"You mean... you have the same dream every night? And you always wake up exactly at 12:42 AM?"
The man wearing a cartoon cat mask stared at Lin Xian.
"Dude, that's awesome! You can do whatever you want in your dream—kill whoever you want, play all sorts of crazy games. Damn... just thinking about it gives me a thrill!"
Click.
The man slid a magazine into his pistol and cocked it.
"But tonight, you don't need a dream to feel alive. I'll show you something real!"
He pointed across the street at a bank.
"My crew already broke the door. Let's move!"
Lin Xian nodded, adjusted the Ultraman mask on his face, and got up to follow the man.
"What should I call you, bro?"
"Everyone on the street calls me Bigface Cat."
The man grinned, and the folds of flesh under his mask pushed the cartoon face into something even more exaggerated.
"Just call me Face Bro."
"Alright, Face Bro, what's my mission?"
"Not time for the code expert yet. Just stick with me, don't wander off."
Rustle rustle...
After a light jog, they arrived at the bank entrance.
"All set?" Face Bro asked.
A younger man nodded.
Without warning, Face Bro pressed the pistol to the man's forehead—
Bang!!
Blood splattered across the wall.
He casually wiped the gun barrel and patted Lin Xian on the shoulder.
"That's one less person to split the money with. More for us!"
"Wasn't he your guy?"
"He was sticky-fingered. For our safety, I couldn't let him live."
Face Bro kept talking as he led Lin Xian deeper into the bank.
They reached a fork in the hallway.
A masked man was fiddling with the electrical box.
"Still not done?"
Face Bro pressed.
Snip.
The masked man cut a wire, then wiped sweat from his forehead.
"All done. The alarm's disabled!"
Bang!!
Another shot to the back of the head. Blood filled the power box.
"Dude, you're making me feel really unsafe…"
Lin Xian pointed to the fresh corpse."Was this one sticky-fingered too?"
"This guy was clean, but he was hitting on my girl! What else could I do?"
"Being a boss seems like a rough gig…"
"Ah, don't sweat the small stuff! Hey, less people, more money, right?"
Lin Xian slipped out of his grasp."You're not planning to off me next and keep all the money, are you?"
"No way!"
Face Bro thumped his chest and pulled a grey object wrapped in duct tape from his waistband, handing it over.
"What's this?"
"C4."
He pointed to a switch.
"Face Bro plays fair. If you think I'm gonna kill you, just push this and blow us both up. That good enough for you?"
"Fair enough."
Lin Xian gave a thumbs-up and took the C4.
Rustle rustle...
They continued onward.
A masked man ran up from the basement."Boss, I cut the main power—"
Bang!!!
Brains everywhere.
"Bro, this guy—"
"It's fine, Face Bro," Lin Xian waved it off, already used to it.
"Just tell me how many of us are left to split the money."
"Just the two of us! Hehehe... just the two of us!"
Face Bro shoved Lin Xian forward excitedly.
"Look! We're at the vault! Time for our code expert to shine!"
Before them stood a solid black wall, with a silver combination door in the center.
"What's the code?"
"Pfft! If I knew, would I need a code expert?"
Face Bro pointed at his watch.
"Come on, bro, hurry up! When power comes back, the alarm auto-triggers!"
"I know you're in a rush, but chill for a sec."
Lin Xian stepped up and started working on the lock.
Face Bro paced nervously, his face muscles twitching under the mask.
"How long you need?"
"Ten."
"Ten minutes!? That's forever!!"
"Nine… Eight… Seven…"
What the—!?
Face Bro's eyes went wide as Lin Xian sprinted away.
Then he turned—The C4 was stuck right on the door.
The detonator flashed red with a countdown!
"Sh*t!!"
He dove behind a wall—
BOOM!!!!BOOM!!!!BOOM!!!!
Explosions shook the air, smashing into his eardrums.
Metal and bricks rained down.
Cough, cough, cough...
Face Bro wiped blood from his face and roared:
"WHAT THE HELL— I thought you were a code expert?! That's how you crack a vault!?"
"Efficiency, bro."
Lin Xian, covering his ears, pointed at the ruined wall.
"There. Vault's open."
Face Bro cursed and scrambled up.
"Experts these days... all useless..."
…
Lin Xian stepped through the hole.
His first time inside a bank vault—but it looked nothing like he imagined.
"No cash?"
The room was empty.
No piles of cash. No gold bars.
Just rows of safe deposit boxes built into the walls.
Lin Xian approached for a closer look.
Each box had a name on it.
Wang Shuo.
Liu Liping.
Wei Shengjin.
Lin Xian.
Wang—
…???
Lin Xian stepped back, staring at one name in disbelief:
[Lin Xian]
No mistake.
Why was his name on one of the boxes?
Click.
Something hot pressed against the back of his head.
"Face Bro, please—mercy."
Lin Xian raised both hands.
"Look, man, I didn't steal from you, didn't flirt with your girl. Don't pin this on me."
"Alright, alright. I admit—I lied. I'm not a code expert. I was just wandering the plaza, picked up this Ultraman mask for fun, and boom—you grabbed me and dragged me here!"
"I didn't know Ultraman masks were your 'secret handshake,' man. I was just messing around. I didn't mean any harm."
"Besides, if you brought the real code expert, who knows? Maybe they'd still be at it by morning. You got lucky with me!"
Pfft—A silver bell of laughter rang out from behind.
"I'm not that dumb. If someone couldn't crack the vault by dawn, they wouldn't be much of an expert."
The hot muzzle lifted from Lin Xian's head.
He turned around.
Behind him stood a slim woman with her hair tied back, wearing the exact same Ultraman mask.
"Where's Face Bro?"
She nodded at the floor.
Bigface Cat lay dead in a pool of blood, pistol in hand, a hole in his skull.
"You killed him?"
"If I hadn't, you'd be the one dead."
She kicked the body aside.
"He was going to kill everyone and keep the money. He wasn't a good guy."
"Man, your team is a mess…"
"Don't lump me in. I'm not with them."
She pushed past Lin Xian, heading for the vaults.
"I've never seen him before. I just recognized the cat mask."
"Your code system needs an upgrade."
She ignored him.
As she passed the vaults, her eyes scanned name after name.
Finally, she stopped at the one labeled [Lin Xian].
She glanced at the mechanical dial lock and scoffed, tossing her mini computer aside.
"A mechanical lock... Seriously?"
She pressed her ear to the vault and began turning the dials.
"What's in that box?" Lin Xian asked.
"No idea."
"You know Lin Xian?"
"No."
"Then why open his box?"
"Why do you ask so many questions?"
Through the Ultraman mask, she shot him a death glare.
"Go cool off somewhere else!"
She kept working the lock.
Lin Xian studied the eight-digit dial.
"Try 19990320."
"What?"
"Try 19990320 as the code."
"What's that?"
"My birthday," Lin Xian said with certainty.
"…"
"…Are you brain-damaged?" she asked sincerely.
"Listen."
Lin Xian took a deep breath.
Through the mask, his serious gaze met hers.
"The alarm could go off any second. This is no joke. You and I—we want the same thing. And honestly, I'm even more curious than you are."
"Trust me."
He stepped closer, voice firm.
"That code is the one."
…
She stared at him, silent.
But clearly, she was convinced.
"Say it again."
"Nineteen ninety-nine, zero three twenty."
Click, click...
She turned the dials, looked at Lin Xian one last time, then pressed the release—
Click!
Nothing.
"Huh?"
Lin Xian blinked. It didn't open.
The woman's eyebrow twitched. She took a deep breath.
"I should've let your 'Face Bro' shoot you!"
"He insisted on the name…"
"Enough!!!"
She lost it and pointed her gun at him!
"One more word—I shoot!"
Lin Xian raised his hands and backed off.
He wasn't afraid of dying.
But he really wanted to know what was in that box.
…
Click, click, click...
She kept trying codes, but nothing worked.
Lin Xian squatted nearby, thinking hard. No clues.
BEEP!A loud siren echoed through the building.
Power had been restored. The alarm was live.
The woman slammed her fist on the vault and sighed.
Lin Xian glanced at his watch.
[00:41:53]
He stood, stretched.
"Time's up. We'll come back tomorrow."
"Ha! Tomorrow?"
She laughed like he'd told a joke.
"You blew the place sky-high. You think you'll get another shot?"
"You won't…"
Lin Xian smiled faintly.
"But I will. I get a new shot—every single day."
He waved at her.
"Bye~"
BOOM!!!!BOOM!!!!BOOM!!!!
A sudden flash of white!
The world turned to blinding light.
No pain. No time to react.
The white fire swallowed everything—and erased the world.
…
…
Whoosh...
The night breeze fluttered the curtains.
Moonlight spilled through the glass like frost.
Men shouted drunkenly from the street below.
Toilet pipes flushed next door.
Paper fluttered on the desk. A notebook opened and closed like a clam.
On the bed in the corner—
Lin Xian opened his eyes.
He sniffed, sat up, and looked at the digital clock on his nightstand—
[December 7, 2022][00:42:01]…[00:42:02]…[00:42:03]…[00:42:04]…
(End of Chapter)