Super God: If I punch you, you will die

The guesthouse that Xiangtian took them to was not built specifically to welcome them; it was originally intended to be a resort hotel.

Despite the building being completed two years ago, its actual opening date remains uncertain.

023 Market Crash [Please Subscribe]

"Just like the businesses my brother usually does. His vision and planning are amazing, but he always gives up halfway and doesn't make a penny back."

"It's such a waste that my brother thought of only letting us live on this island. His vision is truly remarkable. Transforming it into a resort, attracting businesses to develop water sports, fishing, and honeymoon packages, and hoping to boost the popularity of vacationing here is a wonderful idea. If I were the eldest son, I think I would also rack my brains to find a way to make good use of this island."

"But the hotel has been built for two years already! After two years, who knows when it will open? Where did the management company you hired go?"

“That’s very rude. This isn’t my husband’s fault. It’s just a dispute with the company he’s contracted to do the work for. We’re the victims from beginning to end.”

"The company that Zangjiu's brother-in-law commissioned isn't sending out any good news, is it?"

"Just tell her directly: bounced checks, embezzlement of public funds, engineering disputes, and all sorts of factors led to the collapse of the entire plan. Do you think this news won't reach our ears? We've even done the verification work."

“I don’t know how you verified this; it’s completely baseless. To enter the tourism industry, you have to smooth things over in many ways, and assessing whether the other party is trustworthy is also very important. We just spent more time and effort on these aspects.”

“I admit that building the hotel too early was indeed too risky. However, the building itself has not incurred much maintenance costs, and this move will soon prove to be of great value.”

"Brother, don't try to fool me. You can't sell it even if you want to cut your losses. A luxury hotel built on a deserted island where the tourist route isn't even established and there's nothing there—how could anyone possibly want to buy it? And what about the funds raised to promote this project?"

"Even if we don't spend on maintenance fees, the outstanding loans will snowball. I'm sorry, Brother-in-law Zangjiu, I had someone check the development plans for this island. To be honest, the news you've been spreading isn't good either."

“Brother-in-law Hideyoshi, if we only look at the current financial situation, it may really be as you say, but this is an initial investment. I can’t deny that I made a mistake in judgment, which led to a lot of debt in the past. However, the times have finally caught up with me, and we will soon be able to turn a profit. No, it’s not just this one investment; all the previous investments will soon start making money for me. To put it metaphorically, it’s like releasing salmon fry, letting them grow fat, and then catching them back.”

“I admit that the tourism industry should see unprecedented prosperity in the future. Although I’m not sure if it will be good enough to make up for past losses, but, Zangjiu’s brother-in-law, where did you get your funds from when you failed repeatedly? Not to mention that the amount of money is considerable, more than enough to make up for all the previous losses.”

"Brother-in-law Hideyoshi, what are you trying to say?"

“Sister-in-law Xia Fei, please don’t be angry. I’ve investigated this matter. I’ve looked into who Zang Jiu’s brother-in-law, who had previously failed in his investments, was able to make such a large and aggressive investment recently.

Ushiromiya Ryūfū continued, taking over from Ushiromiya Hideyoshi.

024 The Ironclad Rules of Financial Roulette [Please Subscribe]

"The result was that there was none. Nobody was there to back him up. The ironclad rule of financial roulette is never to bet on the same side as the losers. This guy is already a pretty well-known loser in this world. The economy is indeed about to improve, but considering his past failures, if you ask whether anyone still thinks it's worthwhile to fund him, the answer is definitely no one."

"In that case, the question boils down to where this money came from."

"That's an interesting thing to say. And then?"

"How long are you going to let them talk nonsense?"

"Sister-in-law Xia Fei, please sit down first. I'll get straight to the point. It's almost certain that my brother is using Dad's personal assets to invest in his own business. If this is a misunderstanding, please explain it clearly."

"Lyufu, it's not as simple as just transferring funds; it's embezzlement of public funds, a criminal offense that can be prosecuted."

"This is extremely rude. My husband, Ushiromiya Kurausu, is the heir to the Ushiromiya clan. I can't believe that someone would dare to spout such nonsense to his face."

"This isn't nonsense, it's the truth, isn't it? My brother is desperate to make his business successful and make up for past losses, but he's only making the hole bigger. He's just trying to fill the hole left by his past gambling losses with gambling. Since he has money on hand, it's no wonder he's resorting to it. Let me be blunt, what my brother did was embezzlement, an act of betrayal against Father. Once the accounts are settled, it should be handed over to the judiciary for judgment. Do you think someone like that has the right to call himself the heir to the headship of the Ushiromiya clan?"

"You can't just say anything, you actually accused him of betraying the head of the family. I can't pretend I didn't hear that. You are no longer qualified to cross the threshold of the Ushiromiya family. Get out of here immediately! Now!"

Princess Natsumi's anger had reached its limit, and she roared furiously at Princess Eiha.

As she spoke, she gestured to Huiyu and the corridor, urging her to leave.

Ushiromiya Eiha took out her fan and fanned herself a few times, while ignoring what she said with a malicious look in her eyes, though a cold smile still appeared on her lips, forming a crescent shape.

The chilling silence made Ushiromiya Rōza swallow hard.

"So that's what you're saying, Sister-in-law Xia Fei. Who are you trying to talk to?"

“I’m telling my husband’s extremely rude sister. As the person in charge of the main family’s affairs, I can no longer pretend I didn’t hear it.”

"Managing household affairs? Shut up, you filthy woman."

With a snap, Ushiromiya Eiha closed her folding fan and stood up with an imposing air.

Her appearance was aggressive, and it was completely unimaginable that just a moment ago she had been so elegantly mocking the other person.

"Ridiculous! You're the one who should step down. How dare you call me Ushiromiya Eiha, the third-ranking member of the Ushiromiya family who is qualified to sit to the left of the head of the family? You have no self-awareness whatsoever. Go look in the mirror and see what a pathetic sight you are. Where are the wings on your clothes? Where can you find the single-winged eagle that the head of the family allowed you to embroider? The Ushiromiya family is nothing more than using your womb to produce an heir. You servant, get your place straight."

Ushiromiya Eiha revealed a ferocious expression, using the claws of words to grab Natsuhi's heart and tighten it forcefully.

"..." Princess Natsumi had a thousand words she wanted to say in rebuttal, but anger and sorrow choked her throat, and not a single word could be uttered. Her anger, with nowhere to go, turned into a hot tear that slid down her cheek.

025 Conflict Erupts [Please Subscribe]

"What's wrong? If you have something to say, just say it! Speak up!" Ushiromiya Eiha gave her a provocative look, but Natsuhi could only clench her fists and tremble.

Ushiromiya Kurausu calmly broke the tension that was almost palpable.

"Xia Fei, please step aside for a moment and calm your mind."

"you……"

The fact that her husband didn't support her infuriated Princess Natsumi, who then directed her anger at him.

"Do you really know what they just said about you? These people can say anything, but they actually said you betrayed Father. We strive every day to uphold the glorious traditions of the Ushiromiya family, passed down by Father, and all those efforts have been trampled on by them. How can you pretend you didn't hear this nonsense? Why didn't you refute them? It's precisely because you didn't refute them that I refuted them for you, but you push all the blame onto me. You even want me to calm down? It's always me. I'm always thinking about this family, but you..."

Princess Natsumi Ushiro could no longer hide her tears and stormed out of the living room.

The living room was filled with a somber atmosphere.

When the footsteps faded and silence returned, Ushiromiya Kurausu made a slight shrug and said:

“My wife was rude. She has never been able to control her emotions, and I find it very troublesome.”

"With someone like that in charge of household affairs, my brother must have endless worries."

"Woo..."

Princess Natsumi of Ushiro was weeping in a corner of the corridor when Kumazawa called out to her tremblingly:

"lady."

"I'm fine, you may leave."

Princess Natsumi of the Right Palace ran into her bedroom, lay down on the bed, and burst into tears.

The heart-wrenching cries reached Kumazawa's ears in the corridor. Kumazawa's wife thought to herself, "The lady is truly pitiful. She and Miss Eyu have always been at odds. Explaining their relationship is extremely difficult for me, a woman, to bear. The Ushiromiya family places great importance on bloodlines; once married, a woman is removed from the family register. Therefore, Miss Eyu should have been removed from the family register when she married Hideyoshi. However, this is no one's fault, especially not the lady's; it's just fate playing tricks. The problem lies in the fact that Master Kurau and Lady Natsumi haven't been able to have children. The Ushiromiya family is patriarchal, treating wives only as tools for procreation. If a wife can't even do this one job well, she's not even considered a human being in the family. Just thinking about how the master reprimanded the lady back then makes me feel unbearable. And then, at this critical juncture, news spread that Miss Eyu was going to marry Hideyoshi. Miss Eyu is very cunning; she's got the lady..." The fact that she hadn't conceived yet won the master's favor. She said she would arrange for her son-in-law to marry into the family, and that she would give birth to a child to become the heir to the family headship, thus persuading the master to allow her to stay in the Ushiromiya family. The lady, having married into the Ushiromiya family, was treated as an outsider, while Miss Eyu remained in the family through marriage. The difference in their status within the Ushiromiya family was like heaven and earth. Moreover, Miss Eyu had given birth to a boy. At this point, it's not hard to understand how humble the lady's position was towards Miss Eyu. The lady must have been extremely resentful, thinking that if she had conceived earlier, the master wouldn't have allowed Miss Eyu to marry into the family, and she wouldn't be so arrogant today. However, this wasn't the lady's fault; it was all due to fate, and the stork delivering Miss Zhu Zhixiang too late. But even knowing this, the lady couldn't let go so easily. She could only secretly shed tears for failing in her duties as a wife, lamenting, "Poor thing, I'm powerless, I can only hide here and watch..."

026 [Please Subscribe] Inscription on a Portrait Painting

October 4th, Saturday

Sat. 4th October 1986.

Inscription on the portrait

After Lin Yan and Ushiromiya Ryoji left the living room, they passed through the hall before exiting the entrance hall, where the portrait of the witch once again came into view.

However, saying it caught the eye might not be entirely accurate; it would be more fitting to say that one's gaze was drawn to it. This woman's eyes possessed a captivating charm, a genuine magic that made it impossible to look away.

"I wonder if the witch Beatetrich is real or not."

Lin Yan didn't believe it...

When Lin Yan asked who the painting depicted, Maria was the first to answer that it was Beatrice. Therefore, Maria must feel that Lin Yan's doubt about the witch's authenticity is tantamount to distrusting her, even though that's certainly not what Lin Yan meant.

Maria ran to the portrait and patted the stone tablet beneath it, which mostly contained the title of the portrait.

Maria, determined to prove she wasn't lying, kept patting the camera in a fit of pique.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't doubt what Maria said."

"I believe Maria is telling the truth, sweetie." Lin Yan patted Maria's head and apologized to her. She seemed to accept what I said, and changed to a posture of holding her head high and puffing out her chest, whimpering triumphantly.

"Let me see what it says. 'My beloved witch, Beatrice,' passing through my long-cherished homeland. What's with this long and strange inscription?"

The stone tablet does indeed record the title of the portrait, but such a large area is unnecessary for just the title.

Below the title is a very long inscription.

Lin Yan glanced at the article and then caught sight of a few sensational words, which made his eyes widen.

"Isn't this inscription impressive? Grandpa had it carved; it looks very serious, doesn't it?"

Miyako Ushiromiya and Maria ran up behind me to look.

“Maria knows. This is where the gold is hidden.”

"You mean the story of the Ushiromiya family burying gold? Another nostalgic tale. But, brother, is what's written here true?"

“Grandpa had these articles written, but he wouldn’t say anything about the painting or the inscription. However, the relatives are saying that the inscription describes where Grandpa hid his gold, and whoever can solve the mystery will have Grandpa give up his position as head of the family and the gold.”

"Maria has heard of it too. Maria has heard of it too. Lots and lots of gold."

"Who knows? Saying it's ten tons of gold nuggets, I always feel it's a bit outrageous."

"But once you read the inscription, it seems like it's real."

King Kinzo Ushiromiya inherited the Ushiromiya family, which was on the verge of collapse due to the Great Kanto Earthquake. He skillfully weathered the storms of the post-war era and amassed a vast fortune. King Kinzo Ushiromiya did indeed make a fortune by predicting the trends of the times, but there is a rather intriguing legend about how he acquired his first large sum of money.

Ushiromiya Kinzo was a member of a branch family and had no connections in the political or business world. Even though he later established a reliable channel with the US military stationed in the area, he was initially an unknown nobody who could not gain anyone's trust.

Money must be raised through credit.

No one will lend money to someone with no credit.

Initially, Ushiromiya Kinzo had no credit whatsoever, so how did he manage to borrow his first huge sum of money?

When asked about this matter, this is how Ushiromiya Kinzo answered.

027 Soul Collateral [Please Subscribe]

Ushiromiya Kinzo said, "One day, I met the Golden Witch Beaterich."

Some say that Kinzo Ushiromiya was a great magician who studied alchemy and demon summoning magic for many years. It is said that he performed a ritual to summon a demon, and the one he summoned was the Golden Witch Beatrice.

So Kinzo Ushiromiya pledged his soul as collateral to enter into a contract with Beatrice, gaining wealth and fame in return. The witch gave Kinzo Ushiromiya ten tons of gold, which he then used as collateral to borrow a huge sum of money. He then used this capital to make several times that amount, reviving the Ushiromiya family. This part of the story is something the older generation had heard from people since childhood, so it must have been told a very long time ago.

Therefore, people of Ushiromiya Ryūfū's generation all said that when they were young, they believed that the gold that Ushiromiya Kinzō obtained from the witch was hidden on this island, and they even went on adventures everywhere.

But they would run into the deserted forest and get lost, which was very dangerous. So, Ushiromiya Kinzo's wife, who was also their grandmother, told them that a witch lived in the forest, so it was very dangerous and they should not go near it.

"I have indeed heard such a story. When we were little, our parents told us this story. They said we were going to search for treasure and running around all over the island. I remember once we got lost in the forest and cried loudly. We were finally found by the servants and got a good scolding from our parents. It really brings back memories."

“We were really stupid back then. Think about it, Grandpa made a fortune with this money and then bought this island. That means he owned the gold before he came to this island, so how could the gold have been left on this island?”

Ushiromiya Kinzo, with a wry smile, tried to end the conversation, but Ushiromiya Kinzo continued, "That's not necessarily true. For example, perhaps that batch of gold was originally hidden on this island, and my grandfather bought the whole island to ensure that the gold wouldn't fall into other people's hands. After all, the gold weighed as much as ten tons, so it would be more practical to get it to the entire burial site than to try to move it to a safe place."

"Since this inscription was written two years ago, and it was written by someone personally commissioned by Grandpa, doesn't that increase the credibility of the gold legend? The witch bestowed ten tons of gold upon Grandpa, asking him to use it as funds to revive the Ushiromiya family, and this gold is still sleeping on this island. Perhaps Grandpa wanted to give it all to the person who could solve this mystery. I don't know if I should say that this method is very much in Grandpa's style. If it's true, then it's very interesting."

The inscription carved on the stone tablet records a mysterious story that is both poetic and song-like.

This article reveals Kinzo Ushiromiya's love for black magic. The content is very sensational and tasteless, but it does indeed seem to be an article that hints at the location of gold.

"What Grandpa was thinking, whether he was really planning something, I have no idea where to even begin to guess. But one thing is certain: by putting this superstitious inscription here, he was practically announcing it to the whole family. And while the inscription hints at the existence of gold, it doesn't mention where it's actually hidden. Then my parents started using their imaginations, saying that Grandpa was definitely trying to outsmart us."

028 Two hundred billion yen [Please subscribe]

"It's probably my greedy dad who actually believed such a far-fetched story. He usually looks down on Grandpa's interest in black magic, but he believes it's real as soon as gold is mentioned. He's really pragmatic."

"This story is indeed a bit unrealistic. Back then, my grandfather was unknown and had no connections. It was impossible for anyone to lend him such a large amount of gold for free. Of course, if it is because such a person really existed that my grandfather called this benefactor a witch, then it makes sense."

"But it's ten tons, ten tons. How much is that worth in cash? And the amount of gold ingots must be quite small, right?"

"This is truly extraordinary. It's said that the total amount of gold mined throughout human history is only around 100,000 tons. For a single individual to possess one ten-thousandth of that total is an incredible feat. For all this gold to be concentrated in one person's hands, and then lent to my grandfather in its entirety, this 'witch' is definitely no ordinary person."

"I think the number ten tons is already very fake. First of all, apart from Grandpa, no one else has seen it, right? Even if there really was such a generous witch who lent Grandpa gold, I don't think it would be ten tons, at most ten kilograms, right? Just ten kilograms would be quite a lot of money."

How much is ten kilograms of gold?

Maria couldn't keep up with her older siblings' conversation and was completely excluded. She finally found a way to ask them a question, and that's when she finally asked them this one.

"Who knows? The price of gold fluctuates and it's hard to generalize. Moreover, the price is also affected by the purity of the gold and the credit of the mint. There are also transaction fees for exchanging it. But no matter what, gold is indeed a rare metal. Some people speculate that if humans continue to mine, they will probably run out of gold in about half a century. Let me just pick a number and calculate that one kilogram is worth about two million yen."

"When I said ten kilograms, I was just giving a small number. I didn't expect that even ten kilograms would be worth a full twenty million."

"Maria weighs 28 kilograms."

"So, a batch of gold weighing about the same as Maria's is worth more than fifty million yen?"