Please don't question multi-week players

Chapter 488, Section 488: The Past of a Late Journey (2)

After passing the screening, the next step is to wait for allocation.

Chi Piao's ability rating is very high, and the waiting area is even specially designated. There is also a white-haired young man sitting in the room.

He was also a war-capable individual, though the specifics of his abilities were unknown, and Chi Piao showed no interest in exploring them with his peers.

The two sat on opposite sides of the room, one staring blankly at the ground, the other with empty, lifeless eyes, both looking equally dejected.

The superior assigned to someone at Chi Piao's level in a war is also a senior manager at Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals.

However, as is customary, a brainwashing session is required before the formal assignment.

The two were then taken into the hypnosis room, where the doctor in charge of the hypnosis took out a piece of paper and asked them to read the words on it.

"I will always be loyal to Kurohime..."

The white-haired youth read on flatly. Chi Piao looked at the dark marks on the paper, but couldn't recognize a single word. She could only listen to his words and stutter along.

"I will... be... forever loyal..."

The male doctor in charge of hypnosis quickly noticed Chi Piao's abnormality. He whispered to his colleague for a moment, and then another female doctor in charge of supervision took Chi Piao to a room alone.

The doctor asked Chi Piao to sit down in a chair, then took out a piece of paper with the word "dragonfly" written on it, showed it to her, and asked:

How do you read the words on this?

Chi Piao almost fainted as she looked at the pile of black lines on the paper. Her face flushed red, and she mustered her courage to say:
"I...I can't read."

The doctor was shocked for a moment, then asked her a few simple questions. When he found that she answered them all incoherently, he hurriedly made a phone call.

Soon, more than ten doctors from the hypnosis department arrived, frowning as they looked at her and whispering among themselves:

"Such a powerful war... how can they be illiterate?"

"Not only is he illiterate, but he also lacks many basic life skills... I feel he wouldn't be able to carry out the mission independently..."

"They can't even recognize all the Arabic numerals, and they can't do addition and subtraction within ten..."

"Wait a minute, does that mean our text-based hypnosis method has failed?"

"...So how do you brainwash an illiterate person?"

According to the procedure, the two powerful warriors selected this time should be directly sent to the Blind Master as puppets.

However, after receiving a call from the hypnosis department and hearing that one of the warring parties was illiterate, and that mind control on her was only half as effective, Tantai Hui immediately replied that she didn't want this person.

The Operations Department refused, and the next department to respond was the Strategists.

The strategist department wasn't particularly prejudiced against illiterate people, but the person in charge still came in person to see just how literate this person really was.

Chi Piao stared blankly at the ceiling, surrounded by doctors from the hypnosis department.

She felt uneasy and inferior. She knew she was uneducated and was afraid that this shortcoming would prevent her from getting in.

After all, Black Eye Pharmaceuticals provides meals and accommodation and is a leading pharmaceutical company. Normally, recruitment requires graduates from prestigious universities, and only the most outstanding individuals have a chance to get an interview to see if the HR is fair or lenient.

Chi Piao doesn't even have a kindergarten diploma; where else could she find such a good job opportunity without it?

Just as she was anxiously looking up in a daze, the room fell silent.

Chi Piao's gaze drifted somewhat blankly from the ceiling to the front.

Suddenly, a person was standing there quietly.

He was a tall, elegant young man, dressed in a finely crafted black overcoat. He must have just come in from outside in the winter, as a matching scarf was neatly wrapped around his neck, and a brown-grey top hat was on his head.

The man stood with the posture of a pine tree, his temperament gentle and calm, exuding a strong scholarly air—a unique feeling that Chi Piao had only ever felt from her sister. His gaze calmly fell on her face, and when he spoke, his voice, like him, was clear and gentle.

"Hello, I am Xu Huan, strategist from the strategist department of Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals."

After a brief self-introduction, he didn't exchange pleasantries or ask any questions. Instead, he calmly picked up a white cardboard sheet from the table next to him, took out a black pen from his inside jacket pocket, and smoothly wrote a line on it:

1 + 2 = ?

He turned the cardboard towards Chi Piao, showed it to her, and asked:
"You should know the outcome, right?"

His tone was one of steady confirmation. Chi Piao's gaze lingered on the simple equation for a second, then he nodded:

"Score 3".

Her older sister taught her this, so Chi Piao still knows it.

Xu Huan felt there was hope; perhaps this person was pretending to be weak while actually being strong, so he wrote another one:
5 + 4 = ?

You probably already know this, right?

He looked expectantly at Chi Piao, but the latter stretched out her fingers, counted for a long time without figuring it out, and finally stammered:

"A score of 3?"

After she finished speaking, she looked nervously at his face, but Xu Huan did not comment on it, as if he had not heard the absurd answer.

He put down the cardboard and considered a different question:
What is the next line after "The bright moonlight shines before my bed"?

Chi Piao blinked, and this time the question seemed more familiar, so she answered faster and raised her voice slightly:
"Lower your head...and drink a bowl of soup?"

"..."

Xu Huan was speechless for a moment, and his calm expression froze for a very brief instant.

He raised his hand and coughed lightly, then took out a rather thick document from the outer pocket of his black coat.

Xu Huan turned to the title page, the paper making a slight rustling sound. His gaze quickly swept over the summary of the background investigation on Chi Piao.

The strategist's gaze lingered on a certain column for a moment, then he looked up at the girl before him who couldn't even understand simple arithmetic and classical poetry. He spoke slowly, his voice filled with scrutiny:

"Chi Ling, the genius strategist from Radiant Academy, the world's number one university in the Light faction. Is she really your biological sister?"

The word "sister" seemed to trigger something. Chi Piao's eyes quickly welled up with tears, and her voice choked with emotion:

"Yes, she is my older sister."

Xu Huan didn't ask any further questions, but simply flipped through a few more pages of the document.

The words on the paper outline a childhood trajectory far more bitter than what is before one's eyes.

His gaze swept quickly over the key words and phrases, his face expressionless, but a faint ripple seemed to pass through the depths of his calm eyes.

He closed the file and turned to a doctor who had been waiting quietly by his side to confirm:

"Tantai Hui made it clear that she will only accept that one war?"

The doctor replied respectfully:
"Yes, sir. The blind master doesn't want someone uneducated; they're not good as puppets."

Xu Huan nodded, his gaze returning to Chi Piao, and he instructed the physician:
"The strategist department wants this person. Skip the hypnosis process, process her onboarding, and place her under my direct command."

After saying that, he turned around and left to continue working. From that day on, Chi Piao truly joined Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals—this mysterious and enormous organization.

　I updated too late the past few days, so I'm updating earlier today.

　　(End of this chapter)