216 Nothing But a Coward

"I'm too busy and it's too bothersome. I almost forgot I even have that notebook," Iris said, shrugging.

"Little Sister, that's not how you use the Black Note," Lu Zihao told her. "Once you write a name, you don't procrastinate. You immediately erase the person and cross out the name."

Iris frowned. "I'm not going to kill anyone."

"There are many ways to make people suffer fates worse than death." A dangerous look glinted in his eyes. "You are really too kind-hearted, dear Little Sister. For people like these, you have to root them out as soon as possible to prevent them from plotting against you again."

"I'll let my lawyer deal with the Alarm Girls. The law will decide an appropriate punishment for them."

"You'll trust a lawyer? The law?" He threw his head back and laughed like it was the funniest joke he had ever heard.

"Big Brother, I'm Long Xiulan now and you are Lu Zihao. We are law-abiding citizens, at least I am. We can't erase who we were during our past lives, but we no longer live in that kind of lawless world."

"Oh? And Drakon is a law-abiding citizen? I know that hacker is you, Little Sister. You caused so much chaos all over the world. You're a wanted person being hunted by several authorities in many different countries, yet you dare call yourself a law-abiding citizen?"

She pursed her lips. "But they don't know that I'm Drakon. Long Xiulan is a law-abiding citizen."

He chuckled in amusement at her logic.

"And as for Fan Luo, she only wrote some negative comments about me on the internet. She didn't really directly attack or hurt me or anything like that. I think I was too hasty when I wrote her name in the notebook in the first place."

"Is that what you think? That she didn't directly attack or hurt you?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Have you even ran a background check on her?"

"No."

"Have you ever ran background checks on the people around you? Your household staff?"

She hesitated. "I did a background check on Dom and then on my two bodyguards. Only on the people that I personally hired after I woke up in this body. As for my housekeeper and the others, no. I didn't think that I needed to."

"How about on Liwei? Did you run a background check on him?"

"Why should I?" she asked, confused.

Lu Zihao looked exasperated. He released a heavy sigh. "You! How can you be so careless? You're a hacker and you don't even run basic background checks on the people around you? You're the most intelligent person that I know but you can also be so dumb."

She threw a sullen look at him. So mean. He just called her dumb.

"Little Sister, don't trust anyone. Not even me. Do you hear me? Only trust yourself."

"That's such a sad way to live life, not trusting anyone."

"It's the safest way to live."

"I don't want to live like that," she said. "I want to create genuine relationships with people. I can't do that if I act paranoid all the time, checking the backgrounds of everyone I meet. If someone betrays or hurts me, I'll just deal with it when it happens. I want to trust people according to my own judgment and not based on background check results."

He looked even more exasperated this time. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. Then he shook his head, sighing. "Our parents and I have always wondered how the Vetrovs could have produced someone like you. Your heart is too good, but that's also what makes you so precious. You were totally incompatible with the Vetrov's way of life. We had many enemies and someone like you was an easy target. That's why we fiercely shielded you from the outside. You always had been our treasure, Evelinka. Even if you're Xiulan now, you'll always remain my treasure. I'll kill anyone who dares hurt you."

"Big Brother—"

Her phone rang. She glanced at the caller and then answered the call.

"Hello, Mr. JJ?"

She gestured at Lu Zihao and rose from the bed. She walked out of the bedroom to speak with her music producer in private.

Lu Zihao was left alone. He sat by the study desk, fiddling with the black notebook.

Moments later, the bathroom door opened. A freshly-showered and freshly-shaved Jin Liwei walked out with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Hm? Where's Xiulan?" he immediately asked.

"Taking a call from JJ," Lu Zihao replied.

"Oh." Jin Liwei nodded and then headed to the walk-in closet. He returned to the bedroom fully clothed, rubbing his wet hair with a towel.

"How long has she been gone?" Jin Liwei asked.

"She just left." Then Lu Zihao raised the black notebook in his hand. "Do you know what this is?"

Jin Liwei didn't answer. He saw it before, but he didn't really know what its purpose was.

"I'll tell you," Lu Zihao said with a devilish smile. "It's a hit list."

Jin Liwei frowned.

"And do you know the lucky person who had her name written first?"

"Fan Luo."

Lu Zihao's smile became even more devilish. "Ah, so you know! It seems that you've seen this notebook before. So how do you feel that your future sister-in-law's name is written in your girlfriend's personal hit list?"

Jin Liwei's frown deepened.

"Heh~ Don't tell me you think that this Fan Luo is different from the Fan Luo you know? Come on, Third Brother. You're not that stupid."

Lu Zihao smirked when Jin Liwei stayed silent. "Feeling guilty?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know what you did, Third Brother."

"Speak clearly. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Heh~ Fine, I'll tell you. Isn't it funny how two years ago, you didn't even care about a dying girl and even covered up the truth about her attempted murder all for the sake of avoiding scandal for your family? Loyal and protective of his family, ruthless to his enemies. That's who Jin Liwei is, the most powerful man in the country's business world of today's generation. For the sake of maintaining the Jin family's pristine image and for making your beloved mother happy, you'll even allow a psycho to become your sister-in-law." Lu Zihao threw his head back and laughed. He sounded like the devil.

"What loyal and protective of his family? You just don't want the hassle of dealing with the sh*tstorm once that b*tch's real colours are exposed. You'd rather have things remain as they are and maintain the illusion of perfection." Lu Zihao sneered. "But wait a minute. Lo and behold! You suddenly fall in love with the girl you f*cked over! Funny, isn't it?"

"You…How did you—" Jin Liwei looked at him in shocked disbelief.

"You feel sorry and regret what you did," Lu Zihao continued as if not hearing him. "You love her so much that you want to marry her. You try to forget what you did and hope that she'll never find out. You tell yourself that you'll confess the truth. You're just looking for the right timing. But when will that be?"

An expression of utter shock was on Jin Liwei's face. He quickly turned pale. It felt like his entire body was suddenly submerged in freezing water. He couldn't breathe. His heart seized beating for a few beats before hammering wildly in his chest. All of Lu Zihao's words were like knives being stabbed into his heart.

"You want to redeem yourself, so you begin suppressing that b*tch's family. But oh! Here's the thing, you do it in a gentle and imperceptible way because you still don't want the hassle of dealing with a scandal. You don't want to rock the boat. Your mother will continue treating a cold-blooded snake like a cute furry bunny, and everyone will continue thinking that the Jin family is the epitome of perfection. At the same time, you'll be having your happily ever after with the girl who had no idea that she was f*cked over. Everyone's happy! Hooray! Wonderful, isn't it?"

Lu Zihao's devilish smile disappeared, replaced by a cold and merciless judge. "You're nothing but a coward, Jin Liwei."

'You're nothing but a coward nothing but a coward a coward A COWARD,' the damning words echoed endlessly inside Jin Liwei's mind.