Conan: What alias? That's my struggle!

【fail】

Fifth reset.

The sixth time.

The seventh time.

With each failure, Lin Ye would remember a lesson.

The second time, let him know that there was an alarm in the emergency exit.

The third time, I let him know that he shouldn't inquire about the target's information casually.

The fourth time, he was informed that there were sensors on the fire escape ladder.

The fifth time he learned that he couldn't crawl into the hotel's ventilation ducts—he was stuck inside for a full twenty minutes before security pulled him out.

The sixth time, he realized that even pretending to be a cleaner wouldn't work—real cleaners have name tags, but he didn't, and the receptionist saw through him immediately.

The seventh time taught him that sniping from a distance was even less effective—he didn't know how to use a scope at all, and his first shot hit the wall three meters away from the target.

The second shot hit the chandelier, and before the third shot could be fired, the bodyguards found the location.

The eighth time.

Ninth time.

tenth time.

Lin Ye began to record.

During the brief intervals after each reset, he memorized the reasons for the failure: the hotel layout, the movement of people, the location of surveillance cameras, the patrol times, the bodyguards' habits, and Wang Jianguo's work schedule.

These things gradually pieced together to form a complete picture.

By the thirtieth reset, he was able to draw the hotel floor plan on paper with an error of no more than one meter.

But knowing and doing are two different things.

He still failed.

It wasn't because he didn't know what to do, but because his body couldn't keep up with his mind.

He would tremble at crucial moments, hesitate for a fraction of a second before firing, and instinctively back down for a fraction of a second when facing an enemy.

A fraction of a second.

In the world of murder, a fraction of a second is the difference between life and death.

So he died many more times.

He was shot to death by a bodyguard, stabbed to death by a bodyguard, thrown off a building by a bodyguard, or strangled to death by a bodyguard. Each death was different.

It didn't hurt much, though.

Of course, even if it doesn't hurt much, it still hurts. The system was definitely doing it on purpose; it just lowered the pain perception. Finally, after countless cycles, Lin Ye felt he was ready.

A new playthrough begins.

The door to the employee entrance was unlocked.

Lin Ye slipped inside and quickly walked down the corridor toward the kitchen. He was wearing a white chef's uniform that he had taken from the staff changing room immediately after the reset.

He was wearing a chef's hat and a mask that covered half of his face.

The kitchen was bustling with activity.

No one can tell anyone apart, and he can't even recognize all his colleagues. This is all information that Lin Ye discovered during his previous explorations, and now it has become an aid for him to use.

Seven or eight chefs were busy at their respective posts, steam rose from the pots, and the roar of the range hood drowned out the sound of footsteps.

"Very good." Lin Ye walked in with his head down, without attracting anyone's attention.

He had "lurked" in the kitchen more than a dozen times. He knew which routes wouldn't be discovered, which corners were blind spots for surveillance, that the head chef was short-tempered and never looked people in the eye, that the chubby sous chef loved to steal food, and that the waiters would appear at the preparation table precisely at 7:58.

It is 7:57 now.

Lin Ye walked to the preparation table and waited quietly.

A minute later, the waiter appeared pushing a food cart.

He was a young man in his early twenties, wearing a red uniform and white gloves, with a professional smile on his face. He saw Lin Ye and nodded: "Is tonight's meal ready?"

Lin Ye pointed to the plates that had already been set on the table.

"I made a new one," he said in a low voice. "The previous one wasn't cooked properly, so the head chef told me to make a new one. I'll take it up to you."

The waiter hesitated for a moment: "But..."

"But what 'but'?!" Lin Ye's tone became impatient, a tactic he'd picked up from the head chef. "You know the head chef's temper, don't you?"

This threat is very useful.

The waiter glanced at the head chef yelling at an apprentice in the kitchen, shrank back, and handed the food cart handle to Lin Ye.

"Thanks, bro," he said and then slipped away.

Lin Ye gripped the push handle and took a deep breath.

There were three silver plate lids on the food cart; he didn't know what was underneath, nor did he need to know. He pushed the cart through the corridor, entered the staff elevator, and pressed the button for the top floor.

As the elevator ascended, he inspected the handgun hidden at the bottom of the dining car.

This time, his hands didn't shake.

The elevator doors opened.

The top-floor corridor was as quiet as a tomb.

Lin Ye pushed the food cart out and immediately spotted the two bodyguards at the entrance of the presidential suite. Both were dressed in black suits, with earpieces on their ears, standing ramrod straight, their eyes wary.

The moment they looked over, Lin Ye's heart skipped a beat.

But he didn't panic.

Having died dozens of times, he had seen these two men far too many times. The one on the left was called Tall Guy, and the one on the right was called Crew Cut—not their real names, of course, but names Lin Ye had given them. Tall Guy liked to look into the other person's eyes first, then their hands. Crew Cut did the opposite, looking into their hands first, then their eyes.

Lin Ye placed her hand on the handle of the food cart, her posture natural, unlike the stiffness she had shown the previous times.

"Delivering food," he said, his voice steady.

The tall man glanced at him, then at the food cart, and then knocked on the door.

The door opened from the inside.

Lin Ye pushed the food cart inside. As he passed the door, he could feel the gazes of two bodyguards lingering on his back for a moment. But no one stopped him.

Go in.

The living room is large, with a round table under a crystal chandelier, covered with a white tablecloth.

Wang Jianguo sat in the main seat, a document spread out in front of him, writing something with a pen. He looked up at Lin Ye, then looked down again.

"Put it over there," the tycoon said, pointing to the round table without even looking up.

There were two bodyguards in the living room, one standing by the window and the other at the bedroom door. In addition to the two at the door, there were two bodyguards who were with Wang Jianguo himself.

Lin Ye glanced around and found them.

One stood two steps behind Wang Jianguo, hands behind his back. The other leaned against the wall, arms crossed, seemingly relaxed, but his eyes followed Lin Ye's every move.

All six bodyguards were present.

Lin Ye pushed the food cart to the table and began placing plates on it one by one. The silver lid was lifted, revealing steak, soup, and salad inside.

He set it up very slowly and carefully, as if he were doing something that required a high degree of concentration.

But in reality, he was counting.

The distance from the door to Wang Jianguo is three steps.

The distance from Wang Jianguo to his bodyguard is two steps.

The distance from the bodyguard behind to the bodyguard by the window—four steps.

The distance from the bodyguard by the window to the bodyguard at the bedroom door—five steps.

All the distances, angles, and time differences are in his mind.

After dying dozens of times, these things had become ingrained in his instincts.

When the last dish was laid out, Lin Ye's hand touched the hidden compartment at the bottom of the food cart.

Wang Jianguo picked up his knife and fork, cut a piece of steak, and put it in his mouth.

The moment he was chewing, Lin Ye drew his pistol.

The insurance has been turned off.

He raised his hand, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

"Bang."

The gunshots were deafening in the closed room.

Wang Jianguo didn't even have time to react before the bullet pierced his temple, splattering blood onto the white tablecloth. His body slumped to one side, and the knife and fork in his hand fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

Everything happened in less than a second.

Then came chaos.

"There's a gun!" The bodyguard behind Wang Jianguo was the first to react, reaching for his waist. But he was too close to Wang Jianguo, and Lin Ye's second bullet struck him directly in the chest.

The bodyguards by the window drew their guns simultaneously, and Lin Ye ducked behind the food cart. Bullets struck the metal panel of the cart with a sharp clang. Lin Ye peeked out from the side of the cart and fired two shots. The first hit the bodyguard by the window in the shoulder, and the second hit him in the abdomen.

The bodyguard collapsed.

The bodyguard at the bedroom door turned to run, but Lin Ye chased after him and fired a shot from behind.

The living room fell silent for a moment.

Then footsteps came from the doorway—the tall guy and the crew-cut guy rushed in.

"I anticipated your predictions!"

Lin Ye had already predicted their location.

He crouched down, using the round table as cover, and saw the feet of two people under the tablecloth. He fired two shots, one hitting the taller man in the calf.

The other shot hit the crew-cut man in the thigh.

"Damn it! He has superpowers!"

The two people fell to the ground.

Lin Ye stood up, walked over, and looked down at them. The tall man and the man with the buzz cut were lying on the ground, clutching their wounds in pain, their eyes filled with fear and confusion.

Lin Ye looked at the tall man—this man had used a beautiful over-the-shoulder throw to slam him to the ground during the thirteenth reset, and then shot him in the head.

He then looked at the crew-cut man—this man had noticed the anomaly as soon as he entered during the twenty-second reset and kicked the gun out of his hand.

Then he pressed his knee against his neck until he suffocated.

"Damn it! You killed them all! A bunch of NPCs tortured me so many times!" Ye fired a shot into the tall guy's chest, then another shot into the buzz-cut guy's forehead.

Instantly, the two of them stopped moving.

[Mission Complete!]

The familiar scene froze on the screen. But this time, what appeared before his eyes was not the red "failure," but a notification informing Lin Ye that he had passed the first training session.

but.

The matter was clearly far from over. In the next moment, the surrounding scenery began to float again, forming a new scene.