"Um..."
Jiang Zuo had barely opened his mouth to speak when a man reached out a hand toward him. "Hypnosis..."
Jiang Zuo felt a wave of dizziness, but he remained clear-headed.
The man froze, stunned. Then he grabbed a nearby brick and charged at Jiang Zuo, yelling, "The strongest form of Hypnosis: the physical kind!"
He swung the brick, aiming to smash it over Jiang Zuo's head.
But Jiang Zuo sidestepped, spun fluidly, and appeared behind the lunging man. He brought the edge of his hand down in a swift chop.
THUD. The man collapsed, unconscious.
The other three people were completely dumbfounded.
Was someone from Department One here to pick a fight? And he'd already taken one of them down? For a normal person to take out one of their members—that was a violation of the rules.
And with their tempers, how dare some nobody from Department One act so arrogantly in front of them? They each grabbed a makeshift weapon, dead set on taking this employee down.
"Can you let me finish talking?" Jiang Zuo asked, a little exasperated.
These people were the type to let their fists do the talking. He appreciated that quality in a fight, but it was incredibly annoying when he was just trying to have a conversation.
The woman holding the baseball bat said, "Fine, talk. But no matter what you say, you hit one of my people. This isn't over."
'Just a bunch of thugs.'
But Jiang Zuo's next words made them lose all their nerve. It seemed this matter might be settled peacefully after all.
"I was outside just now and heard you say your perception equipment is broken. Perhaps I can help you."
The tech guy asked in surprise, "You can fix it?"
Jiang Zuo shook his head. "No."
"No? Are you messing with us?" The woman decided this couldn't be settled peacefully after all.
Jiang Zuo glanced at the desk. There was a 3D virtual map, and since this was the Perception Department, he figured they were probably trying to find something.
He wasn't skilled at fixing things, but finding them was his specialty.
Just as the woman's frustration was about to boil over, an urgent voice crackled from the speakers. "Xiaomo, are you ready yet? We can't hold on much longer! We have no way to counterattack!"
Hearing this, everyone panicked. They suddenly remembered the mission was still underway, and an entire team's lives were in their hands.
Xiao Xiaomo looked at Jiang Zuo and gritted her teeth. "Fine, help us. We'll discuss your reward after this is over."
"First, tell me what you're trying to do," Jiang Zuo said.
"We need to find a hidden Blood Demon. The three of us combined can normally sense it remotely, but our equipment is broken, and we can't get a lock on it. Plus, it's a holiday, so..." Chen Yi, a member of the Perception Department, explained quickly.
In short, their equipment was down, they couldn't track the target, and the frontline team was about to get wiped out.
Jiang Zuo looked at the virtual map on the desk. "Is this the sensory range?"
Though he didn't know what this guy from Department One was getting at, Chen Yi still explained, "Yes. This is the map transmitted from our Perception Department's field equipment. We just use it to provide coordinates."
Xiao Xiaomo pressed him. "So, can you do it or not?"
Jiang Zuo glanced at the woman. 'She's decent-looking, but her temper is terrible. A real thug.'
'Ruling out menopause, she's probably on her period.'
As for the lives on the line, Jiang Zuo honestly hadn't given them a second thought.
Ignoring her, Jiang Zuo asked, "Do you have a coin?"
Everyone stared at him, completely baffled. Finally, the tech guy took out a Silver Coin. "Will this do?"
Jiang Zuo took the Silver Coin. "Perfect."
Jiang Zuo held the Silver Coin over the virtual map and tossed it casually. The coin landed on the upper-left portion of the map, right on a river.
"The Blood Demon is at the Silver Coin's location."
Everyone: "..."
Was he insulting their intelligence?
Dude, if you're going to joke around, at least make it somewhat believable. What was this supposed to be?
Xiao Xiaomo instantly flew into a rage. "Are you fucking taking us for idiots? Or morons?"
Jiang Zuo frowned. 'This woman has a ridiculously short fuse. I really want to shut her up.'
Just then, a weak voice came from the speakers. "Xiaomo."
Furious, desperate, and at her wit's end, Xiao Xiaomo slammed the button and shouted, "By the small river! Coordinates XXX, XX!"
A rumbling explosion echoed from the other end.
Then, a voice came back. "Missed."
The remaining three staff members glared at Jiang Zuo, their eyes practically shooting fire. Jiang Zuo, however, calmly picked up the Silver Coin. "The target isn't a training dummy. It's not going to stand still and wait for you to attack. Besides, the Blood Demon obviously attacked them right before they fired, meaning it had already left that position. Why would it still be there by the time you told them to shoot?"
As he finished speaking, Jiang Zuo tossed the Silver Coin again. It landed in the exact same spot.
Gritting her teeth, Xiao Xiaomo relayed the message. "Same location! Now!"
Another explosion roared.
This was followed by an excited voice from the comms. "It's a hit! We got him! Great work, Xiaomo! He's wounded, but he got away. Can you still track him?"
Everyone in the Perception Department stared at Jiang Zuo in utter disbelief. 'It actually hit?'
'He wasn't joking?'
'How did he do that?'
Just then, Jiang Zuo tossed the Silver Coin into the air again. All eyes were now glued to it, waiting for it to land.
CLINK. The Silver Coin landed in the same spot again. Three times in a row. 'Isn't this a little too convenient?'
But Xiao Xiaomo still reported it instinctively. "Same location again."
"Hit! Another hit! Just a moment ago, my master was saying this Blood Demon was no ordinary foe and that there was no way you guys could track it. He said we'd be lucky just to stay alive. Now he's completely stunned! He says the Perception Department is full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons!"
Hearing the man on the comms, everyone turned to look at Jiang Zuo again. Indeed, it seemed Department One was full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons.
This was completely beyond their imagination, like something out of a dream.
Jiang Zuo ignored their stares. "A heavily wounded Blood Demon isn't an easy target. It'll launch a desperate counterattack. Do you have any more Silver Coins, or any coins?"
The tech guy produced a handful of Silver Coins. Jiang Zuo took five of them. "This is enough. Report the coordinates faster this time. Even a second's delay and you'll miss it."
Xiao Xiaomo nodded.
Then, to Xiao Xiaomo's horror, Jiang Zuo didn't toss the coins one by one. Instead, he scattered the entire handful at once.
'What is he doing? How am I supposed to call out coordinates like this? Does he expect me to just guess?'
Just then, Jiang Zuo said, "Concentrate. The Silver Coins will land in a sequence. Start calling them out the instant the first one lands. If you can't get the coordinates out before the second one lands, then don't bother. The target will already have moved."
Cold sweat dripped down Xiao Xiaomo's back. She'd never tried to report coordinates like this before. Besides, who could possibly know the order they would land in?
CLINK. The first Silver Coin landed.
"Coordinates XX, XXX! Go, no hesitation!"
CLINK. The second one landed.
"Coordinates—"
CLINK. The third one landed, just a second later.
"Same spot! Faster!"
The fourth.
The fifth.
The sixth.
Then, the room fell silent. Everyone held their breath, waiting for the results.
The members of the Perception Department all felt like they were going insane.
'They'd actually followed Jiang Zuo's instructions—calling out random locations based on a random toss of six Silver Coins. Could that possibly work?'
'How was that even possible?'