Chapter 50 Admiration, [Mirror Image], Today - "I can..."
"I highly doubt that the rhinoceros horn's ability is [teleportation]."
"Do you suspect that the rhinoceros horn's ability isn't actually [teleportation]?"
Fu Ze and Yuan Jianxing said in unison.
Before Fu Ze could make his usual witty remark like "we're really on the same wavelength," Yuan Jianxing spoke first: "Why are you so sure that it was Rhinoceros Horn who used this ability, and not someone else around him?"
"Put yourself in their shoes. If you were Dragon Spine, would you really entrust this physics-defying ability to some Tom, Dick, or Harry?" Fu Ze shrugged.
He couldn't very well tell Harami Hoshi that he could sense who possessed the power of the [Key], could he?
"Either find someone who is closely tied to the Cummins Group, sharing both prosperity and adversity."
"Either find someone who is absolutely loyal to the group."
“Rhino Horn even meets both of these conditions. If I were a senior leader who could make the final decision, there would be no reason not to choose him.”
"This is the most reasonable guess, but it may not be the truth." Yuan Jianxing pointed out the flaws in Fu Ze's reasoning without reservation. "I have encountered similar situations before. Both the clues and the logic pointed to a suspect, but in reality, he was a scapegoat who was helping the real murderer take the blame."
Although Fu Ze rationally admitted that Yuan Jianxing's words made some sense, he felt emotionally that the other party was deliberately arguing with him.
He pouted slightly: "Then why are you so sure now that it was Rhinoceros Horn who personally used his ability?"
To everyone's surprise, Yuan Jianxing seemed to have known in advance that Fu Ze would ask this question, and even before Fu Ze finished asking the question, he cut out the evidence from the background.
A magnified, high-definition surveillance video appeared before the two of them.
"Because the rhinoceros horn himself appeared, and right here."
In the picture, Rhinoceros Horn, wearing a black trench coat with a peaked collar, is standing in a corner of a residential building.
Beside him was the huge portrait poster that had been hung up a few days ago.
Fu Ze was filled with awe: "Did you know beforehand that he would be here? That's amazing!"
Yuan Jianxing didn't take credit, but calmly said, "I just pre-set the tracking program. Ever since the Dala Port system upgrade, once a camera captures a face that resembles a rhinoceros horn, the Skynet monitoring system will alert me immediately."
Fu Ze clicked his tongue in amazement.
This simplest and most direct search method, yet one that requires the most infrastructure support, is something even a three-year-old could come up with.
But it is impossible to prevent.
After all, not just anyone can mobilize the relevant resources to implement this method.
At least in Rhinoceros's view, Yuan Jianxing, who has already fallen from the position of "CEO", is definitely not up to the task.
"Then how can you be sure that Rhinoceros Horn came to participate in smuggling, and not to supervise the construction?" Fu Ze asked again, mimicking Yuan Jianxing's argumentative tone from earlier.
It seems that Hara Mikihoshi was prepared once again.
He calmly tapped the screen and started playing the surveillance video.
In the video, Rhinoceros Horn faces the direction of the ship and places one hand on the giant poster before letting go after a while.
Looking at the system time in the upper right corner, the time period during which the rhinoceros horn made a move coincides perfectly with the time period during which the cargo on the ship "disappeared".
Fu Ze was completely convinced.
Seeing Fu Ze raise his hands slightly in surrender, Yuan Jianxing said, "If there are no other questions, let's move on to the next step."
Only after he finished speaking did he realize that there was a very faint smile on the corner of his mouth.
He adjusted himself slightly, then calmly continued, "I suspect that the rhinoceros horn's ability isn't the [teleportation] I previously thought, mainly because..."
“The poster.” Fu Ze answered quickly this time. “Throughout the entire experiment, Badger Tooth had extremely high requirements for the stopping points, especially the alignment standard of that poster, which was simply unbelievable.”
“That’s right.” Yuan Jianxing nodded.
He then cut out the original map of Daraa Port that was covered with markings.
After clicking twice in mid-air, most of the content went dark, leaving only a few straight lines spanning the port and the surrounding buildings.
"This is the hold at the bottom of the ship, which contains twenty boxes of contraband."
"Here are rhinoceros horns and posters."
"This is the parking lot for the vehicles they use to transport contraband."
Seeing that Fu Ze was about to argue again, Yuan Jianxing took the initiative to explain:
"Don't be surprised how I located the other party's transfer vehicle."
“At this time of year, there aren’t many roads in L City that allow large containers to pass through, and there are even fewer parking lots that can accommodate twenty vehicles.”
Fu Ze slowly closed his mouth, which was about to ask a question as originally planned, and nodded twice with considerable satisfaction.
Watching Fu Ze's exaggerated movements, Yuan Jianxing faintly heard a clenching sound coming from between his teeth.
"So, did you see anything?"
Although he was affected and suffered a lot when the rhinoceros horn unleashed its power, Fu Ze also benefited from the misfortune and vaguely learned about the rhinoceros horn's ability.
Although he couldn't explain where this intuition came from, Fu Ze believed it must be correct.
Furthermore, with the markings drawn by Hara Mihoshi on the map, the ships and parking lots are strikingly symmetrical, with the location of the poster as the axis.
"The rhinoceros horn's ability is [Mirror Image]," Fu Ze said with great certainty.
-
"Since you can activate such a large-scale [Mirror Image], why don't you use it to create a leg for yourself?"
Upon hearing a casual voice from behind, Rhinoceros Horn suddenly turned around and bowed directly in the direction from which the voice came.
"President Long."
As the sound drew closer, a pair of men's casual sneakers came into Rhinoceros Horn's view.
Immediately afterwards, a hand casually rested on the rhinoceros horn's shoulder, and with its owner's steps, it half-pushed and half-pulled the rhinoceros horn's bent upper body straight up.
"It's just the two of us now, and I'm not some old-fashioned leader like my predecessors, so let's not do that."
As he spoke, Longji walked to the edge of the terrace, casually pulled out a cheap plastic chair that a resident had placed on the terrace, and sat down without any hesitation or even wiping off the dust.
The rhinoceros horn turned its head to look at the dragon's spine.
Unless it's a very important occasion, Longji always wears comfortable sportswear that's in season and changes the color and style depending on his mood that day.
In addition, the other person's appearance didn't reveal their age, and at first glance, they looked no different from an ordinary college student.
If no one deliberately introduced him, absolutely no one would associate such an image with the head of the Kangming Group.
But once they start talking, even the most obtuse person can clearly sense the effortless aura emanating from the dragon's spine and conclude that "this person is definitely not a good person."
With one leg casually crossed over the other, a slightly gleaming pebble-shaped object appeared in Longji's hand without anyone noticing.
It's a key!
Rhinoceros Horn's expression remained unchanged, but his heart suddenly tightened.
The last time he saw this object was during his last meeting with Snake Eyes.
Mosuo held the key in his hand, and Longji spoke calmly: "I heard you haven't been doing too well lately, so I came to check on you."
Knowing there was no point in hiding it, Rhinoceros Horn recounted his recent experiences to Dragonspine in detail, emphasizing Bogdan's dramatic personality change after learning about the Key.
Dragon Spine neither confirmed nor denied this, but instead commented with great interest on some trivial details.
"Fu Ze, that name sounds much better."
But then he changed the subject.
“But you still haven’t answered my question.” Dragonspine’s gaze fell on the metal ankle peeking out from beneath the rhinoceros horn trousers. “Why not use [Mirror Image] to create a leg for yourself?”
"As of now, the [Mirror Image] still has many limitations in its use. I can't create a leg that's as flexible, easy to use, and powerful as a prosthetic body," Rhinoceros Horn replied calmly. "Even if I could, such a precious opportunity wouldn't be wasted on me."
Dragon Spine shook his head dismissively, "You should really learn more from Badger Tooth about the concept of worthyness."
Rhinoceros Horn didn't offer any comment; he simply listened quietly.
"Believe me, in this world, so-called limitations can definitely be overcome." Dragonspine's gaze was far-reaching. "It's just that you haven't yet found and mastered the right method."
-
“Besides the number of uses and the mirror medium that Badger Tooth mentioned before, I think there are other limitations to Rhinoceros Horn’s abilities—” Yuan Jianxing slid two fingers outwards across the photo on the floating screen, zooming in on the part where the poster and cruise ship were located.
As he spoke, he switched the highlighted content.
Compared to the clean and crisp lines last time, the markings this time are much more complex, with many more traces of corrections.
I'll personally call it the size of the 'selection box'.
In Yuan Jianxing's calculations, the huge poster hanging between the two residential buildings would just cover the entire bottom of the ship's hold.
Looking at Yuan Jianxing's handwriting, and recalling the request the other party made in the communicator at the time, Fu Ze suddenly realized: "So you asked me to throw something down back then to verify this?"
Yuan Jianxing nodded.
"After reaching the above conclusion, in order to verify it, I reversed the result and substituted it into two other unexpected events."
Fu Ze frowned.
The other two events?
Aside from the person who planted the bomb in Cuiya, there shouldn't be a second incident, right?
“This is the floor plan of Cuiya Restaurant.” Yuan Jianxing didn’t keep them in suspense. “You can see that the location where you captured that person and the person’s foothold on the street are mirrored in the shop’s glass.”
“And this is the route you took last time in the furniture market.”
Fu Ze: ? ?
"As for where this route map came from, I suggest you don't ask."
Can I not take your suggestion?
"Can't."
Having suffered repeated dictatorial suppression from Yuan Jianxing in a short period of time, Fu Ze no longer had the strength to remain silent.
“Break your movement route in two parts according to the layout of the furniture store, and you will find that there is a storage room wall that can be used as an axis of symmetry.”
"And it can also be used to complete the previous secret transfer."
Yuan Jianxing neatly circled a line on the document.
"In conclusion, I highly suspect that the rhinoceros horn's ability is [Mirror Image]."
"A mirror image is a reflection of something that has two limiting conditions: a 'mirror' medium and a 'frame' boundary."
Fu Ze applauded enthusiastically and wholeheartedly.
Switching the screen display back to normal mode, Yuan Jianxing focused his gaze on the poster that was gradually fading into the distance and becoming almost invisible: "Although there are various restrictions, for Rhinoceros Horn and the others, once they have an opportunity to plan ahead like this time, the so-called restrictions are not a big deal."
"If you want to 'win with the weak,' you can only catch them off guard and strike decisively."
Although it is true that Hara Kensei said "the weak overcome the strong", Fu Ze felt that Hara Kensei did not really define himself as "weak".
"Speaking of which, why do you think the rhinoceros horn's ability isn't [teleportation]?"
Fu Ze blinked.
How come Yuan Jianxing still remembers this after all this time?
"I just know you quite well, so I guessed what you might say."
Hara Mihoshi: ...
Recalling the map filled with large and small markings by Yuan Jianxing, and considering that the other party corrected his previous misconceptions without any external assistance, Fu Ze once again deeply felt the power of this CEO.
Although he had heard the name Hara Mikihoshi quite a few times while wandering between different bodies, and even indirectly participated in some major cases handled by Hara Mikihoshi.
But at that time, Fu Ze always felt that Yuan Jianxing's success had a lot of luck involved.
This suspicion reached its peak when the other party discovered the carefully orchestrated "suicide" scene and went straight to a small hotel in the southern district of V City, pinning him against the wall after he had just "died and been reborn."
However, after working with Yuan Jianxing in person, Fu Ze has completely given up on that idea.
Putting aside his overpowered ability to detect lies, what's truly terrifying about Hara Mikihoshi is his audacity to disregard the opinions of others and his meticulous execution once he begins his mission.
“Now that we’ve determined the enemy’s capabilities, the next step is clear.” Yuan Jianxing stood up and pulled Fu Ze up with him. “Regarding the illegal activities of the Kangming Group in smuggling contraband, we need to find an opportunity to secure evidence and then transfer it to the Adjudication Bureau as soon as possible.”
Looking for an opportunity?
Fu Ze was puzzled for a moment.
This doesn't sound like something Harami Hoshi would say.
But in the next second, he discovered the secret.
Fu Ze tentatively asked, "Is this opportunity... happening today?"
Yuan Jianxing answered confidently, "That's right, today."
-
Watching the ship slowly start up and leave the port, disappearing into the horizon, Rhinoceros Horn turned to Dragon Spine: "You came here today not just to inquire about the progress of the mission, right?"
“Sharp.” Dragonspine snapped its fingers. “I do have something I want to verify.”
He stood up from the plastic chair, took a quick step to the edge of the terrace, and opened his arms to the brightly lit Dara Port in the distance.
Good evening, dear viewers!
He waved his arms excitedly, as if in his imagination tens of thousands of spectators were cheering at his feet as he appeared.
Do you all enjoy watching magic shows?
Without needing a reply, the dragon stretched out its two arms forward to meet the cool breeze blowing from the sea.
What he was framing with his finger was a cruise ship that was now no bigger than a fingernail.
"Does anyone believe that a large cruise ship can simply disappear into thin air?"
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Author's note: I did a simple disk rewrite, so we'll consider the previous parts archived and that's the end of this section.
If this were a comic, I can already imagine the last page written in that incredibly impactful font:
Dragon's Spine has arrived! A new crisis has emerged! [Sunglasses]
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