Chapter 9: The Hunt Begins

"Yes!"

Huang Yi casually pointed at the computer, "Just turn on the computer, you'll find it on the desktop."

Jiang Peng bent over to reach for the main unit.

Huang Yi's expression changed abruptly, "It's already on! Just turn on the monitor!!!"

It was too late.

...

5 minutes later, a group of people stood with their hands on their hips.

Jiang Peng hung his head, watching the computer slowly boot up.

Huang Yi's eyes were glazed over, muttering incessantly, "Damn, it took over an hour to do... why didn't I save it? Damn..."

Jiang Peng gritted his teeth, "Squad Leader, don't worry, I will stay up tonight and get it done for you!"

Fang Huai stood behind, pondering.

One watch could fit an L size, and apart from the model, they were all the same... could it take over an hour?

Huang Yi's level, not even good enough to be my apprentice, right?

Wang Jian stood up, righteousness emanating from him.

"Forget it, the new comrade should go to sleep, Huang Yi, teach me, I'll do it."

Then everyone stood behind with their hands on their backs, a determined look in their eyes, frowning as if solving the complex problem of precision-guided nuclear bombs.

Huang Yi decided to let Jiang Peng give it a try, and opened a word document, drew boxes, spaced lines, and listed items.

He stood up.

"You just fill in these items, and you're good."

Jiang Peng's confidence returned, and with a piece of paper in his hand, began to input the information from the table step by step like a mathematician.

Typing... it was passable, Huang Yi thought it was even worse than Captain Wang.

"Font's too big, change it," Huang Yi reminded.

Jiang Peng looked up, saw that it was indeed too large, and after searching aimlessly for a while, finally found the font size, switched to a size 4, wasn't satisfied, then to a size 5, and continued typing.

Fang Huai watched this rookie operation, his toes gripping the ground tightly.

"What about the previous ones? Not changing? They're different sizes!" Huang Yi reminded, and also realized, this new recruit really didn't know how to use office software, only typing.

Jiang Peng responded with an "Oh," deleted what he had typed before, changed the font again, and re-entered it one by one.

Hao Chengbin watched and nodded his head; at least the typing was faster than his.

But Wang Jian was not too satisfied.

Huang Yi was even less satisfied, but didn't want to say anything.

A sudden sound broke the silence of the office.

"... Squad Leader, let me do it. Everyone's getting tired standing here."

Everyone turned around, Fang Huai looked helpless.

Hao Chengbin quickly made a decision, "Jiang Peng, get up, let Fang Huai try."

Jiang Peng wanted to argue, but seeing the vast blank space on the computer and the thick stack of paper in his hand, he reluctantly stood up.

He looked at Fang Huai with a hint of defiance in his eyes.

Fang Huai couldn't be bothered with him, took control of the situation, sat down, turned around and first questioned Huang Yi.

"Squad Leader, when we have data to summarize, why don't we use Excel?"

Huang Yi made a choked sound.

"They're... the same!"

"How could they be the same," Fang Huai said quietly, then sighed.

He turned back to the search and opened all the recently used documents at once, closely examining the spreadsheets.

Everyone noticed something was off; this was clearly not the work of the mouse, Fang Huai was using shortcuts very proficiently.

After a while, he found a document.

"This class list... it's got all the new recruits' names, right?" Fang Huai said, glancing at the spreadsheet.

Huang Yi's eyes lit up, he slapped his hand excitedly, and then said, "My table is an old version! ...But we have to check, some people have changed squads!"

"Nine squads... 90 people, easy." Fang Huai pulled the list down, copied all the names, opened Excel, and started a new table.

He previewed the print, which obviously looked much nicer than before.

Everyone exchanged uncertain glances.

The most awkward person in the office was no longer Jiang Peng, but Huang Yi.

Wang Jian's face was filled with doubt: Seems like he's more familiar with you!

Fang Huai moved the mouse to the left side of the name column, where the cursor turned into a "→".

Ctrl+C.

"Just need to make slight adjustments to the names..."

"For the clothing, L size is the most common, just use L and adjust a few..."

"Hats... size 56."

"Squad Leader Huang, here we input the statistical formula..."

For the next ten minutes or so, everyone was silent as Fang Huai operated and explained. Huang Yi felt as if the old communications squad leader from the Detachment was giving him a lesson, inching closer and closer.

The efficiency and familiarity with which Fang Huai used shortcuts was irritating.

No, it could only irritate the people in this office.

"Done, any other forms to fill out? I'll get them done before lights out."

"No... tomorrow there is, you type fast, right? Help me with it," Huang Yi's tone already carried a hint of negotiation.

"No problem, I use Wubi, I'm fairly quick."

As Fang Huai spoke, he was patted on the back.

Hao Chengbin handed him a handful of peanuts, admiration barely concealed in his eyes.

"Young man, you really hide your light under a bushel."

Fang Huai instantly returned to his unpretentious demeanor, chuckling, "Report, Squad Leader! My family has a computer, I was curious and learned a bit back in the day."

Hao Chengbin waved his hand, "You're just being modest, kid."

Huang Yi leaned in close, hands behind his back, "What else can you do?"

Fang Huai casually clicked on several Microsoft software icons on the desktop and said, "I'm familiar with all of these, WPS and PowerPoint especially, I mainly use them to create projection materials and such, I can also do CAD drawing, but it seems your computer doesn't have it. If you're interested, Squad Leader, I can teach you."

Huang Yi quickly exchanged a look with Wang Jian.

It's him!

"Hmm, good skills, we'll have you come to the Brigade Department more often, we need to cultivate them, don't let them go to waste!"