Night was eerily silent.
Besides an occasional patrol of Awakeners from the Pingliang Security Bureau passing on the street, there were hardly any other people.
Instead of Source-power streetlights, ordinary electric streetlights lined the sides of the road. The Power Supply Bureau of Pingliang had increased the voltage to barely keep the electric lights operational, but at a glance, out of every ten streetlights, eight were dimmed, and the remaining one or two flickered with a dull yellow light, as if they could go out at any time.
Such streetlights had to be replaced every two or three days along every stretch of road.
Only Source-power streetlights could last.
The full moon, hanging high in the sky, gradually disappeared behind the clouds, its bright moonlight obscured, casting even deeper shadows over the night.
A few streets away from the orphanage where the incident happened,
Sun Yu, Cai Jiajia, and the others had already changed into the props prepared by Nian Chengwei.
Under the cover of unified black cloaks, their shapes were hidden, indistinguishable as male or female, and each wore a different mask on their face, all quite gaudy...
"Why do I have to wear a pig-face mask!"
A female apprentice touched the protruding pig nose on her mask, her voice filled with profound melancholy.
Nian Chengwei touched the Monk mask he was wearing and coughed dryly, "I didn't find the props, and I'm also quite heartbroken over it."
Looking at the other apprentices, there were monkey faces, Monk Sha faces, and even a horse face...
This was a set of Journey to the West masks, and to make up a set for five people, a horse face had been specially added. The comical appearances of the masks almost made him want to laugh.
However, as a Contact Person and examiner, and also the person in charge of the Pingliang Intelligence Department, Nian Chengwei couldn't laugh; he had to maintain a serious demeanor,
"It's just a prop to hide your identity, no one knows who is behind the mask anyway... Let's move out quickly!"
The tactical plan for the operation had already been laid out; their route was to make a beeline for the side of the orphanage... to infiltrate.
Sun Yu and his companions descended from the high-rise buildings, alighting lightly, using the outer walls for leverage to propel themselves through the air at high speed, like dark fish flicking between buildings.
In the distance could be seen the teaching building on the side of the orphanage, lit up from within, figures of the Security Bureau Awakeners moving about indistinctly.
The surrounding area was open, and there was still a gap of over thirty meters between the teaching building and the nearest large structure.
Sun Yu grabbed onto a window's anti-theft bars, his body suspended mid-air, and with his other hand, he took out the hook and rope that had been prepared in advance. With a flick of his wrist, the hook flew out securely, fastened onto the railing of the teaching building's rooftop terrace, accompanied by a faint noise.
Rapidly, he passed the other end of the rope to his companion, who adeptly tied it to the anti-theft bars.
At that moment, Sun Yu, stepping on the swaying rope, darted towards the opposite teaching building's rooftop like a Ghostly Soul.
Wearing the Monk Tang mask, Nian Chengwei nodded imperceptibly.
Though young and inexperienced in devising plans, their actions were quick and decisive, fitting for pupils specially trained by the Martial Arts Hall.
On the teaching building's rooftop terrace, an important position from which to overlook the entire playground, three Security Bureau Awakeners were stationed.
One yawned, "Don't know how many days we'll have to guard this. I'm not even supposed to have a night shift; staying up all night is a man's nemesis!"
Another, holding a flashlight, gave an 'oh, please' look, then suddenly paused and looked toward the other two: "Did you guys hear something?"
"The playground over there is still busy. You can hear people talking."
"No, it sounds like it came from the other side... Forget it, I'm going to check it out. It's not good for blood circulation to stand for too long; better to walk around a bit."
He wandered lazily toward the other side of the terrace with his flashlight in hand.
Drowsiness made his brain sluggish.