Author: 冬瓜茶仙人 / Winter Melon Tea Immortal
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 139
“I loathe them,” Louis said. “Rationally, I know it’s a psychological shadow cast by Fahim, but even as an adult, I can never emotionally accept it.”
Their uncle was very adept at fear-based education. Perhaps to keep them perpetually vigilant, he would describe the cruelty and ruthlessness of the assassins from the Lion Family in various ways and predict that if their identities were ever discovered, even if they managed to escape the Wolves’ exploitation, the Lions would hunt them to the ends of the earth. Lions might tolerate Wolves coexisting, but they would never allow a mutant beast within the wolf pack to invade their territory.
“I feel the same way.” Charlie shrugged. “Facing a young Lion is one thing, but if I suddenly had to confront Vasilia, I’d probably freeze up for a couple of seconds.”
“That’s why I’m not going,” Louis said coldly. “Even if I went, they wouldn’t believe me—they don’t trust any Wolf.”
“Don’t worry, I have a plan for dealing with the Lions,” Charlie said. “Aquinas’s influence on Paradise Island runs much deeper than we imagined. Most people trust him blindly and readily accept his new theories. Such people are undoubtedly dangerous to the ruling class. Why have they allowed him to grow unchecked?”
“Because the Wolves and Monkeys inherently look down on Paradise Island. They can’t believe a dirty old man holds a lever that could move them,” Louis said, lowering his eyes. Because of his connection to Fahim and Alexander, he realized the danger earlier than anyone, but who cared? He’d be glad if White Bridge burned to the ground someday.
Khalif’s kingdom had nothing to do with Louis.
“They aren’t entirely foolish. They still implement a policy of keeping the populace ignorant, which is why Aquinas, a ‘thinker’, found a gap to exploit, indoctrinating people day by day,” Charlie mused. “They don’t accept Aquinas just because they trust him too much, but because most people lack the habit of independent thinking and easily accept external ideas… In this light, Jason is quite a remarkable figure.”
Louis agreed. Being awake while everyone else slept was indeed commendable. If Charlie hadn’t come this time, he would have secretly asked Alexander to help Jason—Paradise Island was like a dormant volcano that Louis had long wanted to stir up.
“His brother Jim was taken by the Monkey’s people. Have you heard about this?” Charlie asked.
Louis frowned.
“We usually don’t discuss such things,” he said. “People in the inner city might keep attractive people from Paradise Island as pets, but they don’t brag about it. This is mostly a secret, unworthy of mention. There have been cases where women from Paradise Island became members of the inner city after giving birth to heirs, but the price of gaining a new identity is severing all ties with their past. Not even Paradise Island acknowledges their origin anymore. Alexander faced the same. After Fahim brought him into the inner city, he could never gain his family’s acceptance again.”
Alexander, who was about the same age as Louis, was arranged by Fahim to assist Louis because no one from the Wolf or Monkey could be trusted. The White Wolf specifically chose Alexander from Paradise Island.
Alexander practically grew up with Louis. Most of his life trajectory was connected to Louis, and conversely, Louis understood him better than anyone. Louis still remembered the look on Alexander’s face when, at fifteen, after passing the test and officially becoming Louis’s assistant with a fixed salary and benefits, he eagerly asked for leave to visit his family on Paradise Island with gifts and money—it was the first time Alexander had been home in five years.
Louis had felt a vague sense of envy for Alexander’s large family because, at the time, he had nothing but an uncle devoid of warmth. However, Alexander returned after just two hours, silent and with a terrible expression, never visiting Paradise Island on his own again.
When Louis asked what had happened, Alexander had only said, “Paradise Island doesn’t recognize me anymore.”
It took Louis years to learn the truth: Alexander’s old home had been demolished, and when he tried to ask around, everyone treated him like a young master from the inner city—either too afraid to approach or eyeing his possessions with greed. A starving woman even grabbed him, claiming she could offer pleasures unlike the hypocrites of the inner city for a piece of bread, anywhere and anytime he wanted.
Before Alexander could even get angry, he recognized the emaciated woman as his sister.
Her cheeks were sunken, eyes bulging, and she looked delirious. If it weren’t for a birthmark by her lip, he wouldn’t have recognized her.
But she truly couldn’t recognize the well-dressed young man as her brother. Over the years, Alexander had changed as much as she had—he had grown taller and now had an air unlike anyone from Paradise Island. Even when he called her by name, she only stared blankly at him, persistently begging for food.
The teenage Alexander gave her everything he had brought, and later, through intermediaries, he secretly provided for his mother and sister. However, it was unclear if they ever knew (or cared) where the food and money came from.
The brief reunion at fifteen eventually faded, but what truly made Alexander realize the meaning of Fahim’s words, “You can never come back,” was when he became an adult. When Louis climbed to the position of Wolf Elder, gaining the power and means to settle his family in the inner city, his relatives refused.
They didn’t want to leave Paradise Island, nor did they acknowledge Alexander.
Louis didn’t detail Alexander’s experiences to Charlie, only vaguely summarizing them. Although Alexander could have written a thick report with a self-analysis, Louis wouldn’t ask for such a thing, and Alexander knew it.
Charlie didn’t press further.
Although his time on Paradise Island was brief, he could feel the unique yet contradictory atmosphere of unity and exclusion there. Just as the inner city needed Paradise Island’s labor to function, Paradise Island needed the inner city’s provisions to survive.
The two regions coexisted within White Bridge, tightly connected but deeply resenting each other, like a malformed willow tree never pruned.
“You said Kurt’s auction is scheduled for the sixth day,” Charlie mused. “Before that, I need something.”
Louis looked at him.
“The Monkeys might not be an option—can you get me the list of people the Wolves have drawn from the inner city in recent years?”
“Elder Cameron, one of the five elders, handles internal affairs,” Louis said without hesitation. “But we don’t need to go through him. I know what you need.”
“You’re so smart!” Charlie happily patted him, but Louis immediately slapped his hand away.
“You need a spark to ignite Paradise Island, right? Aside from individual cases like Alexander, overall labor distribution is managed by Cameron. He might have a roster of those who moved over the years, but no death records. That,” Louis said, “is in my hands.”
This was one of the few pieces of leverage others had over Louis. For those insignificant and lowly people, this cold, young man who didn’t even buy Khalif’s accounts had a peculiar and unnecessary sense of compassion. Since he took office, he had always allocated funds from Cameron under the pretext of funeral expenses for Paradise Island residents who died due to work (or other reasons). Eugene and Popo had witnessed this when they saw the money sent back along with the bodies.
Other Elders had countless reasons to deem this a redundant action. First, most of that money wouldn’t be used for burials; the common practice was to throw the bodies into the river or, at best, dig a hole by the riverbank. Second, without doing so, those peasants who never left Paradise Island would never know their relatives had died. Finally, even if Louis showed such womanly compassion, no one would thank him for it because he was a Wolf.
Cameron had long wanted to cut this expenditure, but because Prima favored Louis, and there was a subtle push within the family to elevate him, coupled with Louis’s strong style, he never succeeded. Compared to the pensions for warriors who died in battle or from injuries, this amount wasn’t significant, so Cameron reluctantly continued to allocate the funds.
“Alexander is meticulous. He recorded everything clearly.” Louis stood up, went to a large cabinet, and began searching. Because Charlie was there, he couldn’t call Alexander to find it, so he had to do it himself. He pulled out a few dark red hardcover notebooks, and Charlie casually opened one. As he read, his expression grew more complex until he finally smiled wryly.
“Your assistant, deep down, is still a Paradise Islander,” he said.
Louis was taken aback and looked down at the records. He had always been busy and never seen these before. Contrary to what they thought was a simple pension list, these thick notebooks contained Alexander’s meticulous records accumulated over the years.
Name, gender, age, pension amount, date of death, and… cause of death.
Extremely detailed causes of death.
[Hop, male, seventeen, worked at Auction House No. 3, died on February 7, 638.
Cause of death: Hid the fact that he was deaf in his left ear, didn’t hear a customer’s call while working, and was beaten to death by Supervisor Rabbit after a complaint that night.
Note: Pension ten silver coins, Rabbit fined five silver coins, total fifteen silver coins.]
[Lacey, male, twenty, worked at ‘Flame Cupid,’ died on February 21, 638.
Cause of death: On February 15, argued with ‘Flame Cupid’ manager over 40% wage deduction, injured manager, fled on February 16, was brought back, right hand cut off, died on the 21st due to infection.
Pension: …]
Because these were Louis’s private records, they weren’t shared with other departments or publicly disclosed. Even he didn’t know Alexander had gone to such lengths—instead of families who might be too muddled to know whom to hate or how to hate, someone had silently recorded everything for them.
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