Vol 3 Book 3 Chapter 10 (2/2)

“Eyegla.s.ses, the sensor around the cas.e.m.e.nt of 5A09534, please…”  said Li Yiming between two breaths.

“Wait, five, four, three… Alright.”

Li Yiming inserted his fingers as quickly as he could into the slit between the gla.s.s cas.e.m.e.nt and the pedestal. He dove inside as soon as he could and dropped the gla.s.s casing back down lightly. “I’m inside.”

After a sigh of relief, Li Yiming started to remove the leather armor from the mannequin and glanced at the rusty sword right next to it. ‘Well, I guess I shouldn’t think about taking that too.’

“5A09534 obtained. Eyegla.s.ses, I need to exit.” After putting the armor away in his bracelet, Li Yiming notified Eyegla.s.ses.

“Alright, ready in the five, four… Go.” However, Li Yiming did not answer Eyegla.s.ses’ timely signal.

“Hey, why aren’t you moving?” Eyegla.s.ses saw that Li Yiming stayed immobile through the surveillance camera.

“What is it, Yiming?” Liu Meng’s voice came through.

“Li Yiming?” Qing Linglong and Grandma w.a.n.g stopped in their tracks and quickly sought cover. No precautions were exaggerated in a domain.

“Eyegla.s.ses, do you know what’s going on?” Grandma w.a.n.g asked in a low voice.

“I cut the alarm around the sensor, but Li Yiming didn’t come out, and I don’t see anything abnormal on my side. He’s just standing there.” Eyegla.s.ses was very confused.

The sudden apparition of someone else, also dressed and masked in black, and throwing an interested look at him, made Li Yiming stop short in his tracks despite Eyegla.s.ses’ giving him the signal to move. He stood still, and the stranger outside did the same. Li Yiming had heard the calls from his friends, but he could not answer him; the man in black conveyed a heightened sense of danger. Li Yiming searched for the most powerful handgun in his bracelet, his Desert Eagle, and readied himself to bring it out if needed.

The man in black shook his head and raised his arm. Li Yiming squinted and made ready to break the gla.s.s cas.e.m.e.nt, since his movements were too restricted within it. He could no longer afford to worry about triggering the alarm. For a man to appear like that, he had to be a guardian. However, the man simply raised his thumb in Li Yiming’s direction, nodded slightly, turned around, and walked through the sensors without triggering any of them.

Li Yiming let out a long sigh of relief. His back was soaked with cold sweat.

“Eyegla.s.ses, cut the alarm again, please.” Li Yiming whispered.

“Five, four, three… Go.” Eyegla.s.ses obeyed without asking.

“There are other people here.” Li Yiming carefully made his way back across the red lines and said at the same time.

“Other people? Guardians?” Qing Linglong was shocked.

“That’s impossible, I don’t see them here.” Eyegla.s.ses was the most surprised, since he could see the interior of the museum completely through the cameras.

“I just confronted him, but for some reason, he didn’t do anything.” Li Yiming stared at the direction the man made for as he walked out of the sensor zone.

“Let’s halt everything for now and take cover. If we can think of the museum, then it wouldn’t be a surprise that others can, too. They’re probably concerned about triggering the alarm if they try to fight us. Any suggestions for what to do?” Qing Linglong a.n.a.lyzed the situation calmly, without even doubting Li Yiming for a fraction of a second. In a domain, cooperation and trust was everything, and the stakes were way too high for a bad joke.

“I don’t see anything on the surveillance cameras, so we don’t know how many of them there are.” Eyegla.s.ses scanned through the camera feeds, but could not find anything useful.

“Well, if they are not doing anything, then is it a mutual agreement for non-interference? Should we proceed as planned?” Qing Qiaoqiao said.

Quietness in the communication channel: this was a hard decision to make. The newcomers’ intentions, as well as their strength, were difficult to estimate, and everything could be lost if a fight suddenly broke out.

“I see someone.” Liu Meng suddenly said. She noticed a silhouette that moved speedily, not too far away from her, pa.s.sing through the alarms as if they did not exist.

“He’s going for 2F39023. Are we ceding it or fighting for it?” Qing Qiaoqiao had also noticed the stranger and made ready to make a move.

“Cede.” Li Yiming did not hesitate. He would not allow Liu Meng to be put at risk when they did not know who their enemies were.

“We leave right now.” Qing Linglong was quick to decide, and crucially, to unify the opinions within the team.

Qing Qiaoqiao threw an irritated stare at the man in black and proceeded with Liu Meng toward their planned exit.

Li Yiming returned to where he landed and jumped nearly three meters into the air. He reached for the edges of the hole in the roof and pulled himself up. After confirming the direction, he ran toward the edge of the roof and jumped down. As he fell from the rooftop of the museum, Li Yiming extended his arms and directed himself using the wingsuit he wore. As he approached the ground, he brought his arms closer to his body, causing his fall to suddenly accelerate. After a few rolls in the green belt, he speedily stood up and climbed into a black trailer that drove by. Qing Qiaoqiao and Liu Meng were already inside.

The car stopped briefly at a dark cross-section about one hundred meters away from the museum. Grandma w.a.n.g and Qing Linglong hopped onto the vehicle and the car zipped into the distance. A figure gazed at the vehicle from the balcony of the third floor as it faded into the darkness in the distance. “Hmm, decisive. We’ve been kind to you.”

“We should have struck at them earlier.” Another shadow appeared and then vanished on the fifth-floor balcony.

And… obviously nothing ever goes according to plan xD