I Am Your Natural Enemy

Chapter 10 - 10 Rules (Thanks to the ”Fried Dough Stick Delicious” Alliance Leader)

Wen Yan walked and walked, and soon arrived at the Hall of Repose.

This was actually the place for storing the Golden Pagodas; it was free for three years.

Previously, Wen Yan thought it was for those families who couldn’t afford a burial plot to store the urns here, but only understood after looking into it.

Actually, more often, when an elderly person passed away, their spouse would temporarily store the urn here, and wait until after a hundred years to be buried together.

According to local customs, opening a grave was inauspicious, so rarely would one person be buried first, and the grave dug up later to bury both together again.

But there were still some people’s urns stored here for other reasons.

For example, young people who hadn’t started a family—after dying an untimely death, their urns would also be stored here for a while, and after three years, taken back to their hometown for burial.

After Wen Yan arrived here, he initially wanted to find a colleague to check the registry.

At the entrance, he just glanced inside and saw two elderly people with graying hair, and happened to spot the name of the little nurse with the bad tooth in the slot in front of them.

He stepped inside and heard one of the elderly softly muttering.

”Xinxin, I made your favorite mung bean cakes for you. It took me half a day to finish. Your dad and I are both alright. It’s been a year since you left...”

The old lady choked up as she spoke.

The white-haired old man beside her gently embraced the old lady. His lips trembled, wanting to comfort her, but in the end, was unable to say anything comforting at all.

”Xinxin, we’re leaving now. We’ll come see you again in a few days.”

The old man helped the old lady, who was crying harder and harder, to leave.

Seeing the old lady wasn’t looking well, Wen Yan quickly stepped forward to help with support.

”Sit down and rest for a while.”

Helping the old lady to sit, Wen Yan then poured two cups of warm water for them, and accompanied them for a chat.

After ten-odd minutes, Wen Yan sent the elderly couple off, called a car for them, and returned to the Hall of Repose.

Those two elders—whose hair seemed much grayer—were actually only in their fifties. Losing their only daughter in middle age was simply too great a blow.

Now, looking at the offerings set there: mung bean cakes, individually wrapped mini breads, and a few oranges.

Wen Yan felt around in his pocket and took out an identical small bread. It was leftover from last night.

Exactly the same kind as the offerings here.

Even a fool would understand now: last night, the little nurse with the bad tooth told him not to go out, said outsiders couldn’t get in, kept urging him to go rest—she was actually helping him avoid danger.

All that talk about not liking sweets was just an excuse—she just wanted him to eat something quickly, hurry back to the ward, and avoid possible danger.

Even the phone not charging, and charging for hours yet still not full, was because he was inside the Domain. These were clues he hadn’t noticed at the time.

Back then, he didn’t know about anything related to Domains. After all, the surroundings hadn’t changed, and he’d been numbed by the hallucinations from eating poisonous mushrooms.

Now the little nurse with the bad tooth had died in a so-called accident, trapped in that Domain.

He’d nearly been struck today by a sixty-pound falling leaf—he certainly didn’t think being hit would just injure him; he’d probably be dead on the spot.

Wen Yan sat in the Hall of Repose for a while, then got up and walked out.

He took out his phone and called the director.

”Director, I want to understand what exactly that so-called Domain is. Are there any records?”

”You want to get involved?” He Jian’s tone was very calm, as if he had expected this.

”Let me check it out first. If I can’t help, I won’t force it.

If I can help, then I’ll try to do something.

I really don’t think that was any accident—something was trying to kill me.

And, she did give me the best food and helped me avoid danger.

If I pretend not to know after learning all this, it just doesn’t sit right with me.

Besides, most importantly, even if I want to hide, I might not be able to, right?”

”That’s true. Since you don’t know the specific rules, but it’s already affecting you from outside, hiding isn’t the best way.”

”I know.”

”Alright then. Someone will contact you soon.” He Jian hung up, a smile emerging on his face. His judgment on people was pretty accurate—not for nothing had he boasted to Cai Qidong before.

...

Wen Yan waited for over an hour before his phone rang.

”Hello, Wen Yan? I’m outside Virtue City Funeral House.”

Wen Yan looked toward the front gate and saw a black SUV parked there, with a burly man with a square face holding up his phone, waving at him.

”Scorching Sun Department, Feng Yao.” Feng Yao extended his hand, looking very serious. With that square face, he was destined to be a leader someday.

”Wen Yan.”

”I’ve read your records. Let’s talk in the car.”

Once in the car, the door shut, Feng Yao took out a laptop nearly six or seven centimeters thick, opened a file.

”Everything you want to know is here. No copying, no printing, no photos—you can only read it onsite.”

”Thanks.”

Wen Yan settled in and read—the information was very detailed.

Last year, Scorching Sun Department’s personnel in Wei State, during routine patrol with wondrous items from the department, accidentally discovered anomalies: signs of a Domain had appeared in Virtue City under Wei State.

After field agents from Scorching Sun Department promptly verified, they confirmed it to be a type-three Domain that merges with real environments when it manifests.

The location was the inpatient building of Virtue City First Hospital. The moment the Domain appeared, the building could still be seen from outside, but outsiders couldn’t get in, and those inside couldn’t get out.

At sunrise, the Domain would vanish, and the building would return to normal. The next night at 10:30, the Domain would appear again.

This Domain appeared for three days, but inside the inpatient building, doctors, patients, and family members together—hundreds of people—and of all those who died during those three days, only one terminally ill cancer patient seemed to have had their soul dissipate.

According to experts, the patient had suffered excruciating pain for months, was at death’s door, confused, hadn’t eaten in days. In such conditions, the soul would have already weakened and partially dispersed, so when death occurred, full soul dissipation was likely immediate.

Other patients who died in those three days were not overlooked by Scorching Sun Department; each case was thoroughly documented.

Even within the following three months, every patient who died within the inpatient building was individually recorded and examined by personnel from Scorching Sun Department.

Nothing unusual was found. According to Scorching Sun Department’s classification for danger level, urgency, and resource prioritization, the inpatient building’s Domain was classified as level two.

The reason it could be considered level two was that hundreds of patients could be involved at once.

If the inpatient building was simply sealed off, without an appropriate, non-alarming explanation, other hospitals in Virtue City would be hard-pressed to accommodate hundreds of extra beds.

Reading this, Wen Yan understood—no wonder he’d heard months ago that Virtue City First Hospital was planning a move, and the new hospital’s buildings were already finished.

The official explanation was that Virtue City’s population was increasing, and the old First Hospital, several decades old, could no longer meet current demand.

Privately, Wen Yan had heard people say the largest hospital moving to the new district would drive residents to follow, and other agencies would eventually relocate there too.

These explanations all played a part, but the biggest reason was likely the Domain in the inpatient building.

He kept reading and found Wang Xin’s name; she was the only hospital staff member who died during those three days.

The investigation recorded that equipment failure caused an accident that struck her, and then the device caught fire. Though the fire was quickly put out and didn’t spread, she, unfortunately, passed away.

The equipment failure had also been thoroughly checked and confirmed to be non-human—truly just an accident.

But this record was now flagged as questionable.

He then looked at Scorching Sun Department’s speculations and records on the Domain.

This Domain could encompass so many people at once, but almost no one noticed anything strange or was harmed. It was basically confirmed that the Domain’s rules overlapped with the routines of all those inside the inpatient building—if not completely, then almost so.

It appeared at 10:30 at night—right at lights-out. If you went to bed as normal and slept until morning, you’d feel nothing at all.

The corpse removed this morning was also examined by Scorching Sun Department experts—his soul was gone.

Moreover, that person had sneaked out for a massage last night and only came back at dawn.

Security footage showed him returning and entering the inpatient building—which he technically shouldn’t have been able to enter.

According to Scorching Sun Department’s prior deductions, this person’s actions clearly deviated from the patterns of other inpatients—he broke the rules of the Domain.

Combined with the ”Inspector” mentioned in Wen Yan’s info, this Inspector should be the master of this Domain, who took away the rule-breaker.