He grew curious and walked over. “What’s this supposed to mean? Why did that person send you medicine? Are you going to send it for testing?”
“Ah, nope.” Vesper casually tossed the pill into a small trash can on the desk, then broke the delivery box down into flat pieces and stuffed them into a corner to await recycling.
Riel said, “...You, you’re wasting money again! I was the one who paid for the cash-on-delivery just now. Give it back to me right now!”
He really couldn't understand this sequence of actions.
“I’ll make it back with just one commission. So stingy.” Vesper waved his hand, shooing him away in disgust.
Speaking of commissions... Riel remembered the file waiting for processing on his desk. He asked, “Did you take on that property dispute commission?”
“Yeah.”
Riel found it even more incomprehensible. “You accepted a commission for only two hundred thousand-plus? Are we doing charity work now? Put that into weapons and it won't even make a splash! Are you crazy? You’re such a spendthrift! Time is money!”
“But it’s really interesting!” Vesper lay back in his recliner, spinning around in a circle against the floor in a good mood.
Riel thought he had misheard... Disbelievingly, he returned to his workstation to dig out the file, confirming once more that the total payment upon completion was only two hundred thousand, not that he had missed a zero.
Yet the deposit alone for the commissions they took before was two hundred thousand!
Looking at the terms of the contract again, it was utterly insane and inhumane. He nearly choked and passed out.
He truly felt that doing this kind of thing was a thankless chore. He slammed his ballpoint pen against the desk repeatedly. “What’s so interesting about it? This is a dirty commission. You sold your conscience for just two hundred thousand!”
“Stop scolding me, stop scolding me. How much is a conscience even worth?” Vesper sat back down in his chair, running a hand over the leather armrest with slight reluctance. “Besides, I’m handling this commission with another member. All you have to do is sign off and write a report—it’s hardly any work. If your conscience really bothers you, wait until Emily gets back and let her sign it.”
“No, who on earth would be willing to do this kind of thing with you? Everyone here is a normal person!” Riel pulled the document out of its clip, stepped forward, and shoved it right in front of Vesper’s face, turning it over to read it to him word by word.
“Why don’t you look at what you wrote!
1. Party A is the nephew of the decedent, Ms. Zhou Peilan, and not a direct relative.
2. Party A intends to become the sole legal beneficiary of Ms. Zhou Peilan’s estate.
3. Party A explicitly understands the special clause in Article 1 of Ms. Zhou Peilan’s will: ‘If direct descendants die or are convicted, their inheritance share shall be deferred sequentially or inherited by collateral blood relatives.’”
The meaning behind this was crystal clear: Ms. Zhou Peilan’s nephew had come to Canglan Agency, and the commission he placed was taken by Vesper.
The client could only afford two hundred thousand, and Canglan Agency needed to eliminate all of the decedent's direct relatives other than the decedent herself.
Two hundred thousand couldn't buy a single thing at Canglan, let alone buy so many human lives. Was Vesper crazy, or was he? And the motive for murder was just to get those petty profits! How utterly low-class!
He shoved the paper forward again. Vesper tilted his head back, terrified the sharp A4 paper would cut his face. Slouching awkwardly in his chair, he glanced over the remaining terms, which clearly stated...
Through friendly negotiation between both parties, the following commission terms have been reached:
1. Party B promises that Party A shall not interfere with any methods used during the elimination of Ms. Zhou Peilan and her heirs (including but not limited to accidents, illness, third-party personal grudges, etc.).
2. If Party B’s improper operations result in Party A’s inability to inherit the estate, Party B shall bear unlimited liability for compensation.
...
“Did I not write it well?” Vesper was very pleased with himself. He had managed to draft such an overbearing contract yet again. So what? He was a genius, after all.
“As for who’s working with me, don’t worry about it.”
Riel sneered. “You think I don’t know who it is?! Emily and Sophia have long been undergoing special training for mission reasons, so it can only be that person!”
“Ah, you figured it out. Smart as always.” Vesper clapped with zero sincerity. Resting his elbows on the desk, he wore an ambiguous, half-smiling expression. “Hey, don’t you think she’s really weird?”
Riel’s anger finally subsided a bit. Thinking there might be more behind Vesper’s bizarre behavior this time, he asked tentatively, “Is there a problem with her? How is she weird?”
Vesper blinked and waved him over, lowering his voice. “Look, all our codenames are translated from English, but Lin Mo just uses her real name. Don’t you find that weird?”
Riel froze. Come to think of it, yeah.
Right, why was that? He seemed never to have realized this problem before, nor had he felt it was anomalous.
The next second, he snapped back to reality, realizing Vesper had led his train of thought astray. He countered, “Whether someone takes a codename or not is up to them, isn't it? It’s not like we ever said we had to standardize codename formats! It’s not some hyper-aggressive corporate cult! We never cared before that she didn’t have a codename, so why are you obsessing over it today?”
Vesper said, “Not fitting in is the biggest oddity of all.”
“Are you trying to test her? Her strength or her loyalty? Though there’s no way she’d play along with you, okay!” Riel said skeptically. “Nobody would ever kill someone for just two hundred thousand!”
“Which is why I didn’t tell her,” Vesper shrugged.
“Huh?”
Vesper said, “I found her a job and asked her to keep an eye on Zhou Peilan’s physical condition while she’s at it. I didn’t tell her she was going there to kill anyone.”
“But she will do it anyway.” Vesper leaned back. Sunlight filtering through the blinds divided his body into patches of light and shadow, leaving one half of his face shrouded in shade while the other glinted golden under the light.
“Fun, isn't it? Zhou Peilan’s only two direct relatives are both from the Covenant of the Scales, and as luck would have it, her granddaughter had a conflict with Lin Mo back in Licheng? A disagreement? Hmm... I don’t really know how to describe their relationship.”
He continued, “Even if she once felt fear toward Lin Mo, upon discovering a wanted person appearing around her family, what do you guess she will do?”
Riel said without hesitation, “Flee? Take her family and run?”
Vesper said, “Spot on. But given the Covenant of the Scales’ control over its members, they would never allow a member’s family to be relocated freely. So facing a situation where they're completely trapped, what kind of resolve do you think they’ll come to?”
Riel said, “Contact the organization and find an opportunity to eliminate the unstable factor—kill her.”
Vesper said, “Right again! And what’s more, they’ll move extremely fast!”
A chill rose from the bottom of Riel’s heart, making every hair on his body stand on end. He took two steps back and looked at him with strange eyes, even using his foot to nudge his own luxurious chair further away, as if avoiding a virus.
“I... You... You’re such a bastard...”
A twisted psycho whose mind was as convoluted as a winding mountain road was terrifying no matter when you looked at him. Even as a colleague, partner, or teammate, he had to remain constantly on edge, terrified that he might get schemed against one day.
“Hey! Talking about me like that!”
...
【How terrifying! I was wondering why the manga's plot skipped so fast and didn't quite connect. Turns out there's a massive conspiracy manipulating everyone in the palm of his hand, knowing exactly what everyone's personality, identity, and actions would be...】
【That's a huge plot twist! This guy's heart is way too black, isn't it?】
【So like I said, Lin Mo killing Forsiman still got her suspected, right! She was even added to the gray list of people needing to be tested. That's so dangerous—I don't get why she did that. Canglan strictly forbids members from killing each other. I didn't expect that even though Forsiman was straying on the outside, he still couldn't escape Vesper's eyes...】
【Wait, everyone! What are we discussing? Shouldn't we first talk about "#1 Genius" finally showing his face! He must be the first brainiac character to show his face in the manga!】
【Even though he showed his face, he's still so mysterious. In the character info, only a codename appeared! If other characters appear for the first time, they always come with some extra info. But at least now we don't have to call him "#1 Genius" anymore. There was so little info he didn't even have a nickname, calling him that cringed me to death.】
【He's handsome, he's handsome! Every time this character appeared in text messages, reading it made me think he was a chuunibyou high schooler. Now that he finally has a face, he can upgrade to a chuunibyou college student.】
【Yeah... It's so different from what I imagined. I used to view him as a kid all along, but he's actually a fully functional adult! I thought the reason he never showed up was that he was in a wheelchair, bedridden, or disfigured and unable to see people...】
【Judging by how optimistic about life he seemed in his texts, it wasn't very likely he was disabled anyway!】
【Brainiacs are seriously terrifying. No wonder every organization needs to be equipped with a few of them. One guy equals several Action Teams, drastically reducing casualty rates, and can even kill without drawing blood. When they scheme, it's truly lethal.】
【Riel, why are you so cute? A little ray of sunshine, a little ray of sunshine! But in this world, being too normal won't let you live well. Hurry up and learn from your coworker! Don't be too mentally healthy!】
【Darken your heart a bit! Popular characters will die! Didn't you see your coworker died?!】
【Emmm, I didn't get it. Is this something that can be said?】
【Summarized in one sentence: In the game of helping someone fight for family inheritance, using the female ghost as a gun.】
Rate on N.U.
