Chapter 207: The Ground Is Cool

The towering An Group building.

Inside the luxurious office, Wen Hanfei sat in the spacious executive chair, brows slightly furrowed, looking deep in thought.

This was a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses, his hair combed back into a slicked-back style, looking between thirty and forty, quite a bit younger than his actual age.

That faintly solemn air, along with his upright and firm facial lines, added a touch of dignity to this face that was still too young for someone who controlled a major enterprise.

In short, this was a middle-aged man who could be called an "uncle" rather than a "master."

Together with Kongming, they could be considered a pair of brilliant contemporaries, handsome uncles of different types.

Speaking of which, An Xirong seemed to be a looks-oriented person; otherwise, she wouldn't have been abducted by Tang Luo's dad back then.

Compared to the first mistaken choice, with her parents screening the second time around, the choice seemed quite correct.

"T..." Wen Hanfei murmured.

The name stored in that phone number was a single letter — T, representing the surname "Tang."

He did indeed answer the call; it wasn't deliberate, just a coincidence.

But before answering, Wen Hanfei hadn't expected it to be that Tang Luo calling.

As An Xirong's remarriage partner, Wen Hanfei was still fairly clear on some matters concerning Tang Luo.

How to put it — he originally thought he would face a terrible brat.

In the end, the two had only met a countable few times, and all when Tang Luo was a child.

Wen Hanfei remembered that after the other party graduated elementary school, they never met again; likewise, the An family had almost completely cut off contact with that child.

The only thing maintaining contact between the two sides was money — the An family gave money, all the way until university graduation.

This outcome made Wen Hanfei breathe a sigh of relief at the time; honestly, in those few meetings, he simply couldn't muster any goodwill toward that child who looked quite pitiable to outsiders.

The other party was very calm, and very silent.

But not that kind of pathetic silence, like a helpless little kitten.

That guy's silence faintly revealed a sense of detachment, even a kind of lofty, looking-down-from-above feeling.

Wen Hanfei still remembered the look in the other's eyes when he raised his head to look at him; at the time, he thought he was being despised — or maybe it wasn't just "thought."

In short, a child impossible to like.

Not just Wen Hanfei's view, but also the biological mother An Xirong's thought; even the maternal grandparents, despite the saying "grandparents dote on grandchildren," could never truly get close to that child named "Tang Luo."

"Tang Luo..."

Wen Hanfei recited this name, then his brows knitted into a "chuan" character, "It's actually him, Tang, Xuan, Zang."

Word by word, he spoke Tang Luo's other identity, another name.

Also meaning that Wen Hanfei, too, was a Shenmo Walker!

The title "Master Xuanzang" was relatively well-known in the Huaxia Shenmo Walker circle.

An abnormally high-profile monk, who knows what "concealment" means, likes giving people "kaiguang" to heal injuries, acts... rather strangely.

Not a proper monk.

Generally speaking, Shenmo Walkers consciously hide their real-world identities.

But Tang Luo is an exception; he's doing business openly, and maintaining a fake identity is too tiring.

"I, Tang Xuanzang, treat people with sincerity, and everyone treats me with sincerity too — how nice, how happy."

"If anyone harbors ill intentions, the Master Xuanzang who acts on behalf of Heaven will be even happier."

Master Xuanzang's real-world identity is relatively public.

If one wants to investigate, with some seriousness it can still be found out.

After today's phone call, the Xuanzang monk and Tang Luo truly overlapped into one person in Wen Hanfei's mind.

Not a coincidence, not a shared name.

The ex-wife's child, and that monk who does kaiguang, are the same person.

"Changed a lot, ah; at first I didn't fully notice." Wen Hanfei thought to himself; his intelligence channels weren't that formidable.

Many were just various scattered fragments, easily overlooked.

But it's also possible that, like today, as some things happen, those fragments exert their effect and turn into truly useful intelligence.

Closing the computer, Wen Hanfei leaned his body slightly to the side, one hand resting on the armrest lightly tapping his cheek, pondering the meaning of that phone call.

Tang Luo and the An family hadn't been in contact for several years — only holiday greeting texts, and mass-sent ones at that.

Yet he suddenly called now, wanting to find An'an.

If he were just an ordinary person, Wen Hanfei could foresee a stupid fight-over-inheritance farce ensuing.

But the other party is Tang Luo, and simultaneously a Shenmo Walker, that Violent Arhat — it's completely different.

Suddenly, Wen Hanfei's locked brows relaxed, his face revealing a look of pleasant surprise: "Could it be... success?"

The other party, in the identity of Tang Luo, had never had any intersection with An'an.

Wen Hanfei was certain of this; but what about in the identity of a Shenmo Walker?

If, say, the two met in a mission world?

Wen Hanfei murmured: "Right, An'an also became a Shenmo Walker; the two probably met in a mission world, so that Violent Arhat developed other ideas."

"Hmph!"

He let out a cold snort, the corners of his mouth gradually curving into a smile, "Let me think; An'an became a Shenmo Walker, definitely no more than a month ago; she concealed it well, I didn't even notice. After six missions, one won't encounter newbies anymore."

"That Violent Arhat, at most six missions, plus fate fragments — looks like he's a bit weaker than the rumors say."

Here Wen Hanfei pondered Tang Luo's strength, the deep implications hidden behind this sudden phone call today.

On the other side, Tang Luo, in an invisible state, had already arrived at his office door.

Actually easy to find; this is a workplace, basically every room door has a sign.

Wen Hanfei's luxurious office has one outside too.

Tang Luo didn't need to ask for directions at all.

There were surveillance cameras in the hallway, but the entrance to this office happened to be outside their range, revealing only a small corner.

This was convenient for Tang Luo's actions.

He held a sack in one hand and pushed the door open with the other, moving casually. With the sound of the lock breaking, he successfully pushed open the door that had been locked from inside.

"Didi."

Wen Hanfei, still lost in thought, was startled; the alarm of the broken lock came to his ears.

Though not loud, it was enough to pull him from his reverie, and he looked toward the door.

There was no one there; the originally closed door was half-open.

"What's going on?"

Wen Hanfei stood up, walked toward the door, became alert, and prepared himself for battle.

Although since becoming a god-demon walker, he had always perfectly concealed his true identity and had never encountered any extra danger in reality.

The real world was, to him, a warm haven.

But as a qualified god-demon walker and a strong one, he would not let his guard down in a safe environment!

"Interesting, what could it be?" Wen Hanfei curled the corner of his mouth into a sneering smile.

No matter who or what, he would tell them they had come to the wrong place!

Suddenly, his vision went dark; the bright light was replaced by darkness, with only a faint glimmer seeping through a tiny crack.

Wen Hanfei smelled an unpleasant odor.

He felt as if he had been stuffed into a sack?!

"A sack?"

In that moment, as he resolved to retaliate no matter what, a hard object struck his head with intimate contact.

Wen Hanfei instantly lost control of his body, and his consciousness began to blur.

The world started spinning wildly.

Then came wave after wave of pain from his head and body.

All Wen Hanfei could do was, as he fell, try to curl up as much as possible—but even that movement was difficult.

He didn't know how long it had been—perhaps ten minutes, perhaps a whole year.

Every cell in Wen Hanfei's body transmitted pain; he half-curled, lying on his side on the ground.

His body trembled slightly; the pain surged like waves, refusing to subside.

He felt as if he had been thrown into a washing machine and churned several times, left in a state of disarray.

His consciousness, adrift in unknown space, gradually returned; the sack on him suddenly came off, and he shifted slightly upward.

The gold-rimmed glasses he wore had already fallen off during the first blow.

Wen Hanfei narrowed his eyes to look at the person who had ambushed him.

Why was he certain it was a person?

Because only a person would stuff someone in a sack and then punch and kick them in a violent beating—at least that is a human pattern of thought, not something from demons or monsters.

Unfortunately, he saw nothing.

He strained to turn his head, scanned the entire room, and saw no one.

From when the other pushed the door in to when he was beaten and then left, from start to finish, Wen Hanfei had not the slightest bit of strength to resist.

"Ah ah ah!"

An angry low roar burst from his mouth; his nostrils flared, his breath blowing on the cold wooden floor, making a little dust float up.

How many years!

Such humiliation—how many years had Wen Hanfei gone without feeling it again?

"Who exactly!" Wen Hanfei struggled to turn from lying on his side to lying on his back, trying to look as presentable as possible, and he stared at the somewhat glaring light.

The most aggrieved part was right here.

He now wanted revenge, wanted to tear the other apart, but Wen Hanfei couldn't even see a ghost.

Wen Hanfei naturally could not have imagined it was because he had called Tang Luo.

Thus, the compassionate monk came specially to let the foolish child feel the weight of Buddhism, to guide him toward goodness, and to make him understand that one should not casually hang up on people's calls.

This is impolite behavior.

"What are you doing?"

A surprised voice came.

An Xirong entered the office, saw Wen Hanfei lying on the ground, and froze in place.

"Um— the floor is cool, I'll lie down for a moment." After a few seconds of silence, Wen Hanfei said.

"..."

In the deep winter, nearing New Year's, the floor is cool, so I want to lie down.

An Xirong thought either she was a simpleton, or Wen Hanfei was a simpleton, or Wen Hanfei took her for a simpleton.