Chapter 339: Psychological Warfare 2

I went back to Agui's house. Wang Meng was soaked through, wringing water out of his clothes. I took off my clothes as well, and without standing on ceremony, I went into Agui's room, took out his liquor, and drank a few mouthfuls to ward off the dampness. Then I began to ponder what to do next.

To be honest, I really hadn't anticipated this situation at all — it completely caught me off guard. It reminded me of a concept my mentor once told me about called "de-preconception checklist." It was a logistics concept later applied to many industries, meaning that at every step you must completely reconsider all conditions and never take anything for granted. In logistics, many factors must be considered, including weather, religion, habitual strike cycles — every detail at any port must be fully accounted for to ensure smooth operations.

I had been too preconceived about the weather here, unaware of how terrifying Guangxi's rainy season could be, which is why I failed to factor it in.

Now things had become very tricky. From what they said, it was completely unpredictable when the rain would stop, and even if it did, the mountains would remain dangerous for a long time. So when we could enter the mountains — at the shortest, a week; at the longest, maybe a month or more. I couldn't count on heaven's mercy, so the correct thing was to go into the mountains right now.

But if I went to seek help from Old Man Pan Ma now, I really didn't have much confidence. When I bluffed him before, I'd told him I wouldn't come looking for him again. Now going to ask for help would contradict the impression I'd given him of having powerful backing — it would immediately expose my bluff. If he didn't beat me up after being exposed, that would be the best I could hope for, let alone him helping me.

Thinking it over, I told myself I couldn't back down. Since going to Pan Ma was the only way, I had to steel myself and go for it. I needed a very clever story to make him take the bait.

Pan Ma was an old fox, possessing the unique wisdom of his generation. How to lure him into the game was really a troublesome matter.

I thought and thought but couldn't come up with a good plan. This damned thing was really difficult. Me showing up out of the blue and begging him to take me into the mountains — that in itself had no persuasiveness. Because if I didn't even have the ability to enter the mountains myself, then I also had no capital to threaten him.

First, what I could be sure of was that my attitude couldn't be pleading — I had to be threatening or coercive. I'd rather let him think I was a powerful villain who went back on his word and would stop at nothing to achieve his goal, than let him see through my bluff and realize I was all bark and no bite.

Second, I had to divert his attention. No matter what reason I gave for him to take me into the mountains, it still came down to entering the mountains. Using that reason to approach him would imply I lacked the ability to enter the mountains myself. A powerful villain could be incompetent in other areas, but not in entering the mountains. I had to conceal my real purpose and make him think I needed him for something else, with entering the mountains being merely a necessary step in that task.

First, I had to coerce him; second, the fact that I needed his help because I couldn't do it myself must not represent my incompetence. What kind of scenario could that be?

To save Agui and Yuncai?

Impossible — that was too kind. Since I was supposed to be a ruthless, unscrupulous person, such a virtuous quality couldn't appear in my portrayal. Moreover, Pan Ma himself had an innate wickedness. Once I showed kindness, he would immediately overpower me and turn the tables to threaten me. I couldn't reveal any human weakness.

What about asking him to go over there and identify something in person? That seemed a bit far-fetched, lacking the persuasiveness for him to necessarily agree. And if I tried that, I wouldn't even know what tone to use for the act. Besides, even if he agreed, seeing me travel alone with him would inevitably make him suspicious. My fighting ability in his eyes would look more and more pathetic — maybe in danger I'd even need him to save me. Before long, I'd lose control for sure.

My head ached just thinking about it. This felt different from fishing for information — fishing was like a business negotiation where you just had to bluff your way through. But after the talk, I'd still have to travel with him, pretending the whole way under such harsh conditions. The difficulty was too high.

I rubbed my temples, trying to squeeze out all my cunning ideas. Damn it, change of thinking — if acting wouldn't work, could I use a more ruthless approach?

Kidnap? My mind jumped: knock him unconscious and load him onto a donkey cart? But then I immediately thought of Pan Ma's fighting skills. I looked at Wang Meng and myself and quickly gave up. Damn, kidnapping — he might just kill us on the spot.

Kidnapping wouldn't work, so how about throwing money at him — a ruthless move: just take out two or three hundred thousand and bribe him with cash.

Thinking about Pan Ma's difficult family situation, combined with his son's attitude, a script suddenly formed in my mind. I'd say I wanted those iron blocks, needed them in a few days, and I'd pay a certain price per block. Let Pan Ma go salvage them — ten thousand for each block. That way, maybe they'd go into the mountains themselves for the money.

This seemed somewhat feasible, so I started checking what I had on me. Two or three hundred thousand wasn't a huge amount, but I couldn't carry that much cash. I emptied all my cash and odds and ends, counted them — only forty thousand. There was more in the card, but I'd have to go to town to withdraw it. I estimated it should be about enough. I was just about to send Wang Meng off when another thought flashed through my mind. No, this wasn't a foolproof plan. Although I figured Pan Ma would likely agree, it wasn't a hundred percent certain. What if he refused?

If he refused, I would have no second chance. Grandpa told me: You can fail at something, but you cannot fail when there is no second chance.

"A plan may not have a fifty percent success rate, may even have only ten percent, but it must leave room for a fallback — that way you effectively have countless subsequent one hundred percent chances."

I immediately slumped again, scratching my head and staring at my credit cards, thinking, damn it, this really is hard. Grandpa only said to leave room for a fallback; I wanted to, but how?

Feeling a bit anxious, I stood up, wanting to rush out into the heavy rain to shake off all those useless thoughts. So I gathered my cards and organized the odds and ends. Suddenly I touched a bundle — it was that iron block I'd found under Poker-face's bed.

Originally Fatty had told me to bring it back to town and store it somewhere, but I'd forgotten. I picked up the iron block, unwrapped the newspaper around it, and looked at it. Suddenly a flash of inspiration hit me — I remembered another saying Grandpa had told me: "When fighting others, attack directly at their weakness."

When matching wits with others, directly attack their weakest point.

What was Pan Ma's weakest point? I pondered, then looked at the iron block in my hand, and a foolproof strategy came to mind.

Going over it carefully, I found it flawless. I couldn't help breaking out in goosebumps — my own thoughts frightened me a little. I had never schemed so deliberately against anyone. After everything I'd been through, I found I had changed, able to calmly and naturally contemplate such deep conspiracies. But when I thought about Fatty and Poker-face's situation, I couldn't afford to worry too much.

No time to waste — I immediately started preparations. First, I had Wang Meng find me a censer, filled it with hot charcoal, and then wrapped the iron block together with the censer to heat it up.

Pan Ma had said this kind of iron block would emit a smell, but over time the smell would fade. I knew there must be some substance inside that was volatilizing, and according to general principles, heating it would intensify that faint volatilization again.

As expected, slowly the iron block began to emit a strange odor, growing stronger and stronger.

It was my first time smelling this odor — it was indeed very strange, indescribable. If I had to describe it, it was a chemical smell mixed with the tang of hot iron. If Pan Ma smelled this, he really wouldn't be able to identify what it was.

I

The expression on Pan Ma's face when he saw me appear was difficult to describe — it was impossible to tell whether it was surprise, fear, or disgust.

But after I entered the house, sat down, and the strange smell from my body began to fill the room, only terror remained on his face. Then he immediately broke down.

I sat down calmly, looked at Pan Ma, who was trembling all over, and my first words were: "They're back. I've come to take you."