Older Brother is Just Older Brother - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Once her cover was blown, the middle-aged woman quickly drew her weapon, only to be promptly subdued by Jiu Li.

The person was caught, but how to deal with her became a headache.

Jiu Li felt that this woman probably didn’t have much money, and the organization behind her likely didn’t either. But Jiu Li wasn’t content with just taking a hollow silver accessory from her.

After staring at the middle-aged woman for a long time, Jiu Li suddenly asked, “Do you have a phone with you?”

The woman: “Do you want to use me to threaten my companions? You…”

Jiu Li interrupted: “You have it, right? Have you ever downloaded Pinduoduo?”

The woman looked confused, which made Jiu Li even more satisfied: “You definitely haven’t!”

Perfect! Since she hadn’t, her companions definitely hadn’t either! After all, Pinduoduo is the kind of app where once someone downloads it, they can’t help but drag everyone else into it!

Jiu Li admitted he had said he wouldn’t use Pinduoduo again, but a situation where the world was full of “New Users” was different! Anyone who could resist this was absolutely not a true person of the Hua nation!

The more he thought about it, the happier he got. Jiu Li said bluntly: “How about this? You call all your companions to help me ‘slash a price.’ Whatever you can slash counts. Once you’re done, I’ll let you go. How’s that for a fair deal?!”

The woman: ???

…

Until the moment she actually helped Jiu Li “slash a price,” the woman—who was actually from the Special Operations Division—was in a state of trance.

She didn’t understand what this powerful non-human ability user was doing. She even worried the app was some kind of trap. But Jiu Li insisted this was his demand, claiming that they in the Mafia spend all day either “piecing things together” or “slashing prices.”

The woman: “…”

She still felt it was bizarre. Unable to judge for herself, she sent the situation back to the Special Operations Division. Fortunately, they quickly detected that there were no issues with the app or the link and replied that it was okay to slash.

Thus, to get her back, her colleagues helped Jiu Li slash. In just ten minutes, they helped Jiu Li withdraw 1,500 yuan.

At that moment, the woman suddenly understood Jiu Li. She spent the entire process memorizing how to operate the app on the screen and left only after ensuring she had it all down.

Jiu Li was also satisfied. Before leaving, he specifically instructed the Mafia following him that they were forbidden from using Pinduoduo privately; they had to save their “New User” status to help him the next day.

The other Mafia: “…”

They actually did feel like using Pinduoduo… but shouldn’t the focus be on that woman? Which organization was she from? Did Master Jiu Li just let her go like that?!

Of course, most of them only dared think this. One bold Mafia member asked directly.

Jiu Li replied casually: “What kind of bad person could someone who secretly wants to use Pinduoduo be?”

The Mafia: “…………”

Is it because bad people aren’t this poor? Master Jiu Li’s face is so beautiful, but why is every sentence out of his mouth so poisonous! If they could, they really wanted to use up their New User status tonight just to spite the hateful Master Jiu Li!

Of course, complaints aside, as Mafia, they had to obey all orders. Currently, the order was: “Follow Jiu Li, obey all his instructions.”

The next day, in just half an hour, Jiu Li successfully withdrew 3,000 yuan within the Port Mafia. This alone made him happy, but what made him even happier was bumping into Dazai Osamu coming to work.

Jiu Li, enthusiastically: “Dazai—”

Dazai had a bad feeling. The feeling became reality in half a second: “Do you have your phone? You must have it! Help me slash Pinduoduo. Dazai, you’re the best!”

Dazai didn’t want to help, nor did he want to be “the best.” He turned to leave—

Jiu Li’s threatening voice came from behind: “Dazai, if you dare not help…”

Threatening him with a recording again? Dazai sneered and quickened his pace.

Jiu Li: “…I’ll curse you to never be able to eat 1.5 RMB Pig Trotter Rice in your life! The God of Meituan Group-Buying will never bless you!”

Dazai: .

Realizing Jiu Li’s threat was actually just that: ???

It would have been better to keep threatening him with the recording! Talking with such a completely non-intimidating threat—how much did Jiu Li actually look down on him?! Dazai walked even faster and disappeared.

Jiu Li didn’t expect this development. He stood dazed for two seconds, then sucked in a cold breath: “Hiss!”

He didn’t believe it! How could there be someone in this world who doesn’t want to eat 1.5 RMB Pig Trotter Rice?! Jiu Li paced around in circles for a bit before leaving angrily.

Because Jiu Li left so quickly, he didn’t notice a certain Mafia member who liked to peek at him and always blushed. The man gathered his courage and shouted: “Master Jiu Li! Can I… can I have your contact info? I actually have another account, I can be a New User again…”

His words stopped abruptly as others covered his mouth and dragged him back to his post.

The Mafia member: “…” He felt a bit angry but thought the others might be looking out for him.

However, during break time, everyone swarmed him:

“We don’t have Master Jiu Li’s contact info, but do you want mine?” “Add me for the New User! Add me!” “Add me! I’m only one cent away!” “I’m only 0.1 cents away… wait! One gold ingot away!”

The Mafia member who had a crush on Jiu Li: “…” What are you doing! His New User account was meant for Master Jiu Li! He thought they were caring for him, but it turns out he was completely mistaken!

…

On the other side.

Jiu Li was wandering happily outside. But his good luck didn’t last long as he ran into trouble again. He was cornered in a cafe by a strange white-haired man.

Jiu Li wanted to call for help, but for some reason, the people around couldn’t hear him, and the Mafia following him were walking in circles as if caught in a ghost wall.

Clearly, the white-haired man was the culprit. Unsure of the man’s goal, Jiu Li was nervous, but greed ultimately won out.

Jiu Li: “Are you…”

Before “a New User” could come out, the white-haired man said: “Jiu Li-kun?”

Jiu Li’s hand reaching for his phone paused. The white-haired man, as if unafraid of making Jiu Li wary, spoke slowly, directly exposing the secret Jiu Li had been hiding:

“I’ve observed you for a while, so I know a few things. You’re very short on money right now, aren’t you? Although you say it’s for a gift, you’re actually short on money because of yourself.”

“To earn money to buy something you want, you…”

The white-haired man, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko, leaned in closer and tested the information he had analyzed: “You’ve been secretly forging an adult identity and license to drive a stolen Honda from other Mafia members as a taxi, haven’t you?”

Shibusawa had observed Jiu Li for many days. He watched personally, had the Special Operations Division watch, and got intel from the Rats in the House of the Dead. This was the most “terrifying” secret he had deduced from the massive amount of data.

Shibusawa felt it was ridiculous even saying it out loud. But his brilliant brain told him to say exactly this; Jiu Li would surely give a satisfying reaction.

Now was the moment of verification.

The youth with hair like black silk gradually took on a look of horror. He raised a finger, pointing at Shibusawa, and cried out in collapse—

“How did you know? My secret of forging an adult identity and license to drive a stolen Honda from other Mafia members as a taxi—how could you know!”

Shibusawa: “…” The reaction was big. A bit too big. Is it really that scary?!

But Jiu Li continued, his muscles tense with anxiety: “What do you want? Are you going to use this to threaten me?!”

“I’m telling you! I, Jiu Li, walk upright and sit straight! I don’t go looking for trouble, but I’m not afraid of it! If you dare threaten me with this, in my rage, I will… I will tear up this 500-yen no-threshold cafe coupon I have on me!!!”

As he spoke, Jiu Li thrust out the arm holding the coupon. Clearly, his meaning was: as long as Shibusawa didn’t threaten him, he would give him the 500-yen coupon.

Shibusawa: “…………” He did feel that sitting with Jiu Li—who was wearing minmin (civilian clothes/disguise)—meant Jiu Li should pay him some compensation… but what could 500 yen do???

Seeing Shibusawa not responding, Jiu Li finally began to feel truly afraid. “You’re not going to tell on me, are you?”

Seeing Shibusawa still silent, Jiu Li closed his eyes and steeled his heart: “Please don’t tell! I’ll transfer you 1,000!” After a pause, he gritted his teeth and made a decision that went against his ancestors:

“—Yuan (RMB)!!!”

That should be enough! That’s definitely enough! Jiu Li was willing to resort to this to maintain his good image in front of his brother, but earning money was hard; he didn’t have any more!

Shibusawa still didn’t speak. This time it was mostly because Jiu Li’s shout of “Yuan” was so loud it dazed him. Was the boy saying 1,000 RMB? With such a grand display, he thought the boy was going to offer 10 million USD!

After a long while, Shibusawa spoke again: “No, I don’t need the money. On the contrary, I’m here to provide you with information to make money.”

Without beating around the bush, Shibusawa said directly: “A while ago, a wealthy man died in the Kanto region. He had no heirs, so after his death, a full 500 billion inheritance was left in limbo, waiting for someone capable to claim it. News will break soon; in three days, it will spread through Yokohama’s underworld. You can spend time verifying it, or be the first to find the legacy. In short, Jiu Li-kun—I look forward to your appearance.”

With that, Shibusawa stood up without hesitation to leave, his long white coattails tracing a beautiful arc. Then, the hem was grabbed by Jiu Li.

Shibusawa: ?

Jiu Li had indeed been dazed by the thought of 500 billion, thinking only of how to get it for himself. But once he regained his senses, he felt something was wrong. This man telling him this must know more!

In that case—it was time for the “Peak Simp” competition! (Note: Slang for sucking up to someone).

Jiu Li suddenly raised his hand and bowed deeply under the wary gaze of the white-haired man: “Thank you, sir, for telling me the secret of the 500 billion inheritance. If you don’t mind, I would like to acknowledge you as my Foster Father—”

Shibusawa: ??? Stop, stop, stop. Does Jiu Li know what he’s saying?

…

Jiu Li knew exactly what he was saying. He just didn’t care. A foster father is something you bow to when they’re useful and cut down when they’re not.

Shibusawa felt this non-human’s brain must have been broken by the lab. He suddenly felt bored. Before using his ability to forcibly break free and leave, he gave a rare, kind warning:

“The person sending those Mafia to watch you—if they find out these Mafia were attacked by an ability user other than you, you will have no freedom to speak of anymore.”

That person would send stronger ability users to guard him, and forcibly fit him with trackers and bugs… Shibusawa hadn’t met the person, but his smart brain told him so.

Shibusawa’s words sounded very credible. Jiu Li, who still wanted his one hour of daily freedom, instinctively let go. The snow-white man disappeared.

Jiu Li snapped back to reality and saw the Mafia rushing toward him in a panic. He signaled that he was fine. They breathed a sigh of relief, but before they could finish, Jiu Li charged out like a small cannonball—

The Mafia were first shocked, then collapsed: “Aaaaaah Master Jiu Li! Where are you going now?!”

…

Jiu Li went looking for the white-haired man. He still felt the guy knew too much! Either he was a key witness or the instigator of the inheritance war—that’s how it works in TV dramas!

Jiu Li had heard Verlaine describe various ability traits and knew how ability users behaved and how to theoretically counter them. Theoretically, with only knowledge, it should be hard for Jiu Li to find someone. Fortunately, Jiu Li had some experience finding people from his past life, and luckily, he was facing someone whose theory was also far stronger than their actual combat.

Thus, Shibusawa and Jiu Li met again.

Jiu Li: “By the way, you didn’t say how I should address you?” Shibusawa: “…” Shibusawa fled again to a new resting spot. And met Jiu Li again.

Jiu Li: “The name isn’t important? Then give me some more intel. Where should I look for the 500 billion?” Shibusawa: . Shibusawa moved again, Jiu Li chased again. They played this extreme sport of cat-and-mouse for half an hour.

In the final instance, Jiu Li literally “erased” the window glass between Shibusawa and himself and poked his head in to talk.

Jiu Li said: “Alright, that’s enough for today. You’re home, and I’m going home too. I’ll come back tomorrow.” Shibusawa: “…” Jiu Li emphasized: “I’m going home now!” Shibusawa, with difficulty: “…Goodbye.”

With those words from Shibusawa, Jiu Li felt at ease. He swiped a few small ornaments from Shibusawa’s house that looked valuable before leaving the yard. As he left, he conveniently trimmed the trees and bushes at Shibusawa’s gate into shapes that would make Shibusawa “happy” upon seeing them.

Shibusawa watched as the wild trees at his gate were turned into “Snow King” (Mixue Bingcheng mascot) holding cones, and the bushes beneath became rows of snow soldiers: “…”

Shibusawa had good patience, so he should have been able to endure it. The problem was that whenever the wind blew, the Snow Kings and soldiers rustled, making it sound like Shibusawa was the First Emperor and these were the underworld soldiers he was taking to the grave. And now, these soldiers were about to fire at Yokohama on Shibusawa’s behalf.

Shibusawa felt he could barely breathe. He surrendered! He surrendered, alright?

He should never have provoked Jiu Li in the first place!