37: Chapter 37 Brother, should I kill you today?
Su Yun leaned back against the chair, his fingers resting on the mineral water bottle cap, not twisting it.
He looked at Su Chen's face, written all over with the expression of "the big picture is settled," and an indescribable emotion welled up in his heart.
This guy actually believed it.
A legendary Monster Hunter who debuted at four or five years old certainly sounded easier for a normal person to accept than "my little brother Awakened the Sequence 000 Abyssal Strange Tales."
After all, just saying the latter out loud already violated the basic laws of human cognition.
Su Yun put down the mineral water and looked up at Su Chen.
"Big Brother."
"Hmm."
"If Mom and Dad heard what you just said, you know what the consequences would be, right?"
Su Chen smiled.
His smile was gentle, and his eyes held a light as calm as a hearth fire.
"Xiao Yun, there's no need to probe anymore. You Awakened earlier than me; you couldn't have failed to notice the changes in me over these past two years."
Su Yun's gaze flickered slightly.
He had indeed noticed.
But what he had noticed was completely on a different wavelength from what Su Chen thought he had noticed.
"What exactly are you?" Su Yun shifted his sitting position, his voice dropping. "An Awakened? A Psionic Martial Artist? Or something else?"
Su Chen did not answer immediately.
He stood up, walked to the desk, and his fingertips grazed the metal probe of the stethoscope.
"You actually knew a long time ago." Su Chen's voice was excessively calm. "Last night at the dinner table, you asked me directly about Bai Cang. You asked me if I was willing to use any means necessary."
He turned back to look at Su Yun, the smile at the corners of his mouth vanishing completely.
"That wasn't information the Sanctuary told you, right? That was something you found out yourself."
Su Yun didn't speak.
Silence was the best fuel.
As expected.
Su Chen took a deep breath, braced his hands on the edge of the table, and spoke slowly.
"I am Bai Cang. The leader of the Salvation Society."
Six words.
It was as if they were being gouged out one by one from his throat.
After saying this, Su Chen's shoulders visibly relaxed.
The secret he had carried for too long was finally laid down in front of a loved one; this sense of relief could not be faked.
Su Yun sighed.
As expected, Big Brother still said it.
Was it trust in his family, or had this matter weighed on his heart for too long, and he wanted someone to confide in?
He leaned back in his chair and slightly adjusted his sitting posture.
This movement was extremely natural and did not arouse any suspicion from Su Chen.
At the same time, the Void Tentacles within his body silently unfurled.
Dozens of transparent tentacles, existing in the interlayer of reality, spread outward from Su Yun's body like invisible aquatic plants.
They clung to the floor, followed the walls, and climbed onto the ceiling.
Within three seconds, the entire bedroom was filled with Void Tentacles.
Su Chen felt nothing.
He was immersed in the complex emotions after the showdown, waiting for his brother's response.
The tentacles approached from Su Chen's feet, back, and arms simultaneously.
Su Chen's brow twitched violently.
As an S-Class powerhouse, his combat intuition issued an extremely vague warning at that moment.
It was as if something was approaching, but he could not perceive the direction, nor could he lock onto the source.
He turned his head to look in the direction from which the tentacles were extending.
There was nothing there.
The air was clean, and the psionic energy was stable.
Su Chen frowned, attributing that trace of unease to nervous tension.
The next second.
The Void Tentacles completed their overlap with Su Chen's body.
[Curtain of Delusion] activated.
Su Yun's consciousness instantly took over all of Su Chen's five sensory channels.
Sight. Hearing. Touch. Smell. Taste.
The management rights to these five information superhighways changed hands at this moment.
From Su Chen's perspective, Su Yun slowly stood up from the chair.
He walked behind Su Chen and drew a gun from his waist.
The design was extremely unique.
A matte black gun body, a revolver-style magazine, and twisted flame patterns carved into the grip.
The mark of the Night Owl.
The revolver that made countless high-level Strange Tales and crime bosses in the inner world tremble with fear.
The cold muzzle pressed against the back of Su Chen's head.
The sensation of cold metal against his skin was impeccably real.
Su Chen's entire body's muscles tensed up at once.
He did not turn around, nor did he release any psionic energy.
Because he knew clearly that making any unnecessary movements under the muzzle of an S-Class Monster Hunter was equivalent to suicide.
"Big Brother."
Su Yun's voice came from behind, terrifyingly calm.
"I didn't expect you to really be Bai Cang."
The muzzle pushed forward half an inch, pressing Su Chen's head down slightly.
"Then, shouldn't I execute you, this great criminal, today?"
Su Chen's back went rigid.
Cold sweat slid down his neck and into his high-collared jacket.
But he did not beg for mercy.
"Xiao Yun." Su Chen's voice was steady. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Do you have anything else to say?"
Su Yun walked around to the front, the muzzle precisely shifting to the center of Su Chen's brow.
The distance between the two was less than half a meter.
"As the Night Owl, I shall suppress all evil forces."
Su Yun's voice dropped, his speaking speed extremely slow.
"Especially... a great criminal like you."
Su Chen looked at the young face in front of him.
The muzzle was pressed right between his eyes.
His pupils contracted for a moment, then slowly returned to their original state.
Then!!
Su Chen turned and sat on the edge of the bed.
The entire movement was smooth and fluid; the muzzle slid from his brow across his temple, earlobe, and jawline, finally hovering beside his cheek.
He sat there, looking up at Su Yun, his gaze calm.
"Xiao Yun, you won't pull the trigger."
Su Yun's hand did not move.
"What makes you say that?"
"Because we are the same kind of people."
Su Chen's voice was unhurried, carrying a conviction that was so certain it was almost paranoid.
"The Night Owl has debuted for over a decade and has never taken action against the Salvation Society. It's not that you didn't know of my existence; you just chose to condone it."
Su Yun did not speak.
"The purpose of you probing me at the dinner table last night wasn't it just because you wanted to join me?"
Su Chen continued, his speaking speed gradually increasing, "Join me in changing this world."
Su Yun stared at him for three seconds.
"You misunderstood."
Su Yun's hand holding the gun slowly lowered an inch.
"I wasn't inviting you to cooperate yesterday. I was warning you not to stir up this chaotic mess within the borders of Great Xia."
Su Chen's gaze changed.
The gentle exterior cracked at this moment, revealing the fanaticism that had been suppressed for a long time underneath.
"No."
Su Chen stood up abruptly, his voice rising by half a degree.
"Great Xia cannot fall behind! Do you know what the situation in Neon is like now? Beneath the wasteland of Strange Tales everywhere, five S-Class Awakened were born in three months! Five! In the past, they couldn't even produce one in ten years!"
He took a step forward, completely ignoring the muzzle inches away.
"Pressure breeds evolution! This is living proof! If Great Xia continues to use this gentle and conservative strategy, ten years from now, we won't even have the qualifications to arm-wrestle with Neon!"
"I said it already." Su Yun's voice turned cold. "This is not a negotiation; this is a notification."
Su Chen locked eyes with him.
The air between the two brothers almost solidified into a solid.
In the end, it was Su Chen who looked away first.
He sat back on the edge of the bed and remained silent for a long time.
"Let's not talk about this for now."
Su Chen's voice returned to calm, as if he had locked that burning emotion back into an iron box.
He raised his head, his gaze becoming sharp again.
"Xiao Yun, you've seen the news this morning, right?"
Su Yun put away the gun.
Of course, this gun did not exist from start to finish.
He sat down again opposite Su Chen and leaned back against the chair.
"City-wide lockdown. S-Class Executive, codenamed Firmament."
"Correct." Su Chen's voice was very low. "Firmament, real name Executive Jiang Xu. But he is not the real trouble."
Su Chen tapped his index finger on his knee twice.
"His partner, codenamed Abyssal Eye. Possessing the strongest psionic detection ability currently known."
Su Chen looked at Su Yun, enunciating each word.
"If she scans at full power, even you and I might not be able to hide."