Tanizaki Junichiro woke up, and before he opened his eyes, he felt a dull pain in the back of his head. He seemed to feel a small lump when he reached out his hand, which made him dizzy and unable to think straight. But when he regained his senses, he suddenly remembered everything that happened before he fell into a coma, "——Naomi!"

"It's really touching. Is your sister the first thing you think of when you wake up?" The man's voice came from the ceiling of this sealed room, where a loudspeaker was installed.

Hearing this voice, Tanizaki Junichiro frowned subconsciously. He looked at the speaker and said, "Where's my sister? What did you do to her?!"

"Don't worry, Junichiro-kun." The man accurately said Tanizaki Junichiro's name, "Your sister is safe now. If you don't believe me, turn on the TV in front of you."

Tanizaki Junichiro glanced around the room and indeed spotted a rather old TV not far away, the kind that could probably only be seen in the countryside. He hesitated, but his worry about his sister dominated his mind, so he accepted it even if it was a trap.

He pressed the button, and after the inevitable snowy screen of the old TV, the picture on the screen finally became clear with the crackling sound of the electric current.

In the center of the screen, there was a little girl curled up in the corner. Even though her long hair completely covered her face, at just one glance, Tanizaki Junichiro recognized that the small figure was his sister.

"Damn it...!" His sister was surrounded by fear, but he could do nothing now. Tanizaki Junichiro's eyes were red, and his fingers were tightly clenched together, making a tingling friction sound between the joints. He said to the man in a hoarse voice, "What do you want?"

"You're really calm." The man chuckled and said in a friendly tone, "As expected of a child I've observed for so long."

Tanizaki Junichiro's brain was working almost abnormally. He thought of the recent murder case that caused panic among the people around him. If this person was really the murderer, then what should he do to rescue Naomi?

"Let's make a deal, Junichiro-kun."

"trade?"

"Yes, a small deal." The man said, "I have always been curious about what people would choose if their own death could be exchanged for the lives of their loved ones."

Tanizaki Junichiro immediately understood what this meant: "So, if I die, you will let Naomi go?"

"No, no, no, of course I'm not that cruel." As if he had heard a child's funny words, the man laughed even more happily, "Junichiro-kun, do you see the box in front of you? Open it."

Junichiro Tanizaki followed the instruction, and after opening the old box, his breathing almost stopped. A tool was randomly placed in the red and black wooden box, but what could not be ignored was the stench that filled his nose as the box was opened, and the dried black unknown liquid stained on the iron tool - even if Junichiro Tanizaki's imagination was not that good, he could guess what it was.

"I installed some small devices in your sister's room. As long as you press the button next to the TV, bong——"

Tanizaki Junichiro took a step back suddenly, staring at the red button closely, afraid that he would accidentally touch it.

"What do you want?" Tanizaki Junichiro asked this question again.

"I've already told you that I just want to make a small deal with you." The man was not in a hurry at all and said slowly, "In order to make it easier to understand, I'll make my first condition simpler."

"Just 400 milliliters of Runyi-kun's blood can buy your sister one day's life. How about that? It's a good deal, isn't it?"

"Of course, if Junichiro-kun doesn't want to, just press that little button and I'll let you go."

"……so it is."

"Who?!" Yamashita Yuichiro, who was sitting in front of the computer, turned around suddenly because the voice just spoken was not the voice of the young boy in the surveillance video.

Then he saw that the window in the room, which had been closed, was now wide open, the white curtains were blown by the wind, and on the windowsill, squatted a young man whose face could not be seen.

The moonlight shone through the window, but because of the backlight, the black shadow completely blocked Yamashita Yuichiro's prying eyes, and the wide hood even covered half of the young man's face. As Yamashita Yuichiro stood up, the squatting figure also landed lightly on the ground, with one hand loosely placed on the platinum-colored sword at his waist.

"You threatened the boy with his sister's life to make him hurt himself. But once you start, the boy will continue to follow your increasingly excessive orders again and again for the sake of his sister."

"I can't stand it anymore. There is another choice in front of me. As long as I kill my sister, I can live. Of course, according to all the cases I have seen so far, I guess this survival is also a lie, right?"

The young man who spoke these words in a clear voice came closer step by step, and finally revealed his delicate and handsome face in the eyes of Yamashita Yuichiro. The young man with gorgeous and smooth black hair tilted his head, as if thinking about the wording.

"Hmm...how should I put it?" The young man narrowed his eyes and raised the corners of his mouth. He was clearly smiling, but his inorganic golden pupils were filled with a chill that made people's backs go cold. "Humans always surprise me in some aspects."

"I originally wanted to see what choice that kid would make, or maybe I should send you to the police station or something - but I'm sorry, I'm a little rushed." Shibai said this, pulling out the original sword from his waist, without giving Yamashita Yuichiro a chance to speak.

A flash of silver light passed by and cut off his neck in an instant. Because the speed was too fast and the sword was too sharp, apart from a thin line of blood on the flesh, there seemed to be no difference from the outside.

"You..." Yamashita Yuichiro - this is obviously a pseudonym - lost his life without any value and without anyone knowing. Regardless of whether this man was related to the previous murder case, Shibai was too lazy to continue to understand the other party's identity. Anyway, when making such a decision to harm others, he should be prepared to be killed in the same way.

After finding the key from the man's suit, Shibai followed the man to the location he had been following before and released Tanizaki Junichiro, who looked dazed and seemed unable to react. After casually saying "Your sister is next door", he quickly disappeared from the spot.

Naomi Tanizaki curled up in the corner of the room. She noticed some movement near the door and subconsciously shrank her body. Her eyes, hidden by her bangs, quietly looked in that direction.

And the moment the door was opened, an all too familiar figure was reflected in her eyes. Naomi Tanizaki couldn't help but shed tears, "...Brother!"

Tanizaki Junichiro rushed in and hugged his sister tightly, then used his shaking hands to soothe her back, "It's okay, it's okay, brother is here."

"This is not the place to talk, let's leave quickly." Tanizaki Junichiro did not realize how serious and cold his expression was at the moment, as if he had excluded all necessary emotions just to carry out the order of protecting his sister. Only when his eyes reflected the petite figure did warmth appear.

Naomi Tanizaki nodded, but she found that she couldn't stand up at all, because her emotions were fluctuating, causing her body to be tense and out of her control. Tanizaki Junichiro naturally noticed this, and without saying a word, he carried his sister on his back and walked outside.

After leaving the dark and scary room, Naomi Tanizaki finally breathed a sigh of relief. She said in a trembling voice, "That bad guy said...that my brother doesn't want me anymore..."

Tanizaki Junichiro was stunned, and immediately replied in a soothing tone: "No, Naomi, don't you understand me? I will never leave Naomi alone, and I will always protect her."

"Believe in my brother."

"……Um!"

At this time, Shibai, who was saying that he had to leave in a hurry, stood silently in a corner not far from the Tanizaki siblings. He watched them return home step by step, then he lowered his eyes and left.

"Well, I guess I'm going to be reprimanded by the leader." Shi Bai muttered to himself, feeling a little depressed after a long absence, but he knew that this was not the reason.

After all, it wasn't the first time that he had perfunctorily followed the orders of the Hong Kong underworld leader. He always had his own reasons to get away with it. No matter what the reason was, the cruel Hong Kong underworld leader had never lost his temper with him.

It was just that seeing the Tanizaki brother and sister at this moment made those long-sealed memories flash through his mind.

"Sister..."

Shi Bai stopped walking. He couldn't ignore this key word after all. It was as if a heavy object was pressing on his chest, making him feel a little breathless. Shi Bai lowered his eyes, and his black hair fell in front of his eyes, making him look a little vulnerable.

Shi Bai leaned against the wall and tried to calm himself down, forcing himself to ignore the sudden surge of emotions and calm down.

"I haven't completed the mission yet, so I can't leave this world for the time being..." Shi Bai said to himself, "It's a mutually beneficial relationship with Shizheng. The time here is not the same as in the real world, so there's no need to rush. I still have a lot of time."