"I'm going to have a smoke, I'll be right back. Just in time for the dessert." Han Feng stood up, giving Su Wanwan a knowing look. She understood. Han Feng then casually asked Miyamoto Kojiro, "Mr. Miyamoto, would you like to join us?"
According to the information provided by Liu Xiaoran, Miyamoto Kojiro disliked tobacco. Sure enough, the other party politely shook his head: "Thank you for your kindness, but I don't smoke."
Han Feng nodded and naturally walked towards the restroom. As he passed the trash cans, he pretended to fix his hair and tapped his earpiece twice to confirm he had received instructions.
The restroom area was bustling with people. Han Feng lit a cigarette in the smoking area, his gaze sweeping over the fire evacuation map on the wall. According to the map, the control room was indeed behind the restrooms, but it could only be accessed through the staff entrance.
A mall cleaner pushed a tool cart past. Han Feng stubbed out his cigarette and slipped after him when no one was looking. In a blind spot of the security cameras at the corner, he quickly pulled out an employee card from his pocket, which he had taken from a mall manager when he passed a shop earlier.
"We've reached the entrance to the passage," Han Feng said in a low voice to his collar.
"Signal cutoff countdown, 3, 2, 1! Now!"
The moment Liu Xiaoran's voice rang in the earpiece, Han Feng slipped into the corner of the corridor like a shadow. The red indicator light on the surveillance camera flashed faintly for a moment before returning to normal, but that half-second interval was enough.
The lock on the control room door opened silently with the decoder in Han Feng's hand. When he pushed the door open, the only staff member on duty was frowning at the monitoring screen that had suddenly displayed static, his right hand already reaching for the alarm button.
Han Feng's nerves tensed instantly.
"Strange..." the duty officer muttered, tapping a few keys on the keyboard until the image became clear again. He shook his head, leaned back in his chair, completely unaware of the ghostly figure hovering close behind him.
Han Feng held his breath and took a thumb-sized piece of gel-like substance from the sole of his shoe. His fingers moved rapidly in the shadows, assembling the microcircuit board, detonator, and liquid explosive together. Every movement was as precise as clockwork, without a single wasted effort.
"18 seconds... 19 seconds..."
He silently counted down the remaining time of the signal jamming. When the counter reached 23, a sophisticated liquid bomb had been placed beneath the main control panel, and the timer was set to 30 minutes.
"The hard drive... is here."
Han Feng's gaze locked onto the black box on the top shelf of the server rack. He stood on tiptoe, his fingers as steady as a surgeon's, and disconnected the cables one by one. The moment the hard drive was pulled out, the duty officer's chair creaked.
Han Feng froze instantly, his muscles bulging like a cheetah poised to pounce. The duty officer merely scratched his neck and continued staring at the screen. The hard drive was securely stored in a specially designed inner bag, the entire process occurring without a sound.
"Signal will be restored in 3 seconds," Liu Xiaoran's voice came through the headset.
Han Feng silently slid towards the door, leaving an almost imperceptible ripple in the air behind the duty officer. The moment the door lock closed, the monitoring system returned to normal operation.
From infiltration to evacuation, 2 minutes and 47 seconds.
The glass door of the dessert shop was pushed open, and Han Feng walked back to his seat as if nothing had happened, just as the staff served their matcha parfait.
"You're back just in time," Su Wanwan said, scooping up a spoonful of ice cream, her eyes crinkling into crescents with laughter. "You appeared just as it was served."
Miyamoto Kojiro stirred the red bean paste in his cup with a delicate silver spoon, then looked up and smiled, "Zhang-kun, is smoking really that good? I've never liked the taste of tobacco."
Han Feng shrugged and casually picked up his dessert: "I can't help it, sometimes when work is stressful, I just want one. It's become a habit." His tone was relaxed, as if he really had just gone out for a smoke.
Aya Ikegami covered her mouth and chuckled softly: "Men often have strange habits when they're troubled. My father would smoke in the courtyard when he was thinking, which infuriated my mother."
"Then I'll go back and learn to smoke too," Miyamoto Kojiro suddenly said, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Ikegami Aya.
Aya Ikegami's eyes instantly turned cold: "If you smoke, don't come looking for me again."
"I was just kidding! I definitely won't smoke!" Miyamoto Kojiro hurriedly waved his hand, almost knocking over the teacup in front of him, which made Su Wanwan burst out laughing.
A calm prompt came through the earpiece from Liu Xiaoran: "There are 10 minutes until the explosion. Judge for yourself when to evacuate."
Han Feng glanced at his watch out of the corner of his eye; it read 9 minutes and 42 seconds. He scooped up a spoonful of matcha ice cream, calculating the best evacuation route as the bittersweet flavor melted on his tongue.
"I'm done eating," Su Wanwan suddenly put down her spoon, stretched, and said, "Shall we go shopping now? I just saw a limited edition figurine shop that had new arrivals today."
Han Feng cooperated by putting on a pained expression: "Still shopping? We've already..." As he spoke, he even picked up a large pile of shopping bags next to him.
"Zhang Jun, this is what you don't understand." Miyamoto Kojiro patted Han Feng's shoulder with a sympathetic look. "Accompanying ladies shopping is an essential skill for men."
Aya Ikegami elegantly wiped the corner of her mouth: "If Mr. Zhang is tired, we can reschedule..."
"No, no, no, I have to go today!" Han Feng dramatically raised his hands in surrender, making everyone laugh. "I promised today, I'll pay for whatever we buy. A man keeps his word."
The group quickly arrived at the figurine shop that Su Wanwan had mentioned. As soon as they pushed open the glass door, Su Wanwan's eyes were immediately drawn to the rows of exquisite figurines in the display case, just like a girl who had finally seen her beloved toy.
"I've been looking for this limited edition Touken Ranbu figure in China for half a year and it's still not in stock!" She jogged over, her nose almost touching the glass, and lightly tapped a samurai figure wearing glasses with her finger.
Aya Ikegami covered her mouth and chuckled: "Miss Lu likes this one? You have excellent taste. This is a limited edition from last year's Budokan; only 500 were made worldwide."
"My department store warehouse should still have some stock." Miyamoto Kojiro smugly straightened his collar and snapped his fingers at the sales clerk, "Bring out the entire Sword Art Online series for Miss Lu to choose from."
Han Feng stood behind Su Wanwan, his right hand naturally resting on her waist, while his left hand pretended to check his watch, counting down thirty seconds.
"Honey, look at this..." Su Wanwan turned around, grabbed Han Feng's arm, and shook it, her voice so sweet it could drip honey. She was the spitting image of a little girl obsessed with anime and manga.
Han Feng obediently looked down, his lips almost touching her earlobe: "Don't overact." His voice was so low that only she could hear it.
Su Wanwan pinched him from an angle where no one could see, but her smile only grew brighter: "I want this!"
Miyamoto Kojiro and Ikegami Aya exchanged a glance. Who knew this young couple had this side to them?
Just then.
\"boom--!\"
A deafening explosion shattered the tranquility of the mall without warning. Just as Han Feng's countdown reached zero, a violent tremor shook the area above him; crystal chandeliers swayed wildly, and countless glass items fell and shattered from the shelves.
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