I Am Your Natural Enemy

”Hmm? From Nanwu County?”

”The ones from Nanwu County are the safest. It’s like IP addresses: many people use VPNs to access content from outside, and their displayed IP address will be from Nanwu County. Phone numbers are similar. It also has over three thousand yuan in call credit, so you don’t have to top it up yourself. When the credit runs out, just destroy the card.”

Wen Yan held the phone, watching Feng Yao handle it with such ease, likely amazed.

”This isn’t your first time doing this, is it?”

”This is actually quite simple. Even on the black market, it’s considered entry-level, posing no real difficulty. It just costs a bit of money. I’ve bought them before to check out things from the outside.”

”If I wanted to use this phone for spending, how should I do it?”

”What exactly are you trying to do? You don’t need to go through all this hassle just to watch a video, do you? You can watch by yourself. As long as you don’t distribute it, you won’t break the law, and you don’t need to worry about browser history.”

”What are you thinking? I’ve found some issues.”

Wen Yan then explained what he had discovered. Yesterday, when he went to the brewery, he initially planned to investigate a Ghost whose cause of death was unknown. Who would have thought he would end up tracing it back to a company in Central Plains County and uncover a host of abnormal activities?

By the time Wen Yan finished explaining, Feng Yao was frowning as he looked at the phone.

”That’s definitely abnormal. If you were someone running a legitimate manufacturing business and did this, I might believe you, because the sunk costs are too high. Companies like that, which spring up by the hundreds one day and go bankrupt by the hundreds the next, all try to avoid taxes. This company doesn’t even need to evade taxes. By skirting the rules a bit, they could increase their profit margin by several percentage points. But they actually paid their taxes by the book. They didn’t shortchange those influencers a single cent on tax payments either. Their accounts are clear and straightforward.”

Wen Yan spread his hands and said, ”Although that’s true, you can’t just investigate someone for being the only law-abiding entity among a bunch of abnormal ones, can you?”

After thinking for a while, Feng Yao took out two bank cards from his bag and handed them to Wen Yan.

”One card has over a million yuan, and the other has over three hundred thousand US dollars. You can link them to this phone.”

Wen Yan promptly handed the phone to Feng Yao.

Feng Yao took out the laptop he always carried and, after a flurry of typing on it, handed the phone back to Wen Yan.

”Just use it normally from now on. These two cards are for expenses. Some funds aren’t suitable to go through official accounts, and the intended recipients don’t want them routed that way. So, you take these and use them.”

”You’re playing quite the game here.”

”What are you thinking? Some are for informants, some for certain Different Races, and others for people affiliated with the Hong Kong Government.”

”That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Where did your mind go?”

Feng Yao was left speechless, sidetracked by Wen Yan.

”Anyway, if you think there’s a problem and you want to infiltrate and investigate, then use them however you see fit. If Wang Xueqi’s short video from back then is connected to this company, then significantly increasing the budget for the case wouldn’t be a problem. I also think it’s right to be cautious. If there really is an issue, sending people to investigate directly will inevitably tip them off.”

”You coming to my place isn’t a problem?”

”Haven’t I been visiting you frequently? No one would find it suspicious. People would only think something’s up if I *stopped* coming. Have you cooked? I haven’t eaten yet.”

After feeding Feng Yao, Wen Yan saw him off.

Wen Yan then went to the new basement to look around. He saw Guihai Yidong in the distance. When Guihai Yidong noticed him, he performed a one-second sock-and-shoe-donning act. Wen Yan felt it would be awkward to stay longer, so he didn’t offer any opinions. He just brought Guihai Yidong some food and left, sparing Guihai Yidong further embarrassment.

Back home, he took the phone, didn’t connect to Wi-Fi, and used unmetered data to start watching live streams and videos.

He watched all afternoon but didn’t spot anything unusual.

After pondering a bit, he went to practice boxing. After three hours of practice, advancing his right hand’s Pioneer progress by another two centimeters, he ate dinner and returned to his room to continue watching live streams.

Whenever he saw something good, he sent an airplane gift. After all, he couldn’t just target the streamers from that one company; he had to be a bit more indirect.

He stayed on for half the night, spending several thousand yuan without any results. All he heard were shout-outs thanking ”Can’t I Just Like to Laugh?”.

For three days straight, Wen Yan didn’t find anything amiss; he’d only managed to become a familiar face to a few streamers.

On the fourth day, while randomly browsing, he stumbled upon the food exploration live streamer he had watched on the first day, who was affiliated with that particular company.

Wen Yan tuned in. The streamer was doing a restaurant review, targeting a barbecue restaurant in Luoyue County.

Upon arriving, he saw a large basin filled with pig eyes. They were piled up, their vacant stares seeming to come from all directions—a sight that made viewers’ scalps tingle.

The bullet comments scrolled rapidly by; some viewers couldn’t take it, while others egged the streamer on to eat.

Someone sent an airplane gift.

”Dare the streamer eat a pig’s eye?”

Immediately, a crowd of people started egging him on. The streamer’s face turned sour, his expression looked constipated, and he shook his head vigorously.

At that moment, Wen Yan also sent an airplane gift.

The previous commenter chimed in, and together they sent several more airplane gifts in quick succession. The streamer, gritting his teeth, finally ordered grilled pig eyes.

Watching the extreme eating stream made Wen Yan’s eyelids twitch.

As time passed, the background din gradually faded, and the number of patrons in the restaurant dwindled.

Even the bullet comments started to decrease.

The streamer bit into a pig’s eye, and it burst in his mouth. He seemed to be chewing with great effort, his face contorting into a grimace.