I Am Your Natural Enemy

”I have a general idea. Same as the rumors, it’s pretty sensitive. Brother Meng, did something happen?”

”Yeah, something came up. Today a patient showed up by recommendation...”

Doctor Meng explained the whole situation in detail.

”Yeah, that’s about it. At a time like this, I really don’t want to get involved with the Scorching Sun Department.

But now, I’ve managed to piss this guy off too. He doesn’t even know me, but I bet he’s not going to let it go easily.

I just wanted to ask if you have any way to get this to the Scorching Sun Department, maybe let some of their experts take over.

And best if they can pull me out of this mess.”

You know, I’m only a pro online—in real life, I’m pretty much average.”

I’m just worried this guy might actually find me offline for a PK.”

”I see...” Zhuge Wanjun was silent for a bit.

”A Nightmare Amulet—if I can’t get one elsewhere for you this year, I’ll give you two next year.”

”I’ll ask around.”

After hanging up, Zhuge Wanjun didn’t look for anyone else and called Wen Yan directly.

She waited for a while, but no one picked up, so she left a voicemail.

About half an hour later, Wen Yan called her back.

”What’s up?”

”Here’s the thing...” Zhuge Wanjun described the situation in detail, then continued,

”Recently I’ve heard some rumors from a few friends.

Lord Zhu is apparently looking for some ancient Ghosts.

The Scorching Sun Department seems to have caught a couple, and they’re supposedly pretty powerful Old Ghosts.

This one today—when Brother Meng mentioned it, that guy didn’t even know Brother Meng, or even Dream Tapir.

A guy who harms people in their dreams, draining their spirit and energy, yet still so insanely arrogant in front of Brother Meng.

So I thought, could this guy actually be one of those ancient Ghosts?”

Wen Yan frowned slightly.

Tong Si had said that back then, the ones who escaped through the rift were basically all Ghosts.

Because Night Vigil Deity doesn’t hunt Ghosts, only Ghosts could survive long-term in there.

Of the things that escaped, there were about a dozen that Tong Si recognized, but some even she didn’t know, and some she’d never seen at all.

Hearing Zhuge Wanjun mention that the Dream Tapir’s patient was a female student from Yu State University,

Wen Yan pretty much guessed it must be one of the Ghosts who escaped later; only with such power would she be bold enough to cause trouble in Yu State without a care.

The previous Ghosts in Yu State, if they were reckless, most of them are already gone or have moved away.

The Ghosts who know a thing or two about the modern world—except for those who are vengeance-crazed Fierce Ghosts and genuinely not afraid of death—the rest, even if they want to harm people, wouldn’t go so nuts as to start targeting students on a university campus in Yu State.

According to the definition of the Scorching Sun Department, an act like this is considered extremely malignant and influential.

Caught on the spot, immediate execution without question—just smash their soul to pieces, and afterwards it’s fine to just copy and paste a standard report.

”What’s the victim’s name?”

”Lu Jing, third-year student at Yu State University.”

”Alright, got it. I’ll follow up on this.”

After hanging up, Wen Yan opened the ’Nanwu Civilian Chat Group’ he had just joined, and accessed a file that required special permissions.

Sure enough, Lu Jing’s name showed up in there.

She was the girl Zhang Li talked about, the one who went to steal guys’ underwear hung out to dry.

Wen Yan already thought this story was a little out there; he happened to have glanced through the info while looking something else up and remembered it.

Now looking through the detailed records, he realized maybe he’d been a bit hasty in his judgment before.

He read the record.

”That night I still didn’t sleep soundly, it’s like I was dreaming the whole time, but at least I slept for nine hours that night.”

For a girl to be driven so desperate by illness that she steals male underwear, and then—bizarrely—it actually ends up working.

That last part, according to the record, was written off as a psychological effect, but that sounds a bit forced.

There might be some effect, but there shouldn’t be such a dramatic, noticeable improvement.

Wen Yan thought for a bit, and called Feng Yao to give a rundown of the situation.

”Have Zhang Li look into it again, figure out who exactly said that using a guy’s old underwear under her pillow would help.”

”No problem.” Feng Yao agreed readily.

As long as Wen Yan isn’t slacking off and is willing to help, everything’s cool.

After hanging up, Wen Yan called Feng Wei.

”Is Tong Si with you? I need to ask him something.”

A moment later.

”Of the Ghosts who escaped together last time, was there one who could harm people in their dreams, making them lose sleep, have nightmares, their mental state getting worse and weaker?”

”Plenty of Ghosts can cause insomnia and nightmares, but as for actually sneaking into people’s dreams—never heard of any.”

”He has a pair of crimson eyes, his mouth can turn into a building in people’s dreams, lure them inside, and then slowly close the mouth shut.”

”I remember now, I did see a Ghost like that before, the vibe around him was super weird, big mouth and red eyes, and it’s like there are still a lot of people living inside his mouth.”

”Do you know his name?”

”No idea, I just saw a Ghost like that on my way out, no clue what his name is or what powers he has. Just know his presence is odd—not cold, more like deeply unsettling.”

”If he’s nearby, could you recognize him?”

”For sure.”

”Come to Nanwu County, find this guy. The Scorching Sun Department will pay you—that means cash, you know the Scorching Sun Department, right?”

”Yeah, yeah, Feng Wei told me.”

”Then come. After this, I’ll get you registered with the Scorching Sun Department, so you’ll have an identity.”

On the other side, after hanging up, Tong Si’s eyes were shining.

Just earlier, Feng Wei had told him: if you want to have an identity, you need to get registered with the Scorching Sun Department. To open a bank account, technically non-living entities can’t do that, but each Scorching Sun branch office has a quota and can approve exceptions.

The easiest way is to help out with Scorching Sun Department business.

And just as he was thinking about it, the opportunity came.

On the other side, Wen Yan hung up as well, thinking that this case really wasn’t his area of expertise.

After all, when he stays in his ”send-dream” state, no one can really hurt him, but he can’t really hurt others, either.

Also, the other guy, even in the dream, only lost two eyeballs to Dream Tapir—that’s actually pretty impressive already.

The thought flashed by; Wen Yan wasn’t considering quitting, though. Since he’d already taken on the case for Feng Yao, he couldn’t just half-ass it. Now he was wondering how to actually handle this—it’s definitely not wise to hit the enemy where he’s strong and you’re weak.