Chapter 91

Mountain Crow 15 dragged along Mountain Crow 17, who was tightly bound by him. He saw that the minister who caught up afterward was still dragging a Weird in a comatose state—one that looked extremely familiar.

Mountain Crow 15 had not attended family gatherings for a long time. After a moment of careful scrutiny, he finally recognized the features of this unconscious Weird. It was Mountain Crow 02.

He looked at Mountain Crow 02, who seemed to have no strength left to resist, and hesitated to speak. He wanted to say something but worried that voicing it in front of the nearby Information Department minister would make their boss lose face.

Construction 01 was currently speaking with his colleague Information 01. Upon hearing Information 01’s question, he replied in a nonchalant tone, “It was just a coincidence. Who would’ve thought that right before the end, he’d come crashing right into us himself.”

Information 01 responded with high emotional intelligence and flattery, “It had to be your keen eye.”

Construction 01 felt pleased upon hearing this. He modestly deflected a couple of times before slightly quickening his pace and tossing the one he was dragging into the truck bed.

In the midst of the motion, he happened to catch the expression on Mountain Crow 15’s face as he likewise threw his “spoils of war” onto the truck.

What Construction 01 hated most was seeing his subordinates hem and haw in front of him. He frowned. “If you have something to say, spit it out.”

After Mountain Crow 15 had righteously betrayed his kin, Construction 01 had reverted to his previous attitude toward this subordinate.

Mountain Crow 15 cautiously glanced at the Information Department minister not far away. Seeing that the other’s attention was elsewhere for the moment, he leaned in close to his own minister and whispered a report, “Minister, with this Mountain Crow 02, you might not have caught the whole thing.”

Mountain Crow 02 possessed a prop called a Substitute Puppet, supposedly bestowed upon him by his master.

Mountain Crow 15 knew this so clearly because the Mountain Crows ranked in the top 20 had been fairly familiar with one another in the early days. It was only because each Weird made different choices that they gradually lost touch later on.

In Mountain Crow 15’s impression from back then, Mountain Crow 02 had utterly wasted his “02” ranking. His power wasn’t particularly strong, and he was usually cowardly and full of lies.

Don’t be fooled by Mountain Crow 17’s current brainwashed, fanatical appearance. In the early years, Mountain Crow 15 recalled, Mountain Crow 17 had actually spat in disdain at Mountain Crow 02.

It was only later that Mountain Crow 02 got lucky and found a powerful Weird as his master, allowing him to slowly turn things around in the Mountain Crow family.

Mountain Crow 15 remembered that Mountain Crow 02’s master was the Clown, who owned an entire circus.

The Clown had an exaggerated red nose, his face perpetually smeared with ghastly white greasepaint, and he wore a tall jester’s hat.

He was one of the first powerful Weirds to arrive in Tanzhong City. During that time, many Weirds lived under the Clown’s reign of terror. Not only did the Clown devour his own kind, but he also took pleasure in tormenting any other Weirds that fell into his hands.

When Mountain Crow 02 submitted to him as master, he was reportedly subjected to a thorough ordeal of torment.

Mountain Crow 15 himself had envied such a powerful Weird in the beginning.

But later, for some unknown reason, the Clown suddenly vanished as if he’d never existed. Even his circus changed hands several times and eventually became the current zoo.

At the same time, the Su Consortium rapidly rose to prominence.

Mountain Crow 15 spotted the opportunity and decisively went to apply for a job. Once his career was on track, he focused on his own affairs and paid little further attention to the Mountain Crow family.

Over these years, he had occasionally wondered if Mountain Crow 02’s master, the Clown, was truly still alive as Mountain Crow 02 claimed—perhaps just tired of the constant killing in the Weird World.

Otherwise, there was no explaining why Mountain Crow 02 still held such a high status in the Mountain Crow family.

After hearing his subordinate’s words, Construction 01’s gaze toward Mountain Crow 15 shifted again. “Why didn’t you say so earlier when you arrived?”

Mountain Crow 15 felt a bit awkward.

Well, he hadn’t thought of it at the time.

When he’d first arrived at the cliff, he hadn’t seen Mountain Crow 02 and assumed he’d slipped away long ago.

As they spoke, under the watchful eyes of Construction 01 and Mountain Crow 15, the skin of Mountain Crow 02—who lay at the top of the truck bed—grew rigid. The surface of his face gradually took on the distinctive grain of wood.

Before long, the figure tightly bound by ropes had transformed from Mountain Crow 02 into a shrunken, crudely made Puppet Person.

Construction 01 climbed into the truck bed as well and picked up the puppet.

With a crisp snap, the puppet broke into two pieces in his hand.

He let out a ferocious laugh. “Now it’s our turn to issue a wanted poster for him.”

As Construction 01’s words and actions concluded, on a cliff in Tannan City, a crow with somewhat dull feathers suddenly shuddered all over. A trickle of blood trailed down its wide beak.

It let out two shrill caws in a hoarse voice and began to sing a lament: “No master, like a blade of grass, this crow has no home at last. Caw caw, this crow has no home at last…”

Su Xuanxiao was, by and large, a fairly even-handed boss when it came to rewards and punishments.

After his subordinates used their off-hours to voluntarily work overtime and bring back this group of Mountain Crows, he approvingly granted the two department heads—Construction 01 and Information 01—the authority to claim their own rewards.

Information 01 hoped that the Mountain Crows he and his Information Department subordinates had captured this time could count toward their previous performance points.

That way, he’d be one step closer to his goal of becoming general manager.

His other departmental employees would also be nearer to promotions and raises.

Su Xuanxiao agreed.

As for what Construction 01 wanted, it was easy to guess.

He requested that the Construction Department gain an additional promotion channel similar to the Information Department’s.

Su Xuanxiao agreed to that as well.

Today’s boss was so benevolent and generous that every employee present couldn’t help but inwardly praise the young master once more.

The usually shrewd and stern boss always softened because of the young master.

The boss would reward every employee who sincerely protected the young master!

After this incident, this became the consensus among all the employees who had tasted the sweetness.

As for the other employees who missed the action due to delayed information, they were filled with envy, jealousy, and hate—nearly grinding their teeth to bits. At the same time, they inwardly grumbled a bit about their own department heads for being useless.

They were all ministers, yet the Information Department and Construction Department got to curry favor with the young master—especially the Information Department, which had done so twice!

When it came to them, forget currying favor—they didn’t even get the news!

After this day, the somewhat notorious Mountain Crow family of craftsmen in Tanzhong City was nearly wiped out in one fell swoop. All of them were conscripted by the Su Consortium’s Construction Department to build high-rises in the newly opened Gray Mist Zone.

And the legend of the Su Consortium’s Chairman flying into a rage and single-handedly annihilating an entire Weird family spread through Tanzhong City and even some surrounding cities.

Not long after this legend circulated, on the Wealth Avenue Community Website, the Su Family’s vote count surged once again.

According to the website’s statistics, Wealth Avenue currently had 56 villas, and the total number of property owners with voting rights was 209.

The Su Family’s total votes had already surpassed half.

They had essentially locked in victory ahead of time.

That day, as soon as Su Ximu returned home from cram school, his third brother notified him that the whole family would go collect the award tomorrow.

He took the new clothes his third brother handed him and asked excitedly, “Is it the award for the best Model Family?”

Su Jianglou fiddled with his hair in front of the mirror and nodded. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

There was a smug, matter-of-fact pride in his tone. “I said it before—there’s no better or more model family than ours on the whole Wealth Avenue.”

Forget the entire Wealth Avenue—even on a larger scale, Su Jianglou wasn’t intimidated.

As he spoke, the half-open front door was pushed wider, accompanied by Ox Grandpa’s booming voice. “Xiao Mu, come quick and take a look for Grandpa. Does this outfit suit Grandpa?”

Weirds weren’t greatly affected by heat or cold unless they were extremely weakened.

Previously, whether heading out or staying home, Ox Grandpa had mostly worn an old man’s tank top on top and casual pants below.

This exceptionally formal getup today was extremely rare for him.

Su Ximu held his own new clothes and turned to examine Ox Grandpa closely.

The old man stood in place, gradually growing a bit embarrassed under the scrutiny. But his expression was mostly obscured by his bushy white beard, so he just let out a couple of hearty heh-hehs.

“Looks great!” Su Ximu set down his new clothes and decisively gave two thumbs up.

He could not only compliment people now but do so with solid reasoning. “There’ll definitely be photos tomorrow at the award ceremony. Ox Grandpa, this outfit of yours will look perfect in pictures.”

“Really?” Ox Grandpa immediately perked up upon hearing this and began helping Su Ximu plan what he should wear tomorrow.

This wasn’t just any award—it was the top prize for Model Family.

Su Ximu thought that although his family was already great to him regardless of any award, winning one really was a happy occasion.

In the time that followed, he not only discussed outfit options with Ox Grandpa but also grabbed a small comb to help his second brother tidy his hair.

Su Xuanxiao and Su Jianglou had buzz cuts as kids because people from the inner city came out every year to collect hair. Hair held value for inner city folk as well.

Only Su Wuzi—that “barber” from the inner city—always went a bit easier on his hair, not clipping it all short but leaving it in a half-long style that could be tied into a small ponytail at the back of his head.

However, Su Wuzi wasn’t grateful to him. Whenever he failed to protect his hair, that “barber” would fly into a hysterical rage the next time he emerged from the inner city.

Later, Su Wuzi gained the right to decide his own hairstyle, but for some reason, he didn’t cut it off. He kept it more or less the same as when he was little.

After Su Ximu finished styling his second brother’s hair, he reached up and tugged at a stray lock of his own bangs.

He felt like his hair had grown a bit long and needed trimming.

But he had no intention of going to a salon. He’d always cut it himself before.

So, he turned to his second brother, who was closest by, and asked, “Second Brother, do we have scissors at home for cutting hair?”

Before Su Wuzi could reply, Su Jianglou immediately crowded over, looking eager for the spectacle. “Xiao Xi, are you gonna cut Second Brother’s hair?”

Second Brother cherished this human skin of his from his human days. Apart from the one time he’d slit his own throat, even when Su Ximu accidentally nicked Second Brother’s face, Second Brother had picked him up and thrown him.

Su Ximu had just started to shake his head, intending to explain that he wanted to cut his own hair.

Second Brother had the same hairstyle since childhood—he probably liked it a lot. So Su Ximu hadn’t planned to cut Second Brother’s.

But then he heard:

“Sure.” Su Wuzi, who had been sitting on the sofa letting Xiao Xi play with his hair, agreed quite readily.

?

A few minutes later.

The teenager stood there clutching a pair of scissors, hesitating. “Then, Second Brother, I’m really gonna cut it.”

Su Wuzi nodded.

Su Ximu brought the scissors closer, using his hands to measure left and right.

He had long noticed that Second Brother’s hair had a slight natural wave to it.

When he was little and Second Brother held him to sleep, he sometimes grabbed Second Brother’s hair too.

Su Ximu was still dithering with the scissors when Su Xuanxiao, Su Jianglou, and Ox Grandpa all gathered around to watch.

Su Xuanxiao had originally been working on the sofa, but now he set aside his documents.

Sensing Xiao Xi’s hesitation, Su Wuzi joked, “No worries. If you mess it up, it can grow back. Or we could just shave it bald?”

Su Ximu tried to imagine Second Brother bald but couldn’t quite picture it. Still, he laughed along.

Finally, he stopped hesitating, took a deep breath, and made the first snip at Second Brother’s hair.

Snip, snip, snip.

Strands of glossy black hair fell to the floor after being trimmed.

Su Ximu worked from the back to the front, leaning in close until he was face-to-face with Second Brother.

Second Brother was very good-looking. He was good-looking as a child, and he remained good-looking after growing up. But it wasn’t the kind of good looks that would make people mistake him for a little girl.

Just like when he was little, although he liked sticking to Second Brother, he also knew that this was his brother.

For easier trimming, the hair combed forward—which somewhat pressed against his eyebrows—was slowly trimmed into wispy bangs of just the right length, revealing that pair of extremely familiar eyes.

Unexpectedly locking eyes with that reflection of his own figure, Su Ximu thought, so how could he not find Blue 242 Leader familiar?

The eyes were very familiar.

From childhood to adulthood, Second Brother had always looked at him very seriously.

Always very seriously.