The End of This Book

“Beep beep beep!”

An email, interspersed with garbled code, abruptly appeared in several electronic mailboxes.

The moment they received it, the owners of those mailboxes dropped everything they were doing.

Using a cipher table, they quickly deciphered those seemingly meaningless characters, extracting the core information:

An address, and a time.

At this moment, Lin Mo stood behind Zhuge Chen, quietly watching the latter unravel that string of covert data thread by thread.

“The location changed after all. Trouble,” Zhuge Chen said, turning to look at Lin Mo.

Trouble indeed.

The destination was no longer the national gold reserve previously mentioned, but had shifted to the vault of a bank.

Major banks have their own gold reserves. Though not as massive in quantity as the national treasury, their defense levels are relatively lax—especially when not under special scrutiny.

The operation was set for three hours later. This was undoubtedly a surprise raid.

Lin Mo immediately notified Long Tianqi and Dongfang Shuye.

He himself teleported directly into the vault and converted all the gold bars and other precious metals stored there.

Then, he slightly adjusted the positions of the items inside the vault to ensure everything looked normal.

These bank vaults, barring emergencies, are usually only opened during inventory checks.

By the time Lin Mo finished his preparations, the few individuals he sensed in his spiritual awareness had already begun to move.

The next focus was to wait for the bait to take the hook.

Aside from Zhuge Chen, several freelance members of the Diamond Dogs had assembled in the sewer one kilometer away from the bank vault.

They all wore earpieces and were in position.

“Hey, Excavator in position.”

“Boxer in position.”

“Simulator in position.”

“Command in position.”

“Space Pocket in position.”

The four on-site, plus Zhuge Chen overseeing the overall situation remotely—everyone was ready.

Everyone was all set.

“Begin the advance. The sewer space is narrow and filled with pipes. Excavator, be careful. If you cut an ordinary pipe, it will arouse suspicion. Any unusual sound could alert people.”

Excavator shot back without hesitation: “You just point the way. Point to where, and I’ll dig there. If I dig wrong, it’s on you.”

Zhuge Chen let it slide, acting as if he hadn’t heard that remark, and simply started his coordination.

Everyone’s positions and camera feeds were displayed across the six screens in front of him.

In the sewer, moisture carried the stench of decay and rust. Occasionally, unknown creatures scuttled past.

The low-hanging concrete structure overhead fractured the already dim light into scattered shreds.

Excavator was naturally short and wiry, moving through the space with great agility—clearly accustomed to operating in cramped areas.

But the ones behind him had a rough time, forced to squirm and crawl forward.

“Thirty meters ahead, there’s a fork. The left branch leads to an abandoned pipe; the right leads to a maintenance passage. Target is on the right. Avoid the left—it connects to the surface drainage system. If you make too much noise there, it’ll be detected.”

Zhuge Chen’s voice came through the earpiece, as steady as ever. Even with a slight electronic buzz, there was no trace of impatience.

Excavator grunted. He stretched out his hands and precisely cut into the wall of the right passage.

This was his ability: splitting rock and earth, completely silently.

Crushed stone and soil were silently stripped away, as if drawn by an invisible force, never scattering.

His movements seemed rough but were, in fact, meticulous—a skill honed through years of working underground.

“Stop. Dig downward at a sixty-degree angle. There’s a cable in front of you. Cut that, and you’ll be dead.”

“Such a hassle,” Excavator muttered again, but his hands didn’t pause, starting to bypass the cable.

Under his direction, the team dug all the way beneath the bank vault.

However, the vault’s interior was equipped with an electric grid. Letting Excavator simply breach the vault would only result in a nasty shock.

“Give me a moment. I need three more minutes to hack the grid control system. That’ll shut down the power across the entire area.”

Jiahao, who rarely spoke, casually asked, “Why not just send someone to pull the main breaker?”

The sound of frantic keyboard clacking came from Zhuge Chen’s end. After a moment, he replied.

“Are you an idiot? Pulling the main breaker would scream to everyone that something’s wrong here. What I want to do is cut power to this entire zone, so there’s no chance of getting caught quickly.”

His tone carried a hint of irritation. His fingers flew across the keyboard as code cascaded down the screens like a waterfall before rapidly vanishing.

Shortly after, Zhuge Chen pressed the Enter key.

“Done.”

The breaker was tripped.

Power across the entire area shut down instantly.

Inside the bank lobby, the once-bright lights suddenly went dark, leaving only the eerie glow of emergency lighting.

Computer screens went black, printers ceased their hum, and the whole space sank into an unreal stillness.

Then, scattered complaints began to rise, gradually merging into a chorus.

“Oh no, I hadn’t even saved my report yet,” a young employee said, tapping the dark monitor, looking frustrated.

“Me neither, and I was only halfway through,” a coworker chimed in.

“Which circuit broke down this time? This place rarely has power outages.” The lobby manager walked to the front desk, preparing to step outside to check. His brow furrowed as he pulled out his phone to call the power company.

He glanced around, seeing employees fumbling to use their phones’ flashlights, whispering or sighing, some feeling lost and helpless.

After all, such a sudden blackout was rare here—truly an uncommon event.

Underground, Excavator asked, “Are we good yet?”

“Not yet. Wait a little longer. The bank has UPS systems. Even with the power out, their grid will still work,” Zhuge Chen’s voice came through the radio, carrying a calm authority.

He knew well that the bank’s security system didn’t rely on a single power source.

“Then how are you going to shut it off?” Excavator’s voice sounded a bit anxious. He could feel the vault was right there, blocked by this invisible barrier, making him restless as if a cat were scratching at his heart.

“Simple.” Zhuge Chen replied lightly, with a hint of confidence in his tone.

At that moment, the UPS system was in the bank’s server room.

Several massive battery banks, like silent beasts, were steadily supplying power to the vault’s electrical grid. Their indicator lights still glowed green, proving they were faithfully performing their duty.

Unknown to anyone, something new had appeared there.

However, in a corner of the server room, from an inconspicuous ventilation vent, a thin wisp of smoke began to rise silently.

The next second, a dull explosion echoed inside the room, accompanied by sparks flying.

The entire power supply suddenly short-circuited. The battery banks’ indicators turned from green to red in an instant before going out completely.

A burnt smell filled the air.

The underground grid also ceased all operations, including the vault’s electronic door, which now locked itself shut due to the power failure.

“All right. You can start your show now.”

I finally got my hair cut today. I am someone who has hair! I can get my hair cut!