Chapter 10 Chapter Ten

Chapter 10: Chapter Ten

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Mi Ji of the Zoldyck family is a total anomaly. After he custom-made a phone like the one in my hand for each family member, everyone in their household ended up with the WeChat app on their phones. The reason the app wasn’t renamed to something like "Kukuroo Chat" or "Zoldyck Chat," I suspect, has to do with Silva being terrible at naming things—ah, that’s a little dig I shared with Killua, and he nearly died laughing. I also said that their brothers’ names are like a word chain game; while the names themselves sound nice, I still think Silva is a total failure at naming, end of story!

So, the fact that WeChat is still called WeChat is probably because the Zoldycks couldn’t be bothered to come up with a new name, or more likely, there’s no benefit to coming up with one—it’s just a waste of time and energy. If it’s not necessary, they don’t do it. Yeah, a family that really puts profit first.

Of course, I’m not in their family group chat, but curious about what they talk about, I went to Illumi’s room to check it out firsthand. I was shocked by the rows and rows of mission target files and the short progress reports.

…Hey! Using WeChat only for this is such a waste of a good app!

Sure enough, the image of this family using WeChat to grab red envelopes or play dice just doesn’t fit the Zoldyck vibe.

I sighed, thought it over, and still couldn’t let it go. I explained the red envelope game to Illumi, saying it could strengthen family bonds. He tapped his lips with his finger, thinking it over.

"Ah—that does sound like fun."

Then, he generously sent a 10 million Jenny red envelope in the group chat. Such a ridiculously rich move.

"Ding-dong."

Killua grabbed the red envelope, grabbing 2 million.

"Ding-dong."

Mi Ji grabbed it, getting 580,000 Jenny.

After the confused family members took their red envelopes, Illumi said in the group chat,

"This is a game Li He recommended, said it could strengthen family bonds."

In the following minute, I saw a rain of red envelopes from the entire Zoldyck family.

Illumi sent 10 million and got back 50 million Jenny.

I stared blankly, wishing I could have a set of parents and siblings like that.

After the Zoldyck red envelope game—which had its own unique flavor—they reverted to their cool, badass, and arrogant style. Watching the refreshed rows of mission target files, I got bored and left for class.

Tch…

On my way to class, an airship took off from the estate. Judging by the workload Illumi just took on, I figured it was him taking off. Yeah, as the eldest son of this generation, Illumi really has it rough sometimes.

Today, my first lesson with Killua was poison class. That kid is already at the point where he can down mid-level poisons and name them without flinching. Meanwhile, I’ve only been on this course for three days, still stuck on tasting basic poisons and identifying them by sight.

The blue-haired female butler set a row of delicate little glass bottles in front of me. Those bottles weren’t perfume but lethal basic poisons.

"What cute little bunnies."

As the butler bent down, a rabbit-shaped necklace peeked out from her collar. Since I liked the design, I took a second look.

"Thank you."

She pursed her lips, nodded at me, and stepped back.

Once the lesson began, I downed the first poison in one go.

"Ugh, so bitter…"

The basic poison, Kaelian, paralyzes the body. For an ordinary person, the paralysis lasts an hour, but I could move after just 15 minutes.

In front of me, besides the poison’s description, there were also illustrations of its growth environment and raw materials. Since my memory isn’t as sharp as Killua’s, I decided to take photos with my phone, planning to study it with the same dedication I used to memorize textbooks back in the day.

"Misile poison, a chronic toxin. After ingestion, death comes in seven days from intestinal perforation."

Over there, Killua smoothly drank the poison and, without any prompts, rattled off its name and effects without stopping.

"Riviera poison, makes you vomit all your internal organs an hour after ingestion before death. Jijilila poison, 10 grams can kill an elephant, but it contains a euphoric component, so it’s also sold as a drug, nicknamed 'Heaven,' meaning you’ll enter another world in bliss after trying it."

Killua finished 20 types of poison, quickly passed his in-class test, and moved on to learning mid-level poisons. Meanwhile, I had only gotten through three. After experiencing numbness, stomach pain, and headaches, I got taken out by the fourth poison.

…Oh, a bunch of buff guys stripping for me… Oh, bunny girls with Illumi’s face… Oh, Killua shyly rushing toward me, calling me "Darling"…

I soaked in the hallucinations for 20 minutes. When I came to, the first thing I saw was Killua’s flushed face and the butlers around me aiming cannons at me.

"Uh… what’s going on?"

"Idiot, let go of me! It was just a little Limishil poison! And you held me for half an hour, rambling about some 'Dream'! What was that?!"

"…Uh, sorry…"

I let go of Killua, and the butlers, confirming the poison had worn off, withdrew their cannons.

So I obediently returned to my seat to try the fifth poison.

Today… has been a really full day…

The fifth poison made me cough up blood, and my stomach was uncomfortable for half an hour. I moved on to the sixth.

Rikal poison, colorless and odorless, destroys the brain and internal organs, causing death in three days.

"…Li He… are you okay?"

Suddenly, the world turned blood-red, and the sounds in my ears came and went in waves. Killua’s face twisted grotesquely.

"Uh… ah… I’m fine…?"

After speaking, I belatedly felt the wetness on my face. Raising my trembling hand to touch it, I found blood streaming from my eyes, nose, mouth, and even ears. My heart started pounding wildly, as if trying to burst out of my chest, and my head felt like someone was drilling into it with a chisel.

"Thud!"

The world spun, and I fell from my chair, only to be caught mid-fall by Killua.

"Wu Tong! Call a doctor!"

The last image in my eyes was Killua’s worried face.

After collapsing, I was resuscitated for an hour and, luckily, didn’t die. When I woke up, since I couldn’t afford to fall behind in the curriculum, I was ordered to continue with Killua to the live dissection class on prisoners. I’ve never been good at this class. If you asked me where the thalamus, brainstem, pituitary gland, left lung lingula, left atrium, and inferior vena cava of the heart are, I could teach it. But whenever it’s time to pick up the scalpel, even knowing the person in front of me is a death row inmate, the screams still make me uncomfortable inside. My dissections were sloppy, and Killua mocked me several times, eventually pulling me along to cut together.

…Sigh, from now on, I’ll be able to watch horror movies without flinching and even make sarcastic comments.

After dissection, Killua and I had combat class. Physically and mentally exhausted, I was practically crushed by Killua, ending up bruised all over—and that was him going easy on me. Luckily, the kid didn’t hit my face, or I’d have ended up looking like a swollen pig.

After crawling through hell for a round, the day’s lessons finally ended, and I returned to my little nest.

Lying in bed with wet hair, I drifted into a half-asleep, zen-like state.

"Buzz... buzz..."

Just then, Illumi's WeChat video call came through. I thought about not answering, but I was worried he might have something important, so after thinking it over, I answered.

...Uh, video chatting with Illumi on WeChat feels super weird.

Back when he was on missions, aside from important stuff, we barely talked. Maybe it's because we suddenly have a convenient chat app now?

"Hey, Illumi."

"Ah, done with classes, huh?"

The background on his end was pitch black, eerily silent, like even the bugs and breathing had died. The phone's light lit up his face but couldn't reach his hollow eyes.

"Yeah, I'm done. About to go to sleep."

"Just starting the poison course can be tough, huh. But keep at it."

Illumi on the video raised a finger.

"Number 6!"

I used Gyo to see and blurted out the answer.

"Correct. Next question, what does Limushiru poison do?"

"It causes hallucinations, then you die without even knowing it."

"Right. What does the raw ingredient look like?"

"It's red, star-shaped like a maple leaf, about a meter tall, and mostly grows in the Shimeira Wetlands."

"Correct, haha. I heard you got poisoned today."

Please don't use your deadpan face to pull off such a high-difficulty move as 'haha'!

I facepalmed.

"Don't even go there..."

"Mom posted that video in the group chat."

...Just how much does your mom hate me?!

After Illumi finished savoring the video of my pained expression, he slowly went on.

"Sure, the video was mainly about showing off Aqi's skills in the poison course, but you bleeding from every hole also made the cut."

"...You really drag out the punchline!"

There's no stopping Illumi's twisted sense of humor. But thank god the part where I hugged Killua and told him a story didn't make it in—otherwise, what would his parents think of me...

We chatted a bit more, and Illumi asked about where the internal organs are in the human body. After I aced the answer, he thoughtfully tapped his chin.

"So it's not a fear of blood and guts, huh. Not cutting open the prisoner is because of some mental block?"

"You're really in the loop. You know exactly what classes I've taken and how I'm doing."

"Haha, I'm pretty concerned about Li He's course progress, you know."

"Just the course progress?"

I shot back.

"Yep."

Looks like I won't get anything more out of him. I didn't feel like pushing it.

"You've reached your destination, right? On a job?"

"Yep. The client is the target's son, with some special requests. I'm controlling the target to change the will."

"Oh."

The ability to control the dying—it really fits an assassin.

Illumi turned the camera, and I saw a room full of bodyguards lying dead, skewered by needles. There wasn't blood everywhere like I'd imagined. Aside from the corpses, the place looked spotless, no signs of a struggle. They must have been taken out before they even knew what hit them. In the camera's view, the target, with a face ashen, was writing his will, the back of his head nearly shredded by needles—the most eerie sight in the room. After finishing, he slumped onto the table and never moved again.

"Alright, mission complete. I need to call the employer. Goodbye."

"Mm, oyasumi (good night)."

I immediately closed my eyes and turned off the light.

"Oyasumi."

His voice came through casually, and then the video ended.