Chapter 243 186: A Heaven-Sent Opportunity (2)
KK hugged his knees, buried his head between them, and said in a low voice, "You're right, big brother hasn't disliked me. But I feel... people always need to have some self-awareness."
"I'm very grateful that big brother pulled me out of the mire on the frontier, and I regard him as my benefactor. Since he's my benefactor, I should find a way to repay him."
"But now the situation is, not only can I not repay him, I eat his food every day, use his things, like a parasite."
His gaze became blurred, and he murmured softly, "So I think, since I can't provide any value, the only way to repay him is to leave voluntarily. This way, big brother won't be dragged down by me in anything..."
"Beep—beep—" At this moment, Future's phone alarm sounded.
She shook her head and said, "Ah, it's time, the data has almost finished running."
KK nodded: "Mm, you go ahead, don't delay the experiment."
Future walked to the door and stopped there.
"KK." Her voice came.
"Hm?" KK looked over.
Future turned her head, wearing a gentle smile: "I think, if you really feel conflicted, why not go and talk to the boss?"
"Believe me, the most important thing between people is communication. If my experiment assistant feels there's a problem but doesn't come to me to talk about it, I'd definitely be furious."
"So, don't wear yourself down alone, go to the boss, tell him everything on your mind, have a good talk with him."
"The four of us were once comrades who weathered hardships together. Comrades cannot be measured with the word 'value.'"
With that, Future quietly departed.
KK sat there in a daze, his eyes vacant.
It's unknown how long passed, but those bewildered eyes regained their light.
...
Cao Yilin has been in a good mood these days.
Everything is going as he expected.
As a spy, the most basic principle is "not to be conspicuous."
A spy within an enemy organization must not attract attention, or the more focus he receives, the more he will be unable to move an inch.
The spy must lurk in the shadows like an illusory ghost, unnoticed yet truly existent.
In this regard, he has done perfectly.
Recently, more than thirty mercenaries have joined Edge alongside him, and everyone has completed one or several assignments, with many showcasing remarkable talent.
Yet he is like a master of balance, neither too assertive nor regarded as worthless.
If his performance is too good, he intentionally makes small mistakes; if it's not good enough, he shows his skills to boost his results, always staying in the middle, highlighting mediocrity.
Of course, a spy uses mediocrity as camouflage but cannot truly be mediocre.
A spy must be like a venomous snake, quietly lurking in the dark, and once the prey reveals a flaw, launches a sudden attack.
Whether one can seize the fleeting opportunity is the criterion for judging a spy's excellence.
During this period, aside from pretending to perform assignments, Cao Yilin has been secretly collecting intelligence within Edge.
Currently, Edge consists of 203 people, from the leader Su Mo to the administrative staff, with all their basic information and interrelationships memorized by Cao Yilin.
As for the structure of Edge Mansion, except for the underground laboratory's restricted area and the dedicated floors above the 81st level, he has explored all the facilities from the 1st to the 80th level and knows them inside out.
Next up is to wait for a timing.
When the time comes, he will create a gap from within and cooperate with Ou Chenyu to completely destroy Su Mo, this rising star!
One day, Cao Yilin completed an assignment and returned, ready to make the final handover.
Just upon reaching the 12th floor, he heard the sound of quarreling from the small meeting room.
"You've messed this up again, what are you doing? How many times is this?!"
This was Su Mo's angry voice.
Another grievance-filled voice followed: "This thing is inherently difficult to handle, I've apologized and accepted the penalty, what more do you want?"
This was KK, unmistakably.
Cao Yilin thought: Oh, something new, how come these two are arguing?
He hid in the corner, carefully listening to the commotion in the office.
The argument between the two continued.
Su Mo: "You're still not convinced? What do you have to be unconvinced about? Even the simplest data entry you can mess up, does this require any professional knowledge? What's difficult about it? Isn't it just having eyes and hands?!"
KK: "It's not that simple... A sheet has hundreds of lines of data to enter, and a slight oversight leads to mistakes, I'm not a machine..."
Su Mo: "Don't make excuses! No other finance makes mistakes, only you do. Is this a professional issue? It's an attitude problem!"
KK: "What's wrong with my attitude? I'm seriously learning too! I've never dealt with these things before, asking me not to make a single mistake, who can achieve that..."
Su Mo: "Let me ask you! Who proactively requested to do this job? Wasn't it you? You said you didn't want to do chores, wanted to learn something. Fine, I asked finance to teach you, but have you learned properly?!"
"Finance told me at the beginning your attitude was quite decent, but later you started sleeping in late every morning, leaving work early before the end time, running to the game room to play games, and you played until late at night."
"I'm not stopping you from playing, as long as you do your main job well first. If you put the energy you spend on games into work, would such low-level mistakes still occur?!"
"This time I'll only dock your pay for a month, but next time you make these low-level mistakes again, you'll go back to logistics for chores, don't linger in finance."
Heavy footsteps sounded from the office.
Cao Yilin watched from the shadows.
KK walked out of the small meeting room, fists clenched, his face flushed with anger, and left indignantly.