Bill and Bonus went into their house, which was next to the garage, to get something while making Li Jun wait alone. He took this opportunity to search around devices inside the lab, as he would never miss a chance to study more about science.
"Professor Tian seems to have a lot of small LED light bulbs, was his research about this?" Jun was pretty sure he had read most of his research papers, but he couldn't remember anything about light study. Perhaps that was just a personal hobby of his.
As he brushed his fingers on the dusty table and picked up some hand-written research papers, he felt a familiar feeling; a warm feeling of conducting experiments with his mom. However, it was time for him to leave these feelings behind, and go on to search for the ultimate knowledge.
"Sorry for the wait, Li Jun. Here is what we want you to take a look at." The elder brother, Bill, handed him a small, analog TV. Jun liked messing with antique objects, so he happily turned it on. However, the screen would not connect to the network.
The only thing that he could see was colorful TV noises that signaled that there was no connection. Still, it was expected since the television was so old.
"My dad, he gave this to me before he passed away…" The younger brother said with a low voice. "Unless he really hates me… I don't think he will give me a worthless TV."
The brothers explained to him that they wanted to know why their father left garbage for Bonus, while giving Bill exquisite gold and diamonds. Li Jun inspected the old television, he wasn't exactly sure either. "Have you tried selling this to an antique shop? Perhaps it has a high value."
"We already tried that, but it's not worth that much so we didn't sell it." Bill explained with his hand on his younger brother's head.
"Did dad actually hate me?" Bonus sounded like he was at the verge of crying, eyes trembling. The elder brother brushed his hair gently and gave him a hug.
"Dad loved you, Bonus. I'm sure there is something behind this, I'm sure."
This is awkward. I know you guys are sad and stuff, but PLEASE go cry somewhere else.
While they were consoling each other, Li Jun closely observed the television. Something felt off about this old object, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly where.
What kind of secret is this Television hiding?
Jun's hypothesis was that there must be a secret code, message, or item somewhere. His guess would be that it's hidden within the inside of the components. Still, he had to test his hypothesis before he could draw a conclusion.
"Would it be okay if I dismantle the television? I'll be careful." He looked at the younger brother, in which he hesitated for a bit, and then nodded.
Li Jun grabbed a screwdriver from a drawer and began to skillfully disassemble the components. The brothers looked at him closely with admiration.
"Screen, circuit board, panel…" Jun mumbled while being really focused. Suddenly, his eyebrows furrowed and he turned back to the brothers. "There's no cable connection or antenna in this TV."
Bonus looked at him confusingly, "So?"
"What? You can't even figure this out?" Jun sighed, he didn't want to explain such a simple thing, "this is a hand-made TV. It's not old, it's just made to replicate an old analog TV."
"What? Why would he make me a TV?"
"Do you enjoy collecting television models?" Jun looked at the younger brother, who shook his head rapidly.
Jun looked back at the components, "Hmm…the circuit is definitely messier than usual." He grabbed different parts, and examined them closely. His eyes suddenly widened when he saw what was right under the screen.
"Pffft-" He had absolutely never seen a television like this before, he laughed at himself for not noticing this sooner.
"What's funny?" Bill asked, wondering what was wrong with the screen.
Li Jun didn't reply right away, and put the components back together. He turned on the TV again to reveal the colorful TV noises.
"This," He looked at the younger brother, "is not a static noise."
He looked back into his bright orange eyes in confusion, "T-then… What is it?
Li Jun pointed to the small grains of colorful colors on the screen, "these are small LED lights. The colors were custom and predetermined, so it was intentional to look like a noise." He explained in a calm tone.
Bonus spoke up, "I don't get it. Why would he intentionally make this?"
Li Jun didn't want to get involved any further, and he was definitely too tired to play detective.
"I don't know, you know him better than me. You two could figure this out." Li Jun turned back and walked out of the garage door, with his long coat flowing with the wind. The shadow of his figure was casted on the brother's faces as he was becoming a silhouette, drowning in the sun.
"Evaluation not complete, no rewards will be given if the candidate leaves."
Li Jun stopped and slowly turned back, "Alright nevermind, I'll help." He blushes out of embarrassment. He genuinely thought figuring out the system behind the TV was enough.
He couldn't look the confused brothers in the eyes and sat down on the chair in front of the TV.
"...Why did you-"
"Shhh. I don't think he wants us to ask, bro."
Jun sighed, "...Anyways, do you guys have any other clue what these colors could mean?" He pointed at the bright screen that was placed on the table.
They looked at each other and paused, trying to think. The elder brother spoke for both of them, "I have no clue."
"Maybe it's something related to his research?" Bonus looked at Jun who shook his head in reply.
"I read his papers, I don't think any of them are related to this."
"T-Then he might've left a clue somewhere! I'll go search his room, do you want to come, Li Jun?" Bonus spoke more than usual, and they all went to the main house to find some clues.
He might be quiet but I guess he really loves solving puzzles.
They arrived at the professor's room that was on the first floor of the house. It was a small room with only a few decorations and it was significantly tidier compared to his garage; it was almost spotless.
"Did you tidy Professor Tian's room after he passed?", Li Jun asked the brothers.
"No, but we have a maid that always takes care of him; she never leaves his side. She tidied his room for the last time before she quit the job." Bill explained. He looked sad, like he missed the maid.
Jun turned back to look directly at the bed. "Weird."
"What is?"
He bent his body down to pick up a pair of glasses that was left in the middle of the bed and presented it to the brothers, "why didn't the maid tidy this?"
"Maybe it's the glasses that dad always wears, so she left it there." Bill speculated, then Bonus stepped up and asked to look at the glasses. He squirted his eyes and turned to his brother,
"I don't think this is the one. This is quite new and different." He then pointed at the lens of the glasses. "Weird…the lenses are broken, too. Perhaps it's a clue?"
Bonus continued, "Dad might've ordered his maid to leave it here for some reason. It might be related to TV." Bill nodded in agreement, then they both looked at Li Jun for approval. Jun shrugged, while trying to think what might be related to this.
"Well, you can just ask the maid, right? Do you still have her number?"
"You are clever, Li Jun. I'll call her." Bill took out his phone and then pressed some numbers. After a while of waiting for a signal, she picked up. Jun could hear him asking some questions, but he couldn't hear the maid on the phone. After he was finished with the phone call, he looked back with sad eyes.
"No, she said she didn't leave it there. She might've forgotten to throw it away." The brother walked back towards Bonus, who furrowed his eyebrows.
"She's always so good at her job, perhaps she was lying?"
"No, I'm sure she didn't. C'mon, bro, maybe we should just give up."
The younger brother looked at him in disappointment, "No way, I don't want to give up. I want to know what exactly dad left for me."
Bill's breath paused and he sighed while ruffling his brother's hair, "Fine, fine. I'll do whatever you want."
Li Jun looked at them; they reminded him of the time he had his sister. He shook his head to try to not focus on the past, and walked out of the room to find more clues. However, even after a few hours of searching, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Gosh this is getting frustrating…" Jun mumbled to himself as he sat down at one of the couches and tried to think very deeply.
Jun sighed. He thought that maybe he sighed too much today, but he couldn't help it. "Are you really sure your dad didn't give you anything else?" he squeezed his nose bridge, caressing the deep scar.
"Um…" Bonus was cooperative the whole day, he was really trying to help. He thought deeply, looking at his brother.
"I can't think of anything either, sorry, bro."
Jun looked at them and thought,
perhaps the gift is the time they spent together
"No. Stop being corny." He said it quietly enough that only himself was able to hear it.
"Oh right, dad also left a pack of Kool-aid for me… but I don't think it's really related so I didn't mention it." Bonus said to Jun with a low voice.
"Huh, do you like Kool-aid?'
"Not really,"
Call him desperate, but Li Jun would take any clue at this point. He tried to think, to connect the dots, to find any details. The case of broken glasses still bugged him, it felt too suspicious.
"Lights, glasses, Kool Aid…"
And a physicist…!
Jun abruptly stood up and ran straight to the garage while shouting at the brothers, "Make me a glass of Kool-Aid!"
He sat down in front of the TV and could see his own reflection on the screen. His orange eyes seemed like it was glowing like a sunset, and his mouth was smiling excitingly. He turned on the TV that revealed the mess of colors that looked like they were randomly mixed together.
Bill and Bonus followed him with a glass of Kool-Aid in their hands. They were panting with the tiredness of running after Jun.
"D- Did you figure something out?" Bill was out of breath. He said as he handed the glass to Li Jun who almost spilled the drink because of his gloves.
"I'm pretty sure the glasses were a clue," Li Jun looked through the clear and red fluid. "Let me demonstrate."
He picked up a piece of paper, a red pen, and a blue pen. Li Jun began to draw something, mixing both of the colors together. After he finished, he picked the paper up to show his art to the two confused men.
"I drew a cat, do you like it?"
They looked at the paper in confusion. Bill said, "Sorry…Aren't those just random scribbles?"
"How mean of you… How about this? Look at my art through this glass of Kool-Aid.", He passed him the bright-red glass, and Bill looked through the water.
As if the water dissolved the ink, the red lines almost completely disappeared, revealing the blue lines that seemed darker. He could see a cute drawing of a cat in the middle of the paper.
"Red lenses can absorb the light of almost half of the color wheel. That is why although this only looks like a messy bunch of color with bare eyes," He took the glass, closed one eye, and looked through it, "there might be a hidden message in it. "
Easily, Li Jun could see a series of letters that were visibly darker than their surroundings. After he finished reading, he cursed to himself, "Crap."
He backed off, and handed Bonus the glass. He eagerly looked through it with his brother, both of them gasped as they saw what was written.
"B-Bro…"
The message behind the screen was a message for Bonus, the younger brother, that pointed directly to the location where he had hid most of his savings. It was obvious that the dad favored Bonus more, and did this because he knew Bonus loved puzzle games.
Li Jun couldn't even comprehend how the elder brother would feel at that point, to find out that he was the least favorite one. Perhaps, he wished that they would have never figured it out from the start.
"It's fine, bro." Bill tried to smile, but his voice was shaking, "I've always known dad loved you more. You deserve it, Bonus."
The brother smiled in return, "I-I'll share the money with you. You also deserve it too, bro!"
He shook his head, "No, dad left this for you. It's fine, you can take it." He took a deep breath to calm down after processing the huge information and looked at Li Jun.
"Uh- I won't steal the treasure, I promise." Jun chuckled, "I already stole a little bit of your gasoline, after all."
"I trust you, Li Jun. You are a good person." Bonus smiled and patted Li Jun's back. Although he was quiet and shy, he was still older than him.
Still laughing, Bill asked, "How about I get us some drinks? Gotta celebrate after such a big discovery- Ah, how about some Kool-Aids? Like, it's the same theme, you know?" All of them laughed at Bill who walked to the house to pour drinks. After a while, he came back to the garage.
He handed both of them a cup of cherry Kool-Aids. They smelled really sweet, which made Jun really thirsty. Now that he thought of it, he hadn't even eaten or drink anything after he became a God Candidate. "Thanks,"
The juice was fresh and cold, perfectly sweet. He finally got to sit down and rest, after all the tragic and confusing things he had experienced in just a span of one day. His mom's death, the end of the world, becoming a God candidate, investigating a secret message; Jun laughed at how messy his life was.
"Poison Resistance has been automatically activated."
…Arsenic?
It didn't take him too long to realize what just happened. He was just a stranger to them, and it was possible for him to steal the professor's money. So even though it was a little extreme, killing him off now would prevent the treasure from being stolen.
Still, I really thought they were good people just now. I have to stop being so gullible.
Bonus looked at Li Jun and smiled, "Ah, we should make dinner for you too. Y- you must be hungry after a long day of work. Thank you very much," He then drank the Kool-Aid from his own cup.
Li Jun narrowed his eyes in disgust. How could he say that after attempting to poison him? Maybe he was surprised that he was not dead yet.
"J-Jun," Bonus grabbed onto his sleeve. He seemed really sick as he looked at Li Jun's eyes; he was losing balance even when he was sitting.
His other hand went up to his mouth as he started coughing violently. Tears were falling down from his eyes as he choked, and all of the sudden red fluids rushed out of his stomach. It was so red that it resembled blood.
"Huh? Uh- are you alright?" Jun slapped Bonus's back in an attempt to stop the choking. He didn't stop.
Why did he drink his own poison?!
"M-My stomach hurts so much! Brother… help.." He collapsed right into his vomit, and stopped moving completely. Li Jun widened his eyes at Bill as he stood up, walking backwards, looking for a way to run.
Both of them didn't plan to kill me together, it's just Bill!
Bill was sweating heavily as tears filled his eyes. He looked angry, sad, but he was also grinning at the same time.
"You crazy bastard… You- You poisoned your own BROTHER?!" Sorrow filled Jun's voice. No matter how many times he had watched people die, he couldn't just get used to it. Seeing a life end was just too painful for him.
Bill didn't reply, he continued sobbing.
"I- You lied about the maid, didn't you? You knew your dad loved him more than you." Jun was shouting and shaking at the same time, "I can't believe it, you rotten bastard… HE LOVED YOU! And- and all of this just for some stupid money?"
Li Jun couldn't believe how greed could change someone so much, but it was true. When you have something to gain, greediness can blind you more than the Sun.
"I- hic I need that! I have so much debt a- and they're going to kill me if I don't pay them back!" He screamed very loudly, it made Jun shiver in fear.
"I am so sorry, Bonus… Brother is sorry…But I can't go back, he's dead, and YOU SHOULD TOO!" He rushed towards Li Jun with a knife behind his back. Luckily, Jun was prepared for a surprise attack and quickly ran back and closed the garage door, trapping the brothers inside, together.
"What is this mess!!!" He said as he ran away as fast as he could, with the bittersweet taste of the fruit punch still lingering in his mouth. He wanted to cry, he wanted to let it all out so much, that none of the tears even came out.
"1st Evaluation Complete. Congratulations, Venus. "
Congratulations my a**.
"REWARD: Power to manipulate chemical compound/molecule/chemical reaction: Elemental Manipulation"
I'm so tired…I want to sleep.