Chapter 315: +Chapter 1 Ring of Disguise
Zou Tian had spotted the former Jade Chameleon Sect branch leader, Teng Wuying, by chance as he exited the tournament grounds and followed him. The man either had some instinct or technique guiding him or he was simply paranoid because he’d somehow spotted Zou Tian.
He had, as per the manual, kept calm. Suspicion didn’t mean he was made. Calmly and purposely, he kept course past a few intersections before turning onto a side street.
Once out of the target’s sight, he’d had to hurry through an alley, step into a shadow, use the +1 Ring of Disguise—as Master had referred to it in the written instructions—to change his appearance. “Ring of Disguise,” Zou Tian understood as the device had the ability to shift his clothes, his appearance, or both at once. But what did “plus one” mean?
Anyway, he’d gotten ahead of his target and, after a turn, had been forced to trail him once again until he entered a tea shop. Zou Tian had been quite worried right before the end. If he’d been spotted again, there was no third disguise in the ring, and crafting a new one took time he didn’t have. He would have been left with only his own face, and since he was known in the city, he avoided using that appearance at all costs.
Obviously, the chance of someone who knew him being nearby and spotting him was almost infinitesimal, but one manual clearly advised against taking just such chances—no matter how slight a possibility of failure was, it would eventually end in disaster if allowed to stack with enough other chances on enough occasions.
The next time he had an opportunity to ask for a boon, he knew exactly what he wanted. His current ring was a fantastic treasure, obviously, but it didn’t have enough options for tailing a target solo. With a team and the ability to communicate with those team members, no disguises would be necessary, but he was rapidly finding the shortcomings of his current equipment when it came to following someone without having backup.
Five changes would be sufficient. Hmm. The current ring had two. Maybe that was the reason for the “plus one.” It had one disguise plus one extra, equaling two. That made sense. He’d request a +4 Ring of Disguise from Master.
Regardless, Zou Tian turned himself invisible and waited for a patron to exit the tea shop, slipping through the opened door before it shut. Teng Wuying wasn’t in sight, but Zou Tian made his way unseen to a back room where the man was in a booth setting up a silencing array.
Perfect.
Zou Tian unfortunately couldn’t penetrate the formation’s bubble. For one thing, the time he could spend invisible—mere minutes—was seriously limited without using an amount of spirit coins that would be easily detectable. And there were no shadows big enough to hide him that close to his target’s booth.
Besides, such silencing arrays generally contained an alarm function that notified the user when the threshold was pierced.
The situation was fine, though. The manuals had covered that exact scenario, suggesting that a good spy must know how to read lips. Zou Tian had spent quite a bit of time since being given the manuals learning that particular skill.