Gold Mine

The area was getting hotter. It was particularly sensitive for Huang Wensheng since a part of his cheek

Li Chao took a step back before turning around with his right foot landing against the metal door. Still, it did not budge. He repeated the movement but still, the door was stuck. There was only a small key hole on the right side but they don't have a key.

How to open it?

"The door won't budge. We need a –" Li Chao wasn't able to finish his sentence. Right before his eyes, the steel barriers went down, creating a swoosh amid the gurgling sound coming from below.

Li Nuxie's eyes went wide. The steam was gradually rising up. The atmosphere already became hazy. With difficulty, she put her hands inside the pocket of her protective suit and pulled out something.

A small cutter!

Way back at the start of the steel barriers, there were a table near the wall. On it were different kinds of weapons such as axe, spear, stun gun, hammer, and the likes.

Li Nuxie always preferred hand-to-hand combat so she chose the small cutter. Never would she have thought that this suddenly became handy.

"Try this, elder brother," she said.

Li Chao's eyes flickered with surprise as he took the cutter from Li Nuxie's hand. He then took a step towards the door, inserting the cutter to the key hole. The cutter got stuck as it was not design for the key hole. He tried turning it clockwise but still did not budge.

"Let me do it," Huang Wensheng suggested. He gently pushed away Li Chao before crouching in front of the key hole. Pulling the cutter, he inserted it again very slowly. It was indeed as he thought.

It seemed that the door has never been used for long time that the cylinders got rusty. He applied pressure slightly before turning the cutter counterclockwise again. He tried again and again before Huang Wensheng heard a distinct click. He sighed a relief.

He motioned for Li Chao to open the door. This time, Li Chao slammed the left half of his body against the door. The door gave in easily but it just stayed slanted as if something has been preventing it from opening widely.

Li Nuxie coughed. "Elder brother, remove the door now."

Li Chao nodded before using his hands to forcefully separate the door from its hinges. Turned out, it was just a small room, smaller than a normal elevator. In the middle was spiral staircase going down.

Li Nuxie took a step forward but Li Chao gripped her arm. "Are you going down?"

"Of course. Do you want to stay here? There is a probability of surviving if we go down than staying here," she said while tilting her head towards the boiling corrosive poison. She removed Li Chao's hand from her arm before ordering them. "Let's go. Make sure to put the door again. That will buy us time."

Li Nuxie descended on the staircase. Huang Wensheng just glanced at Li Chao before following behind Li Nuxie.

Li Chao exhaled harshly before trying to patch up the door. He also descended on the staircase.

=0=

Li Chanying scrunched up her face as she lost control of the server. Five minutes was indeed a tough time. But she believed in Li Nuxie's capability. She can accomplish so much in just a short time, Li Chanying was sure of her cousin's capability.

She crossed her arms as she chewed the corner of her lips. Now, all she has to do was wait.

=0=

"Sir, we already took back the control of the server," the head programmer informed the man.

However, the man didn't speak. His team lost control of the server for five minutes. For other people, it was only a short time. But for those people that dabble in computers and dark web, that was a very long time. Even fifteen seconds were already a long time. How much more five minutes?

If there was any consolation, it was that five minutes was a short time for physical action. A muscle in the man's jaw twitched. But that person has already got past of the first level. In the man's opinion, the first level was the hardest.

The ring on his phone disturbed his flow of thoughts. Glancing at the screen, he swiped right to accept the call.

"Sir, we're already at the entrance of the tunnel. Your orders, sir?" A man's voice asked from the other side.

The man took a deep breath. "Go down and bring them alive."

"Sir, yes, sir!"

=0=

When the three of them reached the bottom of the staircase, the room was suddenly illuminated with motion light sensors.

Li Chao scowled. In the middle of the room, a small safe was currently on the table. What? Just like that? It was as if it was waiting for them.

When Li Nuxie took a step forward, Li Chao overtook her and put his hand in front of her. "Don't you think it is a trap?"

"It could be. But we need to take risks," Li Nuxie said indifferently. When she reached the table, she stared at the safe in front of her. Li Chao and Huang Wensheng walked behind her. The safe has a digital keypad on the right side.

There were ten thousand possibilities of code from zero to nine to make a four-digit code.

"Xiexie, that only allows three tries. After that, we'll lose the chance," Li Chao said.

Li Nuxie inhaled. "I know." She then pressed four digits.

Both Li Chao and Huang Wensheng held their breaths.

Then a clicked was heard.

"Shoot! You really opened it, Xiexie!" Li Chao exclaimed.

Li Nuxie remained silent as she carefully opened the safe. Inside, there was the red drive. They hit the gold mine.