I Am Your Natural Enemy

Chapter 501: Chapter 203: Not a Coincidence, Betting on Dao Heart (5k)_2

Putting away the small wooden box, Qing Xuzi let out a sigh.

”Your luck has already been pretty bad lately, and today you came into close contact with him. You’d better be extra careful these next few days.”

”All right. Taoist priest, what are you planning to do next?”

”I’ll secure him first. Things might turn out to be more troublesome than I expected...”

”Taoist priest, maybe you should stay in Virtue City for a while? When it comes to looking into complicated matters, the Scorching Sun Department is a bit better at it. After all, if we don’t get to the bottom of this, who knows what else might happen? These ghosts are getting weirder and weirder. I even ran into one recently that was born entirely from accumulated grudges.”

”This...”

”Taoist priest, since you’re bringing him along, it’s probably not the best idea to go somewhere crowded in the city. Should I arrange a place for you in a nearby village?”

”Even in a village, I’m afraid it’s not ideal.”

”Rest assured, Taoist priest, there’s a village nearby with plenty of abandoned houses. It’s easy to find a place where no one lives for a few hundred meters around. The conditions aren’t the best though, so you’ll have to make do.”

”As long as there’s shelter from wind and rain, that’s enough for us cultivators. We’re not after too much comfort.”

Wen Yan agreed, asked some locals, and quickly found a house—it was located between the city’s north end and the funeral home.

It was already well known that Virtue City was expanding northward. The national highway, which used to be in the northern outskirts, was already being planned to be moved even farther north.

From the get-go, everyone knew which direction development would go next. After all, roads like this never cut through the city center; moving north meant clearing space for at least the next decade or so of development.

There weren’t many residents in this area to begin with. Years ago, people started moving into the city bit by bit. So it was easy to find houses here that nobody lived in, but that still had water and electricity.

Once Qing Xuzi was settled, Wen Yan also brought over a custom safe from the Scorching Sun Department.

Inside it had a soundproof layer, a lead layer, a talisman layer, a cash layer, all sealed with special materials.

This thing was originally made for hazardous items that couldn’t be destroyed: you’d seal them in, then bury them deep somewhere, or if all else failed, toss them into the Mariana Trench.

Later, as they unearthed the uses for more and more things, some wondrous items, once their properties were understood, could actually be put to positive use.

At the same time, it also served as a bit of deterrent strength.

Nowadays, this type of box was very rarely used, but it just so happened Wen Yan had a use for one, so Feng Yao gave it to him.

Normally, when questioning wasn’t needed, Hao Mingyang could be put in the safe. In previous cases, it tended to help at least somewhat.

But for now, they needed to question him first.

They’d questioned Hao Mingyang for a long while. Every memory he had, without exception, matched up exactly with the identity of Hao Mingyang.

Wen Yan started to wonder whether this guy himself was the real problem.

Until Qing Xuzi mentioned taking Hao Mingyang to Qingcheng, and placing him beside the idol in the Ancestral Master Hall—then, Hao Mingyang, who’d been calm all along, nearly lost control.

After restraining him, they asked questions, but he couldn’t say anything coherent, so they just sealed him up and put him in the safe.

At that point, Wen Yan and Qing Xuzi were both convinced: apart from his name, the idol was also one of Hao Mingyang’s taboos.

On other topics, Hao Mingyang would just mutter and shrink away, growing even more dispirited as he spoke.

But whenever either of those two were mentioned, he’d start to lose control.

”Taoist priest, what do you think?”

”In my opinion,” said the priest, ”he might truly not be Hao Mingyang. I’ll ask a Hermit about it—maybe he’ll know something.”

Qing Xuzi walked out of the house. After getting some distance, he made a call.

”Supreme Savior Heavenly Master.”

”There’s something I’d like to consult with Hermit Zhu about.”

”Of course, of course. I’m just seeking some guidance, Hermit Zhu. If you have any suspicions, would you mind shedding some light on it?”

”The matter is roughly as follows...”

”Also, Hermit Zhu, I’ve always kept your matters utterly confidential—never spoken a word to anyone.”

After Qing Xuzi finished speaking, on the other end of the phone, Lord Zhu glanced at the screen and curled his lip.

”Taoist priest, you already called me—did you really think others wouldn’t find out?

Forget it, whatever.

The guy you’re talking about has nothing to do with me, so stop fishing for information.

I honestly don’t even know him.

And I’ve never used my methods to hurt anyone. You’re really underestimating me.

If I wanted to deal with him—putting it bluntly, you’d never even lay eyes on him.

You wouldn’t even know about this whole thing, and he definitely wouldn’t be roaming around still alive.”

”I mean no offense, Hermit Zhu, you misunderstood me. I genuinely just wanted some advice,” Qing Xuzi said steadily, sincerely, with a touch of resignation.

”All right, well, either way, it’s none of my business.

And I’m very sure: he’s not just someone whose name was stolen.

People who’ve had their names stolen don’t have any name at all.

But this fellow you mentioned—he still has a name.

He just refuses to admit it, that’s all.

His soul is still that person, but he himself says he isn’t.

Either he’s insane,

or he really isn’t that person, and did something himself to get this way.

If he didn’t do it himself, there’s no way anyone else could pull this off so flawlessly.

That’s all, I’m hanging up.”

As Lord Zhu hung up, he immediately dialed another number.

While Qing Xuzi sighed in the distance, Wen Yan’s phone started to ring.