"Are you saying... you have the same dream every day? And you always wake up precisely at 00:42?"
The man wearing the cartoon cat mask looked at Lin Xian:
"Then you're having a blast, bro! In the dream, kill whoever you want to kill! Do whatever you want to do! You can even experience all sorts of life-threatening games! Hss... just thinking about it is exhilarating!"
Click.
The man pushed the magazine into the handgun, chambering a round:
"But tonight, you won't be needing to look for thrills in your dreams, I'll take you to play with something real!"
He pointed his finger at the bank across the street:
"My little brother pried open the bank doors, follow me!"
Lin Xian nodded, straightened the Ultraman mask on his face, and stood up to keep pace with the man:
"What should I call you, big brother?"
"On the streets, they all call me Big Face Cat."
The man grinned, the flesh on his face squeezing the cartoon cat mask to be even more two-dimensional:
"You can just call me Brother Lian."
"Brother Lian, what's my task?"
"It's not your time as the Code Expert to make a move yet, follow me, and don't run off."
Rustle rustle rustle...
In a quick jog, Lin Xian followed Big Face Cat to the bank entrance.
"Is it all done?" Big Face Cat inquired.
The lackey nodded.
Big Face Cat pressed the handgun against the lackey's forehead—
Bang!!
Blood splattered on a wall!
He casually wiped the gun barrel, patted Lin Xian on the shoulder:
"Now there's one less person to share the money with, we'll get to divide up quite a bit more."
"Isn't he your lackey?"
"He had sticky fingers, not clean enough for our safety, had to go!"
Big Face Cat said as he pulled Lin Xian deeper inside.
They arrived at a corridor junction.
A masked man was fiddling with a fuse box.
"Not done yet?"
Big Face Cat urged.
Click.
The masked man cut off a wire and wiped the sweat off his forehead with his free hand:
"All set, the alarm system is disabled!"
Bang!!
Another shot to the back of the head! The fuse box was splattered with blood!
"Not to go against you, big brother, but this makes me feel very insecure!"
Lin Xian pointed at the corpse on the ground:
"Was this little brother also not clean enough?"
Big Face Cat snorted:
"This guy had clean hands, but he seduced your big sister-in-law! Could I keep him?"
"Is it really that hard to be the big brother?"
"Oh, never mind these little details! Shouldn't you be happy we have one less person to share the money with?"
Lin Xian spread his caught hands:
"You're not planning to pop me too in a bit and hog all the money for yourself, are you?"
"Of course not!"
Big Face Cat patted his chest, then pulled out a gray lump stuck together with duct tape from behind his waist and handed it to Lin Xian.
"What's this?"
"C4 explosive."
Big Face Cat pointed at the switch to Lin Xian as he explained:
"I, Brother Lian, am an open book! I never stoop to cowardly acts! If you think I'm about to kill you, just press the switch and blow me up with you! Feeling reassured now?"
"Alright, sounds solid!"
Lin Xian gave a thumbs up and took the C4 explosive.
Rustle rustle rustle...
The two continued to move forward.
A masked man ran up from the underground passage:
"Boss, I've cut the main power supply—"
Bang!!!
Brains scattered everywhere.
"Brother, this person, he..."
"It's fine, Brother Lian," Lin Xian waved his hand, indicating that he was used to it:
"Just tell me straight, how many people are left to divide the money?"
"Just the two of us! Heh heh heh... just the two of us!"
Big Face Cat pushed Lin Xian, hurrying him inside:
"Look, we're at the warehouse! It's time for you, the Code Expert, to take action!"
In front of them...
stood a thick black wall, with a silver password door in the middle.
"What's the password?"
"Pah! If I knew the password, what would I need you, the Code Expert, for!"
Big Face Cat pointed at his watch:
"Cut the crap, kid, hurry up! We don't have much time left! Once the main power comes back on, the security system will automatically sound the alarm!"
"I know you're anxious, but hold on a second."
Lin Xian approached the password door and began to fiddle with it.
Big Face Cat paced back and forth, his face screwed up in tension:
"How long do you think you need?"
"10."
"10 minutes?!" Big Face Cat exclaimed, "That's way too long!!"
"9... 8... 7..."
???
Big Face Cat watched, shocked, as Lin Xian dashed out!
Then he turned around and saw the C4 explosives stuck to the password door!
And the red numbers on the detonator changing constantly!!
"Shit!"
Diving out towards the wall—
BOOM!!!!
BOOM!!!!
BOOM!!!!
The thunderous explosion pierced his eardrums!
Countless bricks and metal pieces rained down on him!
"Cough cough cough... cough cough cough!!"
Big Face Cat, with a face smeared with blood, yelled:
"Damn it... Aren't you a Code Expert? Is this how you 'crack' the code!?"
"Efficiency, right?"
Lin Xian, covering his ears, came over and pointed at the collapsed wall in front:
"Look, that's the warehouse right there."
Big Face Cat got up, cursing and grumbling:
"No expert is worth a damn..."
...
Lin Xian walked into the large hole blasted in the wall.
This was his first time entering a bank warehouse, but it was nothing like what he had imagined...
"How come there's not a single penny?"
The warehouse was empty.
There were no piles of cash, nor the mountains of gold bars often seen in movies.
Around the walls of the warehouse, personal safes were embedded, neatly arrayed one next to the other.
Lin Xian moved closer to inspect them.
Each safe bore a different person's name.
Wang Shuo.
Liu Liping.
Wei Shengjin.
Lin Xian.
Wang—
???
Lin Xian took a step back, focusing on the name on the previous safe.
[Lin Xian]
Genuine as can be.
Why was his own name on this safe?
Click.
Behind him, the hot barrel of a gun pressed against the back of his head.
"Brother Lian, have mercy."
Lin Xian promptly raised his hands in surrender:
"Brother Lian, let's be reasonable here. I haven't dirtied my hands or feet, and I haven't seduced your wife. You can't pin this household clean-up on me, right?"
"Alright, Brother Lian, I admit it, I did deceive you. The truth is, I'm not any code expert... I was just strolling around the square, randomly slapped on an Ultraman mask, and the next thing I know, you popped out of nowhere, pulled me into your car without a second word!"
"But I had no idea that the Ultraman mask was your 'secret meeting signal'! Fair is fair, I only tricked you for fun; I didn't mean any harm."
"Besides... if you had brought the real code expert today, who knows if you could have cracked the code by dawn! Stumbling upon me was your lucky break!"
Pfft————
A bell-like giggle came from behind:
"I'm not that stupid! If I couldn't crack the code by dawn... what kind of code expert would I be?"
Following that, the burning hot gun barrel also left Lin Xian's scalp.
Lin Xian turned around.
He saw a slender woman behind him, her hair up in a bun, wearing the same Ultraman mask as him.
"Where's Brother Lian?"
The woman pointed her chin towards her feet.
Big Face Cat lay in a pool of blood, wearing a cat mask, gun in hand, with a big hole in the back of his head.
"You killed him?"
"If I hadn't killed him, you would have been the one to die just now."
The woman kicked the body away:
"He was going to kill all of you anyway, hoard the money for himself; he was no good."
"This team of yours is really hard to manage..."
"Don't include me; I'm not with them."
The woman pushed past Lin Xian and headed toward the safe on the wall:
"This is the first time he and I met. I don't know him; I only recognize the cartoon cat masks."
"Could your secret signals be any more old-fashioned?"
The woman ignored Lin Xian.
She brushed past him and her gaze swept over the safes on the wall one by one.
Eventually, she stopped in front of the safe labeled 'Lin Xian'.
Looking at the eight code dials on the box, she snorted and threw aside her small computer:
"Mechanical locks..."
The woman pressed her ear against the safe and began to fiddle with the code dials with a click-clack sound.
"What's inside this 'Lin Xian' safe?" Lin Xian approached from behind.
"Don't know."
"Do you know Lin Xian?"
"Don't know him."
"Then why are you opening his safe?"
"What's with all the questions?"
Through the Ultraman mask, the woman glared at Lin Xian fiercely:
"Go stand where it's cool!"
She continued to work the code lock.
Lin Xian stared at the eight dials on the safe, thinking deeply...
"Try 19990320."
"What?"
The woman looked at Lin Xian, annoyed.
"I said, for that safe's code, try 19990320."
"What's that number?"
"My birthday." Lin Xian confidently replied.
"..."
"..."
"Are you crazy?!" the woman asked sincerely.
"Listen."
Lin Xian took a deep breath.
His serious gaze pierced through the Ultraman mask, focusing on the other Ultraman:
"The alarm could go off at any moment; no one would joke around in this situation. Our goals are the same, even... I'm even more curious about what's hidden in this safe."
"Trust me."
Lin Xian stepped forward, his face stern:
"This password, it can't be wrong!"
...
The woman looked at Lin Xian and remained silent.
But clearly, Lin Xian's confident demeanor had convinced her.
"Say it again."
"19990320."
Click, click...
The woman set the eight dials, gave Lin Xian a glance, and pressed the clasp—
Click!
It didn't open.
"Huh?"
Lin Xian was stunned; the password was actually wrong!
The woman's eyebrows twitched, and she took a deep breath:
"I really should have let your cat brother beat you to death!"
"He insisted on being called Brother Lian..."
"Enough!!!"
The woman, at the end of her tether, drew her gun and pointed it at Lin Xian!
Word for word, through clenched teeth:
"Say one more word! And I'll kill you!"
Lin Xian raised his hands, step back obediently.
He wasn't afraid of death.
But he was more curious about what was really inside the safe.
...
Click, click, clack...
The woman kept trying to break the code without any progress.
Lin Xian crouched on the floor, chin in hand, thinking, equally clueless.
Click!
With a snap of electrical connection, a piercing alarm sounded all around.
It seemed the main power line was restored, activating the automatic alarm.
The woman punched the safe and sighed.
Lin Xian looked at his wristwatch; checking the time:
[00:41:53]
He got up, stretched lazily:
"No time left, we'll come back tomorrow."
"Ha! Tomorrow?"
The woman laughed scornfully like she heard a huge joke:
"You've blown this place to smithereens! You think you have a chance of getting in here tomorrow?!"
"You might not have a chance..."
Lin Xian said with a slight smile:
"But I can. Every single day."
He waved at the woman:
"Bye-bye~"
Boom!!!!!!
Boom!!!!!!
Boom!!!!!!
Sudden white light! The world was filled with brightness!
Without time to feel any pain, without time to react!
The scorching white light swallowed everything instantaneously!
Erasing this world, vaporizing it to nothing!
...
...
Hu...
The night breeze fluttered the window sheer, casting dancing shadows.
Moonlight streamed through the glass, scattering a frosty glow.
The sounds of men playing drinking games at the night market stalls below.
Water flushing loudly through the next door bathroom pipes.
Papers on the desk fluttered in the wind, the notebook opened and closed like a clam.
In one corner of the bedroom, on the bed.
Lin Xian opened his eyes...
He sniffled and sat up, looking at the digital clock on the nightstand—
[December 7th, 2022]
[00:42:01]
...
[00:42:02]
...
[00:42:03]
...
[00:42:04]
...