Chapter 145 Eliminating Harm
"With your frail appearance, you got involved in a murder case?" The young man looked Eric up and down, appearing skeptical.
Eric smiled indifferently and remained silent. He knew that with his slim build, anyone who didn\'t know him would definitely think he was a frail scholar with no connection to violent incidents.
The young man sighed sympathetically and said, "Looks like you and I were both wronged..."
"Oh? What happened to you?" Since it was commercial time, Eric had the leisure to engage in conversation.
The young man\'s expression changed, filled with resentment, "A girl accused me of harassing her..."
Eric was slightly taken aback, "Even if it\'s harassment, you shouldn\'t be detained here for that..."
"The girl wanted to teach me a lesson, so she had me locked up for a few days..."
Eric glanced at him and smiled, "You seem to come from a well-off family. How could they detain you just like that?"
The young man sighed, "My family does have some influence, but they don\'t want to make an enemy of the girl\'s family. So not only did they not help me, they even want me to reflect here..."
"How long do you have to stay?"
"A month..." The young man sighed deeply, complaining, "I can\'t believe that someone as virtuous, influential, talented, and good-looking as me has to live under the same roof as those four pests. It\'s truly a disgrace..."
"Four pests?" Eric seemed to recall hearing this term from Tan Ailing before, "You mean rats, flies, mosquitoes, and sparrows?"
"Exactly."
Eric looked around at the tidy environment and luxurious furnishings, confused, "Given the conditions here, those things shouldn\'t be present, right?"
The young man chuckled after a moment\'s pause, "It seems we\'re not on the same page. The \'four pests\' I mentioned are four people..."
"You mean, \'rats\' and such are just nicknames?"
"Yes."
Eric glanced at the countdown for the commercials and asked, "What did they do to make you dislike them so much?"
"What could they do to me?" The young man looked disgusted, "I just don\'t want to live under the same roof as those scumbags..."
Seeing that Eric was still interested, the young man explained, "These four pests are all children of officials and wealthy merchants. Although they aren\'t outright criminals, you could say they\'re rotten to the core.
"Rat, real name Zhou Shufeng, is a rich kid who is lecherous and perverted, particularly fond of abusing underage girls. If his family didn\'t always spend large sums to settle with the victims\' families, he\'d be in prison by now!
"Fly, real name Chang Yingjun, is also a rich kid who loves to drink and race cars. The number of people injured or killed under his wheels has reached double digits.
"Mosquito, named Gu Wenbo, is the owner of a pawn shop in Shanghai. He\'s extremely skilled in forgery, often swapping customers\' genuine items for fakes. Although there are suspicions, no one has been able to provide solid evidence, so he remains at large.
"Sparrow, Ma Taiping, is the son of a high-ranking official from another province and came to Shanghai for university. He\'s highly intelligent and enjoys trampling on others\' dignity, toying with them. In the three years he\'s been in Shanghai, he has driven two people mad, four to suicide, and over ten have dropped out to avoid him..."
Eric nodded and returned his attention to the TV.
The young man yawned and said, "Staying up late harms my delicate skin, I\'m going to sleep..."
After taking a few steps, he turned back and said, "The room on the left on the third floor is empty. You can stay there. The bedding is new! Also, except for the bathroom, everywhere in this villa is monitored. Don\'t do anything inappropriate."
"I know," Eric interrupted his nagging, "The guards already told me."
"I figured they would," the young man said with a helpful expression, "But I was worried you might forget. What can I say, I\'m just that kind-hearted."
With that, he shook his head, sighed, and went upstairs to his room.
After the TV show ended, Eric also went up to the third floor and entered his "cell."
Lying on the bed, Eric didn\'t know what to do for a moment.
According to his usual routine, he should start meditating. However, since the bedroom was under surveillance, he didn\'t want his actions to be exposed to outsiders.
How to pass the time? Should he go trouble the four pests?
Eric\'s nature was typically "If people don\'t offend me, I won\'t offend them." No matter how rotten and evil those four pests were, as long as they didn\'t provoke him, he could pretend not to see them. Discover exclusive content at empire
However, in the novels he read, many emphasized the concept of "merit." In one particular xianxia novel, a zombie managed to avoid heavenly tribulations by accumulating merit through saving lives.
In the real world without cultivation, does this so-called "merit" still have any effect? Should he give it a try?
Why not give it a try? Even if it doesn\'t increase his so-called "merit light," it would still be good to purify society.
Without further ado, Eric got up and entered the bathroom. He turned on the shower to create the illusion of taking a bath, then released his mental power to explore the villa.
No one on the first floor. Four people on the second floor, one of which was the young man. There was also someone in the room opposite his own.
After confirming the targets\' locations, Eric decided to take them down one by one from top to bottom.
First, he cast an Invisibility Technique on himself, then teleported to the room opposite.
Looking at the young man lying on the bed, Eric first used Mind Reading to check his memories.
Mind Reading was different from Unified Mind Technique. It was more like watching a movie of someone\'s memories without turning the subject into an idiot or a vegetable.
After confirming that the person in front of him was Zhou Shufeng, Eric injected a sliver of dark power into his lower body. This highly destructive and corrosive dark power would turn Zhou Shufeng into an eunuch within three to five days. In a month, it would paralyze everything below his neck.
After dealing with him, Eric didn\'t linger and teleported to the next target.
Chang Yingjun, who loved to drink and race cars, would have his legs paralyzed within three days, rendering him unable to step on the gas pedal.
Ma Taiping, who liked to manipulate others, was destined to suffer from cerebral palsy within a week, spending the rest of his life in a vegetative state.
Although the last target, Gu Wenbo, didn\'t require mind reading to identify him, Eric still used Mind Reading, believing that seeing someone else\'s life experiences could enrich his own.
Gu Wenbo\'s experiences were indeed more interesting than the previous three. The various antiques and paintings opened Eric\'s eyes. Even his methods of forgery left Eric in awe.
One particular memory caught Eric\'s attention. It was about a recently acquired palm-leaf manuscript written in Tibetan.
Gu Wenbo was quite talented; he had translated the entire ancient Tibetan text!
Although the content disappointed him, it greatly intrigued Eric. The manuscript recorded the death place of the Sakya saint, Phagpa.
After memorizing the information, Eric sentenced Gu Wenbo to blindness.
Satisfied with his work, Eric returned to his room to sense his accumulated merit.