The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Their surprised voices sounded like a duet, resulting in the two exchanging looks. An elderly policeman was taken aback as he asked, “You two know each other?”

The two shook their heads hurriedly before realizing what was happening. What they should have been asked wasn’t whether they knew each other, but whether they knew the monk. The two became the center of focus…

The elderly policeman took off his hat and scratched his scalp. He felt like he had aged considerably and couldn’t figure out youngsters these days. They shook their heads and then nodded. So did they know each other or not?

Jing Yan could also tell that the elderly policeman was confused as she hurriedly said, “I know that monk. Let me go over. Maybe I can provide some help.”

The elderly policeman looked at Jing Yan suspiciously and scoffed. “Are you trying to pull off a trick? You know him? If you know him, why didn’t you say so earlier? Are you trying to pull a fast one on me? Dream on! And what’s up with you, kid?”

The elderly policeman smugly tilted his head and asked the young policeman, to which he replied with a rueful smile, “That monk was outside just now. He even talked to me.”

Upon hearing that, the elderly policeman raised his hand and struck the man’s head. “You are even more ridiculous! There are so many of us here watching the premise. Even a fly would need to go through us if it wanted to enter. How can such a living person made of flesh, with an especially bright light-bulb head to boot, go unseen by us?”

The young policeman said with a bitter smile, “But I’m speaking the truth…”

“Cut the nonsense!” With that said, the elderly policeman shot a glance at Jing Yan before looking at the young policeman, thinking to himself, “He’s still young. How nice it is to be young. Trying to think of ways to hit on another young person he finds pretty.”

That’s right, the elderly policeman wrote off the young policeman’s words as a result of his excessive hormones.

Meanwhile, with Fangzheng coming out, the police quickly rushed forward, hoping to pull him somewhere safe. Fangzheng hurriedly shook his head and said, “Patrons, don’t pull This Penniless Monk away. If This Penniless Monk is taken away, the patron inside might do something silly in his panic.”

The moment that was said, the two policemen jumped in fright. They hurriedly looked towards their commander.

The commander waved his hand, indicating for the two to retreat. Then he asked with a frown, “Venerable One, you… weren’t inside just now, right? How did you get in?”

It turned out that although the commander was focused on the situation inside, he had kept an eye out on his surroundings. He had also seen Fangzheng walking around outside. After all, Fangzheng was dressed in white, and his bald head was just too eye-catching. Just a little awareness was enough to make anyone spot him.

Fangzheng pressed his palms together. “Patron, it’s not time to talk about that. This Penniless Monk has entered to talk to the patron inside. He involuntarily caused harm before and never wished to rob anything or anyone. It’s all a misunderstanding.”

“Since it’s a misunderstanding, get him to come out so that we can talk. As long as he’s innocent, I guarantee you that he won’t be treated unjustly,” said the commander.

Fangzheng shook his head. “Patron, if you were an ordinary person in his shoes, what would you do?”

The commander fell silent.

Fangzheng continued. “Patron Wang’s mind is in a mess, and he’s panicking. Patron, you should know that there’s too much negative information on the Internet. He doesn’t trust anyone, including you, in his current state.”

The commander remained silent. There were things that couldn’t be said out loud, but everyone knew the truth deep down. People these days were easily brainwashed by the Internet. Many a time, a few negative, inconsequential matters when put together could give people the impression that the world was filled with evil, that it was void of good people. Most of the police force was naturally filled with good people, but there were always black sheep. When people fell into a panic, the tiny bit of distrust they had would be magnified, turning it into complete distrust.

With this in mind, the commander nodded slightly. “What does he want?”

Fangzheng said, “He doesn’t accept the police’s arrangements. He wishes to have an interview, a live broadcast. He wants to explain everything in person.”

The commander immediately frowned and fell silent. To many people, this seemed like a very simple matter, but he was worried. He was worried that in his mad rage, even the news reporter would be held hostage. That way, it would only increase the number of hostages… Hence he said, “No, there’s no way to guarantee the reporter’s safety.”

Fangzheng was also placed in a difficult situation. He wished to say that he could guarantee it, but it was likely that he would be treated as an idiot if he tried. He was already being held hostage himself, so how could he guarantee the safety of anyone else? Use divine powers in front of everyone? That would only be even more idiotic.

Fangzheng had no choice but to say, “Patron, the patron inside isn’t a bad person. He just wishes to clarify the matter.”

The commander still shook his head and said, “This has nothing to do with character. It’s that I can’t ask anyone to take such a risk.”

“What if it’s voluntary?” At that moment, a woman shouted.

The commander was taken aback as he looked into the distance and saw a female reporter being pulled back by an elderly policeman. As for the female reporter, she was struggling to raise her hand. The commander waved, indicating for her to come over.

Jing Yan immediately ran over, and after a long discussion, Fangzheng went over as well. The discussion went on among the three for quite some time.

Ultimately, the commander rejected the notion.

When Fangzheng saw this, he could only retreat helplessly. But the instant he did, he activated A Golden Millet Dream and pulled Jing Yan in with him.

“Are you mad? They won’t let me in…” Jing Yan subconsciously cried out. But when she turned her head, she discovered that none of the police were doing anything. She looked at Fangzheng in shock before recalling the situation of the fake charity case back at the poor village. A look of realization flashed through her eyes.

Fangzheng smiled and asked, “Are you entering?”

Jing Yan decisively nodded and said, “Yes! But we need a camera.”

Fangzheng nodded and went with Jing Yan to call the videographer, Old Miao, over. He was the one who had accompanied Chen Jing up One Finger Monastery back then and had been responsible for catching Chen Jing when he fell from the walls. Later, Chen Jing was taught a lesson by Fangzheng before leaving with great enlightenment. With Old Miao losing his partner, and Jing Yan later noticing him for his filming skills, he was transferred over to be partnered with her.

Old Miao also knew Fangzheng and had seen how capable he was. He knew that with Fangzheng around, nothing would happen, no matter how fierce the criminal inside was. However, he was a little afraid that the police would be disagreeable to it. Hearing from Jing Yan that the police had agreed to let them in, he did not hesitate to follow them with the video camera in hand. When he turned back and saw the police ignoring them, he felt more at ease.

Once they entered the store, Fangzheng closed the door and carefully put the rack in place to block off the door once again.

The elderly policeman came close to the commander and whispered. “Why do I get the feeling that the monk is an accomplice of the suspect? He’s blocking the entrance in such a solid way… It’s like he wants to prevent himself from running.”

The commander: “…”