Luke wondered how many people from the Island of Despair were still lurking around him.
They certainly were not important people to him, but they were tasked with monitoring his work and life.
Since they were not particularly important, he would not bother investigating their backgrounds thoroughly.
At the stime, he thought about the flawless new identity Abel gave Luca. There was not a single flaw in her background check. There was not even the slightest issue during verification.
If it were not for his sharp intuition and his familiarity with Luca, he would not have paid much attention to her at first.
Considering Luca's perfectly forged background, Luke knew that even if he investigated, he might not be able to uncover each of those people one by one.
His life had long been under Abel's surveillance.
Luke sat up.
Luca was not deeply asleep. The moment Luke sat up, she woke up and looked at him with sleepy eyes. "Luke?"
"Shh, I'm going to do something," whispered Luke.
Back then, Luca would have definitely held onto him. She would worry about what dangerous thing he was about to do.
When Luca heard that Luke was going to do something now, she sat up and watched him get out of bed. She asked in a soft voice, "Is it dangerous? I'll go with you."
Previously, she was a burden to him, but things were different now.
Even if they were going to do something dangerous, she could protect herself and Luke at the same time.
Luca believed in her abilities.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtLuke shook his head. "I'm going downstairs to turn on the infrared alarm."
Luca frowned. She knew the alarm system here was advanced. Why was it turned off?
This place was considered a tourist spot, and the house had always attracted various architects who cto make visits. That was why a layer of infrared alarms was installed on the outer wall of the house.
Normally, if someone tried to climb in, it would trigger the infrared alarm, which would also send a notification to the homeowner's phone. With a press of a button, they could alert the authorities immediately.
"Alright, be careful." Luca thought of Stan Muller.
There was no one else here, and neither she nor Luke would turn off the infrared alarm. That meant it could only be done by Stan.
Moreover, the alarm would becineffective during a power outage. However, once power was restored, it would restart.
Therefore, even though the infrared alarm would turn off due to a power outage, as long as electricity returned, it would be on again.
There was no possibility of Stan forgetting to turn it back on after a power outage.
Hence, Stan must have intentionally turned it off.
Luke opened the bedroom door and walked out.
He had designed the layout of this house, so he knew exactly where each room was. He went downstairs and found the control room.
Using his phone's flashlight as a torch, Luke quickly found the main unit controlling the infrared alarm. He glanced up along the wires.
All the switches for the sockets were turned off. It was not only the switch for the infrared alarm but the switch for the surveillance cameras were turned off as well.
Luke's eyes darkened. It seemed that Stan had turned them off after they went to bed.
Before they went to bed, Luke had shown Luca the device invented by Adrian, which still displayed the surveillance in the house.
Luke turned on all the switches. When all the devices were connected to the power source, they started running.
Luke did not linger. He quickly left and returned upstairs.
Luca was sitting on the bed. When she saw Luke return safely, she let out a sigh of relief and asked, "Is it turned on again?"
"Yes, everything's on. Not only the infrared alarm was turned off, but all the indoor surveillance was turned off too. I've restarted them all," replied Luke before he sat on the bed again.
He picked up his phone and explained the situation to Gale.
Gale said they had changed their strategy and left the house before the infrared alarm was activated.
Luke trusted his abilities. That was why he did not say anything.
Luca leaned her head on Luke's shoulder, reading the conversation between Luke and Gale on the phone. That was when she realized Luke had arranged for Gale to move the medicinal herbs from the trunk.
Even if Abel’s men came, they would not be able to find the herbs.
Even though Abel might still suspect her, there was not much he could do without evidence.
Luca let out a sigh of relief. "I didn't know you made such an arrangement."
"I'm here with you. You can rest well. Everything will be fine," replied Luke as he placed his phone on the bedside table.
"But something will definitely happen tonight," said Luca. Since Stan turned off the surveillance, it was inevitable that something would happen.
"Don't worry, Gale will give them a nice surprise," replied Luke.
"Alright..." Even though Luca initially thought there was no benefit in confronting Abel head-on, she realized Luke must have thought everything through.
She just waited quietly for the situation to unfold.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Get more sleep," suggested Luke.
"Okay." Luca nodded and lay down, snuggling closer to him.
Luke hugged her gently, patting her shoulder. "I'm right here with you. Nothing's going to happen. Relax."
"Mmm." Luca caught a whiff of his scent and slowly closed her eyes.
However, she knew something would definitely happen tonight. She was no longer counting on luck to get them through. That was why she was very worried.
Thus, she did not truly fall asleep but just rested with her eyes closed.
After more than an hour, the infrared alarm in the house went off.
Luke and Luca opened their eyes at the stime.
"They're here," Luke's tone was grim as he said to Luca. "We need to play this out fully. I have to go downstairs and check. Stay safe upstairs."
Luca nodded, knowing that the intruders were definitely from the Island of Despair. She could not step forward at the moment, so she sat on the bed. After watching Luke leave, the sound of his footsteps grew fainter and fainter until she could not hear them anymore.
Feeling uneasy, Luca decided not to sit on the bed anymore. She walked over to the couch and sat down, anxiously waiting for news from Luke.
The moment the alarm went off, Luke and Luca were not the only ones who reacted. Stan also reacted immediately.
His heart skipped a beat as he sat up and looked at the notification on his phone and heard the loud noise coming from outside. He could not help but say to himself, ‘This is bad.'
Indeed, it was bad. Stan had turned off all the alarms and surveillance before going to bed. Even after lying down, he had sat up to confirm once more that they were off before going to sleep peacefully.
After all, the message he received had instructed him to turn off the surveillance and alarm.
Why was the alarm ringing?
Stan quickly put on his clothes. When he was about to go to the control room to check, he bumped into Luke just as he stepped out of the butler's quarters.
"Mr. Crawford," Stan exclaimed in surprise.
"I heard the alarm go off, so I cdownstairs to check. What's going on?" asked Luke.
“Perhaps ssmall animal crawled up the wall and tripped the alarm. I'll go turn it off," Stan smiled and explained.