The Wanderer's Archive

Qi Ling'er nervously nibbled on her butter knife, avoiding my gaze. My little sister had always known how scarily perceptive I was about these subtle tells.

In a small, hesitant voice, she ventured:

"Auntie came by earlier..."

Our aunt—father's own sister, the last blood relative we had left in this world.

This same woman who grew up with father, who received his financial support for both her wedding and home purchase, who always played the doting aunt—had without hesitation conspired with her husband to swindle our inheritance after father's death, all under the guise of being our legal guardians.

Even now, I could still remember clutching my sobbing sister as we knelt outside their doorstep, begging our dear aunt to at least take care of little Ling'er out of respect for father.

The result? My eldest cousin had beaten me bloody.

Seeing my prolonged silence, Qi Ling'er added:

"She was talking about the letter of forgiveness..."

"Not a chance."

I cut her off mid-sentence.

"Father funded half their damn house! And how did they repay him? Stole our insurance money then tried to take our home too!"

My voice kept rising until it became a full-blown roar. These days I rarely showed such raw emotion, but these memories always tore through my carefully constructed composure.

Qi Ling'er shrunk into herself. She'd known this would anger me, yet still mumbled:

"It's just signing a paper... Uncle could get reduced sentence, and we'd receive compensation too..."

I shot her an amused glance. "What? A few dirty coins and you're bought?"

"That's not it!" She pouted. "She's father's only sister... our last relative. When I saw her today, she looked so thin. Can't we just... let the past go?"

"Let it go?"

She nodded.

"How merciful of you."

Three years ago, our uncle got entangled in a fraud case. Among eight defendants, only his evidence was inexplicably airtight—getting him labeled the mastermind.

Then one day before sentencing, the court received an anonymous package. Detailed documentation of how he'd illegally seized two orphans' inheritance three years prior.

The court immediately ordered full restitution plus emotional damages—twenty-five years imprisonment.

Of course they couldn't pay. They liquidated everything just to compensate us, while the actual fraud victims will never see a cent.

Now our formerly pampered aunt lives in company housing, working dawn-to-dusk at my electronics factory after my "magnanimous" offer of employment.

As I methodically dissected my pizza, I understood Ling'er's meaning.

My sister possessed that rare, genuine kindness. I didn't despise this quality—in fact, I desperately wanted to preserve it in her.

But history proved kind souls were always the first devoured. And I refused to be prey.

I'd never initiate cruelty, wouldn't withhold aid from those truly desperate. But exploit my mercy? I'd happily demonstrate what real despair looked like.

"First, your uncle earned his sentence. Even if I forgave him, do his victims agree? Remember their idiot son—used our money for drugs before getting hauled to rehab. Their ruin is self-made."

Qi Ling'er listened quietly, finally murmuring: "I guess... karma exists."

"Tch."

A mirthless laugh escaped me.

"Ling'er, know why I didn't send auntie to prison too?"

Thunk!

My fork speared clean through the pizza box. I lifted the impaled slice, letting it dangle like a hanged man as cold mockery twisted my features.

"I wanted to watch her weep."

The anime's ending theme played as the dining room's temperature seemed to plummet.

Qi Ling'er's throat moved in a nervous gulp.

I'd never been gentle—arrogant, precocious, vindictive. After our parents' deaths, these traits metastasized into something darker.

"Heaven won't avenge you. Good deeds go unrewarded; evil unpunished. 'Karma' is the weak's delusion. The only universal truth? Monsters slaughter monsters."

I tore into the pizza with exaggerated violence, cheese strands snapping like tendons.

"Eat."

My chastised sister hung her head, tears glistening.

Realizing I'd gone too far, I cleared my throat.

"Anyway... I'm getting promoted. How about Disneyland this weekend?"

Qi Ling'er's ears perked up instantly. "Really?! Can Tiger and Leopard come?"

Chen Hu and Chen Bao—two hulking teenage "bodyguards" she'd somehow acquired at school.

"Fine. Bring your little friends too."

"Yay~ Best brother ever!"