The Obligations of the Elderly - Chapter 25

Thinking they had found a good solution, the next day, the Gong Brothers all took leave and stayed home, not going to school.

Given the current situation, they no longer felt safe going out to school. After their exposure, those people didn’t even bother pretending to be travelers anymore. Now, there were watchers everywhere around the Gong Family’s house. Gong Si had no doubt that if they left home, someone might immediately try to snatch Ah Ji away!

The bookstore business was also put on hold. First, out of concern that the townsfolk would be frightened; second, out of worry that those people might do something that would affect others. Gong Si used the excuse of house repairs to suspend operations.

After all, their living room had been broken for a while and hadn’t been fixed. This reason wouldn’t arouse any suspicion.

“We still need to study every day. When this is all over and we go back, it’ll be almost time for the final exams.” As the Eldest Brother, Gong Si insisted on reserving study time for everyone-every morning, the whole family would study together.

At noon, they began receiving the “bidding documents” sent in from outside.

Although Gong Si didn’t like this term, given the reality, their Ah Ji really did seem like the object up for bid, while those people outside were the bidders.

They carefully examined the paper materials submitted by those people and entered the information into the computer, organizing it into charts.

They took it very seriously, categorizing the visitors’ information by age, Energy level, personality… and, of course, family background, trying their best to select the very best candidate-this was the shared wish of Gong Si and Qiu Xia. Ah Ji was simply too young. In history, there had been very few S-Class Ability Users who Awakened so early, and…

Almost none had good outcomes. Most were Form Contracted by a high-level User soon after Awakening, then spent their lives confined by that person. The vast majority never matched with a truly suitable User, and some were even ruined by low-level Users who couldn’t handle them at all.

None of the Famous Vessels recorded in history were those who Awakened in childhood. That fact alone said a lot.

With each new piece of information, Gong Si would also research the location where the candidate’s family was based-

“This city isn’t far from us. There’s a pretty good Specialized School there, but the rent is really expensive.”

“This city seems pretty chaotic.”

“Where is this city? There’s barely any information about it…”

His thinking was: Ah Ji is too young. If the other party insists on Forming a Contract with Ah Ji, then the rest of them would definitely have to go along, and they must live in the same city as Ah Ji. That was his bottom line.

Given that, he had to consider the educational needs of his other two brothers.

He never considered splitting up his brothers-at least not before they reached adulthood. He had to fulfill his duty as the Eldest Brother.

Qiu Xia and Dong Chun had no objections to his decision. Dong Chun even helped him research city information~

“Eldest Brother! This city is great! Their soccer team is super famous ah ah ah!” Dong Chun was still thinking about soccer~

Up to this point, the Gong Brothers still felt they were heading in the right direction.

In less than a week, they had already received nearly a hundred “bidding documents.” In a way, they understood why these Users had waited until now.

It was probably always the feeling-“The next one might be better,” right?

Every time they picked out a seemingly good candidate, the thought would pop up: “What if the next one is even better?”

They often warned others not to think this way, but when it came to themselves, they couldn’t help falling into this trap. But the reason they thought this way must be because they hadn’t found the most suitable one yet.

But what does “most suitable” even mean?

It’s said that the most suitable Vessel and User will feel a mysterious attraction, drawing them closer together. When they meet, every cell in their body will tell them it’s the right person. But that’s just an ideal scenario-none of them had actually experienced it, and Ah Ji didn’t seem to have “clicked” with anyone at all.

Gong Si was afraid of choosing the wrong person for Ah Ji.

If he could, he wouldn’t choose anyone.

He wanted to wait until Ah Ji grew up and let Ah Ji choose his own User. To him, that was the right thing to do. But the current situation didn’t allow them to wait for Ah Ji to grow up…

For the next whole week, they didn’t receive any new “bidding documents.”

The first day without new “bidding documents,” Gong Si even felt a bit relieved; the second day without new “bidding documents,” he still felt pretty good, thinking the number of competitors was dwindling, which was a good thing; but by the third day, he finally began to sense something was off-
Obviously, what those people outside meant was for them to choose from among those who had already ‘submitted bids.’

The other side had clearly reached some sort of consensus.

Gong Si suddenly realized: it was quite possible that all the ‘bids’ they received were the result of that consensus.

Ah… that’s right. Just like that day, when the man in the white suit arrived and immediately pushed out everyone who was inferior to him, now, every person left nearby was probably doing the same. In that case… those still lingering around their house were likely evenly matched.

This way, what was originally the hardest part for them-the ‘background screening’-now seemed to be the easiest, because the candidates whose bids they received should all be more or less on the same level.

In an instant, Gong Si suddenly understood his true situation.

The slight sense of ease he had found in hardship vanished completely; he felt that he and his brothers had become fish on someone else’s chopping block!

No, that’s not right-not that they had just become so, but that they had always been.

From the very beginning, they had been lying on someone else’s chopping block.

He really had been too naive!

He thought they were the ones choosing, but little did he know that from the start, they had no choice at all!

At the moment of realization, Gong Si broke out in a cold sweat.

Looking at it this way, all their preparations from the beginning until now had been a futile waste… Staring at the computer screen with its meticulously crafted charts, Gong Si pressed his lips together.

And just when he thought things couldn’t get any worse, he discovered that they could indeed become even worse.

If at first they had chosen to stay home instead of going to school to protect Ah Ji, now, he realized that even if he wanted to go out, he couldn’t.

For the past few days, they hadn’t gone out because the house was well-stocked with food, but once Gong Si understood their current situation, he couldn’t help but want to go out and see just how many people were outside. He opened the door, but-

As soon as he opened it, several Black-Clad Men blocked his way.

“Is there anything you need?” The other party spoke politely, and their tone was fairly gentle, but their expressions and aura were anything but friendly, and Gong Si instinctively wanted to step back.

But he was bold by nature; even faced with this situation, he didn’t panic. Instead, he spoke in his usual tone and expression: “I want to go out and buy groceries. Do you have a car? Can you give me a ride?”

“Groceries? No need to trouble yourself. You have more important screening work to do right now. We’ll take care of the grocery shopping for you.” With that, the Black-Clad Men remained blocking the doorway.

After a long standoff at the door, Gong Si finally realized that his whole family was under house arrest.

Was this a ‘no leaving until you’ve made your selection’ situation?

He finally understood their meaning.

Ignoring their questions about what groceries he wanted, he closed the door and went back to his phone, deciding to order some groceries for delivery. Even though it was snowing heavily, if the delivery fee was high enough, the supermarket would still accept the order. Normally, Gong Si would never spend so much on delivery, but now he couldn’t afford to care.

However-

He had barely placed the order for two minutes when there was a knock at the door. He went to open it, and one of the Black-Clad Men handed him a plastic bag full of groceries. Looking inside, he saw that it was exactly the vegetables he had just ordered!

So their home’s internet had already been monitored?

Later, when a light bulb in one of the rooms burned out, the Black-Clad Men knocked again and handed over a perfectly suitable replacement bulb.

At that moment, Gong Si was certain: not only the internet, but even the inside of their home was being monitored.

This was what it meant to be a ‘trapped beast,’ Gong Si thought. This was exactly their situation now.

He had written a letter to his parents explaining their situation, but now it seemed that the letter most likely hadn’t been sent successfully.

The other side must have intercepted it directly.

No one could help them; they could only find the best way out of this predicament on their own.

Squatting on the toilet, Gong Si suddenly felt a bit relieved: at least there were no women in the house, otherwise…

Maybe even the bathroom was being monitored?

Pulling up his pants, Gong Si’s Kitchen Knife Eyes glared fiercely upward.

Having grasped their current predicament, Gong Si began to seriously sift through the ‘bids.’ Just as he and Qiu Xia settled on the candidate who seemed best to them, they discovered something:

The people outside had suddenly disappeared overnight?