"How can you be sure the restroom will be empty?" Ace asked as Dee3 was about to open a tunnel connecting her dungeon to one of Nastrond's restrooms.
"Thanks to the floor's plumbing," Dee3 replied, without going into details. Ace didn't press further, seeing how confident she was in her methods.
After being dropped into a restroom on Nastrond—the special floor of Base Wulfric—Ace's first instinct was to use the Cursed Clout to hide in the shadows and confirm the restroom was empty. He dared not leave the room, knowing the entire floor was rigged with curse sensors. This floor alone had nearly half the sensors used in the entire base. Security here was extremely tight, and the consequences of being caught were far more severe.
Not even Dame Wasp could help him bypass all the sensors. Even with the Cursed Clout's shadow-folding ability, avoiding detection on this floor was nearly impossible. Still, that didn't mean he could just sit in the restroom all day waiting for a miracle.
Sure, he could wait for a staff member, knock them out, and assume their identity. But the problem was, even within Nastrond, staff couldn't be in areas they weren't authorized to access. The IDs used here were special—linked to a system that constantly tracked whether staff were within their designated zones. So impersonating someone wasn't an option unless Ace planned to knock someone out and actually do their job for them while they "rested."
Now, that would be like playing truck driver, pizza delivery, or taxi simulator games to pass the time—when you could earn actual money doing the same thing in the real world, making far better use of your time.
Back to the matter at hand, Ace could try using curse concealment arts to hide all traces of curse energy, but the regular motion detectors would still give him away. The same applied to Emi's talismans, Dame Wasp's 1/100th form, and stealth mode combo.
So, knowing all this, why did Dee3 still help Ace get into Nastrond? Because he had a way. The brilliant minds who designed Nastrond's security system also devised a method to break into such a heavily curse sensor monitored location without being detected.
That's just how our great country operates: first, they invent a problem no one else could imagine, and then they create a solution for it. They gave new meaning to the saying: "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail."
Fortunately for Ace, the country's obsession with being prepared for even the unimaginable worked in his favor. The same minds who created Nastrond's state-of-the-art security system also designed the Vanisher—a four-inch-long, quarter-centimeter-wide device shaped like a pen. When activated, it taps into the backdoor built into the curse sensors in its vicinity, ensuring they won't detect the user.
This backdoor wasn't some rogue feature—it was built into the curse sensors with full knowledge and permission of the government. It ensured that these devices could never be used against us.
Many don't know that our great country wasn't just the largest manufacturer of curse gadgets—it's also the world's leading exporter. Countries around the globe pay a premium to secure bulk orders of these cursed devices. However, the government only sells curse gadgets that cannot be used against us. These include curse phones, curse pads, curse sensors, curse doors, curse walls, and similar items—in short, mostly gadgets with built-in backdoors.
The government has cleverly exploited these backdoors, not just to monitor allies but to always stay one step ahead of them. The ironic part was that these countries pay ten to fifteen times the actual manufacturing cost of these gadgets. Over time, some of our competitors have accused us of selling curse gadgets with hidden backdoors and have even provided evidence to support their claims. Yet, this hasn't significantly impacted our country's export of curse technology.
Why? Because most of the countries that buy from us don't have a proper curse research department, let alone the capability to develop curse gadgets themselves. They have little choice. Besides, they don't believe a small nation like theirs would be of much interest to the world leader in curse tech.
Additionally, their curse forces paled in comparison to ours. If our country ever decided to attack, their best option would be to surrender under favorable terms. So ultimately, it doesn't matter to them whether the curse gadgets they purchase have backdoors. They just need some means—any means—to defend themselves against rampant curse criminals and curse terrorists in their countries.
Besides, the quality of our country's curse gadgets couldn't be matched by our competitors. They never failed in the field unless it was against our country, but the rest of the time, they were worth their expensive price. Countries around the globe weren't short on money when it came to protecting their local leaders. They could always recover the funds by taxing their citizens and squeezing them just enough to survive until the next fiscal year, just enough to keep working like slaves for the elite.
Honestly, the backdoors built into these curse gadgets weren't primarily intended for monitoring foreign governments, but rather the people and organizations those governments resold the gadgets to. These were individuals and groups blacklisted by our government—those who were denied access to our resources through direct or official channels and could only obtain them through expensive intermediaries.
These were the real threats—dangerous people and organizations with hostile intentions toward our country and its people. The backdoors allowed the government to stay a step ahead of these people. However, thanks to increasing global competition, this strategy hasn't been as successful in recent years as it was during the golden era, when the government first decided to share its curse tech achievements with the rest of the mortal world. Still, many use our curse tech to safeguard their families and those they care about. It was really funny that way.
The Vanisher happens to be just one of many such curse gadgets the government created—part of a larger suite of tools designed to hijack and bypass cursed devices sold around the globe. Ace now planned to use it to infiltrate the Nastrond.