Fang Ji: “?”

What the hell. A weak heart?

Did scammers these days come with such complete character profiles?

He looked at Fang Chengyu. The man, who seemed a few years his senior, looked genuinely startled by him. His eyes were wide, his thin lips were slightly parted, and his hand had instinctively risen to press against his own shoulder. His breathing seemed somewhat rapid as he stared at Fang Ji with a look of shock and confusion.

Fang Chengyu’s hair had been mussed up when Fang Ji grabbed him, and a slightly curled lock fell across his forehead. He looked entirely like a victim, the very picture of innocence.

The corner of Fang Ji’s eye twitched. He wouldn’t believe for the life of him that this was Fang Chengyu’s true face.

Hypocrisy… it’s all hypocrisy! This must be Fang Chengyu’s hypocritical mask!

But perhaps the butler’s words, “a weak heart,” had unsettled him. He was worried the other party would use it as an excuse to extort him.

He gritted his teeth, let out a cold snort, and abruptly released his grip. Then, with a forceful tug, he pulled his wrist free from the butler’s hand.

He said coolly to Fang Chengyu, “Don’t get happy too soon. So you just pulled some strings at the hospital in advance? Heh, a trick like this… just wait for me to expose you, then you can go freeload in a jail cell!”

After speaking, he turned his head and strode into the testing center.

When the security guards stopped him, Fang Ji said something to them. A guard then made a phone call and handed it to Fang Ji. After about five minutes of conversation, the guard took the phone back, received his instructions, and stepped back to let Fang Ji pass.

In the front hall of the testing center, only the butler remained by Fang Chengyu’s side.

The butler stepped forward and dutifully straightened the young master’s collar, saying kindly, “Young Master, please don’t take it to heart. The younger master’s personality is quite different from Mr. Fang’s; he’s more lively, but his heart is not bad.”

Fang Chengyu pulled his gaze back from Fang Ji’s retreating figure and said in a dejected and puzzled tone, “But Xiao Ji seems to have a huge problem with me… Is it because of my identity?”

This was a difficult question for the butler to answer. He could only say, “Perhaps your arrival was too sudden, and the younger master was not mentally prepared.”

Fang Chengyu sighed. “I hope so.”

He melancholically told the butler that he wanted to sit alone for a while. The butler understandingly moved away to a distance.

After confirming there was no one else around, Lin Chen calmly took out his phone and switched his GreenChat account.

He opened the pinned [No. 6 Family Work Group] (valid for one year), tagged all members, and posted an announcement.

Six: [@All Members Within the next 30 days, do not initiate contact with Fang Ji. If you receive a call from Fang Ji, please use a sufficient reason to keep the call duration under thirty seconds.]

After a short wait, replies started to appear below.

Father Fang: [Received, son.]

Mother Fang: [Received, son.]

Fang Bro: [Received, big brother.]

Fang Sis: [Received, big brother.]

They didn’t reply instantly, making it look as if they were taking a moment out of their busy work schedules to respond.

But since they had replied, adding a few more words naturally wasn’t a problem.

Father Fang: [Was Xiao Ji in a bad mood before he left? @Six Big son, please take good care of Xiao Ji]

Fathet Fang → Six: [Transfer 50,000] x4

Mother Fang: [Is Xiao Ji short on money? Let’s transfer him some more. Also: Big son, please take good care of Xiao Ji.]

Mother Fang → Six: [Transfer 50,000] x4

Fang Bro: [Transferred. Also: Big brother, please take good care of Xiao Ji.]

Fang Bro → Six: [Transfer 50,000] x4

Fang Sis: [Transferred. Also: Big brother, please take good care of Xiao Ji.]

Fang Sis → Six: [Transfer 50,000] x4

Lin Chen: …

It was a good thing this GreenChat wasn’t from his original world; otherwise, the daily receiving limit would have prevented him from even accepting these sixteen transfers.

The system had just finished its work and was now lying flat in its host’s mind, watching the group chat with him. It felt great sympathy for its new sixty-million-dollar target.

System: “Boohoo, Host, but Fang Ji only became like this because he lacked his family’s love. Now you’re going to confiscate his family. Won’t that make his symptoms more obvious?”

Lin Chen said flatly, “Oh? I’ve confiscated so many of his paid-for brothers and sisters. Where is he going to find a way to worsen his symptoms in the short term?”

The system was confused. “Then, then what are you planning to do, Host…”

Lin Chen said leisurely, “When he longed for his family’s love and couldn’t get it, he chose to go out and pay for love.”

“What his paid-for brothers and sisters provided was a low-quality, false love that even he himself could sense. This love could only relieve his desires, but it was destined to never truly satisfy him.”

“But even if it’s junk food, eating too much of it can still stretch the stomach.”

“If I were to teach his parents and siblings how to show him concern right now, would that satisfy him? Obviously, they can’t.”

“Only by having him fast for a period of time will his appetite slowly shrink back to a state that can be satisfied by reality.”

The system seemed to partially understand. “Oh! I get it, Host! But, but, how small does his appetite need to shrink?”

Lin Chen smiled gently. “Shrink it to the point where I alone can satisfy it.”

Lin Chen sent the system’s camera over to Fang Ji’s location.

Ever since He Wenyan’s company got on the right track with the help of the thirty million, the system’s timeline was now benchmarked against the third year of the original story—the point where the original protagonist finally broke free from the suppression and influence of the capital, earned his first pot of gold, and set his company on the right path.

In other words, due to the effect of the thirty million, the system had received an energy reward for the achievement of “Successfully Maintained 3 Years of Storyline.”

And, under Lin Chen’s supervision, it had invested all the acquired energy into the “Host Body Modification” skill.

Lin Chen was initially shocked by the existence of this skill.

But the system had asked him quizzically, “If I can’t modify the host’s body, then how was I supposed to restart the original body’s heart when your soul descended? How could I make the body you were about to use come back to life?”

Lin Chen: …

Lin Chen: “A very good point. It seems you do have some use after all, AC9999.”

Once he invested more energy into it, he probably wouldn’t have to manually go on a diet to lose weight the next time he needed to feign weakness.

…That was genuine starvation!

The system had no idea what Lin Chen was thinking.

It was purely overjoyed by its host’s praise and remained excited for three days and three nights!

With the powerful assistance of AC9999, which could modify the host’s body, Lin Chen’s performance—whether it was playing a corpse a few days ago or undergoing the paternity test now—was nothing short of seamless!

Getting exposed?

Hah, AC9999 had altered the DNA in the collected cells on the spot to resemble the biological bloodline of Father Fang and Mother Fang. How could the test result possibly show anything else?

…

Fang Ji watched the laboratory procedures with red eyes the entire time, staying up all night with the lab technicians who were working overtime.

Finally, the paternity test result came out.

When he got the result in his hands and saw the conclusion line “supports that Fang Yecheng is the biological father of Fang Chengyu,” his vision went black for a moment!

No, Fang Chengyu…

He… he…

Huh?!

Is he… is he really my brother?!

Fang Ji found it incredible, unwilling to believe it.

He immediately took photos of the two reports, edited out the names and conclusions, and then used his wealth to find a way. In the middle of the night, he invited professionals from other hospitals to give him an on-the-spot judgment to see if this was real or fake.

Before long, professionals from several hospitals sent back their feedback one after another, informing him that the individuals involved in both reports did indeed have a biological parent-child relationship. Fang Ji’s world quietly collapsed.

Fang Ji’s eyes were vacant as he stumbled back to the testing center’s front hall.

He looked around blankly. When he didn’t see the person who had made a fool of him over a dozen times but turned out to be his goddamn new older brother, his mind suddenly cleared.

He laughed out of anger.

He strode over to the butler with a jangling of his accessories and demanded, “Fang Chengyu already went back? Does he not care about his own paternity test result at all?”

The middle-aged butler said patiently, “The young master hasn’t gone back. His health isn’t good, and he usually can’t stay up late, so he went back to the car to rest and wait for you.”

Fang Ji: “…”

The hypocritical guy who made a fool of him over a dozen times deserved to lose karmic merit and have his life shortened for being so wicked!

But then he thought again, damn it, this was his actual brother…

His world collapsed again!

Fang Ji said with a deadpan expression, “What’s wrong with him? If he’s tired, he should go home and sleep in bed. Why didn’t you send him back first?”

The butler: “The young master said you might be lonely waiting here alone at night, so he wanted to wait and go back with you.”

Fang Ji: “?”

Fang Ji fumed, “Who would be lonely? Who needs his concern, the hypocritical guy!”

Fuming, Fang Ji returned to the car. He flung the door open and saw that in the spacious MPV, one of the rear seats had been folded down.

Under the gentle interior lights, the long-haired beauty with an incredibly gentle face was draped in a thin blanket, his eyes closed and his breathing even. He was clearly already asleep.

His soft, long hair fell casually across his chest, rising and falling rhythmically with his slow breaths.

Fang Ji: “…”

Fang Ji, showing a sliver of public decency, lightened his movements.

But even so, the various accessories on his earlobes, neck, wrists, and clothes still made small, crisp clinking sounds.

“Mmm…”

Fang Ji instinctively looked up.

Fang Chengyu groggily opened his eyes, his dazed, just-awakened gaze turning toward the source of the sound.

Seeing it was him, Fang Chengyu forced himself to wake up, propping himself up in the seat and smiling at him. “Ah, Xiao Ji, you’re out. How was it, are the results out?”

Seeing him awake, Fang Ji no longer bothered to control the noise from his jewelry and bells.

He coldly tossed the two reports in his hand to the side. “Yeah.”

Done, he pressed his lips together tightly and whipped his head around to stare at the scenery outside the car window, not wanting to see what expression Fang Chengyu would have upon seeing the reports.

Joy? Excitement? Or smugness?

…Heh.

What a joke. So what if he was his real brother? Did that erase the fact that he had deliberately made a fool of him over a dozen times?

And here he was, playing the part of a loving brother, pretending to have poor health and to have stayed up waiting for him…

Did he really think Fang Ji would believe that over a dozen of his carefully selected hired siblings all getting poached at the same time, without a single one left, was just a coincidence?!

In his dreams.

He wasn’t that easy to fool!

And he didn’t want just any hypocritical brother!

The more Fang Ji thought, the angrier he became, silently vowing that one day he would tear off Fang Chengyu’s hypocritical mask.

His gaze, however, unconsciously drifted to the reflection in the window, showing the person in the seat next to him—Fang Chengyu picked up the reports, glanced at them calmly, and then casually placed them aside. He showed no joy, no surprise, no particular emotion at all.

Fang Ji: ?

No, hold on, this was about returning to the Fang family!

This report represented an enormous fortune. How could Fang Chengyu not even show a flicker of emotion? Was his acting that good?

Fang Ji couldn’t help but turn his head to look.

He saw that after putting down the reports, Fang Chengyu seemed to be getting sleepy again and raised a hand to lightly cover a yawn.

Seeing him look over, he once again tried to perk up, looking at him with a friendly and inquisitive gaze. “What’s wrong, Xiao Ji?”

Fang Ji: “.”

Damn it, why did I have to look?

He couldn’t just say it was nothing—if he said it was nothing, wouldn’t looking at him make him mistakenly think he had accepted him as a brother?

Just then, Fang Ji conveniently remembered the text message he had just received from his father:

His father wanted him to take Fang Chengyu to Qi Wendong’s funeral tomorrow.

He had been reluctant—Fang Chengyu had never even met the person, what was the point of him tagging along to a funeral?

But now, with the question hanging in the air, he had to find an excuse for his glance.

So he said stiffly, “Be ready to leave with me at eight tomorrow morning to attend the Qi family’s funeral. Remember to get up early.”