Hal turned his head, looking at Dick, who appeared a bit bewildered, and Aisha in his arms. His first reaction was that these two children couldn't be considered "not small" in any way.
Dick did look a bit older, but Aisha was clearly just a few years old. He smirked and looked at Alfred, saying, "Dick might be alright, but what about Aisha?"
"Miss especially needs to know how to protect herself. The earlier she receives safety education, the better," Alfred replied.
Hal was about to say sothing, but Alfred asked him, "Are you thinking that one day she will encounter so uncouth ruffians at a party, run back to the Manor crying, and then have Master Wayne co to her rescue?"
As Hal followed his description, he instinctively imagined that scene. He shuddered and turned his head to Aisha, saying, "Listen carefully, learn seriously, and don't always trouble your dad."
"Alright, young master and miss, you should have understood the lesson on erasing traces just now. Now, let's move on to the practical part."
"Now, we're going to change locations, so all the traces left in this room need to be cleaned up. You can try to do it yourselves, and if you have any shortcomings, I will help you."
Ten minutes later, following various spider web-like traces, they finally arrived at Benjamin on the fifth floor. Standing in front of the last room at the end of the corridor, he looked a bit perplexed.
He had checked all the rooms here, but he hadn't found any trace or clue. The leads just ended abruptly, and the seasoned agent he had imagined seed to have vanished.
All the clues from the fourth floor pointed to the fifth floor, including the friction marks on the floor near the fourth staircase, marks on the armrest, and faint sounds from upstairs. However, after coming to the fifth floor, everything beca silent, and there were no traces he could use as clues.
Just as Benjamin was feeling lost, on the sixth floor in a room, Alfred patted Dick's head and said, "You did well, young master. I'm truly proud of you. Now, we'll talk about how to guide the enemy and make them follow the path you plan."
"First, we need to assess the enemy's current situation. Since the clean-up was done well just now, the opponents can only use the Exhaustive thod, which ans a carpet-style search, as they have no clues."
"There are a total of six rooms on the east side of the fifth floor. Based on the enemy's level, we can judge that the search ti for each room won't exceed three minutes. In other words, after fifteen minutes, they will stop and start to reconsider their approach."
"What if there are many of them?" Dick asked.
"No, they won't exceed three people, most likely two – one agent and one assistant."
"How do you determine that?" Hal asked curiously.
"The ti they took to find our first foothold provided us with information about their numbers. If, as Master Dick said, they were a group of agents, they wouldn't have taken so long to find us."
"So, what do we do now?"
"When their leads are cut off, we need to provide them with so fresh clues, so they won't give up the search due to the dead-end..."
Alfred explained in great detail, yet it was simple and easy to understand. Both Dick and even Hal listened attentively.
Dick tilted his head and asked, "So, what thod should we use to create new leads for him?"
"It depends on the environnt we're in. For example, we're upstairs, and he's downstairs. If we run downstairs to create leads, it will put us at a disadvantage as he will be at ease. If there's a conflict, it's not good for us."
"So, we can use sound interference. In simple terms, we create so commotion on this floor to let him know we've co upstairs."
"But be careful. In most cases, an agent's work requires discretion and stability. Try not to cause too much destruction, even if you're not an agent. It's better for your own safety."
As Alfred explained, Dick's gaze fell on the hunting gun in Alfred's hand. Alfred noticed his gaze and understood what he ant. However, he squatted down, patted Dick's head, and said, "Are you thinking of using the gun? But unless it's absolutely necessary, try not to reveal your firepower to the enemy."
"You see, more experienced agents can deduce the type of weapon you're using from the sound. If you shoot just to attract their attention, you'll be providing them with a lot of information."
"Besides revealing the type of firearm, it also implies that you have plenty of ammunition and may even have enough to waste shots. It shows your confidence, and that might increase the probability of them calling for reinforcents."
"Indeed." After thinking it over, Dick found Alfred's reasoning to be sound. He then looked around the room and finally walked to a bedside table.
There was a vase with reeds on the bedside table. Dick picked up the vase and threw it to the ground with a "smash."
Benjamin turned around, raising his gun toward the air, and Kayla behind him assud a vigilant stance. Soon, both of them looked up at the ceiling.
"It's upstairs!" Kayla said.
They raised their guns and headed out of the room.
Benjamin had an instinctual feeling that sothing was off, but the sound from upstairs was quite evident, as if it was blatantly telling him, "We're right here."
The sound carried a provoking sentint, as if saying, "Even if I give you hints, you won't be able to catch . I'm telling you where I am, but you still won't be able to reach ."
Benjamin's expression darkened. At this mont, his previous judgnt of Alfred's skills influenced him. In his eyes, the opponent was experienced, but not the king of agents. Their audacious attitude was a sign of disrespect.
So, he started to get a bit angry. He strode towards the staircase, with Kayla following close behind, seemingly trying to dissuade him.
"Boss, we don't really need to care about this person. He can't create much ss, and even if a few people die, we can bla it on Soviet spies. The most important thing now is to watch that entrance..."
"You go back to the tower and command the operation. I'll deal with this annoying fly."
Kayla seed highly disapproving of Benjamin's idea. Her lips moved, but Benjamin paid her no attention. He didn't even look back as he ascended the staircase, leaving Kayla with no choice but to turn around and go downstairs.
As Benjamin ascended alone, he hadn't realized what he was about to face. When he stepped onto the sixth-floor corridor, he suddenly felt a faint buzzing sound near his ear and swiftly rolled to the side.
"Stop!"
The sharp sound of breaking air echoed as several wooden spikes shot in through the window facing the staircase. Benjamin stood up from the ground, looking sowhat disdainful at the very crude contraption.
However, he remained cautious, sticking close to the wall and not taking a step forward until he confird there were no other sounds. Finally, he reached the window to inspect the makeshift device.
The contraption was far from professional, more like sothing put together with trash. The flying wooden spikes seed to have been dismantled from the railing and sharpened, looking more like toys.
As Benjamin continued down the corridor, he beca even more puzzled. There were traps like buckets of ice water pouring down from above after opening a door, nails scattered between unnoticed floor cracks, and glue sared on armrests. These prank-like traps left Benjamin clueless about his opponent's intentions.
Benjamin remained vigilant as he continued through the corridor and checked each room. But when he entered the last room, his alertness peaked. Surprisingly, there were no traps, not even the pranks.
After leaving the room, he still found so clues. It seed like this group deliberately lured him upstairs. However, the more they did so, the more determined Benjamin beca to et his adversaries.
So, after finding nothing on this floor, he climbed the staircase. However, as he stepped onto the first step, a sharp iron nail shot up from one side of the floor grid and pierced through his foot.
"Ouch!"
Benjamin cried out in pain, clutching his foot and hopping up. He saw a dark figure above the staircase, and he shouted loudly, but the figure didn't stop and disappeared in a mont.
Aisha ran back and happily yelled at Dick. Dick picked her up and said, "Really? He must be really miserable."
"So why did you let them intentionally set up such rudintary traps that even a child could see through? Why not just use the last move?" Hal asked.
"It's actually to teach them so physics knowledge and to familiarize them with the places where traps can be set. But it also serves another purpose, which is to confuse the enemy psychologically."
"The opponent is not an ordinary person, but an agent. When encountering such child's play traps, he won't relax his vigilance just because they are too simple. On the contrary, he will beco more and more nervous."
"Because he thinks those pranks are just distractions, illusions that I intentionally mislead him into believing his tactics are ineffective. He will remain on edge, creating significant psychological pressure, which can drain his energy."
"He will assu I have set the deadly move in the last room. But when there's nothing in the last room, he will fall into confusion, and this confusion will make him montarily relax from his nervous state. And at this mont, a person's thinking is at its slowest."
"So, without thinking twice, he directly stepped onto the staircase, and that's when he fell for the trap." Hal exclaid with so emotion, "Agents are really formidable, huh?"
"It seems like he might be giving up." Alfred raised the gun and said, "He's not a front-line agent; he's a well-established agent leader. Making him risk himself alone for such a long ti is already pushing his limits. Injured like this, he probably won't choose to venture forward recklessly."
Saying that, he loaded the hunting gun and then walked out of the room. Hal hesitated for a mont but followed him, asking, "Are you planning to duel him?"
"Can you stop thinking about duels all the ti?"
"Then what are you going to do?"
"Group fight."
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