Ning and Sharron drove out of the president’s mansion.

"Tell me the location to your apartment," Ning said suddenly.

"What?" the woman looked toward him.

"I spoke out loud so the people outside the president’s room could hear us. If anyone there leaked the information, the thieves from last night will be on their way to your apartment to steal your things. If you want to keep it safe, you need to tell me where your apartment is and where you keep the diary."

"I..."

"Come on! We don’t have much time."

"It’s on 22nd Street," she said immediately, giving him the full address.

"And the diary?" Ning asked.

"It’s in my safe, behind a portrait of my grandfather above my bed," she said.

"Great!" Ning said. "I’ll go secure the safe."

"But it’s locked," the woman quickly said. "I need to be there. It has biometric locks."

"Uhh..." Ning thought for a moment. He needed to go there as quickly as possible, but it wasn’t for the diary itself. The diary wasn’t so important in the first place. Catching the thieves was.

"It’ll be fine. You take your time. I’ll be waiting for you. Don’t take too long. Do not stop for anyone. And if anyone comes for you, call me immediately. Have this number ready to dial."

He handed her a piece of paper. "Alright, I’ll be off now."

Ning jumped out of the moving vehicle and turned into a bat, immediately flying away at a speed that left massive planes to shame. In less than a minute, he found the location of the apartment and quickly got outside of it. It was a nice apartment in a high-rise building, overlooking the metropolis.

Ning landed on the veranda and looked inside at the bedroom. He saw the picture of Decron Shoults hung above the bed. He didn’t really think he would keep a picture of his family right above his bed where they could see it all, but who was he to judge?

He looked around the room, finding it rather clean. ’How does she have the time to clean at all?’ he wondered. ’Or does she not even have the time to mess up the place?’

He felt for the poor woman.

Ning stood outside the veranda for some time, watching the surroundings. No one came at all. Even as dozens of minutes passed, no one came to the apartment.

If these were the same people he was thinking of, they would have the resources to find out the apartment of the scientist and ransack it almost immediately.

"That likely means no one in the president’s room right now is the culprit," Ning thought. "That means it’s either someone working in the facility or one of the heroes."

The heroes would be taken care of soon. He had left in his text note to the president what she was to do next. The heroes should already be on their way to the president’s mansion and would find out some news that was half true and half lies. If anyone among them was the thief or involved with them, then luring them through false information would be quite easy.

It was a few minutes longer before Ning saw Sharron’s car park outside the building as she quickly rushed up to her apartment. She saw Ning outside the veranda and quickly opened the doors to let him in.

"I’m so sorry. I haven’t had the time to fix this place. Do you want some water? Coffee?" she asked. "Am I babbling? I don’t get many people in my apartment. I’m not used to company."

"Get the notebook and we can leave," Ning said with a sigh.

"Why?" the woman asked.

"Why what?"

"Why the notebook?" she asked. "There’s nothing in there."

"I guessed that," Ning said. "But the thieves don’t know that. They think we came here in a hurry to get something important. We better keep them thinking it is something important."

The woman’s eyes widened slightly. "Aha! This is bait," she said.

Ning smiled and nodded. Internally, he spoke the truth to himself.

’The book isn’t the true bait. You are.’

But he couldn’t tell the woman that, though. He couldn’t imagine how she would act if she found out.

Ning and Sharron arrived at the research facility an hour later. The security had been tripled—guards at every entrance, cameras covering every angle, and suppression fields active throughout the entire fort.

Ning hadn’t even arrived at the gates when he got the system message.

The president had explained some stuff to the guards there, so Sharron and Ning were given quick entry. As they walked in, one of the scientists came up to Sharron and told her what they were doing.

"Everything we’ve been working with has been moved to Research Hall 3, just as you asked. All equipment, chemicals—whatever you need—is there," the scientist said. "Is it true that you do not need any of us for this?"

Sharron nodded. "I’m sorry, but I will have to do this alone. I will ask for your help if I should need one soon."

She finally left, walking to the research hall. As they walked in, Ning found both Frostveil and Godhood sitting outside the hall in wait.

"What are you two doing here?" Ning asked.

"The president sent us for extra protection," Frostveil said.

"We’ve been here for half an hour. Where have you guys been?" Godhood asked.

"We had to go get her great-grandfather’s notebook. Sorry if we made you wait too long. It shouldn’t be too long now," Ning said.

"Any idea on how long we’ll have to stay here?" Frostveil asked.

"I don’t know," Sharron said. "I guess it depends on how long you want to stay here."

Ning got close and whispered. "She’s not really going to do much work. She’s just going to act like she’s working and—"

"No," Sharron quickly cut him off. "I am going to work. Since I’m already here, what else can I do but do my job, right? Let me get right on it."