Chapter 116: Meticulous Strategy

When Zhang Wenhao discovered that Mo Sinan was coincidentally staying at the same Hilton Hotel as the assassin, a bold plan quickly germinated in his mind. If he succeeded tonight, it would be killing two birds with one stone; if he failed, he would face the brutal retaliation of two powerful forces. Therefore, he had to succeed—failure was not an option.

Carefully examining the Hilton’s guest information, Zhang Wenhao realized that the hotel’s management system was highly advanced. All rooms featured smart home designs, with card readers linked directly to the front desk. Guests used their key cards to open doors and activate power, and the front desk could see the real-time status of every room. The system even flagged rooms that lost power after a guest departed.

Currently, the Presidential Suite occupied by Mo Sinan was marked as "power active," proving he had returned and was inside. However, the Luxury Business Suite occupied by the assassin showed "power inactive," indicating he had not yet returned.

Zhang Wenhao immediately pulled up the hotel’s floor plans and discovered an unfortunate reality: Mo Sinan was on the ninth floor, while the assassin was on the seventh. Furthermore, their rooms were far apart; Mo Sinan’s suite was at the far east end of the ninth floor, while the assassin’s room was in the middle of the seventh.

If he wanted to eliminate both of them tonight, their current positions were highly unfavorable. Zhang Wenhao checked the occupancy rate, which stood at about 80 percent. As luck would have it, there was only one vacant Luxury Business Suite left, and it was located directly below Mo Sinan’s, at room 8018.

A surge of excitement rushed through Zhang Wenhao. He immediately began altering the hotel’s guest management system, quietly disabling the power system for the assassin’s seventh-floor room. This way, when the assassin returned, he would find that his key card could open the door but would not activate the power. This would force him to move to the room below Mo Sinan—8018.

Most assassins lived for the moment, spending their blood-stained money as quickly as they earned it. He would never settle for a lesser room, so 8018 would be his inevitable choice. It was past ten o'clock at night, and the vacant suite had not been booked; it was unlikely any other guests would check in at this hour.

Estimating that the assassin would return before midnight, Zhang Wenhao remotely activated the power for 8018 and silently unlocked its door. This allowed him to enter the room before the assassin arrived to switch suites.

To ensure no slip-ups, Zhang Wenhao covertly modified the hotel’s surveillance system. While the footage would still display on the security monitors in real-time, he disabled the recording function on the hard drives, ensuring no evidence would be left behind.

Zhang Wenhao then took the gun Ning had given him and tucked it into his waistband. He put on his cycling gloves, grabbed a plastic shower cap from the bathroom for his hair, greeted his mother as if heading to a classmate’s house, and swiped a pair of shoe covers from the entryway shoe rack on his way out.

Fully prepared, Zhang Wenhao drove his Scirocco to the Hilton and parked in the rear lot.

Aside from Zhang Wenhao, no one knew the surveillance system had been effectively neutralized. He didn't need to be overly cautious, provided he avoided being seen by human eyes. As long as he avoided direct observation, he could commit the deed without leaving a trace of evidence.

The hotel’s security was lax. Guests could bypass the lobby by parking in the rear and taking the elevators directly to the guest floors. Zhang Wenhao slipped in through the back, opting for the service stairs to reach the second floor. The second floor housed the banquet halls, which were unmanned at night. Because the stairs between the first and second floors were always open for large events, he could reach the second floor easily, but the stairs leading to the guest floors above were barred by a heavy, locked iron gate.

Instead of taking the elevator, Zhang Wenhao planned to climb the exterior of the building. Each floor in the stairwell had a window. He donned his gloves and shoe covers, wiped away his footprints, and climbed out the window.

The rear of the hotel was shrouded in darkness, as the parking lot lights were kept dim to avoid disturbing guests. No one saw the black shadow scaling the side of the building. With his enhanced strength and agility, the climb was not difficult. By the sixth floor, he found a window left slightly ajar, pried it open, and slipped inside.

Remaining in his shoe covers, he made his way to the eighth floor. He checked the corridor, found it empty, and sprinted to room 8018.

He checked the time: it had been only fifteen minutes since he left. Even if the assassin had returned the moment he left home, the process of discovering the power failure, complaining to the front desk, and negotiating a room change would take far longer than five minutes. He was certain 8018 was empty.

He pushed the door handle down; with a click, it opened.

Zhang Wenhao slipped inside and closed the door. The suite was dark. He quickly oriented himself to the layout before sitting at the desk and powering on the computer. He needed to re-hack the system to monitor the hotel, especially the four elevators, to track the assassin’s every move.

After successfully hacking the system, he disabled the door lock for 8018 and checked the assassin’s room logs. Seeing no entry records for the day, he breathed a sigh of relief. He had time.

He placed the elevator feeds in the corner of the screen and pulled up the ninth-floor corridor feed to keep an eye on Mo Sinan. Everything was under his control.

He then used the management system to subtly lower the air conditioning output. The weather was mild, so the system primarily provided ventilation. By reducing the airflow, the room would soon feel stuffy, and the instinctual reaction for anyone inside would be to open a window.

With that done, Zhang Wenhao stared at the screen, running through his plan like a rehearsal. Suddenly, a thought struck him: was Mo Sinan alone?

What if the seductive woman he had seen at the mall was there? He gritted his teeth. Both the assassin and Mo Sinan were major threats. If the woman was unlucky enough to be caught in his path, he would have no choice but to eliminate her as well.

With all variables considered, Zhang Wenhao relaxed slightly. Now, he simply had to wait for the assassin to arrive.