Chapter 55: Like Taking Something from One's Pocket

"How are we supposed to get in? Starmeng, the security here looks extremely tight. Don't make empty boasts only to choke on them later. You might be able to handle it, but what about the guards?" Raybin stood behind a distant tree, looking toward the main entrance, unable to help a slight frown.

Starmeng replied with absolute confidence: "Since I said so, I naturally have a way. Just watch me."

Having stayed in Raybin's mind for so long, Starmeng's tone of voice seemed to carry increasingly rich emotional coloring.

As Starmeng spoke, the indicator lights above suddenly emitted a strange glow. Then, all the devices flew together toward the four or five guards. Before those guards could react, a burst of ultrasonic waves erupted from the devices, and the guards collapsed instantly without uttering a single sound.

"Huh? What's going on? Why did they just pass out?" Seeing this, Raybin was instantly struck by a sense of extreme astonishment.

Starmeng explained: "The interior of those devices contains an ultrasonic system that can be used to attack enemies. I just adjusted the frequency of the ultrasonic waves to put them to sleep. It will take them about fifteen minutes to wake up, which is more than enough time for us to steal the camouflage skin."

"Damn, that's awesome." Raybin immediately gave a thumbs-up.

With that, Raybin stepped out from behind the tree and swaggered openly through the main entrance.

"There are seven patrolling guards in the main lobby. I can calculate their patrol trajectories and map out a safe passage for you. You just need to follow my instructions and move at the corresponding speed; they will never be able to spot you," Starmeng said.

"Alright, but these patrolling guards are in constant contact with one another. What if they try to contact the unconscious guards outside right now? Won't they immediately discover that those guards have passed out?" Raybin asked.

"I will use the communicator to mimic those people's voices. They won't notice anything unusual," Starmeng replied.

"Starmeng, you really are omnipotent." Raybin was truly filled with utmost admiration for Starmeng at this moment.

"Thanks for the praise. Now, begin moving according to this route and maintain a speed of eleven kilometers per hour." Starmeng immediately brought up an image in Raybin's mind, directing him to walk along the path indicated.

"OK," Raybin said, and swaggered forward. Just as he passed, one of the guards happened to turn around and look in his direction, yet failed to catch even a glimpse of Raybin's shadow.

In this manner, guided by Starmeng, Raybin quickly reached the location of the elevator.

With a soft chime, the elevator doors opened. Raybin stepped inside and couldn't help curling his lip, muttering: "When I was a kid, I pulled off countless thefts, but I've never stolen anything this swaggeringly. This doesn't feel like stealing at all; it feels more like an employee just coming here to pick something up."

"Although it looks easy, the monitoring and weapon systems here are actually formidable. If you were even slightly careless, you'd be blasted into mincemeat. The danger coefficient here is completely different from when you were a kid stealing things," Starmeng noted.

"True. High danger means high rewards, though. Once I steal this set of camouflage skin, I'll have an extra identity in the future. Wahahaha..." Raybin still felt quite excited inside.

Taking the elevator all the way up to the tenth floor, Starmeng immediately mapped out another route in Raybin's mind, telling him to walk along it.

Every floor also had guards. Even though the facility possessed the most powerful automated weapon systems, guards were still necessary to prevent the computers from being hijacked by outside control.

However, with Starmeng by his side, Raybin had complete mastery over the movements of these guards and could easily evade their line of sight.

After making a few turns, Raybin arrived before a massive glass door. With a soft click, the password indicator light beside the glass door flashed and it opened automatically, showing zero resistance toward Raybin.

"The safe containing the camouflage skin is right over here," Starmeng directed within Raybin's mind.

Following the directions, Raybin quickly arrived before the safe.

"I've already unlocked the safe's electronic password. You just need to input the manual password below: 4, 7, 8, S, A, 5, 8."

The safe slowly opened before Raybin, exposing the password input keypad inside, making Raybin feel that this lacked any real challenge and was utterly boring.

Raybin let out a yawn, stretched lazily, and sluggishly entered the code. After two beeps, the safe popped open.

Inside the safe lay a garment that looked somewhat like a form-fitting leather bodysuit, except that it was entirely pale yellow, closely resembling the color of human skin.

"Is this it?" Raybin looked at the item, finding nothing special about it at all; it just looked like a crude piece of leather clothing.

"Yes, this is the camouflage skin newly developed by the Bio-Research Institute at the cost of hundreds of millions of federal credits. It can be set to any appearance at will, and it possesses a certain degree of defense, capable of resisting electromagnetic gun fire below caliber 2.5," Starmeng explained.

"Holy shit, you're kidding, right? It can withstand a caliber 2.5 electromagnetic gun? A caliber 2.5 electromagnetic gun can pierce even standard mechas. Just this little suit of skin—that's insanely OP!" Raybin's eyes widened instantly, finding it hard to believe that such an ordinary-looking object could possess such capabilities.

"Indeed. This is also the culmination of over a decade of research by the laboratory. The material for this camouflage skin comes from a planet called Hades; it is extremely rare, enough only to forge this single set of camouflage skin." Starmeng had total omniscience regarding the situation here.

Ever since Raybin entered the Starsea Academy, Starmeng had been continuously updating its own database, and no secret within Starsea Academy could escape Starmeng's control.

"To think it's such an OP item! Haha, I've really struck it rich this time. Should I put it on now, or wait until I get home?" Raybin was barely able to contain his impatience.

"You can put it on now. That way, the safety coefficient when you head back out will be much higher," Starmeng advised. Although Starmeng could guarantee a 99% probability that Raybin would suffer no harm, from a computational standpoint, increasing the success rate even further was naturally better.

"Alright." Hearing Starmeng say this, Raybin didn't stand on ceremony. He immediately stripped off his clothes right there and slipped into the camouflage skin.

The camouflage skin was initially very loose, so Raybin slipped into it without any effort, feeling somewhat like he was wearing a large burlap sack.

"How do you operate this thing?" Raybin had put the camouflage skin on, but it still hung around him like a large sack, bearing not the slightest resemblance to his own skin.

"There is an electronic connection button on it. Link the button on the garment to your identity chip, and you can control it," Starmeng replied.

"So that's how it works." Raybin immediately fumbled for the button at the back and sure enough, found one inside the collar, decisively pressing it against the identity chip at the back of his head.

With a soft chime, that linking button connected with Raybin's identity chip.

Instantly, an interface appeared in Raybin's mind, resembling the main desktop of a computer system complete with various button options.

"Normally, a person would need to use brainwaves for control and require a period of adaptation. But with me here, you can control it effortlessly. Now, let me fit it properly for you." As Starmeng spoke, it immediately issued a command to the camouflage skin.

Suddenly, Raybin felt the large leather sack begin to contract rapidly, tightly wrapping around his body in moments. Yet, Raybin felt no discomfort whatsoever; instead, it felt exceptionally soft, akin to a lover caressing his skin.

The leather suit wrapped around him comprehensively. Every part—his nose, lips, ears—was joined and integrated to absolute perfection, and even his lower member was wrapped up securely without the slightest omission.

"Damn, this wraps things up pretty tightly," Raybin couldn't help twisting his mouth in a grimace; the camouflage skin had even covered that area.

Buzz, buzz, buzz...

Accompanied by a wave of all-over warmth, the camouflage skin began to permeate and further merge with Raybin's own skin.

"Here are several visages. Which appearance would you like to transform into?" At this moment, Starmeng brought up several male visages in Raybin's mind for him to choose from.

"Ha, I definitely want the handsome one. This one is the best," Raybin said excitedly.

Starmeng, however, suggested: "You are using this camouflage skin for reconnaissance. The visage used for reconnaissance is best kept ordinary. If it's too handsome and draws too much attention, it defeats the purpose of disguise. Such a handsome appearance should only be used in specific situations."

"Well... what you say makes sense. Supposedly, real spies are people with completely ordinary looks because they're hard to remember. Let's just go with this ordinary one then." Raybin casually selected the appearance of a middle-aged man in his thirties sporting a thin mustache.

"Very well," Starmeng said. Following that, Raybin felt a wave of warmth wash over his face. A few seconds later, Starmeng announced: "Transformation complete. You can now go look at your reflection in the mirror over there."

Hearing Starmeng say this, Raybin excitedly hopped over to a large floor-to-ceiling mirror nearby to inspect his current appearance.

"Damn." Although he had been mentally prepared, when Raybin saw the person in the mirror, he was still greatly startled, because it was so lifelike that even he found it hard to believe the person in front of him was himself.

"This... this..." Raybin tugged hard at his facial skin, finding the texture identical to his usual self, utterly indistinguishable between true and false.

"Is this too realistic? Even I can't tell the difference. This... this feeling is kind of terrifying." Anyone would inevitably feel somewhat unsettled seeing their own appearance suddenly change completely, as if they had entered another person's body.

"You'll get used to it after a while," Starmeng comforted him.

"Alright, let's head out now. It'll be troublesome if those guys wake up," Raybin checked himself out in the mirror a few more times before walking over to put his clothes back on.

"Rest assured, the entire building is under my monitoring. If a single thing goes wrong, I'll know the very first moment," Starmeng said, brimming with confidence in its own abilities.

"Alright, then let's walk slowly, no need to rush." Raybin said as he leisurely dressed himself, then strolled back the way he came following Starmeng's instructions.

Taking the elevator down to the first floor, Raybin once again evaded the lobby guards' detection and swaggered right out through the front entrance.

At this time, the guards at the entrance had yet to wake up.