Chapter 24: As long as one is human, they must have a weakness.

The Mute Snake had already fallen asleep in the inner room.

Chen Jiang sat alone at the round table, organizing the stolen documents and placing them in the corner of the table. With an expressionless face, he stared silently out the window at the sky. The performance he had spent ten days preparing had finally come to an end.

Any magic trick is only 1% performance; the preparation accounts for the remaining 99%.

His master had once told him that no matter how tight the security, if a human was one of the links in the chain, that person would always be the weakest point. So-called social engineering is nothing more than a combination of psychology and sociology, using guidance and suggestion to manipulate human nature to achieve one’s own ends.

For example—

He could never have personally invited the Mayor of Zhaoge City and the special envoy beside him onto the stage, as both would have instinctively become suspicious. But if the Mayor was invited by his own daughter, and then the Mayor in turn invited the envoy, their guard would be significantly lowered. The Mayor would have had no choice but to invite the envoy, firstly because they were acquainted, and secondly because of the stage lighting at the time; when the Mayor looked toward the audience, the envoy was the only person he could see clearly.

Even if the Mayor had invited someone else, Chen Jiang would have simply had him invite another person to join them on stage to make up a group of three lucky audience members—or four, or five if necessary.

This is the art of guidance. People are always more willing to believe in the choices they think they have made themselves.

Take another example—

How could he ensure that all the security guards in the City Hall monitoring room would go watch the fireworks? What if someone wasn't interested, or someone was strictly committed to their duty? You only need to ensure the "Security Captain" goes to watch the fireworks.

Anyone with workplace experience knows that when something happens outside the office, everyone instinctively looks to their leader. If the leader shows no reaction, others only dare to peek. But if the leader gets up to take a look, everyone else will follow to the window. Most importantly, even those uninterested in fireworks will go; otherwise, they would feel like an outsider.

That is human nature. We are born with an subconscious desire to conform.

This is the "herd effect." To control a group, one must first find the weakness of the leader. Manipulate the leader, and the others will follow. Even if they don't, their attention will be far less focused than usual.

And how to ensure the Security Captain would definitely watch the fireworks? The answer lay in the numbers "7" and "K."

These were the points he had carefully prepared for the Captain. He had investigated the man's recent history and discovered a key piece of information: the Captain had a young son, and they used to enjoy playing two-player games together on a website called "7k7k."

A few weeks ago, the Captain divorced his wife, and the court granted custody to the ex-wife. Every day, returning to an empty home, seeing that computer that had not been turned on for a long time, and staring at that familiar yet alien bedroom, he would surely be filled with heavy thoughts.

At that moment, seeing the fireworks filled with "7"s and "K"s, emotions would surge, and it would be impossible for him not to walk to the window to take a look.

The final question was how to ensure the two lucky audience members drew the cards he wanted. This was the most basic of techniques. He hadn't prepared fireworks for every card value; he had only prepared them for "7" and "K." Through card-handling techniques, he had cut three decks under everyone's watchful eyes. The piles from which the two drew their cards contained only "7"s and "K"s. No matter how they drew or which they chose, they could only pick those two values.

Link by link, the magic trick was formed. The audience only saw the 1% on stage, while the remaining 99% was masked by the magnificent display of fireworks. No one knew the truth—this was the charm of magic.

As long as a person exists, they have weaknesses. As long as they have weaknesses, they can be manipulated.

Magic is nothing more than using thousands of invisible threads to control puppets on a stage. The only difference is that the audience sees only the magician and fails to see the threads, nor do they realize they have become puppets themselves.

...

A long time later, Chen Jiang walked over to his master's portrait, lit three sticks of incense, and looked at the black-and-white, refined face of his master. He murmured in a daze, "Master, you died too suddenly. It’s left me all alone to run things, and I’m still not quite used to it."

His master had been dead for over ten days. He had thought he had accepted it, but only after the performance did he feel the urge to ask his master to critique his plans and check for flaws, only to realize there was no one left to tell. Only then did he truly understand the meaning of death: never to meet again.

After a moment of silence, he placed the incense into the burner, went into his room to tidy up, and then walked out into the courtyard alone. He needed to go eliminate the father of the little chubby boy. He was the only person in reality who knew his true identity. This potential threat had to be extinguished.

...

In Zhaoge City, inside an office at the Wanxiang Office Building, the chubby boy’s father was sitting at his desk, writing something down with great focus.

Hidden beneath the ventilation grate directly above him, a calm face was watching everything quietly. It was none other than Chen Jiang. The Wanxiang Office Building was one of his own businesses; slipping in through the ventilation ducts was effortless—much easier than the City Hall building.

However...

Chen Jiang narrowed his eyes, looking at what the man was writing so diligently.

"Application for Partnership."

"Respected Brother Jiang, hello."

"My name is Xu Kun. Today, with a firm and reverent heart, I solemnly submit this application for partnership to you. Below are my reasons for self-recommendation."

"1: We have experienced a dungeon together and have a foundation of trust."

"2: Compared to other players, I am calmer, obedient to orders, and willing to follow instructions. I am willing to turn over all gains from the Paradise to you for distribution."

"3: ..."

Chen Jiang, inside the vent, did not make a sound, merely observing the middle-aged man below through the grate. After the man finished writing, he began to mutter to himself.

He watched for six hours, until it grew dark. Just as the company was about to close, there was a knock at the office door, and a secretary entered.

"Boss, someone claiming to be a magician is here to see you."

"A magician?" Xu Kun, sitting in his boss's chair, was stunned for a moment before hurriedly standing up with an anxious look on his face. "Quick, quick, invite him in! No, no, I’ll go greet him myself. Where is he? At the front desk?"

Just then, Chen Jiang pushed the door open, walked slowly to the desk, sat down, and said softly, "I heard you were having someone investigate me?"