The White Snow Trap in the Warehouse

The night descended like a massive velvet curtain, shrouding the West India Docks in absolute silence.

The bustle of the day had long since faded, leaving only the rhythmic lapping of the River Thames against the stone embankment and the occasional, distant wail of a ship's whistle.

Warehouse No. 3, a colossal structure that had been a source of mystery and dread for the past month, waited silently for its nocturnal "visitors."

Deep within the belly of this behemoth, Lin Jie was directing the setup of a silent battlefield.

His plan sounded ridiculously simple, yet every link in the chain was infused with his ingenuity, which seemed to transcend the era.

He did not choose to set up a head-on trap at the ventilation windows where the enemy was bound to pass; that would be too inefficient and high-risk when facing a large number of agile, unknown creatures.

What he intended was not a one-time "capture," but an unavoidable "marking"—a "staining experiment" that would completely strip away the enemy's veil of mystery.

"Sergeant William, I need you to secure this rope to the central beam on the highest level of the warehouse." Lin Jie handed a coil of sturdy hemp rope he had found in the warehouse to William. "The length of the rope needs to be precise, hanging about three meters from the ground."

William glanced at the dome beam, hidden in the darkness over ten meters above, then looked back at Lin Jie, his eyes filled with doubt.

Working at that height, even for a veteran like him, required professional climbing gear.

Lin Jie saw through his hesitation and pointed to the massive, steam-powered crane in the corner of the warehouse used for hoisting cargo.

"We can use that. As long as we modify the hook slightly, we can lift someone up safely."

A flash of approval crossed William's eyes once more.

This young man always found the most direct and effective way to utilize every tool at his disposal; it was a precious instinct for the battlefield.

With William's agile movements and his rudimentary knowledge of machinery, the hemp rope was soon firmly secured in the designated spot, hanging silently in the center of the warehouse like a spider's thread descending from the heavens.

Next came the core component of the trap.

Lin Jie found several bags of white flour originally intended for a bakery.

He carefully tied one of the flour bags to the end of the hemp rope, creating a makeshift "dust bomb."

"That's it?" Marcus, who had been watching for a long time, finally couldn't help but speak, his tone filled with disbelief. "You want to use a hanging bag of flour to deal with monsters that can bend iron bars? I thought you'd set up something... at least with spikes."

"Marcus, patience is a virtue." Lin Jie smiled without offering much explanation.

He turned to William and said, "Sergeant William, this is the final step. I need you to connect one end of this thin string to the opening of the flour bag, and the other end must be laid across the tops of the shelves where we suspect those little things are most likely to pass, based on your experience. We need a tripwire that is sufficiently concealed and sensitive."

This was the essence of the entire trap.

It was no longer a test of the designer's ingenuity, but of the executor's professionalism and experience.

How to lay a tripwire across the tops of dozens of meters of shelves piled with debris—one that could be easily triggered yet remain undetected—was an art form in itself.

And William was undoubtedly a master of this art.

The silent veteran didn't say a word; he simply picked up the spool of thin fishing line, his figure climbing onto the shelves like a civet cat.

He moved nimbly through the complex "steel jungle" where an ordinary person would struggle to find footing, his silhouette appearing and disappearing.

Using the edges of cargo crates and the uprights of the shelves, he cleverly laid the path of the fishing line, finally completing a flawless trigger mechanism on the only path leading from the ventilation window.

The entire trap was finally set.

A massive bag of flour hung high in the center of the warehouse, its release mechanism connected to a nearly invisible thread hidden in the darkness of the top level, dozens of meters away.

Any target attempting to sneak in through the ventilation window and move along the tops of the shelves would inevitably trigger this deadly tripwire.

The three of them retreated silently behind an excellent observation point formed by massive cargo crates, from which they could see the entire trap area.

Lin Jie set up his monocular, William raised his long-barreled Colt Revolver, and Marcus crossed his arms, half-skeptical, ready to watch the show.

Time became viscous and long in the waiting.

At midnight, when the world outside the warehouse had fallen into a deep slumber, a sound of metal scraping came from the ventilation window at the top of the warehouse.

They were here!

The nerves of the three men tightened to their limit.

Through the faint moonlight filtering in from the window, Lin Jie finally saw the true faces of the "Dock Whisperers" through his monocular.

They were peculiar creatures, similar in size to large macaques, but with a completely different body structure.

Their fur was a dull, rusted iron-gray, providing them with perfect camouflage in an environment of steel and shadows.

Their limbs were extremely long, and instead of flesh-and-blood hands, they possessed "mechanical claws" made of tiny, brass-like articulated joints resembling clock parts.

These claws could easily grip any rough surface, granting them the ability to scale walls and ceilings.

Most unsettling of all were their faces.

They had no mouths; instead, a polished, lens-like crystal was embedded where their faces should be.

When they drew close to one another, these crystals emitted "buzzing" sounds at different frequencies, presumably a way of communicating.

Their goal was clear, their actions efficient.

One, two... over a dozen of these creatures filed in silently through the ventilation window, then skillfully moved along the tops of the shelves toward their target deep in the warehouse: a crate of brand-new tin ingots.

They were completely unaware of the deadly tripwire waiting for them in the darkness.

As the lead semi-mechanical monkey neared the target, its foot, composed of metal joints, lightly brushed against the taut fishing line.

"Snap!"

A faint snapping sound rang out.

Far away in the center of the warehouse, the mouth of the massive flour sack suspended in mid-air was violently ripped open by an unseen force!

There was no explosion, no deafening roar.

There was only a dreamlike, pure white avalanche.

A vast quantity of flour cascaded down like an inverted waterfall, instantly forming a rapidly expanding cloud of white dust that completely engulfed the dozen or so fast-moving semi-mechanical monkeys and the entire area they occupied!

"Buzz-buzz-buzz—!!!"

The previously silent group of monkeys erupted into cries of panic and fury.

Their perfect stealth had been shattered, and every single monkey was inevitably coated in a thick layer of white flour.

Their iron-gray fur, which had originally allowed them to blend into the environment, was now mottled and conspicuous.

No matter where they fled, they left behind a trail of incredibly clear white footprints on the floor and the shelves.

They had been collectively "dyed"!

Through his binoculars, Lin Jie clearly witnessed this spectacular and comical scene.

The trap he had designed, simple to the extreme and utilizing the cheapest of materials, had achieved results far more effective than any conventional hunting trap.

It hadn't killed a single enemy, yet it had stripped them of the ability they relied on most—stealth.

The enraged troop of monkeys began to scramble aimlessly around the warehouse, attempting to shake off the annoying white powder.

Their movement speed was astonishing as they leaped and climbed between the massive shelves like ghosts.

Had they remained in their previous state of stealthy camouflage, even a sharpshooter like William would have struggled to catch a glimpse of them.

But now, they were nothing more than a group of glaringly obvious white targets in the darkness.

Sergeant William's face revealed undisguised shock and admiration.

He turned his head to look deeply at the young man beside him, who was calmly holding the binoculars as if everything were under his control.

At this moment, the last shred of doubt in his heart vanished along with the clouds of white dust.