Luring the snake out of its hole

Eight o'clock in the evening.

Only Han Bin and his two companions remained on the mountain for the stakeout.

Han Bin and the others hid halfway up the mountain, roughly a few dozen meters away from the spot where the storage battery was buried. The moment there was any movement over there, they would be able to spot it immediately.

"Brother Bin, how should the three of us handle the night watch tonight?" Zhao Ming asked, suppressing a yawn.

"Two people keeping watch while one rests. What do you guys think?" Han Bin asked.

"Sounds good."

"No problem," Li Hui and Zhao Ming both agreed.

Li Hui would rest from 8:00 PM to 12:00 AM, Han Bin from 12:00 AM to 4:00 AM, and Zhao Ming from 4:00 AM to 8:00 AM.

Night watch duties were excruciatingly dull. To prevent any light from giving them away, smoking and using mobile phones were strictly forbidden; their only pastime was chatting in whispers.

Li Hui lay inside his sleeping bag, keeping his eyes narrowed to rest whether he could fall asleep or not.

Han Bin and Zhao Ming chatted idly back and forth. Twelve hours was no easy stretch to get through.

"Brother Bin, as long as we contact the telecommunications company, we can find out Li Weili's work schedule. Since he couldn't possibly come here during his working hours, we could shave a few hours off our watch each day," Zhao Ming suggested.

"The fact that he has no accomplices is merely our speculation. No one can say for sure whether that's true or not. What if he has an accomplice come and retrieve the storage battery while he's at work? Wouldn't we look like fools then?" Han Bin said.

Zhao Ming thought about it carefully, and realized such a possibility did indeed exist. While 24-hour rotating shifts were a rather crude method, they were certainly more reliable.

At least it guaranteed that no one could dig up and remove the storage battery buried on the mountain right under the police's noses.

Time ticked away second by second. The night watch was truly monotonous, and the insects at night were extremely aggressive. Without proper preparation, let alone sleeping, staying put in one place would be enough to get you eaten alive.

Fortunately, Zeng Ping was experienced in this regard and had arranged beforehand for Tian Li and Sun Xiaopeng to go down the mountain to purchase anti-mosquito repellents. They had sprays for the skin, liquids to sprinkle on the ground, air fresheners, and smoke-type repellents—every kind of protective measure was fully covered.

For this, the three on night watch duty were extremely grateful to Zeng Ping. Had it not been for his reminder, their night would certainly have been miserable.

Li Hui slept first, followed by Han Bin, and finally Zhao Ming.

The night passed without incident, calm and uneventful.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Zeng Ping and his two teammates arrived to relieve them. After a brief exchange, Han Bin and his group headed down the mountain.

Driving together, the three went to a breakfast stall near the antique market. Each of them ordered a bowl of hot soy milk first, which was quick, thirst-quenching, and filling.

"Ah, comfort." With a bowl of soy milk in his stomach, Li Hui wore a satisfied expression.

The breakfast stalls formed a long row, several shops standing side by side selling all sorts of things, allowing customers to buy whatever they fancied.

Han Bin ordered a flaky sesame seed cake, a meat-stuffed flatbread, and a bowl of premium mutton soup. Since the mountain temperatures were relatively low at night, drinking a bowl of hot mutton soup warmed the body instantly.

Zhao Ming ordered a basket of small steamed buns and a bowl of premium mutton soup.

Li Hui ordered a flaky sesame seed cake and a bowl of mutton soup with crumbled flatbread.

Li Hui glanced sideways at Han Bin's bowl, then peeked at Zhao Ming's bowl, smacked his lips, and muttered, "Look at these filthy rich folks."

Han Bin and Zhao Ming were rendered speechless. Wasn't it just a few extra pieces of mutton? This guy really had a punchable mouth.

Li Hui pulled out his phone, eating while browsing the screen, occasionally letting out bursts of silly laughter.

Sitting right next to him, Han Bin could hear the audio coming from the phone.

"Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Nizi's live broadcast room. I'm going to sing an original rap for you." Following that was an upbeat, energetic beat:

"Bang, bang, bang..."

"To all my veteran homies, give me sixes across the board, six bowls of buns, six bowls of meat..."

"Pfft..." Zhao Ming spat out his food right then and there, bursting into a fit of coughs.

"What are you watching?"

Han Bin was also a bit baffled. He glanced at Li Hui's phone screen and saw a young woman sitting by a table, making a hand gesture representing the number six with an imposing aura.

"Watching a live stream," Li Hui said, winking.

"A respectful welcome to 'Old Li Next Door' for gracing us with your presence," the female streamer shouted.

"Thank you, Old Li Next Door, for the rocket tip! Nizi pays her respects to you here." The female streamer sounded rather excited. "All my homies, let's flood the chat with Q666."

"Six six six," the comments scrolled rapidly across the screen.

"Big Boss Old Li is mighty!"

"I'm bowing down."

"Old Li is awesome."

Li Hui also typed a string of 666s, wearing an envious look as he tapped his phone a few times.

The streamer shouted again: "Thanks to Qindao's You Hui Ge for the ten lollipops."

"Hehe," Li Hui chuckled, feeling quite pleased inside.

"Hui Ge, you watch live streams too?" Zhao Ming asked in surprise.

"What's wrong with watching live streams? Just killing time when there's nothing to do," Li Hui said.

"Watching live streams is fine, I watch them too. It's just your taste... how should I put it?" Zhao Ming struggled, unable to find the right adjective.

"Down-to-earth," Han Bin said.

"Right, Brother Bin's word choice is spot on. Very down-to-earth," Zhao Ming snapped his fingers.

"What's wrong with being down-to-earth? Only down-to-earth streamers get popular these days," Li Hui curled his lips.

"Yours is a bit *too* down-to-earth, though," Han Bin said, half-laughing, half-crying.

"Tsk, as if we don't know each other. Don't you watch game streams yourself, kid?" Li Hui huffed.

When Han Bin had free time, he would occasionally watch gaming streams by Dashen.

Right at that moment, the female streamer yelled once more: "A respectful welcome to Genesis God 'Steel Plate Sun Ship Brother' for gracing the live stream..."

Han Bin: "..."

Zhao Ming: "..."

After finishing breakfast, the three of them went home to rest.

At around seven o'clock in the evening, they returned to the mountain for their shift change.

Zeng Ping and his two teammates had spent the entire day on the mountain and looked rather listless as well.

"Captain Zeng, I checked the weather forecast. It might rain in a couple of days," Han Bin said.

Zeng Ping furrowed his brow. Rainy days would significantly increase the difficulty of the stakeout.

"I've watched *Man vs. Wild*. How about we build a shelter?" Zhao Ming suggested.

"A shelter would probably be too conspicuous. If the suspect sees it, he might realize we're here, and then he'll be too scared to retrieve the storage battery. Wouldn't we look like fools then?" Han Bin countered.

"What should we do then? We can't just stand out in the rain; our bodies won't hold up," Zhao Ming argued.

"Just staking it out like this indefinitely isn't a solution either. We have no idea when Li Weili will come to collect it, leaving us completely passive." Zeng Ping wasn't afraid of hardship, but he worried Li Weili was in no rush. If the suspect waited a month to show up, would Team Two spend a whole month camping on the mountain?

"How about we draw the snake out of its hole?" Han Bin proposed.

"How do we do that?" Li Hui asked with curiosity.

"I think Li Weili might not be unwilling to come, but rather too afraid to. He's worried that coming here rashly would draw the police's attention. We can create an opportunity for him, giving him a legitimate reason to come up here and take the storage battery," Han Bin analyzed.

"That's a good idea." Zeng Ping expressed his approval, adding:

"When Li Weili stole the storage battery last time, he did it under the guise of work. This shows he's a very cautious person who doesn't want to leave us any leverage. Coming to the base station under the pretext of work won't arouse anyone's suspicion, and even if we harbor suspicions later on, he'll have a ready explanation."

"How should we execute this specifically?" Sun Xiaopeng asked.

"It's very simple. We contact the upper management of the telecommunications company and have them find a reasonable excuse to send Li Weili to maintain the base station near the antique market. Naturally, he'll have the opportunity to take the storage battery," Han Bin pointed to the open space opposite them and continued:

"Since we hold the initiative, we can set the time. Once we finish deploying our forces, we'll let him walk right into our trap."