novelsite Chapter 30 Taking Chestnuts from the Fire
Chapter 30 Taking Chestnuts from the Fire
At 7:05, he walked through the back alley of the market and rode a second-hand bicycle that had been parked there beforehand. This bicycle had also been modified: the serial number on the frame had been ground off and re-engraved, the tire treads had been slightly modified, and the bell had been removed—details determine success or failure.
The rain was still falling, heavier than in the evening. Wang Zhengyang rode his bicycle through the streets and alleys of the south of the city, skillfully avoiding potholes and puddles. Twenty minutes later, he arrived at an office building thirty meters away from Zhang Yiqiang's warehouse.
This was a pre-selected observation point. The office building was three stories high, and the red bricks on the exterior walls had turned dark brown from being soaked in rainwater. Wang Zhengyang climbed in through the back window—he had used his supernatural abilities to fix the window latch two days ago; it looked locked, but it could actually be opened with a push.
A window in a room on the third floor faces the warehouse, and the glass is one-way—he had used his supernatural abilities to alter the microstructure of the glass surface beforehand, creating a one-way light transmission effect. The room was already equipped with simple observation equipment: a high-powered telescope on a tripod connected to a tablet computer; and two miniature cameras, one aimed at the warehouse's main entrance and the other at the street corner.
Wang Zhengyang set up a third camera, pointing it at the loading and unloading area in the backyard of the warehouse. Then he turned on his tablet, and all four monitoring screens were displayed simultaneously.
The warehouse district was silent in the rainy night. Zhang Yiqiang's shop doors and windows were tightly shut, but a faint light shone through the cracks in the door—there were still people inside. The warehouse itself had no windows, only ventilation openings in the roof and loading/unloading doors on the side.
As the supernatural power unfolds, electromagnetic perception extends out like invisible tentacles.
There were three people in the shop: two in the back room, their heartbeats steady, possibly playing cards or chatting; and one behind the counter, breathing shallowly and slowly, as if dozing. There were two people in the warehouse, their positions fixed, presumably guards.
Two blocks away from the street corner, two cars were parked. Inside each car were eight people; there were heartbeats, the sound of metal scraping (the click of a gun's safety switch), and deep voices.
"Wolf said to make the move at eleven o'clock sharp." A rough, hoarse voice. Through his supernatural ability to analyze electromagnetic waves, Wang Zhengyang "heard" the intermittent conversation.
"Are there only two guards in the warehouse?"
"Zhang Yiqiang has taken his men to the dock; this is the message Wolf received."
Is the news reliable?
"I don't know, but this is a rare opportunity. Even if there's an ambush, we have enough people."
The Iron Hand gang has arrived and is waiting for their chance.
Wang Zhengyang glanced at the time: 9:45. He took out an encrypted communicator—a modified old phone that could only communicate through a specific relay node, and the records were automatically cleared after each communication.
He sent two pre-set messages.
The first message to the Iron Hand Gang's contact point, disguised as an informant bribed by Zhang Yiqiang: "There are only two guards at the warehouse, and they're dozing off. Shift change is at 10:55, and the window of opportunity is from 11:00 to 11:10."
The second message was sent to one of the guards Zhang Yiqiang had left in the warehouse, using the number of an outer member of the Iron Hand Gang—a number he had overheard the day before yesterday: "Wolf might make his move tonight. He recently bought a batch of new equipment, so be careful."
The first rule is to ensure the Iron Hand Gang acts precisely at 11:00 AM. The second rule is to keep the guards on high alert—only vigilant guards will fiercely resist, making the scene look more like a shootout between gangsters.
After sending the message, Wang Zhengyang began his final preparations. He took out the EMP device from his backpack, secured it to the inside of the window with tape, and aimed it at the trucks in the warehouse's backyard. The effective range was about thirty meters, just enough.
Then came the oxidizer. He prepared three small bottles: one of high-concentration industrial alcohol, one of waste engine oil from a repair shop, and one of a homemade oxidizer mixture—potassium nitrate, sugar, and iron powder, in precisely calculated proportions to ensure slow combustion rather than an explosion.
"We need to activate the truck's GPS first," he said, glancing at the time. "10:30."
While waiting, Wang Zhengyang checked his equipment: there was a pair of thin gloves in the pocket of his work clothes, with a special coating that would not leave fingerprints; the soles of his shoes had been replaced with temporary rubber pads to eliminate the original shoe patterns; the mask was an ordinary medical mask, but the inner layer was coated with nanofibers, which could filter out the moisture characteristics of exhaled breath.
At 10:25, the warehouse store door opened. A tall, thin man came out, carrying an umbrella, and walked towards the street corner—probably to change shifts or buy a late-night snack. Two people remained inside the store.
At 10:30 sharp, Wang Zhengyang pressed the remote control button on the EMP device.
There was no sound, no flash. But in his supernatural perception, a subtle electromagnetic fluctuation came from the direction of the warehouse's backyard—like a pebble thrown into still water. The truck's GPS antenna was burned out, and the sensor circuits of several nearby streetlights were also disabled, causing the area to dim for a moment.
At 10:50, the last two people left the store and drove south towards the city. Only two guards remained at the warehouse, but they were clearly more alert—having received a warning, they began pacing around the warehouse and stopped dozing.
At 10:55, the Iron Hand Party's vehicle started moving.
Two SUVs sped out from the street corner, their tires screeching on the wet pavement. One vehicle slammed open the shop door, and four people jumped out and rushed inside. The other vehicle circled around to the side of the warehouse, where four people got out; two guarded the rear, while the other two prepared to blow up the warehouse door.
Gunshots rang out, very restrained, only three or four. Then came the sounds of fighting, muffled groans, and things falling to the ground.
Wang Zhengyang calmly watched the screen. The two guards in the store resisted, but were outnumbered and quickly subdued. Over at the warehouse, the Iron Hand gang members used a battering ram to break open the side door and rushed inside.
More intense fighting sounds came from inside the warehouse. The guards put up a resistance, but it only lasted for a little over a minute before falling silent.
At 11:03, the Iron Hand gang members began moving the goods. As Wang Zhengyang had predicted, they first took the lightweight and valuable items: night vision goggles, tactical equipment, and bulletproof vests. Two people were responsible for packing the goods, two for guarding, and four others were outside keeping watch and driving.
The time has come.
At 11:07, Wang Zhengyang left the observation point. He didn't go through the main entrance, but instead jumped directly from the third-floor window onto the awning of the adjacent building—two stories high. He landed with his knees slightly bent, making no sound.
The rain intensified, reducing visibility to about fifteen meters. He moved close to the shadows of buildings, fully utilizing his supernatural abilities to sense the surrounding electromagnetic signals and metallic objects.
The sounds of Iron Hand gang members shouting and carrying things came from the direction of the warehouse. They moved quickly, clearly wanting to finish the operation as soon as possible.
Wang Zhengyang went around to the back of the warehouse. The van was parked next to the loading platform, and the key was indeed hidden in a magnetic box inside the right front wheel—a common habit of black market dealers, making it convenient for their subordinates to retrieve the vehicle at any time.
He opened the door and started the engine. The low growl of the diesel engine was perfectly masked by the sound of the rain. He reversed the vehicle directly under the loading platform, turned off the engine but kept the power on, and turned on the loading lights at the rear of the cargo bed—the light only illuminated a one-meter radius around the loading platform, so as not to attract attention from a distance.
Next is the monitoring and alarm system for the paralyzed warehouse.