I Am Your Natural Enemy

After thinking it over carefully, he lifted his head, gazing into the distance, and figured it was better to be a bit more cautious.

...

On the other side, Wen Yan woke up from a deep, groggy sleep to a call from the delivery guy.

After picking up the package, looking at the sandalwood box in front of him, he got a weird feeling—could there be elixir pills inside?

He opened it and saw nine wax-sealed pills. Wen Yan chuckled. Sure enough, it was just what he thought. Lord Zhu really does things with style.

He divided them into three boxes, took the boxes to the hospital, gave Zhang Laoxi three pills, then went to the palliative care ward, and finally went to chat with Gauss.

Wen Yan felt that déjà vu sensation getting stronger and stronger.

It was as if he had dreamed this scene before, in a dream.

He remembered reading somewhere that this kind of déjà vu thing was called the seahorse effect, or something like that.

It's said that a lot of people have experienced this before—at a certain moment, you just feel like you've lived through this before, and now you're doing it all over again.

Sitting in Gauss's office, Wen Yan continued to chit-chat off the cuff.

"Lucky you're in Divine Land, otherwise you'd probably be in trouble."

Gauss casually replied.

"I'm a devil after all..."

As soon as Gauss started, Wen Yan jumped in and finished the sentence in sync with him.

"Infiltrating other churches in disguise is part of the job."

"Infiltrating other churches in disguise is your job."

Gauss was slightly taken aback, then immediately broke into a grin and made Wen Yan a cup of tea.

"I knew it! You really get me best!"

Gauss was feeling more and more certain that he'd made the right choice. Even though he knew why Wen Yan had talked to him like that before, he didn't blame Wen Yan one bit.

He even thought that even if Wen Yan's only intention was to make him behave, to keep him from causing trouble or creating chaos—

It didn't matter. What mattered was, Wen Yan really understood him.

These days, he'd go to work during the day and never sleep at night, reading all sorts of books and watching all sorts of videos around the clock.

He felt more and more that he used to be way too naïve, and at that time, his biggest pain actually came from no one understanding his ideas—but back then, he didn't get what that pain was.

Those Pain Demons didn't get shit.

Wen Yan just got him best.

Whether anyone agrees with him or not doesn't matter, as long as someone understands.

Gauss felt awesome, even better than enduring pain.

He was starting to get what it meant to sweeten things up with a bit of salt, as the saying goes.

Wen Yan rubbed his head, thinking maybe he'd just been sleeping too late lately—pulling all-nighters more and more, and now he was woken up by a call from the delivery guy.

He remembered reading somewhere that the seahorse effect usually happened when there was some cognitive problem, or when your brain was especially fuzzy.

Both inside and outside Divine Land, there were plenty of people who'd use hallucinogens or magic mushrooms to get into a trance and do divination, and it's all documented.

And even outside Divine Land, some places apparently are still into those ancient methods.

The last time he was on the Scorching Sun Department's forum, someone posted a news story about a witch who, while scrying, ate too many magic mushrooms and ended up dying.

"I think I just didn't sleep well—getting up early ruins your whole day. I need to go back and take a nap. You carry on."

Wen Yan rubbed his head again, ready to leave, but Gauss stopped him.

"Wait a sec, there's something I still need to ask you."

"What is it?"

"Can I borrow five thousand more?"

"Ah..." Wen Yan woke up instantly, his eyes going wide as he sized Gauss up.

"How'd you spend it? You burned through it all again?"

Gauss opened his wardrobe; inside, apart from the classic church priest robes, there were also various Taoist robes, monk's robes, and all sorts of sect outfits.

"I spent it on clothes. These clothes are crazy expensive. I thought I'd buy two sets to alternate, and in the end, turns out I could barely get these few."

"Just these few crappy outfits cost you five thousand?!"

"No, no, the clothes were only a thousand.

I watched this video that said you have to get along with your coworkers when you first join a company, can't just ignore everyone.

Otherwise you'll end up ostracized and it'll be hard to get your job done.

I'm not scared of being ostracized, but if my work sucks, that's a problem."

"So?"

"So, I treated my coworkers to a meal."

"In Virtue City, what the hell could you eat for four thousand? Seafood?"

"I think there was some seafood, but the portions were tiny, some kind of fancy cuisine."

Wen Yan suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Did you go to that Island Country restaurant on Central Street?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's the one."

"..."

"Originally, I wanted to buy a suit, but nothing fit well, and when I asked, having it custom made was way too pricey. Turns out, my entire month's salary isn't even enough for one."

"..."

Without a word, Wen Yan transferred Gauss another five thousand.

This guy looked like he was determined to step on every single pitfall in Virtue City, and Wen Yan really couldn't take it anymore.

Leaving the hospital, Wen Yan called Cai Qidong directly.

"Minister, I'm barely scraping by here."

"What now?" On the other end, Cai Qidong instantly went on alert.

"I finally convinced Gauss to behave at work, and not use his power for anything else—he has to work for his money.

But this guy, it's only been a few days and already he's fallen into two pitfalls.

Today he got fleeced for four thousand at an Island Country restaurant and came to me again for a loan.

If this keeps up, there's no way I'll ever get my money back—not even if I die of old age.

Plus, by my estimate, in three days tops, he'll be back for more.

I only get so much salary. How am I supposed to keep up with how fast he burns through cash?

I really can't take it anymore.

Minister..."

"Okay, okay, that's it? Nothing else?"

"That's it."

"However much you've lent, the department will reimburse you."

Click—Cai Qidong hung up in a huff. For something this trivial, you call the minister directly? Seriously?

Spending tens of thousands a month to keep a Pain Demon Lord in line and make him behave at work—no matter how you look at it, it's a great deal.