have brought along someone with more muscles. Hand me the cube. Maybe I can solve the last section.”

“Hmm… that voice sounds familiar.” I recognized the man’s voice. Setting myself in a better position where I could see what was going on, I soon uncovered his identity.

Dr Leprechaun, this ginger beard midget that I detested was standing on a stool to increase his height to where he could be above the table. Slippery Fingers was right next to him. Now that I had her beneath the good lighting, the first thing I noticed was how tall and sharp the nails on her left hand were. Those nails could rip somebody’s heart out.

Back to Dr Leprechaun. He was fiddling with the special grade Rubik’s Cube, trying to unlock its mystery. He wasn’t as smart as the autistic brat, otherwise, he would have solved it already. Observing closer, I recognized a familiar briefcase sitting on the table.

“Isn’t that the case that Demetri gave me back at that warehouse…?” I was speechless for a moment. It was indeed the same briefcase. My expression became grim all of a sudden.

“These 2… are they Sharp Stepper’s henchmen?”