Strange Brothers

Wenren Sheng Villa.

In the hall, Wenren Sheng lowered his head and looked at a laptop sitting on the coffee table.

Zhang Yi had just transferred a WPS document onto his computer with a USB drive.

It was clear that he had spent no small amount of effort organizing things over the past year and a half.

It contained information from before his older brother's disappearance: Zhang Rong, age thirty-two, a blast furnace operator in Plant Area No. 32 of the Five Colors Group steelworks, with a monthly salary of 13,000 yuan.

Setting aside the grueling labor and danger, that counted as a fairly decent wage among the many ordinary professions in Divine Land.

In this world, Divine Land truly possessed vast territory and abundant resources. Though it also had a population of 1.4 billion, its land area was more than twice that of his previous life.

As a result, average prices were much lower than in his previous life, especially for food—staple grains like wheat and rice cost fifty cents per jin, with huge quantities exported every year. Pork had remained at only five to eight yuan per jin for over a decade without any price increase.

Yet housing prices in major cities were even higher than in his previous life. In a city like Dongshui City, barely ranking among first-tier cities, average housing prices had already exceeded 20,000 yuan per square meter and continued to rise year after year.

Wenren Sheng understood the reason perfectly. This was the result of the Mysterious Realm becoming intertwined with the world.

Only major cities could be assigned Mystery Experts and attract them to settle there. Safety alone was enough to draw newly middle-class families into buying homes in big cities, making them the foundation supporting housing prices.

The Patrol Division's ability to directly handle mysterious incidents only extended down to the county level.

In other words, if a mysterious incident occurred in a town or village, the local area had no ability to deal with it and had to notify the county Patrol Division to send someone over.

Zhang Yi's parents had used the three million yuan consolation payment after his brother's reported death to buy him property in the county town, arrange a stable job for him at a public institution, and purchase two storefronts to rent out.

If everything had continued that way and remained stable for twenty years, a middle-class family would have been born.

But Zhang Yi's stubbornness had thrown all of that away. Wenren Sheng wondered whether he would regret it once he learned the truth. After reviewing the information, Wenren Sheng took out his phone under Zhang Yi's expectant gaze and began making a call.

The phone was answered after only two rings, and a hearty middle-aged man's laughter came from the other end.

"Mr. Wenren, congratulations on successfully passing the judge selection. It seems Elder He and Li were right after all. The younger generation is truly formidable. As expected, the old ginger is still the spiciest." The voice belonged to Xu Qingshu.

"President Xu, you flatter me. I have something I'd like to trouble you with," Wenren Sheng said calmly.

Zhang Yi's expression shifted slightly upon hearing this. Who was this "President Xu" he was calling? Pretending not to care, he tilted his ear and tried his hardest to catch the voice from the phone.

But he was not an Otherworldly User. How could he possibly hear it clearly? Wenren Sheng was not using some cheap knockoff phone, but a high-security model specially issued by the Patrol Division.

"It is my honor, Xu Qingshu's honor, to be of service to Mr. Wenren. How could it be called trouble? Please, go ahead," Xu Qingshu said courteously.

"It's like this. I want to investigate someone's whereabouts..." Wenren Sheng said slowly.

Zhang Yi could not hear the voice from the phone, but from Wenren Sheng's words alone, he guessed that he was asking this "President Xu" to help find his older brother.

He immediately felt a surge of gratitude. He had not expected Wenren Sheng to be such a warmhearted person, already calling upon his connections to help. These were an Otherworldly User's connections—this was not something that could be handled with a mere few hundred thousand yuan.

But as he listened, something began to feel wrong. "President Xu"? Aside from the head of the Five Colors Group whom he was investigating, what other President Xu could speak with a figure like Wenren Sheng in such a polite manner?

Zhang Yi instantly became wary. He subconsciously looked toward the hall's exit as a terrifying possibility came to mind.

Walking straight into the trap...

No wonder he had arranged for newspapers to be dropped at Wenren Sheng's home under the pretense of repairing water pipes at a nearby villa, yet Wenren Sheng had shown no reaction at all.

They were in league with each other! Just then, Wenren Sheng suddenly said, "Mm, then I'll send him..."

Zhang Yi immediately kicked out, shoved open the hall doors, and bolted!

He remembered clearly that there was a Patrol Division outpost nearby, as well as regular patrol stations.

He could reach one in five minutes!

However, the moment he reached the courtyard gate, he came to an abrupt stop.

His face filled with indescribable horror. Wenren Sheng had somehow already appeared outside the gate, waiting for him.

"It's broad daylight! Don't do anything reckless! I'll call for help!" Zhang Yi instinctively backed away.

There was none of the composure he had shown earlier when facing Zhao Han. His face was now full of terror.

He could not gauge the depths of the man before him at all. He even began to suspect that some of the information he had previously uncovered was merely a disguise.

"Teacher Zhang seems quite anxious. Fine, although I've always hated working overtime, this matter is connected to me after all. It's better to settle it sooner," Wenren Sheng said, extending his right hand to press down on Zhang Yi's shoulder.

Zhang Yi instinctively wanted to cry out, but an even greater terror rose within him.

He discovered that his body was completely beyond his control. Like a dog encountering a Fierce Tiger, all he could do was tremble on instinct! Only when a third voice appeared did he regain a little of his senses.

"Young Master, are you heading out so late?" Li Shuangyue walked over, opened the door of the dark blue-black sedan, got in, and started the engine.

"Mm. I happened to pass the judge selection, so I might as well settle this early. I don't want to get dragged away again while working overtime," Wenren Sheng said casually, shoving the trembling Zhang Yi into the back seat.

It was over.

This had to be the scene depicted in so many mysterious dramas: powerful and bizarre Otherworldly Users colluding with wealthy local tycoons to harm innocent people!

Amid Zhang Yi's vivid inner drama, the car started moving.

The silver-white gate bars sensed the approaching vehicle and retracted to one side, allowing the sedan to leave the villa.

Zhang Yi watched the direction the car was taking. It was not leaving the Villa District, but heading toward a range of hills farther south.

That was right. That area was Dongshui City's Rich District, while the area beneath their feet was the residential district for Otherworldly Users.

Yet with his shoulder pinned by Wenren Sheng, he could not move at all. He could only watch helplessly as the car slowly drove toward the Rich District.

The knife was in another's hand; he was the fish on the chopping block.

Those eight words surfaced in his mind.

Half an hour later, in a basement somewhere within Xu Qingshu Villa.

"Big Brother?"

Zhang Yi could hardly believe his eyes. He rubbed them hard, then looked again at the middle-aged man before him, whose features bore a fifty percent resemblance to his own but who was much older.

"Xiao Yi? How did you find this place? Did the three million not get sent home?" The Middle-aged Man was even more astonished, with a trace of anger in his tone.

"The money all arrived, but I... I can't live without you, Big Brother!" Hearing his voice and the concern and sincerity that could never be faked, Zhang Yi no longer had any doubts. He lunged forward.

Zhang Rong's expression turned complicated. Then he pulled his younger brother tightly into his arms.

"I never expected this, never expected this..." Tears welled in his eyes as he muttered, "I was so stupid, truly stupid. I thought Mom and Dad had always favored only you. I thought that once I gave you the money, you would quickly forget me and go on living as before. After all, you would carry on the Zhang family line for Old Zhang's family. I never expected you to still be as foolish as when you were little..."

"Big Brother, let's go back home! We can earn the money again and compensate them for it," Zhang Yi urged, looking up at his biological brother. He was clearly not yet thirty-five, yet looked like a man in his forties, his face weathered and rough.

"No, no!" Zhang Rong shoved him away, held his shoulders firmly, and stared into his eyes.

"This opportunity was given to me by Boss Xu. There were so many people in the factory, yet I was chosen. That means I have at least some aptitude. I don't want to keep sweating myself to death every day, and I don't want the descendants of our Zhang family to live the same kind of life we do!"

"But the two of us can still send our children to school. I'm a college graduate too—I can tutor them. They'll definitely study better than I did, get into top universities, continue their education, earn master's and doctoral degrees, and still make something of themselves," Zhang Yi argued desperately.

He had investigated many things and knew that the world of Otherworldly Users was far from simple. Luck, aptitude, temperament, connections... there were far too many uncertain factors.

By comparison, in academics, as long as one was willing to work hard and had sufficient intelligence, one could secure a basic future. At the very least, there would be a guarantee of a middle income, and they would not be reduced to Wanderers exiled to develop frontier lands.

The key was that there were almost no risks. The greatest risk was whether the parents knew how to educate their children, but he was somewhat confident in that regard.

"School?" Zhang Rong froze slightly, seemingly wavering, but then shook his head and said softly, "No. I can't make my future son accomplish what I myself failed to do. Nor do I want him to be like I was back then, unable to hold my head up before the girl I liked at school, only able to admire her secretly in humiliation... Even if he finishes a doctorate in America, how old would he be by then? After graduating, wouldn't he still have to take out a loan to buy a house and humbly find some ordinary woman to spend his life with?"

Then his voice rose again. "But now I have this chance. As long as I... as long as I become an Otherworldly User now, everything will change. Even if it's only temporary, I can still enter the fringes of that world. From then on, our entire Zhang family will be completely different!"

Zhang Yi shook his head as he looked at his utterly unfamiliar older brother.

For the first time, he realized how little he understood him. He did not know what his brother had experienced in school, nor what his working life had been like. He did not even know what his brother wanted.

All he knew was that the money for his expenses from high school through college had been earned by his brother after graduating from vocational school and starting work, allowing him to live with dignity before his classmates.

Another big 3,000-word chapter. Please send some recommendations and bookmarks, gentlemen—give me some votes.