Chapter 39: Is This the Tiger’s Den?

Chen Fengshi had almost finished entering his information. His fingers stopped in mid-air. After thinking for a moment, he felt that Little An’s suggestion was reliable. After all, she was a woman, and she knew Sister Yao better. His self-deprecating behavior at such a critical moment was indeed hard to be convincing.

Chen Fengshi adopted this suggestion. If something might not work, it was fine to give it a try. But if it was very likely to have the opposite effect, wouldn’t he be a fool to still do it?

Ending this topic, he ate his food, drank his water, and waited for the hour to strike. Little An was only drinking water at first, but seeing him eating so happily, her appetite stirred again. She picked a tofu skewer to try, and then slightly frowned. “It has no taste, and the tofu is overcooked.”

“I think it’s okay. Plus, with the nostalgia points, the appeal is strong enough. When I was a kid, I had little pocket money. After school, seeing these meatballs and tofu skewers, I could only afford one to satisfy my craving. I always thought about the day I could come on an empty stomach and stuff myself full.” Chen Fengshi was eating with great relish. Especially with the chili sauce, the flavor was enough. However, to some extent, what he was really tasting was just the spiciness, and the tofu skewer had merely become a carrier.

“Poverty is truly sad.” Little An had a very long rebellious phase, so she knew quite a few punks and people who belonged to the night. Thus, she had heard of and seen many social classes that she previously had no access to.

“Actually, we weren’t that poor. I was just sensible from a young age. I knew back then that if I told my dad, he would take me to eat until I was stuffed every day, making me feel sick at the sight of it from then on. But my mom was very frugal and would definitely care a lot about such gluttony and waste, so I held back and never mentioned it.” Chen Fengshi’s personality was not the particularly introverted type. He would not easily talk about himself to strangers out of caution, but to his friends, he only kept silent about things that were inconvenient to share with outsiders.

In contrast, Little An’s guard was much heavier. Up until now, she basically never talked about her own affairs or her true feelings. She used an ice wall to block out any possibility of getting close. Only during her calls with Canyue would she show her human side.

“I told you not to show off your family happiness for no reason. The happiness of being poor has its limits.”

Chen Fengshi smiled and asked in return, “May I ask, what does the unlimited happiness of rich people look like?”

Little An fell silent. Was there unlimited happiness in the world? Perhaps it was those unlimited pleasures paid for by burning one’s life?

But most importantly, as someone who refused drugs, she had never craved unlimited pleasure either.

Chen Fengshi did not press the question. The hour was about to strike. They sat back-to-back, their attention fully focused on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, waiting, waiting for those bundles of red mist threads.

Their despair and hope both originated from the ends where the red mist threads extended. Under the quiet night sky, the striking of the hour was like a growth spell. Strands of red mist threads extended from the buildings and beneath the buildings up into the sky, merging with the densely packed ones in the distant sky, and converging toward a certain high-rise building in the east.

“Hongye.” Little An probably did not expect it to be this close, but that was not an ideal position.

“Hongye Commercial and Residential Building is close enough, but if we want to sneak up quietly… I hope it’s been quiet there these past few years.” In Chen Fengshi’s memory, during his teenage rebellious phase, many car enthusiasts loved to spend their nights there, because the ground-level area around that commercial and residential building was very spacious. There were all sorts of people: skateboarders, motorcyclists, street dancers, and those who specifically went there to pick up girls or just hang out and kill time.

In the past, a resident of the building had called the police to complain about the noise, but as a result, their security door lock was broken, and they faced spray-paint retaliation, which also implicated many innocent residents. Later, the property management built a glass canopy with excellent sound insulation, covering most of the area above the surrounding plaza. Residents could take walks and watch the rain on rainy days, and it was especially cool and comfortable in the summer.

At the same time, it played a very effective role in sound insulation. The noise at night was mostly blocked on the ground level. The residents were also afraid of the punks’ spray-paint retaliation, so the matter ended happily for everyone, though the property management lost some money. But it was just a small amount taken out of their earnings. After all, Hongye’s underground parking lot had many parking spaces, and the monthly income from that alone was very high.

As long as Chen Fengshi thought about the infection characteristics of the Fungal Demon and the activities of the crowd in the plaza, he could almost say for certain that among the people who hung out there, there was probably no one who was not a Fungal Demon Parasite. Moreover, surrounding that commercial and residential building, the probability of them approaching without being discovered was very low, and the possibility of not attracting attention was basically zero.

“It’s always been very lively.” Little An’s confirmation made Chen Fengshi involuntarily cover his face. He sighed and said, “The Fungal Demon Main Body really knows how to pick a place. I guess all the residents in that entire commercial and residential building are Parasites, right? There might even be varying numbers of Demon Generals hiding there as guards.”

Little An took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. In that brief moment, she seemed to have made up her mind. “The cameras around Hongye haven’t been fully set up yet. Relying entirely on Little Huo alone, the efficiency is limited.”

“He set up so many cameras all by himself?… He’s already a god-like person!” Chen Fengshi felt that just the known number of cameras would be enough to run a person to death. He quickly finished the remaining skewers, put on his helmet, and cheered up, “Since we’ll only know the details after we get there, let’s go!”

“Hey! Who’s the boss?” Little An put on her helmet, looking very dissatisfied.

“I haven’t decided to take your money yet.” Chen Fengshi answered with perfect confidence. Little An chuckled softly and reminded him, “Who is the President of the Demon Extermination Association?”

“If I don’t call you boss, I have to follow your command as the President…” Chen Fengshi pretended to be deep in thought for a moment, and then let out a long sigh to the sky. “…It seems I really need to think carefully about the wage issue.”

“That’s a nice way out.” After Little An said that, a layer of golden mist covered her skin, and she leaped out like someone carrying water. After Chen Fengshi followed her and jumped out, he saw Little An spinning in mid-air as she fell. Her posture really looked like a high dive! Moreover, when she landed, Little An’s feet were perfectly beneath her, she crouched steadily, and then stood up straight.

In contrast, Chen Fengshi was so afraid of failing to keep his balance and landing on his head that he dropped down like he was doing a horse stance. It was absolutely ugly!

“An expert diver?”

“So-so, amateur third place.” Little An got on the motorcycle right after Chen Fengshi.

As Chen Fengshi started the engine, he praised her, “Thank you. Only after comparing did I realize how modest I actually am.”

The black motorcycle started, dashed out of the streets, crossed the road, and then darted into a small alley. Not long after, after just two turns, they left the residential area and got onto the road.

They hadn’t been driving for long when they saw various models of cars parked by the roadside. Most of the cars were empty, and a few drivers were inside making phone calls. Only one car was quiet with no phone calls or lights on, but it was shaking.

Chen Fengshi did not expect that someone would choose a place like this. He could only understand it as them liking the thrill of being likely to be discovered, yet not being seen.

Yes, the tinted film on the car windows made it completely impossible to see inside from the outside. There were sun visors inside the front windshield, leaving not even a single corner for anyone to peek through.

“They really know how to have fun!” Chen Fengshi felt it was a bit of a pity, while Little An was simply too lazy to comment on it.

On both sides of the road around the corner, all sorts of sports cars were parked. Under the Hongye building, the situation in the plaza was already clearly visible.

“There are fewer people than before, but more cars.” Chen Fengshi slowed down to observe the situation as clearly as possible.

When he used to come here often back in the day, there were more people, but the number of motorcycles was limited. You would only occasionally run into a few sports cars by the road, far less exaggerated than now.

In the plaza, there were quite a few people showing off 180-degree turns on their motorcycles. Even more people parked their bikes on the sidewalk. At this hour, they were probably either coming out of nightclubs to sober up, or dragging someone over to ‘teach them a lesson’.

The bustling crowd did not notice the addition of Chen Fengshi and Little An, who had arrived on a motorcycle. So, they drove their bike onto the sidewalk and into the plaza. Chen Fengshi carefully kept his distance from the people around them.

Little An remained calm enough. She had been here before. Although it wasn’t a place she frequented for fun, she had accompanied friends here plenty of times.

Chen Fengshi’s target was the northwest side of the Hongye residential building, but that side was far from the road, and they had to pass through here to get there. Because of this, there were always fewer people over there. The second to fifth floors of Hongye were all commercial facilities. If there was no one around, jumping straight up there would be the best option.

At this hour, there were indeed fewer people than before midnight. Chen Fengshi managed to keep a good distance from the crowds all the way over.

Suddenly, he saw the group of Young Master Wang, Young Master Kai, and their crew, along with that gang of motorcyclists, occupying an area on the benches by the flowerbeds. Some were drinking, some were smoking, and there were even couples whispering sweetly to each other.

Young Master Kai looked like he was in a very bad mood. He had a dark expression on his face. As soon as one cigarette burned out, he lit another. He took just one puff before tilting his head back to take a sip of alcohol. Young Master Wang seemed to say something to him while drinking along with him.

Chen Fengshi somewhat suspected that Young Master Wang and his group might also be Fungal Demon Parasites. No red mist could be seen on the people in the plaza, but based on known experience, a mature Fungal Demon Main Body would guard against being hunted by those who possessed the Power of Life, so the Parasites would normally not reveal their traits at all.

Therefore, even if everyone in the plaza was actually a Parasite, Chen Fengshi would not be surprised.

On some level, the Parasites themselves were unaware, and most of the time, their daily actions were very likely completely unaffected by the Fungal Demon parasitism. On this point, Chen Fengshi already knew that the Protoplast he had encountered was not lying.

Chen Fengshi was wearing a riding suit and a helmet, so no one would recognize him at all. He quickly passed by, and Young Master Wang and Young Master Kai’s group didn’t even notice their existence.

Among the people playing with motorcycles here, at least half were wearing full riding gear. Plus, Chen Fengshi’s motorcycle was on the lower end. The only eye-catching thing was probably Little An’s back curve.

The two of them safely drove to the northwest plaza. There were indeed fewer people here. There were just two groups of people sitting there, half-drunk and half-awake, not even chatting. There were also a few people tilting their heads, leaning on their arms and sleeping. Aside from that, a group of skateboarders gathered together. They looked tired from playing, with only one typical novice carefully practicing, while the rest sat around chatting and joking.

Chen Fengshi parked the motorcycle next to the west gate entrance, but a little further ahead was the exit of the underground garage. There were security guards at the west gate, and registration was required. The management was much stricter than what Chen Fengshi remembered from the past.

The two of them took off their helmets and sat side by side on a wooden bench under a tree. This spot was in the dark, so others could not see their faces clearly. Naturally, people just assumed they were a couple resting there.

“Those people didn’t pay attention to us. Let’s find a moment to jump up there and be done with it.” Chen Fengshi did not want to just sit around here.

“Once a Fungal Demon Parasite encounters a strange situation, the Fungal Demon inside their body will immediately undergo Activation, taking over the thoughts and actions of the host.” Little An directly rejected this plan. It was only at a time like this that she was willing to share something Chen Fengshi did not know.