Spy-x-War Showdown
Chapter 291 - 290 Experiment

Chapter 291: Chapter 290 Experiment

Charles worked as a paparazzi, secretly photographing celebrities’ private lives to sell to the media. Surveillance was not just Charles’s job, it was also his greatest hobby, and now, it had become his instinct.

The number of see Destroyer’s followers watching Kate could be as few as two or as many as three or even four, but Charles worked alone. Despite this, he proudly proclaimed that Destroyer had always been under his watch.

To achieve this, Charles relied on sleeping less than two hours a day, focusing all his attention on monitoring the target, and a pathological level of excitement.

Yang Yi had thought Charles would have messy hair, a face with stubble he hadn’t had time to shave, and red eyes from lack of sleep.

But Charles looked very normal. His clothes were neat, his hair was combed tidily, his beard was cleanly shaved, and although there were indeed some red veins in his eyes, his spirits were very high.

He opened the door and led Yang Yi and the others into his house, excitedly saying, "So, is it time to act?"

Brian nodded and said in a low voice, "It’s time."

Passing through the living room, Charles led Yang Yi and his team to the room he used to watch over Destroyer, which was also his bedroom. The curtains were only slightly parted, revealing a high-powered telescope and a digital camera with a very long lens behind them.

Standing at the window, Charles checked his watch and said in a deep voice, "It’s now four-thirty in the afternoon. During the day, the target is generally in the cafe across the street. You can see through the telescope, the man with black hair is the watcher. By six o’clock, there will be a shift change for the target, continuing until nine o’clock when the cafe closes, but the watcher won’t leave."

Yang Yi’s tone was solemn as he asked, "What about after the cafe closes?"

"The watcher will return to his residence and continue to maintain surveillance over the upscale restaurant and the hotel exits. There are photos and videos of the target in the camera, you can check them."

After speaking, Charles smiled and said, "Basically, Destroyer’s surveillance of Kate is just symbolic. Their monitoring methods, apart from asserting their presence, are almost pointless."

Mike walked up to the window and after looking through the telescope for a while, he asked, "So, what are the chances of finding Destroyer through the watchers?"

Charles shook his head, "I don’t think it’s likely. These two watchers are too unprofessional. If Bass were really a professional hitman, he would definitely be wary of exposing himself because of these two amateurs."

Yang Yi said, "Could it be a dual strategy, where these two unprofessionals are watching in the open, but the real watcher is someone else who is just well hidden?"

Mike waved his hand, "We don’t need to consider that. As we’ve discussed before, it is unlikely that Destroyer would waste manpower here for a long time. Now, it depends on how cautious Bass is. If he throws away his phone immediately after taking a call, we’re out of options."

After finishing his sentence, Mike said in a stern face, "Let’s start now, Lightning—it’s your turn."

Schultz sat down in the living room, turned on his computer, and fired up the fake base station to tap into phone signals.

About ten minutes later, Schultz nodded and said to Mike, "I’ve hacked into the phone company’s network, but it currently shows that there are sixty-eight active calls in the vicinity. Without knowing the number in advance, I cannot tell which one is the target’s call."

Mike turned to Yang Yi, "Make a test call."

Yang Yi began dialing Danny. Schultz, a bit nervous, said, "There are four calls being dialed that haven’t been connected yet. Which number should I track?"

Mike spoke gravely, "Activate the signal tracker."

Mike reached out to turn on the device that looked like a router and quickly said, "Connection starting, good, acquiring the number."

As Yang Yi got through on the phone, he said softly into it, "Captain, just a test to maintain the call, yeah. What’s for dinner tonight?"

After a moment, Mike said in a deep voice, "Start eavesdropping; the number has been acquired."

Mike handed the tracker’s number to Schultz. Once Schultz had the number, he immediately said, "Got the number! That’s right..."

Schultz accurately reported Danny’s phone number.

The experiment was a success; eavesdropping, recording, number retrieval, and location tracking—all functions were fully realized.

After Yang Yi hung up the phone, Mike said gravely, "Test it again, this time call a more distant number, and make sure to control the conversation within five seconds. No, within three seconds."

Xiao Ran said solemnly, "I’ll do it. I’ll call the United States and hang up after three seconds, right?"

Xiao Ran made a call to her friend in the United States. Before she even dialed this time, the signal tracker had already locked onto her signal. As soon as she got through, the number was almost instantly known, and Schultz, upon receiving the number, almost immediately began to sift through the dozens of numbers engaged in ongoing calls.

Before Schultz could frantically locate Xiao Ran’s call number, she hung up, leading Schultz to say regretfully, "No, can’t do it. There are too many calls, three seconds is too short; I can’t find it that fast."

The second experiment ended in failure because the phone company’s exchange was controlling too many calls at once. It wasn’t that Schultz didn’t know Xiao Ran’s number; he couldn’t retrieve her call data within three seconds.

Mike said coolly, "Keep trying until it can be done within three seconds."

If it was just a message, that wouldn’t take too long. People watching Kate might take a long time to describe what they see, but they might also just use a sentence to tell that Kate has left the hotel and then end the call. Therefore, the time must be compressed to be very short to ensure not to miss what could be just a one-time opportunity.

Schultz tried again and failed again. While he quickly scrolled through lines of rapidly changing phone numbers, Xiao Ran ended the call once more.

Just then, Charles said, "This issue is easy to solve. It’s just after four in the afternoon now, and the call traffic is very high. But as the night goes on, there will be fewer calls. The later it gets, the fewer the calls will be, so we just need to choose the right time."

Mike nodded, "Okay, delay Sea God’s entry into the hotel until after midnight."

Yang Yi suddenly asked, "What if the watcher doesn’t make a call? What if he just sends a text message, or simply leaves an online message, then what?"

Mike shook his head, "That’s unlikely. To ensure the immediacy of the message, texting or online messaging cannot guarantee that the receiver will see it right away. To make sure Bass gets the intelligence as soon as possible, a phone call is the most basic method of communication."