"No...it's nothing...do I look like I'm in any trouble?" Yelü Huage certainly didn't want to show weakness in front of his brothers, so he hurriedly forced himself to get up, dusted himself off, and then carefully examined Zhou Ziwei with a sly look. Without saying a word, he stepped forward and bowed deeply, saying, "Boss...I was very rude to you before. From today onwards, you are our boss. Even if I'm just a follower by your side...just based on the skills you just displayed, I will accept that the words of the Liao royal family are golden. There is absolutely no way we would go back on our word."
Zhou Ziwei chuckled, reaching out to help Yelü Huage straighten up by the shoulder, and said, "It's nothing. The bet we made earlier was just a joke. I wouldn't force anyone. If you're not willing, you don't need to do anything about what you said earlier. I know you're a member of the Liao royal family, and your word is law... Hmm, I think I heard you're developing your career in the Middle East... How about this? I'll consider you my follower for now, but... I suddenly changed my mind and fired you immediately... How about that? This way, you've kept your promise, and I've given you your freedom. Now we're even. But there's one thing... I don't care where you go to develop your career. If Yelü Xiaosu is willing to go with you to conquer the world, I won't stop him either. But if Yelü Xiaosu himself doesn't want to go with you, then... you absolutely cannot force him, understand?"
“I understand… Oh, no, no, no…” Upon hearing Zhou Ziwei’s words, which implied that he didn’t want to take him as a follower at all, Yelü Huage immediately became anxious and couldn’t help but shout, “How can I let you take me in and then fire me? No… Absolutely not! In the world of martial arts, the most important thing is integrity. I, Yelü Huage, would rather die than do such a self-deceiving thing… Besides… since my brother is already here serving you, we brothers have a deep bond. If we were separated, we would inevitably miss each other. I’m sure you, boss, wouldn’t want to do something that would separate your loved ones, right? Alright… it’s settled then. From now on, Xiao Su and I will be your personal… personal followers. Even if you put a knife to my throat, you can’t get rid of me.”
Yelü Huage spoke with righteous indignation and confidence, but Yelü Xiaosu, standing to the side, was secretly amused.
They are twin brothers. Even though the two brothers have always seemed to get along rather poorly, there is no doubt that the person who understands Yelü Huage best in this world is Yelü Xiaosu, and the person who understands Yelü Xiaosu best can only be Yelü Huage.
Therefore, Yelü Xiaosu knew exactly what Yelü Huage was up to without even having to guess.
The two brothers were born martial arts fanatics. The things that could truly move them in this life were neither money, nor beautiful women, nor power. These temptations that are most irresistible to ordinary people are nothing but fleeting clouds to them.
Only power... power is the belief they pursue throughout their lives, and only powerful martial arts and superb skills can truly move them and make them unable to refuse.
Yelü Xiaosu was willing to go to any lengths to infiltrate Zhou Ziwei's circle, even if it meant being his henchman or bodyguard, because she wanted to learn the Lion's Roar technique from him.
While Yelü Huage is speaking eloquently, he is actually only concerned with the boxing skills that Zhou Ziwei just displayed.
However, Yelü Huage was also somewhat self-aware. He knew that given his attitude towards Zhou Ziwei earlier, if he were to ask Zhou Ziwei to teach him boxing now, he would only be humiliating himself. So he simply decided to settle for second best and first get close to Zhou Ziwei. That way, he would have a chance to take advantage of his proximity to Zhou Ziwei. Even if Zhou Ziwei refused to take him as a disciple and teach him boxing, at least he would have more opportunities to observe and learn, which would make it easier for him to secretly learn.
Although Zhou Ziwei might not be able to guess Yelü Huage's little scheme, he didn't care what Yelü Huage was planning. His original intention in sparring with Yelü Huage was to impress the young man and gain another ally. However, he didn't want to force someone to stay by his side through a bet. If the person wasn't willing, even the most capable person might not be of any use and could even have a negative effect. That's why Zhou Ziwei said those words to Yelü Huage.
He said that not to test Yelü Huage, but to sincerely express his own meaning. If Yelü Huage himself was unwilling, Zhou Ziwei would naturally not force him to stay.
Now that Yelü Huage had already expressed his opinion, Zhou Ziwei naturally didn't intend to push him away any further. He laughed heartily, patted Yelü Huage on the shoulder, and said, "Alright! If you really want to help me with Xiao Su, then I'd be more than happy to oblige. Hmm... but I have some work to do for a while now. I'm going abroad soon, so you two brothers should stay here and continue your systematic training with Boss Wu! Remember... although your skills are both quite good, you won't be lone wolves going your own way in the future. Following me means you'll be in charge of a large security organization, so... you must learn how to manage your subordinates and allocate human resources systematically and scientifically. These are the skills you must master during this period. I'll check on you when I return from abroad. If you haven't mastered these things, then I'm sorry... I'm afraid I'll have to ask you two to find other jobs."
Upon hearing this, Yelü Xiaosu's face fell. She said, "Ah... this... boss, you know me, I'm naturally stubborn. Even if you made me take a bullet for you with my bare chest, I, Yelü Xiaosu, wouldn't even flinch. But... when it comes to management, I... I'm really not good at it... I've been working very hard here, but... I just can't seem to learn these things... boss... please don't fire me... I won't take a single penny of salary from now on. Just provide me with three meals a day, and I'll work my ass off for you, okay?"
"Tch... Now you know what brute force is, right?" Yelü Huage curled his lip in disdain, patted Yelü Xiaosu's shoulder hard, and said, "I've taught you more than once that you have to use your brain. We're not wild animals; we can't fight everything with our brute force. The difference between humans and wild animals is that humans are advanced beings with brains... Of course... maybe your head is full of mush, sigh... As your brother, I can only feel sorry for you. Boss... Don't worry, I, Yelü Huage, am not the kind of idiot with pectoral muscles but no brains. It's just learning how to manage, right? That's my specialty... I've been a security captain in more than one company before. This little thing, I can take up the post immediately, and I guarantee I won't let you down."
Seeing this, Zhou Ziwei nodded. He could also see that Yelü Huage was clearly more astute than Yelü Xiaosu. Perhaps this was related to the training paths they had chosen. Yelü Xiaosu practiced hard qigong, and it would be good if he didn't become mentally impaired. How much intelligence could one expect from him? On the other hand, Yelü Huage's Xingyi Quan emphasized comprehension. He had to ponder the artistic conception of the boxing techniques whenever he had free time. The more a person uses their brain, the sharper it becomes. Regular practice of Xingyi Quan would definitely have a significant benefit to the mind.
Therefore, even if the two brothers were born with exactly the same talent and intelligence, they would inevitably take different paths after this important life choice.
Of course, Zhou Ziwei was already quite satisfied with having Yelü Huage, such a shrewd choice for security captain. As for Yelü Xiaosu… even if he were truly unqualified and only possessed brute force, Zhou Ziwei wouldn't simply kick him aside. Even if Zhou Ziwei himself didn't need anyone's protection, his relatives and family still needed some absolutely loyal people to protect them, and Yelü Xiaosu was clearly the most suitable candidate. With his protection, he believed that unless the opponent was far too strong, it would be absolutely impossible for anyone protected by Yelü Xiaosu to be harmed in the slightest…
Zhou Ziwei encouraged the two brothers again, but after hesitating for a moment, he still did not immediately reward them with the Water of Reincarnation. Although there was still a considerable amount of the Water of Reincarnation, enough to supply several hundred people, it was still a very precious thing and could not be given away to others as casually as candy.
Although the two brothers seem alright for now, whether they can truly be of use remains to be seen when they are officially put to use. Therefore, Zhou Ziwei thinks it's better to wait and see. If the two brothers can indeed be devoted to him in the future, then it won't be too late for Zhou Ziwei to reward each of them with a few drops of the Water of Reincarnation...
One night later, Zhou Ziwei boarded a plane at Hong Kong International Airport bound for Japan. On the plane, Zhou Ziwei once again transformed into a Japanese person, with an ID card bearing a rather irritating Japanese name—Yokomichi Keiji.
Zhou Ziwei was speechless at the ID card that Wu Di found. He wondered if the movie "Manhunt" was only popular in China but completely ignored in Japan, which is why someone dared to infringe on such a great name.
No matter how unhappy Zhou Ziwei was, time was of the essence, and Wu Di had only managed to obtain one ID card from a missing person from an island nation. Even if Zhou Ziwei wanted to choose, he had no choice but to wait two more days, in which case Wu Di might be able to get two more ID cards from other island nations for him to choose from.
Damn it, so be it, Yokomichi Keiji it is!
Zhou Ziwei calculated the time. The black market assassin network required him to complete the pledge of loyalty within seven days before reporting to an unnamed island in the Philippine archipelago. Now, more than two days of that seven-day deadline had passed, leaving him with only four and a half days. He simply didn't have any more time to waste, so naturally, he couldn't care less about how annoying the name was...
But I have to say... although the name of the missing person from this island nation is extremely annoying, the guy is actually quite handsome... oh... or you could say very handsome, because in Zhou Ziwei's opinion, this guy named Yokomichi Keiji has a real talent for being a cross-dresser. He only needs to put on a little makeup, apply some lipstick, draw his eyebrows, and he's guaranteed to charm a bunch of men.
How could such a handsome young man just disappear like that?
Zhou Ziwei sighed inwardly, then quietly opened the file containing the person's identity and background information that Wu Di had given him along with his ID card.
You never know until you see it, and once you do, you're shocked. Zhou Ziwei never imagined that the identity he was playing was actually... a damn gigolo, a very famous gigolo who frequently travels between Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
Damn it... I was so stunned by this guy's name that I completely forgot to check his identity information... If I had checked it back then, I would have rather died than impersonate him... It's so disgusting!
Sitting on the plane, Zhou Ziwei almost cried when he saw the contents of the identity information... Now he remembered why Wu Di had such a strange expression on his face when he gave him this information. So... so this guy had been up to no good all along... Damn it... I'll make him pay later... How dare he mess with me.
Zhou Ziwei angrily used both hands to tear the document recording Yokomichi Keiji's life story to shreds...
"I'm sorry...this lady...that woman...I..."
When the beautiful flight attendant saw Zhou Ziwei tear the paper in his hand to shreds, with many scraps of paper scattered on the ground, she hurriedly came over. But as soon as she opened her mouth, she suddenly didn't know how to address the person in front of her.
It was truly frustrating. Zhou Ziwei looked more like a man, but the problem was... he was so handsome that the flight attendant felt quite inferior. So, she wasn't sure whether he was a gentleman or a lady.
Volume 1, Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 268: We're Real Men
Seeing this, Zhou Ziwei snorted heavily and deliberately used a very rough voice to say in fluent Japanese, "What? Is it hard to tell my gender? Look carefully... I'm a real man... This... this part of my body only has men, and women don't... I hope you won't be confused next time." Zhou Ziwei raised his neck and pointed to his Adam's apple while loudly explaining his gender to the flight attendant.
Zhou Ziwei's words were rather unclear. Others only heard him say something like, "Only men have this thing growing in this area, women don't." Those who saw him nearby understood that he was pointing to his Adam's apple, but those further away easily associated it with a rather unsightly part of his body, and many people gasped... This guy is really audacious, daring to so openly flirt with a flight attendant on a plane... Doesn't he know that this airline has powerful underworld connections?
Because this is a direct flight to the capital of the island nation, although not all the passengers on board are from the island nation, most of them are. And the few who are not are mostly people who frequently travel to the island nation for trade. Therefore, almost no one could misunderstand what Zhou Ziwei was saying.
When the flight attendant first heard Zhou Ziwei's words, she actually felt a little embarrassed... It was indeed quite impolite of her, a flight attendant, not to even know the gender of a passenger at a time like this. Seeing Zhou Ziwei pointing to his Adam's apple with a menacing look, she felt guilty and bowed repeatedly. Just as she was about to apologize to Zhou Ziwei, she heard a lot of people behind her hissing and laughing in amazement, and some people couldn't help but lewdly shout. This made the flight attendant pause for a moment, and then she suddenly realized that Zhou Ziwei's words seemed to contain some very inappropriate ambiguity.
The flight attendant was furious, but since she was at work, she didn't dare to show her anger too much. She could only let out a heavy snort, ignore Zhou Ziwei, and turn away angrily.
"Huh... I just told you how to distinguish between men and women, is it really necessary to get so angry?" Zhou Ziwei was completely unaware that his previous instructions had caused serious misunderstandings among many people. When he saw the flight attendant actually throwing a tantrum in front of him, her "god," he was quite astonished.
He had long heard that women in island nations have always held a low social status. When men return home, women are expected to kneel at the door to greet them. Whatever the man needs, the woman must obey unconditionally. If the man wants to slap the woman, she can only silently endure it without daring to utter a single complaint…
Damn, I knew this rumor was false. If Japanese women were really that good, men all over the world would be desperate to become Japanese citizens.
Zhou Ziwei curled his lip in disdain at the flight attendant who swayed her slender waist and stormed off. Just by looking at her, you could tell... Even domestic flight attendants aren't this arrogant! Daring to give a passenger the cold shoulder, does she want to quit?
Zhou Ziwei shook his head, naturally having no interest in arguing with such a young flight attendant. He quickly scrambled the scraps of paper in his hand, stuffed them back into his bag, then tilted his head back and closed his eyes to rest...
A few hours later, the plane landed smoothly at Donggang International Airport.
Zhou Ziwei, dragging his simple luggage, staggered off the plane. Just as he stepped down the gangway, he suddenly felt a sharp, piercing gaze coming from behind him, causing a slight tremor in his heart...
This...it's murderous intent!
Yes, Zhou Ziwei, with his extremely strong perception of souls, could sense a strong killing intent in the other party's casual glance.
Zhou Ziwei frowned. He really couldn't understand how he could have gotten into such trouble so soon after setting foot on Japanese soil. Logically speaking, no one should be able to see through his disguise as Yokomichi Keiji. So... there was only one possibility left: he had run into Yokomichi Keiji's old enemy.
Damn it, how could I be so unlucky? Yokomichi Keiji is just a gigolo who's been wandering around for a few years, how did he end up with such a mortal enemy?
Zhou Ziwei snorted inwardly, deliberately slowing his pace. At the same time, he secretly released a wisp of soul power from behind, scanning backward to meet the gaze that was almost tangible and filled with killing intent...
"How could it be her... this... this woman must be insane!"
Zhou Ziwei never expected that the murderous gaze directed at him would come from the beautiful flight attendant on the plane.
I don't think I offended her much, right? All I did was say a few words to her because she didn't know her own gender. And this girl... she actually harbored murderous intent towards me over such a trivial matter... What kind of world is this? How can women in Japan be so crazy...?
Zhou Ziwei couldn't understand what was going on, but he wasn't really afraid of her... She's just a flight attendant, right? Even if you're the Empress of Japan, what can you do to me?
Zhou Ziwei pursed his lips, deciding to ignore the flight attendant's murderous gaze for the time being. He pretended not to notice her, dragging his luggage along with the other passengers until he exited the airport. Only then did Zhou Ziwei realize that the gaze behind him seemed to have disappeared at some point, and he breathed a slight sigh of relief.
That's more like it... There's no deep-seated hatred between them, why fight to the death? Zhou Ziwei still had a little bit of chivalry and didn't want such a beautiful woman to die because of an unnecessary conflict... Although Zhou Ziwei disliked Japanese people to the core, that didn't include Japanese beauties... Heh, although Japanese beauties seem to be very promiscuous, men generally think the same way: they want their own women to be as virtuous as possible, while other men's wives are more wanton and more exciting... And Japanese women... undoubtedly need to be categorized as other men's wives.
Upon arriving at the airport, Zhou Ziwei waited for ages before finally getting a taxi. As soon as he got in, he told the driver the name of a relatively mid-range hotel in Donggang. The taxi driver immediately started bowing and scraping and saying "Hi" repeatedly, which annoyed Zhou Ziwei to no end.
To be fair, islanders can sometimes be very polite, but... more often than not, they're hypocritical.
Although this assessment wasn't very objective, Zhou Ziwei stubbornly held this view. Moreover, even though he was disguised as an islander, there was no need to expect him to behave like an islander; he would rather die than do that.
The taxi had been driving on the road to the airport for nearly half an hour when Zhou Ziwei, who was dozing off in the back seat, suddenly stirred. However, he didn't open his eyes but quietly unzipped the zipper on his handbag a crack...
"Whoosh, whoosh..." Several tiny insects immediately flew out of the bag, and then a tiny ladybug flew out of the half-open car window...
"One, two, three, four... There are actually four cars chasing after me... I hope they're not really coming for me!"
Zhou Ziwei's mission was to fulfill his pledge of loyalty: assassinating a high-ranking government official in the island nation. This task wasn't particularly difficult for Zhou Ziwei, but it wasn't insignificant either. If he could quickly find the minister's address or office, Zhou Ziwei wouldn't even need to show his face; he could simply send the ladybug to investigate, and the mission would be completed flawlessly. However, if a major event were to occur in Donggang City before finding the target's exact location, those cowardly high-ranking officials in the island nation would inevitably hide like turtles.
By then, even if Zhou Ziwei has terrifying assassination skills, how can you complete the mission if you can't even find where the person is?
Therefore... unless absolutely necessary, Zhou Ziwei didn't want anything to happen as soon as he arrived in Japan, let alone cause any major incidents that could kill people. If he were to delay for even three or five days, his qualification to join the black market assassin network would probably be revoked without even needing to be reviewed.
Shaking his head inwardly, Zhou Ziwei could only carefully examine the situation of the four cars behind him through the ladybug.
Zhou Ziwei then noticed that although the people in those cars were all well-dressed, just by looking at their expressions and behavior, he knew that none of them were law-abiding citizens; they were probably local Japanese gangsters!
What left Zhou Ziwei speechless was that among this large group of shady-looking Japanese men, the flight attendant who had a minor disagreement with him on the plane was also sitting there. And judging from the way she was glaring at the car Zhou Ziwei was in, it was clear that this woman really wanted to get revenge on him.
This woman really won't let this go, it's such a trivial matter...
Seeing this, Zhou Ziwei was also furious. He had a good temper and a bit of tenderness towards women, but if any woman wanted his head, he wouldn't just obediently wait for her to come and take it... He had experienced the idea of dying under a peony flower and being a romantic ghost once in his previous life, and he didn't want to make any sacrifices for any woman in this life.
Originally, Zhou Ziwei wanted to kill all the people in the cars behind him in a fit of anger. However, he considered that killing these people would inevitably pose a serious threat to the security of the entire Donggang City. If those high-ranking officials went into hiding, wouldn't his trip to Donggang have been in vain?
After thinking for a moment, Zhou Ziwei could only suppress his anger for the time being and sent a signal to the ladybug flying behind him, instructing it to sabotage those guys' vehicles as much as possible. Even if it meant killing a few people, it had to be done as if it were a traffic accident, not a murder...
Upon receiving the order, the ladybug immediately and without hesitation adjusted its flight angle and plunged headfirst into the tires of the closest sports car...
With a loud "whoosh," the sound of tires slamming on the brakes was clear and somewhat piercing. The speeding car shook violently for a moment, then suddenly slowed down... presumably trying to pull over to the side of the road. But just then, a second car came hurtling towards it at full speed, crashing into the rear of the first car with a loud "bang"...
As Zhou Ziwei unleashed the ladybug's wreak havoc, he also threw out the mosquito. This guy wasn't capable of damaging a Buick, but taking down a few people was no problem at all... If he took down too many people at once, it would probably attract attention immediately. However, if he just let a driver who was speeding take a short nap at a crucial moment, it probably wouldn't attract any attention at all!
Next, Zhou Ziwei didn't need to do anything else. Although the highway wasn't narrow, the collision between the two speeding cars blocked most of the road. While the two cars behind managed to brake in time, they couldn't easily maneuver around to catch up. And… the car with the flight attendant was now upside down in the middle of the road. People were clearly more concerned about the flight attendant; no one chased after Zhou Ziwei anymore. They all stopped immediately and rushed to rescue the flight attendant trapped inside the car…
That woman seems a bit unusual...
Zhou Ziwei muttered to himself. If the other party was really just an ordinary flight attendant, it wasn't impossible for her to find so many people to help her get revenge. However, just by looking at the panic those people showed when they saw the flight attendant being pinned down in the car, he knew that those sleazy Japanese men were not just falling for the flight attendant's honey trap.
Damn it... I don't care who that girl is! If she dares to go against me again, I'll make sure she doesn't get away with it.
Zhou Ziwei shook his head, no longer considering these irrelevant matters. His most important task now was to locate the target immediately. Once he found the target, even if the Japanese Prime Minister tried to show off in front of him, he would not give him any face. After all, his current identity was Yokomichi Keiji… Damn it, with such an extraordinary name, if he didn't do something earth-shattering, wouldn't he be doing a disservice to that title?
The taxi drove into the city without incident. Zhou Ziwei got out in front of the hotel he had booked in advance, grabbed a US dollar bill and stuffed it into the hotel doorman's hand. Then, with a smug look on his face, he swaggered into the hotel.
"Hey... Keiji-kun, when did you get back? Why didn't you tell me? I missed you so much..."
As soon as Zhou Ziwei entered the hotel lobby, he heard a woman shout in an extremely exaggerated manner. Then, he saw an old woman dressed in a flamboyant manner, like an old hen covered in paint, rushing straight into his arms.
Zhou Ziwei was stunned. He really couldn't believe it... How could he be so unlucky... To run into Yokomichi Keiji's sister as soon as he arrived in Donggang? This... really does have the potential to win the lottery...
Zhou Ziwei smelled the pungent perfume emanating from the old woman and instinctively wanted to kick her away. However… if this woman really was Yokomichi Keiji's older sister, then… it wouldn't be good to go too far…
Zhou Ziwei shook his head helplessly and could only raise his hand to block the old woman who was rushing towards him like a moth to a flame. However, he pretended to be affectionate and pressed his hands tightly against her shoulders, calling out "Sister" in Japanese, before finally having time to carefully examine the person in front of him...
Damn... Zhou Ziwei used to think that all the women in those Japanese art films were so beautiful that he genuinely believed there were no ugly women in Japan. But now, seeing this old woman in front of him, Zhou Ziwei was immediately overturned by his long-held impressions. There are certainly many beautiful women in Japan, but when they get ugly, it can be truly horrible... It's simply... This is practically a carbon copy of Ru Hua... Damn, Ru Hua was a man dressed as a woman, but this one... Zhou Ziwei was certain this was a genuine woman, because she didn't have an Adam's apple. But... how come she looks so fierce... Even men have never seen anyone this ugly...
Zhou Ziwei then realized he might have been tricked. The Yokomichi Keiji he was impersonating, while having a somewhat outrageous name, was handsome enough to qualify for Miss or Mr. World beauty pageants. How could such a strikingly handsome man possibly have such an ugly, repulsive old woman as his sister? Even if the Japanese are known for their promiscuity and genetic mutations, the difference in appearance between siblings shouldn't be this drastic! And if they weren't siblings… then Zhou Ziwei could easily imagine the kind of relationship between this old woman and Yokomichi Keiji…
"Whose sister are you? Don't try to disgust me!"
Zhou Ziwei didn't care whether this ugly woman was Yokomichi Keiji's patron or not. Without hesitation, he raised his foot and kicked the old woman, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground.
Then Zhou Ziwei snatched his luggage back from the doorman, turned around and left... He couldn't stay at this hotel anymore, he had to find another place!
Zhou Ziwei muttered to himself as he rushed out of the hotel, only to be astonished to find dozens of young men dressed in various trendy outfits gathered in front of the hotel, all glaring at him menacingly…