5 Memory Eraser

"My name is Fang Nanxun."

"The Fang for fangkuai (square).

"The Nan for nanfang (south)."

"And the Xun for xunran (indeed so)."

The cold image of this middle-aged man collapsed in an instant.

It was as if the ice and snow melted, and spring arrived in the blink of an eye.

Fang Nanxun said gently.

"Your name is Tang Hong, right?"

"You're a third-year student here. Hmmm… I shall apologize first."

"Investigating you is required before you can join us, I hope you don't mind.

Tang Hong was still in a daze from the shock.

'Please, please pause for a while.'

'Could it be that I was overthinking?'

'Damn, it's the Internet's fault for being so advanced. Modern people like me now often have persecutory delusions…'

Tang Hong really wanted to ask the middle-aged man if he could take back what he had said earlier. To be honest, Tang Hong really wanted nothing but to study hard and become an ordinary citizen.

"I know what you want to ask."

Standing a meter away, Fang Nanxun's voice was very low as he continued. "What you saw earlier was a danger god, which is stronger than a regular god. The entrapment operation just now went wrong and that god's scent leaked out…"

"It is the sacred whisper that you've heard."

Hearing this…

Tang Hong's scalp exploded. "An entrapment operation? To capture such a thing in Yunhai City?"

Fang Nanxun smiled. He wanted to say something but stopped.

He dragged Tang Hong to the car that was parked in the distance.

Sitting in the driving seat, he took out a Chinese cigarette and handed it to Tang Hong.

"I don't smoke."

Tang Hong shook his head and refused.

Fang Nanxun took out a lighter and glanced at Tang Hong who was sitting in the front passenger seat.

He rubbed the lighter for a bit, then tossed it and the cigarette aside. "After the operation was over, I looked at the surveillance. You were clearly bewitched, yet you were able to recover from it in a short time…"

"This trait is a prerequisite before one can become a Transcendent in our country."

"You are…" Tang Hong opened his mouth and asked.

"I'm not from the government nor the military." Fang Nanxun waved his hand.

He then said with concise words.

"Strange dimensions suddenly appeared out of nowhere a few years ago and the heads of gods manifested in large numbers. We've used artillery bombs, biological weapons, and even chemical weapons in the beginning, but now, Transcendent beings have replaced thermonuclear weapons…"

"We are now in the front lines in resisting the gods."

"I can't tell you the specific situation for now. You are only eligible to know everything after you've joined us."

"I'm recording a video at this moment. You have to face the camera. Face-to-face, please blink and turn your head before saying that you—Tang Hong—voluntarily joined us…"

"Stop, stop, stop!" Tang Hong hurriedly said, "You are not from the government nor the military?"

Fang Nanxun smiled slightly and instead of answering…

He retorted with a question of his own. "Assuming that you graduated normally and you now have two job offers. One is from a private company offering a good salary but a lot of overtime, while the other is a job in a stable and strict state-owned enterprise with a decent salary."

"Which will you choose?"

"It depends on the salary difference between the two."

"At least five times more."

"How much?"

Fang Nanxun was a little surprised.

He didn't expect Tang Hong to be so calm.

It was out of his expectations that Tang Hong could still ask him a question. However, this indicated that Tang Hong's mind was very clear and that he wasn't scared by him.

Or maybe it was because of money…

Does he like money that much?

Fang Nanxun heaved a sigh of relief.

He continued.

"Before you can join our special training camp established in the Imperial Capital, I can give you a brokerage internship with a monthly income of over 10,000 Hua dollars. Of course, you will only be a worker there in-name."

"Your time is precious and it cannot be wasted on such ordinary work. We won't agree with it either. But as a student of the University of Finance and Economics here in Yunhai, you should know what this paid internship for a core position in a brokerage firm represents, right?"

"Yes, I know… I heard that even fresh undergraduates from the top two universities in Hua Country also couldn't get in." Tang Hong was tempted.

But then he suddenly became alert.

Becoming an intern with a monthly income of over 10,000 Hua dollars and he didn't even have to work?

Was this a lot of money?

What the heck? This payment was supposed to be for his life!

"It's not enough."

Tang Hong said placidly.

If Fang Nanxun looked indifferent, then Tang Hong wouldn't know if he could negotiate or not.

But after seeing the look of joy on Fang Nanxun's face, Tang Hong knew that he could try it.

Fang Nanxun smiled slightly and said, "20,000."

Tang Hong's Adam's apple seemed to move.

His voice became lower than just now. "Actually I…"

"30,000!"

Fang Nanxun was still smiling.

"Add a bit more." Tang Hong added. "My life isn't this cheap."

Fang Nanxun fell into a daze.

Blinking, he couldn't help but laugh. "Did you think that this is money to buy your life? What are you imagining? You just need to enter the special training camp and reach the criteria for graduation before you can officially join us…"

"Only then can you participate in the operations, where you can potentially die."

"What if I don't meet the graduation criteria?" Tang Hong asked.

"Impossible."

Fang Nanxun's tone was full of confidence.

"Of course."

"If you really can't reach the standard…"

Fang Nanxun said softly, "We will have to use the Memory Eraser and let you return to a normal life. Memory erasers are allocated by the military to us and they are imitated machines based on the structure of a god's scent. It's almost harmless to the human body."

Tang Hong was taken aback.

Why did the normal-looking modern society of the new century felt a bit sci-fi now?

"I also want to ask why the unit of measurement for gods is in 'heads'?"

"Because I like it…"

"Some out there refer to them simply as 'a god'. But I like to refer to them as 'head of a god'. Is there something wrong with it?" Fang Nanxun seemed to have become a little impatient.

Tang Hong was observing him, and he was also observing the former.

"I want to… I want to think about it."

"How long?"

"Tomorrow. By tomorrow morning, is it okay?" At this moment, Tang Hong just wanted to go back to his dormitory room and have a good night's sleep.

"Okay, I'll wait for you." Fang Nanxun looked sideways out of the car window.

"We are actually quite similar to the military for the government and we are also being treated the same by the latter. The only problem we are experiencing right now is that nowadays—young people are always fond to join us just after watching a few videos of what we do…"

"Are they for real?"

"Killing a god isn't that simple. Not all of us comes out of it alive. Furthermore, we are also not allowed to go home without prior authorization. We have money, but there is nowhere for us to spend that money inside the military barracks like us."

"The question is—are you able to endure that hardship?"

"It doesn't really matter since no matter which side you chose, the treatment is still the same."

"If I can choose again…" Fang Nanxun sighed.

Then, he continued. "You are different from me. Can a college student like you who still hasn't even graduated adapt to the circumstances fast enough? You think about it yourself."

The atmosphere in the car was solemn and heavy.

Fang Nanxun seemed to be reminiscing about the past along with his persuasive words.

Tang Hong directly got out of the car, he felt complicated.

'Listening to him, why do I feel…'

'The question is how to join? Instead of wanting to join or not.'

'What if I reported his car to the police and told them that he is a hitman with two bodies of students from the University of Finance and Economics? If I did this, I will be able to confirm his identity by then.' Tang Hong was at a loss of what to do.

In the end, he could only go back to his dormitory room.

No one was in the dormitory room.

Tang Hong shook his head.

It seemed that Han Zhibin and the others would only come back tomorrow.

At this moment.

A faint sound of a car engine stalling could be heard outside the window.

Tang Hong turned off the lights and looked through the gap between the curtains to see Fang Nanxun's car parked downstairs. "He's going to wait here until tomorrow morning? This man is really insane!

"From the looks of this…"

"I probably am talented enough to become a Transcendent. My potential's probably so big that Fang Nanxun's that eager to get me to join his organization…"

Tang Hong returned to his bed with a troubled look on his face.

He had difficulty falling asleep.

He didn't want to participate on a battlefield.

With the help of the support system, he could probably become a Transcendent in just a few months. In addition, if there was no limit to Strength. It would eventually become easy for him to split apart a mountain with a single punch.

"Besides."

"No matter how I think about it, the government and the military are more trustworthy for me."

Tang Hong believed heavily in this great country that had nurtured countless great people.

A home only existed only when the country existed, he too existed because of the country, so Tang Hong didn't really believe in this Fang Nanxun.

But this fellow wasn't leaving!

There wasn't anything that Tang Hong could do about it!

…

Dazed and drowsy, Tang Hong fell asleep.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already the next morning, and a stream of information emerged right in front of his eyes

'Experiencing life alone, Individual value has increased by 1.'

Tang Hong's body shook.

What happened yesterday was so surreal it felt unreal.

But Tang Hong hurriedly got out of the bed and ran to the windows and opened the old curtains.

He lived on the fourth floor of the dormitory building.

From the window, he looked down.

At this moment…

The door of the car opened.

The familiar face looked at him from a distance and gestured at him with a smile.

"Good heavens!"

"This person must be a devil!"

Tang Hong was dumbfounded for a while. He eventually recovered as he returned to his room.

The car door opened in such good timing and Fang Nanxun was also able to find him despite being so far… Could it be that the latter detected that he had woken up in his dormitory room all the while he was sitting in his car?