章節 59: Agent Hundred Eyes (Centoculus)
"Master, your back," Dame Wasp greeted Ace seeing his senses return to his body after recalling Emi into his cursed toybox.
"Good job, holding down the fort, Rose. Let us get out of here," Ace said wasting no time starting the Buick and heading out of the parking lot. He did not want to spend one second more than he needed to in this city. He just wanted to get out of it as fast as possible.
"Master, it is the wrong route," Dame Wasp reminded seeing Ace take a different route. However, he shook his head and said, "Rose, we are heading home through a different route it is twice as long but I think it's best if we don't head back the same route."
"But we won't be back in time to pick up your cousin after his school," Dame Wasp reminded Ace of his promise to Danny to which Ace said, "I will think of something on the way."
…
"Level-7 Agent, Codename Centoculus, reporting for duty," A perky young girl in her mid-twenties with high bun style dark hair donning a neat black Italian suit announced saluting to her immediate superior, a stern male in his 40s with short gray hair in a worn-out black suit, "Agent, clever use of the Latin words Centum and Oculus. However, I like 'Hundred Eyes' better. Let us go with that."
"Sir Cloud, I don't think it would be appropriate as people would mistake that I am related to Agent Crimson Eyes," the young Agent rejected her superior's whim without hesitation.
"I don't know why you would think that people would make such a mistake but aren't you related to Crimson Eyes?" the Head Agent teased his junior understanding that she did not want her colleagues to know that she was related to the CIB's infamous Crimson Eyes.
Noticing his junior purse her lips and clench her fist in self-restraint, the Head Agent continued to provoke her, "Are you worried that others will laugh that the great Crimson Eyes' little sister is an insignificant desk jockey? Agent Hundred Eyes, are you ashamed that you were assigned to CIB's surveillance department? Let me tell you, if not for the information collected and submitted by our department, agents like your brother can't be great."
"No, Sir. I am not ashamed that I am assigned to CIB's surveillance department," Agent Hundred Eyes immediately denied her superior's accusations.
"I want to believe you. But, why did you not want your colleagues to know that you are Agent Crimson Eyes' sister?" despite Head Agent Cloud's stern exterior his eyes exposed him. He seemed to be enjoying himself at his junior's expense.
Agent Hundred Eyes felt her superior's questions were too personal and inappropriate. However, she still chose to answer him, "Sir, I want my colleagues to know me for my work and not whom I am related to."
"Good answer, I hope you do feel that way. However, your codename will be changed to Hundred Eyes. Trust me, you will thank me for this one day," Head Agent Cloud unilaterally decided to change his junior's codename for her despite her resistance.
"Sir, I—" Seeing Agent Hundred Eyes continue to reject his codename for her he sternly warned her, "It has been decided. Let us move on to discussing your work here."
"Yes, Sir," Agent Hundred Eyes gave in to her overbearing superior as compared to her codename she cared more about her work. She couldn't wait to prove herself with her exemplary work at CIB's surveillance department.
"Remember everything here is confidential. Agents below level 7 do not even know that this facility exists. So, you should know better than to talk about your work here with your friends and family," Head Agent Cloud warned Agent Hundred Eyes before continuing to explain her task, "Your task here is simply to monitor the surveillance cameras of all toll booths to this city and note down the numberplates of the vehicles that have visited the city for more than forty-five minutes or returned through the same toll booth. At the end of your shift, someone will come to collect the list of numberplates."
"That is it? I get paid a seven-figure income, yearly training resources, and full insurance just to flag a few vehicles visiting the city for more than forty-five minutes or leaving through the same toll booth. I understand my curse tool is perfect for monitoring a hundred screens at a time, but it is capable of more, I am capable of more," Agent Hundred Eyes blurted feeling that the job assigned to her was a ridicule to her ability and the taxpayer's money.
Feeling his junior's blatant disdain for her job, Head Agent Cloud shook his head and decided to explain the importance of the said surveillance job to his junior to correct her attitude so that she would take her task more seriously.
"Newbie, the city in question here has a Curse Mall and most of its land falls under the jurisdiction of the Curse Council. Chances are the people visiting it would mostly likely be Curse Masters. So, when you are flagging a vehicle that has visited the city for more than forty-five minutes or is returning through the same toll booth, someone will check the vehicle's owner and people close to them to find unregistered Curse Masters who have been plaguing our beautiful country," the Head Agent sternly spelled it out to his junior who was too eager to prove herself and failed to see the bigger picture.
The idea behind the CIB's toll booth surveillance was simple, those visiting the city for more than 45 minutes must have some business in the city. Those returning from the city through the same toll booth meant they were returning after conducting their business in the city. Considering that the city in question had Curse Mall and most of its land was under Curse Council's jurisdiction, those conducting business in this city were mostly likely to be curse masters.
But why the minimum 45-minute visit condition? That was because the CIB did not have enough personnel to check out all the vehicles that visited these cities. Therefore, after a healthy period of brainstorming, a few in the higher up decided on this condition believing that even if their net misses a fish once, they could catch it next time. Catching all the unregistered Curse Masters wasn't the priority but not to get caught by the Curse Council was.
"Can't you just place curse energy detectors at these toll booths? It would be far more efficient," Agent Hundred Eyes proposed still failing to see in line with her superior.
"Do you want the Curse Enforcers to kill us all?" the Head Agent thundered at his junior hearing her stupid idea that could get the entire CIB killed.
Following Hundred Eyes's idea, once the Curse Masters learn that there are curse detectors at the toll booth they will stop going to the city through regular means. This would cause the flow of potential customers to the Curse Mall and other businesses of the Curse Council to decrease sharply giving the Curse Enforce enough reason to hunt down all those responsible for the decrease in their revenue. Curse Enforce rarely interfered but once they did nobody could stop them except for the Curse Council.
"No, sir. Forgive my oversight," Being reminded by her superior, Agent Hundred Eyes saw the shortcomings of her approach and immediately apologized.
"Listen up, our approach might not be efficient and in many ways appear as a waste of resources but it is not risky. Due to this method, we have tracked down thousands of unregistered Curse Masters roaming the mortal world just this last month. You are not the only one assigned to this job, various teams are doing the same for different cities that have lands governed by the Curse Council. Together they are making this country safe one Curse Master at a time," the Head Agent conveyed to his eager and headstrong junior, around here, things get done slowly but correctly.
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