I Am Your Natural Enemy

Chapter 1227: Chapter 422: Testing the Waters, Insufficient Privileges (5k)_2

“Then you wait a bit, if you take a few Ghosts towards the urban area, they won’t last beyond the Fourth Ring, they’ll just dissipate.”

“Got it.”

Wen Yan waited for a few minutes and saw a vehicle stop in front of him. Several on-duty field agents got out, adeptly took out equipment, and contained the Ghosts.

“Sorry for troubling you guys so late at night.”

“No trouble at all, buddy! If you have such matters, just shout out to me, it’s convenient.” The bearded team leader laughed, his beard seemed to shake, adding a touch of humor.

They were patrolling, received a call about an assignment with some Ghosts attacking Scorching Sun Department experts, and rushed over, only to unexpectedly earn some Merit easily.

“I’m Cui Yan, Expert Wen, let’s add each other, exchange contact details?”

“Don’t call me expert; it’s too awkward. Just call me Wen Yan.”

Wen Yan took out his phone, added a friend, and Cui Yan smiled broadly.

“Brother Wen is being courteous; if anything comes up, just give me a call. In the Capital City, catching Ghosts is so difficult, they say the Chief Secretary woke up and issued special instructions for this.”

“Who knew the Capital City’s cameras were so good, even the suburbs have special ones. I barely walked far when the call came in, felt really embarrassed.”

Walking along the road, Wen Yan chatted with the field agents, who were idle.

Patrolling for a month might yield two Ghost sightings, with troublemakers being even rarer, and if they cause trouble, it’s beyond what they can handle.

Despite the good welfare here in the Capital City, there’s hardly any chance to earn Merit, those with enthusiasm want to go to other places in the Scorching Sun Department.

At least there’s ample opportunity to gain experience through minor cases and gradually accumulate Merit.

Though there are Ghosts locally, they don’t cause trouble like in Guanzhong County.

This time they easily earned some Merit, and each one was quite cheerful.

Arriving at headquarters, Wen Yan watched those Ghosts get sent for detention and interrogation.

This time he had no intention of hiding; he just tossed those Ghosts over as a probing stone.

Returning to his residence, Wen Yan took out his phone and tapped the screen.

A Black Box icon popped out in the corner of the phone.

“I say, you sketch this.”

“Alright.”

“A lantern, it looks like an octagonal lantern, the light is dim yellow, resembling a palace lantern prop from movies, with some blurry and indistinct patterns on it.”

The Black Box immediately generated an image version for Wen Yan to choose from.

Wen Yan picked one from them.

“This one looks more like it.”

After modifying and tweaking for a few minutes, Wen Yan realized the final image had a 90% resemblance, but only in shape.

“It roughly looks like this. See if there’s anything matching in the records.”

A few seconds later, the Black Box responded and listed three images.

“The highest similarity match is only 45%.”

One is a wondrous item in Scorching Sun Department’s collection; the lantern’s light can reveal Ghosts and other things unseen by ordinary people, allowing ordinary people to see them.

Another is related to a closed case; the lantern was evidence.

The third concerns the Ghost Market; it used to be hung at the entrance when a Ghost Market opened.

There was no exact match, but Wen Yan noticed the last lantern, besides both being octagonal, had little similarity.

Yet when Wen Yan saw this lantern, he felt the style and impression were somewhat similar.

“Where did this last lantern come from?”

“It was from an old Ghost Market, a living Ghost Market that dealt in unseeable items but was frequented by Ghosts, which eventually led to its disappearance; this lantern would be hung at the entrance as a sign when the market opened.”

Wen Yan had heard this story before, and since then, Ghost Market had become synonymous with Rakshasa Ghost Market, while the living Ghost Market started being called the Black Market obediently.

Previously, Black Markets and Ghost Markets were separate.

Black Markets often involved risky or borderline-illegal activities, but sales inside resembled a normal market with goods openly waiting for buyers.

However, Ghost Markets were extremely secretive, with hidden locations, never set up stalls waiting for naive customers; everyone from sellers to buyers hid meticulously, daring to sell anything dubious, virtually lacking legal items.

The native Ghost Wealth God in the Divine Land appeared most frequently in Ghost Markets.

“Send me the information on the closed Ghost Market.”

“Do you want all related information?”

“Yes.”

“Your permissions are insufficient to view all data.”

“Hmm?” Wen Yan was taken aback, instantly alert.

He had heard this story before, but back then, he viewed it as merely part of a connection.

Unexpectedly! Truly unexpectedly!

He found crucial information in such a place.

Wen Yan chuckled; he was now at the Scorching Sun Department’s headquarters.

If his permissions were lacking, surely someone else’s are sufficient?

He was a stakeholder now, having been attacked by Ghosts and tied to the Ghost Wealth God; he had ample reason to request permission directly from the General Director.

He checked the time, deciding to wait until daylight.

He continued questioning the Black Box.

“Is the lantern from the Ghost Market in the Scorching Sun Department?”