Blackmail a NEET to UnNEET

Despite her disorientation, she quickly retrieved her mouse and tried to regain her focus.

To her dismay—a euphemistic word to describe her very very very peeved mental state, by the time she wanted to continue chasing the bastard, he was already nowhere to be seen.

Given that only a few seconds had passed, Yu Xuejiao assumed that the other party used a high-level agility potion.

Sh*t. To think that he was almost dead. She celebrated in advance, and for what?

"Accept call?" The AI sounded once again.

"Accept, but mute me," she said with gritted teeth.

Yu Xuejiao took a pillow nearby and buried her face in it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

It helped a bit. The scream to calm her down, and the pillow to muffle her scream, though it seemed to be quite lacking.

Having screamed after answering the call, she did not hear what her brother said. But it was better than losing her temper in front of her brother—the latter would definitely lead to death.

"Lili, unmute," said Yu Xuejiao, still suppressing her leftover annoyance.

Right after her phone beeped, signifying that her microphone had been unmuted, she let out three words, "Good morning, brother," with a sweet and gentle tone as if the furious woman from earlier hadn't been her.

However, that was just on the surface. Deep inside, her blood was still bubbling from the heat, and her thoughts were in a marathon so lawless that she felt like she was about to go crazy.

But that disappeared the moment Yu Chengli, her brother, opened his mouth.

"Let me guess. You've been awake for two to three hours, but you still haven't done a single productive thing—not even making yourself breakfast, no?" His voice was warm and gentle, but somehow, they felt as cold as ice.

Yu Xuejiao's boiling blood instantly dropped to room temperature.

Her survival instinct told her to act cute, and so she did.

"Brother is soooo mean. I-I was productive." She even purposedly increased her pitch and softened her voice.

Her brothers loved her the most, it should have some effect.

She ignored the fact that her voice just then sounded disgustingly cringeworthy.

Heh. It didn't work.

Yu Chengli hummed questioningly and said, "Really? Then tell me what you have done so far."

She already had excuses prepared in her head, but Yu Xuejiao was still stumped. However, she didn't give up, searching for the right words to make gaming sound more productive than it really was.

To test the waters, she started with, "Brother, helping others is productive, right?"

Yu Chengli gently hummed in agreement.

Yu Xuejiao internally rehearsed what she would tell her brother, but in the end, her words still came out incoherent and fragmented.

"I chased a bad person… in the game. Hehe. Two. There are two of them! The cheater and the cheated with. My friend—"

Yu Chengli quickly interrupted his sister. Based on context, he knew that her sister would get angry the more she narrated if she wasn't stopped.

"Jiao Jiao?"

"Yes, brother?"

Crisis averted.

Now, Yu Chengli just needed to think of a hook to change the topic.

"Isn't this just a game?"

Ooh. Well, that opened a can of worms.

The temper Yu Xuejiao had been suppressing instantly ignited.

Fortunately, before she could respond, Yu Chengli followed up with a question. "Does your friend still like that cheater?"

"Of course not. Her eyes aren't bad," Yu Xuejiao replied almost immediately. "But he took advantage of her a lot. He even took over the joint properties that my friend bought for both of them. Shameless."

"But that is not productive."

Although Yu Xuejiao knew that her brother innocently said that because he had no life and never played games, she couldn't stop herself from being triggered.

"What else—"

"Shh, sweetie!"

Crisis averted point two.

Yu Chengli sighed and continued, "Jiao Jiao, don't we always remind you to be more productive? Chasing him in-game is some sort of brainless activity. The previous times you ranted about him, you mentioned that you can beat him with your eyes closed. Wouldn't it be better to hack that guy? It improves your skills, and you get better revenge."

How could someone say something so dreadful with that kind of voice? Anyone who could not understand their language would think that he was merely telling her to drink Vitamin C so she doesn't catch a cold.

No wonder why his name in Yu Xuejiao's contacts was 'Scary Brother.'

But they were siblings, after all. They generally had matching thoughts, so Yu Xuejiao found the suggestion brilliant—ignoring the fact that it was illegal and that it required nepotism to pull off without getting jailed.

Suddenly realizing that this wasn't the reason why Yu Chengli called her, she chuckled.

'Brother, I was wrong. You're good, ah. Very good. Though I kind of want to talk about this more.' And so she did.

With a chuckling tone, she said, "Sorry, Brother."

"It just pissed me off. He chased my friend, pretending to like her. She was even gaslighted into dating him—Jade is so weak against guilt trips. His exact line when she couldn't answer was 'What about the times we spent together?' and with an about-to-cry tone. That's literally a huge signal flare—I can't believe I didn't try to stop them!"

There was exactly six seconds of silence, as if a pause button had been hit.

In reality, Yu Xuejiao forgot what to say next, while Yu Chengli thought that his sister wasn't done yet.

Yu Chengli naturally didn't miss the chance to take over. "Alright. Same topic as before, Jiao Jiao. Productivity."

Yu Xuejiao winced upon hearing the last word but didn't say anything. 'Lalala~ I didn't hear anything.'

Her face was scrunched as if she had eaten something very sour.

Unfortunately, as much as she wanted to end the phone call to escape from the topic, her brother would just call her again.

And in the case that she dared to end the call once yet still dared to reject his next phone calls, then bless her soul because she would be f*cked.

"It's been months since you resigned from your previous job, and your personal schedule has been a mess ever since."

"You don't sleep on time, and you don't wake up on time unless it's for games."

"I know you're not eating properly either."

"Am I right?"

Yu Xuejiao didn't even hum in response—she didn't dare.

Although she wanted to deny it, it wasn't even a question. Her brother knew her so well.

Her only option was to die inside. 'Guilty, your honor.'

Taking Yu Xuejiao's silence as guilt, Yu Chengli continued, "I know it's hard for you to follow routines, especially when you're alone in your comfort space. You shouldn't be reliant on medication either. So, I want you to look for anything productive that you can do outside your living quarters."

"Got it?"

"Hm." Yu Xuejiao replied, paired with a perfunctory nod that her brother couldn't see.

Yu Chengli used a rarely heard playful tone. "Of course, my cute little sister needs motivation, no?" A huge sense of foreboding descended upon Yu Xuejiao.

Her gut feeling was immediately proven right by Yu Chengli's succeeding words, "I'll be freezing your entertainment funds."

The so-called entertainment funds was a portion of her monthly earnings she purposely set aside for games, paid reading, paid watching, and merches.

"Brooooo!"

"I'll give you one month, Jiao Jiao. Before the time is up, I want you to have already found anything productive to do, and it must start in the morning. Once you get the job, submit your schedule to me."

"Brooooo!"

"If you fail, I'll cancel your annual subscriptions as well. Also, I have inside news. The update in two weeks in that game of yours has a new event—well, it kind of helps when you spend money. Can it wait?"

"BROOOOOOOOO!"

"Bye, Jiao Jiao."

The call ended just like that.

Yu Xuejiao hurriedly grabbed a throw pillow and buried her face in it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" A ghostly anguished wail escaped her lips.

Unfortunately, the pillow failed Yu Xuejiao's neighbors. Bless their ears.

"Damn it. Damn you, Yu Chengli! What a waste of good looks. Why are you so evil?"

A new notification rang. Checking it, she found that it was a message from her brother.

[I want you to get better, not worse. Don't look for anything stressful, okay? If you run out of medication, just tell me, so I can send you a new prescription. Okay?]

Okay, fine. Her Eldest Brother was not that evil.