Hidden moth

Chapter 13 Phenomenon and Reality

He Kao: "Fish frying is no longer allowed. It's illegal."

Xiaopang: "You could find a river bend where there's no one around and no surveillance, blow them up, grab the fish, and run... Were these firecrackers found in your house? Why didn't the police take them away?"

He Kao: "It was placed in a small room on the third floor. The police were rather careless in their search, and that wasn't what they were looking for."

Xiaopang: "Either the informant made a mistake, or your aunt and the others received the news and moved the things ahead of time."

He Kao glanced at Xiaopang and nodded, "Yeah, that should be it."

Xiaopang: "Why did you think of making bamboo bombs again?"

He Kao: "Get a few and keep them just in case. This seems a bit illegal, so please don't report me."

Xiaopang said with a grin, "Give me a few and I won't tell on you."

He Kao: "We haven't fixed the fuse yet. We'll talk about it the day after tomorrow. Let's drive to a deserted place and try it out."

Xiaopang: "I know there's a stretch of riverbank where people often set off fireworks and take short videos. Let's go there and try it."

The next day was Sunday, and He Kao went shopping and stayed home all day. After get off work on Monday, he and Xiaopang drove directly to the north of the city, found a secluded riverside beach in the suburbs, and pulled a backpack out of the trunk.

He Kao took out a small bamboo tube, unscrewed the lid, pressed it again, and then threw it out. The tube fell far into the river. Then there was a faint muffled sound, and a splash of water rose on the surface of the river, but no fish floated up.

Because the river water blocked and absorbed the sound, it wasn't very loud, and it didn't seem to have much power either. After all, this wasn't a grenade, and if it exploded at close range, it would definitely cause significant damage to a person.

Xiaopang said anxiously: "Let me throw one and try it too."

He Kao: "Unscrew the lid and press it again... The explosion time should be no less than four seconds and no longer than five seconds. If you are not throwing it into the water, there is no need to screw the lid back on.

First, throw an uncharged one into the open field to test the feel and avoid blowing yourself up."

Xiaopang tried a small bamboo tube without gunpowder to familiarize himself with its operation. He then asked, "Isn't this different from the bamboo bombs you made as a kid?"

He Kao: "The ones I made when I was a kid were manually ignited, but this one uses an electric spark to ignite automatically."

Xiaopang: "It's an upgrade! Where did all those electric ignition devices come from?"

He Kao: "They're in disposable lighters. They cost one yuan each, and I've opened quite a few of them."

Gunpowder doesn't need air to burn; its oxidizer is saltpeter. The fuse, which acts as a fuse, can also be ignited in an airless environment by soaking it in saltpeter solution and then drying it. All He Kao needs to do is calculate the burning speed.

One advantage of the industrial age is that it is very easy to obtain a large number of cheap parts.

The small bamboo tube is not big, and can even be held in the hand and hidden. There is a lid that acts like a safety, which needs to be unscrewed, and then press the contact inside, and an electric spark will ignite the fuse... He Kao took a lot of effort to succeed in making this little mechanism.

If you drop it into water, you can screw the lid back on to prevent the fuse from burning out.

Xiaopang practiced with the uncharged bamboo mine many times. After he mastered it, he threw two real bamboo mines into the river, and a turtle was actually blown up.

Fishing has been banned in the river for several years now, and the ecosystem has recovered well. Wild turtle soup is delicious, but unfortunately they didn't bring any fish, and since they were so far away, they couldn't reach it, so they could only watch the turtle drift away in the flashlight.

Xiaopang exclaimed that it was fun and wanted to play again, but He Kao dissuaded him, "Don't play anymore. It took a lot of effort to make all this. Save some."

He only processed more than 30 small bamboo tubes in total, and Huang Xiaopang took half of them. Then the two drove back to the apartment.

On the way, He Kao threw away another large bag of garbage, including various loose parts, an apron from the hot pot restaurant, shoe covers, etc. In fact, the backpack was not suitable for reuse, otherwise it would probably not pass the explosion-proof inspection at the airport.

The two of them had a good time by the river, but He Kao's newly rented apartment in the city center was once again broken into by Old Qian. Although Qian did not find anything new this time, the processed bamboo bombs and the remaining scattered objects were taken away by He Kao.

Qian seemed to have sensed a faint smell of gunpowder, but he didn't take it seriously, thinking that He Kao had picked it up from his old house. He didn't expect it to be anything else - no normal person would have thought of it.

After the apartment change, nothing happened for over a month. Qian didn't seem to be behaving unusually, and He Kao couldn't help but wonder if he had made a mistake. It all seemed like a hazy dream, fleeting.

But that recording really exists, and the people mentioned in the recording also really exist, including Gao Xue'e and his father Zhou Du. How do you explain all this?
He Kao's so-called peace and quiet, in Qian Guran's eyes, seemed a bit thrilling. For more than a month, He Kao's newly rented apartment had become almost like a carriage inn, with uninvited guests every few days, and many visitors came late at night.

Qian was secretly glad that he had already got the item, the animal claw pendant that He Kao usually wore. The incident happened a week after He Kao moved to a new dormitory, during a department team-building event.

Many leaders, including bosses of small companies and executives at large corporations, are keen on team-building activities, often under the guise of fostering corporate culture. Employees have mixed reactions to this approach, but it all depends on the specific circumstances.

As a leader, if you pull the entire company or department out for some training whenever you have nothing to do, you will gain a subconscious sense of satisfaction, and it can even be a way to eliminate anxiety - I can command so many people, and they all have to listen to me.

If team-building activities are too frequent and low-quality, and always take up holiday time, most employees will be disgusted and complain that it would be better to give bonuses directly in cash instead of going through all this trouble, especially those employees with families.

In some small companies, there are even some weird bosses who use crowdfunding to organize team building, as they are really afraid of ruining the company.

However, many business departments within large companies operate a bit like government agencies and have budgets, including special activity funds, which cannot be directly distributed to employees unless they are spent.

Gao Xue'e is also a leader who prefers team-building, but since the Cloud Life Business Group has always been a relatively marginal department, she is relatively restrained and the frequency of team-building is not high. In the past six months, it has basically been carried out in the name of welcoming new students.

When work is busy, we usually just have a dinner together in the evening. If work is not too busy and there are no new employees joining, the department will basically go out for an activity once a month. Coincidentally, this activity was sponsored by a partner company.

Bada Group is a major local enterprise in Qiyuan, with businesses spanning cultural tourism, entertainment, and real estate. It owns a five-star hotel in Qiyuan City, with a health club annexed to the hotel.

The clubhouse has four floors. The first floor houses a standard swimming pool and indoor water entertainment facilities. The second floor houses a buffet restaurant, a chess and card room, a home theater, and a game room, perfect for gatherings or even large-scale script-killing games.

The third floor houses various themed guest rooms, offering hydrotherapy, SPA and other services. The suite living room is also equipped with KTV facilities, just like an entertainment room with a bedroom and bathroom.

The fourth floor features a variety of fitness equipment, as well as dance, yoga, and body training rooms with instructors. Why is the gym on the fourth floor? Because it's convenient because you can wear a yukata from the first to the third floor.

Yukata can be a long robe or a two-piece home style.

Bada Health Club is positioned to provide high-end customers with safe and healthy fitness, leisure, and social entertainment services. It is a membership-based club, and membership cards are quite expensive.

However, business has been tough in recent years, with sales shrinking significantly. Gyms and entertainment centers have been closing in droves, with the larger and more upscale establishments being hit the hardest.

The Badak Club uses our own property, so we don't have to pay rent, which is why we're able to stay afloat. The market has been showing some signs of improvement recently, so we need to find a way to accelerate our recovery.

Eliminating membership requirements or offering discounts and sales? This would seem to undermine their high-end brand image, forcing them to resort to other means to offer discounts and promote partnerships.

The Bada Group also had its own publicity department, but it recently downsized it and outsourced its promotional work to a media company. This media company already had a partnership with the Tengxin Qiyuan branch, so they took advantage of the situation and planned an event.

They had just launched a new co-branded membership card, which wasn't discounted or on sale, but given away for free. Every one of the more than 500 employees at the Qiyuan branch received a co-branded card, with a free trial period of three months.

During these three months, in addition to private training, use of private rooms and services within the private rooms, other services of the club including buffets are free of charge, and all entertainment and fitness facilities are also free to use.

This is the same treatment given to residents of the five-star hotel next door.

The purpose of doing this is to first bring in a sufficient number of "high-end customers" and then make some money from paid items.

After the three-month period expires, if someone continues to recharge, they will be directly converted into VIP members, and some customers will still be retained at that time.

So He Kao also became a trial member of the Bada Health Club, which allowed him to use the club for free for three months. People like him were not originally the target of the club's development, but now the club has no choice but to downgrade to meet his needs.

What the club values is that the employees here have relatively high incomes. Many of them have purchasing power, but they are usually too lazy to go out, so they have to create opportunities to provide them with services.

The media company was also very considerate and provided each department with a free trial of guest rooms and private rooms, where they could also stay overnight, which was perfect for team building.

This required each department to make an appointment in advance and determine the number of people so that arrangements could be made. Gao Xue'e was immediately excited and rushed to make the appointment.

The department staff also welcomed this. After all, they had already received the three-month membership card, so they might as well try it out first. Huang Xiaopang was very happy and even a little excited because swimming was definitely required for this team building.

He's been an expert swimmer since he was little, known as the Little White Dragon of the River. Several girls and young ladies in the department have great figures, but you don't usually get the chance to see them in swimsuits, especially Ms. E.

When Qian got the news, he couldn't help but secretly praise God for helping him, so that he wouldn't come up with any more tricks.

On Sunday, He Kao participated in the project team's team-building activity at the Bada Club. It was similar to a bathhouse, with separate entrances for men and women, though the decor and facilities were more upscale.

You can change into your swimsuit in the locker room and then go to the first floor to play in the water, or you can change into your sportswear and go directly to the fourth floor to work out. Ms. E asked everyone to gather on the first floor. There were lounge chairs and round tables next to the pool, and there were cubicles further out, with tables and chairs in those cubicles.

The business department occupies three compartments, which are used to store everyone's bathrobes, towels, mobile phones, etc. Colleagues who don't go into the water can use their phones or play games here.

He Kao changed into swimming trunks and walked out with his phone. He walked through the shower area to the entrance and was about to get his bathrobe and towel when the staff reminded him, "Sir, you must wear a swimming cap when entering the water and take off the pendant around your neck."

This was He Kao's first time in his life swimming in an indoor pool; he had only swam in the river and reservoirs back home. Although Qiyuan University had a swimming pool, He Kao had never been there. To others, he was a typical tech geek.

So he didn't know the rules, and just took whatever the staff said as his own. He bought a swimming cap at the service center on the spot, and took off the pendant and put it in the locker.

He walked to the edge of the swimming pool and saw the pale-skinned Huang Xiaopang waving at him from a distance: "He Kao, this way."

He Kao walked to the rest area where the department was assembled. Fatty waved his arms and did a set of preparatory movements that he might have invented himself. He shouted to He Kao, "Shall we go down and compete?"

Qian Guran, who was not far away, muttered, "You can bring your cell phone here, so I'll bring my cell phone over too." Then he left the rest area and returned to the locker room.

Opening this kind of locker was not difficult for Qian, and he did it naturally, as if he was taking out his own things. He gestured twice with the key in his hand, then took out the pendant and left quickly.

He went straight up to the third floor and entered a guest room that had been booked long ago. He closed the door and took out the prepared things and tools, mainly a feline claw, which was almost exactly the same in shape and size as He Kao's.

A small hole was drilled in the top of the claw and it was tied with an old silk string of the same color and style. Of course, the color and pattern of the money needed to be adjusted to achieve a realistic effect.

He is a sorcerer of the Wangqi Sect, not the Ruwei Sect, but he has reached the third level after all. The techniques of various sects have some similarities and references. With advance preparation, it is not difficult for him to process this small artifact.

He Kao's animal claw had obviously been polished, and after years of playing with it, it was bright yellow in texture and faintly translucent, with no obvious scratches or color patches on the surface. It was almost perfectly consistent with the fake prepared by Qian Guran, saving a lot of effort.

An hour later, Qian Guran placed the two pendants on the tray. Ordinary people could hardly tell any difference either by sight or touch.

Qian Guran knew that the difference between the two items was huge, almost beyond comprehension. As soon as He Kao's claw was in his hands, he concluded that it was at least a magical weapon.

**
(End of this chapter)