Be Reborn Episode 23 Recap
> Be Reborn Recap
After Luo Jian deciphered Zhuang Wenjie's Morse code message from the flashing elevator lights, a security guard with the keys returned to the monitoring room. Zhuang Wenjie quickly hid as the guard, grumbling about being the sole person on duty during the Mid-Autumn Festival and suspecting the 12th-floor elevator was sabotaged, noticed that Elevator #1's hazard light was also on. He and his colleague rushed off to fix it, fearing guest complaints.
Seizing this opportunity, Zhuang Wenjie went downstairs and reunited with Xu Zhengqing by the back stairs. Xu Zhengqing, concerned, asked about the situation upstairs. Zhuang Wenjie explained that he had encountered Monsieur near the elevators and discovered that Monsieur’s subordinate had rigged the computer in the elevator control room by injecting an unknown program code. He had recorded a video of this activity. Zhuang Wenjie immediately called his friend Sun Zhijian for help.
Sun Zhijian, in the middle of a game at an internet cafe, answered, chastising Zhuang Wenjie for his disappearance, which had greatly distressed Lin Zhiyue. He urged Zhuang Wenjie to call her and assure her of his safety. Zhuang Wenjie, however, stressed the urgency of his own situation and asked Sun Zhijian to analyze the program code, promising to take full responsibility if anything went wrong and to keep it a secret from Lin Zhiyue.
Sun Zhijian, worried that Zhuang Wenjie was involved in something dangerous, reluctantly agreed to help. As they awaited Sun Zhijian's findings, Zhuang Wenjie and Xu Zhengqing, noticing security personnel on the stairs, hid in a restroom. Meanwhile, Monsieur's operatives successfully infiltrated the hotel's central management network, gaining control of all surveillance cameras and elevators, preparing for their operation. Sun Zhijian called back to report his findings: the program code contained two commands.
One could temporarily overwrite elevator surveillance footage, and the other, more unusual, allowed an elevator to stop at a specific floor while displaying any chosen floor number. Zhuang Wenjie then analyzed the hotel layout, concluding that the vault was not on the top three floors, which housed the banquet hall and guest rooms.
He noticed that the 13th floor, home to the hotel’s central ventilation system and central air-conditioner equipment room, was conspicuously absent from the structural map and elevator buttons. Xu Zhengqing confirmed that guest elevators lacked a 13th-floor button. Zhuang Wenjie deduced that maintenance workers would access this floor via a cargo lift, which Xu Zhengqing then remembered was undergoing renovation and guarded by Undercurrent personnel in the B2F parking lot.
This confirmed Zhuang Wenjie's suspicion: Undercurrent was using visual and temporal illusions to mislead buyers. Buyers would enter the auction from B1F, purchase their item, then take the guest elevator to the B1F car park. Blindfolded, they would be driven around for twenty minutes before being returned to a modified B2F car park. Upon removing their blindfolds, they would believe they were in a new location to retrieve their items.
From there, they would take the cargo lift to the 13th floor, use their card to verify information, and collect their item, before being blindfolded again and driven away. Zhuang Wenjie concluded that Monsieur had likely foreseen Undercurrent's scheme and was preparing his own theft. He questioned Monsieur's motive for booking the entire 12th floor, directly below the actual vault, convinced it was part of a larger plan involving the manipulated elevator codes, rather than a mere ceiling breach.
Zhuang Wenjie and Xu Zhengqing then ascended to the 12th floor, finding all passages locked. To observe the area, Xu Zhengqing ingeniously tied a phone to a mop handle, lifting Zhuang Wenjie to record the scene. They were astonished to discover Monsieur’s men extensively modifying the corridors, which no longer resembled a hotel, and, critically, changing the floor number display to "13F." This revealed the full scope of Monsieur's plan.
Zhuang Wenjie immediately called Sun Zhijian for instructions on how to utilize the elevator code, which Sun Zhijian provided, not without another warning for Zhuang Wenjie's safety. Zhuang Wenjie then sought out Luo Jian, meeting him at the back stairs. Luo Jian asked if Zhuang Wenjie had sent him the Morse code message. Zhuang Wenjie, emphasizing the urgency, explained that the hotel was hosting an illegal auction by an organization named Undercurrent, selling rare cultural relics, including Luoshen.
He stressed the need for police deployment to prevent the artifacts from leaving Qingcheng City. Luo Jian acknowledged the situation but ordered Zhuang Wenjie, who was not a police officer, to leave the dangerous hotel. Zhuang Wenjie refused, revealing that Monsieur was also in the hotel and about to steal Luoshen, warning that if Monsieur succeeded, he would be impossible to find.
Luo Jian, shocked and demanding to know how Zhuang Wenjie knew about Monsieur's presence and identity, again ordered him to leave. Zhuang Wenjie remained firm, insisting he had to stop Monsieur and urged Luo Jian to immediately call the police. Reluctantly, Luo Jian called Chief Zhao, detailing the Undercurrent's illegal auction at Qingtan Resort Hotel, the presence of illegal cultural relics, Monsieur’s involvement, and, critically, Zhuang Wenjie's presence. He requested immediate deployment of a SWAT team.
Zhuang Wenjie reiterated to Xu Zhengqing his unwavering resolve to stop Monsieur. He believed his father, Zhuang Yaobo, was still alive, having sent a "Jiang Taigong" coded message through Luoshen, and had likely been hiding for twelve years to seek revenge. Zhuang Wenjie felt he could not let his father face danger alone again.
He also reminded Xu Zhengqing that the secret within Luoshen, as his father once told them, was of immense significance and could not fall into the wrong hands. Xu Zhengqing, worried that if the police obtained Luoshen and reopened the twelve-year-old case, Zhuang Yaobo’s safety would be jeopardized, agreed that neither Monsieur nor the police should acquire the painting; Zhuang Wenjie had to retrieve it himself. Zhuang Wenjie, disguised as a cleaner, returned to the hotel.
Meanwhile, Xu Zhengqing went to the equipment room, incapacitated Monsieur's operative who was manipulating the codes, and then informed Zhuang Wenjie that the bronze cauldron had already been auctioned, meaning Luoshen was next. As Zhuang Wenjie was about to make his move, he was suddenly intercepted by Luo Jian in the underground car park.
Luo Jian, urging Zhuang Wenjie not to act recklessly as police reinforcements were on their way, was then fully briefed by Zhuang Wenjie on Monsieur's intricate theft plan. Zhuang Wenjie explained that the vault and the hotel's equipment room were on the 13th floor, accessible only by the B2F cargo lift. The auction participants, blindfolded when entering and exiting, were deliberately misled to believe the vault was a separate location from the auction hall. Monsieur exploited this information error.
By booking the entire 12th floor, directly below the vault, and manipulating the elevator's programming to display "13F" on the 12th floor, Monsieur had created a fake transaction venue. When the buyer of Luoshen entered the elevator, they would unknowingly be taken to the fake 13th floor (actually the 12th floor), where they would receive a counterfeit Luoshen.
Concurrently, Monsieur's subordinate would access the hotel's terrace via the cargo lift, then use the elevator shaft to descend to the 13th floor. There, in coordination with accomplices on the 12th floor, they would obtain the buyer's room card. This operative would then use the card to retrieve the real Luoshen from the actual 13th-floor vault.
Finally, the operative would place the real painting in the elevator, which would make a brief stop at the 12th floor to pick up the actual buyer, who would leave with the fake painting, oblivious to the deception. This entire operation would leave no trace. Zhuang Wenjie stressed that only a master of precise timing like Monsieur, responsible for previous high-profile thefts (such as Liao Detong's vault and the Tear of the Moon God), could execute such a plan.
He urged Luo Jian not to delay, or it would be a repeat of twelve years ago when his father, Zhuang Yaobo, had warned the police about Luoshen's impending theft, only for the painting to be stolen due to their slow response. This reminded Luo Jian of his fallen mentor, Fang Haizhong, who had died tragically during the investigation of Luoshen. Recognizing the gravity and the striking parallels to the past, Luo Jian could no longer hesitate.
He acknowledged their limited options and the tight timeline, agreeing there was only one way forward. At the same time, the Golden Kirin, the item corresponding to Luoshen, was successfully auctioned off for 26 million yuan, and the buyer was being driven around by Undercurrent staff for retrieval. Luo Jian once again warned Zhuang Wenjie to leave once he brought him to the top, insisting it was police business. Zhuang Wenjie acknowledged.
Luo Jian and Zhuang Wenjie began climbing through the ventilation ducts. After reaching the 22nd floor, Luo Jian, exhausted, realized they were moving too slowly to intercept Monsieur. He remembered seeing suspension ropes left by window cleaners outside the stairwell, potentially leading to the terrace. As they searched for an exit, Luo Jian cautiously extended his phone to check the corridor below, but he accidentally dropped it. Zhuang Wenjie, seeing no immediate reaction, declared it safe to proceed.
However, as they jumped out of the ventilation shaft onto the 22nd floor corridor, Luo Jian stepped on the fallen phone, crushing it. Luo Jian then told Zhuang Wenjie to take the guest elevator to the lobby, as police reinforcements would arrive in twenty minutes, while he intended to go to the terrace alone using the suspension ropes. He assured Zhuang Wenjie of his professional training.
However, as Luo Jian began climbing a rope, he momentarily lost his grip and nearly fell, saved only by Zhuang Wenjie’s quick action of grabbing his hand. Just then, Undercurrent personnel arrived on the 22nd floor. Zhuang Wenjie quickly hid outside the window as the staff entered the room and locked the window, trapping him. From his precarious position outside the 23rd floor window, Zhuang Wenjie called Xu Zhengqing, briefly explaining his and Luo Jian's predicament.
Initially considering letting the police handle the situation now that Luo Jian was involved, Zhuang Wenjie changed his mind after Xu Zhengqing reminded him that if the police obtained Luoshen and reopened the twelve-year-old case, it could endanger his father. Deciding to continue his mission, Zhuang Wenjie and Luo Jian began climbing up the ropes together. Luo Jian eventually reached the terrace just as a firework performance began in the Tanhu Scenic Area, illuminating the night sky. Monsieur's men, who were preparing to descend into the elevator shaft to steal Luoshen, noticed Luo Jian's presence.
