The Exchange Game Starting with Lu Mingfei

Chapter 42 Unraveling the Mystery

A girl's clear voice came from the quiet room.

"Sakura, you won't die." Erii repeated earnestly.

"Eri is right, I won't die." Huo Yuhao gently placed the notebook back into Erii's hand, his eyes tender yet firm. "Neither of us will die."

Caesar looked at Erii with a complicated expression. After hearing Huo Yuhao's almost vow-like words, he couldn't help but think of Lu Mingfei's secret yet not hard-to-discover feelings for Nuonuo. Then he compared Erii's appearance with Nuonuo's... Even the usually carefree and unrestrained Caesar felt a subtle awkwardness in his heart at this moment.

"Yuan Zhisheng, I'll tell you how to be a good older brother." Huo Yuhao patted Erii's head and said to her, "It's late, Erii, go to sleep first. How about we go to Disneyland tomorrow?"

Erii's eyes suddenly lit up, and she nodded vigorously. She carefully placed the laptop and PSP on the bedside table, then naturally reached out to unzip the side of her skirt—

"Wait!" Huo Yuhao quickly grabbed Erii's wrist, his voice involuntarily quickening, "Eri, go back to your room first!"

On the other end of the phone, Genji asked, "...You guys weren't peeking, were you?"

Clearly, Genji knew that Erii had no sense of gender and had a habit of taking off her clothes to shower regardless of whether anyone was around.

Erii tilted her head slightly, but still obediently picked up her belongings and left Huo Yuhao's room with light steps.

After watching her leave, Chu Zihang slowly walked to the door. Only after confirming that Erii had returned to her room and closed the door did the three of them breathe a sigh of relief.

"Even if Erii has been sick since she was little, shouldn't you teach her common sense?" Huo Yuhao said with dissatisfaction.

"Putting aside your question, is this how Tachibana Masamune treats his own daughter? He only cares about keeping her alive, and can't care about anything else? Even if he's a very busy man and doesn't have the time or energy to teach girls, does the Hebiki-Yachi family have no one else? Can't they even spare a female member to teach Erii?"

Huo Yuhao's series of questions left Yuan Zhisheng speechless, his throat tightening.

"Tsk—"

Huo Yuhao's click of the tongue instantly made Yuan Zhisheng on the other end of the phone feel an indescribable sense of mockery.

Caesar placed his phone on the bedside table and silently gave Huo Yuhao a thumbs up.

What does it mean to speak volumes without saying a word?

That's top-notch sarcasm!

"You've spent so much time with Erii, but you still don't understand her as well as I do, so I'm too lazy to talk to you about Erii." Huo Yuhao rubbed his temples. "Tell me about your younger brother, Genjiro."

Was his bloodline unstable from childhood?

Genjiro calmed himself down, displaying the professionalism of the head of the Japanese branch's executive bureau and the composure of the current patriarch of the Hebiki family, before speaking in a steady tone: "Before the age of twelve, we all lived in a small town at the foot of Mount Shikatri..."

Before the age of twelve, Genjiro and Genjiro spent their days aimlessly in a remote mountain town with their alcoholic foster father. After they turned twelve, Genjiro was found by Tachibana Masamune, who confirmed his status as the heir to the three upper families, while Genjiro was left in that town because her bloodline did not meet the requirements.

Seven years ago, Genjiro, a graduate of Kassel College, joined the Japanese Executive Bureau branch. Not long after, he suddenly discovered that his younger brother had turned into a demon. He killed Genjiro when she was off guard, threw her body into a dry well, and sealed the well.

Last night, Genjiro appeared on CNN news for playing Izanami in "Shinhen Kojiki" at the Kabuki-za Theater in Ginza. A few hours later, Genjiro returned to his hometown to confirm that Genjiro was indeed alive.

He climbed out of the dry well.

Huo Yuhao listened silently to Yuan Zhisheng's narration, then let out a long sigh.

"Leaving aside the issues," Caesar clicked his tongue, "I just think you're pretty beastly."

Chu Zihang's expression darkened noticeably, clearly sharing the same sentiment.

For someone like Chu Zihang, who values ​​family ties and has been bound by them for a long time, he simply cannot understand Yuan Zhisheng's thought process.

Huo Yuhao cleared his throat and looked at Caesar and Chu Zihang first: "Do you guys have anything else you want to say?"

Clearly, if Caesar and Chu Zihang didn't continue their insults, he was about to unleash his own.

Caesar shrugged: "Let's see what you can do."

Chu Zihang shook his head: "I'm too lazy to talk to him, he doesn't deserve to listen."

Yuan Zhisheng: "..."

Even though he was a "royal" level hybrid, Genji's fingers holding the phone still trembled slightly uncontrollably. He placed the phone on the table in front of him, closed his eyes, and clenched his teeth, as if he was using all his strength to suppress some kind of string on the verge of breaking in his chest.

A faint, suppressed, and heavy breathing sound came through the receiver.

How could these guys understand his pain?

No one in the world wished more than him that Genjiro was just an ordinary person, a younger brother he could protect, rather than a "demon" who had to be eliminated.

But he is a friend of justice. His education, his responsibilities, and the expectations of the entire Snake Clan are all invisible chains that force him to do things befitting his status!

"It seems you have nothing to argue about," Huo Yuhao said, his tone devoid of personal emotion. He wanted to discuss serious matters and had no interest in the feud between the Yuan brothers. "Wasn't Yuan Zhinu's bloodline unstable from childhood? She couldn't even awaken her bloodline at first, right?"

Huo Yuhao's objective attitude, stripped of emotion, effectively calmed Yuan Zhisheng down. His voice was slightly hoarse: "Yes."

Huo Yuhao continued, "Although she didn't awaken her bloodline, Yuan Zhinü learns everything quickly and has excellent physical abilities, right?"

"...Yes." Genji instinctively sensed that something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Huo Yuhao asked his third question before Yuan Zhisheng could even think about it: "After you turned twelve, you spent very little time with Yuan Zhinu. You could say you knew almost nothing about her life experiences during that period, right?"

"Yes."

"One last question."

Huo Yuhao's tone remained calm, as if he were checking the records in the case file.

"During the mission, you were at a disadvantage against Genji, but the moment he recognized you, he reverted to his familiar appearance, which is why you were able to turn the tables on him when he wasn't on guard, right?"

A long silence followed on the other end of the phone.

How could someone who was once deemed to have a rare bloodline and struggle to even awaken possess such astonishing learning talent? And how could they suddenly transform into a "demon" that even a rigorously trained "emperor" could hardly contend with?