The Great Thief

Seeing Buggy again made Lu Li feel a little introspective.

Ever since he experienced rebirth, he never thought to look for this person again. In his eyes, it didn’t matter to him whether this person was alive or dead.

Buggy was wearing blue work overalls. It looked like he just got out as there was a ragtag band of young people following him.

The people around were avoiding the crowd. A few heavily armed security guards were carefully watching them.

Lu Li couldn’t pretend like he didn’t see them, so he walked over holding his sisters hand.

“Ah, Xin Xin, it’s been a while - you’ve grown,” Buggy was a very charming, mild mannered, and learned person. He even sounded more scholarly then Lu Li, though he hadn’t actually read many books.

“Big bro Buggy,” Lu Xin called out.

“If you dare touch her, I’ll make you talk to her whilst lying on the ground,” warned Lu Li.

Buggy, who had planned to touch Lu Xin’s head, stiffened for a moment before retracting his hand.

“You aren’t supposed to be here; you better leave,” Lu Li added.

“Just because we are poor?” Buggy raised his brow; he didn’t have a good temper.

“You aren’t poor people, don’t insult those who actually are poor. You guys are degenerates. Speak now if you want something; Xin Xin’s class is about to start,” Lu Li was being impatient but he also felt like he was speaking the truth.

“I’m here to thank you,” Buggy said as he remembered the purpose of his visit; he appeared weaker.

Lu Li shook his head. “There’s no need. I had hoped you would die in jail. If there isn’t anything else, I’ll be going. You go do your thing; don’t look for me or contact Xin Xin again. Otherwise…”

“Didn’t you say we are brothers?” Buggy asked while tilting his head.

When he tilted his head, his initially calm look turned stubborn. He was just like his father; Lu Li heard that Buggy’s father had been killed because of this same provocativeness.

“I’ll acknowledge that we are brothers when you die,” Lu Li didn’t want to say anymore as he pulled his sister away.

The atmosphere was tense, mostly because Lu Li’s words were just too blunt.

Lu Xin didn’t dare to say anything either, though she had always felt like Big Bro Buggy was always good to her.

But, she also knew that her brother didn’t like Big Bro Buggy. If she talked to him too much, her brother would get angry and he would sometimes hit Big Bro Buggy.

He would actually hit him too with enough force to draw blood.

“Is it not enough that I was wrong?” Buggy called out.

Lu Li’s lips twitched but he didn’t turn his back.

“I’m here to borrow some money for my underlings,” Buggy was getting anxious. His group of followers were following behind him, and the scene was quite spectacular.

A police car drew near and stopped by the road. The window then rolled down to reveal the faces of two policemen.

“I don’t owe you any money,” Lu Li responded.

“Brother…” Lu Xin was being pulled by her brother but she kept trying to turn back.

She actually knew most of these people. She had grown up with Buggy in Aunty Niu’s house and these people were mostly the kids from the area.

They were all children stricken by poverty.

Some of them were the same age or younger than Lu Xin.

“What do you want to do?” Lu Li asked helplessly as he stopped walking.

His sister had a soft heart, but when he looked at his sister, his heart was even softer.

He was going to send her to school before coming back to work something out.

“I don’t intend to integrate into society; I want to start a studio – a game studio,” Buggy said in an upright posture.

“Will they rely on you?” Lu Li made no attempt to disguise his contempt.

“Yes, these guys are all with me and I can’t let them go hungry. Lend me some money and I’ll pay it back after some time.” Buggy’s face went red; he had previously refused to beg no matter what.

Lu Li was silent. He didn’t want to do it, but seeing this person had troubled his heart.

But he had to admit that if this was really his plan and Aunty Niu knew about it from the afterlife, she would finally be able to rest peacefully.

“How much do you need?”

“I’ve already done the research. I need to rent out a small warehouse and each helmet will cost 3000. We have 59 people so I’ll need to borrow 250,000…” It looked like Buggy had already thought about this beforehand.

“What else have you researched?” sneered Lu Li.

“I’ve also researched that you are doing really well in your current game; you’re the number 1 expert,” Buggy had a weird look on his face. Previously he had always held Lu Li in contempt, thinking that he was useless.

But, he didn’t think he was that much different from Lu Li either. Seeing that Lu Li was doing so well, he thought that he wouldn’t do too badly if he brought his own crew.

“Do you think the game will be easy?” Lu Li knew him all too well.

“At least we’ll be able to feed ourselves,” Buggy said firmly as he looked around at his subordinates.

“Brother Lu, please help us out. We’ll work hard on earning gold and make enough to return it to you,” assured Blacky, who was standing behind Buggy.

“Big bro, how about we just lend him the money first,” Lu Xin softly spoke into Lu Li’s ear. “If he can make money, then he’ll stop doing bad things.

“This has nothing to do with you,” Lu Li gently glared at his sister for a moment.

“You can set a deadline and if I don’t return the money then you can report me to the police and send me to jail,” said Buggy.

“I can lend you the money,” Lu Li said after some thinking, “But I have a condition.”

“Tell us, I will do anything,” Buggy responded as he patted his chest.

“You can do whatever you want in game, but when the time comes, I will need you to unconditionally do what I tell you without any questions.”

Buggy’s complexion turned a little dark, he knit his eyebrow and asked, “What kind of things?”

“Haha, if you want to continue to have the same kind of authority as a gang leader, I recommend you get out now, Buggy. I, Lu Li, don’t owe you anything,” said Lu Li coldly.

“I’ll… think about it…” Buggy said with astonishment.

“Why should I give you time to consider it? Buggy, everyone has to pay for what they’ve done. Especially for us who have come out of the Common District, none of us believe that there is such a thing as a free meal.”

Lu Li hadn’t actually thought about anything for them to do; he just didn’t want to let him borrow the money so easily.

He was already riddled with debt. If it weren’t for his mother, then Lu Li wouldn’t have cared about his attempt at redemption. What did it have to do with him?

Moreover, Lu Li didn’t want to be too ruthless in front of his sister.

Buggy looked like a deflated ball as he smiled bitterly. “You’re right, Lu Li. I was the one who taught you that truth, and it seems I have forgotten it.”

“If you agree, leave an account number and I’ll send the money,” Lu Li said as he held his sister’s hand. “And don’t approach Xin Xin again. If I find out that you’ve contacted Xin Xin, all our agreements are void.

“Lu Li…” Buggy gave Lu Li his account number and wanted to say something else, but he hesitated. He finally waved his hand and left with the group of people.

He knew that Lu Li cared about Lu Xin, but he didn’t know that he cared so much.

Many years ago, he had cracked a joke. But he didn’t realize that Lu Li would hate him for so many years because of it.

He couldn’t even remember how long ago it was but it must have been more than 10 years ago. One day he had ripped some money off their neighbor and bought some candy.

“Xin Xin, if you like the candy so much, you can marry Big Bro Buggy and I’ll buy it for you every day.”

Xin Xin was focused on eating the candy, and before she could even say anything, Lu Li had already dragged off poor Buggy by the hair. They fought and from that day on they would look for any reason to fight each other.

After the incident with Aunty Niu, the two grew even further apart.

Buggy didn’t even dare to look at Lu Xin. When he encountered her, he would just turn and walk away.

It would be a disaster if Lu Li saw him.

But it was clearly just a joke - Buggy wasn’t a pedophile.