Chapter 32

    While I was sorting out my plan in my head and calculating the perfect timing to put it into action, Sabrina, who had been walking briskly ahead, suddenly turned her head sharply to look at me.

    “You... What’s your name? Oh, wait, you can’t talk, can you?”

    “....”

    “Then I’ll just call you Fox. You’re wearing a fox mask, after all. That works, right?”

    “...!”

    Sure, call me Fox, I don’t mind.

    I nodded as if to say just that.

    Did she understand my meaning? Sabrina made a pouty expression, scrunching her thick eyebrows adorably, and said, “Fox.

    If you’re following me, I’ll take that as your agreement to help. But if things get dangerous, ditch me and run. Got it?”

    “....”

    “Answer me! Oh, right.”

    I can’t answer, remember?

    As I stared at her quietly, silently asking who she thought she was talking to, Sabrina awkwardly twitched her round ears and cleared her throat.

    “Ahem, anyway! If you slow me down, I won’t let you off.”

    “...!”

    “Are you saying I shouldn’t worry? Geez, for someone who looks so fragile, you sure are confident.”

    Seeing me nod again, Sabrina chuckled briefly before returning her gaze forward, her expression turning serious as if the momentary levity had never happened.

    Not that I blamed her.

    If someone found us here, it wouldn’t just be a matter of getting scolded—David’s entire plan could be jeopardized. It wasn’t the time to be chatting idly.

    Looking around quickly, Sabrina explained, “According to my brother’s files, this is an unused passage. It’s a space abandoned after the hotel was remodeled.”

    The place we had entered was a tall, empty corridor.

    This was part of what people commonly called the hotel’s “back of house” area, a staff-only zone. It had been turned into a dead passage during multiple remodeling phases.

    No CCTV, no human presence—an ideal spot for someone planning something shady.

    Hehe, this feels like something out of a ninja movie.

    As I followed Sabrina closely, I couldn’t help but feel amused. But then, a question popped into my mind.

    Come to think of it... how exactly does Sabrina plan to act here?

    “Why are you staring? Are you asking what my plan is?”

    “...!”

    “Oh, right. You should know too, huh? Alright, I’ll explain my idiot brother’s ‘great’ plan first!”

    I already know it, though.

    While Sabrina began gushing about David’s plan like a runaway train, I let her words flow in one ear and out the other, mentally recalling the details myself.

    In short, David’s plan was simple:

    Create chaos in the hotel, make an opening, and use brute force to rescue Reine.

    Then, escape with Reine using a prepared getaway vehicle to lose pursuit. That was it.

    Of course, the chaos involved cutting power to the entire building and releasing sleeping gas.

    The obstacles to be overcome included Nemesis’ army of battle robots and the absurdly powerful Triple Number Fixer, Lexi.

    Even if the plan succeeded, the pursuit they’d face from the city’s police force—a formidable power in their own right—would be another significant challenge.

    From what Sabrina was saying, it sounded like her idea was to get ahead of David, who was currently installing gas emitters throughout the hotel, and join him where he would pass through.

    Hmm... that’s not a great idea.

    If I were to grade it, it would score about 5 out of 100. On a scale of 10, it wouldn’t even get a single point.

    David’s plan relied on boldness and speed to catch everyone off guard.

    Who would expect someone to cut power to an entire building and burn through a corporate worker’s annual salary in sleeping gas just to rescue one person? You’d have to be crazy to anticipate something like that.

    But adding two nearly useless extras to the mix?

    That would only ruin the sharp edge of David’s plan.

    So I crossed my arms, pretending to think hard about it before decisively shaking my head to indicate that her idea wasn’t good.

    “What’s your problem, Fox? Got an issue? Or are you scared? Then go back!”

    “....”

    “You don’t have any better ideas, do you?”

    Tsk, tsk, tsk.

    What did she think I was? Some clueless teammate objecting for the sake of it?

    Wanting to show the utterly uninformed Sabrina the right way, I confidently opened my mouth... only to close it, realizing with dismay that no sound would come out.

    Not being able to argue with words was frustrating beyond belief!

    All I could do was scratch my head in frustration as Sabrina glared at me, clearly annoyed.

    Thud!

    At that moment, a sound echoed from nearby—something heavy had fallen.

    Then, I used telekinesis to cling to the ceiling upside-down and darted forward at high speed.

    “Eek! I—I knew this would happen! I told you I hate stuff like this!”

    Tuning out her whining, I swam gracefully through the small gap between the ceiling and floor, making my way to an elevator shaft in no time.

    “Huff... huff... is it over now?”

    Oh, this next part’s going to be even scarier.

    Like giving her a warning shot, I gently patted her head as she whimpered in shock. Without hesitation, I hurled us into the vertical shaft, a tunnel stretching endlessly downwards.

    By now, Sabrina didn’t even have the energy to scream. She just gaped like a goldfish, her lips opening and closing wordlessly.

    I ignored her, savoring the stomach-dropping sensation like I was on a rollercoaster, and used telekinesis to propel us upward through the shaft.

    How far did we ascend?

    As soon as I instinctively sensed we’d reached the right floor, I dodged sideways just as an elevator came roaring down. I tucked us neatly into the space between the ceiling and floor.

    Ahh, how do I describe this feeling?

    It was like crouching for a long time and then breaking into a light sprint. A perfect mix of exhaustion and exhilaration left me smiling.

    “...Ughhh... sis... bro...”

    Oh, quit being so dramatic.

    Carefully, I set Sabrina, still sniffling and ghost-like, onto the ground. Then, I glanced around.

    The area was a dusty, cluttered mess of wires and machinery.

    Not surprising—it was the ceiling.

    We’re almost there.

    I moved cautiously to avoid making noise and began examining parts of the ceiling, using telekinesis to loosen and peek through different panels.

    ‘Not here. Then here? No, not this one either. What about this...?’

    Opening, peeking, closing, securing. I repeated the process about four times until—finally—I found the right spot.

    “...Hey, Fox, what are you doing? Why are you... oh, that!”

    By now, Sabrina had recovered enough to shuffle over. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight below.

    Her reaction was understandable.

    Directly below us stood a massive cluster of battle robots, their sleek, lethal frames lined up like soldiers awaiting orders.

    If memory served, there were twenty in total in the original story.

    Sabrina’s face grew serious at the overwhelming sight.

    “With those things moving around... even my idiot brother...”

    Exactly.

    Calling them battle robots almost felt misleading—they were practically killing machines.

    Their armor was so tough that bullets could barely scratch them, and even specialized explosive rounds struggled to dent them.

    Their arsenal? Guns, missiles, and even monomolecular cutters that could slice through nearly anything.

    With my telekinesis’s low output, I could handle one, maybe two. Any more, and running would be my best bet.

    ‘But... it’s a different story if they’re just sitting there.’

    Of course, that was assuming the robots were active. Right now, they were dormant, waiting for a signal in their storage bay.

    For me, they were the perfect targets—simple and easy to disable.

    ‘My telekinesis can interfere internally if I focus!’

    From my hidden perch above the robots, I extended my hand and let my telekinetic energy thread out like a fine wire, reaching deep into the machinery.

    They were waterproof, dustproof, and even warded against magic, it seemed.

    But apparently, they hadn’t accounted for psychics.

    After about four minutes of concentration, I felt my telekinesis infiltrate one robot’s system.

    ‘Break it. Boom.’

    While fixing something might be hard, breaking it was always easy.

    I crushed the circuits inside the robot’s head with a heavy, clumsy telekinetic grip.

    One down. Nineteen to go.

    ‘Time’s tight... but I can manage.’

    As I gained experience, I found ways to shave down the time for each one. By the end, I had successfully neutralized all twenty battle robots in just 40 minutes.

    The sense of accomplishment felt like conquering a mountain.

    Now, only Lexi stood in the way. If I could deal with her, David’s plan would face no further obstacles.

    As I exhaled a long sigh of relief, suddenly, the lights around us flickered and went out.

    Sabrina, who had been quietly watching me work, jumped in surprise and looked around nervously.

    But I knew right away what was happening.

    This was David’s doing.

    The Nemesis terror incident was finally kicking off for real.

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