I Am Your Natural Enemy

”Have you ever studied before? Taken any imperial exams?”

”I took the county-level exams, but I don’t know if I passed. I was already dead by then. Later, after becoming a ghost, I wanted to look it up, but never got the chance.”

”What year did you take the exam? I’ll check it for you later.”

”It was the fifth year of Hongwu. My name’s Tong Si, courtesy name Shiwu.”

When Lord Zhu heard ”county-level exam”, he had a rough guess already, but he didn’t expect this guy was really from the Old Zhu family’s era.

Now, looking at the name Tong Si had written himself, he just felt there was something off about it.

”Your name and courtesy name...”

Tong Si immediately explained.

”My mother died when she gave birth to me. I was born with grim-eyes, seen as inauspicious. Even my family and friends avoided me like the plague.

My eldest brother didn’t really want to bother with me either, but my sister-in-law stood her ground and insisted on bringing me back home, raising me alongside her own children.

When I grew up, I changed my name to Si myself, to remind myself never to forget those fifteen years of kindness raising me.”

It’s just that I died a bit early, and not long after becoming a ghost, I ended up over there for some unknown reason...”

Lord Zhu was silent for a moment. He calculated a bit—Tong Si probably being dragged there had something to do with what Old Zhu did back then.

Back in those days, when Old Zhu founded the new dynasty, his power was at its peak. He even took out the Mountain Lord—after killing him once, he went ahead and did a whole lot of other things, really stomped on the gas pedal.

Tong Si was probably just one of the unfortunate souls caught up in that mess.

”I’ll check it for you later; there should be a record.”

That pretty much wrapped up their chat; Tong Si seemed quite cooperative, so Wen Yan got ready to take him away.

Before leaving, he snapped a picture of the paper, sent it to Feng Yao, and fired off a message saying this was a partial list of ghosts that had appeared from the earlier rift—handle as you see fit, but especially keep an eye on that burned-to-death ghost.

Feng Wei came up to lead the way, and when he saw Tong Si tagging along, he looked surprised. Wen Yan didn’t bother to explain, just said,

”He’s got a special skill or two. I’m taking him along to help me out.”

”Oh, then Tong Si, work hard—if you help get something done, there’s even a bonus in it for you. Later on you could even buy yourself a place.”

Tong Si didn’t really know what to say at first, but when he heard that, his eyes suddenly went wide.

”We can buy property?!”

”Sure you can. Some of the ghosts recruited by the Scorching Sun Department not only get salary and bonuses, they even have a housing fund.”

Tong Si was utterly shocked. What kind of era is this, where ghosts can openly buy their own homes?

He really wanted to ask what that ”housing fund” thing meant…

But judging from Feng Wei’s tone, this was obviously some basic common knowledge.

He held back, planning to ask later.

Once that thought occurred, he made up his mind. That burned-to-death ghost is already up to no good, and now it’s daring to attack people too.

What that burned-to-death ghost is doing would never be tolerated by the imperial court in any era.

So don’t blame me for not showing any sentiment!

As they descended the Nether Path, while passing a certain spot, Tong Si’s eyes flipped, grim pupils appearing as he gazed at a small path by the roadside.

”Right here. That guy left through here.”

”Can you step onto this path?”

”Should be able to. If I can see it, I should be able to walk it.”

”You go first.”

Tong Si hesitated for a moment, then said,

”To keep from getting lost, how about I hold onto you guys?”

Wen Yan smiled and nodded.

”Alright.”

He let Tong Si take the lead, taking them off the Netherworld Avenue and down a small path.

After walking for more than ten minutes, they finally emerged from a place that looked like a construction site.

This was a small mountain, and it looked like roadwork was underway; the mountain was half excavated, and where they came out used to be a sealed cavern in the mountain, now dug open.

An unstable, temporary little exit had formed here. A few days’ worth of sunlight and this entrance would disappear.

So far, the only fixed big entrance is in Old Zhao’s basement—which you can even run electrical wires down into.

But temporary unstable exits like this, under normal circumstances, are just mountain caves; for people like Wen Yan with a physical body, one wrong step and there’s no way through.

Wen Yan walked out, took out his phone, got online, and checked their location.

His face immediately darkened—Taibao County.

This was exactly the kind of place he didn’t want to be; it’s way too close to the Huai River.

Zooming out on the map, he saw that the nearest riverside spot was less than a hundred li away. That did nothing for his sense of security.

”Can you sense that guy’s trail? Hurry up and catch him, the sooner the better.”

The band on Wen Yan’s wrist even started to turn slowly, reacting to how close they were to the Huai River.

Wen Yan flicked his fingers lightly.

”Sit still—don’t move.”

Right after Wen Yan spoke, the gray cloth immediately followed his arm, shshsh, winding itself around the bracelet.

Wen Yan promptly tapped the gray cloth, blessing it with a bit of Yang energy.

”Good job.”

He’d figured out by now that this gray cloth was pretty spiritual; if you wanted to control it, you had to take the cheerleader approach. Do a good job—praise it. The more you praise, the better it works.

Tong Si had been keeping a close eye on the two weapons wrapped in gray cloth this whole time, and now that he saw how spiritual the gray cloth was, he couldn’t help but shrink his neck a little.

Standing at the entrance, he sensed around, then walked over to a parked loader, felt carefully, and used his grim pupils to spot a black hand print on the exhaust pipe.

”He came out from here.”

”Lead the way. Let’s find him.”

Tong Si was full of energy now, eager to sell out the burned-to-death ghost, earn his credentials, and then go ask what the housing fund actually was.