Chapter 566: Tomorrow, tomorrow…
=Strange…it appears a scar that wasn’t there previously due to fading with time has reinvigorated itself and is once again visible. How odd.=
[You know, ringmaster, the amount of times I’ve had to pin to the ceiling this evening is starting to get worrisome.]
‘I know, I know, Spring Brawler! Thanks for the save again, though.’
[Anytime, ringmaster.]
In the exact same moment that Lacerage finished whatever she was doing inside of Zhen Hou’s head, Zhen Liu had heard the sound of approaching footsteps coming from the only door in or out of this lounge.
Not wanting to explain what he was doing down here to his uncles, Zhen Liu had Spring Brawler grab him and cling them both to the ceiling once more.
A correct call as it would turn out.
The exact moment Spring to himself into place, securing Zhen Liu to himself, Zhen Long walked into the lounge.
From his new hiding spot, Zhen Liu could see Zhen Long and Zhen Hou talk about something, but he wasn’t sure what that something was about.
He could’ve listened in if he wanted to, but doing so now felt… inappropriate.
‘Alright, need to figure out how we can get out of this room ASAP. Otherwise we won’t be ready for tomorrow’s…activities? Festivities? Bullshit that grandfather is about to subject us to tomorrow, that’ll work.’
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*Glug, glug*
*Clack*
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
After pouring his older brother a glass of whiskey, Zhen Hou proceeded to pour himself one as well.
Once both glasses were filled, the two eldest sons of the Zhen branch clan proceeded to simply clink their glasses together before drinking. A small toast, as it were.
“So…you ready for tomorrow?,” Zhen Hou asked.
“Honestly, not really,” Zhen Long replied. “First time in our lives any of us are meeting these main branch guys and I have no idea if…”
“Hmm? What’s wrong?,” Zhen Hou asked as soon as he noticed his older brother had stopped his answer mid-explanation.
“What…happened to your face?”
“Huh?”
“There. On your forehead to your right.”
Zhen Long pointed in the general spot he was referring to Zhen Hou’s face, which in turn caused them to reach his hand towards that spot and feel what his brother was pointing out.
As soon as fingers made contact, a shudder went down Zhen Hou’s spine as he felt the tingling sensation that could only occur when touches an old wound that had long since been covered over with years and years of scar tissue.
“Oh…this old wound? You don’t remember? I got this back when we were kids and lived outside of Stone Claw,” Zhen Hou responded, partially out of habit, partially out of curiosity.
Zhen Hou wanted to know if the memory associated with this scar was just as formative in his brother’s mind as it was in his own. As it would turn out…sort of.
“Back when we were…wait…I think I remember…oh yeah! That happened when we both got kidnapped by those flower guys, right?’
“Yup!,” Zhen Hou nodded, pleased that he wasn’t the only one to remember that evening.
“Got this after I tried copying you in attempting to escape the clutches of our captors. I managed to get loose, but then-”
“You got knocked to the ground after one of them smacked you upside the head,” Zhen Long finished. “I remember that evening…there was a lot of blood.”
“Well, I did also smack my head into a wooden support beam immediately afterwards.”
“No, not just from you. After you got knocked out, mother and father showed up a literal second later,” Zhen Long corrected.
“They saw you on the ground, me getting choked out and the whole crew of kidnappers and assassins standing there in surprise over what to do next because they bother showed up way sooner than they had anticipated.”
Zhen Long took another sip of his whiskey before continuing, either to refresh his throat or give him a bit of courage to explain what happened next.
“You remember that one time we almost got shortchanged for a job and father looked like he was about to rip the guy’s head off and then use it as a ball?”
“Yeah…”
“That evening…I actually saw them act on that impulse.”
“Oh fuck.”
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Shortly after you got knocked out, mother and father arrived just in time to see who and how they did it.
For a moment, everyone was silent.
The guys who kidnapped were shocked at the arrival of our parents, I was silent because I felt the sudden change in the atmosphere while mother and father were silent well…they were angry.
Before anyone could even react or say anything, I think I remember this guy in a red suit trying to negotiate or something, but those words fell on very deaf ears.
Because the moment that guy opened his mouth to either negotiate or make a threat, he was stunned silent once mother had rushed towards the guy who knocked you out and literally ripped the man’s head off his neck.
I, uh…still remember the sounds of screaming turning into sounds of gurgling.
It got significantly more violent after that moment.
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“I feel like it’s pointless for me to say that there were no survivors that evening other than us, but…that was the angriest I have ever seen mother or father been since.”
“Huh…”
As Zhen Long finished telling the tale of the events Zhen Hou had missed after earning that scar on his forehead, the man became introspective as he recalled a lesson he had learned just moments ago.
[Violence is never an answer, it’s a question. A question that should be: when is it right to use violence?]
‘Well…if I had to hazard a guess…the right time to use violence is when some jackass dares to hurt my family…or something like that.’
As Zhen Hou came to this realization, he unconsciously began to circulate his aether. A small breeze quickly emnanted from his body before dying out, and the cup of whiskey in his hand began to swirl as if a small tornado spontaneously manifested inside it for only a second and no more.
Evidently, Zhen Long didn’t seem to notice any of these events occuring within the last few minutes, as he was busy nursing a whiskey neat.
“Well…this was a lovely chat, but I think we need to end it here,” Zhen Long said as he finished his drink and began to stand up. “We gotta be up bright and early tomorrow morning so we can finally meet our long lost relatives and make a good impression…then again, they might just despise our existence based on principle”
“Or the fact that we’re technically royal bastard children.”
“That too.”
Zhen Long and Zhen Hou proceeded to be good guests and placed their glasses into a tray that was marked for dirty dishes and proceeded to take the bottle of whiskey with them as they left the lounge area.
Before they left the lounge completely, they had one last exchange of dialogue.
“Do you really think the main clan will still want to kill dad after all this time? It’s been like… several decades since then,” Zhen Hou asked.
“Oh, who knows? All we gotta do is make a good first impression tomorrow…that or get ready to fight our way out like rabid animals,” Zhen Long replied.
“True, true…damn, I wish we could have some more information about these guys or something. Maybe have spies on the inside?”
“Please, we could barely afford such personnel and none of us have any talent for stealth. Besides, if any of them get caught and they trace it back to us, that could lead to a real bad first impression.”
“Yeah…well, good night”
“Good night.”
As Zhen Long and Zhen Hou went their separate ways, a certain young man hiding on the ceiling with the help of a puppet kaijin had finally let out a sigh of relief as he could now leave his hiding spot.
Although, there was now something new bothering his mind.
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‘Hey…those zakos we lost in the main clan’s compound…is there any possibility of them being able to trace that shit back to me, I guess.’
<=Short answer: no. Long answer:fuck no.=>
‘Oh! Well that was fast…how do you know this?’
=Unless you made sure to use items that are easily traced back to you or your particular clan, there is no way for whomever managed to destroy those zakos to know where they came from.=
‘Huh… that’s… awfully convenient. Wait, what happens if a zakos gets captured and they try to interrogate them with like…anima power?’
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