I Am Your Natural Enemy

In this kind of situation, according to the Scorching Sun Department’s risk assessment, this old man would basically be classified as lowest-risk; they wouldn’t pay any real attention to what he’s doing.

Wen Yan pondered for a moment and didn’t rush to report it. After all, so far the other party had only walked the Nether Path, and the Scorching Sun Department didn’t have any hard rule saying you’re not allowed to walk the Nether Path.

In the records of the Scorching Sun Department, walking the Nether Path is more or less the same as playing with your life, more or less the same as self?destruction. They can’t very well set a rule that forbids self?destruction, can they?

If someone’s already planning to off themselves, would they still be scared of your rules? The Divine Land doesn’t have that kind of tradition where, to stop people from killing themselves, you just kill them first.

He put away his phone and was about to set out again when he saw the Little Zombie with her face stiff, staring solemnly at the computer screen, looking like she was very seriously watching the surveillance feeds.

Wen Yan reached out and pinched the Little Zombie’s cheek. Right in front of her, he opened a shopping app and let her pick out a phone herself.

The Little Zombie didn’t pick anything, just hugged Wen Yan’s arm and whined softly. This time Wen Yan understood: anything was fine.

What she probably wanted was just a phone that was completely, truly hers.

Wen Yan picked a phone with a pretty good reputation for her. After placing the order, he headed out. This time the Little Zombie didn’t watch videos, but stared very seriously at the surveillance footage.

Wen Yan continued along the Nether Path, heading toward Guanzhong commandery, mulling over on the way what he should say and do next.

On the other side, Fan Zeyun came out of the cellar in his house, carrying a lantern. The incense in his hand had almost burned out.

Beside the cellar sat a small Incense Burner with a single stick of incense in it. On each of the three legs of the tripod burner, there was a red cord.

One cord was tied to a palm?sized little straw man, the other end tied to the leg of a big rooster, and the last end was tossed into the cellar.

As the big rooster let out a loud crow, Fan Zeyun pulled on that last red cord and climbed up out of the cellar.

Once he came out, he took a small piece of white wax candle from the lantern, pinched the wick between his fingers, and snuffed out the flame.

He turned back to glance at the cellar, sighed, and spoke to the big rooster standing on the rack.

”Brother Dao, things have gone wrong this time. You’d better get going, before you get dragged down with me.”

The big rooster on the rack turned its head, tilting it to look at Fan Zeyun.

”Look at you all cowardly like that. What the hell are you babbling about?”

”Brother Dao, this time it’s really not a joke. When I was walking the Nether Path, I saw a Big Intersection in there, saw streetlights, and even saw surveillance cameras. I’m afraid I’ve already been caught on video.”

”And if you got filmed, so what? Walking the Nether Path is against the law now? They gonna bite the balls off a cowardly brat like you?” The big rooster craned its neck, eyelids half?lowered as it looked at Fan Zeyun.

”Walking the Nether Path itself is nothing. It’s that I got filmed in there—that’s what’ll make them notice me.

If they start digging into me, I can’t withstand that. They might end up uncovering what happened back then.

When they didn’t have any Power, they naturally wouldn’t suspect me. But now that they have Power, a lot of things can be suspected to be my doing.

You should go, at least you won’t be implicated. These things were never your problem to begin with.”

Fan Zeyun’s tone was sincere. He was not underestimating the current Scorching Sun Department. He himself was well aware that as the progress of the Spiritual Qi Resurgence deepened, even though he hadn’t been deliberately training much, the ability he could bring out was still steadily increasing.

If he could change like that, then as for the Scorching Sun Department that could install cameras Inside the Nether Path—he didn’t even dare imagine how far they’d come by now.

To be honest, the moment he saw the streetlights and cameras, he clearly realized that he couldn’t keep up with the times anymore.

Even the most powerful, most outrageous level he could imagine was still far weaker than what they were actually capable of.

Those streetlights and cameras in there directly shattered his mindset. He was already prepared that maybe tomorrow—no, it could even be tonight, this afternoon—the people from the Scorching Sun Department would walk into his courtyard.

Looking at the wild, unruly big rooster, Fan Zeyun no longer had the mood to bicker like before. He spoke gently, his voice carrying a faint choke.

”Brother Dao, please go. I’m serious. You’ve helped me so much. The fact I can walk back from the Nether Path is all thanks to you guiding the way. I should’ve died a long time ago; living till now is already a stroke of great luck. Don’t let me drag you down with me.”

”Eating your rice and crowing in your yard—that’s the Way of Heaven. You don’t know shit.” The big rooster was still spewing filth. Seeing how Fan Zeyun looked, it flapped its wings, flew onto the roof, and stood there with its head raised, refusing to look at him.

Fan Zeyun could only smile wryly. He went back into the room and started packing his things.

He was already prepared to be arrested and hadn’t planned to run. After his mentality collapsed a bit, the clearest realization he had was: there was no way to run.

He had just finished packing his things, laid out a few sets of clothes for himself, and was about to talk to Brother Dao about how to leave all the money to it when a knock sounded from outside.

Fan Zeyun’s hand paused, and he heard someone outside the courtyard calling in the local dialect.

”Old Fan, you home?”

”Who is it?” Fan Zeyun called back.

”Me.”

Fan Zeyun thought for a moment but still couldn’t place the voice. He figured it was probably someone from the production team, or one of the young people who come down to do poverty alleviation.

Fan Zeyun opened the gate and saw a young man standing outside.

”You are?”

”My name’s Wen Yan. Can I come in and talk?”

”What’s the matter?”

”You just walked past my doorstep. I’m only here to have a chat with you.”

As soon as he said that, every muscle in Fan Zeyun’s body tensed up. His cloudy eyes suddenly became sharp, but in the next instant, it was like his strength had been drained. He let out a sigh.