“But now that you’re back, things will be much better. These past few days, I’ve been running around like crazy and made several mistakes.” The two of them were as close as could be, and everything in the internet café was managed by Ethan Brooks, so there was no need for any formalities.

At that moment, someone logged off while another person logged on. Ethan Brooks kept track of the accounts, recorded the time, collected the money, then locked the cash box and placed the key in front of John Miller.

“It’s better to keep the key safe. From now on, play less and pay more attention to the business.” John Miller, who was fully focused on his game, didn’t notice anything unusual in Ethan Brooks’s tone. In fact, John Miller didn’t know that the reason his internet café had been running smoothly until now was because Ethan Brooks had secretly helped him solve quite a few problems behind the scenes. Even though it was just a small town, along with some nearby villages, there were still plenty of troublemakers.

Moreover, their internet café was small, the equipment was average, but they still made a good profit. This was entirely thanks to the “scorpion’s dad”—one of a kind. Over the years, some people had gotten jealous and tried to cause trouble, and even two other cafés had opened up, deliberately using all sorts of tricks.

Ethan Brooks had secretly helped John Miller resolve all these issues, but John Miller was completely unaware, thinking he was just incredibly lucky.

He patted John Miller’s broad, bare shoulder. “I’m leaving Xinxian Town tomorrow…”

Leaving… John Miller’s hand slipped, and he turned his head in shock to look at Ethan Brooks. “Leaving?”

Ethan Brooks nodded firmly. “Ever since my uncle came last time, he’s been wanting me to go help him out. He’s called several times recently, and I also want to go out and see the world.”

John Miller knew about Ethan Brooks’s uncle’s visit—he’d even hosted two meals for him. That was a distant relative from the Wen family. They were city people and hadn’t been in touch with Ethan Brooks’s family for many years. This time, the uncle was in the area on business and stopped by to visit.

That’s when he learned that Ethan Brooks’s parents had passed away years ago, leaving only Ethan Brooks behind. Originally, the uncle just planned to drop by and leave, maybe give him a few hundred yuan since they hadn’t been in contact for years. Of course, Ethan Brooks refused the money and even insisted the distant uncle stay the night.

That one night turned into several days, because on the first day, the uncle saw Ethan Brooks playing Go online. After watching for a while, he asked to play a few games with Ethan Brooks. Ethan Brooks’s style had been honed over years with Master Gu Han—though young, he was exceptionally steady. Even though he played cautiously and held back, he still made the uncle admit defeat game after game.

It’s worth noting that this uncle was a professional third-dan player and ran his own Go club. Ever since then, he’d wanted Ethan Brooks to come work with him.

“Careful…” Ethan Brooks pointed at the screen. John Miller looked and saw he’d already lost. If it had been before, he would have been furious, but now he didn’t care at all and simply shut down the computer.

“Are you really leaving?” John Miller was very downcast. After all, the two had been best friends since childhood. After graduating, he’d drifted around for a few years and knew that if he’d kept drifting, he wouldn’t have gotten anywhere. If it weren’t for Ethan Brooks, he’d probably still be just an ordinary wage earner living paycheck to paycheck.

“Yeah.” The two usually joked around, so Ethan Brooks nodded very seriously this time.

“Alright, you’re always learning this and that. There’s no future staying in this backwater. Go out and make something of yourself.” John Miller’s personality was as robust as his physique. Though he felt bad inside, he immediately cheered Ethan Brooks on.

Do your best!!! Heh, Ethan Brooks didn’t really know how to respond to his good brother. If it were just about money, he wouldn’t even need to go. In fact, going to the Go club was just an excuse. The real reason was that Ethan Brooks wanted to go to the big city to study the human body—only in a big city would there be more opportunities for scientific research. Over the years, Ethan Brooks had studied a lot of medical knowledge to research himself.

Gradually, he set bigger goals for himself. After so many years of studying himself without much result, he decided to study the human body first. He was sure that once he thoroughly understood the human body, researching himself would be much more effective.

At night, the computers were all reserved, so the two brothers naturally had a good drink together. As they got tipsy, they reminisced about the past—sometimes sighing deeply, sometimes laughing out loud, startling the late-night customers, who had no choice but to put on headphones to listen to music or watch movies.

Ethan Brooks also enjoyed drinking, but didn’t like getting completely drunk. He preferred that hazy, half-drunk, half-awake feeling. But when he was tipsy, John Miller was already out cold.

The next day, John Miller didn’t get up late. Even though he was drunk, he had things on his mind. He got up early, went to the town’s savings bank, and withdrew fifty thousand yuan. Over the years running the internet café, after expenses, he’d saved eighty thousand yuan. He took the money and rushed to Ethan Brooks’s house, only to find the door already locked.

John Miller’s heart skipped a beat. He also had a key to Ethan Brooks’s house, so he opened the door and rushed in.

“I’ve already left. If you ever feel bored at home, come find me in Shanghai. We brothers can take on the world together again. Did you bring money? There’s not much cash in the bank on any given day, so remember to deposit it back later.”