Benjamin and Grant

In that brief instant, Gu Bei imagined countless possibilities for what might happen next.

The stranger might panic and turn to run; he might brandish his dagger and pounce on Gu Bei, leading to some intense man-on-man grappling; if he was lucky, other family members might rush in and subdue the stranger on the spot...

Looking at that gleaming blade, Gu Bei understood perfectly why this person had sneaked in.

Ill intentions? It was far more than just ill intentions.

Murder and arson were more like it!

In that fleeting moment that seemed frozen in time, Gu Bei's mind suddenly began racing. What should he do? Fight him? Forget it. With this scrawny body he had transmigrated into, facing the man head-on would be no different from suicide.

Should he shout for help? It seemed feasible, at least better than trying to kill the other man with water balls. The question was whether the nearby guards were efficient enough and whether they could make it in time...

However, just as he was about to cry out for help, the stranger holding the dagger did something completely beyond Gu Bei's expectations.

He answered Gu Bei's question.

"No, I slept very well, and I don't like taking walks. This isn't a fruit knife. It's a dagger. I've never used it to cut fruit. It would probably be very inconvenient for cutting fruit."

"..."

W-What was he trying to do?

Was this guy chatting with him? Should they discuss which fruit knife worked best?

Gu Bei was momentarily speechless, not knowing how to answer.

"Then why did you come here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"

It was the system that asked in Gu Bei's mind. Still stunned, Gu Bei failed to react and unconsciously repeated the question aloud to the stranger.

The stranger's answer was crisp and direct:

"I'm an assassin. Assassins only come out at night to kill people."

"..."

Gu Bei was choked speechless again.

Yes, assassins did indeed come out at night to kill people. Your reasoning was flawless. I choose death.

"Ah, he's amazing! I love people who are so straightforward and candid!" The system suddenly piped up. Its unprovoked sigh made Gu Bei want to cough up blood. He desperately wanted to launch 360 and forcibly uninstall it.

Gu Bei felt that the situation was rather bizarre. The bright dagger was still pointed at him. Though the man did not seem ready to make a move for now, who knew what would happen next? The man's thought process was clearly beyond ordinary comprehension.

What should he do now? Looking at this Mr. Assassin's expression, it seemed like... he was waiting for Gu Bei to continue the conversation?

To prevent an awkward silence from making the other man attack immediately, he could only force himself to keep chatting.

"Then... who are you going to kill?"

The instant the words left his mouth, Gu Bei wanted to beat himself to death.

His ability to make pointless conversation had truly reached a horrifying level.

If the man answered, "I came to kill you," then all Gu Bei could say was, "Then why haven't you done it?" The man would definitely reply, "Oh, then I'll do it." Then there would be flashing blades and clashing steel. Victory and defeat were common in battle. Please, hero, start over.

Once again, Gu Bei discovered that his talent for creatively courting death was truly perfect.

He prepared to call for help again.

However, what he should have realized long ago was that he would never be able to predict this Mr. Assassin's answers.

"I came to kill Benjamin Riser."

Gu Bei froze, and the "Help!" at the tip of his tongue was forcibly swallowed back down.

Benjamin Riser...

Who was that?

At that moment, he suddenly realized that the entire affair had taken another sharp turn, heading in a direction he knew absolutely nothing about.

"I'm not Benjamin Riser. I'm Grant Riser," Gu Bei replied cautiously, utterly confused.

Upon hearing this, the assassin seemed confused as well. He lowered the hand holding the raised dagger, frowned, scratched his head with his other hand, and stared at the ceiling as if he had gotten stuck halfway through reciting "A Memorial on Sending Out the Troops."

Gu Bei felt that this was bizarre and completely bewildering, so he said nothing. He merely stared blankly at the other man.

The man pondered for quite a while. Finally, he lowered the hand that had been scratching his head and said:

"Oh, sorry. I think I went to the wrong room."

"..."

What the hell?

For that instant, Gu Bei began wondering whether he had not been suffering from insomnia after all, whether he had already fallen asleep and everything before him was merely a dream. If it really was a dream, then it was undoubtedly the most absurd one he had ever had—more ridiculous even than his boss's "Balala Power"!

God, or whatever other deity was out there, were you fucking with him?

"Then do you know which room Benjamin Grant is in?"

Mr. Assassin asked with great sincerity.

"...No."

"I see. Then I'll be leaving. Sorry about that. Goodbye."

"...Have a safe trip."

The assassin put away his dagger, waved at Gu Bei, turned around, and left the room.

He was gone.

He left softly, just as he had come softly.

Though he had no sleeves to wave, the curve of his eyes made it clear that beneath his mask, he must have worn a simple and sincere smile as he said goodbye. Not to mention that he had even thoughtfully closed the door behind him...

Gu Bei felt there were too many things to mock, yet he did not know where to begin.

"Ah, he really is a kind and good person," said the system.

"...You should go be his system," Gu Bei said.

Honestly, if this Mr. Assassin and this crazy system could chat, the two of them would definitely get along wonderfully.

"No. This guy's intelligence still isn't up to par. He can't even figure out whom he's supposed to assassinate. Becoming his system would be a waste of my talents."

Gu Bei did not feel like paying attention to the system as it continued having an episode.

Once he shook off that absurd feeling, a few more worries suddenly arose. Although that inexplicable danger appeared to have passed, an assassin had infiltrated this place. Even if this assassin was not very reliable, could Gu Bei really pretend that nothing had happened? Did this so-called great family have even the slightest security measures?

And what about that Benjamin Riser? Judging by the surname, he was clearly no insignificant nobody. What if this assassin actually found the right room and killed him? What then?

"We have to stop him."

Thinking of this, Gu Bei suddenly said that to the system.

"He's already gone. You really don't need to go looking for trouble by throwing yourself back into this," the system advised.

"It's not me looking for trouble. What if he really kills that Benjamin Riser? I can't just pretend I know nothing," Gu Bei explained. "If someone dies in the family, they'll definitely investigate thoroughly. If they discover the assassin also came to my room, wouldn't I be unable to clear my name even if I jumped into the Yellow River?"

Therefore, although he had only just arrived at the Riser Family and did not want to stir up trouble, he could only meddle in someone else's business.

Besides, under normal circumstances, wasn't waking everyone up after discovering an assassin the natural response? He could not become abnormal too just because this assassin was not quite normal and had forcibly chatted with him for a while!

"You don't need to worry. He won't kill anyone else," the system said with unusual certainty.

"Why? How can you be so sure?" Gu Bei frowned.

"Because you are Benjamin Riser. If he's going to kill anyone, it would be you. Why would he kill someone else?"

"That's true..."

Because the system sounded rather convincing, Gu Bei nodded without thinking.

However, he quickly realized something was wrong.

"What the hell are you talking about? Since when did I become Benjamin Riser? Is your hard drive full of shit?" Gu Bei asked helplessly.

The system paused for a moment before speaking, its tone brimming with intellectual superiority.

"Trust me. You are Benjamin Riser."

Though Gu Bei did not particularly want to deal with it, he could not just say nothing. He asked in return, "If what you said is true, then why did Michelle say I was Grant Riser?"

The system declared confidently, "She got it wrong."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Your body's original owner's memories."

The system paused as if showing off, then continued in an extremely certain tone, "According to those memories, you are the eldest son of the family. At the moment of your birth, your parents named you Benjamin, meaning the most beloved child. Throughout the sixteen years you spent growing up, everyone called you by that name. You never changed your name, nor did you use any other alias or nickname. In the end, you are Benjamin Riser, and the person that assassin came to kill was you."

"...Are you sure?"

"Absolutely, positively sure."

"..."

Gu Bei was dumbfounded.

What was this? He had thought the name of the body he transmigrated into was Grant Riser, yet now he was being told it was Benjamin Riser? Those messy Western names were already hard enough to remember, and now his head was about to explode.

He no longer doubted the system's words. The system had explained things in such detail and even had the original owner's memories as proof. No matter how unreliable it was, it surely would not make such a basic mistake over something like this.

He really was Benjamin Riser.

However, a new question arose: why had Michelle called him Grant? Someone as shrewd as her would not mistake a person's name, would she?

It was extremely strange.

"Then who is Grant Riser?" After thinking it over, Gu Bei's instincts made him ask that question.

"That is your biological younger brother," the system answered.

Upon hearing that, Gu Bei raised his eyebrows, unable to help feeling surprised.

The system continued its introduction. "A year after you were born, your younger brother was born as well. Your parents named him Grant Riser. You and your younger brother grew up here together, and your relationship was fairly good."

Younger brother...

A terrible premonition suddenly rose in Gu Bei's heart.

"Don't tell me this is one of those stories where there's a genius younger brother and a useless older brother, and I transmigrated into the older brother," Gu Bei said uneasily. He had read plenty of novels with similar setups and could only pray that his transmigration was not so cliché.

"You're not completely hopelessly stupid after all." The system's cheerful voice was irritatingly smug. "You guessed correctly. On the day your younger brother was born, Holy Light rose from the roof of the Riser Family estate, pierced through more than half of the Royal Capital, and landed upon the fingertip of the statue at the center of Cathedral Square. Seven chimes rang from the Grand Cathedral before dawn, symbolizing the beginning of a new age. During his hundred-day baptism, your younger brother was found to possess an extremely high aptitude for divine arts. He was hailed as a future archbishop, perhaps even the Pope's successor."

"...What about me?" Clinging to that tiny shred of hope that had not yet been extinguished, Gu Bei asked.

"During your hundred-day baptism, you were found to have no talent whatsoever for divine arts, greatly disappointing the entire family. Worse still, in the years that followed, your physical frailty gradually became apparent. You were sickly, even weaker than your brother who was a year younger than you, and any hope of becoming a knight was extinguished as well. Thus, within the noble circles of the Royal Capital, you became the Riser Family's greatest laughingstock." The system's voice was unusually objective and rigorous.

"..."

Gu Bei wanted to smash his head against a wall.

Although he had been mentally prepared, hearing the answer for real still left him rather helpless. From the things Michelle had said, he had thought that the identity he transmigrated into was some kind of genius. Unexpectedly, this world's malice toward him remained as consistent as ever.

A useless older brother living in the shadow of a genius younger brother—his life in this family probably had not been easy. Especially from the system's description, as the family's laughingstock, his status was likely not much better.

Michelle had probably mistaken him for his younger brother in a moment of confusion and kidnapped him, which was why all this undeserved trouble had occurred. This Benjamin Riser had truly been unlucky. Of course, Annie had beaten him to death, so that misfortune had now fallen upon Gu Bei.

What happened to suffering first and prospering later? This was total bullshit!

However, Gu Bei did not let that disappointment linger for long.

"Forget it. Who cares?"

He was going to become a great mage. Divine arts talent could go to hell. As for his weak body, ever since the Triangle Glyph had formed in his consciousness world, he had felt a moist aura constantly nourishing his body. That suffocating feeling had already improved greatly. Thus, he had no need to worry about that either. As for other people's scorn, let them scorn him. Why should he care what they thought?

So what if he was useless? What protagonist in a novel was not useless at first?

Hmm... looking at it that way, he really was quite optimistic.

Gu Bei realized that his optimism was indeed a little absurd. Perhaps he had been influenced by Mr. Assassin. His own thought process had become somewhat abnormal too. In only a short while, he had cast aside the impact of those terrible revelations.

He felt as if he had hit his head and become strangely cheerful.

...Time to get hyped?

"Don't be too optimistic, all right? What are you planning to do about that assassin?" The system activated its passive skill of throwing cold water over him again.

Oh...

That was an assassin who had come to kill him, not his cheerful little companion.

After calming down again, Gu Bei quickly recognized the danger. Although the man was not exactly reliable, the assassin's existence itself proved one fact: someone wanted him dead.

Who could it be?

He was merely a useless noble with neither status nor ability. People might look down on him, but surely no one would specifically want to kill him. His genius younger brother was the more likely target for anyone with ulterior motives.

It was very suspicious.

Who could harbor such malice toward him, the family's laughingstock? He had to find that person quickly. He did not want to spend his future days constantly on edge, worrying whether someone would stab him in the back.

"You've sorted out that simplified version of the memories already, right?" Thinking of this, Gu Bei asked the system.

To find the mastermind, he could only start with the original owner's memories.

Whom had this Mr. Benjamin offended before? What enemies did he have? Who would benefit most from his death? As long as he found the answers to those questions, the person behind the assassin would naturally be exposed.

"I've already organized them," the system answered.

Hearing that, Gu Bei nodded with satisfaction and said:

"Then let's begin."

It was time for him to become Benjamin Riser completely.