Chapter 46 : Chapter 46

Chapter 46 : How Can an Outsider Compare to Family?

This time, it was Dad.

Had my brother told him my phone was reachable?

Guess he had some brains after all, passing the buck to his dad when he couldn’t handle something.

There was nothing wrong with that.

After talking to my brother, I roughly understood what was going on.

I could keep digging for information to figure out exactly what happened, but… why should I?

I was ready to cut ties with the past.

Digging deeper would only bring trouble.

What else could it do?

But I still answered the call.

Not for any grand reason just to tell him personally that there’d be no contact from now on.

“Hey, Xiao Han.”

A voice came through, different from what I expected, catching me off guard.

“Hm, don’t hold back. Calling my name like that sounds gross,” I said bluntly.

After all, he didn’t choose this name.

I did.

They didn’t care, as if humoring a mental patient was no big deal.

They even gave my brother a name similar to mine.

I never understood their logic.

Maybe they thought they were bad at naming?

After my retort, I could clearly hear his heavy breathing.

He was getting old, wasn’t he?

“Sigh… you think I want to call you that? I just want you to come back. There’s still a place for you in this family. Do you really think running off with that Bai Yu girl will lead to a good life?”

“An outsider, can they compare to family?”

His voice continued, sounding like he was holding back, laced with exhaustion.

I wanted to blurt out, “Yes.”

But the values and upbringing from my past life forced me to acknowledge they’d kept me alive in this family until now.

Being alive was being alive.

They raised me, but it was a tricky concept.

Raising could mean feeding or fostering.

In the end, it was about whether I chose to break free from the cage or stay content with the status quo.

Would a pig escaping a pen thank its keeper for raising it?

If it were me, I wouldn’t.

I was an animal that had broken free.

Now the keeper could still contact me, asking me to return.

Naturally, I wouldn’t go back, even if they played the emotional card, saying, “We raised you all these years, have we ever mistreated you?”

I’d say no, they hadn’t mistreated me, but I still wouldn’t return.

That was my contradiction.

Once the concept was abstracted, I knew my choice and the stakes, but my past life’s values were my biggest shackles.

Ironically, their influence on me was less than my past life’s.

Any softening of my heart now they should thank the obedient kid I was in my past life.

So, I couldn’t choose.

I could only make a vague decision.

Did I reject them?

I didn’t know.

It was just a fluke that I “followed” my choice to apply to Witch Academy, and now I was here, unable to go back.

The academy made the choice for me.

So, I shouldn’t worry about it, just let things happen naturally.

“Yeah, how can an outsider compare to family?”

I agreed, my tone lighter.

If they truly saw me as family, as their son, there was no comparison.

As I spoke, I saw a private message from Bai Yu pop up on my new phone.

I was a bit surprised.

Bai Yu was that fast?

But she didn’t answer my question directly, just asked why I was curious about it.

I brushed it off briefly.

If she didn’t want to or couldn’t answer, I’d ask other senior sisters later.

One way or another, I’d get to the bottom of this.

“Wait, your voice isn’t right. You’re not Yang Yuehan. Who are you?”

He finally noticed something and demanded an answer.

I realized my tone had been off, causing my voice to sound different, enough for him to pick up on it.

Well, that made things easier.

Since he figured it out, there was nothing to talk about.

What, did he expect me to come clean?

That’d just be asking for trouble.

“Oh you figured it out? Xiao Han’s a freshman at our academy now. Stop thinking about him,” I said without hesitation, naturally switching identities.

I wondered how he’d react to this.

“You! Who are you? Why do you have his phone? Give it to him!”

Hearing my words, he dropped the earlier pleading tone, his suppressed emotions bursting out, his voice so loud it nearly startled me.

“And what academy are you from? I’m reporting to you! You took my son without my consent! Who gave you the right? Tell me, who gave you the right…”

“You’ve got the guts to report? To the Public Security Bureau? Or the academy? Do you even know which academy I’m from, and you’re yelling at me? Still hung up on Imp Academy’s 50,000?”

I shot back unapologetically.

Who gave me the right?

Who gave other academies the right to snatch people?

Talking as someone else, my tone was much tougher, but I didn’t forget to fish for information.

I didn’t think he was this hysterical over just 50,000.

“50,000? You think I care about 50,000? He’s worth way more than that! You people know nothing!”

“You’re just an ordinary person, what do you know?”

I moved the phone away, feeling like his shouting spit was reaching my ear.

“Ordinary person? So what if I’m ordinary? I’m his father! I know his worth better than your damn Wild Chicken Academy! Handing him over to you is a waste! Just wait, Imp Academy will come for you. You’ll regret this! Damn it!”

I listened silently to his rant, growing curious about my supposed “worth.”

Why… how didn’t I know I was worth that much?

Did he figure out I was a transmigrator?

Probably… not.

Even if I was, they couldn’t confirm it.

And what would they gain?

My knowledge?

Please, my original world didn’t even have a hint of the supernatural.

Its tech was just modern level, nothing worth studying.

And the key point… how didn’t I know Imp Academy was that powerful?

A regular academy couldn’t handle Imp Academy and would give up a student they’d already recruited?

What kind of logic was that?

But I heard a commotion on the other end, like people were fighting over something.

Soon, a clear voice came through, but it wasn’t familiar anymore.

Clearly, someone else had taken the phone.

The moment they spoke, their voice was grating, unpleasant, even strained, like speaking was an effort.

“Listen, I’m from Imp Academy. You stole our target. If you don’t want this to blow up, hand them back.”

“Imp Academy trash?”

I quickly pieced together their identity.

I hadn’t expected them to be right there with my family.

This was more interesting than I thought.

“Why should I be scared of you?”

“Trash? Fine. You’ll regret calling me that. Don’t underestimate how much Imp Academy values an innate Spirit Vision user. You don’t want us coming at you full force, do you?”