Evolution - Chapter 107
Chapter 107
For the sake of survival, the two could still be quite harmonious and friendly.
For the next six days, they frantically tutored each other.
But while theoretical knowledge could be crammed, practical skills could not.
On the eighth day, someone came to collect them separately, just as before.
Compared to the gruff big boss who had caused the deaths of tens of millions with a single move, the number of people this “mouth cannon” had gotten killed wasn’t even a fraction of that.
The problem was, everyone was clearly more wary of this mouth cannon.
After all, the gruff big boss was a man purely obsessed with his research. If you didn’t specifically provoke his irritable side, he wouldn’t even spare you a glance.
The mouth cannon, however, was different. He did as he pleased, and you didn’t need to provoke him. The joys and sorrows, life and death, honor and disgrace of others were merely a source of amusement for him.
He picked people at random, like fate selecting its events.
Moreover, he covered his tracks perfectly. A few idle words, a hint of suggestion, a bit of provocation, and he would unleash the darkness hidden within a person’s heart.
After nearly a hundred people had died because of him, a new recruit, bored and organizing case data, made a startling discovery: the only common thread in these hundred-odd cases was that all the perpetrators had interacted with him. Only then did the investigators begin to suspect him.
But after investigating him for over two years, their suspicion turned to certainty, yet they were still powerless. With his masterful understanding of psychology and his use of language, you knew he was pushing people into the abyss, but the law could not convict him.
It wasn’t until he was designated an SSS-class potential threat and his case was handed over to the Peace and Development Special Investigation Department.
The Special Investigation Department assigned the task to Star Hidden, intending for them to monitor him, proactively screen those he contacted, and prevent him from making a move.
Star Hidden’s agents watched him for over a year and did manage to reduce his success rate by seventy percent, but everyone grew frustrated and kicked the assignment around like a hot potato.
Then, the task landed in the hands of the big boss squatting in Huantu Prison. He found passive defense incredibly boring, so he designed a plan specifically for this mouth cannon.
The plan was brutally simple. He had his subordinates pretend to be enacting justice for the heavens, giving the victims’ families an outlet for their anger by taking turns beating up the mouth cannon. As they beat him, they would shout out the details of his provocations.
The beatings weren’t severe, aimed mostly at the face, not even qualifying as minor injuries. When the police came, they could only issue a fine according to regulations.
But over time, the mouth cannon’s reputation was utterly ruined.
After all, there were over a hundred cases, and it was confirmed he had been in contact with the perpetrators. Even if there was no evidence to convict him, couldn’t the suspicious families of the victims come and give him a beating and a cursing to vent their anger?
There were over two hundred victims. A beating a day was enough to make anyone question their existence.
Hire bodyguards? Could their skills match those of Star Hidden’s agents?
If he stayed home and tried to stir up trouble online, just as he sparked some interest, someone would give a “friendly reminder” to the person being provoked: “The guy you’re talking to is a master manipulator. He’s gotten over a hundred people killed with these tricks, and a bunch of them are rotting in jail. Do you want to die?”
Being watched so closely before had already made him anxious with repeated failures. Now things had escalated, making it impossible to continue the “game” he was so addicted to. The mouth cannon’s mentality finally collapsed.
The Star Hidden big boss seized the opportunity to force him to turn himself in and confess, telling him, “Prison welcomes you. You can continue playing your games in here.”
After being tormented for two years, the mouth cannon lost his head for a moment and walked right into the trap.
Ji Changqing and He Qingzhi had already done their homework on this backstory and were familiar with it.
When she finally met this character who conquered the world with his words, Ji Changqing had an epiphany about how important packaging is for a person.
The man’s face, build, even his smile, clothing, speech, and behavior—the volume and speed of his words—every single detail was calibrated to the standard that most easily wins others’ favor.
Affability: MAX! Trustworthiness: MAX!
In short, this person was tailor-made to hit all the public’s “like” buttons.
Just looking at his face and listening to him speak made you feel he was so reasonable.
Ji Changqing sighed inwardly. Even a living, breathing sociopath could be so driven, so demanding of his own professional skills to achieve his goals.
As an ordinary person, what excuse was there not to work hard? One absolutely had to work harder, or else become just another piece of amusement for the villains.
This big boss’s teaching method was unique. His case studies were all cases he had secretly instigated himself.
“Words can move people, and they can also kill.” The big boss’s smile was as gentle as a spring breeze, but his words were brutal. “Human judgment is actually very subjective. As long as you glimpse their most hidden darkness and offer a little guidance, they will repeatedly help you find more evidence to support your argument.”
He brought up a case. “This one, I encountered one day while eating at a restaurant. The man was dining with an old acquaintance, and in their conversation, they mentioned another classmate who had joined a small startup after graduation. Seven or eight years later, that small company had grown huge, and their classmate was suddenly worth over a hundred million.”
The man’s acquaintance was simply envious of the other’s opportunity, sighing, “Well, he came from a good family, so he could afford to take risks. People like us can’t. We naturally go wherever the salary is highest. But you’re not doing badly either. Wood has always appreciated and promoted you, so you’ve established yourself.”
Then, he heard the man reply dryly, “Yeah.”
This was the story of a man from an ordinary background who, appreciated by his wealthy second-generation classmate, was nurtured and promoted all the way, achieving some success in his career.
When their classmate became the first to achieve a net worth of over a hundred million and leap across social classes, it ignited his resentment and dissatisfaction.
Resentment, because that classmate had also invited him to join that company back then.
Dissatisfaction, because he had chosen the company owned by Wood’s family, which offered better pay and benefits at the time.
“I just chatted with him casually for a bit, mentioning a book I was reading recently.”
Of course, in that book, there was a supporting character, a rich second-generation heir, who, out of jealousy for a brilliant classmate from a humble background, deliberately got close to him, won him over, and made him work his fingers to the bone. When he could no longer suppress his increasingly outstanding classmate, he even secretly had him framed and sent to prison.
“That idiot then played out the drama of ‘suspecting his neighbor of stealing the axe.’”
The mouth cannon was quite pleased with himself. All he did was recommend a few books and chat about his thoughts on them. In the end, the man followed the method from a mystery thriller and murdered his wealthy classmate who had taken such good care of him.
“A person’s background, experiences, abilities, temperament, what they fear—all of it can be observed.” He instructed Ji Changqing on how to observe and identify these details.
Ji Changqing felt that this guy’s worldview was truly hard to describe, but when it came to psychology and verbal manipulation, he was genuinely a master.
So she studied quite diligently. As for the guy’s attempts to slip in his own agenda during the lessons—trying to brainwash her or sow discord—her principle was:
Eat the sugar coating, but reject the cannonball!
When he occasionally complained about the Star Hidden big boss, she found it quite normal. After all, that man had screwed him over royally.
But if he thought he could use his words to stir up her dissatisfaction and turn her into a weapon against others, no way!
As the course neared its end, the mouth cannon had to admit that this time, he had truly hit a steel plate.
No matter what he said, it went in one ear and out the other for Ji Changqing. She simply tuned him out.
He absolutely refused to believe his professional skills were that poor!
He thought it over and over, tossing and turning, gathering information from all sides, and finally came to a bold conclusion.
“You have the Beginner’s Heart Medal?”
Ji Changqing looked up at him. “The Beginner’s Heart Medal? Is it powerful? What does it do?”
The mouth cannon snorted and said maliciously, “‘Only by staying true to your original aspiration can you achieve your ultimate goal.’ Hmm, you can understand it this way: it’s hard for good people to become corrupt, and hard for bad people to change their ways.”
Ji Changqing fell silent for a moment.
After obtaining the Beginner’s Heart Medal, as her cultivation level gradually increased, she had become more and more sensitive to people’s goodwill and malice. With the gruff big boss, she had felt almost no malice, only abundant goodwill.
And yet she still ended up getting royally screwed.
Thinking back, it was probably because those weirdos genuinely hoped she would live a long and healthy life, so their drug-testing activities could be sustainable. Their hearts and minds were filled with the desire for her to live well; they had no intention of killing or maiming her, so of course she couldn’t sense any malice.
Here, however, both the mouth cannon and his so-called students—who were actually his subordinates—were brimming with malice toward her. They spent all day thinking about how to trap her, use her, and successfully provoke her into action, not caring who died in the process.
What use was his superb acting? No matter how sincere, polite, gentle, and considerate he appeared on the surface, couldn’t he at least hide his malice before claiming it was for her own good?
She wasn’t some simpleton who only judged by appearances!
The mouth cannon’s words drifted faintly to her ears. “That guy definitely knew you had this, which is why he put on such a convincing act. You probably don’t know, but his favorite thing is watching good people gradually become twisted and fall completely.”
“Perhaps,” Ji Changqing said, smiling at him. “And yet he’s kept you around all this time, giving you protection. Hmm, what makes you worth his effort? Helping him extract intelligence and turn his enemies? Constantly provoking others to cause trouble for him, just to amuse him?”
This was the first time in five months that Ji Changqing had seen the mouth cannon’s expression change.
Mm, well done. So she had guessed correctly.
She was actually quite curious. This schemer, this sociopath, was focused on improving his professional ability to kill with words. A skill like that wouldn’t normally ensure one’s survival in prison.
But he had been living just fine, which meant he must be useful.
So she made a bold guess: the Star Hidden big boss was using his abilities for interrogations, turning enemy agents, and extracting intelligence.
In exchange, the big boss let him live a life of relative freedom in prison.
Ji Changqing felt she had learned something new again.
Recruit talent from all walks of life, indeed. As long as you use them well, even scum can serve the country, and be especially effective at it!
In these five months, she had learned how to stir up trouble and make waves out of nothing. There was no useless knowledge, only people who didn’t know how to use it! The mouth cannon used these skills to amuse himself by provoking others to kill, step by step. As a member of Star Hidden, she could use the same set of skills to kill enemies with a borrowed knife!
As for whether the other party deserved to die, she no longer agonized over such things. Position determines everything, after all.
Returning once more to the Star Hidden big boss’s territory, the fellow disciples in suffering were reunited.
He Qingzhi was still covered in injuries, while Ji Changqing was still radiant and completely unscathed.
The contrast was so stark it made one want to shed a tear of sympathy for He Qingzhi.
He Qingzhi pushed through his injuries to continue their mutual study and shared progress.
The number three assassin on the killer list had completely opened the door to a new world for him! Hiding a mine in your pants? What was that? In the eyes of a top assassin, anything could become a deadly weapon.
After he went over, the first thing he did was memorize the fatal points of the human body. Then he learned from the big boss how to strike. Finally, he learned how to bypass heavy security to bring a weapon in and out without being detected.
“No wonder we had to learn from the firearms expert first, and then go to her! Bringing in a pile of scattered, harmless parts and then assembling them is really important!” He Qingzhi’s excited tone was just like that of a die-hard fan.
Seeing him like this, Ji Changqing was quite worried he would be successfully brainwashed by the mouth cannon.
After giving a straightforward account of her own learning experience this time, she reminded He Qingzhi, “That guy just wants to watch the world burn. He treats everything as a game. His malice and hostility are directed at everyone, so you need to be aware of that.”
She skipped over the matter of the Beginner’s Heart Medal, but she couldn’t help but ponder it herself.
It seemed the Beginner’s Heart Medal was not something easily obtained, especially since it could manifest from the game into reality. That was truly fantastical!
What was even more fantastical was that she had obtained it in a daze and couldn’t for the life of her figure out how.
Something this mystical should be easier to obtain in a cultivation game instance, right? She and The First had been so diligent in that world, never forgetting their mission objective, and had even given their lives for it in the end.
At this thought, her gaze suddenly froze.
Speaking of giving her life, the time she obtained the Beginner’s Heart Medal, she had also died.
They had also been working diligently to complete the mission then. If there was any difference, it was probably that Yu Zhiyao was also there.
She pressed a hand to her rapidly beating heart as a wild and extraordinary conjecture flashed through her mind.
If this conjecture were true, Yu Zhiyao might be…
The uncultured would call her the favored daughter of the Heavenly Dao.
The cultured would call it: holding a royal title in hand, speaking the laws of heaven!
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