Lin Mo rubbed his nose. He hadn't seen a thing—but the image of that falling splinter touching the left bowl was vivid in his mind.
Whatever—just a game. Pick the one the splinter hit.
Under their gaze, Lin Mo slowly extended a finger and, without the slightest hesitation, pointed at the leftmost bowl. His voice stayed even. "Left."
Surprise flashed in Bang's eyes.
He lifted the left bowl, incredulity touching his face.
The bright red bean lay in the center.
It was as if someone had pressed mute on the dojo.
Saitama's eternally calm expression cracked into rare, pure surprise. "Oh! You actually nailed it! KING, you're amazing!"
Bang stared at Lin Mo. "What keen observation. I was being very careful…"
Facing Bang's shock and Saitama's praise, Lin Mo only smiled blandly. "Luck. I got lucky."
"Heh…" Bang let out a laugh with an unclear edge, the sharp light in his eyes undimmed.
He neither affirmed nor denied—but he clearly didn't believe a word.
Once could be luck.
But the second time?
"Splendid—truly splendid." Bang straightened slowly, voice steady and strong. "KING-san, your powers of observation have indeed reached a realm most could never touch."
Lin Mo could only keep chuckling. "You flatter me, old sir—really, it was just luck…"
"Luck is also a part of strength," Bang cut off the modesty with a wave.
"In that case, let's change the game."
"The last tested insight—the skill of seeing. The next tests perception—'listening.'"
"Listening?" Saitama dug at his ear. "Listening to you preach martial philosophy? I'll fall asleep."
"Haha, not that." Bang signaled for Charanko to bring another prop.
It was an opaque sealed wooden cube and a handful of red beans.
Bang set the box on the floor between them, then—with everyone watching—pinched up a few beans and dropped them in through a specially made slit on top.
"This game is called 'Silent Listening.'" He gave the box a gentle shake; a soft rustle sounded inside.
"Simple rules. I'll shake the box, and you'll determine the exact number of beans inside by sound alone."
"I'll go first." Saitama seemed eager; this sounded simpler than watching.
Bang smiled. For a warmup, he put five beans in the box.
Then he shook at a steady pace; the beans rolled and clicked audibly.
"Mm…" Saitama closed his eyes and listened seriously. At last, he said confidently, "Five!"
Bang opened the lid, smiling—exactly five bright red beans.
"Not bad at all, Saitama-kun. Keen hearing." Praise came unstinting.
"Next, Genos-kun."
This time Bang put in seven beans and used a trickier rhythm—now quick, now slow.
Genos shut his eyes, analyzing. "Eliminating echo interference… judging from collision points, the count is… seven."
Bang nodded approval and opened the box—seven it was.
"Genos-kun's hearing is excellent. Now…"
Once more, all eyes shifted to the mobile pressure source called "KING."
"Mr. KING, please."
Bang said nothing more. He poured all the beans out, turned away, and made a secret drop. No one knew how many he put in.
As he turned back, a thought snagged him: No—given KING's unfathomable perception, merely changing the number is still too easy…
A bold idea arose.
Pretending to adjust his clothing, he slipped a hand into his robe and fished out a few soybeans that had fallen into his pocket while prepping dinner.
Yes—enough pretending!
The old man was going to win one today.
He tossed the soybeans in too—different in size, weight, and texture from the red beans.
Only then did he turn back, setting the box gently down before Lin Mo.
"Mr. KING, please."
Lin Mo took a deep breath and gripped the box.
Imitating Bang, he closed his eyes, raised it to his ear, and gave it a light shake.
Thump-thump… thump-thump… thump-thump-thump…
All he heard was his own heartbeat.
Bean sounds? What beans? He couldn't catch the faintest rustle.
Rubbing his nose, Lin Mo smiled bitterly inwardly. It was just a game—no need to cheat with mental force. That would be too tacky.
Maybe… just call a number and be done with it? Eight? Or six? Both sound auspicious…
Just as he was about to give up and blurt a number, Saitama, bored of waiting, pulled a crumpled flyer from his pocket.
Someone had shoved it at him on the way to the dojo—a "Hero Appreciation Day" special from a newly opened supermarket nearby.
He unfolded it idly and skimmed.
"Oh, eggs on sale—get some tomorrow… saury looks good too… Hm? What's this?"
His eyes snagged on a little promotional game in the corner—
"Guess how many beans! Whoever guesses the number of black beans in our 'treasure of the store' glass jar wins a full year of free soy sauce!"
Beside the photo of the giant jar, tiny print listed details and… yesterday's lucky reference number.
"Friendly tip: yesterday's winning lucky number: 18."
Lin Mo saw it out of the corner of his eye.
Saitama only glanced idly—but Lin Mo, his gaze wandering in embarrassment, happened to catch the Arabic numerals circled in red.
Lucky number 18…
A thought flashed like lightning.
Nothing to lose.
He set the box down and lifted his head, speaking evenly:
-------
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