"Eigh… eighteen?"
Bang's pupils shrank. He stared at KING's "confident" look in disbelief.
Impossible. Absolutely not.
To make sure the number couldn't be "heard," he had secretly added soybeans—different in size and weight—to create interference.
Two kinds of beans colliding and rolling would produce a hopeless muddle of sounds. There was no extracting useful information at all.
And the key—he had only ever asked for the number of red beans.
Meaning the challenger had to recognize there were two kinds of objects and still calculate the exact count of one kind while ignoring the other.
Bang drew a breath that buffeted his chest without calming the Emperor Engine-like pounding there.
He reached out with both hands toward the decisive box.
He himself didn't know how many red beans were inside. He'd grabbed a handful at random—for the sake of complete unpredictability.
Under Saitama's and Genos's curious eyes, he whipped the lid off.
All eyes peered in.
A small pile of beans lay there.
Part bright red—part plump earthy yellow.
Genos's cybernetic vision switched to scan-and-count at once.
"Analysis start… Red beans identified: eighteen. Soybeans identified: five. Total… twenty-three."
"Hahaha, KING, you lost," Saitama's big face popped into view; at the sight of the pile he laughed without thinking:
"That's not eighteen like you said. There are clearly more—twenty-three—"
"No, Teacher." Genos cut him off gently.
"From the beginning, Master Bang's challenge was to guess the number of red beans—not the total."
Genos turned his head slowly, eyes lit with shock and confusion. "And the red beans number exactly eighteen. Therefore—"
"Mr. KING is completely correct."
His tone carried grave incredulity.
Faced with Genos's awe and Saitama's frozen grin, Lin Mo rubbed his nose, a storm roiling inside.
He, too, had thought he was wrong—he'd said "eighteen," and the total was "twenty-three."
If not for Genos's reminder, he himself would have forgotten the original rule was to count the red ones…
"Was the old timer deliberately making it hard for me?" Lin Mo stole a look at the petrified Bang and groused inwardly:
"Throwing in soybeans just for me—so competitive? Can't take a loss?"
He kept his face the same inscrutable calm and said mildly,
"As I said, luck is part of strength."
Luck? What luck? In the face of absolute strength, every seeming coincidence becomes inevitable.
"Mr. KING's perception is indeed extraordinary…" Bang's smile was thin; inwardly, he scoffed.
"Ahem," Bang cleared his throat. "In fact, rather than these traditional tests of sight and hearing, I've lately encountered some more… modern amusements."
"Modern amusements?" Saitama's interest spiked. He had already found these guessing games a bit dull—he'd only kept quiet out of respect.
"Exactly," Bang's smile finally curved with confidence. "For example… video games."
If the first two could be waved away as luck—what of video games?
He'd stumbled into them watching Charanko play.
At first he thought it frivolous—but with an open mind, he didn't forbid it. Rest has its place.
Then, standing behind his disciple to watch one complete match, his outlook changed entirely—
On that small screen, two characters maneuvered, feinting and countering.
Through a little controller, one trained reaction speed, tactical thinking, and on-the-spot judgment beyond the ordinary. In essence, it converged with martial practice!
He joined "to instruct his disciple"—and promptly got hooked.
On the strength of his grandmaster foundation—superhuman reaction and reading of the field—he took to the game like water.
Sometimes he even called his big brother over to play; both approved heartily.
Where others spent ages to master, they stood on the peak of the Way; in short order, they were "undefeated under heaven" in that mini-world.
"Come, KING—this time, the old man won't hold back in the slightest," Bang thought, fighting spirit rekindled.
"Video games?" Genos blinked—then remembered it was what KING and Saitama played almost daily.
"Aren't they purely entertainment?" he wondered. "Why would such powerful people be so keen?"
"Unless—" Genos's eyes sharpened. "There is a secret to getting stronger that I don't know!"
"Oh? You play too, old man?" Saitama slapped his thigh, face lighting up. "Great! I'm really strong, you know! Don't say I bullied a senior later!"
"Let's play a fighting game! My hands are itching!"
"A fighting game?" Bang started—then his smile grew wider, more confident.
How convenient—the one he excelled at most.
On the other side, at the words "video games," Lin Mo's whole bearing changed.
He glanced at Bang's cheerful face—so sure he'd found a certain path to victory—and chuckled softly inside.
"Good idea," Lin Mo nodded. It was exactly what he wanted.
The instant he spoke, his aura changed.
In other arenas he could only act and rely on luck for now—but in the world of games, he was a true god.
A "demon king" air rolled off him—an absolute confidence and ease that only belonged to the strong.
"I won't hold back…"
-------
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