Taking Care of a Good Brother

Late at night, Charles leaned against the deck railing.

He did not dare close his eyes for even a moment. One eye kept watch.

The other stared at the merchant name in Wu Duo Duo Mall that had gone dark.

In Qiaosuo's room, he sat anxiously on the bed, clutching that piece of parchment in his hands.

He was still hesitating. The parchment had come from his family, but everyone who had used this spell had died.

That was why he had brought it out to tempt Charles, hoping to send him to his death in the process.

But Charles had not died. The ritual had succeeded instead, and his cultivation talent had even improved.

After dawdling for several hours, Qiaosuo was still wavering. He had even considered giving up.

But whenever he thought of Charles's smug expression earlier that day, and the arrangements he had made for himself and Doris—

A fire he could not extinguish surged through Qiaosuo's heart. The rage burned within him until he finally made up his mind.

Qiaosuo muttered, "Charles is even more useless than me. If he could successfully perform the ritual, there's no way I can fail!"

With that, he knelt in the center of the magic circle and began chanting the incantation.

Sure enough, as Qiaosuo chanted, the Magic Stones placed in the circle began to be consumed.

Qiaosuo had Charles's successful experience to follow. Everything had been replicated exactly, even down to the number of Magic Stones.

As the Magic Stones were consumed, Delis once again received the summoning signal.

She swiftly answered the summons. "Mortal, do you crave power?"

Qiaosuo could not suppress his excitement. Kneeling on the ground, he hurriedly said, "I do. Please help me!"

Delis laughed seductively. "You've summoned me now, but your offering is still lacking a little. Are you willing to give a bit more? Just a little, and you can have a wonderful night, along with power."

Listening to that alluring voice, Qiaosuo felt his whole body go limp. He recalled Charles's description from the day, and his breathing grew heavy.

He hastily said, "I am! I am!"

"Hehe, hahaha!"

Delis laughed sweetly, then began drawing out Qiaosuo's soul power.

Like Charles, Qiaosuo knelt in the offering position of the magic circle. Now that he had also made a verbal contract with the Succubus, it was practically impossible for him not to die.

As Delis's figure gradually solidified, before her projection had even fully formed, Qiaosuo had already collapsed to the ground, his face deathly pale.

"Urgh..."

With a faint, mournful cry, Qiaosuo's soul power was completely devoured by Delis.

Delis's flickering body looked around. "What a piece of trash. He doesn't compare to the one from yesterday!"

"That same ship again!?"

Delis wanted to move, but her projection had not fully solidified. Now that Qiaosuo, who had been presiding over the sacrifice, had had his soul drained dry, no one remained to maintain the ritual. Delis's projection could only begin slowly dissipating.

At the very end, Delis seemed to sense Charles's presence. Her enchanting eyes turned toward where Charles was.

She had only taken two steps when the projection lost its power and dispersed completely.

Only Delis's voice remained in the room:

"Little one... you can't escape my grasp!"

After Qiaosuo summoned Delis—

"Ding!"

"A merchant you follow is now online!"

Charles, who had nearly fallen asleep, immediately woke up at the sound.

He tensely watched as the merchant name representing Delis in Wu Duo Duo Mall changed from gray to bright.

Charles nervously watched the entrance to the cabin. If anything went wrong, he would jump overboard at once.

Luck favored Charles. Delis's merchant account was online for only a few minutes before going offline again.

Seeing that, Charles let out a long breath.

After waiting for a while longer, he slipped over to Qiaosuo's door.

After furtively checking that no one else was around, Charles lightly knocked on Qiaosuo's door and called his name.

Qiaosuo did not respond. Charles felt reassured, then carefully used the key he had tricked out of Qiaosuo earlier that day to open the door.

Only a faint candle flame still burned in the room, and it was nearly spent.

Qiaosuo's corpse lay silently on the floor.

Though he had long been mentally prepared, it was still Charles's first time seeing a dead person in either of his lives, and he felt a little frightened.

He murmured quietly, "Don't blame me, don't blame me. You were the one who tried to harm me first."

After bolstering his courage, Charles first found Qiaosuo's parchment and used the candle flame to set it alight.

Then, he cleaned up every trace and checked for any clues connected to himself.

Only after confirming that he had left behind no evidence did he carefully blow out the candle and leave Qiaosuo's room.

This time, Charles was extremely cautious. He did not even take the Magic Stones Qiaosuo had left behind out of greed for a small gain.

On the second night after crossing over, he had plotted the death of one of his potential enemies. Random thoughts raced through Charles's mind, and before long, he drifted into a heavy sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, it was to the sound of bells early in the morning.

Charles got up, washed as usual, then went out to greet Doris.

"Hi! Morning, Doris!"

Charles was neatly dressed. After obtaining the diluted version of the Succubus Bloodline, his looks and bearing had improved, making him even more handsome.

His enthusiastic morning greeting made Doris, who had been planning to keep Charles on the hook, unable to resist giving him a few extra looks.

But when Doris thought of the sounds she had heard the night before, she still snorted coldly, intending to wait for Charles to apologize.

Yet after greeting her, Charles ignored Doris and headed straight for Qiaosuo's door, knocking on it and calling for Qiaosuo.

Of course, Qiaosuo could not possibly respond.

So Charles pretended that Qiaosuo had overslept and headed to the dining hall by himself.

Doris followed behind Charles, gritting her teeth in anger.

One of Doris's close friends linked arms with her and whispered, "Why isn't your Augustus coming to keep you company today?"

Doris snorted. "It's better if he doesn't come bother me!"

"It's much quieter without that black crow constantly cawing at my side!"

Her friend said, "These past two days, I've felt like Charles has become better-looking. Don't you think so?"

Doris felt the same way, but a woman's competitive nature made it impossible for her to calmly acknowledge it.

Doris looked at Charles's back and said coldly, "Has he? Maybe your taste has gotten worse. To me, Charles is nothing but sheep dung by the roadside!"

Her friend could not help giggling at that.

"If you don't want Charles, then I'll go have a taste of him!"

Doris glanced at her friend and said indifferently, "If you don't mind him being filthy, go ahead!"

Charles had no idea what was happening behind him. His task today was to keep acting exactly as he usually did.