Chapter Fifteen: The Worthless Scoundrel Fan

It was already the fifth day since everyone had entered the temporary camp, yet the rain continued relentlessly, casting a shadow over their moods along with the gloomy weather. The cultivators’ intuition was sharp, but none paid it much heed, relying instead on their confidence in their own strength.

The gate smashed by the bear remained unrepaired, and Chen Hongxu stood on the street under rain as fine and crystalline as spider silk, observing Zhang Shufang inside the house.

Suddenly, a figure darted out from the neighboring house and approached Chen Hongxu swiftly. “Brother Chen, it’s about time. Go back and rest for a while—I'll keep watch next,” he said.

After confirming that Zhang Shufang would not awaken soon, everyone moved into the adjacent house they had seized, repeating their earlier tactics. This time, the original owners did not resist to the end—after all, the memory of the six corpses carried out from the neighboring house was still fresh, and this group seemed to have intricate connections with the Blind Man. Hence, they surrendered the house without resistance.

As the Blind Man had said, his influence within the temporary camp was unimaginable. While waiting for Zhang Shufang, Chen Hongxu and his companions did not remain idle, yet it seemed the camp’s residents had received some warning, for they kept silent about Binglong.

Chen Hongxu withdrew his gaze from Zhang Shufang and nodded to Fan the Fool, turning to return for a brief rest. But the group walking from the distant end of the street made him pause.

A crowd approached, holding black umbrellas and wearing white lab coats. Their stride was neither hurried nor slow, but they were unusually silent, with no sign of conversation. Chen Hongxu, sensitive to the flow of energy, could immediately sense the mournful air enveloping them.

The crowd halted about thirty meters away, and from among them stepped an elderly man with graying hair, his face twisted in grief and fury as he stared at Fan the Fool behind Chen Hongxu. “Was it you people who killed my son?”

A few deaths in the camp were hardly a major issue, and normally no one would intervene. But if someone truly came to seek justice, it could become troublesome.

Chen Hongxu sized up the old man. He was unrelated to the thug Su Xiaoxiao had killed during the first house seizure, so the answer was clear. Judging by their appearance, these could only be one group: the tech personnel from the Eastern District.

“Dai Kai?” Fan the Fool answered bluntly, nodding without a hint of concealment, and even shouted, “He deserved to die!”

“Who are you to decide whether he deserved to die?” The old man’s voice choked. “Little Kai may have lacked judgment, but why not give him a chance to redeem himself? If you had, he could have learned. Why did you kill him outright?”

Fan the Fool curled his lip in disdain, spat thick phlegm onto the ground, and replied coldly, “If you didn’t teach your son well, you shouldn’t let him out to stir up trouble. Now he’s dead—who do you blame? I’m no family tutor. Mess with me and death is what you get. What can you do about it? This place, for all its talk of joint management by every nation, is really a land with no rules, where strength reigns.”

“Fine, fine, fine!” the old man exclaimed three times, his legs trembling as he staggered. The people behind him hurried forward, umbrellas forgotten, to support him.

After a moment, the old man steadied himself and waved off those beside him. His face contorted in rage as he glared at Fan the Fool. “No rules, then no rules it shall be.”

No sooner had his words ended than a large group surged from the street’s edge, their eyes feverish, staring at Chen Hongxu and Fan the Fool as if they were prey.

“Friends, is it really worth causing such a ruckus over this old man?” Fan the Fool’s eyes narrowed, clearly intimidated by their numbers. Here, there were no street thugs—any one of them could take on ten opponents, with even the weakest likely possessing second-tier strength.

“Dr. Dai has researched the barrier for over a decade. This time, he was about to find a breakthrough. You newcomers interrupted his work—deserving death!”

“The pain of losing his son will only be soothed by killing these new arrivals. Otherwise, Dr. Dai will destroy his research, and all our years of waiting will come to nothing.”

“There are five of them, but only two here now. Let’s take them down one by one, minimizing unnecessary casualties!”

The crowd surrounding Chen Hongxu and Fan the Fool were clearly intent on playing the game of ants devouring an elephant, using words to undermine their confidence.

Chen Hongxu slowly closed his eyes, feeling for the energy presence of any high-level experts among them.

After a moment, he opened his eyes with a sneer. “No top-tier experts, just a bunch of clowns. The real heavyweights must be watching from the sidelines.”

Fan the Fool, hearing there were no experts, laughed wildly. With swagger, he yanked off his shirt, revealing a body not particularly muscular but evenly toned. He tossed his head jauntily, extended a hand, and beckoned to the crowd.

Chen Hongxu was dumbfounded, unable to fathom Fan the Fool’s confidence. His strength was mediocre, yet his behavior grew stranger by the day. If not for the current predicament, Chen Hongxu would have felt compelled to beat him up.

Provoked, the crowd charged forward, howling like beasts. Fan the Fool’s face grew serious; he nodded to Chen Hongxu, his expression resolute as he kicked off and hurtled toward the mob.

Fan the Fool’s speed was so remarkable that even Su Xiaoxiao and Zhang Shufang were taken aback. He darted through the blades without a scratch, reaching the center of the crowd. He spun, nodded again to Chen Hongxu, then sidestepped and vanished from sight.

“Brother Chen, hold on! I’m going to find reinforcements!”

Fan the Fool’s words pierced the curtain of rain and reached Chen Hongxu, leaving him stunned, then furious. “Fan the Fool, you damned scoundrel!”

There was no point cursing him now. Chen Hongxu scratched his head—was he really going to have to slaughter them all?

It wasn’t arrogance, but the result of his military training. As long as the enemy wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful, like that monstrous Su Ning, group tactics had no effect on him. The way of the warrior cultivated the aura of slaughter, replenishing oneself with every kill—exhaustion simply wasn’t an issue.

This crowd’s strength was at most fifth tier, mere fodder in Chen Hongxu’s eyes. But could he really kill them all without restraint? Each person here represented a nation. Kill the weak, the strong would come; kill the strong, the elders would follow. Even with replenishment, it would be overwhelming. Besides, Chen Hongxu had never considered himself the world’s greatest—he thought so before meeting the Blind Man, but afterwards his conviction only deepened. If he killed these people and drew out a group of old monsters, it would be a losing proposition.

As Chen Hongxu hesitated, a sudden premonition swept over him. His face turned pale, and he dove to the side, rolling to the ground and clutching his head. He stared in horror at the unbelievable scene before him.

Hidden Saint 15: The Fool’s Scoundrel—Chapter Fifteen, update complete!