The Record of Unusual Creatures

by Stayrr

Hao Ren is a good man, and his ideal was to live a restful, comfortable life as a landlord. At least that was his plan before a couple of abnormal creatures rented his house.

3. 75 - 106

Read The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 75: The Soy Sauce Portal online free - Novelfull

Chapter 75: The Soy Sauce Portal

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Hao Ren woke up early the next morning, before the sun had even rose. He bumped into Vivian, who did not sleep the night before and the early riser, Y'zaks. The three of them spoke spontaneously, "Let's check on Lily (Doggie)!"

After hitting herself unconscious since the previous night, Lily was not in any danger. By staying unconscious, she did not lose control and go on a rampage. In fact, Hao Ren and Vivian helped Lily back to her room that night. Hao Ren anticipated that Lily was going to wake up soon. He pushed the door open with Vivian but, what they saw shocked them.

Lily was still in her werewolf form—and awake. She crouched on the bed and her wolf tail stood erect like a feather duster. Her back was facing them so they could not see her face. But Hao Ren could vividly feel a suppressed energy, which was gradually being released around her—he felt like he was confronting a beast.

Vivian inched a step forward and Lily's ears stood up as she growled. Seconds later, Hao Ren saw a dazzling light. Lily had faded into a silver, lightning-like shadow. She flitted across the room, along the walls and ceiling before charging towards Vivian with her snarling fangs!

"Lily!" Hao Ren shouted at her. Meanwhile, Vivian had already shapeshifted into a colony of bats which flew away in the air. The werewolf maiden missed her target. She stopped in bewilderment and began to sniff the floor.

Hao Ren spotted that the werewolf was only going after Vivian and was not interested in him. He plucked up his courage and inched forward. "Lily... can you hear me?"

"Heh-heh-heh...Tsssss..." All he heard was a series of indiscernible sounds coming out from her throat. She obediently raised her head. When she saw Hao Ren, she smiled. "Landlord? ...Dinner..."

Hao Ren was speechless—he began to doubt the possibility of saving such a hungry creature.

Nevertheless, Lily still recognized faces that were familiar to her. However, Hao Ren noticed something—a layer of murkiness began to obscure her golden eyes, erasing the contrast between the pupil and the sclera. That was not all, her breathing was irregular too as with her facial expression which changed erratically when she spoke. It showed how screwed up her state of mind was.

Witnessing her condition, Hao Ren slapped his forehead—he should not have waited until the next day. Lily's condition had deteriorated so quickly that it was only proper to send her to Raven the night before.

Vivian was back in her human form. She edged cautiously round the back of Hao Ren and maintained a five-meter distance from Lily. "Hey Doggie, are you going to bite me again? Would you?"

"Not any...more." Lily crouched on the floor, raising her foot to scratch her face. She could barely speak and it sounded clumsy. "My eyesight's a little...blurry. Just woke up, not entirely awake. Better now. Landlord, are you taking... me to the doctor?"

"Yes, right away." It ached Hao Ren to see that she could not even speak properly. He held the werewolf maiden by her hand and said, "It's good to see you awake. Let me handle the rest."

"Landlord, don't... touch me." Lily shook Hao Ren's hand off. "I could fling you... Look, there you go flying again!"

Hao Ren got up from behind the sofa, staring in dismay at how muddled her head was. "Can you tuck your ears and tail away? You can't board a bus like that!"

Ads by Pubfuture

"What? Are you asking her to take the bus?" Vivian jumped to her feet protesting. "You can't be serious! How can you let her out in public when she can kill someone with just her sneeze?!"

"Then what?" Hao Ren had his hands spread out. "Should have taken her out last night. It's daylight but she's not getting any better!"

"Fret not, I'm prepping a portal," Y'zaks suddenly chimed in. "I made a trip to Bastard Barrio last night. I've marked the location. The portal will be ready in a few minutes."

Hao Ren took a long sigh of relief. "I almost forgot, demons are apt dimensional travelers. But I still can't believe that you could open up a portal in an unfamiliar space."

Y'zaks proudly replied, "The physical constants of this world are somewhat different from ours. Yes, I had problems with establishing the connection initially. But like I said, it's the tricks of the trade—I tweaked the formula a little and ta-da, it worked. By the way, do you still have soy sauce?"

"Did you just say soy sauce?" The idea of calling up a portal in his living room was indeed a pleasant surprise. Hao Ren could now take pride in the fact that there was a more decent tenant in the house. The demonic portal sounded cool but he could not believe what he had just heard. He strode over to Y'zaks only to find the demon squatting and drawing a circular diagram in the middle of his living room. It was about of two to three meters in diameter. He drew it while held a dish in his hand. In the dish was some black liquid and it smelled like... soy sauce.

"WTF?"

"Why not? When you're at the level of a master, you can draw diagrams with basically anything—even water; all things hold demonic power. I once knew an awesome demon master, who calmly drew a line of hell fire with his pee in the face of 20,000 strong, beastmen.He managed to hold it until help arrived. However, the old pretender later denied he had ever used the pee trick. Instead, he claimed to have performed a blood-smear formation... Any more soy sauce?"

"...Yes, soy sauce right away! Screw it, I'm not gonna be pretentious anymore. I should have known—I'm never ever going to cross paths with anything that's state of the art! Vivian, please give the gentleman some soy sauce..."

After splashing a whole bag of soy sauce, Y'zaks finally completed the teleportation diagram. The drawing medium notwithstanding, the diagram looked like it meant business with its complicated and exotic demonic runes. They were stacked into rings of three. Rows of unintelligible incantations floated around in the center of the diagram like a living object. Just as Y'zaks exerted his energy into the runes, the diagram emanated a red and green yet cloudy glow. The gateway was finally online!

The only fly in the ointment was the smell of the soy sauce.

And that thought kept ringing in Hao Ren's mind. Could things get any less magical than this?

Anyway, it was the only way even if it was not magical, Lily's state of mind was deteriorating fast. She crouched on the floor without making a sound. Her pose and behavior had become characteristically wild (and dog-like). Hao Ren had also witnessed her gnawing on the table leg during the few minutes that Y'zaks was drawing his diagram; the total loss of his table was prevented only because the wood was too unpalatable.

Y'zaks got to his feet and pointed at his creation. "Everyone, move inside the circle and I'll start the teleportation. Beware, this will work only once. So, we better go at once."

"Is it because soy sauce has a limited capacity of demonic power?"

"Nope." Y'zaks shook his head as he pointed his finger at Rollie, the cat on the sofa. "Judging from its edacious eyes, I can tell he'll lick the soy sauce clean once we're gone, thus spoiling the runes..."

Hao Ren jumped inside the circle at once. "Alright, let's go. If we keep this conversation up a minute longer, I'm afraid I won't be able to convince myself that I'm going to be involved in more magic."

Fortunately, the soy sauce portal worked without a hitch. Everyone on board arrived at the destination in one piece.

Bastard Barrio appeared as it always was—deserted. No more than a few cars passed by in the day and the camouflage provided by the portal made their emergence less of a problem.

Feeling nauseated, Hao Ren clung to a telephone pole. "That was one hell of a flaky, soy sauce portal—"

Y'zaks had an ingenious smile as he said, "It's typically demonic—crude and simple yet, practical. Try getting used to it."

Still crouching like a wolf on the ground, Lily's head drooped from left to right. With extreme caution, Hao Ren poked her shoulder and said, "Lily, are you alright?"

"So far so good." Lily raised her head. There was no more reflection in her cloudy eyes but, her sanity remained. "Where's the floating mansion?"

Hao Ren gave her an assuring smile as he found the familiar telephone pole with the old Chinese medicine sticker. "Ladies and gentlemen, we're about to witness a moment of wonder!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Ads by Pubfuture

Chapter 76: Lily's Super Evolution

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"So, you guys decided to bring her here?" Raven 12345 looked sideways at the werewolf maiden who was crouched on the floor. She growled menacingly. "Don't say I didn't warn you. All my furniture's made of super alloy. If she breaks any of her teeth, that's not my problem."

"She wasn't this bad before we arrived but after teleporting, she can't utter a word. On the bright side, she doesn't bite." Hao Ren explained awkwardly as he continuously pulled Lily's tail, trying to keep her away from Raven's office table.

They were already in Raven 12345's office and Lily's condition had worsened since that morning. She was unable to walk upright on two legs. She could only lie down indifferently beside Raven's table. Occasionally she would let out a few beastly growls. She bit everything in sight, including the table and door frame. She even bit a passing arcane servant but as a result, a shock wave blew up in her face—she could no longer speak because of that.

Hao Ren knew Lily was mentally sound. The gnawing was just a distraction—to keep herself occupied with everything else except aggression. Biting the arcane servant was just an accident; the arcane servant did not even look human, Lily had probably mistaken it for a jelly.

Even Vivian, who always locked horns with Lily looked worried. Deep down, the vampire maiden was a kindhearted person. She looked at Lily, feeling sorry. "Should we find her some steel rods to gnaw?"

"That won't be necessary." Raven 12345 waved as she signaled Hao Ren to step aside. Raven got down in front of Lily. She pulled Lily's head back so that Lily would raise her head. "Hey little pup, look into my eyes."

Interestingly, Lily was calm upon hearing Raven's voice. It was astounding contrast to her crazed state of mind earlier. Her breathing became smoother as she stared attentively at Raven 12345 before muttering, "Doc...tor?"

"Yup. I'm your doctor. Look into my eyes. Tell me, what did you see?" Raven 12345 spoke in a pleasant tone of voice, which was so soothing Hao Ren could not help but bang his head into the wall. This was supposed to be how the psychotic goddess talked, he thought.

A light of clarity flashed across Lily's eyes. She pondered for a long time before nodding. "There's a leftover noodle at the corner of your mouth..."

Raven 12345 smacked Lily's forehead. "I'm asking you to look into my eyes, not my mouth you idiot!"

Hao Ren heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank God, she's still the psychotic b*tch who talks with just the right dose of bitchiness."

Y'zaks stood by with his head lowered in reverence. He nudged Hao Ren in the arm and said, "Is this how the goddess is supposed to be over here?"

"Ya, have you seen any difference in the other world?" Hao Ren asked briefly.

"Of course not," Y'zaks mumbled. "Seven out of the ten Xi Ling Celestials have facioplegia... How did you run up against this one?"

Hao Ren was silent.

Raven 12345 was trying to awaken something inside Lily. She held Lily's head sturdy as her own eyes emitted a bluish, white glow. Her voice was soft as well as magical. "No matter what you see, don't be worried. It's just an illusion, you're in a safe place. Tell me little maiden, what do you see?"

"...Moon, a big moon..." Lily was still crouching on the floor but her muscles were beginning to relax slowly. "It's red. There's something seething on the moon like ocean waves... and there's really a noodle at the corner of your mouth, I swear."

"...Be serious! Focus on my eyes!" Raven 12345 wiped the noodle away. "Apart from that, what else? Recall everything that happened that night. Besides what you saw, what appeared in your mind?"

"People on the moon... I couldn't see their faces but I knew there were many of them—they were melting away and becoming part of the ocean... There were people on the ground too. Everyone was melting away, I was scared... I wished I could be stronger and escape from being melted, then... You didn't clean it enough, there's still some of the noodle left on your mouth."

Raven 12345 then smiled. "...Maiden, wield your weapon, you and me—only one will be left standing today."

Hao Ren swiftly stepped in to intervene. He did not know why a solemn moment had turned sour but, he knew he had to be the peacemaker. "Whoa, whoa, she's always rash and impulsive. Furthermore, she's left with only her brain stem now. By the way, what's wrong with Lily?"

"You have a well-known vampire in your house." Raven 12345 got to her feet and gave Vivian an intense glance. "She has great ability but I'm afraid she doesn't know how to control it. The pup's doing fine. Her subconscious has been invaded by hallucinations of some disaster which she has no idea of herself. She has been bugged by nightmares which have caused her to lose control of her power. That explains her deteriorating condition: she is plagued by her own nightmare."

Raven 12345 bent down and patted Lily on her head. "Actually, I've some good news to break―"

Not waiting for Raven 12345 to finish, Hao Ren chimed in, "Is she pregnant?"

The entire house became as quiet as a grave. Only the sound of Lily gnawing at the table could be heard. Vivian looked at Hao Ren with a weird expression. "Landlord, what are you thinking about in that head of yours?"

Hao Ren tried frantically to explain. "Isn't it always the case on TV? People always break the news of their pregnancy this way."

Raven 12345 conveniently shot a tiny plasma ball, hitting Hao Ren on the head. "Your brain's screwed up. It must be doing well in the City of Shadows. Considering the amount of scoundrels over there, I'm sure you've found your own kind. Talk about birds of a feather flock together. But, I was going to say—the pup's about to evolve."

Upon hearing that, Lily stopped gnawing at the table leg. Her ears stood up and she listened expectantly—apparently she had not gone mad.

"Evolve?" Hao Ren felt it was rather magical. "She's a digital babe?"

"...I'll send you for treatment after the pup. Delaying treatment isn't a good idea." Raven 12345 led out a long sigh as she shook her head. "You guys didn't even know that this little girl's a minor?"

"She's an adult," Vivian stepped up and exclaimed. "Look at her. Does she look like a minor?"

"It's just her shell." Raven 12345 twisted her mouth and said, "Maybe she's ripe physically but as a werewolf, apparently her ability isn't up to par. Didn't Hao Ren mention that Lily doesn't possess any special abilities except brute strength?"

"Good olfactory receptors too," Hao Ren busily added. "Besides, she has a tail.'

"That isn't a f*cking special ability!" Raven 12345 waved as she gave orders to an arcane servant. She then pointed at Hao Ren with an upset look on her face. "Feed this gentleman some medicine, just enough to shut him up!"

Hao Ren dared not utter a word. On the other hand, Vivian nodded her head as though she was thinking about something. "I've been wondering; although werewolves don't usually possess magical abilities, they at least have some natural skills like Active Violence, Shadow Steps, Moonlight Masking and the like. Doggie however, doesn't have any of that aside from great physical strength and incredible health. However what's most amusing is that, she thought her brick-throwing, which she trained for five years was her greatest trick. For that matter, I wonder if werewolves even evolve at all? As far as I know, their special abilities come naturally as they grow up. Doggie's going to experience an explosive evolution?"

"I can't help it. Each one of you is weirder than the next," Raven 12345 said it in such a way that like it carried some deep meaning. "Ordinary wolves evolve gradually but due to the stimulation from your moonlight, this maiden's going to experience super evolution. Well, that's not a bad thing actually; she will evolve anyhow. Now, you've just saved five years worth of cleaning up damaged furniture. One thing you should know though—a werewolf's natural growth period is five years and hyperactivity happens during their power awakening!"

Hao Ren wiped off the cold sweat from his forehead; there was nothing more comforting than the knowledge that Lily was safe. She was just going through her natural physiological evolution, albeit it being a little of out control.

Having known that, it was time to think of ways to help the idiot sail through her evolutionary process—safely.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 77: Reconfiguration... Again

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lily was placed into the Bioenhancement and Reconfiguration Chamber as everyone else looked on. As the chamber doors slowly shut, Hao Ren's heart sank.

"Will this work?" He looked at Raven 12345 wearily as the latter was glued to the machine's user manual, trying to figure out the workings. Seeing how unreliable Raven 12345 was most of the time, Hao Ren could not help but worry. "Speaking of which, do you even know how to operate this thing?"

"Oh, goodness aren't you an annoying one! As clueless as I am, I'm still better than you. Using the MDT as a blunt force weapon; it's a wonder you still have the audacity to criticize me." Raven 12345 leered at Hao Ren. She quickly set her sights on Lily, who was lying in the chamber pod. "Relax, it's fully automatic. I'm just confirming the command code in the manual."

"Will this actually prevent her from going berserk again?" Vivian asked as she stared at the mixed-alloy equipment. She was awed by the high-tech toy before her. "She just needs to lie in it for while and she'll be cured?"

Raven 12345 shrugged. "This is just a temporary measure. The device can forcefully pacify her. After a few days, she will reach the peak of her evolution. When that time comes, just let her run free; somewhere spacious enough. Don't worry. With this reconfiguration, even if she goes berserk again, she'll still retain her thoughts. At most she'll be in her wolfen form but she'll be harmless. That, I guarantee you."

This was the 'treatment' that Raven 12345 prescribed for Lily. In her words, Lily's growth was a normal process; one she would have to go through eventually and only fools would have prevented it. All she needed to do was let Lily past through this volatile period smoothly, with some tweaks here and there to her physical as well as psychological profile. The facilities available to them should do the job.

Using the Reconfiguration Chamber, Lily's mental state was pacified and suppressed to its usual state, allowing her to regain control of her body. Her growth was progressing normally and the reconfiguration allowed her to safely go through the period of volatility. It would have counted as a blessing if she had undergone her evolution in one single, explosive transformation.

Of course, letting her loose meant finding a suitable location. According to Raven 12345's estimates, a pup like Lily, who was undergoing such an explosive burst of power for the first time would not be able to hold their form. They could turn into full, beast mode or go feral altogether. Having such a transformation take place in the living room would be a disaster waiting to happen.

Hao Ren had that figured out. A barren place like the Southern Suburbs had no lack of wide, running plains. Beyond the backdoor of his house was a stretch of empty land reaching towards the hills. The area had no known inhabitants, not even a dirt path. Even if he allowed Lily to go wild all night long over there, he would not have to worry about disturbing the locals.

"Then again, werewolves are really one of a kind aren't they?" Hao Ren looked at the Reconfiguration Chamber, which reminded him of a casket. He had nothing noteworthy to say about Lily being in the pod and tried to change the topic awkwardly. "Can she really turn into an actual wolf? She's adorably dimwitted most of the time, I can't quite imagine her going all feral."

"Blessed be the ignorant..." Vivian scratched her head as she looked at Hao Ren. The latter's face was brimming with curiosity. "When a werewolf goes feral, it will succumb to madness. What? Do you think it'll be like a lazy dog sprawled on the floor, playing dead? I was there when Fenrir ripped Odin in half. Oh, all that blood spurt. It was a bloody sight. Even most highborn vampires won't risk taking on a feral werewolf. Who cares if she's an idiot, that won't matter when she turns feral."

Hao Ren decided to ignore the details about Fenrir ripping Odin to shreds. He knew that it was part of Vivian's foreboding past. He could only pat his chest to calm himself down. "Well.. Raven 12345's guaranteed that if she transforms, she'll still keep her sanity... I'll just believe her this once. Aren't you interested to see how she'll turn out to be? Do you have any idea just how cute this contrast of character is?

Vivian gave Hao Ren a very odd look. "What does that even mean? I turned into a bat to clean the house plenty of times. Never saw you noticing that."

Hao Ren was stunned. "Uh... yeah? Why didn't I?"

As Hao Ren and Vivian's topic of conversation was getting way out of hand, Raven 12345 interjected. "Right, are you guys done with your nonsense? If so, get into the pods as well. I'll be installing the translation module."

Hao Ren almost forgot about that and was grimly reminded by Raven 12345 that he still had a date with the casket-shaped device. His looked forlornly at her. "Eh? I thought you said that was not due for another two days..."

"Oh, stop your whining. Let's get it done already since you're here." Raven 12345 snapped her fingers and the floor not far from them split apart. Three new Bioenhacement and Reconfiguration Chambers slowly rose from the ground. "Anyhow, just get into the pod. Using the MDT as a translation tool is all fine and dandy but impractical at times. I'll install a translation module into your psyche and this will allow you to speak with all races of the Empire without impediment. Which is more convenient, you'll see in good time. Oh right, Y'zaks, go into the one on the right most. It's a special variant which has a spatial regulator that can adjust itself to the shape of the user. It may look dainty but it'll fit."

Vivian was the first to nod and seemed totally unfazed by the prospect of going into the coffin looking machine. "We just lie down in there, right? Me first!"

"That's a bloody casket!" Hao Ren reminded her but all he got was an unapologetic smile from Vivian. "So, what's wrong if it's a casket? Not that I've never slept in one, mind you. There was a time where sleeping in caskets was a fad in the vampiric world. It had to do with one's status. I even saved up for one made out of walnut wood with a decorative cross to boot. Too bad I lost it during the wars in Europe."

Vivian slowly approached the device as she spoke. She gently touched the alloy surface of the machine, a nostalgic look appearing on her face. "This shape... this style... how I miss it. I loved sleeping in caskets shaped like this."

A chill went down Hao Ren's spine as he heard what Vivian said. Additionally, a cold sweat started to form on his forehead. He was even more adamant about not going into the machine.

However his protests were of no avail. By the time he realized it, Vivian and Y'zaks had already gone into their respective 'caskets', leaving Hao Ren alone in the room and Raven 12345 eyeing him dangerously.

That dangerous look was not merely a psychological reaction...

"Do you want to go in yourself or do I have to haul your ass into it?" Raven 12345 pointed towards the Reconfiguration Chamber. "If you really need me to..."

Before Raven 12345 could finish her sentence, Hao Ren leapt into the casket with utmost agility.

As the Reconfiguration Chamber sealed itself, Hao Ren quickly lost his consciousness.

In a semi-lucid state, Hao Ren started dreaming.

He saw himself standing on the surface of a body of water. It was indeed illogical but, he stood on it like it was firm ground. He looked around and saw familiar scenes on the shore: old-style houses, a noisy morning market and rolling hills as well as rivers he had never seen before. Yet, they were familiar.

The phantasmagoria by the shore was ever changing and ever moving. Hao Ren was surprised by the sight. He clearly knew he was dreaming but this did not happen the last time he was in the machine.

He suddenly felt a shudder underneath him. As he peered down, a dark, foreboding shadow slowly surfaced.

An unknown fear suddenly smothered Hao Ren. He felt that something particularly devilish was coming up from the deep abyss beneath him. The shadow in the water threatened to devour everything on the surface and beyond but foremost, Hao Ren.

"Boooommmm!!!"

A loud bang rang inside Hao Ren's head and he realized that the phantasmagoria around him had disappeared. He was now floating in a dark void. It was a familiar feeling. He knew it from when he first underwent the reconfiguration process.

The short dream sequence earlier had seemingly disappeared without a trace.

From a distance, Raven 12345's voice could be heard, "I'm pretty sure I didn't hit the wrong button but why is the red light lit?"

Hao Ren could not muster a response in that state.

He was pretty sure the only reason he had not been killed by that lunatic of a goddess was his luck!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 78: A Colorful Universe

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The chamber's door opened without as much as a whisper and the sudden burst of light dazed Hao Ren. It took him a good while to get up. He gave his head a good shake and realized that there were no major changes on his body. It was very similar to the first time he underwent a reconfiguration or enhancement. It only took a few moments to complete.

However, the living nightmare was so harrowing that just thinking about it sent chills down Hao Ren's spine.

Raven 12345 mucked around a crystalline interface which floated mid air. It looked like the central command console of the Bioenhacement and Reconfiguration Chambers. She had a thick manual laying by her side. Looking at the usually unreliable goddess who was pretty much operating the device on a trial and error basis, Hao Ren shuddered. He glanced at the other three chambers and asked curiously, "What's taking them so long?"

"Oh, I'm doing some physical checks," Raven 12345 answered without looking up. "The lil' wolf pup is still growing, Y'zaks just came from a different world and Vivian has some issues controlling her strength... Problem children, all of them. This is a good chance for me to give them a good check. No worries, their signatures look normal. And oh, how are you feeling?"

Raven 12345 only looked up after finishing her sentence and she measured Hao Ren carefully. "Hmm... you look pretty good."

"I had a nightmare." Hao Ren could not even get mad at Raven 12345's demeanor anymore and simply recounted his dream to her. "At the end, I saw something coming up to the surface and got violently woken up after that."

Raven 12345's hand suddenly stopped. She stared at Hao Ren silently. "I believe you should take every chance you have to train your mental fortitude in The Plane of Dreams. Your current mental strength is just too low and your psyche is problematic. You won't survive future encounters if you are to stay like this."

"What was that nightmare all about?" Hao Ren felt that Raven 12345 had this habit of not fully conveying what she actually meant. He had to press on with his questions, "I can see from your expression... that there's more to it."

"It's the effect of The Plane of Dreams." Raven 12345 casually looked at Hao Ren. "It will remember you after the first encounter and it will keep reappearing inside your head. It can be a dream or a mere illusion. What you see is the silhouette of the dream plane and reality reflecting off each other. Many who have entered The Plane of Dreams and survived, eventually succumb to the constant mental assault. Hence, you best work on training your mental fortitude while I'm still around. At least I can pull the breaks if anything goes wrong. Wait till you have a certain level of fortitude and The Plane of Dreams will be nothing but child's play."

Hao Ren violently slapped his forehead. Why did this Goddess have to go and ruin the nicety of what she had said earlier...

Raven 12345 continued to bury her face in the manual and she slowly manipulated the control panels of the Reconfiguration Chambers. Hao Ren was quite literally bored to death and went to sit in a corner of the room. He stared at the advanced thingamajigs which looked like they came out of a sci-fi flick. Seeing the rate at which Raven 12345 was working at, Hao Ren felt that he was probably going to be stuck there for a while. He then pulled out the MDT from his pocket to surf the net.

As lazy as Hao Ren was, he did not spend his past few days doing nothing. He still took improving himself rather seriously and realized that the MDT was one of his survival tools for future missions. Despite the system being way beyond his league, the data vault a mess, the abundance of bloatware, and an AI which saw him as a nuisance, the MDT was still a valuable tool. Hao Ren was still learning how to properly utilize the high tech toy fromXi Ling Empire. There was some progress after a few days; Hao Ren finally found that the device had access to around a dozen different internet networks.

Hao Ren felt like he should have known; the MDT's most important function was to connect to the aetherweb. It was a given that an item of such an advanced civilization would not come with just a single setting. The only issue was the liberty Raven 12345 took in filling the MDT up with a boatload of apps. This really cluttered up it's browser and made it hard to navigate. The MDT's AI had to reboot and recalibrate itself for the web module to function in tip-top shape. The list of networks that appeared on the screen stunned Hao Ren:

Local Settings Chain – Local Web Network – Local Galaxy Network – Local Celestial Group Network – Local Universe Network – Macroworld Civilian Network, Macroworld Military Channel – Specialized Channel Network – Centralized Military Channel Network...

Hao Ren suddenly realized that he was sitting on a treasure trove without knowing it. The array of networks and channels available on the MDT made him understand the true meaning of the phrase, 'You're not alone.' Thus, he eagerly fiddled with the listed networks.

Most of the networks were not available to him as he had expected. He was just a newbie; fresh of the boat with only a single mission under his belt. Such encrypted channels were clearly off limits to him. He could only access the Local Universe Network at will. That was the only channel he had full clearance to. The next one was the Macroworld Civilian Network. Civilians probably used it but it was directly monitored by the Space Administration. With smatterings of sensitive military information floating about in that channel, an agent with Hao Ren's level could only access a limited amount of information.

The ones he could read were open information from the top brass. He could not connect to the network directly.

Despite that, what he had was more that sufficient. He found that trying to comprehend things in the Local Galaxy Network was enough of a struggle. Plus, he was so bedazzled by the amount of stuff that was going on there to even bother with the other networks or channels.

As the MDT connected to the web, Hao Ren first saw an "Activity Report" window and he could see what was going on in the far corners of this galaxy.

"Unencrypted Report – Local Galaxy Network. Starting Point: Kerdula III. Repeating Broadcast towards Dan-Dwyn. The invasion of the Kerdulan main planet by the Kaer-Roms has ended. The Kerdulans won with their own martial might. The war did not exceed the observer's cordon as deemed by the local agent. No intervention required. PS: Please retract the application for intervention. Report Over."

"Unencrypted Report – Local Galaxy Network. Starting Point: Chattar. Non-specific Broadcast. The Chattarian Star is dying. Estimated date of destruction is 326 Imperial days from whence this report was sent. Medium alert event with the potential extinction of a civilization. Local agent gauged that intervention is required. Sending aid signal. The first available team to receive this report, please respond. Report Over."

"Unencrypted Report – Local Galaxy Network. Starting Point: Dan-Dwyn. From Satelite Base: Suharr to Chattar. Local Agent has idle shipping resources. Please advise if mass migration is required. The local system has no habitable colonies. Please apply for the creation of a new planet. The local Administrative area is able to provide verification and also the documents required for the creation of a new planet. If needed, please use the dedicated channel. Report Over."

"Unencrypted Report – Local Galaxy Network. Starting Point: Saint Sur IV. Non-specific Broadcast. Report Over."

"Unencrypted Report – Local Galaxy Network. Starting Point: Suharr Satelite Base. Direct broadcast towards Saint Sur IV. Did you forget the body of the report? Report Over."

"Unencrypted Report – Local Galaxy Network. Starting Point: Saint Sur IV. Non-specific Broadcast. That was my cat. Report Over."

A flood of messages like these poured through the activity window as Hao Ren turned on the MDT. The volume of messages really did wonders in pulling Hao Ren out of his myopic world view. Even though the messages were shortened bulletins, they still smacked Hao Ren right in the face. They showed the true scale of hustle and bustle that occurred throughout the entire universe.

It was only days ago when they appeared before him and Hao Ren's surprise was simply natural.

"I don't even understand smack...but, it does feel awesome." Hao Ren muttered as he swiped through the messages in the channel. He did not know how he could interject. Frankly speaking, at his level, he did not even need to go to the upper channels. Just being able to access it at all gave him a sense of accomplishment. "I may not be able to chat but, I still have a presence in this channel."

"Looks awesome right?"

"Yeah."

"Wanna join in?"

"Yeah."

"But you're not even sure if what you did is worth mentioning, right?"

"Er...eh? Are you done?"

Hao Ren slowly realized that the voice belonged yo Raven 12345. He quickly turned off the MDT and stood up to greet her. Raven 12345 just waved him off. "Oh, don't be so tense. Just treat it like you're chatting through the instant messenger at work. I'm not too bothered about it. Sides, it's good if you expose yourself to these things, broaden your perspective. It would be negligent of you to still remain a country bumpkin while being an agent. Just make sure you stay grounded and don't let these toys fool you into believing that you'll be godlike in a day. Oh, the wolf girl is the first to wake. Go have a look at her."

Hao Ren turned to look at one of the chamber pods and saw the doors opening with Lily clumsily climbing out of it.

She had reverted to her humanoid form.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 79: Y'zaks Has a Tale

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lily, who finally regained her human form swayed about by the Reconfiguration Chamber. It was almost like she was sleep walking. She was testing her balance. Hao Ren was the same when he got out of the chamber pod. He feared that the alien technology had inadvertently screwed him over, giving him some odd new quirks; a typical response froma country bumpkin.

Hao Ren walked up to her and enquired, "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, pretty good!" Lily seemed to have returned to her usual jovial state and smiled brightly. She jumped on the same spot to prove that she had full control of her motor functions. "You see! I'm not shaking anymore. And I can hide my ears and tail again!"

By then, the other two pods had opened up. Vivian and Y'zaks were waking up from them. It looked exactly like one of the scenes from Biohazard. Hao Ren shook his head to rid himself of the nonsensical thought and greeted Y'zaks first. "Yo, do you understand what I'm saying?"

He was using Mandarin. It took a while for Y'zaks to muster a response because he realized that his language issue had been resolved. He gasped. "This thing sure is convenient! I finally don't have to struggle with a dictionary anymore."

"Oh Doggie, you're back to normal?" Vivian lithely leapt off the chamber pod. She still kept her distance from Lily at that moment. She only got close after confirming that the latter would not bite her. "Still remember what you almost did the other time? You went straight for my jugular!"

"I didn't really bite you did I..." Lily shifted awkwardly. "I was a patient then. Can't you just let it slide?"

Hao Ren quickly interjected to play the peacemaker. "Alright, stop being a powder keg. You just met again. Lily, you too,. When you were down, Vivian was worried you know. Sides, the food that you eat at home is prepared by Vivian most of the time. Can't you two just play nice for once?"

Raven 12345 glanced at the four who were busy greeting each other after getting out of the pods. She did not deign to interrupt the lot. She casually fiddled with the controls and as the pods were retracted back into the ground, a holographic image appeared in front of her. On it were pictures of Vivian, Lily and Y'zaks along with the reports of their scan. She stared at Vivian's report for a some time before moving on. Lily's report on the other hand, left her with a dumbfounded look. However, no one saw her reactions.

It took a long while for Hao Ren to calm the two walking powder kegs down. Not long after that, he caught Raven 12345 signaling them to leave. He took a glance at the hologram and asked, "Is this the report for their health check-up? …I don't understand a single thing and it doesn't look like a health report as well..."

"Of course you wouldn't understand. This is for experts," said Raven 12345 as she turned off the holographic projector. She then gestured Hao Ren to keep his distance. "Alright, lets go back to my office. I still have things to tell you guys."

"Eh, wait up, Lily and Vivian's portraits are labeled number '1' and Y'zaks is marked as number '2'. Does that mean…" Hao Ren quickened his pace to question Raven 12345 but that lunatic of was already out of earshot. He could only shake his head in resignation and followed.

As they entered Raven 12345's office, Lily was the center of attention.

"Your status is currently stable and you will be evolving in the next few days. I reckon that the process will take about two to three hours. You'll be conscious during the process but you will not have control over your transformation, aura and special abilities. So, you'll need a place without any inhabitants nearby. Raven 12345 explained with a disclaimer. "Provided that I did't press the wrong button or misread the manual."

Hao Ren instinctively ignored Raven 12345's last sentence. He quickly went for the most pertinent question on everyone's mind. "When will that be?"

"Theoretically it should be during a full moon." Raven 12345 appeared unsure. "You know, like in the story books where werewolves transform under a full moon? And this lass here is affected by moonlight... so a full moon it is."

Vivian nudged Hao Ren in the arm and whispered, "...Is she reliable?"

"Nope... but we don't have anyone else." Hao Ren responded with a resigned look.

"I can hear you the both of you, you know... Don't think just because you're whispering that what you say can escape my ears... Forget about it, you're not the first to say that anyway. Hao Ren, I suggest that you pay The Plane of Dreams a visit again. The plane has been active as of late. May be somewhat easier to communicate. Just stick to what I thought you, it's guaranteed safe."

Hao Ren filtered out the last two words and nodded in ascent to her suggestion.

They had concluded their business there and figured that the goddess who ate cup noodles would not be preparing dinner for them. Hence, they left the place right after they reconfirmed the details of Lily's impending transformation. For once, Raven 12345 played nice and sent them off.

Lily and Vivian were the first ones to step into the teleportation gateway. As Hao Ren and Y'zaks prepared to leave, Raven 12345 suddenly popped a question. "So, you plan to live out your days like this? You're sure about not going back at all?"

"There's no need for that. Y'zaks turned around and gave his signature, scary smile. His voice however, was earnest. "I've tried and failed. It can only mean that my methods were ineffective. I'll let them choose their own path. Time will tell anyway.

Hao Ren knew that it was wrong to eavesdrop on private matters but, he was curious to know about the demon's past. He could not help but ask, "Say... what's Y'zaks' story anyway? He seems to have people after his head."

"Him? I guess you could call it a failed career." Raven 12345 shrugged. "He was a big boss back in his own world, with money and influence. However, his methods of doing business differed from the rest. As he got a foothold in the market, others pretty much ganged up on him. He pretty much lost everything including his life to his rivals. He was getting beaten to a pulp when an administration observer passed by. I think this left a black mark on him, a BIIIGGG one."

Hao Ren was lost for words.

"Sorry, you know how I am." Raven 12345 smacked herself on the head. "Just leave it at that."

Y'zaks did not speak or prevent Raven 12345 from telling his story. He only protested slightly at the end. "The part where I got beaten to a pulp could've been left out..."

"Oh right, you were actually strung up and beaten."

Y'zaks was speechless.

Hao Ren could not bare to listen anymore and indicated that he understood as much as he needed to about the demon's past. Both of them then leapt into the gateway.

As Raven 12345 gazed upon the closing gateway, she was deep in thought. Finally, she muttered to herself, "Can we really rely on this bunch of ragtags?"

Of course, the group could not have heard what the goddess thought of them. They were on the sole, rickety bus back to the Southern Suburbs.

The first thing they were going to do upon arriving was to clean the floor.

Y'zaks had used two packets of soy sauce to make a roughly three-meter wide teleportation circle. The smell was overwhelming to say the least. A good scrub was in order. This was something you would not see often: a group of protagonists scrubbing the floor upon reaching home...

After they finished cleaning up, Lily's stomach growled in hunger. Her 'consultation' with Raven 12345 had already taken up a good half of the day and the goddess did not even offer them water. It was already late noon and Hao Ren would have doubted the treatment if Lily was still not hungry by then.

Seeing that the wolf pup had recovered and returned to her usual lifestyle of eating, sleeping and playing, Hao Ren could finally relax.

The rest of the day went by with nothing out of the ordinary. Soon., night arrived and it was time to pay The Plane of Dreams a visit.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 80: Into the Dream Again

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

It was getting late and Hao Ren was making the final preparations for his journey to The Plane of Dreams.

Well, to be honest... it did not really need any preparation! Hao Ren would enter The Plane of Dreams by lying on the bed and falling asleep. Any other preparation outside the dream was not going to help inside the dream!

Lily had been quite exhausted from the past two days. She needed to be well-prepared for her evolution during the full moon in the next few days. As such, she went to bed before nine o'clock that night. Vivian and Y'zaks were in the living room prepping for Hao Ren. Vivian had extracted a pot of medicinal herbs for Hao Ren to boost his energy. She supervised Hao Ren as he drank two big bowls of medication. She then looked at him with a concerned face and asked, "How is it? Do you feel better?"

Hao Ren smacked his lips; the strange taste of medicinal herbs numbed his tongue. However, when he looked at Vivian's concerned expression, he felt bad saying no. He just nodded and said, "Well, it works. Now I feel quite energetic like I just woke up…"

"One more then!" Vivian was very happy when Hao Ren said so. She grabbed the bowl from Hao Ren and filled it with black, greasy gruel. "I tell you, no one knows about herbs in medicine these days. Not even veteran doctors. This prescription was created by Li Shizhen back when he passed by a small village. It helps to refresh and calm your mind. Entering The Plane of Dreams is actually a nightmare. As long as you keep your mind strong and clear, then there's nothing to worry about."

Hao Ren hurriedly refused the offer and let her take the bowl away. "That's enough. If I keep drinking, I'm not going to be able to sleep anymore. Don't be so nervous, all right? I'm just taking a nap…"

"How can we not be nervous!" Vivian put the m

edication on the table and said, "I've heard about The Plane of Dreams. That place is not just an ordinary dream world. Many people have actually died in it. Raven 12345 just promised that you wouldn't die in it because half-dead is not considered dead!"

Even Vivian said so thus, one could imagine the wide spread of Raven 12345's bad character.

"If only my blood magic works for you." Vivian suddenly sighed. "Lots of the spells within the Blood Clan are devoted to the mind, which is definitely better than letting you drink this medication. Why doesn't the blood magic work on you?"

Even Raven 12345 could not explain it, let alone Hao Ren. He just gave her a halfhearted smile. Y'zaks took the opportunity to ask, "Or maybe I could try creating a protection for you using our magic?"

Hao Ren waved his hands and said, "Don't bother. My body is immune to magic. I can't even use the buff given by my teammates. This unfortunate physique…"

"How will you know if you don't try it?" Y'zaks was stubborn. Whatever that was on his mind, he had to give it a try. He did not care what Hao Ren said. Right away, he wrote a dark green rune in the air and patted Hao Ren on the back. "… Is it working?" he asked.

Hao Ren was totally stunned. When he realized that the big demon's magic had worked in an instant, his mind was refreshed. His consciousness of his surroundings was elevated to a state he had never experienced before. He did not know what mental force it was. However, he was sure that the rune on his body had absolutely stimulated his mental strength!

"Aren't I immune to magic…" Hao Ren was particularly puzzled by his momentary elevation of mind. However, what was even more surprising was his susceptibility to Y'zaks's runes. A few seconds later, he remembered what Raven 12345 said. "Partial immunization… I remember the psycho telling me that I was only immune to certain kinds of magic!"

"So you're not immune to demonic power?" Vivian looked at Hao Ren with surprise. Suddenly, she frowned and said, "Then you better be careful next time. Don't think you are really immune to all kinds magic anymore. Don't let other demons hurt you. Not every demon is as friendly as this big guy."

Hao Ren nodded. After which he stood up and said, "This is it. I feel like I'm in a really good state. I'm going to sleep now. Vivian, you sleep late at night, right? Please help me to keep guard around here. Raven 12345 said that when I'm connecting to The Plane of Dreams, something strange may occur. Help me observe and record any unusual scenarios. I'll report to Raven 12345 later."

Vivian promised Hao Ren repeatedly. Y'zaks also scratched his bald head. He then laughed and said, "Let me help you as well. I'm quite interested in The Plane of Dreams in your world. It's a pity that I can't get in. I can only watch from the side."

Hao Ren thought finally, he was a big shot. He had a vampire and demon as his bodyguards when he walked back to his room. How powerful did one have to be in order to have such privilege? Yet, when he reached the door looking all manly, something just did not feel right. He then turned round, not really sure if he wanted laugh or cry at what he saw. "I'm just going to sleep. Do you the two of you have to look so solemn…"

"Oh!" Vivian and Y'zaks replied. They silently bowed their heads with a solemn expression. Suddenly, the atmosphere of the living room felt like a funeral home.

Hao Ren was left speechless.

Hao Ren knew there was no way to communicate with the two of them. He could only shake his head and walk into the room. He lay in bed and did as Raven 12345 said. He adjusted his mindset and quietly underwent self hypnosis. He put the Mobile Data Terminal next to him and waited silently to enter The Plane of Dreams.

Half an hour later, the door opened. Hao Ren walked out in his pyjamas, swinging his arms. Vivian and Y'zaks looked at him in surprised and asked, "Landlord, it's over?!"

Hao Ren scratched his face awkwardly and said, "…I need to go to the bathroom. The two bowls of soup are too powerful."

Vivian had nothing to say.

After using the bathroom, Hao Ren went back to his bedroom and continued to stay in bed. Half an hour later, he finally realized something was really not right. Vivian's medicinal diet and Y'zaks' magic had indeed fortified his mental strength. However, these two things had one common effect… Both of them helped to refresh his brain!

What rotten luck! He was having insomnia!

"I should've known that they couldn't be trusted. I shouldn't have let them help me!" Hao Ren quickly got up but in the end, he lay down again. "What's the use of running out now? Should I let Vivian hit and stun me? Or let Y'zaks hypnotize me with magic? Doesn't matter whether they work or not, no one can enter The Plane of Dreams by force…" he thought.

Hao Ren was tossing and turning in bed. He could not fall asleep. In the end, he had no choice but to touch the MDT beside his pillow and said, "Connect Raven 12345."

It is impossible to dial the phone number, 00000012345 and reach the psychopath using regular mobile phones. The line could only be connected via internal devices like the MDT. Luckily, Raven 12345 was on duty this time and she did not seem to rest at night. Soon, her jarring voice rang in Hao Ren's mind. "Yo, Hao Ren. You've already strolled around The Plane of Dreams? So fast?"

"Not yet. I encountered some problems and I can't go in now…"

Raven 12345 was surprised and asked, "Can't get in? Haven't I already told you how to adjust your mind and self-talk? The Mobile Data Terminal can also guide you."

"No. That's not the problem. I have insomnia."

"… The heck?! Can you be a little more reliable?" said Raven 12345.

Hao Ren really did not want to be judged by a psychopath. However, in reality he could only fake a smile and explain what had just happened. Raven 12345 was speechless after hearing Hao Ren's explanation. Finally, she said, "What kind of people are you surrounded by… What kind of people have I found…"

"So ..."

"Don't worry, I'll find a way," Raven 12345 said with great vehemence. Hao Ren's spirit was immediately lifted. He thought she was finally using the power of a goddess to do something right. Unfortunately, she continued to say, "Let me sing you a lullaby…"

Hao Ren could not recollect the events after that. He could only remember that everything went black the moment Raven 12345 started singing.

When he opened his eyes again, all he could see was a prairie.

There was a small moon and a big moon hanging in the sky. A cool breeze was blowing in the prairie under the sky while a blanket of brilliant yet unfamiliar stars covered the sky. The scenery was familiar. Hao Ren realized that he had successfully entered The Plane of Dreams. And… he appeared at the same place as last time.

A distant howl of wolves came out of nowhere.

"Damn it!" Hao Ren was aghast. "Damn, is the dream also divided into part one and part two?! Does it continue from where it last left off?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 81: Here We Go Again

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Fortunately, the nightmare was not a series. It did not divide into part one and part two. Hao Ren just happened to appear at the same place where he left the last time. The wolf pack that attacked him previously was not there anymore. This unfortunate kid did not have to go through the same unfortunate incident where he was attacked by a pack of wolves when he entered the dream last time.

However, the howling of the wolves still came from all directions. Although the wolves did not sound like they were nearby, it was enough to frighten the green hand. Hao Ren was deeply aware that he was in a land without any rule of law. The animal protection organization and rangers were in another world. Therefore, neither the wolf nor Hao Ren were protected here. And frankly speaking, that was the wolf's territory while he was an outsider.

As the only outsider on the prairie where wolves were entrenched, Hao Ren tightened his clothes around him to ward off the chill. The chill crept from his body to his heart. He walked forward, wondering whether his brain had degenerated because he spent too much time with Lily. Why did he put on his pajamas just now?

Based on the previous experience, one's physical condition in The Plane of Dreams was exactly the same as in the reality. It included the clothes on the body and physical state of fitness. However, Hao Ren had forgotten about it. Vivian, Y'zaks and Hao Ren messed up preparations in the living room. As a result, he almost had insomnia and was unable to get into the dream plane. To add, he was wearing pyjamas!

Hao Ren walked across the prairie with uneven footsteps. He looked at his feet and sighed. "Damn, I actually forgot to wear shoes… The psycho will most probably laugh at me if she finds out."

A voice suddenly echoed from the side. "She'll have a good laugh at you and then post it on the message board of the Local Universe Channel. But, I can't tell how many likes she'll get in the end. She is a well-known, spamming monster in the universe. She has to repeatedly post oracles for her followers because nobody reads her posts."

Hao Ren was startled by the sudden sound. He looked around carefully and found a small piece of metal, the size of a hand. It was floating beside him and had been silently following him. He was surprised and asked, "Terminal?! What are you doing here?"

"Why can't I come in?" The MDT said lazily. "Didn't you hear what Raven 12345 said? I need to guide you when you can't get into The Plane of Dreams. If I can guide you into the dream, why can't I come in then?"

"But don't you need to dream to come in here…" Hao Ren looked at the superb, little device in astonishment and asked, "Have AIs become so advanced to the extent that they can even dream?"

"Dreaming is a boring and inefficient way to maintain the system. I don't need it," the MDT replied loftily. "Who told you one had dream in order to enter The Plane of Dreams? It's just you who has to dream to come in here. When your control over your mental power reaches a certain level, you will have access to The Plane of Dreams. However, it's still too early for you to think about it."

Hao Ren knew that this device would find a way to quarrel with him whenever it started talking. So, the smartest way to deal with it was to ignore it. He glanced at the vast prairie and felt it was good to have a companion to talk with.He thought perhaps the device would play an unexpected role. "Can you conjure up a set of clothes?" he asked tentatively.

The MDT paused and asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"Isn't this a virtual world? Aren't you a supercomputer? In science fiction movies, people in the virtual world use data to organize a―"

Before Hao Ren could finish his sentence, the MDT rudely interrupted. "Who gave you such false insight? The Plane of Dreams is a virtual world? Then why can you take something out of here and why do people actually die in this place?"

Hao Ren opened his mouth but could not find the right word to say. He admitted that he had carelessly made assumptions about this unknown field again. In fact, Raven 12345 had briefed him on the "authenticity" of The Plane of Dreams before. Nevertheless, Hao Ren just had a very limited understanding of it at the time. He never fully understood the problem. Now... well, he still did not really understand it but he had learned to ignore it.

"I don't even have shoes…" Hao Ren walked along and sighed. "I can't keep on walking without shoes. Is there anything that can act as replacement?"

"There is," the MDT said calmly. Just as Hao Ren's spirit was lifted, the MDT slowly uttered the latter part of its sentence, "...tenacious spirit."

"…LOL"

A man and a device (isn't this combination strange?) were walking under the dim light of night. Hao Ren did not want to stop randomly. Even if his physical state was not good at that moment, he decided to go on. After all, the purpose of entering The Plane of Dreams was to temper himself. If he just stayed there until he woke up naturally, the trip would have been meaningless. Anyway, he would force his way out (thanks to the little pill Raven 12345 gave him) whenever he was caught in a deadly threat. Besides, he was not worried about really dying in that place. He was just curious about what kind of place it was.

Hao Ren set his sights far ahead. The last time he left, he saw something like a house in the distance. This time, it was still there. This meant it was not an illusion. Therefore, he aimed for that 'house'.

A man and a device (isn't this combination strange?) traveled under the dim light of night silently. When Hao Ren was feeling a little bored, the MDT suddenly spoke, "I need to remind you of three things."

"Go ahead," replied Hao Ren.

"First, totally abandon the idea that this place is a 'virtual space'. Although The Plane of Dreams isn't the real world, it has great influence on the real world. If you die here, it also means you die in the real world. Also, you can take things out of here. But you have to figure out the specific mechanism of 'taking out' by yourself. Of course, you should've known."

"Second, whatever you see here, don't be surprised. Just accept it. Wait until you return to the real world and you can take your time to analyze the situation. Your intense confusion here will weaken your connection with The Plane of Dreams rapidly. It's not a good thing to finish the journey ahead of time."

"Third, don't you think it's stupid to let your Mobile Data Terminal float beside you? I've seen people walking their cats and dogs but never a PDA! Keep me in your pocket now, do you hear me!?"

Hao Ren was once again speechless.

"Hey, wait! Don't go! I'm talking to you. Do you hear me! Hurry up and put me in your pocket. I'm a mobile device but I'm not a self-moving device. Do you know what a mobile device means… Don't go! At least, tie me to a rope and drag me along. The floating function is for emergency use only, not for casual use…"

Hao Ren totally ignored the MDT which was a little neurotic like Raven 12345. He just kept his head down and continued walking. The annoying noise from the MDT went on for half an hour in his ear. Hao Ren found that the physical strengthening of his body was highly effective. He did not even gasp for breath after walking for so long in the wilderness without shoes. Also, the soles of his feet were much brawnier than usual. After walking for a long time, the cottages in the distance looked closer. However, just before he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, something frightening happened.

He clearly heard a rustling sound coming from some nearby bushes and then he smelled a faint odour of blood in the air. It was the smell of the beasts.

They were wolves and they were unique, incredibly gigantic black wolves which only existed in The Plane of Dreams!

The wolves had not come near yet but they had obviously smelled their prey. The beasts were carefully laying siege to Hao Ren and preparing to make him a hearty meal with their usual ambushing tactics. However this time, Hao Ren was aware of the danger in advanced. The last time he was aware of the wolves, he was already completely surrounded by them and there were faint gazes within the bushes. This time, he already sensed it when the wolves just started to make their move.

Hao Ren deeply admired the Bioenhancement and Reconfiguration Chamber. He silently wondered what the use of this little progress was. He was already surrounded by the wolves when he reacted!

"I recommend you don't run." The MDT's voice appeared in Hao Ren's mind. The device also knew that they needed to hide immediately. "You can't outrun the wolves. You can only get rid of part of the siege with your current level of bio-enhancement but you can't rush out of it."

"Fighting head-on?" Hao Ren tried to calm his heartbeat. He knew that the wolves did not realize that he already knew they were approaching. "I'm not sure."

"Were you confident when hundreds of armored wraiths ran after you in the palace?" mumbled the MDT. "Don't worry. I will pull you out when you start dying. Now... Get ready!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 82: It Can Speak!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Get ready?" Hao Ren could not keep his feet still when the MDT told him to get ready to fight. "Ready for what? Do I really have to fight with the wolves?"

Hao Ren looked at what he was wearing. He was unarmed. He was wearing pyjamas and no shoes! He roughly remembered that every black wolf on the prairie was taller and bigger than him! The MDT had actually told him confidently to "get ready" under such circumstances. He had the sudden urge to tie the piece of junk to a rope and turn it into a bolas. It was the only armed method he could think of in his position.

The MDT pretended to be unaware of the dissatisfaction in Hao Ren's tone. It swung into Hao Ren's pocket and inexplicably said, "You've got your pay but, how much you can take out this time depends on you."

As Hao Ren was about to ask the MDT what it meant, an audible rustle suddenly came from the nearby bushes. The wolves had seemingly noticed that they had alerted their "prey" and quickly shrank the blockade.

Like the MDT mentioned, it was not realistic to try getting out of the siege by force. Hao Ren could only stay focused and prepared to face his first challenge in The Plane of Dreams.

He recalled the scene in which he faced hundreds of armored wraiths in the crypt. Honestly, there was little reference value in that battle. He was accompanied by two super women with strong combat powers. Also, the armored wraiths just woke up so they were slow and clumsy. They had no advantage other than their tenacious vitality. Therefore, it was easy to handle the armored wraith. All he did was calm down and then kick them hard. However, dealing with the wolves in The Otherworld was a whole different story. Perhaps these wolves were "lower" than the armored wraiths in Vivian's eyes. However, as a man with little combat experience, the threat of predators was obviously higher.

Hao Ren suddenly found it a little ridiculous. He ran into The Plane of Dreams without a second thought and sought trouble for himself just to improve his strength. Did it really make sense?

A light in the darkness interrupted his thoughts. The wolves were getting closer. The smell of wolves wafted through the air and dark shadows appeared in sight. The wolves smelled so close he could touch them. Hao Ren did not know what to do should the beasts leap at him. Nonetheless, he guessed that the pack would probably send one or two first to test the water. That was how Animal World portrayed the wolves' behavior. He did not know how big the difference was between wolves in The Plane of Dreams and wolves in the real world...

The confrontation between them did not last long. After the wolves found that the ambush had failed, one of them could not restrain itself any longer and leapt at Hao Ren.

Hao Ren saw a huge shadow enlarging rapidly in front of him. He was extremely focused at that moment. His muscles were so tight, they almost burst open. All of a sudden, he dodged. Before he dodged, he fantasized that he would punch the black wolf right in the chest and got his first shot perfectly. But in fact, he did not have the courage to do it. When facing the danger of a fast attack, dodging was a man's first instinct.

At least, he dodged well. The strange, giant black wolf was distinctly more fierce and agile than any wolf on earth yet, Hao Ren was still able to dodge it. While he dodged the attack, Hao Ren instinctively brandished his right hand. He vaguely felt like he had hit something but he was not sure how powerful the punch was.

The black wolf turned quickly after falling to the ground. It kept a certain distance and confronted Hao Ren. Moonlight scattered across the prairie; Hao Ren's enhanced vision allowed him to see the beast's looks vividly.

They were roughly the same as the wolves on earth, but they were two times larger than normal wolves and they were all black. There were many plate-like, black protuberances on their heads and waists which seemed to be some kind of keratose. This was simply not the same species as the wolves on earth.

There was no disturbance among the surrounding wolves. They just slightly adjusted their formation and kept the encirclement tighter. Hao Ren saw hostility in countless pairs of eyes. He was stunned. These stares were real. The wolves around him were observing the current situation with a keen look.

The first black wolf growled at Hao Ren threateningly and sounded irritated. One of the protrusions on its waist was broken. It seemed that Hao Ren had hit it at random.

The beast pounced on Hao Ren again in the blink of an eye.

However, Hao Ren was in a much better state at the moment. He was surprised to find that his reflexes could keep up with the strange wolf's extreme hits and this boosted his confidence. After making sure that the wolves around him did not intend to join the fight, he felt more reassured. Each time the wolf pounced on him, he repeated his actions. He fixed his eyes on the wolf and observed its movements. Then he dodged and punched it.

During the fight, he found that he could see every inch of the wolf's hair even at such a fast pace. In the moment of of his punch, he could even slightly adjust the angle of his attack. This was the kind of feeling he could not experience when he was dealing with the sluggish, armored wraiths using brute force in the crypt.

Hao Ren punched the strange wolf in its belly. He did his best to not just hit the keratose armor. Therefore, the second punch was obviously much more powerful. The wolf whimpered, failed to grab Hao Ren's shirt and fell. However, Hao Ren soon felt a searing pain on his face. When he touched his face, he found that his hands were full of blood.

He could have fallen to the ground because it meant that his head was almost bitten off by the wolf earlier on. But he had no time to quiver in fear. The wolf turned and rushed at him again as soon as it fell. At this point, Hao Ren reacted slower than the wolf. He watched the wolf's mouth as it approached him but his body could not keep up with his mind. He could only watch the jaws bite his arm.

"Damn…" Hao Ren spontaneously shouted. However, before he could recall what had just happened, he realized something. "Eh, why doesn't it hurt?"

The wolf hung heavily on his arm and it was really weighing down on him. Yet, when Hao Ren looked carefully, he found his arm covered with a thin layer of translucent membrane. The light membrane was thin but indestructible. The wolf lost lots of its fangs when it bit on the membrane.

The wolf reacted slowly. After chewing his hand for a few seconds, it realized something was not right. The wolf howled in pain and quickly retreated. It ran around in circles a few meters away with a mouthful of blood.

Hao Ren was still confused. The MDT explained, "The two punches were quite good. You barely passed the mentality adjustment. This shows that you can keep up the fighting mentality in the case of ineffective assistive tools. The conditions are judged to be fulfilled. As the agent, your basic abilities have reached the target. Now, you get a Rigid Shield. Though it's not as good as the Psionic Shield, it has no radiation and it's good enough for you."

Hao Ren was ecstatic to hear it. Finally Raven 12345 did not cheat him this time!

"But I have to warn you, the Rigid Shield is limited in capacity. The "gadget" that you use to activate the shield in your body is symbiotic with your body. It's just for protecting the agent to keep him alive. Don't think of it as invincible. Of course, it's more than enough to deal with these wolves."

"That's good enough!" Hao Ren waved excitedly. When he found that he finally had something to call a "skill", he could not wait to try it. So, he pounced on the other wolf closest to him.

The wolves finally stopped watching. They were in an uproar. Four wolves pounced on Hao Ren at the same time from two different directions. He did not dodge and let them bite him as he was protected by the shield. After the wolf lost some of its teeth it finally attacked Hao Ren's body. The brute force and agility of the wolf were real. Two of them were fighting one on one.

The battle was massive and astonishing. In fact, it was not so chaotic but it would appear to be more powerful this way. Anyway, Hao Ren felt the way he fought was quite intense, and neglected the MDT when it said, "You're fighting like an animal". In the end, a reckless man was afraid of a rude man while a rude man was afraid of a fearless man. Hao Ren was as strong as the black wolves and was protected by the shield. After a while the wolf was beaten. The other wolves were also hesitant to come forward after realizing that this weirdo could not be hurt. But the wolf was still fierce and tough. The wounded giant wolf still straightened its neck and roared, "Do you dare to spare my life?"

How could Hao Ren possibly let go. "No way! Who attacked me first just now?"

"I was just watching. The first one to attack you is another one!" The wolf roared, looked around and yelled, "Don't just watching you cowards, come and help me!"

"Doesn't matter how many of you, I'm going to grab just you… the heck you can talk?!"

"The heck you react so slowly?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 83: The Black Alpha Wolf

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

It was midnight on The Plane of Dreams. Standing on the steppe under the cool night breeze, Hao Ren and the giant black wolf were gazing at each other; the wolf was as tall as a human being. Both were equally shocked. Actually, it was more like an aftershock.

A moment ago, what was thought to be a wild, black wolf had started talking. Plus it's grammar and syntax were good. It spoke with a slight Beijing accent—this last inference was made possible thanks to the intelligent translation system, of course. Hao Ren was dead set that as strange as The Plane of Dreams was, there could not possibly be a black wolf capable of speaking like a Beijinger. One thing for sure he thought, was when the wolf said, "tuo tuo", (a slang in Northern China which means 'yabsolutely') it was not a misinterpretation by the translation system. It was not the roar of a beast but authentic human language. This had been tried and tested true when the system failed to translate 'woof'― a sound Lily made earlier. It was only capable of recognizing highly-structured sounds.

Hao Ren was in his pyjamas as he sat on the grass with his legs crossed. He was still covered in a thin layer of glimmer. He did not dare to remove his Steel Membrane Shield because a pack of wolves still lurked around with their glaring eyes. He glanced at the big black wolf which was directly opposite him before he curiously asked, "You speak, don't you? Wolves around here can talk?"

"That depends on the wolf pack." The big black wolf eyed Hao Ren's translucent shield cautiously; the blow on its head from Hao Ren's fist covered in translucent shield felt like being hit by a steel rod. It had barely recovered from the wooziness but obliged to Hao Ren's questioning. "In some parts of the steppe, wolves with lamellar bones like us talk—we're the top breed. Unlike those retarded ones who can only howl at the moon, we're a lot more intelligent! Where are you from? You don't even know wolves could talk? We're the most well-known pack in the steppe!"

Like a lost ball in high weeds, Hao Ren did not have a single idea about The Plane of Dreams. He had to put his faith in the MDT and Raven 12345's suggestion—to act naturally and refrain from being overly surprised. Judging from the way the black wolf talked, Hao Ren figured it was a highly intelligent creature, probably as intelligent as a human. Abandoning his cocky manner, he tried to show sincerity by nodding his head. "It's kind of hard to tell where I come from. I'm just a passerby. You could just treat me like a traveler."

"Traveler? In this steppe?" The black wolf looked at Hao Ren with its suspicious eyes before it wondered. "Few humans have come. This place isn't attractive to them. You can't grow food here. There's no specialty, no minerals, nothing. There used to be a few nomads here but they left recently; there are too many wolves here for them to raise livestock."

The black wolf crept closer under Hao Ren's watchful eyes and started to sniff him out from head to toe. "You don't smell like a traveler. Travelers hardly take a bath and they stink like poop. Anyway, it's none of our business, we're just wolves."

Wiping the cold sweat off his forehead, Hao Ren wondered where on earth were wolves as intelligent as this?

"Then, why did you attack me?" Hao Ren asked awkwardly. He felt like a fool speaking to a group of wild beasts but he could not help it. These wolves spoke even better than humans!

"Why not?" The black wolf sounded as if it was more surprised. "We need meat. You aren't meaty enough but we don't eat much. You would be more than enough to feed the pups. And we had thought you were an easy prey—no hard clothes on, no weapon in hand. But, you beat them black and blue. I'm not very happy about that."

The wolf however had something most humans lacked—frankness. Still, being categorized as a dish on the menu left Hao Ren speechless. Yet, he could not blame them as far as the species was concerned. He let out a dry laugh. "Do you still want to eat meat now?"

"Forget about it." The black wolf shook its head. "You're unpalatable and even stiffer than those people in stiff cloths. Plus, I'm no match for you. It seems like a bad idea to pick a fight with humans. They tend to have many strange things dangling on their bodies. No, it's simply too dangerous."

At that juncture, a lesser black wolf of smaller build chimed in, "Sir, didn't you say you wanted to eat this guy?"

Hao Ren marveled—how he had struck the jackpot in picking the alpha out of the wolf pack.

"This is all your fault." The alpha wolf roared at the lesser one. "If it weren't for you crying out for food every night, I wouldn't have had my tooth smashed!

"You just lost one, sir! Look at the poor kids over there. They lost almost all of their teeth!" The lesser one pointed with its nose at a few wolves outside the perimeter. These were the hapless ones Hao Ren had beaten the hell out of. They scrambled in droves to attack him and bit his Steel Membrane Shield earlier on. Those who were fortunate enough had only bicuspids left. Each of their mouths looked very much like the mouth of a newborn baby.

These wolves were still bleeding in their mouths. They were licking and comforting each other pitifully.

The alpha wolf sighed. "What a bad day! Human, can we leave now?"

Hao Ren nodded his head, signaling his consent. Just when the pack of wolves were about to leave in droves, a thought flashed across his mind and he called out, "Wait a second, there's something else!"

The alpha wolf stalled. It turned around, straightened its head and scowled at Hao Ren. "Don't go too far! I too have my own pride to think about! You suffered no losses, what more do you want from me?"

Hao Ren almost choked up: what pride the alpha wolf had mustered when it was still begging for its life just a moment ago? However. he just shrugged it off by shaking his head. He then pointed towards the direction of the horizon. "I'm going in that direction. Could you give me a lift?"

The silhouette of a few supposedly man-made buildings were seen far on the horizon. Hao Ren thought getting there on foot was not the brightest idea as it would be sunrise before he could reach the place. Time was a scarce commodity in The Plane of Dreams.

"Go there?" The alpha wolf glanced at the horizon by raising its head. "Haven't I told you, the nomads are gone? What's left are just some mud shacks."

Apparently, it was the nomadic settlement. Hao Ren nodded. "Anyway, I'm going to check it out."

His interest was in the trail of human activity, not the nomads themselves. He was highly curious about The Plane of Dreams.

The alpha wolf mumbled before it turned around and said, "Ride on my back. I'll get you there."

For a while, Hao Ren was indeed surprised. He never thought the alpha wolf would voluntarily give him a ride. He did not expect it. Hao Ren babbled as he got on the back of the alpha wolf, "Whoa, you're such a gentleman, wolf. Didn't you say for the sake of your pride and bla-bla-bla, you would never allow yourself to be ridden?"

"Pride? What's it for?" The alpha wolf was puzzled. "I just can't fathom it— human likes to harp on the abstract even though it doesn't fill your stomach. The reason we don't like being ridden is simply because it's too cumbersome. It has absolutely nothing to do with so-called 'pride'... Umm, I'd appreciate if you could move your butt a couple of inches because you're sitting on my waist. You'll only slow me down my that way."

Hao Ren perspired in embarrassment as he adjusted his sitting position: human's perception of the world was askew. Be it in novels, movies or real life, people always judged others by their own yardsticks—wolves hated being ridden because of self-pride was one case. The same misguided perception was invariably ascribed to wild horses, unicorns, etc.—which perhaps was utter nonsense.

The truth was, they disliked being ridden as it was cumbersome and no one loves to carry useless weight. Speaking of which, even Lily would only carry luggage, which Vivian had put on her back when she was sleepwalking.

Hao Ren was tempted to think, if one could talk with a unicorn, it might allow itself to be ridden in exchange for two cookies. For animals, 'pride' was simply not part of their dictionary.

"Ready?" The alpha wolf asked before it set off, interrupting Hao Ren's train of thought. "Sit tight!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 84: The Abandoned Houses

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

A wondrous life with a wondrous journey. Hao Ren felt his encounters with all kinds of wonders from the real world to The Plane of Dreams, had never followed a normal narrative.

He was riding a giant black wolf, which was as tall as a human, racing across the mysterious grassland. They were under the night sky of two brightly lit moons and an unfamiliar, beautiful galaxy, heading towards a horizon not of Earth. The night breeze blew into his face just as fast as he moved and the open landscape, which was covered in exotic vegetation blurred below him. Sandwiched between the strange sky and the exotic landscape, was a traveler from another world, riding a wolf in style. He had never felt so awesome until that very moment.

It would have be even more awesome if he was not in his pyjamas...

The night wind was freezing cold. Hao Ren would have been frozen to death if not for his enhanced body. He was not Superman but the low temperature was not a big deal. He grabbed his pyjamas close to his skin with one hand and held onto the tough guard hair on the back of the wolf with another. He then called aloud, "How big is the steppe?"

"It's big, very big!" The voice of the alpha wolf was equally loud and sonorous. "I don't how humans measure distance but the pack and I once ran across it for seven days and seven nights. Yet, we did not reach the edge! I heard there are humans beyond the steppe but they hardly come here."

"This world... I mean, what have you learned about the human world?" The mention of 'human world' struck a chord with Hao Ren. The idea that human civilization existed on The Plane of Dreams was incredible. He was eager to find out what these humans were like. "Have you ever been there? Do you know the way?"

"Nope, it's too dangerous to go there." The alpha wolf slowed down, presumably to ease conversation. "Humans are cunning. They kill and eat everything. Even an earthworm is not spared. Going there is suicide. Speaking of which, why are you asking about that? Aren't you a human yourself?"

"Well, I came from the other side," Hao Ren made a story up. "The world's a big place!"

The alpha wolf did not utter a word. It seemed like it had taken Hao Ren's word as it was. on the other hand, Han Ren was emotional: as intelligent as these beasts were, they lacked the craftiness of humans. Conspiracy and deception had never crossed the alpha's mind. It was not cautious enough of Hao Ren, the one who walked on two legs; where he came from; and where he was going to sort out things. If he had to describe it, 'a hungry belly has no ears, questions asked are meant to be forgotten' would be an apt description.

These strange beasts were forthright and spontaneous; after recognizing the fact that they were no match for Hao Ren and he was not going to be their dinner, they quickly buried the hatchet. They even allowed themselves to be ridden. Though the alpha wolf did not look particularly pleased and was possibly fearful of Hao Ren's iron fist, it was pragmatic—'stay clear of trouble' and 'if you can't beat them, join them' were its tenets.

While it sounded cowardly, none was more disgraceful than Lily, the werewolf maiden. So, Hao Ren was cool with how the alpha was. He even felt that it was cute, in a sense.

As they were just a few minutes away from the houses, something crossed Hao Ren's mind. "Sometime back, I ran into a pack of wolves here. I wonder if they were your wolves?"

"You were here?" The alpha wolf was surprised. "I've never seen you. Alhough we live nearby, you're the only human we've ever seen for the last 35 days and nights."

The wolves had a vague concept of time. They had a rough idea of how humans kept track of time which was to break it down into years, months and so on. However, they felt it was a difficult concept to grasp. Hence, they resorted to the day-and-night method to keep track of time. Since there was no practice of agriculture or concept of history, as long as they could anticipate the coming of winter, their crude method of time-keeping was good enough for their needs.

"You guys have never seen me?" As the wolves were very forthright, Hao Ren believed that they would not lie to him. "So, there were others?"

"There are a few wolf packs going around. Their territories are bordering ours. Some borders are rather ambiguous so some kids may inevitably wander cross the line." The alpha wolf was displeased. "Those morons are incapable of talking, much less thinking. That's the reason they're weaker and only fit to be our vassal packs—albeit insubordinate."

The alpha wolf shook its head as it said, "Those morons would trespass and find food in our territory when they're hungry. Growling is the only means to communicate with them. It's weird that although we're both wolves yet, they're so stupid."

Hao Ren listened quietly as he kept everything he had heard to himself.

There were still many unsolved mysteries in The Plane of Dreams but at least for now, he knew the existence of two types of wolves—one that talked and was as intelligent as humans while the other was essentially a wild wolf—they were identical in appearance.

But why? Hao Ren found that it was not the result of normal evolution. Then again, this was The Plane of Dreams, a strange space, where things probably did not exist as per the normal sense of the world.

Furthermore, traces of human activities were found in the steppe and a large human world allegedly existed beyond the horizon (the alpha wolf called them as 'human packs'). How many more mysteries were out there?

As promised, the alpha wolf delivered Hao Ren to the man-made shacks.

"You've arrived. Now, I shall leave with my pack." Once Hao Ren got off its back, the alpha wolf stretched its body and said, "This was my first time carrying such a heavy load. I'd make you carry me the same distance if only I had defeated you."

"Thank you for the ride." Hao Ren rubbed his hair as he found the alpha wolf interesting. "I'll be hanging around here for a while. We may meet again. If you need anything, I'll be happy to help."

The alpha wolf was a real opportunist; it nodded and immediately pointed at the poor kids which were still bleeding in their mouths. "My men have lost their teeth. They won't be able to eat and will starve to death. But as the leader of the pack, I won't abandon them. Instead, I'll send a few wolves out to look for something which they can eat. Can you please help us on this?"

Hao Ren did not expect to witness it go straight to the point so quickly. His forehead broke out in sweat as he reached for the MDT. "Hey buddy. Fix their broken teeth, would you?"

"Sorry buddy, I am just a PDA, not Doraemon!"

"I know a veterinary..." Hao Ren turned to the alpha wolf as he wiped away the cold sweat from his forehead. "...who would be more than willing to attend to your problem. If only I could bring her in... I mean bring her over here. I'll make sure she fixes the broken teeth of your wolves."

"I'll take your word for it, human." The alpha wolf nodded. "But humans aren't known for keeping their word so, I have no high hopes for you. Goodbye, I hope we won't have to lock horns with each other the next time we meet."

The alpha and its pack left right after it finished its last sentence. They ran quickly and disappeared into the grassland.

"Open enemies are better than false friends. I think I've met one at last," Hao Ren mumbled to himself.

The MDT was surprised. "Whoa, I didn't know you could be so philosophical?"

Hao Ren yanked the MDT out and hung it from his pocket to dry in the wind. Ignoring its statement, he walked straight towards the little house.

It was the place where the nomads once lived but, it puzzled Hao Ren. As far as he knew, nomads did not usually build permanent structures. They followed the water as well as grass and only built tents. It seemed that the nomads in the plane had a different way of living. They had their unique ways of dealing with their day-to-day problems.

Just as Hao Ren placed his hand on the door, all of a sudden, a strong gust of wind blew throughout the steppe.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 85: The Waking Moment

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The little houses in the steppe were not what Hao Ren had imagined. However, they still had nomadic characteristics—the pillars were of solid wood and arranged in a circular layout, the walls were constructed from flexible straw mat and some unknown filler materials, the thatched roofs was secured down by placing heavy stones on top while their foundations were reinforced with baked clay; overall the whole structure of each house was primitive yet solid. The dozens of circular houses, which looked identical and measured approximately less than 10 meters in diameter, were scattered inside a fenced perimeter, forming a 'village'.

Hao Ren did not pay attention to the surrounding environment as he was too eager to get into the house to find out how the human civilization in The Plane of Dreams was like. He pushed the door of the nearest house open. Instead of swinging open, the rattan and straw door fell down inwards.

"It appears that the nomads have left for a long time..." Hao Ren glanced in astonishment at the rotten door frame. The door was attached by hinges fashioned from rope. The door hinges had rotten so much that they completely gave way when Hao Ren pushed against the door. Apparently, the wolves' perception of time was somewhat inaccurate.

"I hope this shaky structure will not give way all of a sudden," murmured Hao Ren as he entered the nomadic house. A dim light emanated from the MDT and allowed him to see in the pitch-dark interior.

As expected, the house was empty, which implied that the owner left the house in an orderly manner. The floor under Hao Ren's feet was unpaved. He also noticed some fabric lying at the corners of the house. It suggested that the floor was once carpeted. On each of the wooden pillars was a metal hook which could have served as a hanger for weapons or tools. The floor in the middle of the house was visibly lower than the floor around it. A pit with a burnt mark in its center could have been a stove or fire place.

Other than that, there was not much left.

Hao Ren was kind of disappointed. He did not find anything valuable—not even a small piece of sheepskin.

However, the fact that these tiny little houses existed was significant. They showed that: human civilization existed in The Planes of Dreams and they could have been highly civilized with developed technologies—metallurgy (the metal hooks on the wall), construction, and survival skills in a grassland or prairie full of roaming wolves. Despite Raven 12345's briefing that The Plane of Dreams was not just a strange world with beasts and monsters, witnessing everything with his own eyes was much more real and profound.

"Do you know anything about The Plane of Dreams?" asked Hao Ren as he looked at the MDT dangling from his pocket. "Please keep your light steady."

"I suggest you read the operation manual! You have been using the device wrongly! The device is a high-tech personal assistant, not a torchlight, not a meteor hammer and much less your pet!" Nevertheless, the MDT still responded to Hao Ren's question after lashing out at him. "There are some limited pre-loaded information. This is a specialized gadget for inspectors installed only with the necessary modules. The device will search the local universe channels for more information... Search completed. The features of The Plane of Dreams are: reality, size, linear development, self-consistent, capable of influencing the real world. Do you need further explanations?"

"That would be very much appreciated," said Hao Ren as he sauntered around the house looking for possibly valuable clues.

"Reality— The existence of The Plane of Dreams is real; it has an effective and analyzable set of law; although it is a warped reality, it has its own set of logic and everything in this space is not an illusion. Size— Due to various reasons, study of The Plane of Dreams has never been carried out but, judging from the few spatial induction results, the size of The Plane of Dreams is roughly equal the size of the real world. Thus, it is something to behold. If the goddess of the Space Administration was to launch an exploration program for The Plane of Dreams, inspectors would be as busy as a cat on a hot tin roof. Linear development— The Plane of Dreams is a space of constant change and development. While it is a strange place, everything develops linearly in its evolving history and each moment of its history is the result of its linear causation. As such, everything happens for a reason and there is nothing that cannot be explained—this is a new point, the authenticity of which has yet to be proven. Self-consistent— Everything in The Plane of Dreams is self-consistent. They are an embodiment of its reality. Capable of influencing the real world— this is an utterly redundant point, of which explanation is unnecessary."

Blinded by Science, Hao Ren grasped only what he could understand. Suddenly, a flash of light at the corner of the house caught his attention.

He dashed towards it and found that a little piece of metal protruded from the ground.

His heart pounded as he looked at the metal piece; a sense of familiarity riddled him. When he finally dug the metal out of the ground, he froze.

It was a diamond-shaped metal plate roughly the size of his palm. The surface was partly rusted which meant that it was made of iron. However, one thing caught his eye and it was the hieroglyphs on the metal sheet. He stared intensely at it for some time before realization struck him—it was the very same metal sheet he and Vivian found in his own basement!

"WTF?" Hao Ren murmured to himself in shock, "Why is this thing in my house..."

Before he could finish murmuring to himself, a strange whistling sound from outside the house interrupted him.

Alternating sounds of rumbling and whistling wind were heard from all directions followed by the rattling of the house. Hao Ren looked up instinctively. All of a sudden, the roof launched itself into the air and was blown away!

The thatched roof secured down by heavy stones was completed gone and the dark interior was suddenly filled with light—starlight and moonlight. The wall started shaking violently and before he knew it, the house was completely uprooted from its foundation.

The word 'typhoon' came to mind but it was too late. Before he could react to it, Hao Ren along with the wall were carried by the strong wind and blown up in the air!

Although bioenhancement had made Hao Ren as strong as an ox and as fit as a fiddle, it did not endow him with the stability of a mountain. The typhoon carried and tossed him around like a leaf. He was pulled into the typhoon and bumped into thousands of flying debris. He became disoriented and totally hapless. However, he quickly realized that the debris he smashed into the most was not of the house but a piece of glowing, metal object the size of his palm. He burst out, "MDT! Is this revenge?!"

The MDT pleaded sincerely as it swung around and hit Hao Ren's head countless times, "The device is unable to control itself. It is such a horrible typhoon..."

"Horrible what? You've hit me on my face no less than four...five times, now!" Hao Ren was furious but he didn't lose his mind. "What's going on? A typhoon in clear weather?"

"God knows! The early warning system for disasters was not working since Raven 12345 meddled with the device! And the extreme weather radar program just passed its trial period last night. File your complaint to the higher-ups if you have the guts!"

"You son of a b..." Before he could lash out, he blacked out.

A sense of weightlessness engulfed him before he he felt like he was thrown violently onto solid ground. When he opened his eyes, he found himself lying in his bed in the comfort of his home; a warm ray of sunshine shone on him.

It was time to wake up—the timing was pre-set before he entered The Plane of Dreams.

The sensation of being tossed around by the typhoon still terrorized him. Going into The Plane of Dreams was indeed a test of the strength of one's heart. It took him quite a while before his heartbeat slowed down to a normal rate. But, he felt something sharp pressing against his thigh.

He reached for his thigh and there it was—the diamond-shaped metal plate.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 86: You've Been There Before?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The door creaked as Hao Ren pushed it. The supernatural trio, who were lounging in the living room watching television, all turned their heads in unison. Lily who caught sight of the metal toy in Hao Ren's hand bounced towards him screaming, "Big discovery! Big discovery!"

Lily was the most agile of the lot and she had the best reaction time among them. Before Hao Ren could even say anything, she was right in front of him in a flash, bouncing about for the metal toy. It took her a while to realize that she was reacting similarly to a pet dog and she bashfully went back to watching the telly with her tail wagging.

Hao Ren glanced nervously at Lily. "Why are you in werewolf form? Losing control again?"

Lily's ears stiffen at the mention of 'losing control' as she was rather sensitive towards those words. She quickly brushed it aside. "Nah, just giving the tail a breather."

"So, how was it?" Vivian stood up after Lily was done with her antics. "I suppose the trip to The Plane of Dreams was smooth?"

"Yeah it was pretty smooth. I fought like seven dozen of feral wolves and got thrown up into the sky by a vortex. I woke up after that," Hao Ren gingerly described his experience. "But the key point is, I brought something back from there and it's something you're familiar with too!"

Vivian was just about to take a jab at Hao Ren until she saw the object in his hand. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Wasn't... this the thing we found in the basement a few days back?"

"Yep, that's the one." Hao Ren grabbed Vivian by the wrist and pulled her towards the stairway to the basement. "I suppose you remember where we shelved that thing? Let's look for it again. The resemblance is just uncanny!"

After Hao Ren and Vivian went down the staircase, Y'zaks looked at Lily with a confused face. "What's with the two of them? I'm not sure what's going on..."

"Oh, they must be having an affair," Lily just blurted out without much thought. "The people on the TV said so."

Y'zaks simply nodded. After contemplating for a moment, he asked, "So... when are they getting married?"

The next 10 or so minutes was then spent talking about the rites of marriage on Earth. They are not pertinent and can be ignored for now.

Hao Ren and Vivian found the wooden box where they placed the metal toy in no time. All his tattered childhood toys in the box seemed to have worn out much further. The diamond-shaped metal object looked like a loose component in a pile of old junk. Hao Ren lifted the entire box of stuff and placed it on the study table in Vivian's room. Both of them quickly went about investigating the two metal objects. Well, not like there was much to even begin with. The objects looked identical at first glance.

"You're sure you brought it out from The Plane of Dreams?" Vivian slowly stroked the pattern on the object. The one Hao Ren brought back appeared newer and the layer of rust on it was not as bad as the first one. "The pattern is the same and so is the material."

"Yeah." Hao Ren nodded earnestly. He followed with a recap of his experience in the plane the night before; including his acquisition of the Steel Membrane Shield, but he quickly went back to the metal object. "I found it in a nomad's hut in the plains. Didn't see anything else around though, it was sitting all pretty on the ground. Oh, the hut also looked like it had been deserted for a long time."

"What is The Plane of Dreams like?" Vivian had curiosity written all over her face. "Does it have mountains and rivers and other humans? Like what we see in the real world?"

"Haven't met a living person, I'm afraid. But the rest is pretty much the same as the normal world but even the talking wolves there would form a pack," Hao Ren described what he saw in detail. He made mention of the weird pack of wolves, an endless grassland, starry skies, the small hut and of course, the most important of all, the twin moons which appeared in the The Plane of Dreams. "There were two moons there. One was bigger than the other. The small one was about the size of a fingernail while the bigger one was many times bigger than the one we have rotating around Earth! It looked really amazing at night... If only I could bring all of you there. You think Lily will go stark raving mad when she sees the twin moons? One on Earth was enough to have her waggling about."

"Two moons..." As a vampire, Vivian was also sensitive towards moonlight and upon hearing his story, a faint glow appeared in her eyes. "I do want to see it. Please bring me there someday! Oh yeah, I also dreamt about seeing two moons a long time ago. It''s still fresh in my memory like it was just yesterday. Under the protection of the moon I finally got rid of my ill luck and I was filthy rich... only to be woken up by the landlady, screaming for rent money..."

Hao Ren as usual, had no response to Vivian's past, which was worthy of a soap opera.

Vivian regaled Hao Ren with her dream of being filthy rich and it took her a good while to snap back to reality. She quickly wiped her saliva off the side of her mouth and became serious again. She fiddled with the two metal objects. "It seems like both of these objects were brought out from The Plane of Dreams. It's quite impossible for someone in the real world to create something so similar to something from The Plane of Dreams. Furthermore, it looks like useless junk. You mentioned that you got this when you were young... Do you remember anything about it?"

"Nope, not a clue." Hao Ren shook his head. "Like I said, it just somehow appeared without me noticing it."

"Then, there are two possibilities. Someone went into The Plane of Dreams before and brought the first one out. After that, it ended up in your hands, somehow. Raven 12345 did mention that many people had entered the plane and brought something out. You're not the first and you won't be the last." Vivian wiggled her fingers as she continued, "The second possibility is that you went there when you were still a kid and the metal object was brought out by you. Which sounds more plausible to you?"

Hao Ren took both the metal objects from Vivian and looked at them. After contemplating for a moment, he shook his head. "Neither sounds plausible at all. Too much coincidence for the first. Based on what that crazy goddess said, it takes a few centuries for someone to communicate with The Plane of Dreams and come out alive, much less bring something out from it. And for that item to end up with me after all this time. Nope, don't think so. For the second one, I was about five? With men-eating wolves running about or strong gales enough to topple buildings; with both my entries into the plane almost being fatal. If not for the body strengthening hack that I have... The possibility of me entering and coming out of The Plane of Dreams at that age is nil. That said, I don't even remember anything like this."

"However, the chances of the second possibility happening is a bit higher." Vivian tapped Hao Ren's shoulder. "You just need to be super lucky. Sides, most children don't remember things well and they tend to avoid bad memories naturally. So, there is a possibility that just simply forgot about it. Don't you see me forgetting things most of the time?

Hao Ren glanced at her but, did not dare to retort. "It's because you're a bloody grandma for god's sake..." He wisely kept his thoughts to himself.

"What do you think this does?" Hao Ren quickly diverted the topic to avoid verbalizing his thoughts.

"Seems like an accessory..." Vivian guessed. "A small metal object like this; no sharp edges on it and not particularly sturdy. It doesn't look like a weapon or a tool either. I think it's a bit like an heraldic accessory, something you see engraved on walls and what not."

"A nomad practicing heraldry?"

"Well, who can be sure of what's going on there?"

Hao Ren pondered, and thought that there was some truth to that. The place had wolves speaking like Beijing Opera actors (granted, he was using the translation function of the MDT) so, who's to say what's real and what's not.

The origin of the metal object still remained a mystery to them and Hao Ren had no recollection of obtaining the item in the first place. Nonetheless he could now be sure that the item originated from The Plane of Dreams. Raven 12345 said that the plane was a web that connected to the real world. Based on the evidence they had at the moment, Hao Ren and Vivian had a slightly better understanding on the matter.

There were the two metal objects and a ball of wolf fur that he brought out earlier. Hao Ren decided to store them in a sturdy metal box. He thought that he would probably come across even more interesting items from The Plane of Dreams and decided to start collecting them.

A few days passed without much happenings but soon, there was going to be a full moon. It was time for Lily to undergo her evolution.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 87: A Songstress

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

It was the night of a full moon; the night Raven 12345 reckoned that Lily would go through with her transformation. Hao Ren and his tenants had been busy making preparations for the event since the break of dawn.

Although truthfully, no one knew exactly what to prepare for. Lily was a vagabond who had never met her kind before. She only knew that her kind were called werewolves from TV. Y'zaks too had never seen a werewolf in his world while Hao Ren's knowledge of the lycanthrope came from movies. The only person who had any inkling (however little) of the ritual was Vivian. Yes, the vampire who was a bitter enemy of the wolfen.

Vivian had taken leave the previous night to look for herbs and other peculiar ingredients. She knew of some remedies from times long past, which were used by the werewolves during special rituals. Most of the remedies revolved around pacification and mental control, given that they were a race that went berserk very easily. Training their mental fortitude was a big challenge in all their rituals. Given this particular need for their kind, the werewolves were rather proficient in making herbal poultices for the mind. Vivian had a long and difficult relationship with the werewolves. Through that, she managed to get hold of some of their secrets. As a precaution against Lily losing control at the height of her evolution (to be honest, it was more like they could not and would not trust Raven 12345's words), Vivian labored the entire day to prepare the poultices.

As for Lily, she was the most carefree of the lot. By Hao Ren's instructions, she was to sit at home and relax. She was even forbidden to go out and play with the dogs in the streets. She was supposed to rest up so that she would be able to withstand the strain of her evolution. Furthermore, to appease the hyperactive pup, Hao Ren prepared a giant pot of roasted pork ribs for her and the pup was now glued to the television munching on the ribs.

Hao Ren supposed that it was for the best.

As he and Y'zaks had zero idea on how to deal with a werewolf, they went to town to get some essentials for the night.

Lily's transformation was expected to take a few hours at least. The prevailing theory was from moonrise to sunrise and she cannot be left alone during the evolution. Hence, Hao Ren, Vivian and Y'zaks had to be present. Having to stand watch under the stars guarding a rampaging werewolf was not something to scoff at and the necessary preparations were needed.

No one was sure how or what Hao Ren had looked up on the internet but, he somehow managed to cobble together a 'to-buy' list. The list included a cheap and sturdy mat, a disposable tent, a camping lamp, a huge bundle of rope and a box of snacks. When he first showed the list to Vivian, it gave her a shock. At first, the vampire thought Hao Ren was going to perform a field delivery for Lily and run off with her. She was finally convinced by Hao Ren that he was merely preparing some survival tools

.

While the Southern Suburbs was a small locale, the supermarkets there had pretty much all the items Hao Ren had indicated in the list, except for the tent. It was a given since it was not something you would normally use. Accompanied by Y'zaks as he went about shopping, both of them quickly ticked off the shopping list, except for the tent.

Y'zaks was lugging two big shopping bags as they stepped out of the supermarket. The bags were stuffed to the brim with the items they just bought. Since they could submit a claim to Raven 12345 later, Hao Ren did not not spare any expense.

"Mr. Landlord, why are those people staring at us?" Y'zaks felt uncomfortable at the looks the crowd was giving him. Hao Ren supposed that the great demon had still not fully recovered from the traumatizing experience in his own world. Moreover, Y'zaks had pretty much been cooped up at home for the past two days. The moment he went out with Hao Ren, a sense of discomfort threatened to overwhelm him. "Besides, why did the cashier hold her hands in the air the moment I stepped into the store?"

Hao Ren could only look at the seven-feet giant of a man who had a vicious look eternally plastered on his face. As for the vibe he gave out? Much like a murderous devil who had been under lockdown for years. Hao Ren muttered to himself, "It's not 'us', it's you and that face of yours." Y'zaks could consider himself lucky for not getting locked in the slammer by the local police.

Moreover, the way the demon carried himself was extremely direct. The moment they stepped into the supermarket, Y'zaks, without as much as a word, slammed the shopping list onto the counter and commanded at the top of his voice, "You lot, get me the items on this list here!"

The poor cashier girl broke into tears the moment Y'zaks pulled that stunt. Her hands were shaking as she pulled out the cash tray from the register and handed it over to Y'zaks. She then left the counter with her hands held in the air. Hao Ren sensed that something was amiss and darted out to check on what went wrong. The first thing he saw was an old liberation army man hiding by the cabbage rack, dialing 110... Thankfully, he reacted quickly.

Also, thank goodness he purchased a boat load of items so, the manager did not ask for any compensation for the anguish caused.

Having recalled that scene, Hao Ren shook his head and sighed. Y'zaks clearly had very little idea on how society functioned there and he started to explain in detail. He did brief Y'zaks on the matter of supermarkets and the process of purchasing items. However, because it was short and coupled with Y'zaks misunderstanding, things were a mess. He knew that deep down, the demon had a kind heart and was a very affable per.. demon. He simply wanted to help but this was a time where the face mattered and by the looks of things, Y'zaks scared everyone away with just a glance. Such is the society nowadays.

Y'zaks frowned at Hao Ren's attempt to explain. "Superficial... superficial indeed the way your society sees things. In my world, the most respected are the most hideous to look at. Demons, humans, even those pompous elves knew the value and honor a battle scarred look brings. The sense of beauty in this world is way off,. People should not be wearing justice and conscience on their sleeves.

Hao Ren almost snickered at the notion of a demon talking to him about justice and conscience. What a revelation indeed. He knew Y'zaks was different from most demons but, this was a difference on a whole new level. It even surpassed the insane goddess. Y'zaks face glowed with a saintly halo when he spoke of 'justice' and 'conscience'. Hao Ren simply could not figure out how to react to that.

"This is a societal issue. Pay no heed to it." Hao Ren laughed wrily and patted Y'zaks on the shoulder. "That said, are you clear about the process of purchasing stuff? A supermarket is different from your sundry shops and control your volume when you speak..."

"I know. There are merchant stalls in my world and I know money is a good thing." Y'zaks shrugged. "I may be a demon but I have also wandered within the human society as well. The men there are as sly as your kind here. They could even sell oil mixed with rice gruel to the gnomes. Hell knows where they got that idea from."

Hao Ren was curious about the world which Y'zaks hailed from. It sounded like the typical fantasy world you would see in a fantasy novel. However, he knew that Y'zaks was rather sensitive about the topics of his home world and Hao Ren just left it at that.

As the two were walking towards a crossroad, they heard a song in a distance.

Hao Ren looked around and saw that a young lass was performing in front of a shop, the melodious tune coming from her guitar.

Buskers were a common sight in the main towns or train stations but, for a place like the Southern Suburbs, it was a rare sight indeed and Hao Ren stopped to have a better look.

The girl was petite. She was clad in a loose grey sweater and a pair of dusty-looking jeans. She had slightly dark skin, fair as well as supple features and a pony tail, which dangled from the back of her head. She was not exactly a beauty but, she had a quiet and cute charm about her, especially when she pursed her lips.

While Hao Ren was mesmerized for a few seconds, the girl started singing again. The song played from her portable sound box.

"She sings pretty well," Hao Ren muttered to himself. "But, what language is that?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 88: This Is Revenge, Isn't It?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The busker by the road had managed to catch Hao Ren's attention as well as the crowd in the area. Perhaps, it was due to the fact that busking was a rare sight in town. She immediately became the focus of the crowd.

There are three types of street performers in this age; one is the poor musician who dons a pair of sunglasses and plays the erhu, playing nameless melancholic tunes; then, there is the one who is blind to his or her lack of talent but plays anyway for the sake of making a point; the last type is what Hao Ren would call a true 'street performer', one with real talent. The young lass across the road may have looked like an amateur but Hao Ren thought that she belonged to the third type.

Her clothes appeared a little worn but her appearance was well kept. A cheerful glow radiated from her youthful face and at the very least, she seemed to have more money than that pauper of a vampire at home. Her music had the ability to make one stop and listen. However, the melody was foreign to Hao Ren, perhaps a self-composed tune. It did not sound anything like the popular music on radio but it gave off a forlorn feeling, making one think of the vast plains and gentle breeze. Hao Ren was usually skeptical about the whole notion of 'music lifting one's soul' but, this changed his mind.

As the girl started to sing her nameless song, Hao Ren had never heard of the language before. It was as if she was just humming at will. There was no meaning to the lyrics of the song and the tune could have just been made up on the go. Even Y'zaks had to stop and listen. After a while, he frowned. "I don't understand it. Is the translation module malfunctioning?"

"Yo, MDT." Hao Ren poked the device in his pocket, which was in sleep mode. "Listen and tell me what language is that? Our translation database doesn't seem to have any information on it."

A short background music played, signaling that the MDT was starting up and after a few seconds, it said, "No structure, no logic and undecipherable intonation. The system concludes that these sounds have no need for translation. They are just meaningless sounds."

Hao Ren pondered for a while and came up with a simple explanation. "So, you mean that the lady has forgotten the lyrics and she's just making things up?"

"Can't you read the atmosphere when you speak?" The MDT vibrated in his pocket. "It's such a melodious song. Can't you just say that she's singing from her soul than forgetting the lyrics. That said, I do think that she forgot the lyrics."

The girl across the road had also seemed to take notice of them. Perhaps she noticed Y'zaks first, given that the demon was a good seven feet tall. She looked at Hao Ren and greeted him with a sweet smile.

Hao Ren of course, did not know who the lady was and he returned a courteous smile. He then left with Y'zaks. He still had things to prepare for Lily's transformation that night and could not waste his precious time.

As they were about to step into the house, the MDT sounded again. "Say... the lass did greet you right? Shouldn't you at least have given her a tip or two? I have checked that this is a norm on Earth."

Hao Ren thought of the matter for a while, and his face exhibited an expression of a man attaining peace. "You heard the song, right? Such a carefree melody. I don't think this can be measured by money. Sure, she was busking but, I think giving her a smile is worth more than a few bucks."

"But as you left, the lady did roll her eyes and muttered something about you."

Hao Ren had no response to the MDT's jibes. Could the talkative device not give him a peace of mind?

Vivian was home by the time the two got back.

The vampire was out and about since the last night. She did not return until past noon. It seemed like she flew somewhere real far to collect her ingredients. Hao Ren saw the vampire busy pounding herbs in the mortar. She seemed to be preparing some herbal remedies. Vivian looked up and saw the gigantic bag in Y'zaks' hand and asked, "Whoa, that much?"

"Just in case Lily gets hungry after transforming. I read that werewolves get a very voracious appetite after transforming so, I got her 20 packets of spicy strips and 10 packets of bread. This can at least ensure that she won't run into town hungry and end up hurting innocents."

Lily cheered at the mention of snacks and pounced on Hao Ren from the sofa. Grabbing a packet of spicy strip, she went back to the sofa and started munching on it. Vivian looked at Hao Ren in horror. "Twenty packets of that? What were you thinking?"

"Well, she likes it." Hao Ren gave Lily a look similar to one who was spoiling a pet. "Besides, the spicy strip is rather filling. I heard from Raven 12345 that spicy stuff helps with her evolution..."

"I've never heard of that before..." Vivian pouted. "You better prepare some 10 bottles of drinking water then. There may come a time when Lily needs to dip in cold water. My goodness, that thinking of yours, why is it more and more like that goddess?"

Raven 12345's status as a goddess usually commanded awe and respect while Hao Ren would casually diss her. Vivian retained that sense of awe and dared not call the goddess a crazy witch. Clearly, the vampire took the matter of religion rather seriously.

Hao Ren then helped Y'zaks place the bags on the dining table and he shifted towards Vivian as she continued to pound the herbs. "What are you doing? That looks... disgusting... F*ck! That smell!"

Vivian had placed old newspapers over the table and on them were an array of herbs that looked no different that your typical weed. However, it was clear that Vivian took a lot of effort in finding the ingredients. Some of them still had the scent of soil. Vivian had cleaned some of the herbs and carefully placed them aside. Next to the herbs was a collection of soil, wood chips, moss and pebbles that had been separated from the herbs. At first glance, one would have thought that they were plucked up from a garbage can.

Vivian on the other hand, was carefully preparing the herbal solution, pounding some and mixing the others.

"This one here is made out of three different dried herbs. After mixing with rabbit blood and water, it will serve as a strong stabilizing agent. Normal people will probably go into a coma drinking it but, it will have a calming effect on a werewolf," Vivian explained the various herbs that she was preparing. "This ash-like powder is incense. I'll need to mix it with wormwood extract and mold it into a cookie-like shape. Will need to light it up when Lily transforms and it will suppress her desire to attack anything. It's a common item found in the werewolves' coming of age rituals. I'm sure I got the mixture right. The moss there, I got it from the cemetery. Took me a while to find the proper one. It will be able to focus spiritual energies. Werewolves are a race that have more brawn than brains and they lack the necessary spiritual strength thus, things like these are required..."

Vivian had yet to finish her lecture when Hao Ren showed signs of wanting to vomit. Surely, no one could have be able to withstand the stench of those things. But, they were important ingredients for the herbal concoction needed for Lily's transformation that night. Hao Ren's stomach turned at the very thought of consuming the concoction. He glanced at Vivian and felt that something was up from the vampire's eyes. "Tell me, honestly, this is revenge against Lily, isn't it?"

Vivian smiled. "Mr. Landlord, look me in the eye and you'll find out..."

Hao Ren sighed. It was revenge indeed.

Lily however, did not detect anything amiss and she was still munching on the spicy strips. She was watching her favorite soap opera, totally not paying any attention to the items on the table. Hao Ren took the chance to tease her. "Lily, look at Vivian preparing these for you... You'll need to eat them later tonight..."

Lily turned around and sniffed. "Oh, okay! I'll eat anything!"

Hao Ren did not know how to respond to that.

This omnivore of a werewolf was beyond saving!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 89: The Moon in Mid-Autumn

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The bright moon and little stars were hanging in the cloudless sky. It was a good day to do something important like howling at the moon, for instance.

Under the moon light, four silhouettes were sneaking out of the back door of Hao Ren's big house. They were like a thieves carrying a few bags and rushing straight into the wilderness.

"Why do I feel like we're about to do something bad?" Vivian turned into a vampire and floated in the air leisurely, half a meter above the ground ahead of them. She was the most graceful and relaxed one among them. She looked back at the dim lights far behind her, slightly sighed and said, "The humans are such a wonderful race. They are so small and weak but they can manage a city and home so well... As someone from the Blood Clan, I feel like I can't really leave a beautiful place like this."

"So, I am right. You are poor and sentimental." Lily strode along beside Hao Ren, lively and cheerful like a little rabbit. She did not forget to seize the opportunity to make fun of Vivian and said, "I, as a senior literary and artistic young woman, am not as sentimental as you."

"Can you two please not quarrel at this critical moment?" Hao Ren was the only one who was a little nervous. As he kept a watchful eye on Lily, he explained to Vivian, "We must act quietly. Although this area is considered remote, places like this aren't lacking in bold and bored old men as well as women. Uncle Zhao from the east side of the street has a hobby of catching rabbits with his dog at night. Sometimes he doesn't go home until 12 o'clock at midnight. Let's be careful not to bump into them. We'll be fine when we get a little farther."

The closer Lily got to the wild, the happier she was. She leapt forward as she walked. She circled around him happily and chattered loudly, "Ah ha, Landlord is this what you're worrying about? Don't worry, I've talked to Huang. It's pretending to be sick and won't be coming out to catch rabbits tonight. And I've greeted the other dogs on the street. None of them are going out tonight. If their owners want to go out, they'll pretend to be sick right away. Anyway, nobody will go to the heath..."

Hao Ren stumbled. Vivian and him looked at Lily in surprise and thought: The innate skills of an animal could also be used in such a way? Lily had been busy on the street the past two days not to greet the neighbors, but to build a good relationship with the local dogs!

Four of them were not ordinary people. Hao Ren could now pat his chest and claim to be part super human. They walked swiftly and very soon they had moved away from the last gleam of light in the Southern Suburbs. They finally reached a rather open heath. As the last man-made light disappeared behind them and the starlight in addition to the moonlight dominated the sky, everyone was under the illusion that they were far from human civilization. However, the place was not as pristine as the prairie in The Plane of Dreams. Hao Ren was very impressed by the brilliant Milky Way and two bright moons there. He felt that there was no sky as pure and clean on Earth.

"Let's settle down here?" Y'zaks carried two of the biggest packs of stuff and walked behind them. The honest and genuine, big demon volunteered to be the porter. He put the things on the ground and then, ran to a large stone nearby. He stood on it and looked around. "Well, it's nice here; view of the road and flat terrain. Even if Lily loses control later, Vivian and I will have enough space to cast the spells."

"Why are all of you waiting for me to lose control?" Lily blinked and sounded a little unhappy. "You guys have been talking about what to do if I get out of control since we left the house. Don't you guys trust me?"

"It's not that I don't trust you, I don't trust that psycho." Hao Ren bent over to dig out the plastic sheeting in the big bag they prepared earlier. He spread the sheeting on the ground, shook his head and sighed. "Do you know, that woman is a mechanical idiot. There is only one main button on the Bioenhancement and Reconfiguration Chamber and she still pressed the wrong one. Can you believe it? There's a big chance of things going wrong whenever she handles―"

Before Hao Ren could finish his sentence, a loud thunder suddenly struck from the clear sky. A blinding flash of lightning slashed across the cloudless sky from the southeast. Hao Ren was frightened and he stopped talking.

The rest of them were also startled. Nobody knew why there was thunder in such a nice weather until the MDT slowly said, "Be careful, she is a goddess after all. The fundamental law of the world revolves around her. Scolding her behind her back, you better watch out for lightning."

"So petty?" Hao Ren's neck was covered in cold sweat but, he still stubbornly muttered, "Can't even say anything behind her back?"

"She isn't petty at all. She doesn't mind even if you call her a psycho in front of her face. She just doesn't care." The MDT sounded a little cocky and continued, "But the world cares. 'God's Punishment' is an automatic program and it's ideal for supervising employees' behaviors."

"... Eh-hem, let's get down to business," said Hao Ren.

Lily had already emptied the bags and piled the snacks up on the ground. A few large sheets of plastic and blankets that Hao Ren bought, came in handy. Hao Ren spread them on the ground and they became a place where Lily rolled happily. Vivian then fixed a few disposable stands on the ground and put a cool lamp on it for lighting. Y'zaks sorted the snacks and drinks that had one-third of their portion consumed by Lily at home. There was still a lot left.

Lily jumped merrily into the pile of snacks. After the bursting sounds of tearing wrappers, she held several packs of snacks in both hands and started eating. Hao Ren looked at the scene in front of him and got a little confused. "Why does this look like we're having a picnic..."

Vivian looked up at the gradually rising moon. She could not help but poke Lily in the arm and said, "Stop eating. Do it now."

Lily's mouth was stuffed with spicy strips and replied in a slurred voice, "Huh?"

"I mean shapeshifting, you idiot!" Vivian was so impatient that the pitch of her voice changed. "All of us skipped sleep for you. We are not here to just watch you eat the spicy bar! The prime time of the full moon will last just a few hours. You better do it now!"

Lily reacted after a few seconds and quickly swallowed the snack in her mouth. She held her breath for a moment and then exhaled. "Haaa".

Shortly after, a pair of pointy, wolf ears appeared on Lily's head, a tail appeared in the back of her body, and her hair turned into silvery, waist-length locks. Other than that, nothing else changed.

"And?" Hao Ren looked at Lily hopefully. "Aren't you going to evolve?"

Lily was also looking curiously at her wagging tail. She also touched her ears to confirm its position and size. She looked puzzled and said, "Nothing else I guess. I don't feel the urge to evolve into something else."

"Maybe it's not time yet." Vivian found a reasonable excuse and explained, "I feel that the power of the moonlight hasn't peaked yet. Lily will probably start to evolve right at the moment of the full moon."

They had to wait. Y'zaks handed the drinks and snacks to them at once. He then conjured up a fiery red Demon Stone out of the air and placed it on the open ground nearby. He said, "Anything you guys want to heat up? I'll do it."

Hao Ren quickly waved his hand and said, "Take your stone a little farther. Be careful, don't burn the blanket."

They used rare Demon's Fire just to keep warm and barbecue but Hao Ren loathed it. He was probably the only person in the world who would loathe the Demon's Fire.

Four of them started to eat and drink under the brilliant moonlight. As time went on, the full moon soon rose above their heads. Hao Ren felt something amiss. "Why hasn't anything happened yet?"

Vivian also frowned and said, "The power of the moonlight has indeed reached its peak. I can feel it... Why isn't Doggie reacting?"

Lily was eating delightfully. She did not notice them talking about her. She was surrounded by a stack of snack bags and even smeared grease on her forehead. The silly girl completely indulged herself that night. However, Hao Ren was getting more and more worried. He was afraid that the five-digit goddess had pushed the wrong button when she 'treated' Lily. Therefore, a few minutes later, he picked up the MDT and said, "Please call Raven 12345."

Raven 12345 answered half a minute later. "Hello? Hao Ren... What's the matter?" Her voice sounded a little languid.

Hao Ren told her about the situation and asked anxiously, "Lily's still the same. The moon is going to disappear soon. You see... Is there something wrong?"

Raven 12345 was unusually silent. This silence immediately made Hao Ren tense. Then he heard Raven 12345 speaking in a low tone.

"Have you ever heard of the phrase 'The moon turns perfectly round the day after mid-autumn day'?"

This was the only moment in Hao Ren's life that he could not resist the urge to punch someone in the face.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 90: Transformed and... Woof!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Have you ever heard of the phrase, 'The moon turns perfectly round on the day after mid-autumn day'?" Raven 12345's tone was low and slow, which sounded rather serious at first. However, Hao Ren saw through her right away: She was actually trying to sound serious to hide her guilt!

"Do you know what's on my mind?" said Hao Ren in a harsh tone as he grinded his teeth.

Raven 12345 was not afraid of him. Her voice sounded free and easy. "I know it. You want to die with me. Let me tell you, there are lots of people who want to die with me in this universe. You have to line up to the end of the world..."

Hao Ren threw the MDT aside. He had no way to deal with the neurotic, thoughtless and shameless goddess. The MDT protested loudly at the moment it was thrown away. "Can you please treasure your own device! Even if you have problems with your boss, you can't release your anger on me…"

"Everyone throws their cell phones when they lose a fight. You have no choice," Hao spoke as he squinted at it. He then waved at them and said, "Get up everybody. Let's go back. There's nothing we can be do today."

Hao Ren and Raven 12345 communicated telepathically and the rest of them did not hear the conversation. Y'zaks stood up in confusion. He asked curiously while he packed, "What did the goddess say to you?"

"She said, the moon turns perfectly round on the day after mid-autumn day and I was planning how to die with her…"

The rest of them were speechless.

"Why did we meet such a boss!" Even the usually gentle and polite Vivian could not help but lose her temper. After looking blank for a moment, she started packing the stuff and continued nagging. Lily was still squatting on the blanket with a mouthful of spicy strips and mineral water. Vivian became even angrier when she saw Lily looking like a loser and she said, "Doggie, can you please do something! You look like this has nothing to do with you... Get up, I'm packing stuff. Go home and eat… Doggie? Doggie, why aren't you talking?"

Vivian called Lily a few times but she did not seem to hear it. Her head was slowly drooping as if she was sleeping while eating. A few seconds later, her shoulders began to tremble and a strange voice emerged from her throat. From the previous experience, Hao Ren sensed that something was wrong instantly. He stepped forward, patted Lily on the shoulder and asked, "Lily, what's wrong with you? Do you feel sick?"

Lily trembled violently for a moment. Then, she looked up in a daze. Her golden eyes were unusually bright in the moonlight, which rippled with a glimmering halo. Her cheeks were covered in an unusual flush and her pupils were erratic. She looked like she was feeling excited after getting drunk. "Landlord... Ha... I feel a little bit... numb. Hands and feet are a bit... itchy..."

"She's going to transform!" Hao Ren immediately remembered when he spoke to Raven 12345 two days earlier. She told him about the characteristics of Lily's evolution. He jumped back more than a meter instinctively. Vivian and Y'zaks stopped what they were doing after hearing what he said. The big demon and vampire went up to her. Vivian carefully observed Lily's eyes. She then waved everybody back and said, "It has begun, everybody retreat. She may be more dangerous than we can imagine after she evolves... It's different from what I've seen in other wolves."

Hao Ren looked at the moon, puzzled. "Didn't she say ,'The moon turns perfectly round on the day after mid-autumn day'… I really can't trust what that crazy woman says."

Vivian attentively observed Lily's situation. Finally, her gaze fell on the last half packet of snacks in Lily's hand. It surprised her. "This is probably the first werewolf I've ever seen that evolved not because of the moonlight but, because of eating too many spicy strips..."

Even Y'zaks could not help but stagger. He packed up their things as he said, "Ever since I met you guys, I feel like the first half of my life was wasted... What I've experienced these past few days have been so much more than that in the first half of my life."

All of them were busy except Lily, who was almost out of control. Vivian packed up their stuff too while Y'zaks ran to an open area about a hundred meters away. He sketched something on the ground and summoned some green runes. Hao Ren remembered the instruction given by Raven 12345. He set the MDT to reconnaissance mode, circled it around Lily a couple of times and began to gather information of the energy field nearby. This was one of the reports he needed to hand in to Raven 12345.

At this point in time, Lily's body had just experienced little changes but, she was sober (at least that moment, it seemed like Raven's 'treatment' had not gone wrong yet). Watching everybody being busy, she did not want to just sit there, doing nothing. "Landlord, what should I do?"

"You just need to sit here quietly. If you have any discomfort, remember to tell us immediately." Hao Ren gestured Lily to sit down and then he threw the MDT on the ground nearby and said, "You just stay there as a detector."

The MDT shouted immediately, "Hey, wait! What if she loses control after turning into a beast and eats me?"

Hao Ren agreed. It was said that werewolves would have a strong appetite after transforming and they would eat whatever they could get. Thus, he ran to Vivian to get a few pieces of stomach medication and gave them to Lily. "Take them. Eat two pieces when you have indigestion. They absolutely work."

The MDT could only say, "… Damn you…"

Everything was quickly tidied up. Vivian packed up and brought them to the defense area, which Y'zaks sketched out with the demonic runes. There was only one blanket left at Lily's feet. At that moment, the unusual phenomena around the werewolf maiden had become apparent to ordinary people. A passive cyclone swirled around her. The abnormal radiance of green light glowed in the rapidly growing whirlwind. Hao Ren could feel a burst of alternating hot and cold air while he stood 20 meters away from Lily. They could not go any farther. The green whirlwind was as sharp as a blade and the gravel on the ground would have been broken into half just from touching the cyclone. The blanket at Lily's feet had been cut like a mosquito coil. Hao Ren was not yet ready to compare the hardness of his Steel Membrane Shield with Lily's sharp whirlwind...

The werewolf girl, who was the key person, stood in the middle of the unusual phenomenon. A small area beside her was extremely calm which was as safe as the eye of a typhoon. Lily was certainly not afraid of the peculiar phenomenon she had caused and she curiously observed the cyclone around her. When she found that she could slightly control it, she immediately cheered up and said, "Landlord! I can unleash magic too! Battie can't say I'm stupid anymore!"

The remark showed that her mind was still restrained...

Hao Ren made a gesture of encouragement to Lily and ran to the safe zone a hundred meters away. The so-called 'safe zone' was a prototype space covered with green demonic runes. Y'zaks used the runes to conjure up a layer of protection from the air. The runes floated in the air a few centimeters off the ground and kept moving as if they were alive. Although it looked a little scary, there was no need to worry about the protection.

"The momentum is very strong. The werewolf of your world is really an interesting creature. It will even go through such an explosive growth. Y'zaks stood in the middle of the runes, holding his arms up and watching Lily's condition with great interest. "Hmm... something's changing..."

Pretty much just as Y'zaks finished speaking, the cyclone around Lily burst out all of a sudden!

The scene was like heavy bullets crashing onto the ground. The originally 'gentle', green whirlwind unexpectedly exploded in all directions after an abrupt contraction. Countless green shock waves spread out from the center, where Lily was. The shock waves were massive and threw sand as well as stones everywhere. An entire layer of the ground was abruptly cut down in a fraction of one second. The demonic array where the three of them stood in suddenly burst into an intense beam. All the runes rose up into the air. A layer of green shield blocked the shock waves that rushed at them just in time. However, the situation outside the shield was completely obscured.

The distance of 100 meters seemed a little too close to Lily. Y 'zaks's judgment of Lily's power was wrong. The three of them were basically in the radius of the blast…

"Awwooooooooooo…"

Suddenly, they heard a distant howling coming from the clouds and the surrounding shock waves instantly subsided. Y'zaks removed the shields and Vivian blew away all the haze with her gale. Then, an astonishing scene materialized before them.

The flat ground had become unrecognizable. In front of Hao Ren was a flat concave ground with the radius of 100 meters. The green shock waves had cut the area abruptly into a bowl-shaped pit and he was standing at the edge of the pit.

A giant beast stood tall and upright in the middle of the pit.

The beast was seven or eight meters tall. Despite standing on all fours, she looked as strong and powerful as Y'zaks in his demon form. Her hair was as white as snow with some black markings on her face and shoulders. This was the completely evolved Lily.

Hao Ren's eyes first fell on her ears and tail. The upright triangular ears and snow-white wagging tail were exactly the same as the ones Lily had in human form. It was simply the same Lily who had been magnified many times.

"Why do I feel that...she looks a little bit different from a wolf?" Vivian could not help but mutter after she tilted her head and looked at Lily for a long time.

Lily was still immersed in the excitement of her complete evolution. She looked up at the round moon. Again, she howled loudly and powerfully, "Awwooooooooooo… Woof!"

Vivian finally clapped her hands and said, "Isn't that a husky?!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 91: She Belongs to the Dumbass World

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lily's evolutionary process was more rapid than expected. It took a few minutes from the appearance of the unusual phenomenon to the completion of her transformation. However, the process was still intense. A large area within a 100-meter radius turned into a bowl-shaped pit because of the wind pressure during her transformation. The soil and rocks within the range were gone. After the most violent shock wave ended, Lily had turned into a giant beast of seven or eight meters in length and about three meters in height. That was bigger than Charlie. Her height alone already implied that she was as powerful and fierce as Y'zaks when he appeared in front of them for the first time. However, it seemed that only her body size made her look rather powerful and fierce.

Vivian stretched her neck and kept looking at Lily for quite some time. When she heard another "Awoooo… woof", she finally confirmed it and said, "That's really a husky."

"Stop joking. We're getting down to business." Of course, Hao Ren did not believe it at first. He did not take Vivian's words seriously. He felt that she just wanted to seize the opportunity to make fun of the dumb werewolf. And to be fair, he believed that the giant canine in the pit was indeed a wolf. From the body size to the powerful vibe, they all belonged to a wolf. Although the contours on her face were slightly softer... However, based on the murderous eyes, triangular upright ears and sharp teeth...she looked just like a wolf from all angles.

It was just the "woof" that puzzled him.

"I'm not joking." Vivian glanced at Hao Ren and said, "Although huskies and wolves look alike, you can still tell the difference if you look closely. I've dealt with werewolves for thousands of years and I've seen how some wolves evolved into different kinds of dogs. Do you think I can't tell?"

Hao Ren was instantly stunned. He noticed that Vivian did not look like she was joking at all. The vampire maiden looked totally serious as though she was simply stating the truth. He could not seem to believe it and asked, "…You're saying…This is a husky?!"

Vivian nodded vigorously.

Hao Ren was flabbergasted. He slowly turned around and looked at Lily. The huge 'wolf' was still looking up at the moon and behaving in an insane manner. She kept howling and barking at it. Looking at the scene, Hao Ren felt that the amount of information his brain could process had reached its limit. He could not think properly. He held his head, slowly crouching down as he said, "Don't speak, let me figure it out…"

However, no matter how hard he tried to figure out what had just happened, the fact was already there. He had to face the truth that came crashing in: Lily revealed her true identity after her complete evolution. She was a husky… and this demolished his entire understanding of the world.

She was a husky, my fellow audience and friends, young and old men, brothers and sisters! She was a husky! Not even the author could believe his own keyboard. How could Hao Ren believe it?

But whether Hao Ren believed it or not, Lily was quite satisfied anyway. The dumbass felt a long-lost sense of comfort after she transformed. Her repressed power and instincts were all released. She chattered to the moon for several minutes. Then, she noticed her three little companions standing on the edge of the pit and she trotted happily towards them. Can you imagine what a husky with the body length of seven or eight meters looks like trotting merrily? Hao Ren returned to earth due to a mild earthquake. When he looked up, he saw an unprecedentedly large pointed mouth with sharp teeth leaning down towards him. He broke out in cold sweat and shouted, "...Wait a minute! Lily, what are you doing? You promised me you would keep your head all the way…"

"She just wants to lick you." said Vivian, who breezed to the side and spoke uncaringly. Y'zaks ran even faster. The big demon directly teleported hundreds of meters away when he realized something had went wrong.

"Lick me―" Before Hao Ren could finish, a warm tongue descended from the sky onto his body. He felt like he had been hit head-on by a speeding car. If his body had not been strengthened, the lick could have broken half of his ribs. Lily's licking even activated Hao Ren's Steel Membrane Shield and he found the translucent membrane shining all over his body. The membrane protected his body from being accidentally ripped off by Lily but failed to protect his new clothes.

When the two heartless guys came to the rescue, Hao Ren looked like he had just been bombed in the Middle East. Three-fifths of his clothing was inside Lily's belly…

"Are you completely covered in saliva?" Vivian seemed to be asking with concern. However, she soon found that there was a layer of isolated, translucent light membrane covering Hao Ren and blocking Lily's saliva attack. She was very interested in it and asked, "Eh, is that the Steel Membrane Shield you were talking about? Can you let me try?"

"Can you get me a coat first?" Hao Ren looked down at the rags on his body, on the verge of tears. "Who else can communicate with Lily? She can only howl and bark now..."

How could Vivian get him clothes? Finally, Y'zaks took off his coat and put it on Hao Ren. It looked like a jacket on Y'zaks but looked like a cloak on Hao Ren. Lily was still in a state of excitement and she could not calm down. She had no idea how much trouble she had brought upon her tiny, little companions down there. She just tilted her head and looked at Vivian flying around her head. She twisted her neck like a restless puppy… no, big dog. She would occasionally crane her neck and try to lick Hao Ren again. But Hao Ren was much smarter this time. He ran away immediately without hesitation. After all, it was not his coat.

Vivian flew around Lily's head for some time. After she confirmed that the big dog was not aggressive, she moved closer to the big dog and shouted, "Doggie, can you hear me?!"

Lily's ear twitched slightly. She nimbly turned towards Vivian's direction and nodded vigorously. She kept panting while nodding. Additionally, her wagging tail almost threw sand and stones in all directions. Watching this, Hao Ren could only accept it even though he was not willing to believe it. He kept this girl as a wolf for one month but she turned out to be a husky…

How could a real wolf wag its tail like that!

Hao Ren confirmed that Lily could understand their words and was slightly relieved.

Then he yelled, "Can you speak?"

Lily opened her mouth and replied, "Aw… woo?"

"She can understand words but can't speak. Such a dumbass… She's gotten more useless after the evolution." Vivian flapped her wings and descended gracefully. She found it both funny and annoying. "I've been nervous for a whole three days, worrying that she would get stronger after her evolution..."

"I think she's really become more powerful than before," said Y'zaks. There were no huskies in the big demon's world. He was the only one who did not understand why Hao Ren and Vivian overreacted.

"...This has nothing to do with combat power." Hao Ren's tone sounded strange as he explained, "Huskies are the benchmark of… the Dumbass World."

A blue light was darting swiftly from the distance. The MDT, which was dumped near Lily as a detector (also called a lightning device?) was heading back to Hao Ren. The hapless PDA could not resist the shock wave and ended up buried several meters under the ground. But as a result, it did not have a single scar on it. It really was a high-tech product from the Xi Ling Celestials. The MDT did not have time at that moment to complain. It circled rapidly around Hao Ren and asked, "What happened? Isn't the werewolf turning back into a wolf? How did it turn out to be a giant husky?"

Even the MDT said the same thing. Lily's real identity was confirmed. The PDA had a biometric function.

After Lily's transformation, it seemed that even her attention span had transformed into that of a husky's level. She was so close to three of them but she did not pay any attention to what they were saying. The dumb girl's attention soon averted elsewhere and she began to wander around the grounds. She ran around, picked up a 'small stone' (the size of a nether millstone) and played fetch alone. The next minute, she looked for a suitable place and dug a big hole with her front paws really quickly for no reason. Most of the time, she just trotted everywhere aimlessly. You can imagine what it was like when a behemoth was running around. However, the most obvious scene was the wagging of her tail as she ran...

It was simply unbearable to look straight at Lily's innocent and naive appearance. Hao Ren thought that he would not be able to watch movies and dramas the same way again. He would not even be able to face the dictionary for the rest of his life...

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 92: Human Again

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Hao Ren has had an imagination about what would happen to Lily after she transformed. He even pictured the process as if it was a Hollywood blockbuster movie. Not only that, he even visioned the ways of what they should do when Lily got out of control, and how Vivian would deal with the fury Lily. Hao Ren also imagined that Y'zaks would turn into demons to fight against the ferocious beast, with scenes of which he calmly gives command to save critical conditions from behind. In short, he assumed that this evening would be a bloody sleepless night for him. After all, a werewolf was about to evolve, as there were barely any professionals around who knew how to control and repress the situation, thus, "losing control" seems inevitable.

As a result, it turned out to be a sleepless night, but there was no bloodshed to be seen. Lily seemed busy gamboling and digging around. Despite of her body size, Lily was somehow radiating a harmless vibe, from her head to the tip of her tail. All the steps they had formed earlier were not needed here...

To be honest, it was pretty boring to watch a seven or eight-metered-long husky running and gamboling around. However, Vivian dare not even place a foot forward to stop the ludicrous dog as it seemed utterly dangerous. Lily was now in a heavy tank situation, even if she turned out to be a husky; it could not manage to cover up her fighting powers at that moment, so perhaps the power of the werewolf had been awakened in the past, therefore, while she was running, her feet were surrounded by a turquoise whirlwind all this time. The wind pressure was so strong that it could slit the gold and break the stones, as easily as cutting tofu. With Lily running at full speed, the turquoise whirlwind could even make her entire body shrouded in a wall of blurred wind, the power was unimaginable. Hao Ren watched as Lily ran to a small mound as soon as that area was only left with a trench. No one would doubt the werewolf girl's fighting power in this form, her power was now deadly.

Just like what Raven 12345 had mentioned, Lily was still conscious of her surroundings, but at the same time she was remarkably energetic. The werewolf girl (for the time being) must splurge on her excessive energy. Otherwise there will be no other way for her to return to her actual form. The exact principles are unknown, most likely related to the full moon... well, the power of hot strips. In short, in this case, Hao Ren and the other two tenants must have been here to watch a husky rolling and playing in a cute way. Well, this animal was undeniably rolling and playing adorably in Hao Ren's eyes.

"When will she calm down?" Vivian yawned and asked as she was a nocturnal creature. However, in order to prepare Lily for all the things she needed to evolve, she clearly had not gotten enough rest within these two days. She was a little sleepy at this moment.

"I just looked at the life habits of a Husky," Hao Ren pulled a long face while taking out the Mobile Data Terminal. The information was shown via a holographic projection. "Husky, lively and active, energetic, and has strong curiosity. When it starts playing, it usually does not obey the orders of the owner or anyone else. A healthy adult husky can play up to three or four hours or even a longer period. Well, it did not mention what will happen when a husky evolves, however I just recalled Lily's typical behavior, I believe her actions matches everything in this description."

Vivian knelt down in dismay. She rummaged from the bag and said, "Why didn't I think of it before… Just look at her usual behavior. I should have guessed that this girl faces problems. You see, I have prepared so much incense for her, and now it's useless."

Hao Ren was waiting boringly for Lily to transform back to her usual self after she eventually felt tired. At that instant, he got an idea and said, "Wait! This might work!"

"These?" Vivian weighed a few pieces of incense up and down in her hand, which emanated a strong aroma. "They're made for werewolves, but they don't work on huskies."

"How would you know if you didn't try?" Hao Ren reached out and grabbed several pieces of 'herbal cake'. "Now we have to calm Lily down as soon as possible. She's too loud. Even if this place is essentially remote, it's unlikely to guarantee that no one will be attracted here. How do we apply this anyway?"

"You want to attempt to it?" Vivian pulled the corners of her mouth and said. "It's simple. Just heat it. Light the bottom with charcoal and the incense will burn slowly. But we have to let the big dog stay quietly at one corner first. The range of incense is limited after all."

"Isn't that easy?" Hao Ren looked up at Lily and said, "She's just gamboling, she is still capable of understanding our words. It should be alright to let her calm down for a few minutes. You two, whoever is able to quiet her down?"

Y'zaks and Vivian glanced at each other. At the end, the big demon sighed and said, "I'll go, I have thick skin."

Y'zaks ran to Lily and tried to persuade her while Hao Ren immediately started setting up the "rite scene" along with Vivian. They prepared and placed the metal box in advance, setting it up in a large open space, while burning the tangy herbal cakes with charcoal. Soon, the place was filled with a drowsy scent. Vivian's special incense was really treasure. Nevertheless, it still worked even in this sort of open environment. Hao Ren has began starting to feel a little drowsy even after his body was enhanced.

Hao Ren hoped that Lily did not have strong resistance to the scent. If she followed the standard playing time of a Husky and kept on playing, the sun will rise soon...

The communication between Y'zaks and Lily was quite smooth. The big demon was not scratched by Lily as well. Although the werewolf girl was particularly excited, she did not lose her senses and could still recognize her housemates. When she saw acquaintances approaching her, she would calm herself down naturally.

However, it did not last longer than expected. Lily was completely unable to stay calm and sit still. Basically, she could only maintain her concentration for approximately one minute and that is why she would start running and playing around again before Vivian could finish her words previously.

Y'zaks quickly led Lily into a range of incense along with the precious one minute period when Lily was able to calm down. Next, the three of them will find ways together to allow Lily to sit amidst the incense.

The giant husky was finally calmed. She sat properly for more than 10 meters ahead of Hao Ren. Her head, still twitching from left to right curiously, observing her surroundings with a new height. Her tail was wagging in a briskly way which helped to diffuse the incense thoroughly. Perhaps Lily was just playing a little too hard just now, therefore, she felt a little hot this instance. She put her tongue out and continuously panting herself out. This seemed to be a good in a sense that Lily nearly inhaled most of the aroma around her and this even suffocated Hao Ren as he stepped two steps forward... The big dog's lung capacity was huge.

Vivian looked at Lily nervously. Soon she realised that the giant husky began to slowly doze off, and the forceful beast in the air was also dispersing little by little. The incense worked!

"This is prepared specifically for werewolves ..." Vivian was surprised and continued, "It works on huskies as well?"

Hao Ren shrugged and said, "Wolves and and huskies are close relatives after all."

"…Werewolf, wolf, husky, husky-turns-human, they are basically four species alright," said Vivian in a serious manner. "There may have some blood relationship between huskies and wolves, but the other two... What the heck is this?"

Yes, what the heck is this? Probably this was about to be an unsolved mystery for a long period of time and the current major issue was that the incense actually worked.

The two-story-tall giant figure was smoked for several minutes within the haze. She barely could resist the drowsiness, wobbled and fell like a mountain. "Bang!" Even the ground was shaking thoroughly. Hao Ren saw the huge figure of Lily which began to shrink rapidly in the haze. She was finally turning back into human form.

However, before Hao Ren could see what was going on exactly, Y'zaks and himself were chased away by Vivian. The vampire lady ordered them with power like a master of the house, "You two, step aside, turn your back and don't peek! My little bats are watching you. Whoever peep shall have nothing to eat tomorrow!"

Hao Ren could roughly guessed what was happening. He quickly dragged Y'zaks and ran off to an area far away from that hideous place and waited. The big demon asked while squatting at his spot, "What happen?"

"Just don't look there," Hao Ren said. But then he thought of the big demon's race and with his instinctive curiosity, he shook his head and said, "It's difficult for you to understand. Our aesthetic standards are different."

Y'zaks, "?"

The two of them loitered around for a bit when all of a sudden, fluttering of a bat's wings was heard and approached them from close by.

Sure enough, this was Lily's first encounter with such a thorough transformation. Therefore, the relevant professional skills are not thoroughly skilled. Her clothes were scrapped. Fortunately, they had an attentive vampire back home. Vivian even remembered to prepare a replacement dress for Lily. Although the two of them were constantly having conflicts, however Vivian's kindness was shown at this critical moment.

"Landlord landlord!" Lily had recovered soon enough after she was free from the incenses' range. She jumped out of Vivian's arms and onto the ground happily, grasped upon Hao Ren's arm, shook it vigorously and asked, "How was it? I'm very formidable right!"

At this instance, Hao Ren suddenly realised a highly difficult problem. Lily had been so excited that she began gamboling around and had no idea what she had become.

Now, as Lily's temporary guardian, he must find a way to explain the truth to this unfortunate girl...

"Now, I would rather find that crazy woman to perish together!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 93: Am I Really A Husky?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Although her origins seemed a little peculiar, as a 'werewolf', Lily had good physical quality. Even after she was forced to transform back to her human form, perhaps due to the strong effects of the incense, she stood energetic as before. Right after she had turned back into human, she started chasing after Hao Ren and Vivian to gather more details about her transformation. Well, the basic idea was: I'm very powerful, right?

To be honest, looking from another perspective… That's pretty powerful.

Of course Vivian would seize the opportunity to dampen the spirit of Lily. "Don't get too excited. You have to figure out a solution for clothing issues. You'll ruin the clothes that you're wearing every single time you transform into another being. I'm not your nanny. I won't mingle with you all day just to bring you new clothes."

Lily was calmer now. Looking upon the new clothes she was wearing, prepared by Vivian, she was grateful to the vampire whom she had always had a little prejudice of. In a very rare occasion, the werewolf girl thanked Vivian. "Thank you, I wasn't expecting this to happen... But how do you usually solve this problem? It's amazing that you often transform into a swarm of bats easily..."

"I'm using magic," Vivian shrugged and did not assume it was a big deal. "It's a very simple trick for me, but I'm afraid it's difficult for you. But then again, it seems that there are no other options to solve this problem with magic. Other high order blood clans are directly using enchanted fabric to manufacture clothes to resolve this issue. Those types of clothing can be integrated with all forms of the body after being recharged, and it won't cause damages at all. As far as I know, I am the only one who has created the technique of wearing ordinary clothes without damaging the cloth while transforming. I'm such a genius."

Hao Ren glanced at Vivian strangely and asked, "Do you think you have lived long enough to feel free about yourself? Why did you pursue this?"

Vivian looked very serious and replied, "Because I'm poor."

Hao Ren paused for a moment. A moment later, he then realised what Vivian meant when she responded. Vivian could not afford to wear the common enchanted clothes of a vampire...

Well, this was a vampire who was so poor that she could not afford the clothes of her own clan and that she could only dig into all sorts of unorthodox ways to save money. What a dumb werehusky whom she thought she was a werewolf for decades. Both of them were actually birds of the same feather, how could they have possibly despise each other?

Hao Ren waved to Lily and said, "Lily, there is one thing I have to tell you... I hope you're mentally prepared."

Lily jumped to Hao Ren happily at once and said, "Just say it, my mental ability is constantly fit! Is the rent increasing next month?"

What a nice girl she is. She had not realised that she was the only tenant in the house who paid the rent on time. Trustworthy girls like this were really hard to find these days. Looking at the pure smile on Lily's face, Hao Ren could not bare his heart to tell her the truth, nevertheless he gritted his teeth and said, "Lily, are you familiar with huskies?"

"Yes, the dumbass Husky," said Lily while smiling. "Merely stupid but entertaining enough. Landlord, do you want to keep one? No problem, I'll have a look out for you. I promise to find you a good one…"

Hao Ren slapped himself on the forehead and said, "Damn, I can't do it."

Vivian looked even more reluctant than Hao Ren. She sighed, looked up to see the sinking moon, and threw the huge pouch between her feet to the Y'zaks and said, "If you can't mention it now, then tell her after we have returned. Let's pack up and go home. We've been out long enough. "

Lily looked at Vivian and Hao Ren with confusion. She could not figure out why both of them seemed hesitated. Fortunately, she stopped focusing on the problem in a wink of time, then started running around merrily and helped the others pack up their stuff. After all, she was a Husky.

Hao Ren seemed troubled after having a glimpse at the messy spots and asked, "What are we going to do here? This place looks like a bombed scene and 100-metered-radius sinkhole is placed over there. I'm afraid trouble will approach soon if we don't tidy up."

Y'zaks immediately knew that it was his turn to do something. He yelled, and with sparks gushing out from his mouth, "All of you step back…"

Hao Ren slapped against the Y'zaks back (the force was so hard that it numbed his hand) and asked, "Could you please avoid using meteorites at all?"

"Forget it, just leave it there," said Vivian. "Just some big pits. There are no supernatural substances left, people can't figure out any way from this. Or it will affect locals who stole the loess to be fined again. Hurry up! I am not willing to stand here any longer. The incense makes me dizzy... The incense seems a little too strong."

So with "Lily's Hyper-evolution", which left Hao Ren speechless, has ended satisfactorily. Four of them carried the bags and left the unrecognisable land, leaving only the pungent incense which can vanish itself in the morning, along with the gullies and big pits on the ground. This is sure to become another hot topic of the old folks who live around the southern suburbs in the next few days, however, it does not have nothing to do with Hao Ren.

The full moon was gradually sinking, starlight began fading gently, and the wilderness has silenced , everything seemed to have settled here. Soon, a cloud of dark smoke suddenly appeared from nowhere, and compiled into an unusual tall figure by the edge of the big pit which was caused by Lily.

The tall, muscular figure remain shrouded in a shadow. The details of the figure's face were then blurred. Judging from his stature, that he was a rather strong man. This unknown figure was standing beside the pit within hundred meters, sniffing to distinguish a certain scent that lingered in the air. The man spit and said, "Tsk, such a half-baked, they even used the wrong incense in the ritual."

Right after the man stopped speaking, another cloud of dark mist drifted from nowhere, and condensed into a somewhat smaller figure. This man's face was hidden in the shadows. He stooped over to pick up a piece of residual spice and shoved it into his mouth and said, "The formula is right, but it's not meant for the coming-of-age ritual. The younger generations has become rather disappointing. Can you verify which family's descendant is this?"

" I don't think anyone cares about family backgrounds these days," the tall man answered and laughed. "You can't pick information up from those old-school folks. The world is getting drastically difficult than ever. It's not easy to survive, not to mention the kid who just became an adult. Whatever family it belongs to, we have to seek upon different ways to get in contact with it. In my opinion, the scenes of the ritual... the arrangement was rather confusing and it didn't follow the actual rules. That one person who conducted the coming-of-age ritual here is probably an orphan. If there was a 'parent' whom is able to guide it from aside, it couldn't have used the wrong incense."

The shorter man spitted out the incense dreg from his mouth. He waved his hand just before he proceeded and said, "Begin analyzing the situation first. I'm gonna throw up."

The tall man waited for his companion to return, pointing towards the direction of the town and said, "The smell of residual incense here is too heavy, I can roughly judge that they are heading towards that direction, we'll head straight for them and will start the search separately tomorrow."

"Why don't we hunt for them now? They may not have gone far…"

"It is said that one or two demon hunters have been appearing in this area recently. Without an doubt, they're surely attracted by the half-baked youths. Taking action at night will cause us to be easily targeted by them. Remember, we have to behave like humans, and in this way we are able to live longer."

"The Demon Hunter…" The short man sighed and looked up at the sinking moon, he then turned into a puff of dark mist and dissipated into mid air.

"The Demon Hunter…"

Along with a sigh, another puff of dark mist faded away too.

They have returned and knew nothing about what has happened in the wilderness. And now they're about to face another tricky problem.

Lily was sitting on the sofa in the centre of the living room with looks of despair. She wanted to reconfirm with the three of them and asked, "Do all of you clearly see that... it's a husky?"

"You are a veterinarian, and you specialise in dogs," said Hao Ren while pulling out the Mobile Data Terminal from his pocket and continued, "This is the video we took after you've evolved. Watch it and examine it. Our words won't count, you'll have to see for yourself."

The Mobile Data Terminal activated a shield to protect itself in case Lily got angry and bit it to pieces, and then it turned on the holographic projection cautiously, showing the footage recorded two hours ago.

A mighty, domineering, powerful, handsome and lovely… husky was galloping in the wilderness where pits were seen everywhere on the ground. She was gamboling, rolling, digging, and running around with a stone in her mouth. The husky was exceptionally good with the four basic skills.

Lily's tears were rolling down her cheeks on the spot. "Am I really a husky…"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 94: Not Just Any Husky

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ever since yesterday, Lily had been isolating in her room. She hadn't responded to anyone.

Vivian made breakfast ready; in fact it was more like lunch than a breakfast since Lily only woke up at ten. Realizing Lily wasn't at the table, she glanced at the bedroom door and asked, "Is Doggie OK?"

"After going through such emotional shock, she needed sometime alone." said Hao Ren as he filled up his bowl with rice. "I'll send in her breakfast. I'm afraid that you're the last person she would want to see at the moment. It's just too embarrassing."

"Why is that?" Vivian hadn't gotten the message.

Hao Ren spread his hands as he said, "The vampire is still a vampire, but the werewolf that she have always been proud of turned out to be a husky. Her self-esteem must have hit rock bottom. She's too embarrassed."

"Feeling less important? I don't think she would have thought of that deeply in mind," Vivian sat beside Hao Ren as she tossed a ham to Rollie. "What's more, our relationship isn't as tense as you've imagined. No doubt we have had quarrels but we aren't sworn enemies, there isn't enough reason for her to not face me. Those are my thoughts."

No one knows what goes on within Lily's mind except herself. But considering how sensitive she is as a person, it was kind of hard to tell what was in her mind; Hao Ren thought as he took a long sigh. After being a day of cold-eyed bystander, all of a sudden, Y'zaks chimed in. "Although I don't know what the heck 'Husky' is, but that little girl's really sad?"

"It's hard to explain what it feels like when a werewolf discovers it isn't a werewolf at all, but a husky." Hao Ren was being honest. But Y'zaks was dismissive, "It isn't hard to understand. I knew a demon team leader whom thought to himself that all this while he was the offspring of a fallen angel, but I hadn't had the courage to tell him that his wings was in fact a deformity caused by dystopia..."

Hao Ren: "... I'll send Lily her breakfast."

He took the meal, came to her doorstep, and knocked twice. There wasn't any response.

"Hey, Lily, it's me." Hao Ren knocked a little harder this time. "I brought you breakfast, could you please open the door? We can talk over it after you have your breakfast..."

Before his voice trailed off, the door swung open. Lily was standing there, yawning. "Landlord, meal time isn't it?"

"... just woke up?" asked Hao Ren.

"Yep!"

"We were knocking on your door..."

"I didn't hear it."

"..."

Not a slight bit of sadness was written on her sleepy face. He didn't know what to make out of it, as they've been worried for nothing since last night and till this morning. Lily had been sleeping like a log.

Hao Ren had wanted to ask but he didn't: was the dumb husky in such a hurry to show off its natural instinct after knowing her real identity last night?

Lily didn't have a clue about the dramatic expression written on Hao Ren's face. She took her breakfast over to the table and started gobbling until she was completely stuffed. "Burrrp! I'm done!"

"Have your brains been short-circuited?" Vivian stared at Lily in amazement before patting her head. She said, "Doggie, do you remember what happened last night?"

Lily's facial expression changed after hearing that, and that was a good sign—it proved that she hadn't gone insane. Her eyes took a quick sweep of her surroundings before glacing upon Hao Ren. "Landlord... am I really a husky?"

"Nothing is as truthful than this, don't run away from it, Lily." Vivian answered on behalf of Hao Ren. "Think about it, wolves and huskies are close relatives, so do werewolves and werehuskies. Think of yourself as a minority within the werewolf race."

"The only werehusky in the werewolf race?" Lily gave out an astonished face while counting her fingers. "Why am I the only husky...?"

"Who knows, there could be a husky branch in the werewolf race?" Vivian tried to comfort her. "Look, huskies evolved from wolves, as they came from the same family a few hundred years ago. So a werehusky spin-off from werewolves is entirely possible."

"Well, that sounds a little out of this world." Hao Ren whispered to Y'zaks.

"But I think she's got a point." said Y'zaks as he nodded.

Hao Ren: "..."

Lily hasn't gotten used to think about such complex situations, she had completely lost the thread. In the end, she shrugged it off and said, "Forget it, I'm happy with my life, after all it has got nothing to do with food and sleep."

Hao Ren looked at Lily in amazement: she's more husky than a husky when it comes to thinking, and as naive as one could ever get.

"I've go an idea, I know how to verify your identity in the most accurate way." As a vampire, Vivian had been color-blind species-wise. She reached out and held Lily by her hand to offer her help. "Appearance can be deceiving while the MDT could have messed things up, but I've got a reliable way to do that."

Lily's ears stood up as she listened. "How?"

"Allow me to suck your blood."

Lily shook off Vivian's hand and hid behind Hao Ren. "Battie, mind what you say! I thought I could treat you as a friend?"

"Look how tense you've become," Vivian gave Lily an oblique glance. "It's just like getting a blood test done in the hospital, I'd only take a sip for testing purposes. I'm not saying I feast on it. Look, if you decline my offer, you won't find similar services elsewhere, and that will leave you no choice but to visit a vet. Where on earth could you find a vet who would do a werewolf and werehusky verification?"

Something told Hao Ren that MDT analysis was way better than Vivian's homemade formula. But after pondering for some time, Lily chose to buy upon Vivian's idea. "Alright, let's make it upfront, just one bite, or else I'll bite back. You know my teeth is sharper than yours."

A teeth fight between a husky and a vampire— how cute could the maiden get?

Vivian was all smiles as she slowly walked up to Lily. Lily's tail straightened as she instinctively curled herself up on the couch. "Where... are you going to bite?"

"As per our clan's custom—the neck. Of course I'd bite the arm if you're scared."

"What's there to be afraid of? Here's my neck... Oh, wait a second, have you brushed your teeth yet?"

"The teeth of the esteemed Blood Clan are sterile. No worries, in fact they're cleaner than a clean room."

"...rinse your mouth first, at least."

"Stop the bullsh*t! Here you go, close your eyes!"

"Awww!"

Before Lily could finish her trashy talk, Vivian had sunk her fangs into Lily's neck, and the werewolf girl could only force out a short cry of surprise. Hao Ren stood by aside and watched throughout as the two beautiful lasses were entangled together on the couch, which led out an imagination of the blooming lilies' scene... what a waste.

Anyway, Vivian kept her word as she had only sucked a small amount of blood out of Lily's neck. It took less than a few seconds before Vivian got to her feet. She smacked her mouth appreciating the after-taste. A strange hot flush appeared on Lily's face as she looked at Vivian quizzically. "How's that?"

Vivian's expression slowly changed from calm to frowning. Lily tensed up when she saw the odd expression on Vivian's face. "Please don't scare me... how was it?"

"I think my understanding of the world is still very limited," said Vivian as she quietly distanced herself away from Lily. "There're two things, neither which I know is good news nor bad news. First, you're definitely a husky, I swear by the name of Blood Clan. I've never made a mistake when it comes to blood identification."

Lily had prepared herself mentally, so she hadn't got a problem with the first news. "What about the second?"

"...I had also identified a one-sixteenth Pekingese bloodline."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 95: A Pair of Claws

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

There were several advantages to Lily's husky lineage, it granted her a strong and sturdy nerve with an open-minded attitude. Hao Ren sensed that the maiden had become so open-minded that she wouldn't have minded if someone threatened to exterminate her family. Thanks to this open-minded perspective of hers, Lily didn't pass out when Vivian broke the news of her one-sixteenth Pekingese bloodline.

But it was Hao Ren who had collapsed and fallen to the floor.

Hao Ren's reaction had been more intense. When he got up from the floor, he scurried over and asked Vivian, "What did you just say? What does this Pekingese bloodline mean?"

Vivian had been calmer all this while, after all, she had been through a lot in life. "Even a werehusky could become a werewolf, what's there to be surprise about the Pekingese bloodline? Who knows, besides the husky breed, there's a Pekingese sub-breed within the werewolf race?"

"What has gotten into werewolves in today's world?" asked Hao Ren.

"Get over it. It isn't just you, I'm equally surprised." Vivian gave a pat on Hao Ren's shoulder. "Frankly, I've never seen a 'werewolf' like her in me entire life... but the truth has written on your face, other than that we could only guess."

"I think Lily isn't a werewolf after all," clearing his trashy thoughts. Hao Ren began to speak with a clear state of mind, "werehusky is of enough b*llsh*t. Now what? Pekingese? I wouldn't buy that sub-breed crap."

Lily curiously glanced at Hao Ren and then Vivian. "Then who am I?"

Hao Ren held Lily's hand tightly and said, "You're a real husky... Let's not talk about this anymore, shall we?"

"OK." Lily thought about it but she couldn't come up with an explanation to this unexpected situation. The take-the-easy-way-out got the best of her, she nodded as if she had accepted her fate. "Then, what should I do from now on?"

"Just live however you like." said Vivian. "You've been living your life as you've always been, with or without husky bloodlines. Moreover at our current stage where the-other-beings are on the sideline, even the aristocrats of the Blood Clan are near extinction; given at such circumstances, would anyone still talk about bloodlines? It's not that a pure bloodline could feed your stomach though. Living in peace is the best thing anyone could do for now."

Vivian had always been looking on the bright side of things. As a pauper herself, her ultimate life goal was to have a warm meal a day and she was contented with it—such perception on life was what Lily needed right now.

Nothing had worried the werewolf maiden like this time around. May the force of the husky bloodline be with her. While Lily was sitting on the couch, while engrossing herself thinking about life, Hao Ren took the opportunity to chave a chat with Vivian. "How did you figure out the one-sixteenth Pekingese bloodline? Granted vampire has the talent... you would still have to understand what Pekingese bloodline is all about in the first place."

Vivian gave a slight smile. "I had tasted Pekingese's blood before. I've no problem identifying the different hereditary characteristics of felines and canines."

Hao Ren was stunned. "You drank the blood of dogs and cats? Why?"

"Because of poverty."

Hao Ren: "..."

It was hard to imagine how many times Vivian was left to starve in the past, the only reason she could still survive to this day was because of the rich biodiversity on Earth.

"Let's talk about something more pleasant, Doggie." said Vivian. She quickly steered the topic away as she felt that her humble past wasn't something to be proud of. "Do you feel any changes? Besides atavism, have you gained any new abilities after the evolution?"

Hearing that, Lily was overjoyed and wagged her tail. "Ta-da, look at his..."

The werewolf maiden raised her hands up in the air, mimicking a claw posture. And, this astounding thing happened:

A strange glow of light wreathed upon her hands. It slowly transformed into something substantial. In one hand, the glow was cold and icy blue while in the other it was hot and blazing red. The glows slowly extended out from each of her hands and stopped when it reached half-a-metre long where they began to gradually 'condense' into a solid state and formed into claws which looked like a weapon.

The claw on the left was cold and icy blue, while the right one was so hot that people could feel it from as far as two meters away. Apart from the contrasting colors, both claws were identical in shapes and sizes, it looked similarly to a customized weapon in the shape of wolf claws.

"This is it!" said Lily happily. "I had dreamed about myself getting these claws last night, didn't expect it was true! Isn't it beautiful?"

Vivian: "..."

"What's wrong?" Hao Ren noticed that the vampire maiden had fallen into an unusual silence.

"It's beyond comprehension!" Vivian's facial expression seemed bizarre from what she saw, it was beyond description. She looked at Lily as though she was a monster. "These claws are all you've got after all the troubles of evolving? They don't seem to be the result of your transformation last night! I thought you would've gained some special abilities, like what every other werewolf did when they become an adult. But you... you have gotten only two claws?!"

"I don't know." Poking her face with her claw, Lily was somewhat worried. "Werewolves get a pair of new claws too as they grow up, don't they? If not, does it mean my evolution process has gone wrong?"

Hao Ren quickly chimed in. "There's nothing wrong with you. You're a husky. It's not fair to compare with them..."

Lily: "..."

"Let it be." Vivian waved as if she gave up. "Even a husky could be this epic, there's nothing that couldn't be done. For now, two things are assured— one, you could either transform into a giant fighter husky just by eating a truck load of spicy strip; or two, you could reinforce your claws as a werewolf. Right?"

Lily nodded proudly in agreement. "Yes, awesome!"

Now Vivian felt that she couldn't possibly involve Doggie in the normal sense, so she danced to her tune instead as she waved to Lily. "Okay, let me take a look at your claws, I might find out whether there are traces of science or magic in there."

"OK." Lily nodded happily as she took down the claws. "Have a look, but be careful. The red one is hot. Although I didn't feel a thing, you might get hurt."

After a night of hoo-ha, it seemed that Lily and Vivian were finally starting to compromise and show acts of concern for each other. This wasn't the focus of the story, however. It was the moment when Lily detached her claws, the whole house turned eerily quiet.

"This... this thing is detachable?!" Vivian's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "You could remove them?"

Hao Ren was speechless. He had again found himself light years away before his worldview could be rebuilt—it might take a lifetime if he kept hanging around with his strange tenants.

"Of course it's detachable." Lily nodded as a matter of fact. "They don't grow on my arm—they're hand-held."

"How the heck is that possible at all? I've never seen such things in my life..." Vivian's mouth somewhat cringed to aside. She mumbled as she reached out for the strange husky claws. However, the moment her hands touched the claws, her hands immediately backed off as if she got an electric shock. "Whoa... it's hot!"

The claws itself weren't harmful to Lily. The discharge of coldness and heat weren't an illusion. Both of them, especially the red hot claw, weren't something one—not even Vivian—could handle.

Vivian pulled her hands back while Lily loosen her grips of the divined weapon, Hao Ren called out in panic, "My..."

One of the claws fell onto the table, a thin layer of frost instantly formed and covered the entire surface; the other claw fell directly and got stuck within the table too, but it burned a hole through the table as if it was sticking a red-hot knife into a butter.

"...table..." At last, Hao Ren shouted out the remaining words.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 96: An Unusual Stranger

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

If Hao Ren's memory was accurate, this was the third time that Lily and Vivian's scuffle had ended up with broken furniture. It has been fine and dandy that Lily was paying her rent promptly and Vivian being a rather decent cook, nevertheless Hao Ren would go broke at this rate buying new furniture to replace.

Retracting her claws, Lily folded herself into a ball of fur awkwardly on the sofa. Vivian let out a deep sigh, "You'll be paying for this. I don't have the money."

Lily's response was surprisingly fast, "So much for the pride of a vampire."

Vivian shrugged her off, "Oh, I do have my pride as a vampire, just that I'm broke."

Hao Ren looked forlornly at the broken table that he had just bought two days ago. Upon hearing Vivian's nonchalant declaration of 'No Money', he too let out a sigh. "Forget about it. I'll send a report to Raven12345. If we are lucky, we might be able to make a claim."

The two instantly lit up with a cheer. Vivian had given up asking Lily about her claws and went about doing her house chores. Lily on the other hand was fiddling with her new army knife.

A few ordinary days had passed after that.

Lily had recovered almost too fast from the devastating revelation of being a werehusky. She didn't seem too disturbed by the fact and by day two, Lily was out and about looking for something to munch on. That itself gave Hao Ren a considerable measure of relief, that cheerful yet naïve of an idiot is back to herself.

After that experience, Hao Ren and the others concluded that Lily was not the kind of person that you'll need to fret about. Just look at how well she is able to weather a revelation that would normally dampen someone out. So what's there to worry about? Blessed be the fool for she knows no sorrow. Having to worry so much about a husky just made Hao Ren laughed.

With him confirming that Lily was in a good condition, everyone in the house returned to their normal routines. Hao Ren was mucking about as per normal, and was now in charge of grocery shopping. Y'zaks was busy studying the various cultures of the earthlings, hopefully being able to assimilate into crowds (with that face of his though... tough luck), Lily had a rather regimented routine, she was busy writing on odd days, and out playing veterinarian on even days. Vivian, aside from being in charge of the household chores, was currently guiding Lily on how to control and mold her new profound powers. Nevertheless, figuring out a way to prevent clothes from being ripped off during her transformation...

Hao Ren's view on the routine was, let live and let be; as long as they don't tear the house down.

Thus came the third day of Lily's post-transformation. Hao Ren was out shopping. The weather was getting colder by the day, with overcast and rain forecasted. General temperature of the area are also falling fast, Hao Ren realized that he needed to stock up on necessities.

This time around, he left Y'zaks at home, even though the demon was eager to help. Hao Ren thought that it would be better to let the people around his place to familiarize with that horrifying face of Y'zaks before taking him out again to town. Chances are people would mistake that giant of a man for a fugitive and Hao Ren as his hostage...

As he was about to cross a road, Hao Ren saw another huge hunk of a foreigners walking towards him.

Standing at a pleasant 190cm tall, the man was muscular. He donned a long windbreaker with curly locks. Hao Ren couldn't tell exactly which country he was from (granted, a country bumpkin like Hao Ren barely knew any foreigners, with English as an exception) but the ash-blue eyes left an impression on Hao Ren. As he walked towards the man, Hao Ren took a few glimpse.

A foreigner in the Southern Suburbs is almost as rare as a wild panda. Hao Ren even doubted that the town had any foreign visitors previously. Well, he was one of the rare whom had non-human guests at home, which had made acquaintances with aliens, therefore he did not pay too much attention. He gotten on his foot as soon as he caught a few good glances of the man. As he was about to step away, the man spoke. "Please hold on."

With a rather off pronunciation, it can be clearly identified as Mandarin.

"Oh? Do you need directions?" Hao Ren curiously looked at the foreigner who could speak Mandarin.

"I'm Casar Ebben." The stranger introduced himself in a friendly manner as he held his hand out for a handshake. "I'm a small time businessman in town for a work trade . Can you direct me to the registration office for foreigners report themselves?"

Hao Ren shook the proffered hand, muttering to himself based on the size of the man's palm. He thought for a while, "You might wanna go to the local police station... Walk to the end of the street and turn left, you'll find the place towards the ending of the street. But I'm not sure if they are able to help you with that, might need to visit the city for it."

"Oh, got it. Thanks, buddy!" Casar smiled, but he held Hao Ren's hand tight. Hao Ren noticed that he was sniffing from time to time, perhaps out of habit, but he felt like the man was trying to get a whiff of his scent. Sensing a chill going down his spine, Hao Ren shook his hand free, "Ah.. you're welcome. Hahaha..."

Casar nodded with a smile and walked towards the opposite direction. As he walk past Hao Ren, took a deep breath, and left a rather ominous, "Good Luck."

Hao Ren held his breath until the man was out of sight before releasing a loud sigh, he felt goosebumps were all over him. His rather good mood had been utterly ruined by the thought that he could have ran into a homosexual.

The encounter in the morning had Hao Ren in twists, he quickly completed his shopping and headed home. As he stepped into the house compound, he saw Lily and Vivian practicing Lily's new ability. The table had mounds of raw lamb meat and Lily was using her ice claws to freeze the meat and shatter it into small tiny bits. She then used her flame claw to roast the meat, with Vivian doing the seasoning by the side...

It was obvious that Lily had trouble controlling her new-found abilities, and there were plentiful chunks of charred, or frozen solid meat scattered about. Vivian however, was enthusiastically cheering her on. "You can do it! Once you have gotten used to this, you'll be quicker than those stalls selling lamb skewers down town. When the time comes, I'll set up a stall to sell these yummy treats while you grill them at home... I'll be rich in no time... OH? You're back, Mr Landlord?"

"... Can't you two do something more worthy of your kind?" Hao Ren stepped up and stroked Lily's head. "... Lily is one thing, but surely you have your vampiric pride to think of no?"

Lily didn't dodge off when Hao Ren started stroking her head. For once, she actually stood sides with Vivian, "I think Battie's idea is pretty neat. She is annoying, but she's smart too... Say... why had you been constantly stroking my head for the past two days?"

Hao Ren quickly lifted his hand. After hiding out Lily's real identity, he couldn't help himself with the odd habits he's picking up.

"Sigh, what an awful day." Hao Ren felt that there was something fishy behind Vivian's gaze and quickly changed the topic. "I ran into bear-like foreigner who seemed to be a gay..."

Lily's ears perked up as she heard that, "OH? Mr Landlord, is it a start of a new life for you?"

Hao Ren shuddered as he caught Lily's gaze, it was full of ominous anticipation. He decided it was best to put a full stop to this and said, "What's with that look. I'm straight as a ruler..."

Lily sighed deeply, "Man... I thought I had new writing materials just right beside me."

Thank goodness that Vivian did not follow Lily's lead in straying the conversation into an uncomfortable topic. She curiously said, "Let's hear about it. It's very rare to see a foreigner here."

"Oh, it is..." Hao Ren recounted the incident earlier that morning. He too felt something was off, "That guy spoke in a rather decent Mandarin. He should have been living here for some time then. It's a surprise that he doesn't know where to register himself..."

"Casar Ebben, you say?" Vivian took interest in the name as she frowned. She quickly shook her head, "Maybe it's just a coincidence..."

Hao Ren looked at Vivian curiously, "You know of that name?"

"I do know of an Ebben family." Vivian shrugged. "But the last I heard of them was about a hundred odd years back. They were a bunch of werewolves scheming to revive the fortunes of their kind. Not a pleasant bunch I must say... but their area of operation was in Europe and the Americas. You won't be able to find that many werewolves in Asia. They won't be bothering us."

While Vivian seemed to be unconcerned about it, Hao Ren quickly felt something unpleasant coming his way. This was common for him ever since he met Raven12345.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 97: Yet to Return

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Vivian's get-rich-quick scheme of selling lamb skewers with Lily, fell apart the next day. It was not due to the improbability of the plan but, due to Lily and her gluttonous appetite. The idiot literally gobbled up anything meaty in front of her, including those that were burnt. This habit was beyond correction and Vivian figured that she could no longer do business, at least in the FB sector with the werehusky.

Speaking of Lily, the dumb werehusky was rather pleased with her newfound abilities. While no one could clearly explain how she came to obtain her pair of detachable elemental claws, Lily herself did not pay too much attention to that part. She only knew that the claws of unknown properties were very nifty to have and busily practiced everyday. With that said though, to onlookers, it looked more like she was just jumping around and slashing at air.

Hao Ren could understand why Lily was so excited. The idiot previously had nothing but brute strength, quite literally all brawn and no brains. According to Vivian, most werewolves would have developed a skill or two, such as Poisoncraft or Shadow stalking and the likes—some sort of minor magic. Lily had no inkling or skill in that discipline. As she did not encounter any other supernaturals previously, she did not feel like she lost out on anything. However, after being told about her race by Vivian, it was natural that she felt incomplete, compounded with the revelation that came with her evolution. At the very least, she managed to obtain some form of special ability now. Who could blame her for being giddy about it?

The next morning, Hao Ren was out to town, going about his routine. He bought some pork ribs and spicy sticks, which Lily loved. He also got some new kitchenware and fresh vegetables for Vivian. He felt more and more like a babysitter for the two supernatural ladies instead of a normal landlord. But he was not complaining; all the expenses incurred by the two could be claimed from Raven 12345. His main duty was to keep his tenants happy. A job that did not need him to crack his head all too often was very appealing.

When he got home, he noticed Y'zaks was missing.

"Where did he go?"

The great demon was usually glued to the television at this hour, studying about the norms of humanity. It seemed so routine that his absence was the first thing that caught Hao Ren's attention when he got home.

"The big one went out," Vivian said as she vacuumed the hall. "Said something about looking for things to do and that he was bored to death at home."

Hao Ren was just about to nod when something clicked, "Huh, wait, what? He went out? Why didn't you stop him?"

"Why would I?" Vivian raised an eyebrow at Hao Ren. "It's not like this place is a prison."

Hao Ren found himself tongue-tied and was hard pressed to describe the commotion one like Y'zaks could bring. Furthermore, Vivian was right. This was not a prison and its tenants were free to go out. He should not be restricting Y'zaks movements just because of his looks. Frankly speaking, Y'zaks had already done a good job changing from a five-meter tall, great demon into a two-meter tall man. While his facial features left much to be desired, you could not fault the man for not trying.

Hao Ren finally relented and shrugged. "I just hope he doesn't run into trouble with the police. If I'm around, at the very least I can try to talk him out of trouble... Oh right, did he say when he would be coming back?"

At that same instance, Lily came out of her room, lugging a small box. Having overheard the conversation, she quipped, "He said he wanted to see the city center. He was sleeping in an alternate dimension when he was in England so he didn't manage to see anything. He'll be back by noon at the earliest, evening the latest. He also said he wanted to try eating outside, to get used to human society.

Hao Ren felt something was off and asked, "Does he have any money?"

Lily nodded, "Yep, I lent him 200 bucks."

That gave Hao Ren some measure of relief but, he really hoped that Y'zaks did not get himself into trouble or else he would probably have to bail him out from the lock-up.

For someone who could cause a ruckus akin to a robbery at the supermarket, imagine the attention he would attract, walking down the streets. Plus, he opted to go to the city center for his first visit... Heh heh heh...

"You're going out as well?" Hao Ren only then realised that Lily was lugging a box and dressed to go out. So, he decided to ask.

Lily nodded. "Yep, made an appointment with Green Bean. Gonna meet him later at 9.30 for a check-up.

Hao Ren looked confused for a while before he realised that Green Bean was a stray dog that lived nearby. Most of the strays in the area did not have names but, after Lily, the kind veterinarian arrived, all of them had names now. Green Bean was a pastoral hound with an issue with its hind legs. The name came about as Lily saw it biting on a green bean popsicle. It was a regularly in Lily's care.

Every time Lily mentioned about the strays in the Southern Suburbs, Hao Ren needed some time to process the information. In the idiot's eyes, there was no differences between man and dogs. Hence, every time she talked about her patients, she sounded like she was talking about a person. The other time when Lily was having dinner with Hao Ren, she told him King Lionheart, that lived nearby, mentioned him frequently. Hao Ren was stunned for a good few moments until it dawned on him that King Lionheart was the Chow Chow from the Zhang family living behind. He almost thought that he was actually related to someone from the House of Plantagenet in Europe.

Vivian set the vacuum cleaner down and pointed towards the pork ribs on the table. "Coming back by noon?"

Lily swallowed her saliva and nodded excitedly. "Yes! Yes! Battie don't you go eating my ribs!"

"Why would I eat dog food in the first place?" Vivian said as she left for the kitchen. "If you're coming back by noon, then I'll be putting the meat to stew. It should be ready by noon."

Hao Ren was pleasantly surprised by the cordial conversation the two were having and quipped, "You two sure are getting along well!"

As expected, the two ladies screeched in unison. "Who's getting along with that Doggie/Battie?!"

Hao Ren laughed out loud and after some coaxing, managed to get Lily out of the house for her appointment with Green Bean. After that, he lay on the sofa and turned on the MDT, checking if Raven 12345 had replied to his report.

He had completed the report the day after Lily completed her transformation. The report was rather literal in its description of a werewolf transforming into a husky. While Raven 12345 was unpredictable at the best of times, he expected her to have some sort of reaction to the report. He was grossly mistaken on that account as the report was just marked as 'read' without any further comments.

He then tried to contact Raven 12345 but, was greeted by an automated message that sounded divine at first but was quite literally bullsh*t. "The Celestial that you are looking for is not at home. Please leave a message after the beep. For believers who require immediate assistance, please use the self-help prayer system. For military personnel requiring immediate assistance, please use the self-help reinforcement terminal. For inspectors requiring immediate assistance, please contact the closest combat group for assistance. If Hao Ren requires immediate assistance, please use your inner strength and faith to deal with it."

Hao Ren was dumbstruck.

"I have a suggestion," The MDT suddenly spoke. "You can take a knife to Madam 12345's office and challenge her magical servant to a duel. Then you destroy everything from the office to the information vault and then everything from the information vault to the generator room. After that, leave a message on the local channel calling her a lunatic."

"And that will let her see my ability and worth?"

"No, at least your death would be much more spectacular with your name appearing on the local channel's headlines."

Hao Ren demurred for a moment and passed the MDT to Vivian. "Put it in a pot and boil it for half an hour. Don't hold back on the parsley and coriander."

"I dare you to do it. Just you see, I'll drill a hole in your pot!"

The whole morning was a scene of Hao Ren and the MDT going back and forth. It was soon noon but there was no sight of Lily coming home.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 98: Kidnapped?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Hao Ren and Vivian waited for Lily until 12 o'clock in the afternoon but she still did not return.

Lily had a strong sense of time, at least, when it came to meal time. As a husky, she would not give anyone the opportunity to rob her of food. So usually, she would have reached home an hour before lunch time. This should have been the case, especially on that day. She told them earlier that she would reach home before noon. Therefore, this left Hao Ren puzzled.

"She's late for lunch for the first time." Vivian put the dishes on the table, looked at the gate oddly and said, "Has something happened?"

"I'll give her a call." Hao Ren took his cell phone out and dialed Lily's number. After a long while, he shook his head and said, "No one's answering the phone."

Vivian and Hao Ren looked at each other for a while. Finally, Vivian spoke first, "Does she have any other friends or places to go here?"

"No. Like you, she came here alone and she's not really familiar with this place." Hao Ren stood up slowly. He was getting more and more worried about Lily. He then said, "And usually she won't hide anything from us. If anything happens, she would call back to inform us at once. Is she in trouble now?"

"What could have happened to her? Her combat power isn't just for display," said Vivian. "You worry too much."

"You're right. She's a werewolf after all… at least she's a powerful dog."

Although Hao Ren said so, the feeling of uneasiness still lingered inside him and he did not know why he felt this way. Lily had only been out for a few hours and they just could not reach her for the time being/ It should not have tensed him up. However, deep inside, Hao Ren's sixth sense was telling him something was not right. His highly accurate sixth sense stirred inside him again. He was a little irritable but unsure of what to do.

"I'll release a few bats out and search the streets nearby." Watching Hao Ren feeling all fidgety, Vivian stood up, conjured a few black bats and said, "I kinda know the places she usually goes. If the bats can't find her, we will go out and look for her."

When Hao Ren was just about to nod, the phone sitting on the sofa's armrest suddenly rang. He quickly picked the phone up and found that the phone screen showed Lily's face, a white husky. Hao Ren changed Lily's picture for no reason the night before. The picture was a screenshot from the video of Lily's evolution two days ago.

"Hello, Lily?" Hao Ren waved to Vivian, signalling that Lily called. "Where are you? Why didn't you come back?"

"Landlord, Landlord, I met two psychos." Lily lowered her voice and spoke in a hushed tone, "Two foreigners. They said they're my 'parents' and want to take me home. I don't know where I am now."

Hao Ren was on alert at once and looked serious. Vivian also immediately leaned in and asked, "What's going on?"

Hao Ren signaled her not to speak and hurriedly asked, "Where are you now? What do the two foreigners look like? What did they tell you? Are you safe now?"

"I don't know where this place is." Lily's voice sounded as usual. It appeared that she was not hurt but confused about what had happened to her. "They're so secretive. I can't understand what they're talking about. By the way, one of them is very tall, about 1.9 meters in height, strong like a bear and the other man is about the same size as you, with a hooked nose and a sickly look…"

Hao Ren was confused by Lily and could not understand what she was talking about. He could only tell that Lily had been abducted. He suddenly got a little exasperated and spluttered, "Why are you so dumb? So easily abducted by strangers!"

"I didn't want to go with them!" Lily's sounded very angry. "I was taken away by some black smoke! The big guy knew magic and brought me over with using Dark Fog. I found myself in a room after the black smoke dispersed. Usually I would have beaten off guys like these but these two men seemed pretty strong. I didn't know if I could beat them so, I dared not fight with them... Landlord, come and rescue me!"

"Vivian and I will go out now. Try to tell me what you see so I'll know where you are. Also, what about the foreigners who kidnapped you? Will they find out that you're calling me?"

"They went out to buy me some food but, one of them did not go far. I can still smell him. However, he's quite a distance from here and there's a wall between us so, he can't hear me." Lily dropped her voice to a whisper and Hao Ren could barely hear her. It seemed that thd husky was not so dumb after all. "I'm in a shabby room. The walls are grimy with peeling paint. It looks like an abandoned house. The big man sealed the door and windows with Dark Fog so I can't go out or see the situation outside. But, just now, when they opened the door, I took a quick glance. It looks like a warehouse outside."

Hao Ren paused for a moment. What could he find out from such little information? There were lots of abandoned warehouses in the entire city and there were more than hundreds of possible warehouses…

"Look around the room to see if there's any sign." Hao Ren found that he could not find any valuable information from the clues provided by Lily and quickly thought of other ways. "If the warehouse was in use, people might have left signs or waste there. Go and look for any of them."

"Sign..." A rustling sound came from the phone. "Although it's shabby here, it seems that the two crazy men have cleaned this place. So, it's clean and there's nothing much in the room. Ah, I found it! Here's a scrap metal board. The words on it are so blurred, I can only read the words 'Hao Yun'... Is that useful?"

"Hao Yun?" Hao Ren immediately searched the words in his head desperately, trying to recall any old warehouses which were related to 'Hao Yun' in the city. Suddenly, he heard the faint crash of an iron door coming from the phone. It sounded like the gate of the warehouse was pushed open. "They've come back. I'll hang up first," said Lily.

"Be careful!" Hao Ren spoke quickly before Lily hung up, "Try not to fight with them. They know magic!"

"Hmm." Lily quickly replied and hung up.

"How is she?" Vivian leaned in and asked. Although the both of them had conflicts on a daily basis, she was also quite worried of Lily at that moment.

"That stupid girl's been kidnapped... It sounds like a kidnapping." Hao Ren had calmed down but, he could not suppress the worries in his heart. "She's so powerful yet she still got kidnapped... The world is really dangerous."

Hao Ren then roughly explained to Vivian what had just happened. When Hao Ren finished talking, Vivian breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Don't worry, the Doggie will be fine."

Hao Ren gave Vivian a strange look and Vivian reminded him. "Still remember that Casar Ebben guy you met?"

Hao Ren immediately felt the goose bumps on his back. "That muscular gay?"

"Why is it that you only remember the word, 'gay'?" Vivian stared at Hao Ren. "If I'm right, Lily was taken away by Casar Ebben. She's been discovered by her own 'kin'."

"The same species?" Hao Ren reacted at once and asked, "You mean that gay dude's a werewolf?"

"It's the Ebben Family. If I'm not mistaken, it should be them." Vivian sighed and looked upset.

"Tsk, I really shouldn't be so careless. It seems that being too comfortable for more than 100 years has made me become less vigilant. I should've thought of them when I heard the word 'Ebben'."

Hao Ren blinked and asked, "Since they're also werewolves, what did they kidnap Lily for?"

"What else could they have done? They'll bring her back of course." Vivian shrugged. "The Ebben Family is one of the few heterogeneous families that's still fantasising about reviving the Mythological Era and the only native clan who heeds the concept of clans. They have been searching for lost compatriots all over the world. At the very beginning, they just gathered their family members or their kin. But then, in the recent 200 years they have enlarged their scope to the entire werewolf population. As long as they're werewolves, they'll be courted. Lily... unless they see it with their own eyes, who would think that she's actually a husky?"

Hao Ren was speechless.

Apparently, the two hapless werewolves, who kidnapped Lily had been fooled.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 99: Finding Lily

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

If what Vivian said was true, Lily should not have been in any danger—of course, it was unlikely that she had any personal freedom.

In fact, the werewolf was a solitary creature. Most werewolves would leave the pack once they were grown up. This was the reason why werewolves were the fastest and most scattered foreign race post Mythological Era. As for the Ebben Family, they were an exception: this was a werewolf pack with family concept in mind. They still maintained a close relationship within their pack long after the Mythological Era and amid the dominance of the human race as well as demon hunters. They were the sole remaining werewolf pack in the present days.

No one knew the leadership hierarchy of the Ebben Family. Vivian only had a sketchy understanding of them based on their activities in the outside world, where they were constantly trying to regroup their scattered pack members. Europe and Latin America were their customary hideouts where they still remained up till 100 years ago.

"They are a bunch of weird fellows. They're slightly brainier than ordinary werewolves but that's it." While Vivian gave an introduction on the Ebben Family, she was also generous with her own comments. "Although they understood the importance of unity, they were equally naive to believe that they could single-handedly bring the world back to the Mythological Era. Tsk, tsk. Even Fenrir, the monstrous wolf's been turned into stew by demon hunters yet, they still don't show restraint."

"What's going to happen to Lily?" That was Hao Ren's chief concern at the moment.

"She'll be forced to join them." Vivian pouted as she said, "That's the level of a werewolf's intelligence. They lack tact; even their own family members are frequently strong-armed. I'm afraid that the Ebben Family is trying to rope in all the scattered werewolves out there. Since they have the numbers, they would definitely strong-arm their way into getting submission. Doggie however, will be safe for now as they still treat her as their own. But, things may go awry once they find that she's non-compliant. With her childlike tendencies, I reckon she'll have the daylights beaten out of her."

Hao Ren was breaking out in cold sweat like a Coke bottle at an August barbecue. He immediately sunk his head into the city map, searching for any lead. It did not matter how little it was.

Experience taught Vivian that the werewolves used their house specialty—Dark Fog— as a means of cover in order to kidnap Lily. They would not have ran far with this type of fog. Lily was likely still in the city area. That was going to be the focus of the search. Hao Ren switched the MDT on, projected the map of the city and started searching by the keyword 'Hao Yun'—more than 100 potential targets were found, of which more than 10 were warehouses, factories and large facilities.

What a common name it was. But fortunately, Lily was not held in Guang Ming XX Factory—that name was simply as common as dirt.

"Don't you have the capability of tracking cell phones?" As Hao Ren analyzed each and every possible target, he knocked on the MDT's case. "You should have traced the signal when Lily called in just now."

The MDT protested, "The device was on sleep mode. You didn't think of what to do then and now you're blaming others? The device is just a tool, you are the user. You should have switched the alarm on yourself instead of blaming the device."

Hao Ren was speechless and subsequently continued his work. He had thought of sending an SOS to Raven 12345. This was an emergency after all. However the thought just flashed through his mind for a second before he binned it; he was Lily's guardian, he was responsible for her safety. Sending out an SOS would only mean he was inept, unable to sort things out by himself and that was an embarrassment too much to bear.

"In the city and the districts around it, targets with the name 'Hao Yun' are plenty: an electrical appliance factory, two transportation companies, two warehouses and six or seven unlikely targets. The place Lily described sounds more like an abandoned warehouse; a warehouse built in a factory or simply an empty warehouse. The electrical appliance factory is still in business which means it isn't an abandoned building. That can be ruled out together with another transportation company. So, that leaves us three targets to investigate."

The three targets—all were abandoned years ago and would not appear in online search results. Fortunately, the MDT managed to pull up information about their whereabouts from the dark web. Their three locations fit the abandoned, old warehouse description nicely but, further information was not possible to obtain.

"Let's check them out." Vivian took a gander at the map and discovered that the three places were far from each other; one was located in the old section of the city, the other one was stood somewhere in the Northern Suburbs while the last one was hidden in a small town dozens of kilometers away. Each of them was a typical 'abandoned child' of development which no-one cared for or remembered. "This fits a movie plot nicely—tucking people away in such places would guarantee no-one could ever find them."

"That's a lot of distance to cover." Hao Ren stared sullenly at the map. "I should have bought a car... I'm working for God but I'm not given a 'company' car..."

"I'll send my bats." Vivian waved as she called out three little bats. Then she gazed out from the window and saw the scorching sun. She did not look particularly pleased. "Jeez... the weather forecast is crap. I'm afraid the little bats will be baked half-dead before they reach their destinations. That dolt's going to owe me one."

The bats hovered around Vivian before they flew towards and out of the window heroically, ready to embrace the bright sunshine. A thought suddenly hit Hao Ren. "Wait a minute, I've got an idea!" He darted into Lily's room and seconds later, he came out with a bottle of sunscreen in hand.

"That girl bought this a couple of days ago out of impulse. She's never used it. So, I guess it would be useful." Hao Ren happily opened the bottle up and waved to Vivian's tiny bats, signalling them to land and rest on the table. The vampire maiden looked on with her jaw dropped to the floor. "You're so resourceful... Ahh, that's so cooling!"

The bats and Vivian shared their bodily senses. As Hao Ren rubbed the sunscreen on the bats, Vivian felt it instantly and gave out a slight moan. Hao Ren picked up on her reaction, his hand jolted and he almost dropped the bottle. "Mind your reaction, please..."

"I've never used such an expensive thing in all my life," Vivian spoke with a protesting face. "How ironic, first time using sunscreen not on myself but the bats... Don't apply too much, it will weigh them down!"

Everything was up and running after a moment. The three tiny bats flitted out the windows like arrows toward three different directions. Their speed exceeded that of normal bats. Even the slowest one flew no less than 90km/h based on visual estimates. Staring at the three fast-disappearing, black dots, he could not help but say, "Well, I think I'm a little over-imaginative."

Vivian did not say a word as she was immersed into the shared senses of her bats. Her entire attention was focused on the visual and radar signals received by the bats. A three-dimensional visual of the city started to form in her mind. Before long, the first bat arrived at its destination. It was the abandoned warehouse in the city, left behind by a transportation company.

Inside and outside the warehouse, there was not a single movement—the first target was ruled out.

The remaining two bats continued their journeys to the satellite town dozens of kilometers away and the Northern Suburbs respectively.

Vivian suddenly screamed in surprise. Hao Ren quickly pulled up and asked, "Got it?"

"One bat's down." Vivian was clueless about what had happened. "Before I realised anything, one of the bat went silent. The one that was en-route to the North disappeared right above the city."

"Could it be the werewolves?"

"I don't think so. Werewolves can't fly. They couldn't have possibly gotten to my bat," Vivian frowned as she spoke.

"It may have hit a transformer or something and got electrocuted—such accidents may happen during high-speed flight. All these man-made structures are a real nuisance. I've collided into them many times myself. Any more sunscreen? I'll dispatch another one."

Hao Ren passed the sunscreen. "Do it yourself. You looked weird when I was rubbing the sunscreen on the bat earlier."

Vivian looked at him angrily before lowering her head and rubbing the bat with sunscreen. Soon after, the fourth recon bat departed.

"Got it, the Northern Suburbs!" Finally, Vivian got a lead. "Doggie's trace has been found."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 100: A Fight It Is Then

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Finding Lily's whereabouts was not as difficult as imagined. Perhaps you could say that the kidnappers did not count on a highborn vampire to go all out to save a werehusky. They stowed her in an abandoned warehouse somewhere in the Northern Suburbs but, they could not contain the aura of a werehus...an idiot.

Perhaps, it was beyond Casar Ebben's ability to even do that. Vivian did mention that werewolves were rarely competent in high-level magic and based on their nature, the study of force field enchantments were far in the back of their heads. The Dark Fog used by the Ebbens were considered the pinnacle of werewolf sorcery. They knew how to use it to hide themselves in darkness but, they had little inkling on how to do same on others.

However, another problem lay before Hao Ren: the Northern Suburbs was a considerable distance away. He would need to cross a good part of the city and then the suburban area to reach there. This was not helped by both areas being on the opposite end of each other! Vivian could technically fly there without much of a fuss but, for Hao Ren to get there via normal means would mean that he could be arriving too late. Not to mention that Lily, the idiot may have already started a fight herself by then.

"I can fly with you in tow," Vivian said as she stretched her arms to prepare for flight with Hao Ren hanging on to her. "I can hide our trace using magic. Normal people won't be able to sense us. But, the high-speed flying part... may be a bit taxing on you."

Hao Ren sighed. "What other options do we have? If Lily starts fighting, it'll be too late to even do anything."

Vivian hunched as a pair of wings spread out from her back. She held her hand out to Hao Ren. "Let's get moving then."

"Wait a sec, I'll leave Y'zaks a note." Hao Ren held his hand up and ran back into the house to scribble a note for the great demon, explaining the situation with Lily. It was then that he realised that he left out a lot of details: Like Lily only having a mobile phone to keep in touch with, him not having any means to locate his tenant immediately or do having any proper means of transportation... As you can see, a myriad of issues came forth at the very last moment but, there was no time to fret over them now. Hao Ren resolved to meet Raven 12345 on the matter once things were settled.

After leaving his note, Hao Ren and Vivian started making their way to the Northen Suburbs hastily.

Flying up in the sky at high speeds, with cold winds buffeting him, the flight was a miserable one for Hao Ren. Even though he was in the embrace of a beautiful vampire, other things were a lot less desirable (warm embraces are not a specialty of the vampires). He just felt weird being carried by a girl and said, "I need to get some new abilities from Raven 12345 soon. At least, the ability to fly... Makes things easier..."

Most people would have simply passed out, being dragged through the air at high altitudes and speed but, Hao Ren with his enhanced vitality could still hold on. Nonetheless, as the winds and condensed moisture hit him in the face, Hao Ren could not help but yelp. And the aftertaste of that scream was rather unpleasant.

Vivian could tell that Hao Ren was slightly embarrassed by his tone. She smiled gently and said, "It's fine carrying you around. I haven't had many chances to do this, being alone all these years. Having someone to carry about while flying is a refreshing experience."

Hao Ren had to response to that. He found the way Vivian put it was a little bit odd but, he left it at that.

At the speed Vivian was moving, it did not take long for them to cross the entire city and come towards a part of a town that looked similar to the Southern Suburbs.

It was the Northern Suburbs, a mainly industrial zone of the city. It used to be bustling with factories, warehouses and logistical companies. As the industry would have generated much pollution, it was built far away from the residential areas. With recent redevelopment of a few areas near the city, most of the original tenants had moved on to greener pastures and the Northern Suburbs industrial area fell into a decline. Only a few factories remained, either too polluting to be near the city area or too costly to move. Most of the buildings were now abandoned. Hao Ren heard that the city hall had plans to redevelop the area but that would take a few years at least, for it to even take off.

The Northern Suburbs Industrial Zone was now a mostly deserted shell of its former self.

Hao Ren and Vivian landed on the roof of a metal factory and the vampire removed the rather taxing invisibility spell. She pointed towards a big building. "That way, my bat is currently hanging on the roof top. Doggie's aura is coming from that area... Dark Fog is surrounding the immediate area and my bat can't get in. Those Ebbens... pfft, still a nuisance like last time."

Hao Ren took a peek and commented, "Things still seem to be quiet."

"You got a plan?" Vivian looked at Hao Ren. "Wanna rush in headfirst or what?"

Hao Ren looked rather troubled. He did think about facing the kidnappers head on but things did not seem so easy. The two werewolves strictly speaking, did not actually kidnap Lil but, Hao Ren had no idea what concerns they had, which prevented them from telling Lily that they were looking for their kin. At least from how they acted, they had no intentions of harming her.

However, Hao Ren was also under no illusion that he could talk his way out of things. Lily was an oddball amongst werewolves and if the stories about them were true, most werewolves would be hostile. To show his face would mean inviting a fight.

He recalled the experience he had, fighting the giant wolves in The Plane of Dreams and tried to act out what novels said about getting pumped before going into a fight. He pointed towards the fog and asked, "Do you know the rough location Lily's at?"

"I do have a rough idea." Vivian pointed at the west side of the warehouse. "There's a row of windows covered by the fog. Looks like an office of sorts. Lily's in one of them."

"Can we try to lure the werewolves away and then rush in to grab Lily?" Hao Ren said hesitantly. "If we need to fight after that, at least, we don't have to worry about a hostage."

Vivian nodded and whispered an incantation. A swirl of red mist appeared out of nowhere and quickly formed into a humanoid shape resembling Vivian.

The Blood Mist did not totally hide its presence and the moment it approached the area, the Dark Fog stirred. The werewolves were clearly alerted to its presence.

"Let's go!" Vivian pulled Hao Ren's arm as they leapt off the roof and ran straight towards the windows of the warehouse.

The area was filled to the brim with leftover construction materials and was perfect at hiding what was going on there. Vivian even neglected to hide her wings and glided through the air. She arrived at the corner of the warehouse in the blink of an eye. Hao Ren could only rely on his legs but, he thankfully managed to keep up.

As they positioned themselves by the western wall of the warehouse, they could hear bestial roars nearby. It was clear that Vivian's Blood Mist Avatar had made contact with the werewolves.

"My Blood Mist can corrode glass and porcelain into nothing. An evil grin appeared across her face. "There was a time when werewolves were innumerable. Hopefully, the Ebbens sent someone with brains."

Hao Ren looked up towards the row of windows. He guessed from the height that the building was at least two-stories high and Lily was possibly being held in one of the offices on the second floor. As Vivian mentioned, black fog swirled menacingly outside the windows.

He reached into his pocket and a voice suddenly appeared in his head. "I'm warning you. Don't you dare use me as a projectile..."

"Why would I even?" Hao Ren was flustered at the rather sensitive MDT. "I'm trying to get my phone to give Lily a call. To see if she could fight her—"

Before Hao Ren could finish his sentence, a violent shout rang out nearby. "F*ckers! I knew it was you, blood suckers!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 101: The Name

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

A loud scream was coming from somewhere nearby. At that time, Hao Ren knew that there was trouble yet again.

However, he was not too surprised by it. As a human, he was slowly getting used to such incidents.

Hao Ren looked towards the direction of the loud scream. A tall, muscular man was standing at the corner of the warehouse. It was Casar Ebben, whom Hao Ren had met once before. However, unlike the last time, the man now appeared in front of Hao Ren with a furious and vicious look on his face.

It was obvious from the look on the man's face; a fierce battle was about to break out between both parties and he would not listen to anything.

Vivian was ready to fight and never let her guard down from the start. Although she was a little surprised that the Blood Mist did not work on him, she was still able to react the moment Casar Ebben appeared. Her giant bat wings were spread wide open instantly and the air was filled with a bloody chill. Vivian snapped her body up, flapped her wings and launched an attack on the enemy. Hao Ren just saw a flash of light and countless scarlet shadows, racing from all sides of his vision. They pounced on the enemy dozens of meters away. The damage caused by the scarlet shadows was shocking. Green smoke arose from the cement floor and outer walls of the warehouse. The iron foil on the walls quickly corroded into slag. This was followed by layers of ice which spread rapidly. The power that Vivian released was like a violent storm sweeping through the range.

While the attacks of the senior Blood Clan member were powerful, Casar Ebben was not a weak opponent as well. He transformed into a wolf without hesitation the moment he found Vivian's strength to be above his expectations. He took her attacks head-on and resisted the blood shock which could have melted bones as well as corroded flesh.

It was over in a flash. The scene outside the warehouse turned upside down instantaneously. Cold wind, which smelled like blood whirred and emanated from the Vivian in all directions. Everything was covered with a layer of frost after severe corrosion. Casar Ebben was not really affected by the cold wind. He was surrounded by an unknown shadow, completely isolated from the cold and his appearance began to change gradually. His hair was growing rapidly and his body was becoming burlier than before. His sturdy muscles were bulging at a rate visible to the unaided eye. The bulge soon became visible under his clothes as well. His hands became bony, his joints swelled as well as became stout and his finger-tips turned into formidable claws. Thick black hair was grown quickly from his chin to his cheek. At the same time, a pair of wolf ears appeared on his head. This was the first time that Hao Ren witnessed the real transformation of a werewolf.

"So ugly…"

"Of course, this is how a male werewolf looks like." Red lights flashed across Vivian's eyes and a swarm of shadowy bats formed behind her. "You're indeed a mad dog from the Ebben Family. I haven't seen the Dark Fog in ages."

A weird smirk surfaced on Casar Ebben's twisted face. "You do not seem to be cut off from the world, blood sucker. I thought there aren't many vampires who know about the Ebben Family these days!"

"Of course! When I fought the first, Dark Fog Werewolf, he didn't even know how to write the word 'Ebben' yet!" Vivian tried to divert his attention using provoking words. At the same time, she continued attacking. A big swarm of bats rushed towards the werewolf at the far end like a whirlwind. Anything that crossed paths with the bats looked like it was destroyed by a metal storm; even steel and cement were instantly turned into ashes. "I've beaten your ancestors!"

Hao Ren was sweating. He thought: age was indeed a woman's best weapon though, the way Vivian made use of it was rather odd…

Casar Ebben was slightly struck by what Vivian just said. It probably reminded him of stories told in the family. However, he was not distracted by her words. The werewolf roared and slashed at the bat swarm with his paws. It created a piercing sound which tore the air. The cloud-like bat swarm was split in half by sheer pressure of the wind. Casar's strong body which was already inflated like a beast, swooped out of the torn bat cloud and pounced on Vivian in the middle of the air. He then shouted, "What do you mean?!"

Vivian did not dodge at all. She just gave him a sardonic smile and turned into countless bats, which dispersed in all directions just as Casar's paw almost caught her hair.

"Just a trick!" The werewolf growled angrily. Suddenly, his body was surrounded by a strong and thick, black fog. The Dark Fog moved out towards the swarm of bats. The speed it was spreading was no less than the speed of the flying bats. Almost 80% or 90% of bats were shrouded in fog within seconds. The bats struggled in the smoke and finally freed themselves from the entanglement before the smoke covered them completely. Vivian reformed her body a hundred meters away. She looked at Casar Ebben with a slight surprise. She did not expect this "kid" to be quite hard to deal with.

Werewolves were poor in magic. However, as a supplement, they had innate skills to make up for their shortcomings such as curses, obscurities, shadows and the like. The Ebben Family was a very famous group of wolves. Their natural ability was this strange and unpredictable Dark Fog. The Dark Fog did not have much effect in terms of attack but, it had troublesome spatial attributes, which were useful either in the transfer of objects or blockade of certain areas. Although Vivian claimed to have beaten the ancestors of the Ebben Family, she honestly did not really want to get tangled up in the pesky Dark Fog. What she liked was to bully the werewolves who often had a silly, crude and careless side. It was easier to deal with a mage warrior; however, it was a headache to fight with a dark knight.

"You were able to get out…" Casar Ebben's body was filled with Dark Fog. Coupled with his sinister appearance, he looked like a demon. "You are not an ordinary vampire. Tell me your name, let's have a fair fight."

"Who still cares about that these days?!" A scarlet pike materialised in Vivian's hand and she threw it with all her strength towards Casar Ebben. "Go to hell!"

The expression on Casar Ebben's face changed as soon as the scarlet pike appeared. He could take on all of Vivian's attacks head-on but this time, he turned into a big cloud of dark smoke, dispersed and escaped in all directions. The scarlet pike seemed to have life. The moment the enemy escaped, it turned to the direction of black smoke in the air and ripped. It stabbed into the nearest cloud of smoke.

A whiff of burnt fur came from the smoke. Then, the pike and smoke vanished at the same time.

The rest of the smoke cloud quickly gathered in another place. Casar Ebben regained his physical form but he looked a lot more compromised than he did earlier. The fur on his face was charred and his coat was ragged. A wisp of blood flowed from his forehead, suffused with an abnormal, red light.

"You are the countess who can summon the red moon, Vivian Ancestor..." Ebben forcibly wiped the blood off his face. The wolf's body expanded again which seemed to fully catalyze the werewolf's potential in order to deal with the enemy. "You're still alive?!"

With her hands on her chest, Vivian descended slowly and asked, "Oh, I even had a name like that back then?"

The battle between them was vigorous. Vivian had the upper hand and did not seem to need Hao Ren's help. So, he simply found a place at the side, stayed there and watched the show. He was ready to release a black pike whenever there was a chance or sneak into the warehouse to look for Lily when Casar Ebben was not paying attention. However, their conversation during the fight had peaked his curiosity. He almost fell onto the ground when he heard Vivian's words. He thought: Vampire lady, can you please not descend from the sky in such a graceful posture before saying such a thing?

The look on Casar Ebben's face was quite strange but still better than Hao Ren's. He remained vigilant while he slowly distanced himself from Vivian. "So, it's you… Can't remember your own name, roamed the world... Even the vampire family didn't know which side you belonged to so, they simply named you a countess… same as the record in the family."

Vivian looked interested and said, "Let's stop fighting. Tell me more about how I'm recorded in your family. I really can't remember what happened back then."

Is now a good time to chat? Of course, not. No matter what Vivian thought, Casar Ebben was certainly not going to talk nonsense with the enemy, especially when the vampire in front him was the infamous, odd and tough countess. He remembered the warnings for the younger generation in his family records. As such, he lowered his head, black smoke covering his entire body and directly stormed upwards!

Vivian flapped her giant wings and flew back into the air. She then said, "Tsk… then I'll ask for more details after I've knocked you down. I'm in an excellent state today!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 102: It Didn't Work.

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Bang! Fwoosh!"

A violent crash was followed by a piercing whoosh. The battle between werewolf and vampire continued. Hao Ren had no way to intervene, let alone look for a chance to attack the werewolf with his black pike.

Vivian was still holding the upper hand. She was flapping her wings and floating mid air, relying on her swarm of bats as well as terrible, blood mist to suppress Casar Ebben. She used the combination flight and remoteness of the location to her advantage in order to make her invincible. While Casar Ebben was the underdog in the battle, it did not look like he would be defeated easily. The werewolf's Dark Fog was able to withstand Vivian's blood mist. He could recover in the blink of an eye even if he was accidentally injured. The strong physical strength and resilience of that werewolf seemed to have no end. The both of them fell into a tug of war.

However, as the battle continued, the confusion in Casar Ebben's heart got more and more unbearable. Vivian seemed to be much weaker than he had imagined. She was not as strong as mentioned in his family records.

The Ebben family encountered Vivian before a long time ago. When the long-living vampire was still running around the world, she basically had something to do with all the famous unusual creatures on the planet. Although most of the unusual families had become extinct in the present, the rest of them still kept a record of Vivian. Casar Ebben learned about the weird title, "Countess of the Crimson Moon" from his family records and knew that she was the vampire whom his ancestors were quite afraid of. If she could make a great family of werewolves in their heyday afraid of her and deliberately leave a record about her, it meant she was not an ordinary vampire. Casar Ebben was even prepared to die heroically as he fought with Vivian.

Yet, when he found that a young werewolf who was less than 300 years old like him could be a match for the vampire countess who had lived thousands of years, he immediately had doubts. Was it really the old monster that lived for countless years?

However, the hesitation in his mind did not distract him during the battle. He clearly knew that even if the countess in front of him was different from the one recorded in history, she was definitely stronger than him.

Hao Ren knew nothing about Vivian's glorious past and had no way to intervene in the battle of the two super creatures. He observed the situation. After confirming that Casar Ebben was entangled by the vampire maiden and had no time for him, he acted on his own.

He looked up at the warehouse' outer wall beside him. There was a row of windows covered with Dark Fog, eight or nine meters above the ground. Logically speaking, the battle was definitely creating loud noise in the area. No matter how obtuse Lily was, she should have known that they had come for her. But Lily had not burst out of the warehouse. It meant that there was something off about the Dark Fog. Lily was unable to escape with her current skill.

Hao Ren could not reach Lily via phone. He decided to try climbing into the room to see the situation inside.

He decided to climb the wall directly instead of entering the warehouse via the front door or back door for a reason—another werewolf did not appear yet, perhaps he was waiting at one of the doorways for the 'vampire's accomplice' to walk into a trap. Therefore, he felt that it may have been safer to climb through the window. Plus, Vivian was watching on this side of the building. Even if there was an accident, he would be able to get support. It was likely for him to meet another werewolf on the other side and fight it alone. To be frank, Hao Ren, who did not have much combat experience was not confident about it all.

The outer wall of the warehouse was smooth. There was nowhere he could grip and the bottom half was frozen with a thick layer of ice. However, these did not stop him. Hao Ren warmed up his hands and feet. He then knocked on the wall twice to confirm its hardness, clenched his teeth and stamped his foot, trying to imagine himself as a martial arts master. "Hah!" He abruptly thrust his fingers into the reinforced concrete wall like his hand was a knife!

The pain was unbearable.

Unexpectedly, it worked. His fingers stuck deep into the concrete wall, like poking tofu. It seemed that his fingers were not broken or bleeding. Apart from the pain in his hand, there was no difference from the martial arts masters on TV. Hao Ren believed that the aches and pains were caused by an imbalance in his body enhancement (sensory and limb strength did not match). Therefore, he was determined to bite the bullet and abandon any distracting thoughts. He climbed up to the row of windows step by step and soon reached the half point. He heard a roar coming from Casar Ebben's direction. Apparently, the werewolf had noticed Hao Ren's movements. However, Vivian did not give him any chance to get away so all he could do was just keep roaring.

The other werewolf did not appear yet. Hao Ren wondered what the guy was doing. Nonetheless, the most important thing at that moment was to figure out the Dark Fog that hung over the windows. He moved, huffing and puffing along the wall. The pain caused by the constant stabbing of his fingers into the cement wall had gradually numbed and he soon reached the first window. The Mobile Data Terminal floated out of his pocket. As it circled around the Dark Fog, it asked seriously, "Idiot, doesn't your hand hurt? Don't you remember that you have a Steel Membrane Shield?"

Hao Ren was silent.

If not for his fingers being stuck in the wall and not falling out easily, he would have fallen down right on the spot!

"Why didn't you tell me earlier!"

"Who knew you were so stupid?"

Hao Ren felt that he had to be the first person in the world to quarrel with his PDA all day. On top of that, he had never won the argument… It was a sad thing to remember whenever he thought of it.

"It's all right. How would a normal person from Earth have this kind of high-tech gadget?" Hao Ren activated the Steel Membrane Shield as he comforted himself. "I'm just not used to it yet. You'll see when I get used to it. I'll activate the shield even when I'm digging my nose!"

The MDT snapped, dropped itself on the windowsill and stopped talking. It was probably ashamed of talking with Hao Ren.

"Lily!" Hao Ren was hanging on the wall like Spiderman and shouting at the window, "Where are you?!"

Of course, he did not receive any response at all.

"What the hell is this Dark Fog?" Hao Ren had made his way to the window and the ink black smoke hovered in front of him. The Dark Fog not only sealed the windows completely, it seemed to even permeate to the outer walls of the warehouse. If one looked closer, one could see very tiny bits of smoke seeping through the cement cracks in the outer wall of the warehouse. It was possible that the entire second floor of the warehouse was probably blocked by the Dark Fog. Due to this, Lily was trapped and unable to escape.

After all, with the dumb werewolf's brute force, it would not have been difficult for her to knock the cement wall down. Even Hao Ren could dig open the reinforced concrete with his bare hands. There was no reason for Lily to not be able to do it.

However, Hao Ren soon noticed something. Although the warehouse's entire second floor was cordoned off by the Dark Fog, his fingers could still easily pierce into the cement wall.

"Tut... Is this 'magical immunity' again?" Hao Ren looked curiously at the concrete wall which was covered in a thin layer of smoke. He stretched out his fingers, scratched the wall and a few concrete blocks easily broke off.

It looked as if the Dark Fog did not exist at all.

It reminded him of the Letta Runes that he saw in Yorkford Castle. It was just like those runes. The werewolf's Dark Fog did not work on Hao Ren.

"Just do it." Hao Ren looked at the window covered in Dark Fog, held his breath, shut his eyes and rushed inside.

"Krashhh!" The window shattered.

"The heck, this window is closed!"

The shattering glass also alerted Casar Ebben who was fighting with Vivian. He was astonished to see that the weird man had gone straight through the blockade of his Dark Fog and had already crept into the warehouse!

The werewolf exclaimed at once, "How could…"

Casar Ebben had noticed Hao Ren, who appeared together with Vivian. However, Hao Ren did not participate in the battle and did not look like much of a threat. Plus, the enormous pressure coming from Vivian did not allow him to lose focus hence, he did not take Hao Ren seriously. Even when he saw Hao Ren climb up the warehouse to the second floor, he did not worry too much about it as the entire second floor was protected by Dark Fog. However, the scene which unfolded before Casar Ebben left him in a state of disbelief.

If his Dark Fog blockade was broken by brute force or skill, it would have still been convincing, but… Hao Ren went straight through the Dark Fog easily like it did not exist! What the hell was going on?

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 103: A Dumb Tenant with a Dumb Landlord

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Let's forget Casar Ebben for the moment. Hao Ren had successfully gotten into the warehouse where he found an empty room before him.

"This is unbelievable." Hao Ren was in disbelief at how easy it was for him to sneak in as he shook off the shards of glass on his body. As the Dark Fog hovered on the second floor, he thought it would have required some beating to get inside. Little did he know, the fog trick was under his magic immunity's field of influence. He regretted not storming in right away earlier. He felt silly for telling himself to man up with all the crap talk.

The MDT had also sneaked in like a ghost, wobbling like a drunkard beside him. A little message read, "Radar scan shows the target is not in here."

Hao Ren glanced at the empty place before shoving the MDT back in his pocket. "Smart-*ss, even the blind could have seen that."

He checked to confirm his Steel Membrane Shield was in full charge before he tiptoed to the exit, ready to take a look at the situation outside.

The old wooden door creaked open slowly and he saw an open corridor.

The layout of the warehouse was simple. There were only two stories; the entire lower floor was a warehouse with its ceiling raised as high as two-thirds of the building whereas the upper floor was more like a deck on the west side of the warehouse which housed a watchroom, an office and a hostel. The space underneath the deck was where various stuff as well as forklifts were stored and parked. But most of them had been cleared out and what remained there were just some scrap metal.

The corridor in front of Hao Ren led straight to the rooms on the upper floor, with the rooms on the left and railing on the right. The lower floor was in full view from the corridor. However, it was so pitch-dark, only a small area was illuminated by the sunlight which leaked through the hole on the roof above. With the help of the sunlight, Dark Fog could be seen flooding the lower floor. The two werewolves had indeed done a great job in securing the place. They even took measures in case the enemy dug an underground tunnel. It seemed that Hao Ren's immunity against magic was just an accidental advantage.

The door on each room along the corridor was sealed by a layer of black-coloured fog but, Hao Ren knew that stuff was not soundproof. He went up against each door and called out softly, "Lily, Lily, respond if you can hear me!"

There was no reply. Hao Ren could not suppress his ever increasing worry so, he decided to do things the simplest way: blasting through the doors.

Most of the doors were locked, rusted or nailed-down. All Hao Ren could do was pound and break through each and every one. However, that would make a hell lot of noise—he did not care. The fragile, old doors did not stand a chance under Hao Ren's forceful pounding and they gave way like a crumbling bridge. As the doors fell apart, the Dark Fog dissipated. Hao Ren had blasted through four to five rooms. As he was about to continue on, he saw the shadow of the werewolf maiden in the background.

The room was obviously cleaned recently. Lily was lying on a small bed, motionless and seemingly unconscious.

Hao Ren's heart skipped a beat when he saw this and he rushed towards her. "Lily! Lily! What happened to you? Lily please... how on earth can you still have the desire to sleep in such a situation?!"

Lily opened her blurry eyes and smiled stupidly when she saw Hao Ren. "Hey Landlord, you're here."

"...Do you know what's going on here?" asked Hao Ren.

Lily's ears stood up and she listened for sounds on the outside. "Is Battie in a fight right now?"

"How can you sleep in such a moment?" Hao Ren really thought that the husky's mind was on an entirely different channel.

"Because it's nap time."

"..."

Hao Ren recalled his experience during the mission in England not long ago. The werewolf maiden's sleeping aptitude was almost magical. She dozed off dead on time; in extreme conditions. She even slept standing up while snoring like a bulldog; she tailed them all the way from London to Brewshire using only her sense of smell... Dealing with a husky with such an extreme bio-clock setting would only make one end up with a tearful face.

"Okay, forget it." Hao Ren sighed as he dragged her out of bed. His eyes screened her for any injuries. "Awake? Did they do anything to you?"

"Nope." Lily pointed her finger at a table in one of the corners of the room. There were six packets of food on it. "They even bought me food! They bought me a second round of food when I wasn't full after the first. Being psychos aside, they're quite nice."

Hao Ren was speechless. He suddenly had an urge to go outside and stop Vivian from bullying good citizens.

By now, Lily was fully awake and she looked like she was in her best state ever. The seal of Dark Fog had been broken by Hao Ren so, the duo were ready to storm out of the warehouse to meet Vivian. With the three of them together, Casar Ebben would not be able to do anything. There would then be time to sort things out.

However, things did not always go according to the script: As Hao Ren held Lily by her hand and descended onto the lower floor, a swamp of black-coloured fog rose up from their surroundings, blocking their way.

The fog condensed and formed into a werewolf; male, shrewd and more or less the same height as Hao Ren but bonier.

He was one of the two 'psychos' that Lily talked about over the phone, dubbed Psycho No. 2. (A term Lily coined).

This werewolf was very different from Casar Ebben. He was not as brawny but, in his werewolf form, he was equally formidable. He had a notorious-looking image. The werewolf emerged from the Dark Fog and stood in their way; he tried hard to look imposing and mean but he really looked like sh*t. His coat hung over his body like a rag, his face was covered in blood while the exposed flesh on his arms had some burned marks.

Hao Ren then realised how Casar Ebben managed to escape the Blood Mist and split so quickly to appear before Vivian as well as Hao Ren: he sold his teammate out.

"Where are you going?" The skinny werewolf's eyes darted between Hao Ren and Lily before they were fixed on Lily. "Are you being deceived by the vampire?"

"Nope, I just want to go home. I have told you many times. It's just that you guys never listened. My landlord has come to get me now. You will be in deep sh*t."

"Landlord?" The scrawny werewolf stared at Hao Ren as he slowly caught his breath. "He's with the vampire... Now, I get it. It's no wonder Casar and I had thought that you were some mentally-retarded kid. It's because you have been confused by the vampire. Don't worry. After Casar is done with the vampire, I'll finish off this guy myself and you'll be set free..."

Hao Ren found that they were in a really messy situation at that moment. He noticed the scrawny werewolf staring at him with intense anger. He could neither cry nor laugh. He just braced himself. "I think we may have some misunderstanding here. If Casar could behave nicely, maybe they wouldn't have started the fight. Okay, why don't you just put away your claws and let's talk..."

It would have been naive to think that anyone would have cared to talk given the circumstances but either way, the scrawny werewolf did not really hear what Hao Ren had said. He roared as he leaped forward with claws in the air.

Of course, Hao Ren was not naive enough to believe that there was room for negotiation. He said what he did just for the sake of easing the tension. His quick muscle reflexes, which were first triggered when he was in The Plane of Dreams, were ready to be summoned up. Just as the werewolf was within a hair's breadth from touching him, he raised his hand in defence. At the same time his other fist delivered a deadly blow to his enemy's face.

A screeching sound sent a shiver up his spine as the werewolf's claws scratched the Steel Membrane Shield. The scrawny werewolf had never seen such an armor, stronger than steel in all his life. He felt his claws hit a piece of diamond and they were about to snap while his face was hit by a fist the size of a clay pot.

Boof—The powerful blow sent the already injured and weakened werewolf flying.

Hao Ren took a moment to catch his breath as he slowly retracted his fist. He looked in the direction where the enemy had flown with his mouth wide open. "Holy Mother, that's scary..."

The MDT peeked out from his pocket. "Don't you think your statement doesn't really suit the occasion?"

Hao Ren sighed. "...I was too preoccupied with my posture and totally didn't realise what I was saying."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 104: It Was Really Stressful

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Seeing the enemy blown away like a leaf, Lily was not really paying attention to what Hao Ren was saying. Lily looked on like her eyes were about to pop out before she jumped up with joy. "Whoa, Landlord, you're awesome!"

Her excitement made it sound as if she was the one who did it.

Deep down, Hao Ren wished he really was what Lily said but, looking at her broad smile he could not allow himself to act like a jerk. He smiled back awkwardly. "Well... Actually, if I'm not mistaken, that guy was probably already injured from Vivian's Split-Shadows earlier. I was just adding another nail in the coffin."

Lily replied with a simple, "Oh" but her eyes looked warily at the direction where the scrawny werewolf had flown to. "Is...he dead?"

"I'm sure he's not." Noticing the dilemma on Lily's face, Hao Ren knew she was worried about her fellow werewolf. So, he quickly shook his head. "I used restraint. Besides, I couldn't possibly have the ability to kill a werewolf with just one punch."

"I was surprised that they were werewolves too," said Lily as she stuck her tongue out in astonishment. "They took me in without saying a word. It was only when I called you in the afternoon did they start to explain it all to me."

Hao Ren glanced at Lily. "So, what's on your mind exactly?"

"This is the first time I'm meeting my fellow werewolves and I'm excited!" Lily's eyes glowed in the dark.

"Are you going to follow them home?" A sudden twitch in Hao Ren's eyebrow reminded him that this was a delicate question; she had called him for help because she did not know the identities of the two psychos but now, she knew that they were fellow werewolves. What was running through the mind of this innocent maiden, who always had a soft spot for the werewolf race?

"No, I'm not going to. I don't even know them." As worried as Hao Ren was, he did not expect Lily to dismiss it so quickly with no hesitation.

Hao Ren froze for a second and then, nodded with a weird expression on his face. "That's who you are."

Actually, it was just Lily's efficient simple-mindedness—if she did not know a person, it meant that the person was a stranger and she should not follow a stranger. Her whole thought process was just as simple as that. Things like dignity, racial sense of belonging and the revival of the werewolf race were just too complicated for her to grasp. The concept of so-called 'racial sense of belonging' was not really part of her vocabulary. The one thing that was surely on her mind was the call to finish her meaty-bone lunch back home…

Suddenly, a loud bang was heard coming from outside the warehouse. The force blasted through the steel door, engulfing the whole place in smoke and dust. Then, Vivian's voice was heard from afar. "Well, well, well, I thought I'd have to lend a hand here. Looks like everything on your side is done and dusted."

A gust of strong wind came through and carried the smoke as well as dust away. Hao Ren then took a gander at the situation outside: the vampire maiden was completely unharmed. Only her hair was a little messy while her face was covered in dirt. Her face showed some fatigue after she had won the fight hands down. Casar Ebben who lied under her feet unconscious was not in particularly good shape though.

The once cocky and mighty werewolf was now covered in bruises; he was completely knocked out. The colour had drained from his face and his appearance was stuck somewhere between a werewolf and a human.

"I couldn't help it. This werewolf was nasty and full of fighting spirit. I had to bleed the pressure out of his blood a bit to make sure he stayed calm," said Vivian as she shook her head. "But no worries, it's non-lethal. Thanks also to our Landlord. If not for your actions, this guy wouldn't have gotten distracted and we might have been dragged into a long fight."

The two werewolves were carried to the open field outside the warehouse. Hao Ren and his mates did not know what to do with the two unconscious members of the 'enemy'. In the past, Vivian would celebrate her victory by treating herself to a nice dinner or even perhaps helping herself with the werewolves. However, that was not going to happen in the presence of Lily.

After wrestling with his own mind, Hao Ren decided to report to Raven 12345. But, just as he was about to yank the MDT out of his pocket, the two werewolves suddenly moaned in pain. They had started to come back online.

"That's why I hate such tough guys," Vivian sounded her disgust. "Look, just five minutes earlier they were half-dead but now, even the wounds on this little one are starting to heal..."

Vivian was right. Werewolves have nine lives, sort of. Casar Ebben and the little one were on their way to meet their maker. However, within the time they were being carried out from the warehouse to the open space outside, they had recovered with such spectacular speed. You could actually observe with your naked eye the healing process itself. Given a few more minutes, they would be alive and kicking again, literally.

"You guys..." Casar Ebben was the first to wake up. When he opened his eyes, he jumped to his feet and stared in shock at Lily who stood together with Vivian. "Why are you with the vampire?"

"I want to go home," Lily said matter-of-factly. "We've been living together."

"She isn't mentally retarded." Now the scrawny and little werewolf got up. He knew resistance was futile at that point so, he thought it better to be pragmatic and sit on the ground. "She must be under the vampire's control and is unable to get out of it."

"I think your imagination is a little over the top." Hao Ren felt that he now had a deeper understanding of the werewolf's simple-minded nature. Though, he could neither cry nor laugh about it. "In fact, we're more or less having some sort of misunderstanding here..."

Hao Ren took the opportunity to explain about Lily's unusual background to them but, he did not tell them about the werehusky story considering their level of EQ. What he told them was sufficient considering that 'vampire-werewolf love' was already too much for the two pure-blood werewolves to handle.

"That's how things are. Lily won't follow you guys home." Hao Ren spread his hands as he finished. "What you guys did was actually kidnapping. So, you deserved the beating..."

"They can live with each other?" Casar Ebben looked at Lily and Vivian sarcastically. "Do you really think I'm going to believe that?"

It was no surprise that the pure-blood werewolves refused to believe in this ridiculous thing. The strange happenings in Hao Ren's house were not something that could be explained away in a few sentences. It would have probably taken a few rounds of mental breakdown and reconstruction to come to grips with the bizarre vampire x werewolf thingy.

"The two maidens have no equal." Hao Ren sighed and stared into Casar Ebben's eyes. "Look into my sincere, little eyes... Arrgh, forget it, you wouldn't believe me anyway. I don't want anymore trouble and you may have taken Lily because of some misunderstanding but we'll let bygones be bygones. If Lily and Vivian agree, I'll let you guys go."

Of course, Lily did not have any objection. She was a dumbbell after all. As for Vivian, although she was a little displeased, she too did not raise any objection.

The two werewolves looked at each other before saying spontaneously, "Are we the ones at fault now?"

"Of course you are. You kidnapped my... my tenant. Wasn't that your fault?"

The little werewolf was almost tearful. "Yes, I admit that the way we did things were a little rough but, we didn't do anything untoward to this young girl. We even bought food for her—I don't know how she was raised but her appetite is surely a lot bigger than Casar's and mine combined. We had to run all the way to the city just to buy four packs of lunch for her and in the end, we even had to turn over ours. Also, she may have a screw loose—she kept demanding to go home with the vampire and we thought we bumped into some mentally retarded junior. It took us the whole morning just to figure out whether we should forget about her, as we would be the laughing stock once we bring her back to the pack. That's not all, she even demanded to watch movies, listen to music, play games; she started nagging us when her phone ran out of juice; she even demanded for Pushkin poems during her afternoon nap. She went nuts when we didn't give in. If not for the f*cking fact that she also has a pair of wolf ears, we might have concluded that she's an entirely new line of species. Tell me, what sin have Casar and I committed? After taking in this nagging and hungry brat here, we had actually planned to send her back for good; while we were at it, you guys showed up and the next thing we knew, we were beaten black and blue... What wrong have we done?"

Hao Ren was at a lost for words.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 105: Gossip

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Perhaps the scrawny werewolf had gone through a little too much today. Not to mention, the shock of a werewolf befriending a vampire had pushed him over the edge; verbal diarrhea came spewing out. Hao Ren could only muster a stunned look and quipped at the end, "...Your Mandarin is pretty decent..."

Casar Ebben glared coldly at his partner's total lost of self-control and let out a gruff snort. "Ewen, enough! Have some dignity!"

So, the skinny werewolf was called Ewen. He looked at Casar Ebben with resignation and then shifted his gaze towards Vivian. "I admit defeat, kill me if you want to. Werewolves do not negotiate with a vampire... But, I want to know, who in the seven hells are you? There's little that the two of us cannot defeat. However, we were outmatched by you alone... Bloody hell."

Hao Ren wanted to retort. What was that, being defeated by Vivian alone?! He also contributed to the fight, a solitary fist on an already beaten sod.…

"The Countess of the Crimson Moon. That's who she is..." Casar Ebben grunted. He sounded like he was clenching his teeth. "Granted, she didn't look all that strong compared to the description in the records. But, she's too strong..."

"That weirdo of a countess?" Ewen Ebben leapt up in shock and he struggled to regain his composure. With weary eyes he looked at Vivian. "One of the oldest vampires...and you're still alive?"

"Why does everyone I meet want me dead?" Vivian frowned. "And how exactly did you lot record my exploits? I don't even remember having such a title... Did this one come out of my fight with the Ebbens long ago?"

Ewen's face was incredulous as he looked at Vivian. "You sure you want to know?"

Vivian nodded with much surety. Ewen gritted his teeth. "Fine, I'll let you know before you kill me. The records about you say: Dynasty unknown, age unknown, a solitary, ancient vampire and an outcast that mixes around with humans; does whatever she likes without a pattern, seems to have fought with almost every race yet has also made friends with all; does not fear the sun, garlic, holy water or the usual items that will harm a vampire and as such, is thought to be one of the first highborn vampires. Maybe due to her advanced age, she suffers from a severe bout of amnesia, being drowsy half of the time as well as neurotic and manic because she can't remember her titles. Also, it is not known why she has been extremely poor. There is a tale about her raiding a werewolf's den to steal a chicken as she was hungry. There, I'm done. Now, finish the deed."

Hao Ren shook his head. "...If Vivian didn't plan to kill you at first, she sure does now."

Angry veins popped out on Vivian's forehead and a chilly aura formed around her, swirling about. She bared her fangs and stared hard at the werewolf duo. "Are you all crazy? Why do you even chronicle something like this?"

Hao Ren quickly patted Vivian on the shoulder. "Oh, don't mind them. If you were normal with your exploits, how would you have left an impression?"

Vivian rolled her eyes. She guessed that she could forget about this man who was still learning how to console someone else.

Lily was squatting by the side playing with some pebbles before she suddenly stood up and spoke to Casar Ebben. "You guys can leave. I'm going home."

Casar Ebben still could not believe that a werewolf would stay with a vampire so willingly. This was against everything he knew. He looked at Lily suspiciously, trying to discern with his eyes if there were any traces of mind control magic at work. "You're sure about staying with these people? With a vampire to boot?... Are you sure you are not being controlled?"

"I don't think Battie is that bad," Lily said as she nodded. "She even cooks for me everyday. I don't know what's the deal between werewolves and vampires. I was alone when I grew up. Battie is the first and only vampire I know, and I think she's okay. Besides, there's a reason I'm staying at Mr. Landlord's place. He...I mean, I can't just leave. It will cause a lot of trouble."

Lily at this point, was pretty much penning her magnum opus. You would not have expected a husky to have the appetite for such a game of words. Plus, she just skimmed the parts that could not be spoken of. Hao Ren quickly added into the mix, "I don't see you two as evil. Maybe you were just here to recruit your kin. If you two will stay out of trouble here, we'll call it even. Sides, in terms of combat ability, my side is way stronger than you think. Vivian is only our second best fighter. The overpowered one is not even here..."

Vivian coughed. "Why are you even telling them that?"

Casar and Ewen Ebben looked at each other. From the gleam in their eyes, they realised the disparate state that they were in. They were covered in blood with their shirts torn and their hair burnt. It was an odd situation that they had never found themselves in before. It was also odd because they ran into a weird vampire and a weird werewolf. They even had a weird human along with them to boot. It was pretty telling that staying would have been a waste of time.

"Geh, I thought this was just going to be a recruitment mission..." Casar Ebben shook his head. "Fine… We'll leave but, our clan will hear of this. I'll be frank, the things that happened here, the Ebben Elders will be interested. Especially, the reappearance of the Countess. There may be a few Elders who will be keen to say hi."

"Oh? That's fine by me. Haven't seen any familiar faces for quite some time." Vivian shrugged. "Half the time I meet them, it ends up in a fight anyway. But just to give Mr. Landlord some face, if those old furballs are willing to talk nicely, I'll talk. Oh right, how many of those old furballs are still alive?

"Not many." Casar Ebben smiled bitterly. "The Ebbens are the last of the werewolf clans and we have attracted the attention of the demon hunters. We have been expanding quietly for years and the struggle to do so has claimed many of us."

Hao Ren was surprised at Casar Ebben's candor. All of them were enemies just a moment earlier but now, they were talking about their familial matters like nothing happened. A sense of irony lingered but, from Casar's resigned tone, Hao Ren realised that while it was true that the werewolves and vampires do not see eye to eye, they still retained a rational instinct of self-preservation. Both did not like a battle with nothing to gain. Furthermore, with demon hunters hounding their steps, there would possibly come a time where the two races call it quits and join forces.

Perhaps Hao Ren was naive in his take of things. Surely, a normal person would have struggled to understand the minds of these ancient monsters, shaped by centuries of conflict. Yet, he could sense that even so, it was not as simple as a 'you live, I die' sort of relationship. It was much, much more complicated.

"Speaking of which...why did you guys come here?" Vivian suddenly asked. The question had been bugging her for quite some time now. "I remembered that the Ebbens were active in Europe and Latin America. There are very little wild werewolves in Asia to warrant such efforts. Just look at you two, so much effort spent for a half-breed who doesn't even want to leave."

Lily's nosed wrinkled at the word 'half-breed', clearly detested at being called that.

"It's not just us." Ewen Ebben looked at Vivian. "How long have you not been in contact with your kin? There are plenty of other species who are active now, recruiting their scattered kin. The Ebbens are just one of them."

Vivian was stunned for a moment. "Recruiting their kin? What for? To build an army against the demon hunters?"

"That, I don't know." Casar Ebben gritted his teeth. "I've only heard that something big is coming and many are preparing for it. Perhaps it is what you say, a counter-attack..."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 106: The True Elites

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Vivian was ready to go home until she heard that particular piece of news. Her curiosity piqued, she questioned Casar Ebben with a piercing look. "I have not been active for the past 100 years... What actually happened?"

"I'm not too sure myself." Given that the two parties had called a ceasefire and Vivian, who had the edge in combat was willing to listen, Casar Ebben was a little bit more comfortable in cooperating with them. "It started about 100 to 200 years ago, when a bunch of sirens came to shore, knowing well the risk of being hunted down by the hunters. They mentioned a prophecy they had obtained from the deep; that their kind needed to gather the lost energies which came with the end of the Mythological Era. I suppose you know what tectonic activity is? Due to these movements, part of the siren's domain during the Age of Mythology has become today's shoreline. You can find some of the ruins left behind by their kind there. When they came up on land in Asia, Europe and the Americas in such large numbers, it caused no end of fear. It was much like those old folklore about the terrors of the deep.

"Sirens... I know them... Well, they are the least affected of all by the demon hunters, I suppose. Being so deep in the waters, it served as a sanctuary for them as the hunters had no way to flush them out." Vivian was deep in thought. "The sirens are very insular creatures and they rarely communicate with anyone outside of their kind. Even during the Age of Mythology, they rarely came to shore. Well, they are a bunch of slowpokes when it comes to reacting to the changes of the outside world. So, what became of them?"

"Oh, some of them got captured and were sold in the black market to some American plantations or illegal millhouses in Europe. Some of them got exterminated by the demon hunters while some got caught up in the American Civil War when they came out of Mississippi... Some retreated back into the sea. Basically, they got screwed hard by humans."

Hao Ren was speechless.

Vivian blinked for a moment and gave a long, "Ohhhhhhh...".

"Well, that seems like a likely fate for a bunch of fishes with no grasp of reality," she added.

"The sirens have been like this for god knows how long. They always find a way back into the sea so, they are pretty indolent. You don't see them being successful in their ventures often but, that's not to say that they are failures either," Ewen Ebben interjected. "But, the tidings brought by the sirens have quickly spread among the great clans and many of them are now either recruiting their kin or looking for lost relics. As you can see, the Ebben Clan has come to Asia to look for our kind. Some other non-humans species have already gone into conflict with the demon hunters. This has not been witnessed for millenia."

"So...you lot are mucking about based on an unknown prophecy from the deep?"

"There's certainly more to it. The Elders are not stupid. They surely know more about the matter." Ewen snorted. "However, that's not for us pups to know or understand. If you want more information, you can pay your old friends a visit. Regardless, you are one of the most ancient of vampires. According to custom, I should be calling you a gran... Forget it. I won't get myself killed after being spared."

"It looks like it's time to go gather some information," Vivian uttered. "I've been in the dark for way too long now… So much has changed... Hmm... even the humans have regressed; too peaceful now."

As Hao Ren listened to their conversation, a sense of dread befell him. He quickly shook his hands to rid himself of the goosebumps. At the same time, he caught sight of Lily who was bored out of her wits and remembered that he had something to ask. "Oh yeah, both of you are real werewolves right. I need to ask you lot something."

Casar Ebben gave Hao Ren a weird look. He still did not understand how this man came to mingle with a vampire and in addition, had some pretty incredible abilities. However, when he saw how Hao Ren spoke with Vivian and Lily, Casar decided to categorise him as one of the non-humans. Perhaps, a wizard of some sorts.

"...Is there any branch of huskies in your werewolf clan?" Hao Ren asked seriously. "Like how dogs evolved from wolves, are there any Siberian Huskies or Pekingese within the werewolves' evolution?"

An uncomfortable silence followed.

Ewen Ebben looked stunned for a moment and finally snapped. "What is with this insult? I can overlook you lot beating us up and interrogating us but this... Countess, you stay out of this. I'm going to face this f*cker one-on-one!"

Hao Ren leapt back and held the MDT out the way one would throw a shuriken. "Keep those claws of yours. I was just asking. Are there no huskies among the werewolves?"

Lily heard that someone was talking about her and she looked on with much anticipation. Vivian too had a curious gleam in her eyes as she eyed the two werewolves. Casar and Ewen Ebben were flabbergasted. They never thought the insulting question was actually a serious one. Casar thought for a moment and shook his head. "Nope, never heard of such a thing before. It's like how you can't compare werewolves to your average wolves. I'm surprised that you don't know about this, Countess.

"I don't." Vivian shook her head as well. "I don't even know when I got that title."

Casar recalled what the records said about the weirdest vampire countess and he could understand why she was called such. He again dispelled the notion that there were huskies within the line of werewolves.

Upon hearing that, Lily squatted in a corner in despair and started digging the ground to vent her frustrations. Hao Ren quickly went to her side to console her. Casar gave his weird kin a glance and asked, "What's wrong with her?"

Hao Ren sniggered. "Nothing. Just an identity crisis."

"...Doesn't seem like anything," Ewen Ebben muttered as he pulled Casar to leave. "There's nothing else, right? Then, we'll leave..."

Vivian nodded and shooed them away. As the two were about to leave, an odd sound rang out of nowhere.

Clack, clack

The sound of a clockwork device could be heard and an emotionless voice soon rang out from the rooftop. "All of you will remain where you are."

Hao Ren looked up in astonishment and saw an average-sized man standing on the rooftop, staring down at them. He looked like he was in his 40s. The man was impeccably groomed and dressed, the way you would expect someone of a managerial post would dress. At least, that was the first impression Hao Ren got.

The only unusual thing about him was the steel crossbow that was pointed at them. The weapon itself looked very unusual, with contraptions and patterns adorning the body. He aimed his crossbow towards Casar Ebben's skull (he was the biggest target after all). A silver-tipped arrow gleamed menacingly.

Hao Ren finally remembered where he saw such a weapon before. The pseudo-demon hunter, Nangong! His crossbow was also of the same design.

"Demon hunters?!" Casar Ebben yelled as he took a step back. A slight ruffle could be heard along the rooftop and seven other figures clad in black appeared on the roof.

Aside from the first person who showed himself, all of the hunters were dressed the same. A long, black jacket with a leather cuirass, belts lined with odd gadgets and the same odd-looking crossbow in their hands. All of them also had a bigger crossbow, which hung on their backs. However, the first similarity Hao Ren caught between them, was their emotionless faces.

Much like a hunter looking for his prey, the demon hunters were on the hunt.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter