The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

“No idea. I’ll give it another try. I hope it’s not what I imagine.” He sent another virus in preparation to make another infiltration which ended up successful.

After Fangzheng finished his meal, he felt his cell phone vibrate slightly. He had received another message. He picked up his cell phone and realized it was the red screen again. He replied impatiently, “This Penniless Monk is having his meal. Anything you want to say can wait till after.”

“He said that he’s eating and has no time for us?” Luca growled, face turning red as he read the message.

Smith was filled with righteous indignation. “We cannot put up with this any longer. Finish him!”

“I want to make him regret it! I want to make him weep and kneel down and call me daddy!” As Luca spoke, his fingers pattered out quick commands. He sent Fangzheng a message: “You will end up crying. Everything you have will be deleted. You will not be able to do anything. Watch helplessly as your cell phone dies!”

Luca issued a string of commands, just short of the final execution command. Luca did not yet issue it. He wanted to see Fangzheng plead to ease his indignant heart.

Luca said confidently, “This is my ace in the hole. He’s doomed!”

The eating Fangzheng felt his cell phone vibrate and saw the content. He frowned. It was the red screen again and the threat sounded quite scary. Fangzheng casually tapped the black X at the top right corner and instantly, the red screen vanished. He continued with his meal.

After fruitlessly waiting all day for a response, Luca nearly blew a top. He took a swig of the Coke on the table, “It looks like it’s time to get serious. Have at thee!!”

Just as Luca was about to issue the command, something appeared on his screen.

Fangzheng unhurriedly replied, “Patron, lying will result in you having your tongue cut out when you go to hell. Amitabha, it’s only right. This game is no fun in any way.”

“Pfft!” Luca spewed the Coke all over as he cursed, “This asshole even calls me liar? Go to hell!”

With that said, Luca issued the execution command!

The next moment…

“Warning, virus intrusion detected. Warning!”

Luca looked at his monitor that suddenly displayed a red screen. He lost control over his computer. Finally, a black bat with a strange face appeared on the screen.”

“What’s going on? My god, what happened? This is MY virus…” Luca tugged his hair and wailed. He was losing it.

Smith was just as confused. “Luca, you are going to be famous. A world-class hacker actually gets hit by his own virus. Even your computer is down… F**king awesome!”

“F**k off, Smith! Do you not know what I just did!? Damn it. We have encountered a true world class hacker!” bellowed Luca.

“We have indeed met such an expert. What do you plan on doing?”

“Find David and the rest. I want revenge! I will not let this matter rest. I want his cell phone to fry!” roared Luca.

“Luca, forget it man. You saw his cell phone… It’s not worth much.” After Luca infiltrated Fangzheng’s cell phone, he found the brand of the cell phone. His system also provided the price. Converting a thousand plus yuan to US dollars, it was only about a hundred plus US dollars.

“Idiot! His cell phone isn’t worth much but my computer is! It costs tens of thousands of Euros! And there’s so much information lost. I’m going crazy!” Luca slammed his desk, clearly enraged. “Smith, you have to help me. Help me destroy him!”

Smith decisively shook his head, “Nope. I haven’t been able to crack your trump card up till now but he cracked it in seconds. That is an expert at a level I don’t want to mess with. I don’t want my machine destroyed either. Luca, it’s best you contact David. We should have a meeting.”

“That’s the only thing possible for now,” said a downtrodden Luca.

Fangzheng did not know that someone was losing his mind because of him. Fangzheng cleaned the cutlery and was about to head to the temple hall to recite the scriptures. As for Monkey, he went to the front yard and realized that leaves had fallen once again. Helplessly, he continued sweeping the fallen leaves.

Lone Wolf sat at the door daydreaming while Squirrel had disappeared.

A day passed quietly and peacefully just like that.

Late at night, Fangzheng picked up his cell phone and casually flipped through the news. He discovered that the news headline was highlighted in red.

“Ransomware spreads rapidly and has upgraded its capabilities. It has begun infiltrating cell phones. Currently, 370,000 people have fallen victim. Security experts suggest cutting down on Internet time.”

Fangzheng rolled his eyes. “What sort of expert would that be?”

Fangzheng still tapped it out of curiosity. The first thing he saw was a page, one he found familiar. The red page was eye-catching, especially the first paragraph of English he couldn’t read. It looked identical.

“Could it be true that This Penniless Monk got infected with a virus?” Fangzheng jumped in fright. But when he continued reading, he immediately laughed and shook his head. “Indeed, I must have met a cheat. Others would have their device and documents locked up. But it seems… I can use everything normally.”

Upon coming to this realization, Fangzheng ignored the matter.

Fang Yunjing replied with a message. “Venerable Fangzheng, can I ask you a question?”

Fangzheng replied, “Of course.”

“Venerable One, was it really you during my dream that day?” This had puzzled Fang Yunjing for a long time. Could someone really enter a person’s dream over such a great distance? It… sounded impossible, right?

Fangzheng thought about it. “A dream is not a dream, and everything changes unpredictably. Patron, if you think it’s real, then it’s real. If you think it’s false, then it is false. Most importantly, what you figured out is more important than the realness of your dream.”

Fang Yunjing lay in bed and read the message. Her eyes looked a little confused, “A dream is not a dream, and everything changes unpredictably…. Was what I figured out real? But he probably doesn’t know what I figured out.” There was a strange look on Fang Yunjing’s face.

She turned around and asked: “Venerable Fangzheng, does Buddha exist in this world? Why do I find you so godly? Can humans learn divine powers?”

Fangzheng thought for a moment before answering: “Patron, what sort of Buddha is the Buddha you mentioned? This Penniless Monk believes that everyone in the world has Buddha nature. Everyone and anyone can become Buddha. As long as one’s heart inclines to doing good, they are Buddha. Buddha nature is impermanent but omnipresent. As for divine powers, airplanes can fly in the sky and submarines can enter the deep depths of the sea. In the eyes of the ancients, those are divine powers as well. This Penniless Monk only knows a little more than you.”

Fang Yunjing looked at Fangzheng’s message and seemed to come to an understanding. Just as she wanted to ask something else, Ma Juan entered, getting her to join in their meal gathering. Fang Yunjing had no choice but to give up.

Fangzheng put away his cell phone when he noticed Fang Yunjing had to leave.

With nothing to do, Fangzheng led the three animals out of One Finger Monastery and strolled leisurely on the mountain.

Somewhere across the world there was someone going mad.

“David, you have to help me on this one,” said Luca through the phone.

“Luca, I can help you but not now. I just infiltrated three hospitals. This is huge! Once I get the money, I’ll finish that so-called Chinese expert,” said David.