"So that's how it is."
After learning the secrets behind the digitized body, Fang Linyan finally understood. No wonder Fang and the others had fought so fiercely earlier. Injuries that would have instantly incapacitated ordinary people barely affected them. That had to be the reason.
He checked his phone, and his eyebrows shot up.
It turned out that before getting on the bus, Fang Linyan had already sent messages to some potential clients in Worcester, telling them he had TIC Rare Element Additive and was willing to make in-person, pay-after-delivery deals. However, he had claimed to have only a tenth of his actual stock, measuring it out in grams.
Now he saw that several interested buyers had already messaged him. The transactions would be a bit of a hassle, but after doing the math, Fang Linyan realized he could still make over a hundred thousand dollars in total—enough to cover his expenses for the foreseeable future.
With about thirty-four hours left before the mission deadline, Fang Linyan arrived in Worcester. He went to each address the buyers had given him and delivered the goods in person. Nothing went wrong, and he collected nearly twenty thousand dollars in cash, along with around a hundred thousand dollars in bank transfers. But the cash couldn't be taken out of this world, which meant he could only spend it here.
By then, he had sold less than a fifth of his TIC Rare Element Additive. But he was cautious by nature, and once he had enough money, he didn't want to invite trouble. After considering what to do with the rest, he tossed the bag containing the remaining TIC to a few homeless people and told them it was valuable. It was a good deed, sure, but more importantly, it would scatter any pursuers who might be tracking him.
With his financial needs taken care of, Fang Linyan turned to the main mission. He prepared to book a seat on American Airlines Flight 11, which he was required to board in a little over thirty hours. The flight went from Boston Logan International Airport to Los Angeles.
Then he realized he had booked a first-class seat on that very flight fifteen days earlier. That saved him the trouble.
After pondering the app for a while, Fang Linyan booked a flight from Boston to Washington three hours later. Worcester was less than a hundred kilometers from Boston Logan International Airport, and the entire route was highway, so he had plenty of time to get there.
Why go to Washington?
Fang Linyan had checked the dates and found that the weather in both Boston and Washington would be good for the next week, so there was little risk of a weather-related delay. That made him think he could try for the Scholar milestone.
He had already found out that the Mayflower Compact was currently on display in Hall 4 of the National Museum. Other exhibits included famous but inexpensive items such as the "Lexington Rifle" and "Lincoln's Top Hat." There was a good chance they were replicas, too, so security was unlikely to be very tight.
That left only one tricky part of the mission: touching the exhibit. Fang Linyan already had several plans in mind. If everything went smoothly, he would need only three hours in Washington to pull it off.
A cold front had swept into Washington, and a steady drizzle fell.
The rain was light, but when it landed on his hands, face, and ears, its chill seemed to sink straight into his bones. Leaves rustled down in the mid-autumn wind and rain, and the air held the biting cold of snow about to fall.
The statues in the central plaza had taken on a bluish-gray cast, making the chill seem to rise from the stone itself.
Wearing sunglasses, a windbreaker, and enough makeup to disguise his features, Fang Linyan walked briskly along the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets, looking no different from the other pedestrians. Hall 4 of the National Museum stood six hundred meters ahead.
He had spent nearly two hours scouting the area, both to familiarize himself with the layout and to plan an escape route in advance.
With everything ready, all he needed was the right opportunity. Fang Linyan began looking for homeless people. The financial crisis was in full swing, and there was no shortage of them. He planned to pay some to smash the display case holding the Mayflower Compact—or at least draw everyone else's attention away. As for the reason, he could simply say he had made a bet with a friend.
The culprit would only face a charge of "damaging public property," and only if caught in the act. Fang Linyan figured two or three hundred dollars would be more than enough to convince someone. As it turned out, three hundred dollars was all it took to tempt a homeless man named Jack. He also had no trouble persuading his companion to join in.
After Fang Linyan gave them a hundred dollars up front, Jack and his companion, Tom, went to a nearby convenience store and bought a hot coffee and two sandwiches. They wolfed down the food, sharing the coffee. It was so hot that they grimaced, but neither let go of the cup. They were clearly desperate.
Once they had just barely filled their stomachs, they called out to Fang Linyan, picked up a couple of stones from the roadside, tucked them into their pockets, and strode toward Hall 4 of the National Museum.
As Fang Linyan had expected, security was lax. There was no one outside the building, and inside, a middle-aged guard lounged against the railing with a cigarette dangling from his lips and his shoulders hunched, looking like a quail huddling through winter.
The hall was nearly empty, too. There was an old man, a couple, and two visitors who looked like they were from out of town. The blonde woman in the couple was quite beautiful. Though she was hanging on her boyfriend's arm, she winked surreptitiously at Fang Linyan. She was probably a flirt, but he smiled back anyway.
Once inside, Fang Linyan spotted a roll of paper glowing faintly inside a case in the southeast corner of Hall 4. He was startled at first, but quickly realized that the faint light was projected directly onto his retina; no one else could see it. It must have been marking the mission item.
So he pretended to be a tourist and walked over to take a look, confirming that it was the Mayflower Compact. After examining it carefully, he made as if to leave. But before he did, he casually turned up the collar of his windbreaker, then stood in front of the display case for ten seconds before walking away at an unhurried pace.
That was the signal they had agreed on: he had identified the target, and the two men he'd brought along were to make their move.
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