Villain? No, I'll catch up with the protagonist after passing the civil service exam.

With a sickening metallic screech, the heavy vault door was finally pushed open a crack. The mercenary leader swallowed excitedly: "The core is ours! Go in!"

Black Wolf took the lead, his thick shoulders bracing against the scorching hot metal door.

He exerted force suddenly. The security door slid open along the rusty track, producing a long, grating creak.

The heat wave outside, mixed with the pungent smell of ozone from melting metal, poured into the dark vault.

"Hurry up! The item is in the safe right in the middle!"

Black Wolf howled at the top of his lungs. His military boots stepped on the threshold, crossing the still bubbling pool of dark red molten iron.

A dozen mercenaries, like wild dogs that had smelled blood, rushed in, brandishing their blue-glowing energy guns.

The night vision goggles on their helmets emitted a faint buzzing sound. A green grid view swept across the vault hall, revealing rows of towering evidence shelves in the darkness.

No one paid any attention to the shelves on either side. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the deepest part of the hall.

The mouse, carrying a heavy battery on its back, ran and panted heavily.

His prosthetic eye darted rapidly in the darkness, flashing red light. "Wolf, there really wasn't an ambush! These cops are all blind!"

He hadn't even finished speaking.

"Smack."

A crisp, dry sound of an air switch tripping echoed from the top of the empty vault.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was like a needle, piercing straight into everyone's eardrums.

next second.

The four rows of emergency backup halogen lights embedded in the ceiling were turned on without warning.

A blinding, cold white light poured down instantly, illuminating the more than 500-square-meter underground vault as bright as day.

The light was too strong.

The high-magnification night vision goggles worn by the mercenaries didn't have time to activate the glare protection program.

A blinding white patch burst open on the green display screen.

"Holy crap!"

The black wolf at the front howled in pain. It felt like shards of glass had been thrown into its eyes, the stinging sensation shooting straight to its head.

He nearly dropped the gun. His hands frantically tried to pull at the nylon straps of his helmet.

The dozen or so henchmen behind them were also thrown into chaos.

Some people were in so much pain that they covered their faces and squatted on the ground. Others ripped off their goggles, tears streaming down their faces, their vision filled with a blur of white blur.

The mouse's poor-quality mechanical electronic eye had its photosensitive element burned through. A wisp of pungent black smoke billowed out, accompanied by a hissing sound of a short circuit.

"There's an ambush! Spread out and find cover!"

Black Wolf, relying on muscle memory, suddenly pounced behind a metal evidence shelf next to him.

He squinted through his tear-blurred eyes, picked up the energy gun, and pointed the muzzle haphazardly toward the center of the vault.

A few seconds later, the white spot on the retina slowly faded away.

The mercenaries trembled as they leveled their guns again, staring intently ahead.

however.

They were not greeted by fully armed riot police or a dense network of infrared lasers.

In the very center of the vault was a wide open space.

In the open space, a dark gray titanium alloy safe, nearly two meters long and wide, stood all alone.

That's the core of the Sirius mainship that they're risking their lives to seize tonight.

At this moment, the safe is intact.

But there was a person sitting on the box.

A young man wearing a faded, old police uniform shirt.

His shirt sleeves were rolled up to his forearms, revealing a section of his strong wrists. He wasn't wearing the supposedly missile-proof interstellar tactical vest; his black jacket was simply tossed aside on the metal rack beside him.

The man's long legs were casually crossed. His leather shoes rested on the edge of the safe.

He kept his head down, holding a chipped black stainless steel thermos in his hand.

This bizarre scene was like a bucket of ice water poured over the spines of these desperate criminals.

The entire vault fell into a deathly silence.

The only sounds were the whooshing of the exhaust fan and the faint crackling of electricity leaking from the rat's burnt-out mechanical eye.

In this space where things have been slowed down to the extreme.

Black Wolf's breathing stopped.

His fleshy face was completely frozen in place. The elation of his successful robbery was still lingering on his lips, but his eyes were now filled with a ghostly horror.

Sweat seeped from his forehead. It wasn't hot sweat, but a cold, blistered sweat that seeped into his bones.

Sweat streamed down the scars on his cheeks. It stung his eyes, but he didn't dare blink.

Lu Jingyan, who was sitting on the box in front, didn't take the dozen or so high-energy weapons pointed at him seriously at all.

He supported the bottom of the cup with his left hand. His slender fingers on his right hand rested on the metal lid of the thermos.

Apply slight force to the wrist.

Turn left.

The metal threads rub against each other, producing a dry, hissing sound.

The sound was amplified countless times in the deathly silent vault. Each echo was like a dull knife sawing at the mercenaries' nerves.

The cup lid was unscrewed.

Lu Jingyan held the lid in his hand. A warm, white steam carrying the fragrance of herbs and trees drifted out from the rim of the cup.

The rising steam blurred his handsome, upright profile.

He lowered his head and brought the rim of the cup to his lips.

The water in the cup was a little hot. Two plump red goji berries were floating on the surface.

He pursed his lips slightly.

He blew a breath onto the water.

"call--"

A very soft sound. A tiny ripple spread across the water's surface. The two red goji berries swayed gently with the ripples and drifted to the edge of the glass inner liner.

His Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

He took a sip of warm water. The sound of him swallowing was steady and smooth.

Black Wolf's hands, gripping the gun, began to tremble uncontrollably.

The heavy butt of the rifle struck his tactical vest with a slight thud.

"Lu, Lu Jingyan..."

The mouse hid behind the black wolf, its teeth chattering wildly. Its voice held a barely suppressed sob.

"Wolf...why is he sitting inside? Didn't the intelligence say he was on vacation?"

No one answered the mouse.

The calves of more than a dozen mercenaries were cramping.

Their minds were completely in turmoil.

Before we arrived, the boss confidently declared that without superpowers, this person would be useless, and the city bureau's defense system would be nothing but a decoration.

But now?

They didn't even have any guards outside. The gate was wide open, and they didn't even set off a tripwire.

All by himself, with just a broken thermos, he sat comfortably on the stolen goods he wanted most.

What does this tell us?

This means they knew they were coming all along. It shows this was a trap from beginning to end, a dead end!

A cop without superpowers, facing a dozen alien cutting guns, can still have the leisure to drink tea.

That can only prove one thing.

This vault holds a trump card even more terrifying than the alien energy gun.

The air temperature seemed to have dropped to freezing. The mercenaries stood back to back, their eyes darting nervously across the bare walls around them.

They were afraid that a row of antimatter machine gun barrels might suddenly emerge from behind some wall bricks.

Lu Jingyan swallowed the mouthful of warm water.

He turned his head, his gaze passing over the rising white mist and landing on the group of mercenaries at the door who could barely hold their guns steady.

There was no roar, no warning.

His dark eyes were as deep as a dry well, and he looked at these people as if they were a pile of sorted garbage.

He put the lid back onto the rim of the cup.

Use your thumb and forefinger to grip the edge and twist to the right. The threads will lock into place.

Lu Jingyan put down his cup, the glass liner hitting the metal box with a dull thud. He raised his eyelids, his tone cold: "You're three minutes late."