Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 944 - 749: Worth It

In the brief silence, Chiba Ryouni did not reply but looked to his side, "Miss Izumi, I’ll leave the outside to you."

"Certainly foolproof."

Izumi didn’t mind being sent away, calmly left, and didn’t forget to take the bottle of Yamazaki from the table.

Once the door was closed, only Chiba and Huai Shi were left in the silent, luxurious private room.

"Speaking of which, we haven’t had such an intimate conversation before, Huaizhi-kun."

Chiba Ryouni took out another bottle of fine wine, poured a glass for Huai Shi, and sighed, "Originally, I intended to recruit you under my command, I felt we’d definitely have much in common, but unexpectedly, Old Man Tobio acted sooner."

Huai Shi frowned in confusion, not understanding what he meant.

Meanwhile, Chiba Ryouni raised his wine glass in a toast, drank it in one gulp, wiped the wine from his beard with his sleeve, and said bluntly, "I admire you very much, even now, I still admire you because you are different from others."

"You flatter me, Mr. Chiba."

Huai Shi replied, "If it’s about recruitment, I’m afraid I have no plans to change sides for the time being."

"Haha, not at all, not at all, I don’t like to take what others cherish, such matters are like relationships between men and women, mutual consent is the right principle, besides I don’t have a daughter as beautiful as Lihua."

Chiba laughed heartily, stood up, and gestured for Huai Shi to follow.

Walking to the window, he pointed at the dazzling neon lights below.

Overlooking from the highest point of the Tanbo Inner Circle.

"Do you see, Huaizhi-kun, here is the Empire Hotel, there is the property of the Ochiai Family, there is the trading company of the Tobio Family... oh, there’s your Quiet Communications Electrone, and over there, that should be the Huaizhi Gang, right? From here to there, this is the Tanbo Inner Circle."

His finger turned to point at other places:

"Here, I have a clothing factory, there is an investment company, under the Empire Hotel, in the busiest area of the Tanbo Inner Circle, I have six storefronts... By the way, haven’t you been dabbling in the fresh produce market recently? I have a seafood company at the docks."

Like boasting about his billions, Chiba Ryouni chattered away, in the end, he told him, "You can pick anything you like as my compensation."

Huai Shi was stunned, unable to understand.

"I did not win from the gamble, in reality, if this is the decision of the Alliance, I only have the choice to comply. Why offer me compensation then?" he said, "I don’t feel there’s any need for compensation."

"If you say it, how about funding?"

Chiba Ryouni shook his head with a smile, sipping the wine in his glass, "You told Akasaki, it’s already spread throughout the Alliance in the past two days. Honestly, Huaizhi, I envy you very much."

He said softly, "Very, very much envy you—not exaggerating even to say jealousy, right? To me, you are now so dazzlingly bright that you’re an eyesore, if possible, I really want you to disappear from the Tanbo Inner Circle."

In the reflection of the glass, the smile in Chiba Ryouni’s eyes gradually faded, a calmness that unnervingly chilled.

Perhaps this was the real Chiba Ryouni.

When sober from the intoxication of alcohol and beauty, he becomes the Ruler of the Tanbo Inner Circle, salvages the Chiba Family from the brink of ruin, and single-handedly achieves recovery as the Extreme Path overlord.

Yet Huai Shi remained calm, standing in front of the window, looking down at the night below, when he turned back, his expression became puzzled.

"I don’t recall violating any taboos, Mr. Chiba." he asked curiously, "Do I need to apologize? Bow down, kneel and grovel?"

Chiba Ryouni countered, "If I said you had to, would you?"

"I would."

Huai Shi replied, "Without hesitation."

But Chiba burst into laughter, slowly shook his head, "Huaizhi-kun, you’re a hypocritical person too... Such empty gestures are unnecessary.

I have no reason to eliminate you."

He raised his hand, patted the shoulder of the young man before him, "I know of your ambition, I understand your aims, I’m clear, if you grow strong, it may someday shake the Alliance’s rule over the Tanbo Inner Circle.

But in truth, it doesn’t matter, I don’t care, specifically speaking—neither Old Man Tobio nor I believe you will succeed."

Chiba Ryouni told him, "Because we both have attempted the same things as you."

Huai Shi, frozen in place.

"Do you know? I’m already forty-one years old this year, right in midlife, yet sometimes after sleeping with a woman I’d feel aches and pains in my waist and back. Waking up frequently at night to use the bathroom makes me reminisce about the past, recalling the strength and deeds of my youth. Envying those younger, brighter, able to shine..."

Chiba Ryouni swirled the ice cubes in his glass, chuckling, "No matter how stupid youth was—even if the past was miserable, recollecting it fills one with so-called ’hope’."

He said, "Back then, we were just like you now."

"Old Man Tobio once tried earnestly, for this struggled wretchedly like a dog, dirtied in shame, yet eventually failed, where I was slightly smarter, chose to give up early on, and ultimately, with all I could, only preserved the Chiba Family’s continuation."

He laughed self-deprecatingly and looked at Huai Shi, "Drinking water, food, medical treatment, and education... what you’re doing is far more realistic than what I did back then, Huaizhi-kun, but from start to finish, you’ve overlooked one issue—"

Chiba Ryouni stared into Huai Shi’s eyes and softly asked:

"——You want to make them better, but do they really want it?"

Huai Shi shook his head and answered without hesitation, "Would anyone really want to live in Hell?"

Chiba laughed, "Then go downstairs to the lobby and ask those beautiful girls, tell them not to be prostitutes anymore, there’s a stable job with a monthly salary of fifty thousand yen for you. Do you think they would scoff at it?

Tell the boys not to do the Extreme Path anymore, that we can start over... But where are there so many opportunities in life to start over? Once missed, it’s missed.

Those who have been accustomed to theft, fraud, betrayal, and violence since childhood, how could they return to normal order?

When they’re in their forties or fifties, feeling old, realizing they’ve achieved nothing, they’ll be afraid, regretful, cry tears of sorrow, but where else can they go besides sweatshops? Convenience stores hiring will dislike the tattoos and hybrid identity on you.

At that time, apart from this only Hell that will accommodate you, where else can you go?"

"There’s always someone who naively believes that with opportunity, this world can get better. But doesn’t this world always lack opportunity?

Then why is it still so terrible?"

In Huai Shi’s silence, Chiba Ryouni calmly told him, "Huaizhi, even if you can give them countless opportunities, you can’t stop those who are willingly depraved.

Even if there is a brief change, it won’t be long before their true nature is exposed. Once people get used to living in places without light, they can never leave the darkness again..."

"You know, don’t you? Before you, there were also people as earnest as you, full of hope." Chiba Ryouni said, "That person’s name was God City Future."

"God City?" Huai Shi was stunned, doubting he heard wrong: "God City Future?"

"Yes, God City, the lunatic you know, God City Future."

Chiba Ryouni mocked, "It’s ridiculous, right? The former Savior, now wanting to tie the entire group onto a chariot.

He once came to us, like you, thinking he could change everything, hoping we could help him. But we didn’t.

We watched his struggle indifferently, watched his embarrassed failure, and finally watched his lonely departure... His assets were swallowed by his allies, his goodwill betrayed by his supporters, his hope trampled into mud by those he wanted to help.

From beginning to end, we never had any interference.

Because the Tanbo Inner Circle is such a cruel place, it’s like a living thing, killing everything not belonging to itself, changing everyone who wants change, including God City Future, including Tobio, and including you and me.

This isn’t something one person’s effort can change, nor something a group of people’s sacrifice can restore."

Saying this, Chiba Ryouni raised his hand, pointing outside the floor-to-ceiling window at the splendid city.

"Look, Huaizhi.

There’s Kyoto Tower, over here is the Central District, and over there is the direction of Kiyomizu board, Ukyo, Sakyo, Higashiyama, Yamashina, Nishikyo, Shimogyo...

See how vast and splendid the outside world is.

If looking down from the sky, the so-called Tanbo Inner Circle, Tanbo District, is such a narrow place, compared to this city, tiny like a trash bin.

Regardless of status, we are all ants surviving here, prisoners trapped here, we are merely the ’Kings of the Infinite Universe’ within this core."

He turned his back on those splendid lights, smiling self-deprecatingly and oddly, "You want to gain power from the Alliance to change all this, but you’ve found the wrong direction—it’s never the Alliance that rules the Tanbo Inner Circle, it’s the Inner Circle that rules the Alliance!

And it won’t accept the change you want."

In the long silence, Chiba Ryouni gazed at the young man in front of him, yet until the end, that determined look had never changed.

Even if shaken, shocked, and wandering.

"Thank you for your advice and warning, Mr. Chiba."

Huai Shi replied calmly: "Even if so, I won’t give up."

"That’s why youth is so good..."

Chiba shook his head, waved casually: "Huaizhi, you can try hard, we won’t stop you, but you will fail, everything you attempt will not succeed, your effort is meaningless.

Now, you can go."

In the distance, the twelve o’clock bell tolled.

Outside the room came enthusiastic cheers, celebrating the birth of a new generation of gambling king. Fireworks rose into the sky outside the window, illuminating the young man’s eyes.

Just like a fire lit in the Abyss.

"Mr. Chiba, I might eventually face failure, but I don’t think my effort will be wasted—"

Even knowing the final outcome, he still smiled: "No matter how much I put in, even if only one person is saved because of it, I believe it’s worth it."

With that, he politely said goodbye and turned to leave.

The door closed.

In the silence, Chiba Ryouni said no more, but quietly gazed at the distant glow in the night sky, raised his head, and finished the last of the remaining wine.