The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 51: Stealing From Himself

A few minutes later, Lane was ready to head out, dressed all in black. Black sneakers, black cargo trousers, and a black hoodie, one that had a particularly big hood, that could hide Lane’s pink hair and his face very well. He even had a black neck gaiter to match. He looked a bit like a thief.

Which wasn’t all that hard from the truth. He was going to steal...

If that could still be called stealing, when he was actually stealing from himself. Or his past identity, to be precise.

Noah Murray had just passed away, so it was the best moment for Lane to sneak back to his apartment. His father would likely be in hospital, going through all the formalities, while Damien should be busy with the dungeon break... And he wouldn’t be able to go there without Noah’s father anyway.

In line with the dubious nature of his return, Lane didn’t leave his place through the door. Instead, he stepped out to the balcony.

A stunning view of the night city filled with flickering lights spread out in front of him, reaching all the way to the horizon. It was a mesmerizing sight. Living on the 99th floor came with a lot of great perks.

Lane paid no mind to the beauty of the city, though. He had seen it plenty of times already, so it no longer made much of an impression on him. Now, he only was interested in the long streak of darkness passing through the lively city.

The closed-off zone by the river. The authorities locked down everything only within 500 feet of the water, but the area people vacated was even larger - most civilians wanted to stay as far from the site as possible, so many of them chose to leave their homes for the time being, if they had other places where they could stay for a few nights.

Noah’s apartment was on the other side of the river. Normally, with the lockdown in place, anyone would have to take a massive detour to get there from Lane’s place...

But why would Lane do so, when he had so many useful abilities to choose from? He stood on the ledge, activated his cloaking ability, just so that he wouldn’t be spotted in case anyone were to look up, and leaped forward. He descended a few feet at first, but soon enough, he started rising up again. Or running up would be a better term.

It was the aerial ability he acquired a good few years before, called Sky Step. It used to belong to an A-rank Esper, and although it wasn’t her main ability, it was the most valuable one. Lane possessed her purely just for the sake of taking it.

It wasn’t perfect - the main drawback was that it wouldn’t allow the user to stay up in the air - but it was still the next best thing after flying, much better than a simple levitation. All Lane had to do was to move fast enough, and he was able to control his altitude. Very convenient to move around, and suitable for aerial combat as well, Sky Step was among Lane’s favorite abilities he plundered.

With it, just a moment later he was already by the apartment building where he used to live as Noah, landing nimbly like a cat on the windowsill.

The inside of the apartment was shrouded in darkness, as it should be. Still, Lane jumped from windowsill to windowsill, checking every room for any signs of unwanted presence. Only once he ensured that there was nothing off, did he manipulate the window handle from the outside, opening the window a crack and slipping in.

First, he headed to the soundproofed room. He opened the safe, taking out his highest-grade spatial bag, the flashlight, and the empty water container. His spear and the regular spatial bag he used as Noah were on him when he died, so there wasn’t anything else to take in the safe. Not that Lane would have taken them anyway - it would be suspicious if they suddenly disappeared just as he passed away...

Not wanting to leave the safe completely empty, Lane left two boxes of Recovery Pill on the shelf. This was the appropriate amount of items Noah might have had, considering he was still just a newbie.

Having dealt with that, he glanced around the room. It would be nice if he could remove all the soundproofing and the safe, as ’Evan Greene’ had a suspiciously similar room in his apartment as well...

But, there was a chance Damien did not know that. Besides, he already suspected Noah, so even if there was another connection between the two, it wouldn’t change much... Not now when Noah was dead. And removing it now would be difficult, and might leave traces, since Lane was not an expert. It could only lead to Damien suspecting someone broke in, if he got a chance to investigate.

So, Lane let it go. He only grabbed everything strawberry-flavored from the cupboards and the freezer - Noah wasn’t supposed to like strawberry flavor all that much, after all - and went to take care of the last important thing, that is the laptop.

There was nothing particularly incriminating on the laptop, of course. Lane made a point not to contact anyone he shouldn’t from the devices owned by his possessed identities, even before Damien. The only issue was the folder prepared by the original Noah under hypnosis, that is the ’guide’, with all of the information Lane might have needed to know...

He deleted the files and emptied the trash bin. He was about to walk away and go back home... But then he paused, hesitating.

Should he break the laptop, just to be sure? Or would that be too suspicious?

And break in what way, exactly? Lane wasn’t particularly knowledgeable, so he wasn’t sure about what had to be done in order to ensure the files could no longer be recovered... Would spilling a drink over it suffice?

As he was standing in place, trying to make up his mind, all of a sudden, the doorbell rang, making him flinch. He froze in place, staring in the direction of the door.

The doorbell rang again.

Lane hesitated only for a moment. He could have fled right away, but then his curiosity would eat him alive. So, instead, he calmed his breathing, and crept toward the entrance door, carefully placing his steps.

His cloaking ability was still on, so unless it was an Awakened ranked A or above, they wouldn’t be able to spot him so easily.

He slowly made his way to the door, and pressed the button at the intercom, to see the image from the doorbell camera.

And he instantly froze.

Damien.

His former Team Leader was standing right in front of the door to Noah’s apartment.

...He looked terrible.

He had changed into a fresh uniform, but it was put on sloppily, at least for Damien’s standards. His face was pale, and his slightly messy hair showed traces of dried blood. A bit was also visible on his ear and neck as well. And his eyes were red.

What was he doing there?

Of course, it was no surprise that he knew Noah’s address - Noah was his subordinate, so he had access to all the information Lane had submitted - but still. Why would he come to the place of a just-deceased man?

Was he perhaps... looking for Lane?

The doorbell rang again, but Lane didn’t move. He even stopped his breathing, afraid of being heard. They might have been separated by the noise-canceling door, but Damien’s S-ranker ears might have still been able to pick up on even the faintest sound. Lane himself could hear the man, so it could also work the other way.

Minutes seemed to drag endlessly. Lane was starting to feel uncomfortable from holding his breath, his chest tight.

Well, it had been this way ever since he looked at the door camera feed, but Lane ignored that fact. He just stood motionless, without a single cohesive thought in his head. His heart thumped like crazy in his chest, as he stared into Damien’s emerald eyes... He knew that Damien couldn’t really see him, he was only looking at the camera, but that was not how it felt. His gaze was so intense, that Lane half-expected to see his own reflection in his eyes.

After what felt like eternity, Damien finally turned around and left.

Lane waited for at least half an hour, though, before he dared to so much as move from his spot. And another three or four hours, before he sneaked out of the window to return home. He didn’t close it behind himself - it’s not like any regular person could easily break in, anyway, and Damien might have seen the window being open a crack when he came. In such case, it would be suspicious if it suddenly closed on its own...