"Heh, no grievances? Your parents had money, and at that time, I just happened to be short some money. See? That's a grievance, isn't it?" Boss Jia sneered, revealing his true nature.
The innocent are guilty merely for possessing wealth. That's the logic… bullshit! Good people just get guns pointed at them?
"You're right," John nodded, then casually added, "There's a wealthy household in Qingce Village, only women and a three-year-old son. They don't produce anything but can squander endlessly."
John looked at Boss Jia and asked, "Coincidentally, I was short on money. Boss Jia… do you think I have a grudge against them?"
Boss Jia froze, trembling as he asked, "You know them?"
"Them… who?" John stepped closer, expression serious.
"Misfortune should not affect the family." Boss Jia closed his eyes. "Misfortune should not affect the family!!!"
He let out an angry roar, struggling to grab John and land a few vicious blows, but John easily dodged.
A joke—at this level, not even half the force of a slime's charge could compare. How could Boss Jia touch him?
Moreover, he was chained up—if he could still harm John, he wouldn't be alive now.
"Misfortune should not affect the family? How so, Boss Jia? They're not your family. They have money—they're my 'enemies.' Isn't that what you told me?" John's smile faded into a cold expression.
"Or are your family human, Boss Jia, and my parents not human?"
He kicked aside the hand Boss Jia had reached out, then stomped on the other restless hand, crushing it harshly.
"Ah!" Boss Jia let out a hoarse, pitiful scream.
After venting some of his anger, John looked at the man on the floor, no better than a dead dog.
Straightening his clothes, John said, "Don't worry, I'm not you. I don't stoop to harming women or children."
"Besides…" John raised an eyebrow, showing a wicked grin.
"Who said that child is necessarily yours?"
Boss Jia's pupils shrank sharply. His once cloudy mind suddenly cleared half-way.
"What do you mean?!"
"All the men under Boss Jia are quite the gentlemen," John said, recalling the intel Nightlan had given him. He was a little stunned.
He had only heard of bosses capping their subordinates, never subordinates capping the boss—and it seemed there wasn't just one. Was this karma?
"Impossible! You're lying, John, you villain! You deserve to die!" Boss Jia shook his head, unwilling to believe it. But he realized John had no reason to lie about this. His words shouted curses, but his mind was already convinced.
No wonder every time they went to Qingce Village, his men eagerly volunteered, and returned weak-kneed—he had mocked them, thinking it was just play.
Turns out it wasn't play—it was at his own house! And free too!
He should have realized earlier—the child didn't resemble him at all, not like he had looked as a child. Instead, the child bore some resemblance to Ada. All the "child not fully grown" excuses had been lies.
Boss Jia's eyes lost their light, merging with the shadows. In an instant, his vitality plummeted. If not for the slight rise and fall of his chest, John would have thought he'd croaked.
Seeing him like this, John shook his head, losing interest in further conversation, and turned to leave the room.
"I thought you'd just kill him outright," Nightlan leaned against the wall at the doorway, playing with a fine line of Hydro energy.
"I'm a law-abiding citizen, and in his current state, isn't it more satisfying not to kill him? Besides, even if I didn't act, would you have let him continue to live?" John answered earnestly.
"A law-abiding citizen? Law-abiding citizens don't have this many weapons," Nightlan neither confirmed nor denied. With a flick of her hand, the water thread shattered into pale blue elemental energy and disappeared into the air.
John wasn't fazed. He replied seriously, "Isn't it reasonable for a mercenary house to keep some weapons?"
"If they were normal weapons, you might have an excuse. But these weapons have no marks from their smith, no forging location, and no listed seller."
"These are unregistered products."
"…." John was speechless. Indeed, the weapons drawn from the in-game shop had no marks. Even he didn't know where they came from.
"No proof, illegal smuggling and sale of weapons…"
"This is a serious crime," Nightlan said with a light laugh, almost as if to say, "John, you don't want to go to jail for this, do you?"
"If Nightlan has something to say, speak directly." John knew the reason she hadn't arrested him immediately, instead letting him 'take revenge' here, had purpose.
"You owe me a favor, and you'll help Keqing properly. I'll have someone handle the rest thoroughly—you'll get a weapons shop and the proper business license," Nightlan laid out her conditions.
John was stunned—not because the conditions were poor, but because they were too good. So good it almost felt unreal.
"Don't look at me like that. Although your parents died in an accident, we knew they were being lured into losing your family's business, but we didn't intervene early to punish that Jia guy. Instead, we chose to let him continue fishing."
"In a sense, we were accomplices? This is our way of making some compensation to you," Nightlan explained.
John was silent. He understood clearly that his parents' death and his family's downfall weren't Nightlan's fault.
After all, as enforcers, they had no obligation to warn about business traps. Business is business—as long as it's legal, morality doesn't matter. If someone sets a trap, you can only blame your own lack of skill.
If his parents hadn't been greedy for that hefty commission, they wouldn't have fallen into the trap, and even if the accident occurred, they wouldn't have amassed such a huge debt.
It was just a messy affair. Since the culprit was punished, John no longer cared.
Nightlan seemed to see his thoughts and patted his shoulder: "Go ahead. After all, it's public money."
John: …