Chapter 15. We Have a Bug.

Watching Reggie return with his wife and children, Noah and K also returned to their car.

"You were very brave when you delivered the baby just now. Frankly, I thought you would suffer. You impressed me." K eyed Noah, "You're stronger than I thought, but you seem tired."

Noah thought, 'How can I not be tired? I had to increase a bit of strength to pull that little guy out!' He wouldn't have gotten tangled in the tentacles if the moment of adding the points hadn't paralysed his body for a moment.

"I'll just eat something. Did you ask anything?" Noah changed the subject.

"No, but I think it's a little strange. What would scare Reggie so badly that he would risk a warp jump with a newborn? I think that we still have to do some investigation on this."

Noah nodded, "K, do you remember what the Cephalapoid said? Could it be the guy who scared the shit out of that Cephalopoid? Maybe Reggie also noticed that and wants to run too?"

K's car just drove a few meters forward and immediately slammed on the brakes. He turned to Noah and said, "If that's the case, it must be one hell of a scary guy."

Half an hour later, at a newsstand in Manhattan, K bought some local newspapers.

"Gossip tabloids?"

"Best investigative reporting on the planet. Go ahead, read the New York Times if you want to; they get lucky sometimes. Look, I found it."

Noah looked at the newspaper. The headline said, 'Alien Stole My Husband's Skin.'

"Come on, let's go to the farm and have a look."

Soon after arriving at the farm, they saw a large pit with a burnt tree next to it.

Edgar's wife heard the dog barking and came out, "Can I help you, gentlemen?"

Before K could speak, Noah took a step forward, "I'm Special Agent Noah, and this is Special Agent Carter. We are from the F.B.I. We'd like to talk to you about your 'visitor'."

K looked at Noah.

"Are you here to make fun of me too?" The old woman sighed.

"No, no, Ma'am. We at the F.B.I do not have a sense of humour that we are aware of. I'm willing to take your word for it. Can we come in?"

Beatrice found that they didn't look like someone making a joke of her situation, so she opened the door a bit wider and said, "Sure..."

Sitting on the sofa, Noah looked at the layout of the house. The house looked like a big place from the outside, but the furniture and appliances in the house looked old.

"The Chief of police himself came up to the house and did a full out professional investigation. Took a police report and wrote down everything I said... from A to Z… Not believing anything I said. Sort of poking fun at me. They asked me, 'If he was murdered ... How was he able to walk back in the house?"

"But let me tell you something right now. I know Edgar, and that wasn't Edgar!"

"It's like something, was wearing Edgar. Like a... suit, and Edgar suit." Beatrice gave a wry smile. "You don't believe me, do you? I swear, he would never drink sugar water! He hates sweets."

Noah saw the photo frame on the table with Edgar's picture in it. K nodded. He took out his sunglasses and gestured at Noah to put his on. Noah also quickly took out his sunglasses from his pocket and put them on.

A flash of bright light flashed, and Beatrice froze. K took off his sunglasses, "All right, Beatrice, there was no alien. The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO; swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket ... and reflected the light from Venus."

Noah looked at K stupidly, "You erased her memory, and you just made up a new one? That's not very convincing."

"What else?" K asked.

Noah raised his eyebrows and looked at Beatrice, "Hey, actually Edgar didn't die, he cheated on you, but you dumped him. I suggest you sell the farm and find someone who will treat you better."

K shook his head and walked out, "And that's a better story? "

"No, it's advice. Didn't you notice that she had been hurt? I think Edgar wasn't very good to her."

K paused and thought carefully, "Sure, kid. Not bad, but that's not what we're here for."

Noah stood by the pit and watched K place a little soil in something the size of a chewing gum box, which seemed to be an alien analyser.

"N, pop quiz, do you know what kind of alien life form leaves a green spectral trail and craves sugar water?" K had a headache when he saw the green light in the analyser lit up.

"Bug!" Noah answered without hesitation.

K took out his communicator, "Zed, we have a Bug."

"N, it looks like you were really paying attention to the information yesterday. Bug's thrive on the carnage. They may look like giant cockroaches, but they will kill every non-insect creature on the planet!"

"I think I know what the Cephalapoid was afraid of, and it can also explain why Reggie would rather risk his wife's childbirth and take her to leave Earth."

"A Bug is tear-assing around Manhattan island in a brand-new Edgar suit. Do you know how dangerous that is? Let's go; Zed just informed us to drop by the morgue."

　　...

J was once again pressed down by the instructor, but he covered his face with his arms. He raised his knees at the same time, giving the instructor a sharp blow, rolling himself to his feet.

When the instructor tried to pounce on him again, Zed came in.

"Okay, time out. Kid, you are lucky. We need more people now, so your training can be temporarily suspended."

Only then did J drop his guard, "Zed, if you had come a little later, I would have beaten this guy up. Hey, you know what, you're in luck..."

Instructor tutted, "You probably didn't hear it clearly. Zed said that your special training is 'temporarily suspended'. When the mission is over, you have to come back here."

J's face changed, 'Is it still too late to apologise?'

Zed shook his head. He had seen too many newcomers, but this time the two rookies K brought in were special. N was a genius with superb physical quality, courage and clear-headedness.

The one in front of him was even more special. He was actually beaten down so many times, but he stood back up. He remembered the previous batch of rookies; they gave in too soon. But J sometimes didn't know when to shut his mouth. Zed wondered if he could communicate with aliens in the future.

"K and N just reported that there's a Bug on earth. It killed a guy and is wearing human skin around New York. We need to capture him before he creates even more problems."

"Bugs?" J laughed it off. "So... what, we don't like bugs? Were you stung when you were a kid? Why don't you use some bug spray? Or stomp on it... or something? "

Zed looked at J speechlessly, "Well, let's see you try to stomp on this Bug..."