Crime Prison Island

Wan Kai's eyes turned red, as if his bones had been removed, and he slumped into the chair.

"How is this possible?"

He could only keep saying it wasn't possible, but in his heart, he actually believed it.

Because this explains many things.

He had just mentioned that Gao Long was defenseless towards his brothers until his death, so why hide an illegitimate daughter?

The Bull King also said that when the news of the Gao family's orphan came, everyone thought it was made up by Wan Kai, which shows that no one truly knew about Gao Shu's existence.

Gao Shu's background was kept too secret, including from brothers like Wan Kai and Lv Zhao, who were even willing to die together, yet Gao Long never mentioned it.

This wasn't him being cautious towards his brothers or holding something back, on the contrary… he was too guilty himself.

He couldn't dare to tell anyone about the illegitimate child with his brother's wife, only daring to find a cook to secretly raise the child.

Gao Xin said, "Wan Kai, you previously said that when Gao Long faced betrayal, he collapsed in despair, which is true."

"But when you said he didn't know he would die, that's wrong."

"From his perspective, he probably thought he was doomed… even more so, he wanted to die."

"He thought Lv Zhao had learned about Gao Shu, which is why he asked you to rescue Gao Shu at that time; otherwise, by your reasoning, he always believed Lv Zhao wouldn't kill him, so why be afraid of Lv Zhao settling the score over his child?"

Wan Kai remained silent.

Yes, based on what is known now, at that time Lv Zhao was merely advising forcefully.

The brothers were so close that if Gao Long had calmed down a bit, handled it rationally, he could possibly have explained everything on the spot.

For example, if Gao Long had taken a step back and said: Okay, since your reactions are so strong, maybe I didn't think it through—after all, we're brothers, why go this far?

If he had just conceded a bit, according to the Bull King, Lv Zhao would definitely give him this opportunity, might even apologize: indicating that I had no choice to do this, but I was wrong and willing to be punished.

All in all, given the level of unity at the time, there were many ways to handle the situation.

Yet it veered to the most extreme outcome.

The reason lies in Gao Long's own deep guilt.

From Gao Long's perspective, he believed there were two reasons for the betrayal: Gao Shu and opposition to the nuclear explosion.

He was already on the brink of collapse, and combined with his guilt, he fell apart even more…

Throughout all this, Lv Zhao never mentioned it, and naturally, he wouldn't either; otherwise, wouldn't it embarrass Lv Zhao in front of all the brothers?

He thought they both tacitly avoided discussing Gao Shu, focusing only on the nuclear explosion.

Gao Long didn't even try to run; after making arrangements for Wan Kai to rescue Gao Shu, he chose to stay and face his death, actually hoping that Lv Zhao would kill him, thinking it decent to die at Lv Zhao's hand.

With the matter of Gao Shu, he instantly lost his family and brothers and didn't want to live anymore.

All that was left was his career, and since he was about to die, he was unwilling to give up the nuclear explosion plan no matter what.

He even wanted to accomplish it before dying, to achieve his final value.

But perhaps Lv Zhao's sword was too fast, or maybe he was still hesitant, which led to ultimate failure.

Gao Xin squinted and said, "I even suspect that Gao Long's final madness about executing the nuclear explosion immediately was just a pretense, not intending to really detonate."

"He said that to give Lv Zhao every reason to kill him."

"Because if he handled it calmly and took a step back to discuss, how would Lv Zhao have reason to kill him?"

"Wouldn't that be forcing Lv Zhao to expose the matter of Gao Shu publicly?"

"Gao Long didn't want to do that; he wanted to leave some dignity for his brothers, so he intentionally pushed it to the extreme, choosing to die at Lv Zhao's hand over the nuclear explosion issue."

The scene fell into silence.

Everything became clear.

Given their understanding of Gao Long, they couldn't help but admit that Gao Xin's final speculation was the most fitting.

Otherwise, Gao Long had many choices if he wanted to live, yet he refused to listen to anything, insisting on forcing Lv Zhao to kill him.

Even the Bull King said he went crazy at the end, which was actually not craziness but a deliberate act to seek death while pretending to be mad.

"Why… why… impossible!" Wan Kai cried out.

He was collapsing, unable to comprehend how such a thing happened; Gao Long's affair with Lv Zhao's wife was even more unbelievable to him than Lv Zhao's betrayal.

Was the brotherly bond fake? Not at all.

Gao Long's choices made it clear that he maintained the brothers' dignity even in death, resolutely choosing to die based on mere guilty conjecture.

As soon as Lv Zhao took action, opposing the nuclear explosion, Gao Long reacted by pushing towards death, with a mindset like: Brother, you don't need to say more, I understand, I'll let you kill me honorably now.

No quibbling involved.

If Gao Long didn't want to die, even if Lv Zhao mentioned Gao Shu, he wouldn't die! The worst would be the end of brotherhood; others wouldn't let Gao Long die and might even persuade Lv Zhao.

Thus, it proves that Gao Long's brotherly affection for Lv Zhao was genuine, wanting to die at Lv Zhao's hands to settle the matter.

But this raises the question, if Gao Long cared so much about brotherly love, why did he get involved with the man's wife in the first place?

This is something only Gao Long and that woman know.

"Who exactly is that Aunt Tang?" Gao Xin asked.

The Bull King said, "We all call her Tang Xiaomei, but she is considered a senior. She was one of the newcomers we received from the shore on the eve of the Second World War, an SSR, so she was given special training."

"She learns everything quickly, the only one who mastered all of Lv Zhao's sword techniques, and they perfectly complemented each other with their dual-swordsmanship."

Gao Xin pondered, "Was the relationship good?"

The Bull King and Wan Kai exchanged a look and said, "Hard to say…"

Gao Xin's mouth twitched: "What do you mean hard to say? Does that mean it wasn't very good?"

Wan Kai explained, "Lv Zhao has always been extremely devoted to the sword; even when the eldest brother had two kids, he still wasn't married. We used to say this wooden man would never marry his whole life."

"Yet he ended up marrying Tang Xiaomei, which surprised all of us at the time. We said this woman was impressive, able to melt the hardest sword in Tangren City…"

"However, Lv Zhao was ultimately someone entirely focused on becoming stronger and managing affairs in Tangren City, and once war broke out, it was always Lv Zhao who led the troops, with the eldest brother overseeing Tangren City's deployment."

"Lv Zhao never had children, which is why I said their relationship is hard to say."

"I know it, it must be that Tang Xiaomei was resentful and took advantage of Lv Zhao's expedition to do something to harm my big brother!"

Gao Xin rolled his eyes: "You stop... you're too biased, I don't want to hear you talk."

"Bull King, you better say it."

Bull King pursed his lips: "Actually, it's pretty much the same, speaking of which, it was Gao Long who set the couple up..."

"We had a 'Hundred Dragons Domination' plan back then, after all, we had a large population, and plenty of SSRs, and there were many eligible singles."

"So back then, Gao Long strongly promoted SSR matchmaking, and by the way, encouraged many SRs to pair up, in short, the more Dragon Elephant Seeds, the better."

"We had a large base, so the increments were large too. When the third war came, that's why we had so many Dragon Elephants, at the peak of power!"

"I remember Tang Xiaomei; it was Gao Long who introduced her to Lv Zhao... He arranged for them to work together, making Tang Xiaomei his assistant."

"Seriously, if Gao Long was interested in this woman, why push her to his brother? Lv Zhao with that wooden character surely wouldn't fight him over a woman."

"As for whether Tang Xiaomei regretted marrying him, I don't know. Anyway, if Gao Shu is truly Gao Long and Tang Xiaomei's kid, it could only have happened when Lv Zhao was on expedition... Gao Long he..."

"Wait, how old is Gao Shu?"

Gao Shu shouted: "I am sixteen this year."

Bull King was startled: "Sixteen years ago, wasn't that just at the beginning of the second war?"

"Lv Zhao got married like sixteen years ago too, right? Gao Shu, when's your birthday?"

Gao Shu was bewildered: "I don't know."

Wan Kai trembled: "Chef Xue didn't know either, but he knew that when big brother brought back Gao Shu, it was the end of December."

"Lv Zhao got married in January, damn... how could this be? It happened within the marriage."

It was clear that Wan Kai was trying very hard to prove that Gao Long was not to blame, and that Tang Xiaomei married Lv Zhao while pregnant or something.

But the more he analyzed, the worse it got. Lv Zhao got married in January, and by February it looked like Tang Xiaomei was already pregnant with Gao Long's child. Damn, Gao Long was even more of a scoundrel.

Gao Xin remarked instead: "That might not necessarily be the case; after all, aside from the two of them, no one knew when Gao Shu was brought back... how old he was."

"It's possible that Gao Shu was already two or three months old when brought back."

He thought Wan Kai would immediately agree with him, but unexpectedly, Wan Kai's face was ashen, and Bull King was looking at Gao Xin with a strange expression.

Gao Xin was taken aback: "What's wrong?"

Bull King said: "Apparently, you don't know, Tai Sui, that Dragon Level gives birth in just a month, Elephant Level in three, Tiger Level in five, Wolf Level in seven, only regular people, take ten months for pregnancy."

"At that time, Tang Xiaomei was Elephant Level."

"Oh..." Gao Xin really didn't know about that.

After all, just half a year ago, he was still a glass person, rising so quickly along the way, there's a lot he only half-understood.

Gao Xin sighed: "In that case, there's no solution, no wonder Gao Long sought death, indeed it was his problem."

Wan Kai gritted his teeth: "My big brother must have had his reasons..."

Ling Sha sneered: "Get real, Sir Quasi-Dragon King, could he still have been forced?"

"He dared to take responsibility, letting you save Gao Shu, while he stayed behind with his life to repay. You, on the other hand, tried to excuse him!"

Wan Kai was speechless, with nothing to say.

In truth, he instinctively wanted to excuse him, partly due to trusting Gao Long so much, and partly due to the inertia of seven years of hatred.

He never imagined that the person he hated daily was actually an innocent victim...

Putting himself in Lv Zhao's shoes, not only was he strong but loyal and tenacious, extremely devoted to the sword, and deeply loved Tangren City.

Completely dedicated to becoming stronger and his career, with no frivolous desires, a perfect brother.

Just a few months after marriage, fighting outside for Tangren City, his great brother betrayed him.

In the end, the brother wanted to atone, going crazy and dying by his hand, bearing the hatred and infamy of many brothers.

Yet he still supports Tangren City, maintaining his formidable reputation. All these years, he must have felt guilty, thinking about how to save Gao Long.

So tragic... This made Wan Kai want to slap himself for cursing him as a dog thief all these years.

Gao Xin said: "So the nuclear bomb incident, turns out not to be a problem, it's easily solved."

"As long as Lv Zhao believes, Gao Long won't immediately detonate on awakening, he will certainly actively repair Gao Long, and when Gao Long wakes up, he won't detonate the nuclear bomb either."

"But then, you have to tell Lv Zhao about Gao Shu's matter... based on your understanding, what would Lv Zhao's reaction be?"

Wan Kai hastily said: "No, don't... this matter requires careful consideration..."

He didn't know what to do either, to tell Lv Zhao everything, who knows what the consequences would be?

The worst result would be that Lv Zhao turns dark.

Even if he doesn't, brotherhood would be impossible, and Gao Long would be mortified, even blame Wan Kai: I used my life to solve this, to end it, and you had to dig it up, even revive me?

Gao Long didn't want to face Lv Zhao knowing about this, so he preferred to die.

As a result, Lv Zhao was unaware, allowing him to live.

Now maintaining a delicate balance.

But could it really continue like this? Knowing Gao Long is still alive but not saving him? Letting him remain half-dead? Also keeping it all a secret from Lv Zhao?

That's also not an option, both are his good brothers, he's completely baffled.

Wan Kai was extremely frustrated: "What kind of nonsense is this!"

It's difficult for even an upright official to manage household affairs, and Gao Xin, an outsider, has even less idea of how to handle it, preferring if only Lv Zhao was a dog thief, he could simply have a fight with him, much simpler...

Yet Gao Shu straightforwardly stated: "I don't care, I want to find my mom!"

Gao Xin nodded: "Hm, after all, Tang Xiaomei is still alive, apart from Gao Long, she is the final person who knows everything."

"We are really just guessing blindly, how to handle this matter, we must first come into contact with her."

"For now, let's put it aside, our next primary goal is to recuperate and campaign against Sea King Port."

"Everything will be discussed after we eliminate Sea King Port."

...