Shen Yi hadn't even celebrated her birthday when she died in her previous life. At most, she was barely fifteen years old.
She was a coward who would cover her eyes and peek through her fingers when watching horror movies.
But now, at two or three in the morning.
Shen Yi had sneaked out alone in the dark.
The city was still brightly lit. The streetlights stretched her shadow long, and occasionally, a car would drive past on the road.
Shen Yi kept her hands stuffed in her jacket pockets. Because of her nerves, a thin layer of sweat coated her palms, making her fingertips feel sticky.
A little girl, carrying a bulging backpack, walking alone on the streets at two or three in the morning.
It was too conspicuous.
A kind-hearted couple passing by even asked if she was lost and offered to take her home.
Shen Yi quickly shook her head. No need, thank you, miss.
The woman wanted to say something more, but the man beside her pulled her back and lowered his voice. Don't be a busybody. How could normal people let such a young child walk alone at night? Besides, does she look like she's in trouble to you?
Runaway kids didn't look like her.
Carrying a backpack, her face completely expressionless, she looked inexplicably creepy.
At this hour of the early morning, looking like that, she didn't seem like a runaway; she looked more like she was about to commit murder or arson.
The woman turned pale with fright, and the two quickly held hands and hurried away.
Shen Yi hadn't expected to scare anyone, either.
To avoid being asked by other good Samaritans if she needed help, she had to quicken her pace. Following her memory from last time, the path she took grew increasingly remote.
By the time she reached her destination, it was already four in the morning.
The horizon showed no signs of lightening. The night sky was a deep navy blue. The abandoned building stood before her; its windowless frames were pitch-black, like countless wide-open eyes.
The stairwell was very dark.
There were no lights, and the stairs were made of concrete, emitting a faint rustling sound when stepped on.
It had to be said.
This place was perfect for shooting a horror movie.
In the past, if she had come here alone in the early hours, she would have been scared to death on the spot.
But now, the countless terrifying scenes flashing through her mind were nowhere near as frightening as the moment Shen Ruxu died right in front of her.
Shen Yi lowered her head and fished out a pinhole camera from her bag.
It was very small, not much bigger than her fingernail, and completely black. She pinched the camera between her fingertips and secured it using the attached magnetic base.
She started from the first floor.
Every time she went up a floor, she stuck one in the corner.
When she reached the fifth floor, she stopped.
Following what Brother Blondie had taught her, Shen Yi connected the signal cables of the ten pinhole cameras to a micro hub, and then routed them into a DVR.
She connected her phone to the DVR's hotspot, and ten grids of surveillance footage lit up.
Shen Yi lowered her head, put on her earphones, and stared at the screen.
She bit the back of her hand to calm her wildly racing heart.
Every floor and every corner were clearly displayed on her phone screen.
In infrared mode, the screen was black and white, making contours and moving silhouettes exceptionally clear.
Shen Yi chose to lie in wait on the fifth floor.
The sixth floor was the vantage point the sniper ultimately needed to reach, so he would definitely climb up from the first floor.
Waiting on the sixth floor would be too risky.
She had scouted around; the sixth floor was more open, without many places to hide.
If she chose the fourth floor or lower, she would be too close to the target, leaving her with insufficient preparation time.
The fifth floor was just right.
She would wait for him here.
She would strike when he passed by.
I'm a little scared, System, Shen Yi murmured.
System: [You have done very well. Now, as long as you take out the sniper, you will be the new sniper—Shen Yi]
Shen Yi inexplicably chuckled.
She felt that this system sometimes had a dry sense of humor.
Comforted by its words, Shen Yi felt a little better. She crouched down, curling up in an inconspicuous corner on the fifth floor, quietly waiting for the next step.
In the pitch-black night where one couldn't even see their own fingers.
The black jacket wrapped around the girl's petite figure, successfully blending her into the darkness. She kept her head down, her gaze sweeping across the grids on her phone screen one by one.
Finally, at the edge of the first-floor feed, a bright white outline appeared.
Shen Yi's heart suddenly tightened.
A man of medium build, wearing a jacket, carrying a long, rectangular bag on his back.
The shape of that bag was particularly conspicuous in the infrared footage.
He was walking upstairs.
Shen Yi turned into the fifth-floor stairwell, hunching over and hiding behind the wall at the corner.
Her movements were very light. Her sneakers stepped on the concrete floor without making the slightest sound, like a ghost.
The footsteps drew closer and closer.
The moment she saw the man's figure, Shen Yi was so nervous her heart felt like it would leap out of her chest.
She slowed her breathing and gripped her gun tightly.
...
Even in death, the sniper would never have imagined that someone had staked out the place in advance, hiding in a spot to ambush him.
This building was empty and uninhabited; he had confirmed this long before coming.
Therefore, the man had lowered his guard.
Just as he stepped onto a stair, his sharp senses made him instinctively look up toward the blind spot on the side of the wall.
There was nothing there.
He frowned slightly and walked up two more steps.
This time, his pace was a little faster, as if trying to use speed to dispel that inexplicable sense of unease.
His left foot stepped onto the third stair, his right foot yet to follow.
However, this time, when he looked up again.
He saw a little girl wearing a black jacket standing on the landing between the fifth and sixth floors.
The position she stood in was one floor higher than him, an absolute perfect shooting vantage point.
Good night, sir.
