Taoist priest goes to America

Standing on the stairs, Chigur pulled a black tracker out of his pocket and turned on the screen with his thumb.

The screen displays a map of the city with a red dot in the center, which is located in this building.

Chigur held the tracker up to his face, fine-tuned the angle, and confirmed that the red dot hadn't moved. Then he turned off the screen, put it back in his pocket, walked down the stairs, and said to the receptionist, "Please give me a layout of the hotel."

The middle-aged man at the front desk looked at Qiguer with a puzzled expression, but in the end he just moved his hand and tapped the cash register with his index finger.

"..." Qiguer remained silent, then took out a fifty-yuan note and handed it to the receptionist.

The receptionist beamed and pulled a folded piece of paper from a drawer under the counter, spreading it out on the table.

It was a photocopy of the hotel layout, with the location of each room marked with a thin line, and the locations of corridors, stairs, windows, and emergency exits also marked.

Qiguer picked up the blueprints, held them up to the fluorescent light, and looked at them for a while.

Chigur's gaze lingered on the layout of the entire building, especially the corridor on the third floor. He memorized the location of the ventilation ducts, the direction of the fire escape, and the orientation of the window at the end of the corridor.

He then put the blueprints back on the counter, picked up the key to room 405, and went upstairs.

The staircase was made of cement and covered with a dark green carpet. Two fluorescent lights in the corridor were flashing and emitting an intermittent buzzing sound.

As I walked from the entrance of 301 to the entrance of 304, the red dot on the screen flickered briefly at the entrance of 304.

Light shone through the crack in the 304 stainless steel door, a warm yellow hue, like the light of a bedside lamp, while the inside was very dark.

Chigur put the tracker back in his pocket and continued walking.

After going up to the fourth floor, Qiguer found room 405, inserted the key into the lock and turned it, and the door opened.

He closed the door, locked it behind him, and didn't turn on the light. The room was dark, with only the streetlight shining through the gap in the curtains, casting a thin white stripe on the sheets.

He first figured out the layout of the room. Room 405 and the rooms below it, 305, 304, and 303, are mirror images of each other, with the same wall structure, door and window positions, and ventilation opening orientations.

He was very lucky this time.

Chigur placed the bag on the bed, unzipped it, and the metal teeth of the zipper made a soft scraping sound in the darkness, which was particularly clear in the quiet room.

He reached into his bag and took out the high-pressure gas canister, a silver cylinder with a cool body and fine anti-slip texture on the surface.

Chigur took the nail gun out of his canvas bag.

A thin metal tube was attached to the top, and at the end of the tube was a pointed nozzle that gleamed faintly in the light filtering through the curtains.

Chigur checked the pressure gauge; the needle was in the upper middle of the green zone, indicating sufficient pressure.

This is something used in slaughterhouses; it feels heavy in your hand, and the firing pin at the front gleams with a metallic sheen in the dim light.

Qiguer squatted down in front of the door, aimed the muzzle of the bolt gun at the lock cylinder, gripped the gun with his left hand, pressed the heel of his right hand against the tail, relaxed his shoulders, and then pushed hard.

The lock cylinder made a muffled thud and was flung inside, opening the door.

Chigur placed the gas canister on the ground, then took the box of coins from under his arm and placed it next to the canister. He walked to the window, pinched the curtain with two fingers, pulled it open a crack, and glanced outside.

He checked the location of the air conditioner unit outside the window to see if the people inside could escape by stepping on the outdoor unit.

Then, Chigur took off his leather shoes, put on his socks, and stepped onto the carpet, wiggling his toes to feel the thickness and friction of the carpet.

The fleece was of moderate thickness, making almost no sound when stepped on, but if you turned around quickly on it, the friction would cause the socks to tighten slightly, and he remembered that feeling.

He took the small flashlight out of his bag, turned it on briefly, then turned it off to make sure the battery had power.

He opened the door and walked barefoot into the hallway. His bare feet were soft and made no sound as he stepped on the floor; no one in the room could hear Qigu's footsteps.

Chigur faced the door of room 404. From the door of room 404 to the stairwell, it was twenty-one steps. From the door of room 404 to the window at the end of the corridor, it was sixteen steps. He did this three times, with the same number of steps.

He walked to the door of 405, stopped, and stood there, tilting his ear to the side of the door.

The door panel was made of solid wood, unlike the thin wooden partition he had guessed, which made Qiguer adjust his prediction.

He listened for a while; the door wasn't particularly soundproof, and the low rumble of the air conditioner's outdoor unit seeped through the crack. Qiguer noted this detail, then opened the door.

Qiguer walked to the wall, stretched out his palm and placed it on the wall to feel the texture, then curled his fingers and tapped it twice.

The sound was crisp, and the walls were not thick; they were made of thin wooden boards and covered with wallpaper.

Qiguer walked to the bathroom door and knocked on the tiled wall. The sound was more solid than the bedroom wall, but it was still just a brick-and-mortar structure.

He then knocked on the wall in the entryway, the shelf behind the bed, and the back panel of the wardrobe. Chigurh knocked on every place, remembering the sound feedback from different locations. Finally, he concluded that there were no hard cover structures.

If someone is hiding under a bed or behind a closet, bullets will still be effective after passing through them; all partitions can be penetrated by bullets.

Chigur began to walk around the room. From the door to the bed, five steps, no more, no less. From the bed to the window, two steps. From the bed to the vent, two steps.

He then pulled the pillows off the bed and piled them into a human shape. He placed it in the center of the headboard, simulating Ang Lee lying in bed asleep.

Then another one was placed under the bed, simulating Ang Lee hiding in the shadows to ambush. Finally, there was one behind the curtains, simulating Ang Lee trying to escape through the window.

Chigur rehearsed the shooting procedure from the doorway for each position: the first gun position upon entering was always under the lowest point of the bed, then the gun was raised level and swept across the bed surface. Finally, it turned towards the curtains, pressing down towards the bathroom.

Chigur turned on the cheap, blinding sunlight in the room, illuminating it brightly, then went outside and closed the door.

Chigur stood in the doorway, then suddenly pushed it open and rushed in, opening his eyes to aim. The light stung his pupils, and in those few seconds of lost vision, he pointed the gun at the bed from memory.

Then Chigur turned off all the lights and repeated the same action in the dark. Turning the lights on and off, turning the lights on and off, training over and over again, until he could rely on his memory even without sight in this brief blind spot.

Ang Lee will also go blind the moment the door opens, and whoever is prepared at that moment will be able to strike first.

Qiguer matched these steps with their corresponding actions one by one: opening the door, turning around, raising the gun, aiming, repeatedly arranging and combining them in his mind.

He walked through it many times, adjusting his posture and angle each time, and adjusting the height at which the gun muzzle was raised.

Then Chigur picked up the high-pressure gas canister, squatted down at the door, and began to simulate the entire process after breaking down the door.

First, align the nozzle of the gas canister with the keyhole, then pull the valve, the door pops open, and the gun barrel is raised at the same instant the door is pushed open.

First point under the bed, then quickly turn towards the bed, then towards the window, and finally towards the bathroom.

Chigur practiced this sequence countless times until the movements didn't require conscious control; his muscles could perform them on their own.

Finally, Chigur placed the high-pressure gas canister on the bedside table, took the black tracker out of his bag, and turned on the screen. The red dot remained lit and stable, without moving.

He turned off the tracker and put it back in his pocket. Then he picked up the pressurized gas canister and walked barefoot to the door.

There was no one in the corridor, the fluorescent lights were humming, and Qiguer quietly closed the door and went downstairs to the 3rd floor.

He walked step by step to the door of 304. The doorknob of 304 was silver, and a warm yellow light shone through the crack in the door, just like the one he had seen before.

Qiguer squatted down, aligned the nozzle of the high-pressure gas cylinder with the keyhole, put his left hand on the valve of the gas cylinder, and held the nozzle steady with his right hand.

He closed the valve.