Chapter 1272 Risking Yourself

The following afternoon, the commercial street was relatively sparsely populated. At the entrance of the "Qiluoshang" clothing store, a stylish, even somewhat exaggerated, "hot girl" pushed open the door and entered. She had a meticulously styled but slightly flamboyant red double ponytail, wore a studded leather jacket and ripped jeans, her face was covered in heavy smoky makeup, and she was chewing bubble gum, which made a jingling sound as she walked.

It was Dr. Tesla in disguise.

"Welcome to Qiluoshang!" A young female shop assistant immediately greeted us with a professional and enthusiastic smile.

Tesla, speaking in a deliberately contrived tone, a mix of strange accents and lots of slang, casually looked around and said, "Hey, this place's nice! Find me some of the trendiest, shinies! The kind that'll blind you!"

Her voice was loud and her movements were exaggerated. She casually flipped through the clothes on the hanger, making a rustling sound, which attracted the attention of the few customers in the store.

"Uh, okay, please wait a moment, I'll recommend something to you..." The shop assistant tried to maintain a smile, but there was already a hint of embarrassment in her eyes.

"What are you waiting for! I'll look for myself!" Tesla waved her hand impatiently, then started grabbing a huge pile of clothes of different styles and bright colors from different sections like a shopping spree, and shoving them at the sales clerk. "These, and these! I want to try them all on!"

Clutching a mountain of clothes that could practically engulf her, Tesla strode confidently into the fitting room, much to the bewilderment of the sales clerks. The customers who had been browsing seemed intimidated by the "hot girl's" aura (and noise), exchanging unfriendly glances before quickly leaving the store.

The fitting room door slammed shut, shutting out the outside world. Tesla's arrogance vanished instantly, replaced by focus and vigilance. She quickly tossed the clothes in her arms aside and deftly inspected the fitting room—ordinary partitions, a full-length mirror, a hook—nothing particularly unusual.

She tapped the miniature communicator hidden beneath the bow on her chest with her finger and whispered, "Hey, you little mess, can you hear me? We've entered the target area. Clearance complete."

Einstein's calm, unwavering voice came through the communicator, tinged with a barely perceptible hint of mockery: "The signal is clear. Your 'performance' is quite compelling, Dr. Tesla. You hardly need any acting skills; you can just be yourself."

"Hey! What do you mean?!" Tesla almost exploded, but luckily he remembered his situation in time and managed to keep his voice down. "Stop talking nonsense! What's the CCTV footage like? Is anyone else outside?"

"The store's main surveillance footage shows that only one employee remains at the front desk, appearing somewhat uneasy. External surveillance footage did not detect any suspicious individuals approaching. Everything is currently normal."

“Normal? Hmph, the more normal it is, the more abnormal it is!” Tesla sneered, and began to skillfully check the equipment she had hidden on her body. She touched the miniature high-explosive punch launcher hidden in her left sleeve, confirmed that the emergency energy shield generator implanted under the skin of her right arm was working properly, the high-frequency vibrating particle knife in her boot heel was also ready to be activated, and there were even a few gadgets she had made herself clipped to her belt, ranging from high-intensity flashbangs to sticky capture nets.

"Equipment self-check complete!" Tesla whispered confidently into the communicator. "Whatever monsters or demons they are, if they dare to show their faces, they'll taste the latest invention of this genius!"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the communicator, followed by Einstein's leisurely sipping of coffee and a nonchalant comment: "I hope your 'latest invention' doesn't blow up the fitting room first this time, Dr. Tesla. I don't want to go to the police station to bail out a 'terrorist' hottie."

Tesla was furious, but he couldn't refute her. He could only glare fiercely at the wall, as if he could see through it and into the messy-haired guy outside leisurely drinking coffee.

Time ticked by. Silence reigned outside the fitting room, broken only by the occasional soft rustling of shop assistants tidying the shelves. Tesla was completely focused, his senses heightened, not missing a single unusual sound. Einstein, in the command center, also kept a close eye on all the surveillance footage and data streams, ready to activate contingency plans at any moment.

However, nothing happened.

Just as Tesla, having relaxed slightly due to prolonged mental strain, was preparing to once again mock Einstein for being overly vigilant—

Without any warning, without any energy fluctuations or sound, Tesla felt a huge hand grab her head from behind in an instant! Before she could even react, the scene in her vision suddenly tilted and distorted, as if the entire space had been violently kneaded by an invisible hand!

"Uh?!"

She only had time to utter a short gasp of surprise before her consciousness, like a power source abruptly cut off, plunged into complete darkness. Her body slumped forward, the various pieces of equipment hidden on her body never even having a chance to activate.

"Tesla?!" In the command center, Einstein suddenly stood up, his pupils shrinking slightly.

Just a moment ago, the live feed transmitted through the miniature camera hidden on Tesla suddenly turned into static, and the signal was completely cut off! The only thing that could be heard in the audio was Tesla's muffled groan that abruptly stopped.

"Rescue team! Move out immediately!" Einstein gave the order without hesitation, his voice still calm, but his pace noticeably faster.

The Anti-Entropy mech squad, which had been waiting at a nearby street corner, instantly activated and burst through the doors and walls of the "Qiluoshang" clothing store like a steel torrent. Amid the terrified screams of the shop assistants, they precisely surrounded the fitting room where Tesla was.

The doorway was forcibly broken open.

There was no one inside.

All that remained were scattered, colorful clothes, and... a tiny communicator lying in a corner, still flashing a faint red light.

Dr. Tesla, along with her confident equipment, vanished into thin air in this closed, heavily monitored space, just like the three Valkyries before her.

Einstein looked at the image of the empty fitting room that was transmitted back, slowly sat back in his chair, picked up the cup of coffee that had gone slightly cold, and his eyes became extremely solemn.

Shortly after Tesla's accident, Walter also received the news. He immediately turned back from his way to headquarters and went to the location where Tesla disappeared.

He first had someone buy the entire shop, and then used his authority to clean and search it repeatedly.

There was no indication that the attacker had left the store, yet even so, no trace of them was found in the vicinity.

Even Tesla's "corpse"...