Chapter 458 Butler is always right (Part 2) _1

Hal turned to look at the clueless Dick and Aisha in his arms, his first thought being that these two were anything but "grown up."

Dick did appear to be older, but Aisha was simply a toddler. He curled his lips, looking at Alfred to continue, "Dick, okay, but Aisha... shouldn't...?"

"Especially a young lady must understand how to protect herself, the earlier safety education begins, the better."

Before Hal could speak again, Alfred asked him, "Would you rather, one day, she runs into ill-mannered scoundrels at a banquet, crying and running back to the manor, relying on Lord Wayne to dispatch?"

Hal visualized the scenario Alfred had painted, shivering involuntarily, before turning to Aisha to say, "Listen carefully, learn well, don't always bother your dad."

"Alright, young master and miss, I believe you've understood the earlier lesson about erasing our tracks. Next, we'll begin practical exercises..."

"We're going to change locations now, so we need to clear off any traces we've left in this room. You can give it a try, and I'll fill in anything you've missed."

Ten minutes later, following various signs, Benjamin found himself on the fifth floor, standing at the far end of the corridor in front of the last room, looking puzzled.

He had checked all the rooms here, but had not found a single trace of them. The trail ended abruptly here. The seasoned agent he had imagined seemed to have disappeared out of thin air.

All the clues on the fourth floor pointed to the fifth floor, including some friction marks on the ground at the fourth-floor stairwell, traces on the handrail, and minimal noise from above. Yet, when he arrived on the fifth floor, the world fell into silence, without a trace to serve as a clue.

As Benjamin bewilderment set in, inside a sixth-floor room, Alfred patted Dick's head, saying, "You've done very well, young master, I'm truly proud of you. Now, let's talk about how to lead the enemy to move as per your strategic plan..."

"First, we need to assess the enemy's situation. As your cleanup was impeccable, the opposition can only resort to the method of exhaustion, essentially thorough searching."

"There are six rooms on the fifth floor's east side. Depending on the opponent's level, we can estimate that each room takes no longer than three minutes to search, meaning that after fifteen minutes, he will stop searching and start thinking whether there's something wrong with his approach."

"But what if they have a lot of people?" Dick asked.

"No, they won't have more than three people, and will likely be two - an agent and an assistant."

"How do you determine that?" a puzzled Hal asked.

"The time they took to find our first retreat pinpointed their numbers. If there were as a group of agents as Young Master Dick suggested, they would not have taken so long to find us."

"So, what should we do now?"

"When their clues are cut off, we should provide them with enough clues to prevent them from giving up the search due to a lack of leads."

Alfred explained in detail but in simple language. Not only did Dick listen attentively, but even Hal got absorbed in his explanations.

Dick tilted his head and then asked, "So, how do we create new clues for him?"

"This depends on our environment. For example, we are now upstairs while he is downstairs. If we go downstairs to create clues for him, it becomes him waiting for us at his ease. If a clash occurs, it would be disadvantageous for us."

"So, we can use sound interference, essentially making a little noise on this floor so he realizes we have moved up."

"But remember, most of the time, an agent's work requires secrecy and stability and should not cause excessive destruction. Even if you're not an agent, avoid making a lot of noise, which is conducive to ensuring your safety..."

While Alfred was explaining, and Dick had glanced at the shotgun in Alfred's hand. Alfred followed his gaze and understood his intention. However, he bent down, patted his head, and said,

"Are you thinking of using the gun? But, unless absolutely necessary, try not to reveal your firepower situation to the opponent."

"Keep in mind, experienced agents can discern the type of weapon you're using from the sound, and if you fire a shot to attract his attention, you'll provide him with a lot of information."

"Beyond the type of gun, this also indicates that your ammunition is in ample supply, even to the extent of firing blank shots. It also suggests that you are confident, unafraid. This might increase his likelihood of calling for backup."

"Indeed." Dick thought for a moment, agreeing with Alfred's rationale. He then looked around the room, surveying the furnishings, and finally, moved towards the bedside table.

A vase filled with bulrushes sat on the bedside table. Walking over, Dick picked up the vase and threw it onto the ground.

With a crash, Benjamin turned and raised his gun towards the air. Kira, behind him, also assumed a defensive position. Soon, they both looked up towards the ceiling.

"They're upstairs!" Kira exclaimed.

With that said, the two of them lifted their guns, raised their heads, and then left the room.

Benjamin had an instinctive sense that something was wrong, but the very sound emanating from upstairs was very distinctive, as if it were loudly announcing to him, "We are here."

This sound carried a kind of provocative emotion, as if saying to you, "Even if I give you the answer, you can't figure it out, I am telling you where I am, but you still can't catch me."

Benjamin's face turned somewhat gloomy. At this moment, his previous judgment of Alfred's level influenced him. In his view, the opponent was experienced but could not be called the King of Special Agents. Boasting such a brazen attitude was simply arrogant.

As a result, he started to get a little angry. Taking large strides, he walked toward the staircase. Kira followed him, seemingly wanting to dissuade him.

"Boss, we don't really need to worry about this person. He won't cause much chaos. Even if a few people die, we can pin it on the Soviet Union spies. Our top priority right now is to guard that entrance."

"You go back and command from the tower, I'll hunt out this annoying fly."

Kira seemed to strongly disagree with Benjamin's idea. Her lips moved as if to say something, but Benjamin completely ignored her and without looking back, went up the stairs. Left with no choice, Kira turned and descended.

Benjamin had no idea what he was going to face when he ascended alone. As he stepped onto the sixth-floor corridor, he suddenly sensed a soft buzzing sound near his ear, and he rolled to the side instantly.

"Whew whew whew!"

Sharp sounds of breaking air echoed as several wooden stakes shot in from the window opposite the stairwell. Benjamin stood up from the ground, looking contemptuously at the very crude device.

However, he remained extremely cautious, sticking close to the wall, not advancing half a step forward until he was sure that there were no other sounds. Only then, did he finally approach the window to inspect the device.

The trap wasn't professional at all, looking more like it was cobbled together from junk. The wooden stakes seemed to have been taken from a railing and sharpened. It looked more like a toy than a trap.

Further down the corridor, Benjamin was even more puzzled. A bucket of ice water would drench you when the door was opened, unnoticeably small gaps in the floor were filled with nails, and the handrails were smeared with glue. These prank-like traps made Benjamin clueless about the opponent's intentions.

Benjamin remained cautious, still advancing through the corridor, checking the rooms. Just as he was examining the last room, Benjamin was on high alert, but upon entering, there were no traps, not even those pranks.

After leaving that room, he still discovered some clues. He had noticed that the group seemed to be intentionally leading him upstairs. But the more they did so, the more Benjamin wanted to encounter them.

Therefore, after searching the floor to no avail, he proceeded to the staircase. But just as he stepped on the first step, a sharp iron nail sprung up from one side of the floor panel, piercing directly through his foot.

"Ohhh!!!!"

Benjamin let out a scream, then hopped around clutching his pierced foot. He saw a shadow flicker above the staircase, he yelled loudly, but the opponent did not stop and disappeared in an instant.

When Aisha ran back and shouted excitedly at Dick, he picked him up and said: "Really? He must be really miserable."

"So, why did you let them intentionally set up those traps that even a child could see through? Couldn't they just use the final move directly?" Hal asked.

"Actually, that was just to teach them some common sense about physics and to enlighten them on possible places to set traps. But there's also another effect, that is, to confuse the enemy's psychology."

"The other party is not an ordinary person, but a special agent. When he encounters such childlike traps, he won't relax his guard because the traps are too simple. On the contrary, he will become increasingly tense."

"Because he thinks that these pranks are just a blind eye technique, merely a false impression that I'm intentionally creating to mislead him into thinking that my skills are inadequate. He will be on edge, which will put a lot of psychological pressure on him and drain his energy."

"He will think that I will set a lethal trap in the last room, but when the last room has nothing at all, he will fall into a state of confusion. This confusion will cause him to relax from his tense state. At this moment, a person's thinking is the slowest."

"So, without thinking, he directly stepped onto the staircase, and then fell into the trap." Hal said somewhat sentimentally, "So, are special agents really that awesome?"

"It seems he is ready to give up," Alfred said, cocking his shotgun. "He is not a frontline special agent but a distinguished special agent boss. By making him venture alone for such a long period, we have pushed him to his limit. Injured as he is, he probably won't choose to take risks anymore."

With that, he loaded his shotgun and left the room. Hal hesitated for a moment, then followed him and said, "Are you going to duel with him?"

"Can you not always think about dueling?"

"Then what are you going to do?"

"Gang up and beat him."