Calm and Collected (Bonus Chapter for 600 Monthly Votes)

Almost at the same time, at the very end of the alley behind the restaurant.

The stench of rotting fish guts, urine, and seawater mixed with the smell of some kind of chemical, stirred by the cold March wind and blown into their nostrils.

Darnell pinched his nose between two fingers and breathed through his mouth, his brows furrowed as if someone had sewn them together.

"Bro, how much longer do we have to stand here?"

He didn't look at Lin An, keeping his gaze fixed on the back wall of the four-story building at the end of the alley.

The back of the Black Sea Seafood Restaurant looked even worse than the front. The walls were covered in random graffiti, the fire escape was rusted, and several trash cans sat side by side against the wall. One had a crooked lid, revealing a bulging black garbage bag inside.

Lin An stood beside him, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets, as relaxed as if he were waiting for a bus.

"What's the hurry?"

His face was calm, his voice steady. His gaze rested on the building across from them, but his attention wasn't entirely on the real world.

At the edge of his vision, the Bullet Screen was moving faster than usual, its text like colorful little fish swimming past the corners of his eyes.

[Streamer, I got the screenshots. Here you go.]

[Here they come, here they come. I sorted out the screenshots from earlier.]

[I took twelve shots from all sorts of angles.]

[I've got some from inside. I controlled the Crow to go in and snap a bunch.]

[Are you guys demons? How did you even get these?]

Lin An saw the tips list update. He took his hand out of his pocket and slipped it inside his coat, as if retrieving something from an inner pocket, then pulled out a stack of pictures tipped by the Bullet Screen.

More than a dozen. He held them and flipped through them one by one.

The first showed the restaurant's exterior from across the street, shot from above at an angle, from the Crow's point of view.

The second showed the first-floor interior.

A dozen or so tables with red-and-white checkered tablecloths, a wall behind the bar covered in liquor labels, and a glass bottle holding plastic flowers beside the cash register. The lighting was dim, with only one pendant lamp glowing above the bar.

The third showed the other side of the bar and the double swinging doors leading to the kitchen. There was a round glass window in each door.

The fourth showed the kitchen, with stainless steel counters, a rack hung with frying pans, a huge freezer, and nonslip mats covering the floor.

Lin An flipped through the pictures one by one.

The Bullet Screen was still discussing things.

[There's an even better one coming. Give me a moment—I'm building a model of the interior.]

[A model? You serious?]

[Might as well do something useful. I'm helping the streamer out.]

[I'll join in. I know building structures.]

Lin An didn't join the discussion. He kept flipping through the pictures.

The fifth showed the stairwell.

The sixth showed the second-floor hall. A heavy oak desk stood there, and someone sat in a high-backed leather chair. He looked composed, but the high-resolution picture captured every bead of sweat on his forehead.

[This must be Sergei.]

Bald, broad-faced, with a thick neck and a dark turtleneck.

Although he was Ukrainian, he looked a lot like a Russian.

Lin An paused at this picture, then kept flipping.

Pictures eight through twelve showed the interior from different angles: corridors, the stairs leading to the third floor, and several closed doors.

After flipping through the last picture, Lin An tucked them back inside his coat. His face calm, he closed his eyes to rest.

The restaurant's back door was just ahead. There was a camera above it, ready to catch anyone who approached.

The tips list flashed again.

[Here we go, here's the floor plan. It's a rough sketch based on the screenshots. Make do with it.]

[This is sloppy, man. The proportions are off.]

[Wait, I'll draw one in CAD.]

[CAD's too slow. I'll sketch it by hand and send a photo.]

Lin An pulled a square of folded paper from inside his coat. He unfolded it and studied it by the faint light at the end of the alley.

It was a floor plan drawn in pencil. The four floors were shown separately, with each room marked in a box and brief labels beside them. The dimensions were noted with numbers.

The lines were clean and precise. Whoever drew it clearly knew what they were doing.

His gaze started at the first floor and worked its way up.

First floor: dining area, bar, kitchen, restroom, storeroom, back door.

One note stood out: "The storeroom contains an additional mezzanine. Suspected hidden room; dimensions inconsistent with the thickness of the exterior walls."

Second floor: hall, office, bedroom, restroom, balcony.

Sergei's position was circled in red.

Third floor: three rooms, one restroom, one storage room.

A note read, "Possibly used as quarters for underlings; interior layout not fully confirmed."

Fourth floor: two rooms, one terrace, labeled "Purpose unknown; possibly vacant or used for storage."

Basement...

Lin An's gaze stopped on the bottommost drawing.

The layout down here was far more complex than the floors above.

One main area was divided into four sections: "Finance Room," "Gun Room," "Control Room," and an unlabeled empty room.

At the end of a corridor extending from the main area, a dashed line was drawn with a question mark beside it: "Suspected secret passage. Presumed to lead northeast; exit may be in neighboring block."

There were smaller notes in the lower-right corner of the floor plan.

"The Gun Room is inferred from the metal cases visible on the floor in the screenshots. Estimated dimensions: approx. 2m × 3m. Interior not visible."

"The Control Room contains surveillance equipment, with at least four screens covering the first-floor entrance, stairwell, second-floor corridor, and back door."

"The Finance Room contains a safe. Make and model unknown."

"The basement has an independent ventilation system. Exhaust vent is located in the alley behind the building."

"Entrance to the secret passage is believed to be behind the wall at the end of the corridor. Opening mechanism unknown."

Lin An folded the plan and tucked it back inside his coat with the screenshots.

The Bullet Screen kept going.

[Streamer, a heads-up.]

[The people inside aren't ordinary thugs.]

[The screenshots from earlier showed someone standing by a third-floor window. His posture was off. Ordinary people tend to put their weight on one leg, and when their shoulders relax, they'll slant a little.]

[But that guy stood perfectly straight, his weight centered over both feet and his shoulders level. That's how people stand after long-term military training.]

[When his arms hang naturally, his hands don't rest against the sides of his thighs. They hover just slightly away from his body, ready to draw something at any moment.]

[There's more than one. The guy by the kitchen freezer is off, too.]

[Sergei's men are all veterans. Just keep that in mind, streamer.]

Lin An nodded slightly. He'd already guessed as much, and having it confirmed helped him get a clearer picture.

[Also, that empty room in the basement.]

[Noticed it. Unlike the other three, it doesn't have a label.]

[The screenshots of the building's exterior show that the window there is smaller than the others. The streamer's too far away, so I can't get my lens inside. I can't see what's in there.]

[Could be a storeroom. Or a place to lock people up.]

[By the way, streamer, the hidden room on the first floor is the mezzanine in the storeroom. It's probably an armory.]

[Not necessarily in the mezzanine. That could just be the entrance, with the real armory in the basement or on the second floor.]

[No weapons are visible in the screenshots. They've put them away.]

[Obviously. Who'd leave weapons lying around in plain sight?]

[Still, based on the dimensions of the mezzanine, it's pretty spacious. It could hold at least a dozen rifles.]

Darnell's voice interrupted Lin An's reading.

"Bro, you've been staring at that paper this whole time."

He leaned closer, lowering his voice. Curiosity and unease mingled in his tone.

"What did you figure out?"

Lin An turned to look at him, his face calm.

"Inside the restaurant."

"What's in there?"

Lin An gave him a summary he could understand.

"There's a hidden armory on the first floor. The basement has a safe, a surveillance room, a room for storing guns, a secret passage, and an empty room whose purpose is unknown.

The boss lives on the second floor. Around ten former soldiers live on the third. No idea what's on the fourth."

Darnell was silent for about three seconds.

"So you looked at a few pieces of paper and figured out everything about this building, inside and out."

"More or less."

"You even found the secret passage."

"It's on the floor plan."

Darnell opened his mouth, then closed it. He drew a cross on his forehead with his hand.

"Bro, you know what you look like right now? Like one of those people my mom talked about—the ones who can see through walls."

"A wizard?"

"No, not a wizard. I mean those... Never mind. Saying it out loud is freaking me out."

He lowered his hand and took a deep breath.

"So what do we do now? Rush in? Or wait for you to pull a few more pieces of paper out of nowhere?"

"Wait here. I'll go in."

Lin An's voice remained steady. He flipped his hand and produced a Glock and a walkie-talkie, handing them to Darnell.

"This is our way out. If anything goes wrong, I'll retreat through here. Then it'll be up to you.

If I need to, I'll contact you on the walkie-talkie. Remember, your codename is Aodebiao. Mine is Banana."

"Got it... Bro, are you sure you don't need me to go in with you?"

Darnell sounded hesitant but determined, his expression resolute, as if he'd made up his mind about something.

"I may be a coward, but I'm in good shape. I can at least take a few bullets for you..."

[Speaking of taking bullets, streamer, I'm tipping you a bulletproof vest and ceramic plates. Take them.]

[Streamer, catch. Heavy body armor, NIJ Level IV, with ceramic plates.]

[I'll tip one too. If you can't wear them all, you'll have a spare.]

[Don't send duplicates. I'll get a helmet instead.]

[Helmet's covered. I'll send a tactical vest.]

[Then I'll send ballistic plates.]

Even with everyone saying not to send duplicates, the flurry of tips still added up to five sets of heavy armor.

Lin An reached out into the air in front of him and began retrieving the tips.

The first bulletproof vest was black, with ceramic armor plates on the front and back. The collar and shoulders were reinforced, and there were quick-release buckles on both sides.

When he pulled out the whole set, its weight made his arm dip. It weighed at least fifteen kilos.

The second item was a matching tactical vest, stitched with magazine pouches and utility pockets.

The third was a Kevlar helmet, dark gray, with a suspension system and chin strap.

He hefted the three items, then handed them all to Darnell.

Darnell didn't take them.

He stared at the pile in Lin An's hands, his eyes so wide it looked like someone had pried his eyelids apart with two fingers.

"What the hell, bro? I knew you were a wizard, but I didn't think you could make this stuff appear, too!"

"It was inside my coat."

"Your coat can't fit a bulletproof vest."

"It can."

"It can't."

"It can."

Darnell reached out with his free hand and pressed against Lin An's coat.

It was an ordinary black trench coat, not thick at all. Pressing it, he could feel the outline of the folded papers inside. There was obviously no fifteen-kilo bulletproof vest in there.

He pulled his hand back and was silent for two seconds.

"Okay."

"Put it on."

Darnell froze.

"You're giving it to me?"

"That's right."

"Bro, you're going inside..."

"I can't wear it. It's too heavy."

[Holy shit, I didn't even think of that.]

[No worries, I've got a lightweight bulletproof vest. Light and flexible, and it can stop handgun rounds.]

"No need."

Lin An's voice stayed calm, addressing both the Bullet Screen and Darnell.

"Right now, agility and speed matter most. Defense is secondary. Either I come out unscathed, or I get taken out completely. Armor's no use.

All right, Darnell. Stay here and keep watch. I'm going to have some fun."

The basement control room was small, just two by three meters. It had no windows, and soundproofing foam covered the walls.

The air in here was stale, reeking of motor oil, cigarettes, and sweat.

Four LCD monitors were embedded side by side in the wall opposite the door, displaying black-and-white footage from different angles.

Marco sat in a secondhand office chair, his feet propped on the desk, his boot soles less than twenty centimeters from the screens.

An unlit cigarette was pinched between the index and middle fingers of his right hand. He had been playing with it for nearly five minutes.

Smoking was forbidden in the control room.

Igor said the surveillance equipment was sensitive to smoke, and that tar buildup would interfere with heat dissipation.

Marco thought that was complete bullshit. During the Yugoslav Civil War, he had used captured NATO surveillance equipment. It had run continuously for three months in a bunker full of smoke and dust without a single problem.

But he couldn't be bothered arguing with Igor.

Igor was the person Sergei trusted most, while Marco was just there to work for money.

So he kept the cigarette between his fingers, occasionally bringing it beneath his nose to smell the tobacco, and continued staring at the screens.

There was nothing worth watching on them.

Top left: the restaurant's back entrance. The alley was empty.

Top right: the stairwell. The wooden stairs from the first floor to the second were deserted.

Bottom left: the second-floor hallway, with the door to Sergei's office at the far end.

Bottom right: the first-floor dining area, with the tables and chairs neatly arranged.

Marco yawned. That was his third time tonight.

A little moisture gathered in his eyes, blurring his vision for a moment. He rubbed them with the back of his hand, then made a decision: to hell with Igor.

He put the cigarette in his mouth and fished a lighter out of his pocket with his left hand. He shook it and figured it had enough fuel for two or three more uses.

Just as his thumb was about to press the wheel, the screen showing the back entrance flickered.

Marco jerked his head up, the cigarette still between his lips and not yet lit. Leaning forward, he brought his face close to the screen, eyes fixed on the black-and-white image in the top left.

The trash can was still where it had been. The dent in its lid, where a stray cat had stepped on it, was unchanged. Nobody had appeared on-screen.

He stared for about five seconds, then looked at the signal indicators on the console. All four camera lights were green. He glanced at the timestamp in the corner of the screen—the numbers were ticking forward.

Everything was normal.

Marco leaned back in his chair, propped his feet on the desk again, and pressed the lighter wheel with his thumb.

Click.

In the alley.

Lin An held a device about the size of a smartphone. He stood outside the camera's field of view for five seconds, then sauntered toward the restaurant's camera-monitored back entrance.

The device in his hand was a Civilian Software-Defined Radio Portable, made in China in 2025. It supported full-duplex transmission and reception, and could record, analyze, and replay radio-frequency signals.

It had been tipped by an electronics enthusiast in the Bullet Screen, who had even written a plug-in to interfere with a specific model of wireless camera.

Its method of interference wasn't complicated. First, it wirelessly hacked into the camera and recorded a stretch of data packets while the camera was operating normally, then continuously replayed them into the surveillance system.

The receiver got what seemed like a "normal" signal: normal strength, normal data format, normal checksum. The only difference was that the image remained frozen a few seconds in the past.

The anomaly Marco saw in the control room really was there. But even as a vigilant veteran, he was destined never to discover Lin An.

That wasn't his fault. He'd been crushed by technology.

As he walked, Lin An slipped the SDR device inside his coat. Then he reached into his coat with his right hand and took out a little silver gadget the size of a coin.

A Button-style Ultrasonic Audio Jammer, made in Shenzhen, China, in 2025. It was designed to prevent eavesdropping in conference rooms, using modulated ultrasonic waves to interfere with microphones. It had an effective range of five meters and ran for eight hours.

This one had also been tipped by someone in the Bullet Screen.

The tipster had marked on the blueprint that there was a microphone beside the back-door camera, and another hidden beneath the streetlight at the alley's corner.

The two microphones covered the entire stretch from the alley entrance to the back door. Anyone approaching along this route could not only be seen by the people in the control room, but heard as well.

Now, both microphones were recording the same sound... a steady, rustling white noise, completely devoid of information.

Anyone listening in would hear only a quiet, meaningless hiss.

Protected by two devices that counted as high-tech in 2009, Lin An walked at an easy pace, like someone taking a leisurely stroll after dinner to help with digestion, and arrived at the restaurant's back door.

The Bullet Screen flowed quietly at the edge of his vision.

[How well does that jammer work?]

[Rock solid. A 2025 product against a 2009 microphone? It's like a grandpa beating up his grandson.]

[The streamer's going in. Elegant. So elegant.]

[Like he's walking into his own home.]

The door was a steel fire door secured by a mechanical lock.

If he hadn't prepared, Lin An would have had to call Darnell over to smash it open, just like they had at the pharmacy.

But things were different now.

Lin An reached into his coat.

Ta-da... a Locksmith Compliant Electric Lock Pick Gun.

It looked like a drill with no barrel. A replaceable metal pick sat at the tip, shaped like an extremely narrow key and lined with fine grooves.

A small motor was built into the handle. When the trigger was pulled, it drove the pick up and down hundreds of times per second.

It was made in China in 2022, originally intended for locksmiths to legally open civilian locks when the keys had been lost. Only three manufacturers in the country were licensed to make them.

Another tip from someone in the Bullet Screen.

It was simple to use... Lin An found the keyhole, inserted the pick, pulled the trigger, and gave it a gentle twist.

Click. The door opened.

Lin An pushed it open easily and walked inside as if he were coming home.

[He's in.]

[Streamer, you're in the back hallway. Kitchen on your left, electrical panel on your right, bar ahead.]

[No one's in the kitchen. The person beside the freezer just changed shifts.]

The Bullet Screen outlined the hallway with lines... the shape of the walls, the positions of the doors, and the corner up ahead.

Several boxes were marked on the scene: a green box around the kitchen doorway, indicating it was safe; a gray box around the electrical panel, indicating no threat; and a yellow dashed box in the direction of the bar, indicating caution.

[Sergei's still in his office on the second floor, but he just stood up and went to the window.]

[Wait, Sergei's calling someone...]

[He called over a big guy.]

[The big guy went downstairs, heading for the third floor.]

[At least three people are awake on the third floor, and they're moving.]

[They heard Sergei's orders.]

[He's sending them to get their guns.]

[Holy shit, Sergei also said, "Open the basement cold storage and start the thawing process."]

[Cold storage? It wasn't on the blueprint!]

["Traplex Bio's test subject"... That's what he was talking about.]

[What is that?]

[Wait, wait, wait. Igor's gone up to the third floor, and he's calling people.]

[The people on the second floor are moving too.]

[Sergei is heading downstairs.]

[Everyone from the second and third floors is gathering on the first floor.]

[Streamer, they're gathering.]

[Hide!]

The Bullet Screen went wild.

Red boxes representing enemies began appearing on the map... one on the second floor, moving along the stairs; three on the third floor, also heading toward the stairwell.

Distances appeared beside the boxes: second-floor stairwell, 12 meters; third-floor hallway, 8 meters; approaching the stairs.

Lin An raised an eyebrow.

He glanced at the boxes and lines formed by the Bullet Screen... enemy positions, directions of movement, and distances, all clear at a glance.

He still hadn't been spotted. Was Sergei gathering his people for something, and had Lin An just happened to stumble upon it?

Hide?

No. This was a good opportunity.

Lin An's lips curled slightly.

"Guys, tell me where the electrical panel is. And do me a favor... have the crows you control wait outside.

"Once the power's off, have them sneak inside in the dark and start cawing all over the building to cover my movements."

He paused.

"Oh, and crows are precious. Have them hide, and don't let them get shot. I'd hate to lose even one."

[The electrical panel's on the wall to your right, a gray metal box, two meters away.]

[The crows are in position, waiting outside. There are seven in total.]

[Streamer, you're cutting the power? Once it's out, all the surveillance cameras will go blind. The guy in the control room will come out to check.]

[Wait, if the power goes out, the basement cold storage will stop working too... Could that test subject get out early?]

[Who cares? The more chaos, the better.]

[Here they come! Sergei's on the first floor!]

[The people from the third floor are coming down, and the one from the second floor is almost here too.]

[Hurry, streamer!]

Lin An turned and headed to his right.

The Bullet Screen outlined the electrical panel with green lines: a gray metal box mounted on the wall, with handwritten circuit labels in Cyrillic.

Lines showed the direction its door swung open and the positions of the hinges.

He pressed a hand against the panel. The cold metal seeped through his fingertips.

The Bullet Screen continued to update.

[Sergei's in the first-floor dining area, talking.]

[The others are there too. Let's see... I'll count.]

[There are eight people in the first-floor dining area, including Sergei.]

[They're handing out weapons from the armory: AKs and shotguns.]

[Sergei's explaining something. My crows can't hear him clearly through the wall, but it sounds like he's saying, "Hold the first floor."]

[Someone's gone toward the cold storage. Just one person, heading deeper into the basement.]

[The guy in the control room is still smoking. He hasn't noticed a thing.]

Lin An opened the electrical panel.

Inside were several rows of old ceramic fuses and circuit breakers, with the circuit labels handwritten in Russian.

Viewers who knew Russian and electrical wiring immediately helped identify the main switch... a large red circuit breaker at the bottom right of the panel.

[That's the one, the red one.]

[Pull it down and the whole building goes dark.]

[Streamer, think it through. You won't be able to see anything after the power goes out, either.]

[It's fine. We'll guide him.]

[Exactly. We can draw the layout with lines. The dark won't matter.]

Lin An rested his fingers on the red switch.

His expression was calm, his breathing steady.

Click.

The entire Black Sea Seafood Restaurant plunged into darkness.