Chapter 577 Team Building

Lina's attitude towards the mixed-race slave girl was like she was dealing with a child—

"Can you speak?" "Can you read?" "Oh, your skin looks so delicate, you don't mind if I pinch it, do you?"

Wayne suspected that Lina would sooner or later bring out another Emma, so he sighed slightly, feeling that he needed to play the bad cop in advance.

He walked over and pretended to cough twice, interrupting Lina's action of pinching the girl's cheeks with both hands: "What's your name?"

—It wasn't the Age of Discovery anymore, when new slaves were "imported" every day. They were all human, how could such a big slave not be able to speak?

Even slaves in the West could communicate with white-skinned immigrants without barriers, and they usually knew an extra "foreign language," making them a bit more "international" than ordinary townspeople.

When facing Wayne, who seemed like the "master," the mixed-race slave girl's attitude was clearly more respectful.

Her back straightened instantly, her muscles seemed to tense up, and she lowered her head, "My name is Alicia…"

"Noble" and "Beautiful"—

That name sounded even more cultured than the townspeople's…

And it must be said, at a glance, her figure was more curvaceous than many ladies and young women on the East Coast.

She was only high school age, and her nutrition was almost on par with many Western ladies, though she was still a bit lacking to sit at the same table as Inessa, Lina, and Olivia.

Wayne thought for a moment and decided to set the rules first:

"We are not Southerners, and we don't have a tradition of keeping slaves. Although your ownership documents are in our hands, we will treat you as an indentured servant, and a portion of your work compensation will be used to offset the price of your indenture.

"Since there is a contract, you will need to meet our management requirements and obey our commands during your work.

"When we believe that your accumulated work contributions are sufficient to offset the contract, you will have the right to choose whether to stay or leave—provided that your performance during your work period must satisfy us sufficiently."

The mixed-race maid bit her lip and was silent for a moment, seemingly pondering Wayne's meaning, and finally could only nod, "Yes!"

Wayne continued, "Our Detective Agency operates on a partnership system. Currently, it's me, Lina, and a lady named Inessa. In principle, the mandatory commands of the partners have equal validity for you, but normally you only need to follow Lina's instructions and do not need to obey anyone else.

"In return, your personal safety will also be guaranteed by us. At least I personally will not ask you to do anything beyond the scope of a servant's work."

Alicia seemed to breathe a slight sigh of relief and quickly nodded again, saying "Yes," her voice not as weak as before.

"And then… um…" Wayne thought for a moment, "I don't think I've learned about this in my studies yet, do you have any traditional beliefs? Or which deity do you personally believe in?"

Alicia became nervous again, "No heretical beliefs are allowed on the Plantation… Although the masters don't force it, everything we can access is about the holy book."

Compared to old established families, some things are indeed done "thoroughly," huh?

Wayne understood, "Then that makes it simple. Our Detective Agency has some special connections with the Church and the Exorcist Association, belonging to the type of people who specifically deal with 'Demons' and 'Fallen.' You'll likely see this sooner or later while with Lina—you don't need to be nervous, don't be afraid, and absolutely must not speak of what you see to outsiders.

"This last point is particularly crucial, as it will directly determine whether you can ultimately gain your freedom. Do you understand?"

The other party responded particularly loudly this time, "Yes!"

Good, very spirited.

Unfortunately, this "good" only lasted for less than half an hour. After returning to the crowd, Emma quickly began to try and get to know her new friend, Alicia.

The smiling little head of Emma was so skillfully "lifted with both hands" that the Little Black Girl didn't even have time to scream before her eyes rolled back and she fainted.

After waking up quickly, she looked more like a "doll" than Chef Parker for a while, with no highlights in her eyes.

Wayne guessed that at that moment, her brain was probably reinstalling its system or something…

…

The workers and craftsmen on site were given another half-day off temporarily. With no outsiders inside the walls, the team building officially began.

Since it was "team building," it would be different from usual relaxation and entertainment. Wayne, like some unscrupulous bosses in modern society, had " ulterior motives."

Recently, the partners had been attending dances almost every night, but they weren't completely idle during the day.

At least the recent personnel arrangements for the Detective Agency had been finalized. Liam took several Agents to rotate at the First Office, while Ryan led a new team to establish the Second Office. The remaining staff were temporarily stationed at the main base, working with the partners.

Including the six newest peripheral members like "Soften," the Detective Agency now had a fixed staff of 34 people. This didn't count "unofficial" members like the Chef, Emma, Song Peter, or the mixed-race Little Black Girl, nor did it include the acting manager of the restaurant or the prisoners at the main base.

Connal hadn't returned from Kankakee yet, where he was helping with errands, so it was unclear how many people he would bring back. But roughly calculated, this was the basic total number for now.

In terms of numbers alone, it could no longer be considered "small" for an ordinary gang. If the average quality were also factored in, it would probably be no problem to raid some remote Western towns—just remember to escape in time before the Church, military, or large militia forces arrived.

Based on the Agents' common interests, the main content of the team building was naturally Arena combat.

Wayne had designed the specific segments slightly, structuring them into a "three-group confrontation" mode according to the Agents' short-term assignments.

The main competition items were divided into "individual battles" and "team battles."

Individual battles involved teams discussing amongst themselves and successively putting forward candidates for competition. Each person, regardless of win or loss, could only have one appearance. The team's final ranking was determined by the total winning points of the team.

Team battles were simpler: three groups would select an equal number of people and each play one match against the other two opponents. The team with the remaining people at the end would be considered the winner. After one round, one team would be eliminated, and the remaining two would compete for the championship.

The starting point of this design was to promote team spirit among the Agents being dispatched. Members might be strong or weak, but as long as the "Tian Ji's Horse Racing" strategy was played well, the team as a whole might not necessarily lose.

This both allowed Agents to confirm their position within the team and encouraged them to work together, preventing them from becoming a scattered mess when deployed, or making the person in charge's words less effective—referring to Liam.

For this purpose, Wayne also added elements to the "individual battles."

Some matches were not purely Arena combat; they also required passing preliminary stages like shooting, observation, and reasoning to earn extra points for the team.

This was essentially to allow team members to demonstrate value beyond "Arena combat." Specific Agent work was far more complex than fighting in an Arena, and he hoped they could comprehensively show that "everyone has their strengths."

"Team battles" followed the same principle. Some Agents might be mediocre fighting alone, but when paired up, they might achieve "one plus one is greater than two," such as "Whale Oil" plus "Airflow," or "Vine" plus "Ruihua," with even more complex combined skills.

How to configure them and what strategies to adopt involved careful consideration. It wasn't enough to just understand the members within one's own team; one also had to consider the combinations of members in the opposing teams. If a combination was created that was easily countered, and their strategies were completely seen through, it would be a bit "self-defeating."

Wayne even considered the status of the newly joined peripheral members. Some of the design's starting points were to allow Agents, including them, to better integrate into the team and deepen their understanding of other Agents.

If all went smoothly, perhaps in the future, Agents would, before an operation, autonomously form the optimal personnel combinations and also adapt more easily to the constant state of job rotation—look, even veteran Agents have to rotate, it's not just targeting you newcomers.

In any case, after Wayne designed all this, he felt that he had put in a lot of effort.

He felt that those black-hearted maggots in modern society who constantly organized team building might not be entirely without merit…

The key was not to encroach on others' rest time and not to be too obviously utilitarian.