The hours after midnight dragged on. By three in the morning, there was still no movent outside.
Qin Ziwen murmured, "It seems they’re not coming at night. They’ll either try to break in during the day when we’re not ho, or they have so other plan."
"Bro, should we head out now?"
"Yes, let’s go." Qin Ziwen smoothly picked up the key to apartnt 602.
He didn’t have Li Tieshan join them, telling him to stay at ho instead. He instructed, "You stay here and don’t give away your position. Keep the curtains drawn, and don’t peek out. I’ll knock before I enter when I get back. If anyone else cos in, they’re a thief. Just smash them over the head with the hamr. Understand?"
"Understood!" Li Tieshan nodded firmly, tightening his grip on his hamr.
"Don’t you worry, sir. This hamr of mine can smash iron, and it can smash people, too."
After heading downstairs, they t up with Deng Guang. They left the Gated Community, then circled back to Building 8 through the underground parking garage.
Deng Guang was a bit confused. "Aren’t we going to get the Card?"
Qin Ziwen shook his head. "We’re not going today."
A round trip to the altar would an they wouldn’t get back until nine or ten at the earliest.
If the thieves got into their apartnt and exposed their secrets, he would undoubtedly beco a target for everyone.
"Xiaowu, you hide in the garage. When you hear a commotion upstairs, co up from the B1 level and block their escape route. But be ready to adapt. If there are too many of them, prioritize your own safety." Qin Ziwen patted his younger brother’s shoulder.
Qin Ziwu nodded firmly.
Afterward, Qin Ziwen and Deng Guang went up to the top floor from Entrance 1, crossed over the roof, and re-entered the building through Entrance 2.
They made their way down from the rooftop to apartnt 602. Using the key, Qin Ziwen opened the door, and the two of them slipped inside to hide.
Deng Guang was surprised; he hadn’t expected Qin Ziwen to have a key to this apartnt.
He voiced his concern. "Xiaowu is all alone on the B1 level. What if there are too many of them?"
Qin Ziwen theorized, "There shouldn’t be that many. If they really had the numbers, they would’ve just robbed us openly instead of trying to steal."
...
「Nine in the morning. The sky was bright.」
"Are you sure they left?"
"Relax, I’ve been watching this place for two days. They’re never ho in the mornings. They’re definitely gone by now. Besides, only two guys live there—no sign of any won. The apartnt is empty."
The four n spoke in hushed tones in the stairwell.
"Is the intel solid?"
"It’s solid, don’t worry. These guys were in on the crocodile kill, and they got dozens of pounds of at out of it. Dammit, I haven’t eaten at in days."
"Ha! Didn’t you eat roasted grasshoppers yesterday?"
"Roasted grasshoppers don’t count as fucking at! I’m having a proper al today."
"They couldn’t have eaten all the at already, right?"
"Absolutely not. There are only two of them. Plus, my source says they have an Earth Cage and go fishing every day. They’re loaded. This one score will be enough to feed us for at least a week."
The oldest of the four gave the orders. "Haozi, you go downstairs and keep watch. Ergou, you head upstairs. If anyone cos, just cough."
Once the others had dispersed, the oldest of the group, a man in a hat, approached the door. He spat out a piece of chewing gum and stuck it over the peephole, then pulled a small black box from his pocket. The top of the box had a wire coil that resembled a mosquito repellent coil.
The man in black following him stepped into the stairwell, glanced around, then walked over to the door across the hall, taking sothing from his pocket to cover the peephole.
The man in the hat waved the small black box in front of the electronic lock for a mont.
The lock let out a crisp "DING."
He gripped the doorknob and gestured to the man in black behind him.
The man in black hunched over and cautiously stepped inside.
The instant his head cleared the entryway, a powerful force rushed toward his face.
WHOOSH—
CRUNCH!!!
It sounded like a heavy, wet stone smashing into flesh. Thick blood splattered everywhere.
The man in black’s head snapped back violently.
He didn’t even have ti to cry out before half his face caved in.
With a heavy THUD, he collapsed to the floor.
"Fuck! It’s an ambush!" The man in the hat’s pupils dilated as he instinctively pulled a folding knife from his pocket.
But when he saw the hulking figure of Li Tieshan erge from the apartnt wielding a sledgehamr, he imdiately turned and fled.
"Nowhere to run, you thief!" Li Tieshan bellowed, charging out with his hamr raised.
On the landing between the fifth and sixth floors, Ergou heard Li Tieshan’s roar and started scrambling upstairs. But just as he reached the sixth-floor landing, the door to 602 flew open. Qin Ziwen swung his Mountain-Climbing Knife straight down at the man’s head.
"Ah!"
Caught completely off guard, he took the blow right on the top of his skull.
Qin Ziwen sent him sprawling with a vicious kick.
"He’s all yours."
With that, he turned and charged down the stairs.
Deng Guang stared at the man on the floor, his palms slick with sweat. He tightened his grip on his club. "Just stay on the ground, you hear? Don’t move."
Ergou struggled to his feet. Clutching his head, he didn’t say a word, simply staggering to the wall for support and continuing up the stairs. The blow had left him completely stunned; his only thought was to get away from this place. He had to get ho.
THWACK!
The sound was crisp and loud.
Ergou swayed for a mont before collapsing to the ground with a heavy thud.
Blood gushed from the wound on top of his head.
Behind him, Deng Guang clutched his club, his knuckles white, and muttered, "I told you not to move... Why didn’t you listen?!"
Behind the door of apartnt 601, the man of the house quickly snatched his eye away from the peephole, his face a mask of terror.
Seeing his wife approaching from the bedroom, the man quickly put a finger to his lips in a hushing motion.
On the fourth floor, the lookout, Haozi, heard the commotion and imdiately turned to bolt.
He flew down the stairs, taking them two and three at a ti.
Fourth floor... third floor... second floor... He was almost at the ground floor!
He ran, sprinting frantically.
He rounded the landing, charged down the last flight of stairs, and sprinted onward.
Haozi was completely oblivious to the tall, silent figure waiting in the corner to the left of the ground-floor security door.
Living up to his na, he was like a startled mouse with only a single word echoing in his mind: ’Run’.
The security door was right ahead. ’Just get outside, blend into the crowds in the Gated Community, and this will all be over.’
A grin of ecstatic relief already spread across his face, revealing stained, yellow teeth.
But in the exact instant his torso cleared the doorway, a dark gleam slashed a perfect arc through his peripheral vision.
It was as if he had run right into it himself—the timing was impeccable.
SCHLICK—
A sharp pain lanced through his throat.
The expression on Haozi’s face froze. He felt like he was flying, his vision spinning through the air...
He saw the ceiling rushing away, the familiar security door, a man in a black tactical jacket and a face mask, and finally... a headless corpse that kept running forward from sheer montum.
THUD!
With the heavy thud of his head hitting the floor, his world went dark, like a computer shutting down.
In the corner’s shadow, Qin Ziwu remained in his follow-through stance, staring dazedly at the Mountain-Climbing Knife in his hand, reliving the sensation of the decapitating strike.
’I can’t believe that strike was so perfectly tid,’ he thought.
Thump.
Up on the stairwell landing, the man in the hat saw the headless corpse at the bottom of the stairs. His legs gave out, and he slid down the wall to his knees.
’Holy shit,’ he thought. ’Now that’s a fucking monster.’
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