216 Nothing But a Coward (1/2)
”I'm too busy and it's too bothersome. I almost forgot I even have that notebook,” Iris said, shrugging.
”Little Sister, that's not how you use the Black Note,” Lu Zihao told her. ”Once you write a name, you don't procrastinate. You immediately erase the person and cross out the name.”
Iris frowned. ”I'm not going to kill anyone.”
”There are many ways to make people suffer fates worse than death.” A dangerous look glinted in his eyes. ”You are really too kind-hearted, dear Little Sister. For people like these, you have to root them out as soon as possible to prevent them from plotting against you again.”
”I'll let my lawyer deal with the Alarm Girls. The law will decide an appropriate punishment for them.”
”You'll trust a lawyer? The law?” He threw his head back and laughed like it was the funniest joke he had ever heard.
”Big Brother, I'm Long Xiulan now and you are Lu Zihao. We are law-abiding citizens, at least I am. We can't erase who we were during our past lives, but we no longer live in that kind of lawless world.”
”Oh? And Drakon is a law-abiding citizen? I know that hacker is you, Little Sister. You caused so much chaos all over the world. You're a wanted person being hunted by several authorities in many different countries, yet you dare call yourself a law-abiding citizen?”
She pursed her lips. ”But they don't know that I'm Drakon. Long Xiulan is a law-abiding citizen.”
He chuckled in amusement at her logic.
”And as for Fan Luo, she only wrote some negative comments about me on the internet. She didn't really directly attack or hurt me or anything like that. I think I was too hasty when I wrote her name in the notebook in the first place.”
”Is that what you think? That she didn't directly attack or hurt you?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.
”Have you even ran a background check on her?”
”No.”
”Have you ever ran background checks on the people around you? Your household staff?”
She hesitated. ”I did a background check on Dom and then on my two bodyguards. Only on the people that I personally hired after I woke up in this body. As for my housekeeper and the others, no. I didn't think that I needed to.”
”How about on Liwei? Did you run a background check on him?”
”Why should I?” she asked, confused.
Lu Zihao looked exasperated. He released a heavy sigh. ”You! How can you be so careless? You're a hacker and you don't even run basic background checks on the people around you? You're the most intelligent person that I know but you can also be so dumb.”
She threw a sullen look at him. So mean. He just called her dumb.
”Little Sister, don't trust anyone. Not even me. Do you hear me? Only trust yourself.”
”That's such a sad way to live life, not trusting anyone.”
”It's the safest way to live.”
”I don't want to live like that,” she said. ”I want to create genuine relationships with people. I can't do that if I act paranoid all the time, checking the backgrounds of everyone I meet. If someone betrays or hurts me, I'll just deal with it when it happens. I want to trust people according to my own judgment and not based on background check results.”
He looked even more exasperated this time. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. Then he shook his head, sighing. ”Our parents and I have always wondered how the Vetrovs could have produced someone like you. Your heart is too good, but that's also what makes you so precious. You were totally incompatible with the Vetrov's way of life. We had many enemies and someone like you was an easy target. That's why we fiercely shielded you from the outside. You always had been our treasure, Evelinka. Even if you're Xiulan now, you'll always remain my treasure. I'll kill anyone who dares hurt you.”
”Big Brother—”
Her phone rang. She glanced at the caller and then answered the call.
”Hello, Mr. JJ?”