I Am Your Natural Enemy

Downstairs, Wen Yan rested for a bit, felt it was about time, and, as expected, still couldn’t find the gray cloth. He searched all over and didn’t find it, so he gave up.

Forget it, twelve hours is twelve hours—maybe leaving some things unfinished is best.

The sky got dark, but he felt even more energetic. With this messed up schedule, he figured he’d never be able to fix it again.

Since he had nothing else to do, he continued scrolling through what the director had posted today.

Scholar Tu had written quite a lot today, talking about his first time venturing out—how he couldn’t resist stepping into the tomb raiding game for the very first time.

This guy was actually pretty honest. He didn’t try to whitewash himself—just said he heard about others raiding tombs, learned about the terrain over there, and how some half-baked amateurs managed to stumble onto some valuable stuff. He guessed there was a big tomb over there, couldn’t hold back, and went. His first time went incredibly smoothly.

But when it came time to fence the loot, he got totally screwed over. What he thought was a lot of money was actually missing two zeros compared to its real value.

Ever since then, Scholar Tu was determined to become a fence himself, and started spending every day in the provincial library, grinding through all sorts of knowledge.

After reading all that, Wen Yan couldn’t help but sigh—even to be a proper criminal suspect, you have to study hard first. What was he doing sleeping?

Unable to find the gray cloth, he went back to practicing boxing in the backyard, surging Yang energy coursing through his whole body, making him physically stronger by the minute.

After three hours of boxing, he returned to the basement and continued studying the newly acquired Wild Fox Spirit stone carving.

Going by past experience, this thing had two possibilities: either it was for inheritance, or for sealing.

The problem was, he had no clue which one this actually was.

He mulled it over for a long time but still didn’t dare put the Wild Fox Spirit stone carving on the shelves and open the window to try it out.

He’d already paid the price for opening windows at random.

Last time he’d opened a window to a passageway, and just at a glance, people from Mount Li had caught onto his scent.

Fortunately, that time wasn’t too bad—they hadn’t wanted to pursue it any further.

Just as he was thinking about all this, his phone buzzed—it was a message from Li Linlin.

”Boss, someone’s come over here again. I don’t think I can stabilize the space much longer.”

Wen Yan looked at the message and replied.

”Can you take a call?”

Two minutes later, Li Linlin called him, whispering into the phone.

”Boss, I swear I’m not slacking off. If it’s just one side trying to cross over, I can still manage to stabilize it.”

”But today, not only are people trying to go over, there are people on the other side trying to come through as well.”

”I really can’t hold it together anymore.”

”Plus, the Scorching Sun Department already took my mom away.”

”Are you alright?”

”I’m fine—it’s just that there are more people here today than last time. A demon even got killed by a few especially vicious ghosts.”

”Alright, I’ll come over in a bit.”

...

At the same time, inside the Evil Suppression Detention Center, Granny Fox arrived.

She was on very familiar terms with the director. The moment she stepped inside, she had to comment.

”Wen Yan’s definitely been here already, hasn’t he?”

”Ha, you really have sharp eyes.”

”The Three Town Pagoda... Some people probably won’t be too happy.”

”Even if we didn’t have this, they wouldn’t be happy anyway. So, might as well let them stew in their unhappiness—as long as they don’t cause trouble, I don’t care if they curse me behind my back.”

”Thanks for the trouble, waiting around so late at night.”

”It’s nothing. There are nighttime visitation rules—it doesn’t affect anything.”

Led by the director, Granny Fox made her way down to the underground dungeon.

The place was brightly lit, with none of the gloom you’d expect from a dungeon. In fact, the Yang energy here was even stronger than on the surface.

Granny Fox was brought to one of the cells with a closed door. Only after opening one door and closing it behind could the next door be unlocked.

The cell looked to be about ten square meters, with a bed and a toilet—no sense of claustrophobia.

The director brought Granny Fox in. The person sitting on the bed had his back to the door; he wasn’t surprised. He said to Granny Fox,

”Make yourself at home. I’ll come open the door again in fifteen minutes.”

”Thank you.”

Granny Fox walked up a couple steps and sat on the edge of the bed.

On the single bed sat a man, calm in demeanor, his brows and eyes slightly sharp and long.

”I heard someone’s planning a jailbreak to bust you out, so I sent my grandson away—to someone I trust a lot.”

The man was silent, not even a flicker in his eyes.

”He’s smart, a bit more well-behaved than you, but not by much. He almost got sold, too, and even helped them count the money.”

”I heard there’s a giant tomb in the Qinling Mountains, with a crack inside. Plenty of fools want to cross over.”

At this point, the man’s expression finally changed a little.

Then, Granny Fox looked at him and slowly said the next sentence.

”Also, he has two tails now. A lot of people know, all because—just like you used to—he couldn’t sit still, and now plenty of people are aware of it.”

At that, the man on the bed’s face changed dramatically.

”When did this happen?”

”Three years ago.”

”If it weren’t for this whole mess, were you planning to never tell me?”

”Yeah. If you made it out smoothly, you’d know naturally.”

”That’s my son.”

”Your son inherited your ways—he’s almost died twice this year alone, treated like cannon fodder.”

At this, the man’s face grew complex; he didn’t know how to argue.

”Be tougher on him. Don’t let him turn out like me.”

”He’s a bit unlike you. He thinks for himself—tries to understand things on his own. When something happens, he’ll reflect on whether what he did was right, and if he’ll do better next time.”

”And another thing: I was strict with him—broke his leg four times this year alone, and he never held it against me, even if he didn’t always understand why.”

”I don’t hate you anymore either,” the man said calmly, then, after a long silence, said, ”Don’t let him go to Qinling, and don’t tell him about me. Also, who did you send him to?”

”Someone. A good kid.”

”You’d actually trust someone?”