It was an ordinary padlock, simpler in structure than the stone room’s door lock, but with an added horizontal bolt.
He quickly pulled the iron wire from his shoe lining, probed into the bolt hole, and gave a gentle flick.
The bolt released.
He then used the two metal strips to pick the padlock.
The entire process took less than seven seconds.
The guard’s yawn had just ended, his eyelids not yet fully open.
Lucas had already silently removed the padlock, set it on the floor inside the doorframe, and pushed open the armory door without a sound.
The door opened a crack, and he slipped inside sideways.
Inside the armory, it was even darker, with only a fist-sized ventilation vent high up letting in a bit of moonlight.
But he didn’t need light.
Once his eyes adjusted to the dark, Lucas saw what he was looking for.
Along the wall stood a rack of weapons lined with AK rifles and ammo crates, but he didn’t touch those.
His target was further in the corner—a canvas bag containing old clothes and miscellaneous items.
His fingertips moved quickly through the contents.
A tattered trench coat.
A dark scarf.
Two rolls of military bandages.
A folding knife.
A small bundle of thin cord.
And one more item that made Lucas pause briefly.
A pair of worn leather gloves.
The knuckles were faded white from wear, but the overall protection was intact—far better than bare hands.
He wrapped everything into the trench coat and restored the armory to its original state.
Padlock re-fastened.
Bolt reset.
All traces wiped clean.
Then he retraced his steps, the whole operation taking less than four minutes.
By the time he returned to the stone room door, the generator happened to undergo another load shift.
He used the noise window to pick the lock, enter, shut the door, and lock it again.
The faint click was perfectly covered by the roaring engine.
Lucas sat back down by the wall and spread out the contents from the canvas bag on the ground.
Ho Yinsen and Tony looked over at the same time.
“This is…” Ho Yinsen peered closely at the old trench coat and scarf, looking at Lucas with uncertainty.
Lucas didn’t explain.
He stood up, took off his upper garment, and put on the long trench coat.
Next, he wrapped the dark scarf around his neck, pulling it up to cover the lower half of his face, leaving only his eyes exposed.
He pulled the military bandages from the bag, wrapping them around his palms and knuckles.
Finally, he put on the leather gloves and tightened the wrist straps.
The entire sequence was clean and efficient, taking less than a minute.
Tony watched him, his pupils contracting slightly.
In the dim light of the cave, Lucas’s figure looked extraordinarily ominous wrapped in the tattered coat and scarf.
The contours of his shoulders, arms, and torso took on a silhouette distinct from ordinary men—every muscle primed for action, his posture shifting from relaxed to a forward tilt ready to explode at any instant.
Not like a soldier, not even like a human.
More like a creature lurking in the dark.
Tony stayed silent for a long moment before saying something that surprised even himself: “You look…
a bit like that guy.”
He didn’t say who.
But everyone in the air knew the answer.
Lucas didn’t respond, merely pulling out the final item from the bag: the small bundle of thin cord.
He tied the ends of the cord to the left and right belt loops of his trousers, leaving a free length of about forty centimeters in the middle.
Then he tucked the folding knife into the inside of his waistband.
All preparations complete.
A system prompt lit up at the appropriate moment.
[Host completed initial equipment crafting.]
[Behavior aligns with “Batman” operational logic: utilizing limited resources to complete basic equipment preparation.]
[Character Completion Rate: 9% → 11%]
Lucas glanced at the panel, withdrew his gaze, and turned to say a word to Ho Yinsen.
“If you hear noise outside, no matter what happens, do not leave the stone room.”
Ho Yinsen nodded.
Tony said, “What about me?”
“Same for you.
Stay put and don’t move.”
Tony surprisingly didn’t argue, because the tone Lucas used right now was less like a suggestion and more like an order.
Lucas didn’t leave through the door.
Using the piece of iron wire, he pried at the ventilation duct opening in the corner of the stone room, loosening two mounting bolts before removing the iron grate.
The duct was about half a meter in diameter, wide enough for a person to crawl through.
Before leaving, he glanced back at Tony.
Tony leaned against the wall, the faint blue light on his chest pulsing weakly, staring at Lucas with a complex expression.
“Ten minutes,” Lucas said.
“If I’m not back in ten minutes, survive on your own terms.”
Tony froze.
“What did you say?”
Lucas didn’t answer and had already crawled into the air duct.
Inside, the duct was choked with dust and rust, the air stale and space cramped. Find the original chapter at g.com.
He used his elbows and knees in unison to crawl forward—not fast, but with a steady rhythm.
Batman’s experience told him that in tight quarters, impatience was far deadlier than the enemy.
About three minutes later.
A faint light appeared at the end of the duct.
The exit was on the side wall of the cave, about three meters off the ground, overlooking a corner piled with debris—unguarded.
Lucas carefully poked his head out, quickly sweeping his eyes over the area below.
The view was broader than expected.
From here, he could see half the cave area.
To the left was the armory, to the right was the generator room, and about twenty meters directly ahead was the main entrance of the cave, where two searchlights pointed toward the pitch-black desert outside.
Seven guards in total.
Their positions mostly matched his prior assessments.
However, there was an extra person next to the main entrance—appearing to be a minor squad leader with a pistol holstered at his waist, chatting with another guard.
Lucas counted the time.
According to the standard patrol rhythm, the guard on the southeast side would turn and head back in two minutes and forty seconds, at which point a brief blind spot of about seven meters would open up near the main entrance.
He needed to make his descent within this window.
Waiting.
One minute fifty-five seconds.
Two minutes ten seconds.
Two minutes thirty seconds.
The southeast guard turned around.
Lucas didn’t wait for two minutes forty seconds—he moved at two minutes thirty-five seconds.
Utilizing a half-second time window, he slid his body out of the ventilation duct before the guard’s turning motion was fully completed, landing hands-first and bending his knees to absorb the impact.
The landing was practically silent.
He crouched low immediately and ducked behind a discarded oil drum, waiting a second and a half to confirm no one had noticed.
Then, his formal operation began.
Step one: searchlights.
The main entrance had two searchlights illuminating the left and right sides, powered by a small diesel generator.
Lucas used the folding knife to cut the cable to the left searchlight.
*Snap.* The light died.
The cave entrance instantly grew significantly darker.
The guards shouted in alarm.
“What happened?!”
“The cable snapped—”
“Quick, check the generator!”
Two guards ran toward the generator room.