"Lon, your Chameleon is too damn useful. When it reaches grade- 2, help me get one too."

"Shut the fuck up, Zimu. We're barely invisible right now. If you keep talking, he might hear you!"

"It's not as if he'll be naive enough to think we've left. He won't land on this side. And weren't you the one who wanted him to be caught by Miss Suko? What made you change your mind suddenly?"

"Shut up!"

Zimu felt aggrieved. His friend Lon's sudden change of heart made no sense to him. They had spent over an hour waiting for Miss Suko to return and apprehend the boy. But right before the boy broke his facade of being asleep, a message from the main team had made Lon jump into action, summoning his Mazinian Chameleon to camouflage himself as he crouched behind a bush.

Zimu had hastily joined him behind the chameleon, not sure why Lon suddenly seemed so alert and eager. But every time he opened his mouth to ask, Lon, shut him down with a fierce gesture, pointing at the boy who had suddenly begun moving on the raft.

At first, Zimu had been able to restrain his curiosity and maintain silence, watching what the boy was up to. However, disappointing both of them, he started fishing in the middle of the stream lazily.

Seeing the boy roasting the fish on the raft, Zimu lost his temper. He wanted an explanation.

"If you don't tell me what's up, I'm going to leave the camouflage zone," he hissed.

"...Fucking...fine. Take a look."

Lon handed him his communicator. Zimu saw the recent text messages sent to him from the team leader's account.

"We've found the trace of the diary on the older boy. We've cornered him already. You don't need to risk anything while apprehending the younger brother. Take it slow. Suko will be there soon."

Reading the brief message, Zimu felt like he had been bludgeoned on the head.

So this kid had been lying the entire time! He didn't actually have the diary! They could've caught him without any worries of damaging or losing that treasure!

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Do you get it now? Since they haven't yet managed to snatch the diary, the younger brother still has some value. If we can catch him, his life can be used as a bargaining chip to blackmail the older brother. Miss Suko would naturally come running to take the credit for that, such a safe route of contribution. We can't let her do that if we want a part of the rewards. Let's attack before she reaches this place!"

Lon voiced his plan clearly. But Zimu was concerned about something else.

"What about his spiritual attack method? How do we avoid that?"

"That's why I immediately used the chameleon to hide! We need to approach him without a trace! Once we're close enough for me to throw out my Hundredfold Python, he won't be able to escape anywhere."

Zimu nodded slowly, visualizing the plan in his mind.

"So I don't need to do anything?"

"Just sit here and keep your finger on the trigger. If the boy notices me, shoot at him, but don't aim for any vital organs. We need him alive and intact for now."

Leaving Zimu behind the bush, Lon edged forward cautiously, trying to minimize the sounds of his steps. The first dozen meter above the bank was easy. The boy was sitting almost 30 meters away, busy with his food. He noticed nothing as Lon stepped into the water.

The current in this channel was powerful. Unless one was specifically looking in the area Lon was treading, they would not notice his feet forming silhouettes in the water. The Mazinian Chameleon's ability, creating a real camouflaged region that was synonymous with invisibility, made the creature an exceptionally useful companion for explorers like Lon who preferred fast, silent, close combat. Zimu felt another pang of jealousy as he watched Lon tiptoe to chest-deep water.

So proficient! When would he be able to use a companion creature like that? The rewards they got from their employers were usually too small to buy one.

Lon was already close enough to use his third companion creature, the Hundredfold Python. No ordinary human could escape this snake once it manages to wrap around them. Let alone humans, even a large horse or a small rhino might not be able to shake it off due to the strange mutation of the snake. It could form a hundred folds around its prey, subduing any limb, stretching across every part of the prey and nearly covering its entire body like a wrapper. Not only was the extended body able to exert the same amount of crushing power as a normal python, but its skin could also secrete digestive acids outside, melting the body of the prey that had fallen within its all-encompassing folds.

It made the 4 units of Soulslot Consumption reserve totally worth it. Unlike Zimu's measly 7 units of Soulslot reserve, Lon was a talented peer whose reserve touched upon the 10-unit milestone. So Zimu was well acquainted with the sensation of burning jealousy whenever the two of them went on missions as a team.

He could only sigh and witness the nearly flawless plan play out. Standing at an angle beyond the boy's range of vision, Lon summoned his Hundredfold Python and hurled it at his back.

The boy yelped as the snake fell right on top of him, immediately wrapping itself around his neck after landing.

As he screamed in horror and tried to grab its head, the python's neck stretched, wrapping itself around his hands and rendering them immobile. Within ten seconds, the boy fell on the raft uncontrollably, looking like a mummy.

"Well done! Very well done! The boss will be happy with your contribution to the mission, Lon!"

This shout, followed by a slow clap, startled both Lon and Zimu. They looked over at the Eastern Bank and found a tall, pale-skinned woman in a trenchcoat emerging from thin air like a ghost.

Zimu's heart clenched at the sight of the familiar woman.

When did she get here?!

Lon hadn't been the only one here with the power of invisibility, it seemed.

"Miss Suko! When did you- I mean, it's good to see that you've arrived faster than we expected! As you can see, we've already apprehended the boy. Now we can just wait for the Boss's call," Lon yelled with a strained smile.

He had planned to spin a story about a desperate chase, about how hard they had had to fight to finally catch this tricky brat. No one would blame them for not waiting for Miss Suko when according to their story the boy was about to make a sudden escape.

But the plan had been nipped in the bud.