"What the heck? You're the monster, alright, you really are a monster."
"If you're not a monster, why are you so strong?" Zhan Zhongxiao looked at his wrist.
Although his name contained 'cat', it also contained 'bear'. Among animals, his combat power was top-tier, on par with lions and tigers.
"I'm naturally strong," Liu Nanfeng said casually.
"Nonsense. I remember when we were kids, I'd get beaten black and blue and cry out when fighting others, and every time it was me who helped you get your revenge."
"I hadn't fully developed back then. My strength increased after I matured."
"Bah, I don't believe you for a second." Zhan Zhongxiao clearly didn't believe Liu Nanfeng's explanation, but he didn't press further.
Instead, his face darkened as he said, "Why did you come to Wenhui's doorstep so early? Didn't you say last night you didn't know where Wenhui lived? Did you contact her secretly?"
The more Zhan Zhongxiao spoke, the angrier he became, reaching out to grab Liu Nanfeng's collar.
"Talk nicely, don't get physical."
Liu Nanfeng flicked his hand onto the back of Zhan Zhongxiao's hand. Zhan Zhongxiao felt a sharp pain in his hand, further confirming that Liu Nanfeng was definitely "problematic" and not an ordinary person. However, this also explained why the Su sisters fancied him.
Rubbing the back of his hand, Zhan Zhongxiao said with a wronged expression, "Then explain to me properly why you're here."
"What are you being wronged about? It's like you're saying I bullied you."
"It's because a sister of my mother passed away. I'm accompanying my mother to the funeral. I didn't expect Wenhui to live in this complex too, and we just happened to meet..."
"Oh, Auntie is in Jiangcheng?"
"She just arrived this morning."
"What are you guys doing?" Shen Wenhui's voice suddenly sounded nearby.
"N-nothing."
Zhan Zhongxiao quickly put his hands behind his back, like a naughty elementary school student caught in the act.
"Dundun said you haven't been back to Jiangcheng in a long time. Jiangcheng has changed a lot in recent years. He wants to show you around today," Liu Nanfeng said, putting an arm around Zhan Zhongxiao's shoulder.
"Huh..." Zhan Zhongxiao looked at Liu Nanfeng in surprise.
Liu Nanfeng winked at him.
Zhan Zhongxiao understood, and his face lit up with joy. "I've been in Jiangcheng for a while. I like to wander around when I have nothing to do, so I'm quite familiar with the places. How about I show you around?"
Shen Wenhui gave Liu Nanfeng a meaningful glance and then nodded as Zhan Zhongxiao watched nervously.
"Okay."
At that moment, Liu Nanfeng, with his arm around his shoulder, could feel his sheer delight.
"Then you two chat. I'm going to find my mother and ask her if she's finished," Liu Nanfeng said, patting Zhan Zhongxiao on the back before turning to leave.
As soon as Liu Nanfeng left, Zhan Zhongxiao felt a pang of anxiety. He wanted to call him back, but he couldn't bear to miss the opportunity to be alone with Shen Wenhui. In the end, he remained silent.
"Let's go, let's go for a walk," Shen Wenhui said gracefully.
"Where should we go?" Zhan Zhongxiao scratched his head innocently.
Shen Wenhui chuckled at his words.
"Didn't you say you'd show me around? Why are you asking me?"
"Ah, right. Then, how about the pedestrian street?"
"Sure. I'll leave it up to you today."
Hearing this, Zhan Zhongxiao was filled with excitement, feeling as light as if he were walking on clouds.
Meanwhile, Shen Wenhui smiled by his side, observing him silently.
At the same time, she began to supplement the information in the file she had on Zhan Zhongxiao in her mind.
...
Perhaps due to the funeral being held in the complex, there were many people coming and going, and the security guards were quite lax.
Without even being asked, they let Liu Nanfeng into the complex.
Following the sound of the funeral music, Liu Nanfeng quickly found Sun Ayi's building.
The entrance of the building was adorned with wreaths, and several white hearses were parked nearby.
Even without going upstairs, he could hear the distinctive wailing of the women from above, singing and crying rhythmically.
Liu Nanfeng glanced up at the massive black vortex in the sky, then walked to the adjacent stairwell, took the elevator, and went directly to the top floor, the thirty-second story.
It was working hours, and the four apartments on the top floor were all empty, with their doors tightly shut.
Liu Nanfeng looked around. There was a staircase nearby that led to the rooftop, but there was an iron gate, and it was locked.
However, this didn't stop Liu Nanfeng. The structure of such old-fashioned locks was simple, and they were only meant to prevent children from climbing to the rooftop.
So, with a slight pull, Liu Nanfeng broke open the lock.
Then he headed towards the rooftop.
Upon reaching the top floor, the black vortex exerted a greater and more shocking pressure on him.
Moreover, a creature was shuttling back and forth within the vortex, appearing and disappearing, constantly devouring the black smoke.
Liu Nanfeng surveyed the surroundings.
Besides clothes and quilts being sun-dried on the rooftop, some people also kept plants there, and miscellaneous items were piled up, making it look a bit cluttered. Fortunately, the area was large enough that it still seemed spacious.
Liu Nanfeng hid behind a water tank to observe carefully.
Even so, the distance was considerable, and the monster often hid in the darkness, making it impossible to discern its information for a while.
However, he could clearly see its appearance: its mouth was somewhat like an alligator's, but its body was shorter and rounder, with a slender tail like an old book trailing behind it.
Its entire body was black, almost blending in with the smoke, and it was covered in protrusions resembling scales.
From the entire complex, a faint black aura occasionally rose from a household, sucked into the vortex, and absorbed to strengthen it.
The monster, on the other hand, moved with ease within the black smoke, continuously devouring it, then exhaling it from its nostrils. What was originally a dim smoke became darker in color.
Liu Nanfeng pondered for a moment, then summoned his scroll. With a thought, the scroll snaked upwards like a long silk ribbon, growing larger and larger until it covered the sky above the entire complex.
Zhan Zhongxiao, who was waiting for a taxi with Shen Wenhui, suddenly felt a palpitation and looked up at the sky behind him, which was bathed in bright sunlight. There was nothing there.
"What's wrong?" Shen Wenhui asked, confused.
"Nothing," Zhan Zhongxiao replied.
He took out his phone and checked it, his heart filled with anxiety. Why hadn't a car arrived yet?
At this moment, he desperately wanted to escape. His animalistic intuition told him that there was a great terror not far behind him, but he couldn't abandon Shen Wenhui and flee alone. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
"Are you really okay? You're sweating a lot."
"It's really nothing. It's just that the weather is too hot, and I'm a bit overweight, so I sweat..."
Zhan Zhongxiao suddenly looked back again. The feeling of palpitation had disappeared, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Afraid of heat, possesses a certain alertness? Currently externally manifests as a gentle disposition..."
Indeed, the monster hidden in the black fog was no match for the scroll.
Although it felt a sense of danger, just like Zhan Zhongxiao, when the scroll covered the sky, it was still unable to resist the scroll's power and was absorbed into it.
After the monster was sucked away, the massive black vortex in the sky, like a rootless duckweed, scattered with the wind. The falling black energy descended like rain.
Liu Nanfeng was a little surprised, wondering if this black energy would be harmful to people, but he had no good solution.
So, he turned his attention to the scroll floating before his eyes, wanting to see what kind of monster this was.
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