DING!

~----~

[Snoop Function activated!]

~----~

'It worked!'

Leon was surprised.

Shortly after they snuck out of the inn through the window, doing it in a way to make sure that the enemies hiding in the dark saw them, Talia told them to pause and hide while instructing Leon to bring out the C-5 Drone.

Leon didn't need to ask why, he knew her intentions immediately.

And that was when a thought crossed his mind. 'Can I use the System's snoop function through the eyes of the drone?'

At first, all evidence pointed to the fact that it wouldn't work, but Leon quickly analyzed the rules of the snoop function that he knew so far.

The snoop function had only one rule, and the rule was that he have eye contact with the target of the snoop function.

It was almost like the System could only work through his eyes.

But then, as a Mechanist, his creations were also a part of him. They were part of his Ascended powers. In fact, the creations of a Mechanist were the main source of a Mechanist's Ascended powers since the only F Rank skills were Construct and Deconstruct.

'If it works like that, then the snoop function should work through the drone's eyes since I crafted it, right?'

He didn't hesitate, he put his theory to work immediately as he controlled the drone.

And he was pleasantly surprised by the result, it worked!

Leon heaved a sigh of relief. 'This will make gathering information on the Zmer gang even easier'.

He suddenly had another thought. 'What if the snoop function of the System is not actually restricted to just reality? Since it can work through an image projected by the lens of my drone, does that mean it can also work on an image?'

His eyes lit up. 'Does that mean I can spy on the abilities and status of the most influential people in this world? Like that Nora 'Glitch' Ren of the Freegrid Collective, and Director-Prime Epsilon?' He became excited.

'I should definitely ask Rex for pictures later'.

Amid his thoughts, he followed Talia and his other companions as they left.

As for their destination, they already had one in mind.

Despite the fact that Talia was confident in her conjecture that it would take long for the Zmer gang to narrow down on their location, she still prepared a contingency plan for the worst case scenario that they were eventually found out.

And now, this contingency plan automatically came into play.

Talia led them to one of the more common wooden inns in this dilapidated community. On the way, Leon finally focused on the result of his snoop.

~----~

Name: Abram Kevin

(Nickname: Cell)

Faction: Zmer gang

Title: Parasite's Right Hand

Race: Geneform

Class: Gene Augur (Proto Gene Augur)

Rank: F (Initiate)

[Attributes:]

STR – 37; AGI – 51; END – 49; INT – 38; WIL – 35; ADE – 48

[Derived Stats:]

ATK – 178; DEF – 147; SPD – 102

{HP – 2,820/2,820}

{EP – 2,470/2,470}

[Traits:]

[Racial Trait- Geneform:] Bio-Enhanced Physiology (Passive): +15% END, +10% STR, -10% INT.

[Racial Trait- Shadow Bat DNA] Shadow: A Shadow Bat is formless. When this trait is triggered, by draining a lot of ADE, you can transform into a formless shadow, or a shadow creature. But you must drink blood to sustain yourself.

[Abilities:]

>Bio-Pulse: When activated, triggers brief +20% STR/AGI surge.

>Cell Repair (Passive): fast HP regen.

>Adaptive Tissue (Passive): +5% resistance to first damage type suffered.

[Artifacts:]

>Quantum Ring Box.

[Effects: Locked]

…

[System NOTE: Rank up to increase the snooping ability of the Snoop Function.]

…

Name: Alexander Cain

(Nickname: Fire)

Faction: Zmer gang

Title: Parasite's Right Hand

Race: Geneform

Class: Cyber Gladiator (Proto Cyber Gladiator)

Rank: F (Initiate)

~----~

Leon confirmed it that the first customer who patronized his mechanic workshop was a member of the Zmer gang. And not just any member, he was an Ascended meaning he was one of the higher-ups of the gang.

There was nothing noteworthy or special about the Cyber Gladiator. Just like Daren, he had all the skills and traits of a Cyber Gladiator and Geneform.

Cell was where it gets interesting. From what Talia said previously, Leon already knew that the Ascended who assaulted them through a dream was Parasite's right hand so he was not surprised.

What surprised him though was the Gene Augur's stats and racial traits.

Despite being a Gene Augur, the core stat of his Class, END was not his highest rated stat. His AGI was rated higher than his END, and his ADE was almost just as high as his END stat despite both being mere secondary attributes of a Gene Augur.

That showed from the onset that Cell was an outlier among Gene Augurs.

And yet, it was his racial trait that truly surprised Leon. He was used to Bio-Enhanced Physiology as the usual racial traits of Geneforms; this was the first time he saw a Geneform with two racial traits.

Not just a Geneform, this was the first time that he saw any Ascended with two racial traits.

Since awakening in this world, Leon had met a few Geneforms already. Instead of Synths who embraced mechanism and technology, Geneforms were a race who embraced bio-engineering and mutation.

Daren was the best example of a Geneform, he had both human and lizard DNA and this manifested in the patterned brown scales on his body and his tail.

These gave him certain advantages, but not a racial trait.

As for Talia and Rex, despite the fact that they never explicitly told him, after observing them for days Leon already had a guess.

Despite her lack of clear visible mutations like Daren, Leon guessed that Talia had the DNA of a feline beast, maybe a Black Panther or a Cheetah. It explained her unnatural agility and flair in battle.

As for Rex, Leon's guess was that the short Geneform had the DNA of a Beaver. 'Well, Beavers are short animals'.

Despite all these, none of them had a second racial trait, not even Leon himself. And this immediately made him wary of the Gene Augur.

Finally, he confirmed that Talia was right. The Gene Augur really had an Artifact, and from the name, Leon easily connected it to the Quantum Shaper Class.

The only problem was that he couldn't learn the effects of the Artifact. 'I didn't know I needed to rank up to enhance the abilities of the System's hidden functions'.

'Let's hope the Artifact only has that one effect'.

With that, Leon finally calmed down.

As an engineer, he firmly believed in the notion of Knowledge is Power. By knowing his enemy, he believed that he already had a chance at victory over him.

'I wish I could know more about the Artifact, and his weapons too. Knowing that would make the mission a lot easier for us'.

Despite his thoughts, Leon didn't stop walking.

After about 25 minutes, they finally arrived at an entirely different part of this Wastes community. They stood in front of a wretched inn.

Compared to Henry's Inn, this inn may as well be dilapidated.

It had just one floor. It was massive with multiple rooms, but the wooden walls were clearly worn out and seemed like they could fall apart at any moment. The metal roof seemed too heavy for the foundation, and it seemed like it would collapse any moment.

Leon's face twisted. "Is this where we'll be staying?"

Talia smiled at him. "You better start packing in before people notice us. Our rooms are Room 8 and 9. This time, we have two rooms but both rooms only have one bed each, so we'll have to manage it".

Leon's lips twitched. 'I think I should craft a bed'.

Despite his thoughts, they didn't hesitate as they entered inside the inn without attracting any attention. After arranging their luggage, they quickly gathered in one room as their gaze focused on Talia.

Kain broke the silence. "So, what do we do next?"

…

In the hidden underground bunker of the Zmer gang.

Inside a large pitch-black room with no light and no windows, a lean man that looked like a shadow hung upside down from the chandelier like a bat. His brownish black eyes glowed slightly in the dark as he stared at the holographic projection that hovered before him.

Due to his racial trait, Cell could see in the dark.

This room looked like the lair of a mad scientist. There were five glass work tables in the room and no chairs.

On one of the tables, there was a white skull of a Geneform and a glass tube filled with bright red blood.

On another table, there were mutilated body parts of Geneforms and Neon Beasts- the slender and fair torso of a small Geneform, clearly a child, multiple bloody limbs of different Geneforms and Neon Beasts, and a pair of eyeballs still reflecting the fear and horror of their dead owner.

The table was filled with blood and flesh.

On another table, there was a toolkit with screwdrivers, pliers, a saw, a hammer, nails, and a monocle.

On another table, there were four different limbs of Geneforms- one of them had grayish white scales covering it, the other was Caucasian, the other ebony, and the last one was the small rotting hand of a child.

A knife was attached to the wrist of the small rotting hand, cutting halfway through it.

At this moment in the middle of this room, a holographic projection projected a question in mid-air.

["What next?"]

With his leg hooked around the chandelier like a bat and his upper body upside down, Cell's brownish black eyes stared intently at the projected words.

He bit his long fingernails rabidly like a wild beast as he muttered indecipherable words to himself.

"…leave… leave… stay?"

"…leave… leave… leave!"

"Stay… leave?"

Thud!

He suddenly landed nimbly from the chandelier to the ground before walking close till his face was just in front of the holographic projection.

He stared as his hooded face slowly twisted. "Will they leave? Will she stay?" He kept on muttering to himself in a raving-like voice. "They must not interfere with the Lord's plan".

"This is a delicate balance". His eyes suddenly flashed coldly. "Tomorrow will determine if I hunt or I sleep".

"Leave, leave, please leave…" he raved softly to himself, then he suddenly snarled like a beast. "No! Stay, stay so I can hunt you and kill you! Stay so I can carve your skin apart and hang you to the sun to dry like fish". He smiled cruelly.

"All that oppose the Lord must die!"

His increasingly irritated body could no longer stay still as he transformed into a black bat the next moment before flying out of the underground bunker.

30 minutes later, he returned with blood and flesh smearing his face and mouth; on his right hand was the bloody stump left of a small fair leg. He had a satisfied maniacal smile on his face as he returned to the room.

That night, another girl mysteriously disappeared in the Wastes.

A few minutes later, he was hanging upside down in the chandelier again. His lips were eerily red like blood.

The darkness became darker even as the shadows became deeper, then a pair of large bat wings made from shadows engulfed him, covering him in a cocoon.

Cell finally closed his eyes and slept.

…

Talia looked at Kain. "What we do next?"

"We confirm if there are other warehouses as fast as possible, scout the enemy forces, gather information then get ready for war".

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