茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Chapter 129: Reluctant to Give Up

The clues tracked to Zhang Jinan were cut off again, but it was not a total loss.

Since “Kasumi of August” had spent 0.3 Bitcoin to send someone to the “Long Time No See Cafe”, it was clear that he must have shown up, otherwise it would be a waste of money.

Kasumi’s message sent by the woman in blue, “what you want to know is all in **Town,” was merely a distraction and wasn’t really important. From the previous online chats, he should have been aware that Xiang Kun wouldn’t be easily lured to **Town by these simple words.

The main purpose of the meeting was still to verify Xiang Kun’s identity and discover who he really is.

Therefore, he must have kept an eye on the meeting, ensuring that when Xiang Kun did show up, he could see and even reach out to him.

The most probable place for this to happen would be inside the café.

Despite not entering the café, Xiang Kun was sharply aware of all the people, or to be more accurate, all the beings inside the café.

There were seven customers already inside the café when the woman in blue arrived. Xiang Kun had “observed” each one closely, confirming that none gave off any abnormal aura and he had a basic understanding of their identities.

Five of the seven had left by 2:30. The remaining two stayed even after the woman in blue had left, but these two seemed to be immersed in playing a battle royale video game and judging from their conversation, they were students of a local university. There were no suspicious signs about them.

There were thirteen customers who entered the café after the woman in blue. Only one of them stayed even after she had left and there was nothing abnormal about any of them either.

Xiang Kun once again went through the information he had observed and collected about these people in his mind, trying to see if he had missed anything. This included not only the customers in the café but also everyone around that he had observed.

Luckily, due to several rounds of intense training in this area after becoming a vampire, his brain had got enhanced in this aspect. Otherwise, the amount of information would have been too much for his brain to handle and he would probably suffer a headache just like two weeks ago.

Xiang Kun suddenly came to a halt, realizing a flaw in his thinking.

He had always assumed that “Kasumi of August” was too powerful, both in technical abilities and in vampire evolution abilities, leading many of his speculations down the wrong path.

But what if, the other party was not as strong as he thought?

Xiang Kun put himself in the shoes of “Kasumi of August”:

I am a vampire, whether it’s for the sake of sucking the blood of a mutant or simply wanting to meet a companion, I made a post on Zhihu, set a “bait”, hacked into an account to impersonate a cute, newbie vampire girl.

However, the one I “fished” out was a slippery guy who was using a fake ID and left no trace for me to track. Like a turtle with its shell on, he saw through my cover, was cautious and gave all kinds of fake responses. Finally, he agreed to meet offline, but only at his chosen time and place.

This guy never speaks the truth, so it’s difficult for me to assess his abilities. I don’t even know if he works alone or has some help, or even if he is trying to fish me instead.

I need to be cautious, identify his identity, ensure safety before making a move. I can’t expose myself prematurely.

I posted a task on the dark web, hired a local from * *City to help me set up a meeting while I observe from the side. But it’s too risky to be directly inside the café, I must find a safer way.

Right, I am a hacker, I can hack into the café’s Wi-Fi and its surveillance system. I can observe the people inside the café through the computer screen, I can also monitor mobile devices connected to the café’s Wi-Fi and hack into them, if necessary.

If someone comes to meet the bait I arranged, I need to determine if he is that slippery vampire. If so, I will follow him discreetly and try to eat him or confirm his identity.

Xiang Kun slapped the back of his head under his cap in annoyance. His previous way of thinking was a bit tunnel-visioned, to say the least.

He walked towards the “Long Time No See Cafe”. He believed that “Kasumi of

August” should have left already after realizing that the woman in blue didn’t show up, and was unlikely to still be there.

To hack into the café’s Wi-Fi, the most direct way would be to connect to their Wi-Fi, so they must have been in the Wi-Fi’s coverage at the beginning. Of course, they could also use any mobile device connected to the Wi-Fi as a springboard to hack, but time was short and they might not have made it in time. However, once hacking was successful, they could use other network signals to connect to café’s systems via the internet, without any location constraint.

But the target was the person who was to meet the woman in blue in the café, so they could not be too far from the café, otherwise, they would be too late to track or take any other action.

Earlier in the day, being stuck in his mindset, Xiang Kun only considered areas which could directly observe the café visually, audibly or through smell.

But now it seemed that the other party might be more cautious than he thought and might not plan on directly using their own senses to observe.

Of course, this was still just another direction in Xiang Kun’s speculation, which still needed to be proven.

If they were to observe through surveillance, they would most likely bring a laptop. Although it’s not impossible to operate on a mobile phone, most hackers trust and are more accustomed to using laptops, especially when time is short as set by Xiang Kun.

With a laptop, it’s natural to look for a place where they wouldn’t be disturbed and that is relatively concealed.

Sitting in a car parked on the road would have been the best option, but as this was a pedestrian street, the nearest parking spot was still some distance away, making it not conducive to get to the café as soon as the target was identified.

Xiang Kun immediately determined the area that he needed to search: the shops in the direction behind the “Long Time No See Cafe”.

His first choice was the restaurants, he went into each one, showing his phone and telling the staff that he was looking for someone. He particularly went to those secluded corners, sniffing deeply to detect any abnormal scent.

He guessed that if “Kasumi of August” was watching the surveillance video on a laptop, he definitely wouldn’t want others to easily glance over his screen. Therefore, he must choose a somewhat secluded corner to sit. After all, from the windows of these shops, no one could see the “Long Time No See Cafe” anyway. This was also the reason why Xiang Kun initially didn’t consider this side for surveillance.

Despite having visited seven shops, he didn’t smell any unusual scent.

Xiang Kun couldn’t help but wonder if he was still wrong in his conjecture.

Or maybe the other party was operating from even further away?

Of course, it could also be that too much time had passed and the scent had completely dissipated, so much so that even his sharp nose couldn’t detect it. After all, the other party might have left four or five hours ago, and there were too many other smells in these places as distractions.

Or perhaps behind “Kasumi of August”, there was no vampire at all, just one or a group of ordinary humans who somehow got hold of a lot of information about vampires.

Actually, before deciding to come here, Xiang Kun was indifferent about whether he could lock onto the real identity of “Kasumi of August” or not. But now, returning without any results, he felt a bit reluctant to give up..