Doomsday Wonderland

Chapter 1475: All-in

It seemed her guess was wrong.

After summoning Caster back with no results, Lin Sanjiu asked, disappointed, "Hey, how did you discover that chubby guy last time?"

She was quite sure her guess would be accurate. Yet, after sending Caster out for about ten minutes and not catching a single fish, she began to suspect if Caster might have fallen asleep.

"I didn't spot that chubby guy last time," Caster replied, leaving her stunned. "Think about the angle at the time. Lily's office was to the right at a 90-degree angle. When I peeked out, the chubby guy appeared from the left 90-degree angle. When you caught him, he hadn't turned the corner yet, so I couldn't see him."

"That's right; he was about to turn the corner then," Lin Sanjiu murmured. "Then why did you nod and give me a signal?"

"Weren't you asking me to watch out for players?" Caster seemed more confident in her response. "I had my face close to the ground and felt the vibrations of footsteps from someone approaching in the distance. After I signaled you and you dashed over to catch someone who wasn't Lily, I thought I mistakenly identified a client as a player."

Given this, after sending Caster out a second time, Lily indeed arrived immediately. Considering the distance, the vibrations Caster felt the first time could be Lily's footsteps from afar.

"You didn't feel anything this time?"

"Nothing at all."

Lin Sanjiu's eyes sparkled. "Then my guess might not be entirely wrong."

Caster looked troubled and asked the Life Coach, "What does she mean by that?"

"You might have to continue being the lookout."

Caster hung her head in resignation.

"No, no," Lin Sanjiu said, ignoring the two of them. "What if it's not just about not seeing? What if clients don't appear when players can sense their surroundings? Whit E. also said that finding a client was purely accidental. If Whit E. couldn't even sense someone nearby, it indeed would be an accident."

"That's possible. So, even if you send Caster out," the Life Coach said. "You still wouldn't know where the clients are."

That was the crux of the problem.

When players could sense their surroundings, clients didn't appear. On the flip side, clients would disappear before entering the sensing range. Apart from aimlessly staring in the corridor, Caster couldn't be of any help.

"No wonder," Lin Sanjiu said, looking back at her office. The Artist was now sitting in the cubicle, seemingly lost in thought. At first glance, it appeared as though there were two clients. "I was wondering earlier, the level-three search employee seems rather useless. If they get killed, it's a waste of thirty dollars. If captured, they take up an office slot. Why hire them? From this perspective, the level-three search employee is quite crucial because players alone can't find the clients."

Looking at the time, Lin Sanjiu would collect her first profit from the client's output in less than ten minutes. After deducting the level-one employee's salary and rent, she only had eighty dollars to utilize.

"If you hire a level-three search employee, they might get killed the moment they are released," Mrs. Manas said. "Especially now that two groups are aware of the office location."

Lin Sanjiu paced around the room, her eyebrows knotted in thought. Others would sooner or later discover the pattern of the client's appearance — no, perhaps Qian Dao had already found out, hence the hiring of the search employee who was later killed — she couldn't just keep waiting hour by hour.

Was there a way to prevent the level-three employees from being killed?

Changing their appearance had been proven futile. Whether it's the Artist or [The Power Of Word Picture], neither could alter the existence of the employees by even the slightest; not to mention using light and shadow to cover them, they couldn't even wear an overcoat. When it comes to being killed, even if protected by Higher Consciousness, it's futile — the Higher Consciousness might cover the employee's surface, but when a player orders to kill the employee, the disappearance of the employee is determined by the game's logic, irrespective of any external Higher Consciousness.

Lost in her vexed thoughts without any solution, the second hour finally came.

When her cash flow increased by eighty dollars, Lin Sanjiu was almost delirious. "Will this work?" she asked, pulling the Life Coach closer. "Call out a level-three employee, then I'll lie on their shoulder with my eyes closed, and they carry me around."

The Life Coach pondered for a moment before realizing. "You want to dangle down and use yourself as their shield?"

"Players can't be attacked, right? I want to exploit that."

"Forget about how ridiculous it might look. You might close your eyes, but you still have ears, and you can't close them," the Life Coach said and sighed. "When the air moves, you can't block all your skin's pores. It won't work. If you're carried by them, wherever the level-three employee goes, there will be a client vacuum."

Lin Sanjiu ran her fingers through her hair, ruffling her short locks into a messy state. "Then what should we do?"

This time, the Life Coach wasn't even considering charging — because apart from giving motivational words about dreams and perseverance, he too was out of ideas.

"You, young one," the 27-year-old Life Coach said, patting her shoulder, "your biggest strength is that you never play by the book and always think outside the box. Haven't you overcome many difficulties on your own? I believe this time won't be an exception."

Lin Sanjiu glanced at him without a word.

After a few seconds, she looked at the Life Coach again.

She had a suspicion but wasn't sure if it was correct.

Besides charging for services, the Life Coach enjoyed boosting people's spirits, always spouting motivational words or sweet nothings. Coincidentally, whenever she was with the Life Coach lately, she seemed to face challenges one after another and, thus, repeatedly received his encouragement. But after his unyielding pep talks, Lin Sanjiu realized that she often did come up with solutions.

Like now.

Was it the effect of the Special Item or just a placebo effect?

Lin Sanjiu hesitated, pondering over the idea that had just emerged in her mind. As the Life Coach had said, her idea was unconventional, to the point that even she felt it seemed childish. The probability of success seemed as unstable as a blade of grass swaying in the wind.

She cleared her throat.

"Hire two level-three search employees," Lin Sanjiu whispered. All the humanoid Special Items around her, including Mrs. Manas, were taken aback.

Sixty dollars vanished in a blink.

Since they were hired simultaneously, the two employees appeared in the office three minutes later. Lin Sanjiu took out all her communicators from the grand prize, lined them up in the hallway, and connected them.

Exactly 65 minutes into the game, she took a deep breath and shouted, "Qian Dao, I'm ready!"

Her voice echoed and reverberated through the communicators, spreading throughout at least half of the floor.

"Let's split up and strike now!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she hurriedly kicked both search employees out into the hallway.