Chapter 7: The Bank

November 4th—Sunny.

The traffic was as stagnant as usual, and the backseat of the taxi seemed to emit the smell of last night’s vomit.

Zi Liang should have mentioned that he didn’t like this city... In fact, he had said it no less than 40 times in the past few months. The perpetually foggy night sky and the eerily cold Gothic architecture—no amount of dazzling neon lights could cover up the darkness hiding beneath the surface. During the day, people in Gotham moved like zombies, struggling to maintain the city’s superficial beauty, but by night, everyone transformed into werewolves waiting for the full moon, revealing their fangs.

Zi Liang had been to many places, whether it was Stalingrad, rebuilt after World War II, or Nara during the Meiji Restoration. But none of them felt as contradictory as this place. It was both impoverished and opulent, both wicked and glittering. Despair, joy, distortion, and fragmentation—he felt that if a tourist group from another place came here, just a couple of breaths of the air might be enough to seal their fate.

So Zi Liang reminded himself again that he needed to finish his work quickly and move to another place; otherwise, his insomnia might worsen again.

...

Two hours later, the taxi finally stopped in front of the main entrance of the bank on 71st Street in the downtown area.

Zi Liang paid the fare and pushed open the door.

In front of him stood the largest bank in the district, but it wasn’t very big—about 300 square meters and only one floor.

Just right.

So he walked in, satisfied. At that moment, he was still wearing that wrinkled white lab coat.

However, he now had a leather suitcase with him.

The interior of the bank was even smaller than it appeared from the outside. With just a glance, Zi Liang could take in the whole scene—seven counter windows, six staff members, twenty-two people in line, and three security guards, all equipped with handguns.

“Happy Halloween,” he said as he approached one of the security guards, wearing a bright smile.

“Haha, Halloween was three days ago,” the guard said with a laugh, brushing past Zi Liang.

But the next second...

He felt the cold muzzle of a gun pressed against the back of his head, followed by a lazy voice: “Don’t move!”

...

“What the hell?” The guard froze for two seconds before suddenly snapping to attention.

“Robbery!” The realization hit him like a thunderclap.

It wasn’t entirely his fault; the transition had come too quickly, too suddenly, like a sudden bout of diarrhea in the middle of a dream, leaving him no time to prepare.

Of course, after so many years as a security guard, he had some level of professionalism, which helped him resist the urge to raise his hands immediately...

Because he had just seen the guy who brushed past him; it was clear he was a doctor, and that face didn’t seem like the kind of person who would commit crimes. So at that moment, he was pondering whether he had a chance to subdue the guy.

However, in that half-second, the gun suddenly moved away from his head, followed by a loud “bang!” overhead...

Everyone turned in shock, and people quickly realized what was happening. All the women immediately complied with the atmosphere, squatting down with their heads in their hands, followed by a chorus of piercing screams.

Chaos erupted in an instant.

Everyone realized they were experiencing a bank robbery.

...

But amidst the panic, one or two people seemed to notice something strange. They squinted and looked closely at the criminal holding the guard hostage; he seemed to be holding not a gun, but... a lighter?

What was going on here?

Although some people noticed, it was already too late because the guard couldn’t see; he just felt something cold and hard pressed against the back of his head. In such a situation, even if he thought someone might be using a lighter against him, who would dare to test it with their head? Even if someone had the guts to sacrifice themselves for their job, that gunshot ringing so close would have scared them into submission.

To be honest, if the gunshot had been heard in a quiet setting, it might have been distinguishable from a real gunshot, but it was so sudden and fitting that the guard almost instinctively raised his hands.

And in that instant, the gun at his waist was already drawn by the person behind him.

...

At this point, about two to three seconds had passed since the earlier “Happy Halloween,” and the other two security guards had drawn their guns.

“Don’t move!”

“Put down the gun!”

They aimed at Zi Liang's position. Of course, there was still one of their colleagues in front of Zi Liang; even the most professional security guard couldn’t react quickly enough to draw their gun and shoot the criminal in the head while simultaneously getting past their colleague.

This led them to shout something like “Put down the gun,” just like how people running after someone tend to waste their breath shouting “Stop!”

Zi Liang let out a bored “tch,” seemingly annoyed by the useless actions of the two guards, then disengaged the safety on his gun and, without a word, opened fire at one of the guards, “Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Fortunately, all those shots were aimed low; otherwise, this poor guy would have been the most efficient casualty in Gotham’s bank robbery incidents this year—he didn’t even hear the robber’s voice...

But to be honest, from those shots, it was clear that Zi Liang's shooting skills weren’t great. He fired several rounds but only managed to hit the guard in the calf.

Of course, the only part of the body that can be hit by a bullet without feeling pain is the head, so the guard let out a scream and fell to the ground, clutching his leg in agony, his gun sliding far away.

At the same time, the crowd erupted into an even more frenzied scream; people were scrambling to find somewhere to hide. Some were so scared they hugged their heads on the spot, shouting and frantically looking for something, and Zi Liang thought they were probably trying to find a hole to crawl into.

As for the other armed guard... he had received some training, so he desperately suppressed his fear and quickly hid behind a service desk.

This was a robbery, plain and simple. He just couldn’t understand... who robs a bank like this, so openly, without even wearing a mask?

Moreover, a typical bank robbery usually requires at least three people—one to keep watch in the car, one to stuff money, and one to threaten hostages with a gun. Attempting to rob a bank alone had a zero success rate. Not to mention, the most important rule in a bank robbery is not to kill anyone and to make it quick, but this guy started shooting randomly, which was just pushing himself toward a dead end.

Just as he was hiding behind the service desk, pondering these things...

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Another series of gunshots rang out. No one knew what was being shot at, but the already chaotic screams reached a new high. The crowd had squeezed themselves against the walls, seemingly believing that the farther they were from the robber, the safer they would be.

At this moment, about ten seconds had passed since Zi Liang walked into the bank. In the midst of the chaos, some brave employee had pressed the alarm, and suddenly, the sounds of alarms, shouts, cries, and screams filled the entire bank.

...

Chapter 8: The Heist

The nearest police station was just a few blocks away; if there was no traffic, they should be able to arrive within five minutes. So Zi Liang felt relieved; if it weren't for the armed guard still causing trouble, he would almost want to kiss the person who pressed the alarm.

Forget it, that can wait. Zi Liang raised his hand and smashed the butt of his gun against the guard’s head, and the guard promptly fainted. Next, he picked up the gun that had fallen from the guard’s hand... Fortunately, the crowd had all huddled into the corners; otherwise, that gun might have slid into the hands of some bystander.

In fact, in other places, it wouldn’t be a big deal even if it fell into a bystander’s hands because someone who had never used a gun had basically no lethality. Most of them would be so scared by a simple “Don’t move” that they’d throw the gun down before they even figured out how to disengage the safety. Even if they had seen plenty of movies and knew how to shoot, it wouldn’t matter because as long as they saw that they were “aiming” at you, you were basically safe. As for who would suffer... there was a good chance it would be them.

But this was Gotham, and although those super criminals hadn’t appeared for many years, the local culture was still somewhat different from other cities. If that gun really fell into the hands of some bystander, even if she were pregnant, there was still a good chance that she would just push the slide back and fire a perfectly standard three-round burst at Zi Liang.

But thankfully, that didn’t happen.

In any case, there was only one guard left now. He was still huddled behind the service desk, muttering something under his breath, but it seemed he had no intention of jumping out to be a hero. After all, the alarm had already gone off, and his position was relatively safe. He had a gun, so the robber probably wouldn’t be foolish enough to charge in and fight him; he’d wait for the police to arrive.

It had to be said that this was almost the most sensible course of action at this stage, but fate had other plans. Before he could think through his perfect strategy...

“Clink, clink—”

A hand grenade rolled straight toward him.

In that instant, the guard felt like crying. He thought, “Is it really necessary to go this far for a bank robbery?” Of course, time didn’t allow him to complain; grenades weren’t a joke. Just a little brush against one could lead to losing limbs, so he immediately dove out of cover, rolling and scrambling to get as far away from the blast radius as possible.

...

One second later.

Uh... something unexpected happened again; the grenade didn’t explode...

Well, it wasn’t a grenade at all, but in the terrifying atmosphere created by the robber firing his weapon indiscriminately, who had the mind to check if the rolling object was a grenade or a pepper shaker picked up from the street? They wouldn’t even think about it; they’d just want to escape.

But now it was too late to realize all this because the guard turned around just in time to see a dark gun barrel and a whiff of gunpowder smoke rushing into his nostrils, making his head ring.

Zi Liang feigned a relaxed demeanor and stretched out a hand, clearly signaling for the guard to hand over his gun.

In that instant, the guard was still in a combat mindset, so his first reaction was whether he could fight the robber. But the next second, Zi Liang’s words extinguished that budding desire for battle.

“Don’t think about anything dangerous. I don’t want to kill anyone, but the moment your arm goes up with that gun still aimed at me, I’ll shoot.”

He was very clear, showing no signs of compromise and not giving the guard a chance to think because as soon as he finished that sentence, he started counting down:

“3”

“2”

Those two numbers felt like a death sentence, making the guard absolutely certain that when the “1” was spoken, his head would be met with a fresh bullet. So without a second thought, he turned the gun around and handed it over.

“Thank you.” Zi Liang nodded in appreciation and tucked the gun into his waistband.

At this point, the entire bank was basically under Zi Liang’s control. He rolled up his sleeves and took out a phone that had been tucked in his sleeve; the recording function had already stopped, and the gunshot sound from earlier had come from here.

“Alright, ladies and gentlemen, you might have noticed that I’m a kind robber.” Zi Liang said. “And I don’t want your money—not a single cent. Of course, I’m not a madman; I know exactly what I’m doing. So now, please cooperate with me. If all goes smoothly, in just an hour or so, you’ll be able to go home safely, and you might even get some insurance compensation.”

He spoke casually, as if chatting with a neighbor, completely ignoring the guard who was already on the ground, faint from pain.

“But I must remind you that I don’t want anyone to refuse me or try to jump out and be a superhero. You may not know this, but a long time ago, in this city, there was a person who also attempted a robbery similar to this one. His method with the hostages was... if anyone disobeyed, he would shoot at all living things in sight until he ran out of ammo.” At this point, Zi Liang paused for a few seconds, scanning the expressions on the hostages’ faces. “I don’t want that to happen, and I hope you can understand... Please bring me a chair.”

He suddenly called out to one of the security guards.

The guard was clearly taken aback and took a few seconds to react before hurriedly standing up and pushing a chair over from the corner.

What else could he do?

...

Zi Liang sat in the office chair, rolling it back and forth.

“This lady...” he said, stopping in front of a bank teller, “You know where the button for the security door is, right?”

The bank employee nodded nervously.

“Please help me close the door and the iron bars on the windows.” Zi Liang instructed.

“Uh?”

“Yeah, you heard me right. Close us in here. Hurry up.” Zi Liang said impatiently.

The employee had no idea why the robber wanted to do this, but she was too frightened by the earlier words to hesitate and quickly complied... Soon, the bank’s roller shutter was lowered, and the windows were secured with steel bars.

“Alright, that was simple!” Zi Liang shouted. “I know it’s not easy to survive in this city, so from now on, whatever I say, you all do. This way, no one will get hurt. Now, those of you wearing outer garments, please take them off and hang them on the window bars. I don’t want the police peeking in on us, and... that lady, can you help me find some rope, tape, and paper bags for the money? And preferably a thick pen too, thank you.”

Zi Liang swung back and forth in the office chair, leisurely directing the hostages.