Chapter 29: On the Hour, Exposed

This series of actions was very swift, and Chen Fengshi completely did not expect—he actually, actually knew someone like this, and he was actually sitting in this kind of person’s car? Someone like Young Master Wang, when giving him money, at least put it in a bag, and when throwing it on the ground, it was just to vent his anger, but Little An’s action was simply trampling on other people’s dignity!

“Stop the car!” Chen Fengshi was furious, but he suppressed his temper. He had no right to lecture others, but he could choose not to associate with such a person!

Little An glanced at him and mocked: “What? Not happy?”

“Those of different ways cannot work together.” Chen Fengshi had no interest in hiding it. Since he didn’t want to interact anymore, what was the point of beating around the bush?

“Didn’t expect you to be such a righteous person, fine then, let’s go back.” Little An said, made a U-turn at the intersection, then turned off the car lights, slowed down, slowly turned the corner, and drove towards the scene of the incident just now.

Chen Fengshi almost thought he heard it wrong, Little An would actually say such a thing? Stopping the car without a word, opening the door, and telling him to get lost should be her style, right?

However, Little An’s tone was very flat, without the slightest softness of concession. After the car turned around, she turned off the headlights, and the unusual act of driving like a ghost car directly made Chen Fengshi realize—Little An had another purpose for doing this.

“…You think there was something wrong with that old man just now?” When Chen Fengshi’s excited emotions calmed down, his thinking also returned to his usual calmness.

“Oh? Calmed down quite fast.” Little An said in a flat tone, and the look revealed in her pair of phoenix eyes was full of vigilance.

Chen Fengshi liked to observe other people’s eyes. Good-looking eyes and the spirit in the gaze basically determined his impression. Little An’s cool face actually also showed nervousness, which was already a clear answer.

He carefully recalled the situation of the incident just now, and quickly caught two suspicious points that felt wrong from his perspective, so he wanted to make up for his image damaged by his emotional loss of control just now, and said: “There is indeed something wrong. First, that old man shouldn’t have run over directly shouting for compensation. He should have been more worried about needing to compensate you for the scratch on your car door; second, he had no reason to see my presence under that kind of light and situation, but he directly shouted ‘you guys have to pay’.”

If that was the case, then he also understood that Little An’s action just now was intentional, just to create a natural situation so that the old man had no chance to get close to their car door.

Little An made no comment. The car gradually approached the scene of the incident, and Little An kept it in an idling state to make the engine sound quieter.

Chen Fengshi didn’t say anything else either, carefully paying attention to the situation on the road and the surrounding buildings, but did not see anything unusual.

The old man from just now was still by the road, picking up the money Little An threw out on the street one by one. Cans and cardboard were still scattered on the ground with no time to clean them up yet, and the freight cart was still overturned by the roadside.

Little An drove the car to a shadowy spot by the road, then turned off the engine, just quietly staring at that old man.

After observing for a good while, he still didn’t find any abnormal behavior from the old man. He just picked up all the money, and then went to clean up the scattered recyclables.

Chen Fengshi waited patiently. Even though he felt it was very likely a misunderstanding, Little An’s still fully focused attitude meant she should have enough certainty. In contrast, when it came to the understanding of the Fungal Demon, he was just a rookie.

That old man continued to clean up the recyclables on the ground. Watching him, Chen Fengshi couldn’t help but think of his grandparents. Old people living in the city couldn’t accept the way of spending money to buy everything, nor could they accept the leisure of doing nothing. Running around outside, they knew that picking up recyclables could be sold for money, just like finding a road leading to a mountain of gold and silver. No matter how much Chen Fengshi’s parents objected, it was useless.

So watching this old man, and the situation just now, Chen Fengshi subconsciously put himself into a question: if it was his grandfather who encountered that kind of thing, being treated like that just now, how would he feel?

“Little Family Beauty said that the scouts among the Fungal Demon Parasites can’t be seen normally, could it be that there are other ways to identify them?” The situation before him was very clear, this old man’s actions were not abnormal, he couldn’t suddenly turn into a monster and show his true form, right?

Little An glanced at her watch, a cold sneer hooked at the corner of her mouth: “Twenty seconds left.”

Chen Fengshi realized that it was almost on the hour.

When the second hand of Little An’s watch exactly pointed to twelve, her wrist dropped down, and the diamond in the dial flashed a momentary light.

In Chen Fengshi’s eyes, a red mist thread suddenly extended from the top of the old man who was picking up trash.

This old man—was actually really parasitized by a Fungal Demon?

“…Exactly how many people are parasitized by Fungal Demons?” Chen Fengshi felt it was too terrifying. Little Family Beauty got hit, and an old man picking up recyclables by the road actually also had a problem!

Little An did not answer immediately, but through the car glass, she carefully surveyed the surrounding sky. Chen Fengshi guessed she was using this to determine how many Fungal Demon Parasites were nearby. Sure enough, he soon saw three more red mist threads extending into the sky nearby, rapidly shooting towards the distant sky.

Moreover, the positions of these three red mist threads were very close, right behind the building by the road where the old man was.

“Those responsible for scouting among the Fungal Demon Parasites connect with the Protoplast once every hour on the hour to exchange information, and at the same time receive the latest information conveyed by the Protoplast. The process does not exceed five minutes. You could also say, this is the limit distance for the Protoplast to connect with the Parasite.” Little An finally spoke. At this moment, the truth was revealed, and the facts proved the reason for her actions just now. “This is our situation, Little Family Beauty telling you not to go was right.”

Chen Fengshi saw a shawl in the car, grabbed it, wrapped his head and face, then opened the door and got out, quickly approaching the old man still by the road from the shadows.

Little An sitting in the car was quite surprised, showing a bit of astonishment in her eyes, at Chen Fengshi’s decisive and straightforward action; and also at his ‘stupidity’ of still not knowing how to cherish and protect himself even after knowing the situation.

Chen Fengshi approached the old man from the back side, directly poked a finger on the Dazhui Acupoint on the back of his neck, and the old man fainted at the touch. If it were normal strength, even if a hand chop hit the mark, it would require considerable force to knock a person out, but with Chen Fengshi’s current strength, he had to use light force even with a finger.

Chen Fengshi caught him in time, then gently laid him on the sidewalk. As the golden mist in his body quickly released and thickened, it soon completely enveloped the old man’s body. When the exorcism had been going on for over ten seconds, he found that the other two red mist threads began to move towards this side.

However, this was expected. He picked up the old man, placed him in the green belt by the road, and then stared as the moving red mist threads got closer and closer.

At about the position by the road, the two red mist threads stopped for a while, probably looking for the old man’s trace, and then started moving in the opposite direction, as if walking along both sides of the sidewalk.

Chen Fengshi crouched in the bushes of the green belt, and through the gaps saw a little boy walking over. He was dirty, and it looked like he might have a grandfather-grandson relationship with the old man.

Chen Fengshi waited until the little boy walked past him, then suddenly jumped out, approached from behind, still poked a finger on the Dazhui Acupoint, then carried the fainted little boy into the bushes, placed him next to the old man, and relying on the coverage range of the golden mist, performed the exorcism at the same time.

The other red mist thread was still moving. It didn’t go far before stopping, perhaps looking back at the little boy, then stood still for a moment, and began to slowly approach this way.

Chen Fengshi took a deep breath, secretly planning various possible responses. The attacks on the old man and the little boy went very smoothly, but the last one approaching was very dangerous.

For him, the most ideal situation was not to be seen by the Fungal Demon Parasite. Even if his head and face were covered, his body shape and height were also identifying features, which would also cause the Fungal Demon to try every means to find him out.

This third person would definitely realize he was hiding in the bushes. As long as he was seen by this person, it could be said that he had already lost.

Chen Fengshi thus placed the feet of the little boy and the old man a bit further out, so they would be the first targets noticed, and also set his phone to vibrate, sent a message to Little An saying ‘call in thirty seconds’, then tied it among several low trees, while he himself burrowed into the bushes and lay down in a suitable position.

A little girl, covered all over by red mist, walked into the green belt, very carefully looking around, searching for anything suspicious. She moved, at a position some distance away from the bushes, clearly on guard against the bushes. She moved along the circular bushes, moving, until she saw the familiar legs.

But she didn’t excitedly step forward, instead she cautiously looked around left and right, and carefully moved over step by step.

Right at this time, Little An called on time. The tied-up phone vibrated, making the few short trees shake and rustle.

So the little girl thought someone was hiding there, and the position was behind the legs of the old man and the little boy, she immediately walked over quickly, wanting to see the situation clearly.

So—she ran past the bushes where Chen Fengshi was crouching, clearly exposing her back to him.

Chen Fengshi darted out of the bushes like a cheetah. Without waiting for the little girl to even have time to look back and smile, his finger had already touched her Dazhui Acupoint.

The crisis was resolved, the fainted little girl didn’t even have the chance to see a single glance of him.

Chen Fengshi placed the three people, one big and two small, side by side on the grass, and relied on the golden mist to envelop them at the same time, exorcising the Fungal Demon.

While sending a message to Little An saying it was safe, he once again confirmed that no red mist threads were approaching nearby.

The message had just been sent out when he heard the sound of a car engine, then the sound of the car braking by the road, followed by the closing of a door, and footsteps getting closer and closer.

Yes, Little An had come.

Her arms were folded under her chest, yes, because her chest was quite large, hugging them in front might not be very comfortable.

“Hey—what are you looking at?”

Chen Fengshi sitting on the grass didn’t rush to shift his gaze, but seemed to very seriously and carefully finish appreciating the view, before saying: “My motive is purely out of appreciation for beauty.” Chen Fengshi saw Little An disdainfully click her tongue, so he pointed at his own face and said: “Is there a trace of lust? Is there? Take a good look, isn’t it the pure appreciation of a decent gentleman?”

“A decent gentleman is just a hypocrite who is well-disguised and has not yet been exposed.” Little An was dismissive, her words so biased, just like her personality.

“Typical lack of love.”

“Then do you especially like to seek thrills, and have a tendency for self-destruction?” Little An asked back, her face very cold. “As long as a Fungal Demon scout gets one look at you, they might be able to find you out through the city’s cameras and the relevant departments’ matching systems, and then implicate me as well. What exactly is in your head?”