I Am Your Natural Enemy

Luckily, this guy hadn’t shown his face for decades; he really thought dying would be the end.

He committed suicide so swiftly at the time that there was no chance to stop him; I only managed to capture his soul body.

The department surely has professionals who know how to deal with such ruthless and determined individuals, right?”

”There are, indeed.” The General Director didn’t take charge, but the nearby secretary produced a small lead box, placing the item from Wen Yan’s hand inside; this is the standard procedure, where no one touches anything during the process.

Not everyone is Wen Yan, unconcerned about the risks that soul bodies or ghosts might bring.

The General Director glanced at that item, finding his thoughts inexplicably wandering somewhere else, pondering why Wen Yan didn’t stop an ordinary person from committing suicide; something about this notion seemed odd to him.

Perhaps Wen Yan didn’t actually intend to stop it at all...

Of course, such thoughts merely flashed fleetingly across his mind, with the General Director not really bothered by them.

Given what Fifteenth Wang had done, it can be argued, using extremely vicious methods, with great subjective malice, he caused a public safety terror incident and was shot dead on the spot; the Scorching Sun Department should award the person who took such action with bonuses and medals.

He’s too old to expect a good outcome — wasting some medical resources to heal him, then sending him to oblivion with the Luxury Furnace route, all part of the standard process.

”This guy must know quite a lot, that’s an extremely important clue.” Wen Yan couldn’t resist reiterating.

If Wen Yan hadn’t known better, he most likely couldn’t extract any valuable information from such a resolute figure, almost wanting to conduct the interrogation himself.

Even Huo Yong didn’t make Wen Yan feel so angry, a mere ordinary person managed to achieve this.

”The department has exceptionally professional experts.” The General Director reassured with a deep voice, putting Wen Yan at ease.

Once the prisoner was delivered, there was no longer anything for Wen Yan to handle, and the General Director instructed the secretary to assist Wen Yan in selecting items — three choices in total, allowing Wen Yan to complete the selection all at once.

While walking, Wen Yan inquired if it’s convenient to make calls to the outside from the headquarters, to which the secretary replied it’s fine.

Wen Yan dialed Old Meng’s number, and after Old Meng returned the call, Wen Yan asked a few things; in just two sentences he intrigued Old Meng enough to make him unable to resist, preparing to pitch some good items to sell to him.

Wen Yan listened to the voice on the phone, noticing the prompt appearing, couldn’t hold back his laughter.

The temporary ability obtained from Old Meng, Precision Appraisal, is considered the only ability Wen Yan has discovered so far that can be easily triggered merely through phone calls.

He had researched before, it might be because he had met Old Meng and activated it once already, afterwards, this cunning merchant Old Meng could complete activation through voice.

Chatting casually with Old Meng, Wen Yan asked how things were going in Nanyang, and Old Meng said he had fought three times already.

No big problem, while people from Nanyang like hitting hard, their rhythm is far inferior to that of Europa, where the Church can truly lock down an area and freely deal with you.

As for being targeted, Old Meng felt little pressure as he was most experienced in defending against such attacks.

Wen Yan advised Old Meng to take it easy, prioritizing his own safety, about intelligence gathering, no need to force himself.

After hanging up, the secretary waited beside him patiently without urging, knowing Wen Yan was handling serious business.

The Scorching Sun Department certainly cannot directly contact Old Meng, but Wen Yan does not mind.

While walking, the secretary specifically mentioned again.

”This year, an expert has been newly recruited to the Scorching Sun Department, formerly of the Ministry, exceptionally professional; given the authority, he’s the best interrogation expert within the department.”

”Thank you.” Wen Yan expressed gratitude, realizing his previous stance might have appeared overly attentive.

”Don’t mention it, part of the job, and privately, I’ll mention, those ghosts aren’t protected by any rules.”

Wen Yan immediately understood, saying nothing further.

Along the way to the headquarters warehouse, the secretary continued to provide reminders.

”Here, there are three storerooms, One, Two, and Three; I suggest you each enter once, select an item in each, that way, following the rules, you’ll have complete time to choose each.”

”Alright, thank you.”

Wen Yan entered the first storeroom, noticing the basic structure is similar to that in Nanwu County, but clearly, this place felt wealthier...

Sweeping around with his gaze, Precision Appraisal automatically activated, revealing that good items here are much more abundant and of significantly higher average value than those in Nanwu County.

Just as his gaze scanned across, Wen Yan felt a jolt in his mind; there seemed to be something in there that resonated with him.

Not paying further attention to those expensive items, he followed the sense, moving onward, having walked out merely past two rows of shelves when he found the item triggering the resonance.

It’s a box, bearing a label.

”Bamboo slips.”

”Handwritten, author unknown, unable to verify, estimated to be from 2,200 years ago.

Originating from the Haihun Marquis Tomb, uncorroded after two thousand years, appraised as a wondrous item.

Function unknown.”

Wen Yan felt the resonance and took it down, opening the box.

Inside was a scroll of golden-yellow bamboo slips, appearing not even like something from two thousand years ago, resembling instead a two-year-old item.

He unrolled the bamboo slips, seeing the characters upon them, falling into silence.

Uncertain whether the script is large seal or small seal script, he wasn’t familiar with the distinction, but he knew roughly that if the estimated time on the label had a few decades of discrepancy, small seal script might indeed have emerged.

Reading two lines of characters he recognized a ”scholar” character.

He closed the scroll, placing it back inside the box, finalizing his choice; it was this.

The entirety of Storeroom One contained only this item which resonated with him.

Upon physically touching the bamboo slips, he thoroughly determined the resonance of that faint, strange power — it was the Five Constants’ Power.

He had already obtained the qualification, tantamount to having a zero-level account; how to upgrade further depends on himself now.

After all this time, he had never found a means to take a step forward, unexpectedly finding a wondrous item in the headquarters warehouse containing such power.

Carefully sensing for a long time, he still couldn’t determine precisely which among Benevolence, Righteousness, Propriety, Wisdom, and Trust it was; this might have to wait until he understood the characters to ascertain.