Genius Playground

”What is it?”

Jiang Ran sat up in bed again.

”From the way you’re talking... is there something you’re finding hard to say?”

Fang Ze gave a noncommittal response and continued.

”To be honest, I never meant to hide anything. I don’t think having a brother is something that needs to be hidden.”

”But... my brother always warned me not to tell outsiders about him, to just say I was an only child.”

”So, I’m sorry, Jiang Ran. I lied to you just now. But I’ve been thinking, and I shouldn’t keep this from you.”

”For one, we’re classmates and roommates. I don’t want to start our friendship by lying about something small like this.”

”And for another... Jiang Ran, you’re so familiar with East Sea City. Maybe you can actually help me find my brother.”

...

Hiding something.

Lying.

Looking for his brother.

Jiang Ran listened in silence, noting these key points.

It seemed there was indeed a complicated history between Fang Ze and his brother.

He wasn’t particularly curious about gossip between brothers, unless...

”What’s your brother’s name?”

Jiang Ran asked the question that concerned him most.

”Fang Yang.”

Fang Ze let out a soft laugh.

”Same last name as me, Fang. And his first name is Yang, as in the ocean.”

Jiang Ran held his breath.

’Fang Yang!’

’Talk about a stroke of luck. After all that searching, a clue just falls right into my lap. The Assassin, Fang Yang, is really my roommate Fang Ze’s brother!’

In that case, he absolutely had to hear the gossip—and the so-called secret history.

’Why was the Assassin in prison?’

’Why didn’t he want his little brother to mention him?’

’And why did Fang Ze come to East Sea City as an exchange student?’

It seemed... there was an extraordinary connection between all these things.

So, Jiang Ran quickly slipped on his slippers, got out of bed, sat down across from the coffee table, and prepared to listen intently.

”My brother isn’t my full brother, exactly. We’re half-brothers—we have the same mother. He’s from my mom’s first marriage. After her divorce, she brought him with her when she got together with my father.”

Fang Ze continued his story.

”When my mom married my dad, my brother was already five years old. I was born a year later, so he’s six years older than me. Growing up, he always took great care of me and doted on me.”

”Our family was quite wealthy when I was young. We lived abroad, following my father wherever his business took us. We moved from country to country, carefree and very happy.”

”Everything changed when I was eleven. My father was set up in a business deal and his company went bankrupt overnight, leaving him with massive debts. He couldn’t handle the blow and committed suicide. Afterwards, my mother fell into a deep depression, unable to bear the pressure, and six months later, she jumped from the roof of a building... From then on, my brother and I were orphans.”

Jiang Ran listened silently, his head lowered.

He had already suspected that Fang Yang must have had a difficult life to have ended up on the path of an ”Assassin.”

But he never imagined his past was this tragic.

After a pause of a few seconds, Fang Ze’s voice continued.

”I was still very young back then, and faced with one tragedy after another, I cried all day. But my brother never cried, not once. He just held me and told me he was there, that he would protect me and never let any harm come to me.”

”Later, my brother miraculously handled everything. He not only paid off our father’s debts but also earned a lot of money to send me to the best schools.”

”At the time, I didn’t understand much. I just thought my brother was amazing. But as I got older, I of course realized what he was doing...”

He looked up at Jiang Ran and gave a helpless smile.

”It’s obvious, isn’t it? My brother must have been doing something illegal and dangerous, or maybe working for some bad people. Otherwise, how could someone so young get their hands on that much money?”

Jiang Ran nodded slightly as he listened to Fang Ze’s story.

Yes.

It was obvious.

The fastest ways to make money are always written into the criminal code. It’s the same everywhere, at home or abroad.

Besides, Jiang Ran already knew that Fang Ze’s brother, Fang Yang, was a murderer who had killed people.

The Assassin himself had said so; he had never once denied it.

And inside that Future Prison, the Assassin was a true all-around MVP. He could pick locks, use grenades, kill with his bare hands, and had impeccable aim... Any one of those skills was enough to land him in prison for life.

Not to mention, he could do it all, a master of every trade.

”I told my brother so many times to stop doing such dangerous things. But he would always just smile and tell me to study hard in school and not worry about anything.”

”Tuition in the United States is very expensive, but my brother always managed to come up with enough for my school fees and living expenses. He always transferred huge sums of money, which made me more and more uneasy.”

”This summer, my brother transferred a huge amount of money to me.”

Fang Ze’s expression was full of worry.

”It was an absurdly large sum, an amount most people couldn’t earn in several lifetimes.”

”My brother called me and told me to take good care of myself from now on. He said to use the money to graduate and start a family, and that I shouldn’t think about him or try to find him.”

”After that, he completely disappeared. I tried everything to find him, but all I could trace was that his last call to me was made from somewhere in East Sea City, near East Sea University... That’s why I applied to be an exchange student and came here.”

...

Fang Ze’s story was finished.

He turned his head, looked at the moon outside the window, and fell silent.

Perhaps this kind of heartfelt confession was his way of breaking the ice.

At least... in the two days since the semester started, Jiang Ran had never seen such gloom on his face, only a facade of cheerfulness.