Talk was cheap, but Lin An didn't do what the Bullet Screen suggested and charge straight into the pharmacy with the others.
That would certainly make for a great livestream, but it would also alert the two people inside.
The mercenary captain definitely had a gun. Anyone who made a living with a gun and didn't carry one when he went out would be a joke.
And there was a good chance the pharmacy owner had also equipped the store with a shotgun for the female clerk to use if necessary.
The law might not allow clerks to fight back against robbers with guns, but this was America, the land of freedom and daily shootings.
Especially New York, supposedly the crime capital. Even Gotham City, the infamous city of crime, only dared to call itself a little New York by comparison.
On top of that, the camera facing the entrance inside the pharmacy was a problem. Commercial cameras at the time were still blurry, so it probably wouldn't get a clear image of anyone's face, and it wasn't connected to the internet. Still, Lin An wasn't willing to gamble on it.
So Lin An came up with a plan. He had the three young Black men crouch across the street from the pharmacy to keep watch, while he took Darnell around to the alley behind it, planning to enter through the back door.
It was easy to find the pharmacy's back door. A faded silver panic bar was fitted to the white door. It was designed to open with a push from inside, but required a key from outside.
Lin An glanced around the area by the door.
Good. No cameras. That was a plus.
The question now was how to open the lock.
[That's a Yale 7000 lock. Easy to pick. A tension wrench and a pick or a rake will do the trick.]
[Even easier, just use a lock cylinder puller.]
[I've got something. Hang on, I'll go get it for you, streamer.]
While Lin An was thinking it over, and the Bullet Screen offered suggestions and prepared to tip him for an attack, Darnell stepped forward and planted both hands against the door. Then he shoved with all his might.
"BANG..."
The panic bar lock exploded with a loud crack. Its cylinder tore out of the doorframe, and the bar bent into a bizarre curve. Darnell had simply shoved the door open.
[Holy shit!]
[Black bull!]
Lin An was astonished by Darnell's strength. He'd already learned the night before that the latter could pin a monster down and beat it senseless, but even so, he'd underestimated the man's power.
But there was no point thinking about that now. Darnell's reckless move had opened the back door, but it had also alerted the mercenary captain and the clerk inside.
A short gasp came from the pharmacy, followed by the scrape of chair legs against the floor and the sound of something falling. Maybe a phone.
Standing by the back door, Lin An sighed helplessly, then turned and gestured for Darnell to go in.
There was no other option now. They'd just have to charge in.
However, with death staring him in the face, Darnell lost his nerve. He turned to Lin An and mouthed a few words.
"He has a gun."
A comment in the Bullet Screen translated his lips for Lin An.
I knew this Ni Ge was a classic bully who picked on the weak and feared the strong.
Lin An gave a silent, cold laugh... Luckily, he also knew how to make use of Ni Ge's nature.
He moved closer and whispered so softly that only the two of them could hear.
"Think about your mom and sister. That mercenary captain inside might kidnap them to use as leverage against you..."
Those quiet words exploded like a bomb. Darnell's eyes immediately widened, and he whipped around without hesitation, charging down the hallway beyond the door. His heavy, hurried footsteps sounded like a wild boar racing through a tunnel.
After watching Darnell disappear from view, Lin An heard him crash into something, followed by a woman's scream, a man's low growl, and the dull thud of something heavy hitting the floor.
Lin An followed at an unhurried pace. As he walked, a Remington shotgun appeared in his hands.
After passing through a narrow hallway crammed with cardboard boxes and cleaning supplies, he reached the pharmacy's main sales area.
When Lin An reached the end of the hallway, he saw Darnell straddling someone's waist, both hands wrapped around the man's throat... It was the mercenary captain in a baseball cap and blue windbreaker.
Behind the counter nearby, a woman in a blue work jacket was covering her mouth, at a loss. Lin An, holding a shotgun and completely wrapped in fabric from head to toe, only made her more frightened.
Fortunately, she didn't scream. When Lin An gently raised a finger to his lips to signal her to be quiet, she lifted both hands to show she had no intention of calling the police.
She was a smart one. That saved everyone the trouble and prevented any unnecessary accidents.
Lin An had the Bullet Screen keep an eye on the clerk while he looked back at the two men on the floor.
Darnell was still on top of his target, and the latter was visibly in bad shape. His face had turned purple, his mouth hung open, and his eyes bulged, the whites streaked with blood vessels.
He looked close to death, but probably wouldn't die just yet.
Lin An crouched down and searched the struggling mercenary captain. He found something hard at the man's waist.
A handgun. A Glock 22.
Lin An pulled it out and checked that the man had no other weapons. Then he reached into his pocket, pretended to take out a few bills—about a hundred dollars—and set them on the counter, signaling for the clerk to take them.
The sight of a tip quickly calmed the terrified clerk.
Once he'd confirmed just how effective money could be, Lin An turned back and patted Darnell on the shoulder, telling him to release the mercenary captain's throat.
As soon as Darnell let go, the captain gasped and greedily sucked in lungfuls of air.
Lin An didn't give the mercenary captain any time to catch his breath or think. He took two steps back to put a little distance between them, aimed the shotgun at the man's chest, and spoke in fluent London-accented English.
"Sir, someone's very interested in your employer."
This London accent wasn't how he usually spoke. His usual English was the kind typical of a Chinese person: limited vocabulary, lots of modifiers, and sentences structured just like Chinese.
But his voice now was low and steady, with full, rounded vowels. He sounded like someone making a reservation at a Michelin-starred restaurant over the phone—elegant.
The words brought the mercenary captain back to his senses. He looked away from the ceiling and at Lin An.
Gloves, hat, mask, sunglasses—not a single patch of skin was exposed from head to toe. It gave him a dangerous aura... but it also offered a certain reassurance. Since the captain didn't know what either of them looked like, Lin An had no need to kill him to cover his tracks.
The mercenary captain's Adam's apple bobbed. He didn't say anything, only watched Lin An.
"But your employer clearly isn't very interested in your abilities."
The mercenary captain had been planning to keep his mouth shut and stall for time, but at those words, his expression changed drastically. It seemed he'd realized something.
"What do you mean?"
"All right, don't overthink it. Give me a name. A person's name, or a company's. Tell me, and I'll let you go... Otherwise..."
Lin An raised the mercenary captain's handgun and showed it to him. The captain immediately understood what he meant.
"Sergei Kuzmin."
The mercenary captain spoke.
"Brighton Beach. Black Sea Seafood. He's a middleman. He takes the jobs, and we provide the men."
"Thanks for being so forthcoming... Well, I hope you really were honest."
Lin An put away the shotgun with brisk efficiency, then turned around and handed the Glock back to the mercenary captain, who was still lying on the floor. The man took the weapon with a stunned expression.
"Have a nice day. Goodbye."
With that, Lin An turned and headed back the way they'd come. Darnell followed, bewildered.
Outside the pharmacy, Lin An put the shotgun back in the System Store, then returned to his original spot on the street. He waved over the three Ni Ge who were still watching the pharmacy entrance, and led them, along with Darnell, into the alley beside them. Then they hurried away.
"Hold on, hold on!"
They hadn't gone far when Darnell couldn't take it anymore.
"You're just leaving? You only asked for one name? Just one? Bro, do you get what I'm saying? I'm asking you, do you even get what I'm saying?"
Lin An kept walking without acknowledging Darnell, who continued to pester him.
"He gave you a name, and you just believed him? What if he made it up? What if it was his neighbor's dog's name? Couldn't you have asked a couple more questions? Like where your boss lives? You..."
The Bullet Screen also voiced its doubts.
With the two of them pestering him, Lin An finally turned his head and glanced at Darnell.
"Ask too much, and it makes us look like we lack confidence."
"Lack confidence?"
Darnell's voice rose slightly, then he quickly lowered it again.
"You had a gun pointed at him. How could you lack confidence? You..."
"Pointing a gun at him shows strength."
Lin An cut him off.
"Ask too much, and you show weakness. Someone with a real trump card doesn't show their hand."
Darnell opened his mouth, then closed it again.
He wanted to argue, but after thinking it over... there seemed to be some sense to it.
His stepfather had said something like that when he was alive. What was it again? Something like, "When you're cooking, take it off the heat when it's ready. Don't keep turning it over."
His stepfather had said that while making a pan of burnt greens, but the advice was probably sound.
"Okay, okay..."
Darnell nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets, putting on his "coolest guy in Brooklyn" expression.
"I get what you mean. You're playing mind games, right? Just like my mom says..."
"Bro, we've got a problem."
The three young Ni Ge caught up with them.
"Are we still doing our zero-dollar shopping?"
At that, Darnell looked back. He realized his friends had had their shopping plans interrupted because they'd come to help him.
"Bro, what do we do?"
Darnell instinctively asked Lin An, whom he considered the wisest of them.
"Let's go. We'll switch streets. I'll show you how to do some zero-dollar shopping."
[There's something I don't get. Why did the captain spill everything after the streamer said that second line?]
[The streamer meant, "The reason you found me so quickly is that someone sold you out."]
[Huh? He did?]
[233, that's a con.]
Before you continue