Older Brother is Just Older Brother - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Perhaps it was because the man’s final line of defense had been crushed by Jiu Li’s bizarre train of thought, but for the rest of the interrogation, the man answered whatever Jiu Li asked.

However, at the very end, likely knowing he was destined to die, the man looked at Jiu Li and pulled his face into a twisted smile.

“You think killing us counts as revenge? Ha, what does this amount to?”

His tone carried a trace of inexplicable arrogance: “We had already considered the consequences before doing these things. Our deaths won’t have any impact on anyone else at all…”

Just like that, the man prattled on for half an hour.

Once the man finished: “…Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Jiu Li: “Oh, it’s my turn to speak. Speaking of which, I’m actually quite curious—does saying all that make you feel like your miserable life is a bit easier to bear?”

The man: “.”

The man: “(Beep beep beep—)”

“Tsk.” Jiu Li didn’t like listening to profanity. Since the man wasn’t willing to answer his question, it was time for him to hit the road.

The man, as Jiu Li plunged a knife into his flesh: “Ugh… you…”

Seeing the man in pain and wearing a look of disbelief, Jiu Li gripped the knife tightly and gave it a twist inside the wound.

“The front is insignificant, the back is hollow, and dignity is quite fragile,” Jiu Li mocked.

Seeing the man use his final strength to pounce at him like a madman, Jiu Li pulled the knife, raised his foot, and kicked him away cleanly: “That move doesn’t work on me. I’ve had my rabies vaccine.”

The man slammed into the wall and went completely silent.

Ozaki Kouyou had received another mission at some point and had already left.

Dazai Osamu, however, came over to Jiu Li’s side.

The man was dead, but Dazai remained indifferent. He simply leaned down, looked at Jiu Li—whose face was splattered with blood—and said, “He was telling the truth.”

Jiu Li didn’t speak, appearing to be deep in thought.

Dazai: “They transferred their families abroad long ago. With the insurance payouts from these people’s deaths, those families can probably live very good lives overseas.”

“It’s a pity—the Port Mafia’s reach isn’t that long, so this time, no one will help you deal with them.”

“But when Jiu Li-kun chose to stay in the basement, you must have been prepared to be an ostrich for the rest of your life, right? How pitiful.”

Jiu Li’s eyelashes fluttered slightly.

Dazai had originally just wanted to test Jiu Li, but he waited a long time without receiving any response.

Rarely, looking at Jiu Li like this, a sliver of pity arose in him: “You…”

Jiu Li suddenly turned his head, catching Dazai’s gaze perfectly.

Then, Jiu Li revealed a textbook “little devil” smile.

Dazai didn’t know what Jiu Li was going to do, but his intuition began to scream warnings.

Dazai stood up, lifted his foot, and wanted to run, but Jiu Li’s voice chased after him like a ghost.

“Dazai, I just recorded that.”

Jiu Li shook his phone: “Those things you said were too much. Tell me, if I give this to Brother Verlaine and then have a good cry in front of him, how do you think Brother Verlaine will react?”

Dazai Osamu: ?

Dazai, who truly had never seen someone tattle-tale so righteously in his entire life: “HUH???”

…

Jiu Li used the recording to threaten Dazai and, opening his mouth like a lion cub (asking for a lot), successfully extorted 1 million yen from him.

Of course, it wasn’t Dazai himself who directly paid Jiu Li—Dazai’s own money was mostly squandered by his own antics.

So, Dazai sent a message to Mori Ougai in front of Jiu Li, requesting an advance on next month’s salary.

Mori Ougai: “.”

So painful. Why was Jiu Li’s money still increasing? Could the legendary “linear surface” even catch up with the breeding speed of Jiu Li’s wealth…

Jiu Li didn’t know Mori Ougai’s thoughts and didn’t care; as long as there was money, it was fine.

However, watching Dazai’s hurried departure, Jiu Li felt a slight regret.

“He agreed so easily. Did I ask for too little?”

It was very likely!

But this was his first time blackmailing; it was normal to be unpracticed. He’d get better after a few more tries!

Comforting himself this way, Jiu Li returned to the basement.

Seeing Verlaine, Jiu Li’s first sentence was: “Brother, I’m back!”

The second sentence was: “The Port Mafia is really interesting! Can I go out to play for an hour every day from now on?”

The corners of Verlaine’s mouth, which had lifted because of the first sentence, flattened out again due to the second.

He frowned and looked at Jiu Li.

He was fine when he left, but he came back covered in so much blood.

Even so, does he still want to go out?

Being questioned like this, Jiu Li’s eyes began to dart around: “Um… well…”

Verlaine made a move as if to directly ask Ozaki Kouyou and Dazai Osamu what happened in the interrogation room.

Jiu Li: !

Jiu Li quickly confessed: “Alright! Actually, I want to use my own money to buy a gift for Brother!”

Verlaine’s movements finally stopped.

“Buy a gift… for me?” Verlaine was somewhat puzzled.

“Yes!” Jiu Li nodded vigorously. “Don’t worry, Brother! I’m using the money I earned through my own ability, not yours!”

“Not Chuuya’s either!” Jiu Li added.

Verlaine: “…”

It wasn’t that he didn’t believe Jiu Li, but he suspected Jiu Li was using him as “groundbait.” Jiu Li might give him a gift worth 100k yen, only to turn around and ask him for 1 million—a gamble on how much a bold “chestnut” could make a wallet grow.

But thinking about receiving a gift from his brother, Verlaine’s heart was moved.

A gift from a brother, even if it was only worth 100k, was far more precious in Verlaine’s heart than 10 million in cash.

For this, letting his brother out for a bit of activity was no problem at all.

Jiu Li, having received Verlaine’s permission again: !!!

He lunged and hugged his brother: “Hooray! Brother is the best!”

Logically, Verlaine—who would avoid even an enemy’s blood during a brutal massacre—should have felt that Jiu Li was dirty right now and pushed him away.

But in fact, he simply raised his hand and proactively wiped the semi-dried blood from Jiu Li’s face: “…Yeah.”

…

Meanwhile, on the other side of Yokohama.

Shibusawa Tatsuhiko had returned to Yokohama under Fyodor’s guidance.

This man in an all-white suit with pure white hair attracted quite a bit of attention almost as soon as he appeared.

Shibusawa was long used to this. He turned a few corners, shook off the passersby, and answered a call from Fyodor.

The other party went straight to the point: “Shibusawa-kun, are your 500 billion ready?”

Shibusawa answered casually: “Yeah.”

“In that case, I will send you the intelligence gathered by [Rats in the House of the Dead] regarding all ability users in Yokohama.” Fyodor’s voice was exceptionally gentle. “Shibusawa-kun, I wish you a pleasant time playing.”

The call ended, and Shibusawa left the area.

That’s right—Shibusawa didn’t immediately open the intel Fyodor sent, because he felt the ability users in Yokohama would surely be very boring.

But after arriving at his base and opening the file out of boredom, Shibusawa suddenly changed his mind.

“Experimental subject from a laboratory, ability is ‘Nullification’…”

Shibusawa had heard similar stories about “Arahabaki” before, but Shibusawa had no interest in “Arahabaki” at all.

As a collector, Shibusawa was indeed pursuing unique colors, but he didn’t like “artificial gems.”

However—what if this artificial gem had the guts to drag the entirety of Japan down into a grave with it?

“Haha…” Shibusawa’s gaze gradually became fanatical. “Before everything begins, I must go see him first!”

His intuition told him that Jiu Li could bring him a surprise even greater than the [Dragon’s Head Conflict] envisioned by Fyodor!

“However, meeting him directly would be a bit dull.” Shibusawa opened another interface on his computer and murmured, “Let those people from the Special Operations Division try first.”

…

On this side, Jiu Li was still earning money at a frequency of going out for one hour a day to “shakedown” people.

But as the number of times increased, Jiu Li discovered that the wealthy people in and around the Port Mafia seemed to have learned their lesson. Those who hadn’t learned were dropping in social class and were no longer wealthy; Jiu Li was having trouble making money.

“Sigh, didn’t run into a single rich person today.” Jiu Li sat by the roadside, looking at the sky and sighing. “Why is it like this?”

Was it his fault? Should he stop being greedy for only rich people’s money and start shaking down the common folk too?

But how many cents could a commoner have?

While Jiu Li was thinking, a middle-aged woman suddenly sat down in the empty space beside him.

The woman’s aura was very soft. She held a handbag in one hand and was adjusting the scarf around her neck with the other.

Noticing Jiu Li looking over, she asked gently, “May I sit here?”

Jiu Li: “…Aren’t you already sitting here?”

Are all Japanese people this hypocritical?

The middle-aged woman: “…”

She gave a somewhat difficult smile and immediately changed the subject: “Speaking of which, I saw you while walking over there just now.”

Jiu Li changed his posture to ponder life: “Yeah, you have good eyesight then.”

The woman wasn’t choked up by Jiu Li this time: “Haha, indeed! My eyes have the kind of vision that doesn’t require contact lenses at all!”

“But that’s not the point. Actually, I came over because…” The woman took a deep breath, appearing to build up some courage before speaking. “I used to have a child who looked very much like you.”

Jiu Li finally gained a bit of interest. He looked at the middle-aged woman, whose features did indeed bear some resemblance to his own.

The woman gave a brave smile, her gaze toward Jiu Li filled with unconcealed nostalgia: “My child died two years ago. He died because of a Mafia organization in Yokohama.”

“He was so small when he died, just a single bullet…” The woman wiped her tears in a bit of a panic. “Sorry.”

Jiu Li sincerely: “I’m not the one who died; you don’t need to apologize to me.”

The woman smiled again.

She looked at Jiu Li for a long time, then took a silver safety lock out of her bag.

“It’s made of silver, not worth much money,” she said. “Please take it.”

Seeing Jiu Li not reacting, the woman pushed the lock directly into Jiu Li’s hand and stubbornly repeated: “Please take it.”

Jiu Li: “…”

Free silver? No point in refusing.

Seeing Jiu Li accept the lock, the woman’s attitude softened again, though a lingering sorrow returned to her brow:

“I saw it on my way here—there’s a group of Mafia following you.”

“Auntie hopes you stay safe and sound.” The woman whispered, “Take this. If possible, don’t stay with the Mafia in the future.”

Jiu Li stared at her.

Jiu Li knew what was going on with the Mafia following him.

They were sent by his brother, who didn’t feel safe letting him go outside the Port Mafia alone and worried that Jiu Li, who didn’t understand Yokohama, would get into trouble.

But Jiu Li actually quite enjoyed the fact that his brother stared at him 23 hours a day and sent people to stare at him for the remaining hour.

So that wasn’t the point. The point was—

Although he didn’t know which organization sent this woman, her acting was quite moving.

If Jiu Li hadn’t met several human traffickers who were even better actors than this woman, he might have actually believed her.

But this woman was quite impressive; the impressive part was that even knowing she was acting, Jiu Li couldn’t bear to refuse her.

As expected, the best actors are among the common folk! Could those people in the entertainment industry come and take a look? There are so many hidden gems among the people; why did you choose a bunch of pigs?!

Thinking this, Jiu Li looked into the woman’s eyes and agreed: “Okay, I promise you.”

The woman finally smiled and stood up: “Then I won’t bother you…”

Jiu Li tossed the silver lock to a Mafia member not far away: “Alright, now I can continue hanging out with the Mafia.”

The middle-aged woman: “.”