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m to help us arrange manpower.”

Shi Jin said he understood, and turned his attention back to the task.

A few minutes later, the van stopped next to the building diagonally opposite to Lishui Hospital.
Gua Two contacted the people he’d arranged inside; after confirming the situation hadn’t changed, he made himself comfortable and began to wait.  

Shi Jin learned by example.
He suppressed the desire to rush in, and settled down. 

By the time an hour had passed, he couldn’t hold back.
“Do you think Nine Eagles left someone in the hospital, betting we’d come check the place Long Shi was hiding?” Shi Jin asked. 

Gua Two glanced at him in the rear mirror.
“There’s a good chance of that, so let’s be even more cautious.” 

Shi Jin agreed and quieted down once more.

After another half an hour, Gua Two’s inside observers informed him that some of the cleaners and nurse’s aides had gone frantic all of a sudden, running towards the pharmacy and medicine storeroom.
At the same time, word came from Gua Three that they’d broken through and penetrated Hydra’s headquarters.

“Get ready for action.
Enter the hospital in batches, you have ten minutes to get in.” Gua Two, who had pulled off an impressive impression of a stone statue until that point, revived in an instant.
He turned the steering wheel and headed for the hospital, giving orders through the phone.

The men hiding in the other two vehicles went into action as soon as they heard his orders. 

Shi Jin also got busy.
He put in an earpiece and checked his gear, getting ready to fight.

Gua Two pulled over along the side of the hospital building.

Five minutes later, the people inside reported that most of the Hydra personnel in Lishui Hospital had gone to the storeroom, and the protection in other places was lax.

“They realized they won’t be able to hide, so they want to salvage as many goods as possible?” Gua Two raised his eyebrows, a malicious grin stretching over his face.
He confirmed the status of the other eighteen people, then started the van again, commanding, “Divide into three groups.
The first group will approach the storeroom and watch the movements around and inside; the second group will scatter throughout the hospital and keep an eye on the general situation and the hospital staff; the last group—Number 9 to 12, the four of you will follow Shi Jin to the pharmacy.
Remember to stay in touch.”

{Roger!} A chorus of voices sounded in the earpiece. 

Shi Jin didn’t say anything but sat up straight.
The second the van stopped at the hospital entrance, he opened the door, got off, and walked inside alone.
Like a family member who came to see the patient, he passed through the hospital lobby without hesitation and climbed the stairs leading to the inpatient department on the second floor.

His Chinese face should’ve been very conspicuous, but he acted natural, and his perfect confidence allowed him to move through the lobby without attracting attention. 

Gua Two didn’t even manage to open his mouth to give Shi Jin instructions before the young man was gone, disappearing as if he had teleported.

What the hell is this speed.

He gaped for a second, then pulled out the tablet to check Shi Jin’s position.
The hospital plan was laid out on the screen, and as the green dot representing the teenager arrived on the second floor it’s pace accelerated.
It sped through the inpatient department to the stairs on the other side, returned to the first floor, then unerringly navigated the maze of corridors, avoiding the crowds and making a swift approach to the pharmacy. 

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What the fuck… Is this place your home? How are your movements so skillful? 

“That kid… really isn’t normal,” Gua Two sighed, his mood complex.
Not wasting any more time, he adjusted his earphones and ordered the four people still scattered throughout the hospital to join Shi Jin. 

Inside, Shi Jin had successfully approached the pharmacy.

Whoever was in charge of this place had probably heard the news—the iron-barred security gate was locked.
The glass door behind it was ajar, but the only thing visible through there were rows and rows of shelves, not a single person to be seen. 

The sound of footsteps came from behind.
Shi Jin paused his inspection and hid in a shadow by the door. 

A lanky man turned the corner.
He didn’t continue forward, but stopped and called, “Shi?” 

{Don’t worry, it’s one of our people,} Gua Two informed him, right on time. 

Reassured, Shi Jin stepped out of the shadow and motioned to the man to approach.

The man walked closer.
Noticing the iron gate, he asked, “Locked?”

“Only the security gate, the glass door is open.
The person who should’ve closed it was probably in a hurry and didn’t have time to lock both,” Shi Jin replied, taking out a piece of wire.
Signaling for the lanky man to act as a lookout, he crouched down and started to pick the lock.

The man: “……” Brother, why do you look so proficient at this?

Click.
By the time the second ally arrived, Shi Jin had already unlocked the gate.

He got up and stowed the lockpick away, then entered the pharmacy with the lanky man, leaving the newcomer to wait for the two who still weren’t here.

The pharmacy was very quiet.
The dense rows of shelves obstructed their view, and it was impossible to determine if anyone was hiding inside.

Shi Jin signaled for his companion to cover him and went straight into the depths of pharmacy, alert and listening for any movement.

Walking to the middle of the room, he caught a short rustling noise to the left.
He circled around, sneaking behind the person who was hiding there, then lunged forward, covered the man’s mouth and knocked him out with a chop to the back of his neck.
The enemy folded like an empty sack.
The whole process was quick, silent, and efficient.

The lanky man who was about to shoot to help Shi Jin out: “……”

There were several more enemies in the pharmacy, some armed with guns.
Shi Jin knocked them out one by one, calm and steady the whole way, moving like a ghost.
He didn’t allow them to get out a single shot.
His actions were so skilled it was almost frustrating. 

The lanky man watched all this, dumbfounded.
He felt he was entirely redundant here.

After taking care of the lookouts, the two approached the closed door deep in the pharmacy.
Shi Jin reached for the door handle, signalled to the lanky man, then threw the door open and took cover behind the wall. 

Bang bang bang bang bang!

Dense gunfire rang from inside. 

Shi Jin pulled out a tear gas grenade and threw it in, then put on a pollution mask and darted through the door, keeping his body low.
He ducked behind a cabinet and started to return fire with his silenced gun. 

By the time the lanky man rushed in, there were no enemies left to attack.

A total of four people were slumped on the floor.
Two were shot in their right arms, two in their right shoulders, and none had the ability to pick up a gun.
Shi Jin was kicking away the weapons they’d dropped.

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“Tie them up,” he commanded.

The lanky man gave him a silent glance and stepped forward without protest. 

Shi Jin examined the room they were in.

It was quite large, and seemed to serve as the quarters for a live-in pharmacist.
The furnishings were simple and sparse, consisting only of a bed, desk, and wardrobe.
There were many boxes in the corner, however, piled up without care and looking like they’d been tossed around. 

According to the floor plan, there were no other rooms connected to the pharmacy, and no place to hide anything.
Long Shi should have lived in this place for all those years, but this room was completely ordinary—it didn’t look like there was anything even remotely resembling a clue here. 

{Find anything?} Gua Two’s voice sounded.

Shi Jin circled the room again, looking for a hidden door or something similar, but there was none.
“No, nothing.
Even if Long Shi lived here, my guess is that the person who replaced him erased any traces long ago.
I’ll go and check the pharmacy, maybe… Hmm?” He stopped and looked up at the ceiling.
“Wait a moment.” 

The now-tied captives noticed his actions, and their expressions became uneasy. 

{What did you find?} Gua Two asked.

Shi Jin glanced at Hydra members, then at the disorderly boxes, and said, “Just a little something.
As far as I remember, the height of the floors in Lishui Hospital is taller than average, yet the ceiling of this room is actually a bit lower than that, plus, I couldn’t find the pharmacist.
What’s more, the people Hydra left here seem to have been in the middle of moving the goods.
However, the only exit from the pharmacy was locked…”

{You suspect there’s a passage in the ceiling?}

“Well, I couldn’t find anywhere else it could be,” Shi Jin replied, walking to the pile of boxes.
Upon closer examination he discovered drag marks, which seemed to begin in the center of the room.

The center, huh?

Shi Jin glanced at the ceiling, then at the walls near the boxes.
In the end, his gaze settled on an old-fashioned hook screwed into the wall.
He hopped up onto a few boxes and reached for the hook, trying to push or rotate it, then gripped it with a firm hand and pulled hard.  

There was a faint rattling sound, like chains moving, and without any other warning several ceiling tiles opened outwards, a set of folding stairs dropping down in front of the pile of boxes. 

“Mmmph!” Tied and gagged, the Hydra members began to struggle, wanting to attack Shi Jin.

Shi Jin let go of the hook and jumped down.
Looking up at the opening in the ceiling, he said, “I remember there’s a doctor’s office right above this room.
Is there anyone on the second floor right now?”

{Yes, I’ll tell them to go take a look,} Gua Two replied.
He marveled at Shi Jin’s keen insight. 

Ten minutes later, a few knocks came from above the ceiling.
After receiving confirmation from Gua Two, Shi Jin climbed the ladder, entering the doctor’s office upstairs without any issue.

It was empty.
There were several boxes scattered over the floor, the same as those below—apparently, the owner of this room hadn’t been able to take all of them away. 

Shi Jin looked around.
“It looks like the pharmacy was just something Hydra used to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes,” he observed.
“There’s no way Long Shi was only hiding in this tiny hospital for all those years.
He must’ve been involved in Hydra’s other activities.”

{Why am I not surprised? It’s impossible for someone like Long Shi to stay honest, otherwise, Jun-shao wouldn’t have let us investigate this place, and tell us to be careful,} Gua Two interjected.
{Is there anything else attention-worthy in the office?}

“No,” Shi Jin replied.
He recalled the structure of the hospital and noticed that this office was right next to the stairs and very close to the elevator.
This meant that from here, Hydra members had easy access to anywhere inside the hospital.

Translator’s Notes:

“…you should imagine him as an overbearing president and yourself as a pretty face he supports” – 小白臉, lit.
“little white face”; it can mean an attractive young man, adonis, gigolo, toy boy.
This term is more or less derogatory – it usually means a young man who doesn’t work and rely on rich women (or men).