You're just a locksmith! What are you doing catching swindlers at the start?

In a newly built residential area in the north of the city, Lin Zhou was squatting in front of a security door.

It's different from the old neighborhood I visited this morning.

The stairwells in this building are tiled with beige tiles, and the motion-activated lights are LED, giving a clean white glow when lit.

The door was new too, a dark brown security door.

The protective film from the renovation was still hanging on the doorknob, not completely removed.

The lock on the door is not a traditional keyhole.

It is a black touchscreen with a nine-grid numeric keypad and a fingerprint sensor located below the screen, glowing with a faint blue light.

Combination lock.

A line of red text was displayed on the screen.

"Too many incorrect password attempts, account locked."

Standing next to him was a young man, not yet thirty, wearing a dark gray hoodie with the drawstring of the hood dangling from his chest.

He had his hands in his pockets.

It's not leisure, it's anxiety.

His fingers were moving incessantly in his pocket, and the outline of his knuckles could be seen through the fabric of his hoodie.

"Master, can you open this lock?"

He leaned forward as he spoke, as if he were talking to the door.

"I've entered the wrong information too many times, and it's locked itself. Nothing I presses does anything."

Lin Zhou squatted in front of the door and placed his tool bag at his feet.

He glanced at the touchscreen; it was locked, and neither fingerprint nor password worked.

The red text on the screen was flashing.

He reached out and knocked on the door, listening to the sound.

They then looked closer at the gap between the lock and the door frame.

"It can be opened," he said.

The comments section started to buzz.

"Can the combination lock be opened by the Three-Second King?"

"This type of lock is different from mechanical locks; it can't be opened with a wire."

"The combination lock has an electronic structure inside, and the bolt is driven by a motor. If the power is cut off or the lock is engaged, the mechanical structure will jam."

"Upstairs professionals"

"So how do I open it?"

"The conventional method is to remove the panel, short-circuit the contact points, and reset the system."

"How long will that take?"

"If you're skilled, it should take about ten minutes."

The young man asked the same question.

He leaned forward and watched Lin Zhou take things out of his toolbox.

It's not wire, it's a small screwdriver.

There is also a flat plastic sheet.

"How long?" he asked.

Lin Zhou inserted the pry bar into the gap between the panel and the door panel, pressed it gently with his fingers, and slowly slid it along the edge.

The panel is a snap-on type.

When the pry bar slides over.

The clips came off one by one.

It makes a very soft clicking sound.

"Ten," Lin Zhou said.

The young man paused for a moment.

"Ten minutes?"

His brow furrowed, and he leaned forward a little more.

"Master, are you reliable? I spent a lot of money on this lock; it's imported from Germany and supposedly has military-grade encryption—"

Lin Zhou didn't look up.

The pry bar slid past the third latch.

Click.

The young man's mouth hadn't stopped.

"—When I bought it, they said this lock is not for the average person to open, and that forcibly removing it would trigger the alarm. If you break it—"

Click.

The fourth buckle.

"Nine."

The young man stopped talking.

He looked at Lin Zhou.

Lin Zhou squatted on the ground, the pry bar in his hand had already slid to the lower right corner of the panel.

"No, Master."

The young man's voice changed tone.

"Were you counting down from last just now?"

Lin Zhou pulled the pry bar out from the edge of the panel and changed the angle. Go inside.

Click.

The fifth buckle.

"I was just kidding," he said.

The young man was stunned.

Actually, it's three.

Click.

The sixth buckle.

The edge of the panel is now visible, revealing the circuit board inside, with its dense solder joints and thin ribbon cables, gleaming green under the LED lights.

"two."

Lin Zhou's fingers pinched the bottom edge of the panel.

All the clips had come loose, and the panel hung loosely on the door.

Only one ribbon cable is still connected.

"one."

He gently pulled the panel outwards.

When the ribbon cable connector is disconnected, it makes a very soft "pop" sound, like pulling out a cork.

The panel detached completely, revealing the mechanical lock cylinder inside.

The most basic pin tumbler lock has four pins and no fake slots.

Beneath all the electronically encrypted casings.

They are all based on the most basic lock cylinder.

Lin Zhou pulled the wire out of his toolbox.

He reached into the keyhole and gently twisted his finger.

Click.

The latch popped open.

The door opened a crack.

The hallway was very quiet.

The voice-activated light was on, and the white LED light made the beige tiles shine.

The young man stood in the doorway, his hands still in his hoodie pockets, his fingers motionless.

He looked down at the wire in Lin Zhou's hand, then looked up at the touch screen that had been removed from the door panel.

The screen was still lit, and the red text "Too many incorrect password attempts, locked" was still flashing, but the lock was already open.

The ribbon cable hung down from the panel, swaying gently in the air.

The comments section went crazy.

"He's on the countdown."

"From ten to one, it's open."

"Three-Second King: Ten. Customer: Ten minutes? Three-Second King: Just kidding, it's actually three. Then two, one, open."

"He disassembled the combination lock, exposing the mechanical lock cylinder inside, and then used a wire to pry it open in three seconds."

"Beneath every electronically encrypted shell lies a very basic lock cylinder."

"Lock Picker: The military-grade encryption you bought at a high price only has a four-pin lock cylinder."

"The customer's expression; his jaw was dropping."

He hasn't picked it up yet.

The young man slowly squatted down. He reached out and touched the removed touchscreen. His fingers recoiled slightly when they touched the ribbon cable, then he reached out again and gently touched it.

"This..." His voice was a little dry, "It's open already?"

Lin Zhou put the wire back into his tool bag. He zipped it up and slung it over his shoulder. He stood up and dusted off non-existent dust from his knees.

"two hundred."

The young man squatted on the ground, looking up at him.

The white light from the LED lights shone down from above, illuminating his face clearly.

His eyes were open, his mouth slightly agape, his expression blank, a result of a complete psychological transformation.

From doubt to shock, from shock to self-doubt, from self-doubt to "What exactly did the lock I bought for three thousand yuan lock up?"

Lin Zhou took the two red bills, folded them twice, and put them in his pocket.

He glanced at the panel with the ribbon cable hanging down.

"This lock has a snap-on panel; you can pry it open to see the mechanical lock cylinder."

He pointed to the location of the lock cylinder with his finger.

"The mechanical lock cylinder is a four-pin tumbler, simpler than your front door lock. All the money you spent went into the touchscreen."

He lifted the toolbox up a bit.

"Replace the lock cylinder. Steel. Pry-resistant. Three hundred."

The young man squatted on the ground and looked down at the touch screen.

The red text on the screen is still flashing.

He reached out and unplugged the ribbon cable, and the panel went completely dark.

He stood up.

"Change."

Comments flooded in.

He changed.

"A lock that costs 3,000 yuan has a level 4 tumbler cylinder."

"The locksmith king has closed another lock cylinder deal."

"He sold several lock cylinders today."

"One was the crescent moon, one was the drug addict, and now there's another one."

"Three-Second King doesn't pick locks; he sells lock cylinders."

"Two hundred for unlocking, three hundred for changing the lock cylinder, five hundred in total. He always manages to turn a two-hundred job into a five-hundred-hundred one."

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