After taking off his clothes, Lin Jie began stripping off Li Xin's dress.
Soon, both were stripped down to their underwear.
Then Lin Jie took another set of spare clothes from his bag and put them on.
"Now, there's just one last step."
He lifted Li Xin, propped her against the wall, and dressed her in his original clothes, one piece at a time.
Lin Jie's clothes were specially made, with shaping materials inside, so they fit Li Xin's figure perfectly even when she wore them.
He pulled the hood over Li Xin's head, hiding her conspicuous wavy hair.
Then he took out a mask and attached a miniature walkie-talkie to the inside.
He brushed Li Xin's hair aside and put the mask on her.
Lin Jie took out another walkie-talkie and spoke into it. "Lin Jie is the most handsome man in the world."
Lin Jie's voice also came from inside the unconscious Li Xin's mask. "Lin Jie is the most handsome man in the world."
Lin Jie nodded in satisfaction.
Now, all the preparations were complete.
By disguising Li Xin, Lin Jie had created a "double."
Now, from the outside, Li Xin was "Lin Jie."
Finally, Lin Jie placed a miniature bomb in Li Xin's hand.
He positioned her finger over the detonation button.
"Sorry, Li Xin, and Zheng Yi and Zhou Lan too. Although you finally managed to escape the Realm of the Dead, I have to do all this again to find the culprit who shot me."
"Only by following the previous events exactly will there be a chance of him showing up."
"I'm sorry for killing you."
Everything was ready. Now, the grand theft plan-the trick that let Lin Jie instantly "transfer" from the villa to more than a dozen li away-was about to be reenacted.
Lin Jie opened the window, leaped out, and disappeared into the darkness.
Jumping into the sedan he had prepared beforehand, Lin Jie picked up his phone and dialed a number.
"Hello, is this Director Zheng?"
The man's voice on the other end was wary. "Who are you?"
Lin Jie lowered his voice, altering its tone. "You might not remember me. But I know you very well."
"You know someone named Zhou Lan, don't you?"
Zheng Yi hesitated for two seconds. "No."
Lin Jie ignored him. "Don't play dumb. Come to his villa and meet me now, or I'll release all the evidence of your crimes and his."
"Remember, don't tell anyone. Come alone."
"I'll be waiting in the vault."
Lin Jie hung up.
Then he started the car and drove off.
Inside the villa.
Zhou Lan lay naked on the luxurious bed, playing on his phone.
"Strange. Why has Li Xin been gone so long?"
He got up, threw on some clothes, left the room, and headed for the vault.
When he reached the door, he noticed something was wrong.
"Why are the lights still on?"
Taking a precaution, he went back and picked up a hunting gun.
Zhou Lan entered the vault again and looked around.
Yet nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
"Phew, looks like I was just scaring myself. Everything's normal."
"Are you looking for me?"
An eerie mechanical voice suddenly came from behind him!
Zhou Lan nearly jumped out of his skin. He spun around and raised the hunting gun.
"Who are you? Stop playing tricks."
Beside the door, "Lin Jie" leaned lightly against the wall. He wore a hood and mask, making his expression impossible to see.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm LJ, a phantom thief."
Zhou Lan's voice trembled. "Stay back! I've got a gun!"
"Lin Jie" ignored his threat. "Do you know why I'm here?"
"Don't you know how many heinous things you've done?"
"Today, I've come to carry out heaven's justice."
"If you fire, you, me, and everything you own will turn to ashes."
"I'm holding a bomb. If I lose consciousness, the safety will release, and your villa will be reduced to rubble."
Zhou Lan looked at his left hand. It was true.
He was indeed clutching a small object that looked like a bomb.
"Good sir, let's talk this over!"
"What do you need? Money? Beautiful women? I can give you all of it!"
"Lin Jie's" tone was disdainful. "I don't need any of that. I just need you to wait quietly. Wait for someone to arrive."
Zhou Lan looked puzzled. "Who? Who's coming?"
Before he finished speaking, a sturdy figure pushed the door open and entered.
Zheng Yi had arrived just then.
Zhou Lan reacted quickly and rushed forward.
"Quick! Zheng Yi, this man's a thief! Help me pin him down!"
Zheng Yi was startled by this sudden turn of events, but he was a police officer, after all, and reacted quickly.
He too rushed forward and tackled "Lin Jie" to the floor.
Meanwhile, Zhou Lan went straight for the bomb in his hand.
"As long as I hold down the bomb's safety, it should be fine, right?"
Zhou Lan had noticed earlier that the bomb looked very much like a fragmentation grenade. Even if the pin was pulled, it would not explode as long as the safety was held down.
He had also noticed that "Lin Jie's" finger had been holding down the safety the whole time.
What he did not know, however, was that this "Lin Jie" was actually the unconscious Li Xin.
Li Xin appeared to be holding down the safety, but because she was unconscious, she was exerting no pressure at all.
Thus, the bomb's detonation condition was precisely the opposite!
Pressing the safety would not prevent the bomb from exploding. Instead, it was what triggered the bomb!
Zhou Lan snatched the bomb and quickly pressed the "detonation switch."
"Phew, we're safe. Huh? What's that sound..."
The bomb began beeping rapidly.
At the same time, a "mechanical voice" began counting down from Lin Jie's mouth.
[Three...]
Just then, Zhou Lan's phone rang.
He answered. "Hello?"
A familiar voice came through. "Hello, Zhou Lan. This is LJ."
LJ?
Wasn't LJ right in front of him? When had he made the call?
"I have some unfortunate news for you. Actually, if you'd just left the bomb alone, there wouldn't have been any danger."
"It was precisely your act of pressing the safety that activated the bomb!"
[Two...] The countdown continued.
Zhou Lan looked incredulous. "What? Why would you do this? Won't you be blown up too?"
Lin Jie chuckled on the other end. "Me? Have you misunderstood something?"
"Let me play this for you: 'Sir, your car has been fueled up.'"
"That was the voice of a gas station attendant."
"Understand now? I'm drinking a beverage at a gas station more than a dozen li away."
"What danger am I in?"
[One...]
Zhou Lan hung up and pulled back Lin Jie's hood with trembling hands.
"How is this possible?"
Beneath the hood was Li Xin's sleeping face.
She also had a business card between her lips.
Zhou Lan picked it up and looked at it.
With compliments, Phantom Thief LJ.
[Boom!!!!!!]
In the night, the flames from the bomb blazed dazzlingly.
Far away, more than a dozen li from the scene, Lin Jie saw it and nodded in satisfaction.
He threw away his drink and got back into the car.
"Mysterious gunman."
"Now it's time to find you."