Falstaff

"Sounds nice, but didn't four people get hurt anyway?" Xu Xiaoyou drawled provocatively.

Chen San's face immediately darkened. He looked at Xu Xiaoyou's slightly arched eyebrows and finally snorted, choosing not to argue further with her.

"If you have better ideas during the operation, you are welcome to suggest them. But if all you can do is talk and be difficult, then your company's S-rank employee is nothing more than this," Chen San said slowly. "In an operation, every command issued by the leader concerns the lives of the team members. A single decision error can lead to the destruction of the entire team."

"Crisis awareness, situational reaction, judgment, big-picture thinking, and decisiveness—I hope you don't treat such serious matters as a joke."

Tang Xin gently pulled on the hem of Xu Xiaoyou's clothes. The latter curled her lip but said nothing more.

"What happened all of a sudden? Why is the atmosphere so stiff? We're going to be companions for the next few days, right? We need to be able to trust each other with our backs at critical moments. Everyone, calm down, calm down," Lin Xing stepped in to mediate.

He scratched his head with a sheepish grin. His refreshing smile made him look like a big, wholesome boy, softening the atmosphere in the room.

"We need to look out for each other when we run into danger."

The incandescent lights on the ceiling flickered. Behind his slightly shielded figure, a look of contemplation crossed Lin Sheng's eyes.

With someone stepping in to mediate, the tense, confrontational atmosphere in the room gradually dissipated. Both of them hid their thoughts behind their expressions, clearly having their own plans.

"As I mentioned earlier, Yorick's ability is that of a grade 3 puppeteer. He can control human bodies through silk threads and modify them into his puppets," Chen San waited a few seconds before continuing. "Before becoming a company executive, he was originally just a wanted criminal. Later, by chance, he arrived in Chichutian and became the 'Iron Hand' of the Chi family, acting as a strategist for the patriarch and handling matters that were difficult to deal with openly."

"Sounds a lot like a shadow?" Xu Xiaoyou suddenly interjected.

"The Iron Hand was originally the shadow chancellor who assisted the head of Chichutian. Nominally, they had no real power. However, with the succession of the Chichutian patriarchs, the development of the dynasty, and the intensification of internal strife among the various lineages, everyone wanted to win over this shadow chancellor who stood by the patriarch. Gradually, the Iron Hand gained more decision-making power in Chichutian, even to the point of acting first and reporting later."

"His ambition was too great. He delusionaly thought he could support a puppet patriarch to take the throne and seize all power for himself. After his plot was exposed, he was scouted by Emerald 1 during his exile and became part of the company's management."

"For a guy with such a vile character, no matter how bright a future or how generous the benefits the company promised him, defection was only a matter of time."

"That Emerald 1 misjudged him. After Yorick killed him, he stole the company's top-secret documents and, under heavy blockade, escaped to the Star of Art through a teleportation device."

Xu Xiaoyou thought to herself that the Star of Art was nominally a hive city within Universal Heavy Industries' sphere of influence, but the company's level of control here was much lower than she had imagined. They even seemed somewhat wary... If such an important defecting executive had fled to the Corrupt Hive City, she could guarantee that the company's war machines would have flattened the place by the next day.

"What's the difference between a controlled puppet and a normal person?" Tang Xin suddenly asked.

Everyone looked at her, and then at Chen San. The latter slowly lowered his head, bathing half of his face in shadow.

"There is no difference."

His words sent a shock through everyone present.

Chen San exhaled, his tone not becoming any lighter:

"At least on the surface, there is no difference at all. According to intelligence, the 'silk threads' are transparent and have infinite length. Rather than puppet control, I actually think it's more like a form of mental suggestion."

"People under the mental suggestion might not even know they've become puppets. Their daily lives are no different from usual; they will subconsciously follow the suggestions to complete the instructions issued by Yorick."

"I looked into many cases involving Yorick before coming here. The victims in those incidents behaved no differently from normal people before the suggestion was triggered. Even those closest to them couldn't see any clues."

"Without a doubt, he is meticulous and his abilities are eerie and unpredictable. He is a very troublesome enemy."

Chen San rubbed his brow and said, "Therefore, I cannot guarantee that we won't have casualties in the upcoming operation. However, I will do my best to minimize losses. I will make the general decisions; if you have better suggestions, bring them up and I will consider them. Is that alright?"

As he said this, Chen San's gaze fell solely on Xu Xiaoyou. The latter shrugged and said nothing more.

"Equipment preparation before the operation is essential. The Dawn Agency will not mistreat its partners in this regard." Chen San snapped his fingers.

A dull, rumbling sound echoed in the room, like machinery operating behind the walls. Dust fell from the ceiling as the thick wall shifted inward. Before long, they saw hidden compartments appear in the wall, with rows of azure light emanating from them like a passage to the future.

Everyone entered the room. Xu Xiaoyou walked up to a wall that looked incredibly high-tech. Sensing her arrival, the alloy wall flipped and interlocked, and various weapons were pushed forward from behind the wall. There were blades, but mostly firearms, with ice-blue cold mist drifting around and light flowing over them.

She took a revolver-style handgun from the wall. This gun had a rugged, beast-like appearance, with a muzzle as thick as half a fist. The cylinder rolled, filled with high-explosive rounds; the bullet size was no smaller than a deer slug.

"Snake E320." Xu Xiaoyou recalled the gun's name. She loaded several rounds into the cylinder, the metal-on-metal clinking playing a crisp symphony. She spun the gun once and aimed it cleanly and nimbly at a distant moving target.

Boom— The bullet spun in the barrel, constantly accelerating before shattering the air in front of it and erupting in a swirl of flames!

The entire upper body of the moving dummy exploded and it immediately toppled over. A moment later, a new moving target rose and continued to move left and right.

Her entire arm felt numb from the recoil of the handgun. Xu Xiaoyou frowned slightly and put the Snake E320 down.

Clearly, this gun didn't suit her, nor was it suitable for this operation. This kind of gun was better suited as a hunting gun; even facing a beast as tall as a small building, one shot would be enough to shatter its chest and bring it down.

Turning around, she found Tang Xin staring at her blankly. She could see a hint of complexity in the girl's eyes.

Tang Xin found it hard to imagine what the other person did before becoming a manager. Why were her movements so practiced?

"You..."

"I practiced with BB guns," Xu Xiaoyou said with a wave of her hand.

Just as she was about to continue testing firearms, Tang Xin suddenly came to her side, holding a blue sparrow handgun. Only then did she speak up: "So, are we going to catch some defecting executive now? Didn't you say we were just going out to relax?"

Xu Xiaoyou tilted her head. "Close enough. Didn't you say before that you wanted to see the world outside the city? I'm just taking you out. Staying in the city all the time will make you feel suffocated."

Tang Xin hesitated. She didn't have any particular aversion to it; adventure and curiosity were human nature, not to mention the girl had lived in a relatively suppressed and constrained environment since she was a child. If anything, she felt a little nervous and excited right now.

This feeling was truly strange; it was her first time experiencing it.

Xu Xiaoyou noticed that Tang Xin's hand holding the gun was trembling slightly. She said nothing but walked behind the girl, gently held her hand, and looked straight ahead.

"Don't be nervous. Adjust your breathing. Aim."

Guided by the other's movements, Tang Xin raised the gun, her finger resting on the trigger, and aimed at the target.

Three shots fired in succession, all of them hitting the mark.

Another three shots. This time, Xu Xiaoyou didn't guide her, yet all the bullets still hit the dummy's chest, even though it was the furthest and fastest-moving target.

Xu Xiaoyou was surprised by the other's talent in this area.

Because she was a bit nervous and excited, Tang Xin's blood flow quickened, and her cheeks showed a slight flush. She turned around, her tone a bit proud: "How was that?"

Xu Xiaoyou could almost see the girl's little tail wagging. She chuckled and clapped in praise. "To have this level for your first time is very impressive."

"Yuzu, that puppeteer..."

"Shh." At that moment, Xu Xiaoyou suddenly made a gesture for silence.

Looking back, she saw Lin Xing standing behind them, his expression inexplicably strange. He scratched his head awkwardly and gave that refreshing smile again:

"My brother and the others are ready. They're all waiting for you."