I Am Your Natural Enemy

”You’ll definitely be able to build the sturdiest house in the world.”

He really hadn’t expected that there were so many stories behind this name.

He thought that Guihai Yidong’s profession and ability were probably only awakened because he’d been wholeheartedly working in this direction for so long.

After all, just thinking about the professional courses he’d studied—it wasn’t something you could finish in a year or two.

Before, he’d even dug an eight-story building inside a mountain, scrounging up all kinds of scrap and hoarding materials for ages.

For one person to build such a structure, just the cost of materials was already something most people couldn’t afford.

”Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of chances in the future. The Scorching Sun Department will definitely give you all the work you want.”

”Let’s hope so. This time was great, just a pity my ability is limited. If I were stronger, if I’d learned more, maybe I could’ve done even better. But it’s fine, I’ll come back to upgrade this place for you later.”

Wen Yan didn’t keep bothering him and just let Guihai Yidong do as he pleased, which meant it wouldn’t be awkward.

Wen Yan looked around at everything here and finally added one more thing.

”You can try working on the ventilation first. The air won’t be so stuffy, and you’ll be more comfortable working.”

”Of course, Brother Wen, you don’t have to worry about me. I got this.”

”Alright, then I’m heading upstairs. If you need anything, come find me.”

Wen Yan turned and left, and as he was heading out, he left the Path-Opening Wand with Guihai Yidong.

This thing, Guihai Yidong would probably really love.

He thought he’d go ask Old Meng to buy a few more later, save them to give away to people.

Back on the surface, Wen Yan did a patrol outside, then went back to his room to get ready for bed.

Just before going to sleep, he opened the Nanwu chat group to take a look. There was already a pile of chat records.

After all, he still counted as someone who took a job, so he had to at least check in.

A lot of people in there had already finished their assignments.

The ”Science Seeks Truth” series made up at least a third, and forty percent were just little problems, nothing dangerous.

Of the remaining thirty percent, most were just mediation cases.

Like a Ghost coming out at night to scare people—why?

Because the newly built house was pressing down right on top of the Ghost’s place.

And of course, if it were just that, it wouldn’t really matter. Most Ghosts just treat it like being neighbors on different floors.

The reason this one blew up into a dispute was because the family built a septic tank, and buried it right in the Ghost’s home.

The final mediation result: the family would burn incense for the Ghost during holidays, and relocate the Ghost’s grave to a better place.

The family didn’t have any objections.

Then there was this one—some student’s test papers were getting filled out by someone else. He slacked off and was happy about it, but his grades dropped and his parents caught on. This guy, when he went home, didn’t study at all, but at night his pen was filling out test papers on its own.

The parents thought their kid must’ve been charmed by a Ghost, so they hired someone to look at it. In the end, that two-bit Jianghu conman got a beating from the Ghost and ran off scared shitless.

When it got to the Scorching Sun Department, they learned that the apartment had housed a senior student who’d died suddenly, and was still hard at work studying now.

Scorching Sun staff went to talk and offered to set up a special exam for him the night of the college entrance exam, right after the living students finished theirs—a way to fulfill his wish, and the matter was settled.

Serious Ghost cases involving real harm were actually very rare. Most were just Ghosts with too much obsession, repeating things they never finished in life.

But since they’re already dead, sometimes those things truly can never be completed.

Like that one with the college entrance exams—the exam room, plus being in broad daylight, even if a Ghost could force itself to show up in daylight, eight out of ten wouldn’t last a minute in that place and would be wiped out completely on the spot.

Those couple days, exam schools were Ghost-proof fortresses—any spirit that dared show up would die.

Even people from the Three Mountains and Five Ridges wouldn’t get near the testing centers those two days.

Wen Yan looked at these cases—mostly low danger.

There were only two cases that required force, and even those weren’t about Fierce Ghosts or Evil Ghosts.

One was a Demon, already taken care of.

The other was a Ghost who possessed someone and injured them, refused to listen, and was taken down on the spot.

Wen Yan skimmed the log and saw people in the group chatting about that last case.

The guy who handled the case was reprimanded since someone got hurt.

They were discussing how to handle this kind of situation.

That handler figured, since the one possessing was just a Little Ghost, and hadn’t hurt anyone at first, he’d tried to reason with it—didn’t expect things would escalate like that.

Wen Yan casually typed a message.

”Some Ghosts are like people in fight-or-flight mode—whatever you say at that point, it won’t get through.

If it’s a possession, drive them out first, take them down second, then maybe help the Ghost cool off physically before talking sense into them.

Just talking doesn’t help.

Some aren’t even fully rational at all.”

Seeing Wen Yan pop up, Zhang Li quickly replied too.

”Thanks, boss! @This place is the right one.”

He wasn’t totally sure about the details, but Feng Yao had told him Wen Yan met with Lu Jing, who he’d overlooked, and even sent Lu Jing a Ghost Bone.

Hearing this, he immediately realized he’d missed a big problem.

And only then did he learn that the guy in the group who’d never updated his nickname and always lurked in silence was actually Wen Yan.

This place is the right one: It’s fine, it was normal not to spot that thing. Don’t stress yourself out, just be a bit more cautious next time.

Zhang Li: Thanks, boss, I’ll keep it in mind for next time.

After a dozen seconds or so, just as Wen Yan was about to put his phone away and sleep, Huang Zhiji chimed in.

Huang Zhiji: I picked up a case today and found something, but it’s a bit tricky. Anyone in the group handy with the Calamity Protector Goddess Talisman?

Wang Ming: Embarrassed to say, I tried before, but didn’t meet the standard.

This place is the right one: What kind of case? Is there a Water Ghost?

Huang Zhiji: Sort of a Water Ghost, but not really. There’s this little workshop, someone died there before, at first they thought he drowned while drunk, but now there’ve been a couple more near-drownings, almost fatal. I found a Ghost, but I can’t tell if he’s drunk to death or drowned, and he doesn’t know either.