As a cool and aloof academic prodigy, Ren Zhong always had a strong drive to act.
Otherwise, back then he wouldn’t have been able to withstand so many temptations on one side, while excelling in his studies.
Often, when he felt something was necessary to do, he would ensure it was done, and as quickly as possible.
For example, that fraudster who sold a broken gun and then beat the boy to death when he tried to get his money back and seek justice.
Last night, Ren Zhong had a momentary urge to kill.
But he didn’t rush to act yesterday.
He was actually considering it.
Logically speaking, that person did not have the opportunity to commit evil this time.
So, should such a person pay for the sins he would have committed but didn’t?
This is an unsolvable paradox.
Having grown up in the 21st century, although Ren Zhong intended to change and integrate into the era, there were still traces of a law-based society lingering within him.
This is a basic human instinct that Ren Zhong is struggling to overcome.
He has both distant lofty ideals and the harsh reality in front of him.
He can neither be a saint nor a butcher.
These are the real contradictions within him.
But tonight, Ren Zhong finally made a decision.
He wanted to start by investigating and then decide based on the situation.
Someone once said, "Without investigation, there’s no right to speak."
In this sense, he was taking the initiative.
A true revolutionary cannot sit and wait like a rabbit, cannot be passive, must have decisiveness, firm beliefs, and proactive aggressiveness.
True liberation will never come passively because those with vested interests will never hand over their power out of pity.
Liberation always originates from the first gunshot.
These things were things Ren Zhong had figured out a long time ago.
What he was doing now was merely turning his thoughts into actions.
A little past eight in the evening, Ren Zhong, Zheng Tian, and Wen Lei were walking through the alleys of the slum in South District.
"Mr. Ren, what are we doing here?"
Zheng Tian asked this.
She was unaware of the private exchanges between Ren Zhong and Sun Miao, and felt a bit puzzled.
Ren Zhong casually said, "Since we’re going to settle here later, I should walk around the town and get a feel for the local customs. I’m afraid something might happen, so I’ve asked you and Wen Lei to accompany me."
His other purpose was to continue keeping Zheng Tian occupied so she wouldn’t go to the flea market.
Getting a bodyguard and keeping Zheng Tian busy, hitting two birds with one stone, was indeed a clever move.
The three of them passed by a street corner.
The manhole cover at the street corner was opened, emitting the smell of a decomposing corpse.
Several people in cleaner uniforms were placing a badly decomposed, unrecognizable corpse onto a medium-sized transport drone nearby.
It seemed that someone had been quietly killed and stuffed inside long ago, only discovered once it began to stink.
This place happened to be hidden from view, a corner unseen by the "Sauron’s Magic Eye" of the town center.
Ren Zhong keenly noticed that the corpse’s skull had been opened, and there was no brain inside.
He realized the implication, indicating that the eavesdropping by the Wrist watch and the surveillance by the "Magic Eye" belonged to different systems.
The Hunters indeed only collected brains and suppressed unstable elements, without being responsible for collecting corpses or participating in law enforcement.
Zheng Tian pinched her nose and said sullenly, "Ah, it stinks so much! Let’s just go somewhere else, no need to come here. The smell is so strong, it’s much worse than our alley. There’s no local customs to see here."
Wen Lei, on the other hand, didn’t speak, just cautiously glanced around, fully showcasing his part-time bodyguard business skills.
He forgot that with his physique, in this small town, few low-level wanderers would dare to cause trouble.
The three of them turned another street corner and reached Alley No. 17.
Ren Zhong didn’t know which house the fraudster was in, so he could only walk along the alley, looking around.
The alley was extremely dilapidated, rivaling the one near the city wall where his own shack was located.
The ramshackle houses leaned in all directions.
People in ragged clothes, old or young, either lay idly under the eaves or huddled inside houses that had partially collapsed and couldn’t shield from the wind or rain.
Some houses emitted the rustling sound of poor-quality TV speakers.
In some houses, a duet of male and female voices echoed repeatedly, with no soundproofing at all.
Almost at the end of the alley, Ren Zhong finally saw a relatively decent one-story shack.
Square and proper, not as good as Ren Zhong’s shack, and far from the team’s courtyard, but it was undoubtedly the mansion on this street.
Ren Zhong guessed this might be the fraudster’s home.
From a distance, Ren Zhong could see that the supposedly sturdy "mansion" shack was swaying slightly with a certain strange rhythm.