{You checked the time again, it's 10:34 PM. There was one hour and thirty-nine minutes left before the rooster crow.}
{Time was tight. To avoid wasting this simulation, you first established a few major directions and began building your plan around them.}
{First, assume that the rooster crow was produced by a human.}
{If that's the case, then as long as you stop the sound from being made, the mastermind's entire sequence of actions could be disrupted.}
{There are two main ways to stop the rooster crow: prevent the object from making the sound, or eliminate the person operating it.}
{Comparatively, eliminating the person is more straightforward and effective.}
{If the Female Ghost were willing to help, this would be easy. But after everything, that option is off the table. You can only rely on yourself now.}
{To eliminate the person producing the sound, you first need to identify their general location.}
{Typically, in residential complexes that don't face the street, even with windows open, sounds rarely reach above the 15th floor—unless it's something loud like dancing music in the square.}
{If the complex is heavily landscaped, you usually can't hear anything above the 10th floor.}
{And your neighborhood has plenty of greenery.}
{Also, the rooster crow you heard didn't sound like it came from a loudspeaker, it sounded direct and natural.}
{That means the person producing the sound must be located within ten floors of your unit.}
{And at night, stairwells are usually empty. If the sound came from a hallway, it would echo and distort. The rooster crows you heard had no such echo, so they weren't made in the hallway.}
{Elevators are soundproof, so that's out too.}
{The most likely scenario is a person in a window-side room, either with the window open or sticking their hand out to make the sound.}
{And that room must be within ten floors of your own, between the 8th and 18th floors.}
{Based on current intel, the rooster crow acts as a signal, which means the person making it is responsible for surveillance.}
{So, their room must also have a clear view of your home.}
{Only one column of units fits that criterion: in Building 4, the stack of rooms closest to the stairwell. From those rooms, even a basic pair of binoculars would provide a clear view into your apartment.}
{In fact, the person spying on you could be in one of those rooms right now, watching your every move!}
{You scanned that column of windows. As your gaze swept past the 15th floor, a figure flickered across the window ledge.}
{You closed your eyes and recalled the previous times you had heard the rooster crow.}
{You imagined the sound originating from that 15th-floor room, traveling to your ears. Did the timing match?}
{The answer is more or less. No significant discrepancy.}
{So, you locked in your target: the surveillance agent on the 15th floor.}
{Even if your judgment wasn't perfect, time was too short to double-check. You had to move on and begin the next phase of your plan immediately.}
{The mastermind sent someone to observe from the shadows, which means he was clearly unsure of your family's situation or whether other forces might be backing you.}
{That means you have two potential strategies.}
{Option One: Pretend there's a powerful force backing your family. Make it look like you're investigating the mastermind not out of curiosity, but under orders—disciplined, organized. Make them wary.}
{This might be what they're already considering. After all, your father has no grudge against them, why would he investigate them for no reason?}
{Option Two: Strike first. Before they figure out your situation, take out the scout. Keep them in the dark. The more confused they are, the less likely they'll act.}
{The first option is simpler, but faking a powerful backing is hard to pull off. Even if they hesitate, they might still send small-time thugs to test the waters.}
{Losing a few pawns wouldn't matter to the mastermind. But if they tested you and saw through the act, the bluff would fall apart immediately.}
{So this time, you had no choice but to go with Option Two: act first and strike hard.}
{Take out the scout, and it's like blinding the enemy. Without eyes, they'll think twice before making another move.}
{Which brings you to the real question: how do you eliminate the scout quickly, cleanly, and lethally before they can react or alert others?}
{Only then will the psychological impact be enough to truly intimidate the mastermind.}
{To deal with the mastermind without a trace, the best method would naturally be to use a sniper rifle with a suppressor and take them out with a single headshot. But there was no sniper rifle, and you didn't have the skills for it either.}
{So, aside from a sniper rifle, what is the fastest, most lethal way to kill a person?}
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