Chapter 5

In a world of high technology and complex social structures, there were many ways to exploit blood ties.

For Chu Zu, the most useful were identity verification and security systems.

The identity verification system the upper ranks had long relied on was built on family gene databases.

When the system was first designed, infighting within families had been anticipated. To prevent individuals from monopolizing family power, the corresponding permissions could be unlocked even by someone not in the database, as long as their DNA identification and biometric features passed computational verification.

That was why Luciano had to kill every blood relative in his family except himself—he wanted to be the sole key to that fortune.

His reason for not wanting an heir was even simpler. Family businesses and property were genetically locked, so they could only be managed and operated by blood-related heirs, preventing outsiders from seizing them.

Having no children was insurance for Luciano's life.

Now his insurance was gone, Chu Zu thought coldly.

But Dai Xian's "gift" had brought a new problem.

"Normally, if I had Sydney, why would I wait for Tangqi to kill Luciano?"

As usual, Chu Zu shared his thoughts with the system.

"Originally, 'Chu Zu' had no authority and could only scrape together a faction under the banner of revenge. With the added impact of Tangqi wanting to 'make the Lower District great again,' I was able to take over Luciano's forces without a hitch."

"But now I'm pretty well liked. If anything happened to Luciano, all I'd have to do is take his biological son around for a show, and Esposito would be mine inside and out."

He said, "And I still wouldn't make a move? That doesn't make sense, does it?"

The system hurriedly warned him, "You absolutely must not!"

"Sydney didn't exist in the original story. He can't appear in the main plot. We're correcting a side character, so we absolutely can't change the main storyline!"

"I know." Chu Zu had a bit of a headache. "I'm urgently trying to figure out what I need to add to make it make sense."

"Actually... if you move a little more slowly..." The system hesitated for a moment, then said vaguely, "He'll most likely disappear in an accident, and Dai Xian won't mention the child again."

Chu Zu seemed not to have heard, wholly absorbed in figuring out how to patch this job.

The kid before him gave him a huge surprise first.

Chu Zu's face had topped the Lower District's blacklist for years. Even if he wasn't famous far and wide, everyone had a copy of his glorious track record.

Normally, when people in the Lower District saw Chu Zu, they either ran off at once or pretended not to know him, just like the people in District Eight had before.

But after Sydney looked at his short arms and legs and decided he couldn't run away, he gritted his teeth, stitched the two options together, and added a stroke of his own genius.

The child scrambled forward, threw himself at Chu Zu, clung to his leg, and opened with, "Daddy—!"

Chu Zu: "..."

System: "..."

Chu Zu picked the child up and stared at him as if he were a corpse.

Sydney was frightened at first and bit his lower lip, not daring to speak for quite a while. Then, seeing that Chu Zu didn't seem inclined to execute him on the spot, he hesitated, bit his lower lip, and ventured with tears in his eyes, "Auntie said you'd come for me sooner or later. Have you come to take me home?"

"..."

Though speechless, Chu Zu was also a little relieved.

Good thing the little brat hadn't said Dai Xian's name outright. If Jeeves had picked it up, they would have been done for.

But Dai Xian would never have told Sydney anything like "your dad will come for you." "Your dad will kill you sooner or later" was more like it.

"A very clever child. He knows you came looking for him, there's no one around, and he can't get away, so he chose to make the first move and win your sympathy," the system said.

Chu Zu: "Is that why he's playing this awkward game with me?"

System: "..."

Chu Zu: "Is that why I've suddenly become a dad?"

System: "..."

At a loss for a response, the system began to examine Sydney closely.

He and Luciano looked as though they had been cast from the same mold, with the same golden hair as brilliant as sunlight and clear, deep-blue eyes. He had kept himself surprisingly clean.

The differences were obvious too.

Having grown up in the Lower District, Sydney wasn't as sturdy as Luciano had been at his age. When Chu Zu lifted him, he was as skinny as a wind chime made of bones, swaying back and forth in the air.

And Luciano never showed a look of weakness. At twelve, Luciano had been in his unruly phase, kicking even dogs that passed him on the street.

Huh. Looking at them that way, they weren't alike after all.

Just as the system was about to ask its host what he planned to do, it heard Chu Zu say to Sydney, "Yes, I've come to take you home."

System: "...?"

The system wasn't the only one taken aback. Sydney, who had rushed over and called him Dad, was stunned too.

Before the child could react, Chu Zu had already settled him on one arm. Sydney had originally intended to stake everything on an escape, but he stopped when he saw the bouquet Chu Zu was holding.

There were words on the card attached to the bouquet.

Sydney couldn't actually read, but he still recognized a small part of the "pattern"—Dai Xian.

Hesitantly, he carefully wrapped his arms around Chu Zu's neck.

The man holding him stiffened and stopped in his tracks.

Sydney's little heart began pounding as he frantically wondered if he had done something wrong.

But Chu Zu's odd reaction lasted only a moment. He secured his hold on the child and continued walking.

Dai Xian had her reasons for settling Sydney in District 18.

District 18 was Chu Zu's "hometown." It was also the only one of the Lower District districts Tangqi had tried to unite that wouldn't reveal its position even when it wasn't under the Surveillance Station's watch.

That was because Chu Zu occasionally stayed in District 18.

In fact, because of Luciano's assignments, "Chu Zu" played the grim reaper in every district equally, without bias.

But places to rest were hard to find in the other districts.

He couldn't go straight to a surveillance station, as that would easily expose Luciano's arrangements. He had also experienced what happened when he picked a random place to rest: assassins from the other families came in wave after wave, trying to take advantage of the chaos, never giving him a chance to close his eyes.

After some brief thought, Chu Zu chose a more familiar area to stay in.

For one thing, an area that had remained unchanged for more than ten years made Chu Zu more efficient at dealing with assassins, saving him time to sleep.

It also led to a kind of understanding between Chu Zu and the people of District 18: they could do as they pleased with the bodies, whether that meant stripping them down and selling them. The darkness was perfect for it. They would each go about their own business and stay out of one another's way.

For a time, thanks to the trade in prosthetics and organs, District 18 actually showed signs of flourishing.

That counted as the upper ranks giving something back to the lower ranks... probably.

By the time Luciano recalled Chu Zu, dealt with most of the other families, and formally went up against Tangqi, District 18 could no longer earn that extra income, yet it somehow managed to enjoy a measure of stability as a "neutral zone."

Sydney had grown up in that environment.

With Dai Xian keeping a constant eye on the upper ranks' movements, the child could also go out and rummage through corpses in his spare time, digging out artificial eyes to trade for resources.

Although District 18 had a higher number, its living conditions were far better than District Eight's.

On the way to the black market with Sydney, Chu Zu discovered another major reason the child could live so well despite having Luciano's face.

"Are blond hair and blue eyes some new trend? Or have my eyes stopped working since my surgery?"

Chu Zu asked the system, "Why does everyone we pass have that look, from scar-faced bruisers to old ladies built like gorillas... Is our District 18 bold and fashionable?"

The system was puzzled too and began searching the background information.

Once Chu Zu filled in the details, the relevant background the original author hadn't written would be filled in as well. The novel was several million words long, and the added background alone had multiplied its word count several times over.

After searching for keywords, the system quickly found an answer.

"You used to work nonstop and once had a fever that nearly killed you. At the time, you let a blond, blue-eyed assassin get away, and he stabbed you twice before leaving."

It showed Chu Zu that part of the backstory. "Luciano asked you what happened, and you said the other man's blond hair dazzled you, so you lost focus."

"...What a nauseating thing to say. Why didn't I just say I was nearly dead from being sick?"

"Luciano's emotions were very unstable at the time. That was when he turned Jeeves into an AI, and you didn't want to become the second AI."

That didn't really count as lying, Chu Zu mused.

Whether his fever had made him delirious or the man's resemblance to Luciano had dazzled him, the causes differed, but the result was the same.

"Luciano was quite pleased... Anyway, at first, District 18 thought people with blond hair and blue eyes had a better chance of surviving an encounter with you. Then the story got distorted as it spread, and it gradually became a custom here."

Chu Zu: "..."

What a fucking custom.

When they reached the black market, the grim, vicious blond people abandoned their shops and the customers they were operating on as soon as they saw Chu Zu, and ran for their lives.

The chaos lasted only a few seconds. By the time Chu Zu put Sydney down, the only sounds left in the vast black market were the beeps of certain machines.

As Chu Zu saw it, Tangqi shouldn't be in such a hurry to charge into the Upper District. The gaps between the Lower District's levels were too wide, and uniting them would take effort too.

He thought District 18's structure was excellent, with everyone living so energetically. Why not promote it everywhere first?

"Look for some black hair dye or something, and colored contact lenses... I think that's what they're called? Get two red ones."

"Are you really going to raise him as your son?"

The system began rummaging as its host had asked, but it couldn't make sense of it. "There's no chance for Sydney to appear in the main storyline, and having him with you makes it easier for Luciano to target you. He's definitely watching your every move right now..."

Chu Zu found half a tube of hair dye. He crouched, set the bouquet on the ground, spread the dye across his palm, and held it out to Sydney.

Sydney scrunched up his face and tried to say something, but Chu Zu covered his mouth.

"The Upper District has no need for useless things. That's the condition for my coming to take you home."

He said, "Of course, you don't have a choice. Apart from me, no one wants you to exist in this world."

Sydney's eyes widened, his pupils trembling. He was a good-looking child, and he made himself look even more pitiful than before, enough to move anyone who saw him—Chu Zu was clearly not among them.

Realizing his little performance couldn't move the man, Sydney's expression suddenly changed. Like a kitten, he viciously bit into the palm covering his mouth. Chu Zu didn't let go, and Sydney refused to release him even when his mouth filled with the taste of blood.

Chu Zu merely looked at him coldly.

Unwilling to give in, Sydney began to struggle, but still lost to Chu Zu's cold resolve.

He realized his strength was like an ant trying to shake a tree. He wanted to pretend to be good again, but with Chu Zu staring at him, he couldn't back down gracefully. Flushing red, he released his bite.

"D-Dad..."

"Mm."

Sydney obediently took the hair dye.

There was nothing good in the Lower District. The dye changed his hair color quickly once applied, but wherever it touched his skin, it was like sulfuric acid meeting water, burning reddish-white spots into the surface and giving off a faint white vapor.

Sydney watched Chu Zu out of the corner of his eye, gritted his teeth, and dyed all his golden hair black. Then he poked the filthy colored contacts into his eyes.

He was very good at enduring pain and didn't make a sound throughout.

The good-looking child had become a ragged mess, and even the system couldn't bear to watch.

"Sydney doesn't seem to like having a dad very much..."

Chu Zu asked in return, "I don't have parents either. Why is that? Is it because I don't like having them too?"

System: "..."

"Because I'd better not have parents."

Chu Zu explained it in terms even the system could understand.

"Luciano wouldn't allow me to have somewhere to go back to apart from him. Even if I did, he'd take care of it for me. From the author's perspective, it was easier to just make me an orphan."

"From the moment Dai Xian wrote his name down for me, I had to find him, because he's too useful. I spent a long time thinking about what role I could give him that would keep him out of the main plot but still let me use him. He came up with one for me first, so why wouldn't I agree?"

System: "..."

Chu Zu added, "Isn't that the kind of novel Crown of Neon Light is? The author only puts effort into important characters. I'm a side character who was dragged out because the author couldn't keep writing and the story was about to fall apart. Sydney doesn't even count as a side character."

"His appearance would complicate Luciano's storyline, so even the author abandoned him. Literally no one wants him to appear in this world."

Chu Zu casually pulled over a rag that had been used to wipe machine oil off equipment and used it to wipe Sydney's head.

The man's movements were unexpectedly gentle.

"If he's dragged into the vortex of power, he has no way to survive. Like you said, he'll disappear in an accident. After all, the easiest way to stay out of the main storyline is simply not to exist."

"Only I can help him," he told the system.

The system recalled its host's earlier abnormal behavior in District 18, which had also been caused by a side character.

Later, the host had said he'd been in a bad mood at the time.

The host had also said that some of its remarks lacked emotional intelligence.

At last, the system put the whole sequence together. It was so ashamed it couldn't even find words to defend itself.

After Chu Zu put down the rag, Sydney looked down at his hands, which had been corroded beyond recognition by the dye. Still, he gave Chu Zu a very fake smile and even picked up the flowers from the ground of his own accord, holding them for the man.

"Only I can save him."

Chu Zu stood up and took the child's hand. "Side characters have their own ways of living too. He doesn't look like he wants to die, so let him live for now. I'll take him back and have Dai Xian raise him. It's no trouble."

"That's all I can do for him."

There was no such thing as sunlight in the Lower District. Tiny insects that had flown to their deaths lay piled beside the battered lights. The closer they got to the station, the brighter the lights became, their pallid glow stretching the man's and child's shadows across the ground in blurred shapes.

The system was deeply moved the whole way. Only after Chu Zu used the permissions Luciano had given him to bring the child onto the train did it hear its host speak again.

"Besides, if I don't take care of Sydney, given what Dai Xian can do, she'll just get me another 'free gift.'"

Chu Zu sighed. "Having an accomplice who's too capable is a problem too."

System: "..."

Oh!