The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 312

Chapter 312: The City Post-Battle

The fighting in the city had ceased.

The group escaped the underground tunnel in the shadeling’s stronghold and got up to the remaining tower complex, which was still standing. The city was still filled with fire and smoke; the smell of blood and death was all over the place but, at the very least, the roar of combat had died off. The dimensional tunnels and the light pillars of their city-leveling magic had also disappeared. From a distance, they could only see a few people sweeping the battlefield for survivors while a group of fully armed soldiers was patrolling the streets.

Hessiana quickly turned on her communication device. “Turcan, what’s the situation?!”

“Mistress?! You’re alright?!” A surprised voice responded. “Thank goodness. We heard that you went after Bethanos…”

Hessiana looked up to the sky as she laughed. “Nonsense. Nothing will go wrong when I’m handling this personally. Say… have the demon hunters been beaten back?”

“Yes-yes!” Turcan responded. “They retreated as suddenly as they came… Perhaps they found the defenders and ancients too numerous and formidable. Besides, after losing the element of surprise, it would simply be a slaughter. Our side’s alright… There are some casualties but overall, things are okay.”

Hessiana left a few more instructions for her underlings and had a rough idea of what happened when the demon hunters retreated. Her reaction was almost incredulous as she cut communications. Vivian turned around as she pulled out a bat and smacked it over Bethanos’ head. “Speak! What were the demon hunters looking for! Don’t you dare play dumb!”

Hao Ren looked on as Vivian smashed her bat against Bethanos’ face and felt thatsomething was wrong with the way she used her bats… He then turned to look at the MDT, which was floating beside him and found that on hindsight, there was nothing wrong with the way she used them.

It was almost as if the two were synchronising with each other in terms of their weird habits.

Bethanos’ face was ashen grey. His series of setbacks and failures left his almost despondent. He could not even muster the strength to retort, much less resist. Sighing heavily, he said, “Hmm… they must have noticed that the signal from the Sacred Relic of Origins has disappeared. So, of course they would have retreated. That was what they were after…”

“They were after the Sacred Relic?” Hao Ren raised his eyebrow. The thought that the demon hunters would be after the relic never occurred to him. “Did you leak that information to them? You would rather inform them and not the rest in the city? Are you retarded?”

Bethanos’ eyes turned red but, he simply let out a defeated, “Hmph” and kept quiet. But, Hao Ren had figured out what the seemingly docile but actually insane old monster was up to. He never shared the secrets of the Sacred Relic of Origins to anyone; not the demon hunters or his own supernatural “kin”. All were pawns for him to manipulate. He had released the news to the demon hunters and made a pact with them to open the Divide at a specific time. This was to plunge the city into chaos after he had snatched the keys from the two great Blood Clan families. It was a convenient way to take out his two biggest rivals. Turning the city into a scene of carnage was simply a tactic to buy time. He had no intention to stay at all.

Bethanos had planned to use the Sacred Relic of Origins to return to The Plane of Dreams. By then, whatever inferno the world had become was no longer his concern.

Truthfully speaking, the old shadeling was almost a carbon copy of a typical Bond movie villain, so sure of the success of his plans. However, reality had a nasty habit of throwing a spanner into the works; who knew that such an ancient device also required an operating manual! Worse still, Bethanos even misunderstood the actual function of the Sacred Relic…

At that juncture, Hao Ren started to express some doubt. “Maybe, there is a ‘Sacred Relic’ that can open a gate. That gate would’ve been the way the otherworldlings came here 10,000 years ago… Bethanos was just unlucky…”

Lily’s ears perked up. “What did you say, Mr. Landlord?”

Hao Ren pinched her ears. “My word, your ears are a disgrace to your ancestors!”

After throwing that bombshell, he ignored Lily’s tantrums and walked forward, leaving the werehusky red-faced as she stroked her ears. “I just wasn’t paying attention! What were you saying Mr. Landlord! What were you on about…”

While the demon hunters had retreated, the old city was now a shadow of her former self. Temples and castles, hundreds of years old were belching smoke and fire. The majestic Blood Clan mansions were wrecked beyond recognition. Debris lay across the winding streets as craters and blast marks littered the surface. In them were pools of blood. Some sections of the city were not even traversable after the carnage. The blood pools were a mix of all kinds; vampires, werewolves, half-demons and demon hunters. The stench was so overpowering that one could puke. All that was left was a ruined city strewn with corpses and a hellish landscape.

One could probably call this a karmic cycle or retribution or just outright irony. Things moved in a cycle. Humans lived in fear in the past under the rule of the unusual creatures where a “god’s” impulse could be the end of them. Thousand of years after, these “gods” live in the same fear within their sanctuaries and a crazy old shadeling’s whim resulted in the current catastrophe. The Ancients, who had guarded the city for millenniums could also look upon the destruction of the sanctuary and the bodies, which lay within them. One could only wonder if this brought to mind the same scenario that happened thousands of years ago.

This was a question no one had an answer to.

Hao Ren suddenly realised that he was starting to understand the meaning behind Raven 12345’s message to him earlier on. Being an inspector, one would need to take the stand of an inspector. You may act at certain times according to your judgement, or work and stand with a power or a race, but in the overall picture, an inspector would need to be a neutral party. An inspector could not let his judgement be clouded by his allegiance. It would only make his or her position more difficult.

An inspector’s duty would need them to monitor and if need be, control the picture. They would look upon races young to ancient; their history and their future. As an outsider, most of the races had their own flaws but, none are truly detestable.

Hao Ren shook his head as he made his way towards Hessiana’s stronghold. Along the way, they were greeted by shocked stares. Mainly because, there was a demon, about five to six metres tall, covered in molten lava carefully tiptoeing his way through the streets. Y’zaks’ impressive stature would have been the talk of the town anywhere he went but, even more scenic was the old, half-dead shadeling squeezed under his arm…

Hao Ren turned and eyed Y’zaks as he looked at the giant demon, making his way in small steps to keep up with the party. Even then his foot steps were akin to thunderous drum beats. “Aren’t you tired walking like that?”

Y’zaks simply smiled as his voice rumbled in the air. “I’m afraid I might step on one of you if I walk normally. If I revert to my human form, I’m afraid that I might not be able to hold this bugger still. He may look all docile but, he was channelling something.”

Bethanos’ eyes widened. “How did you know?!”

Y’zaks gave out a thunderous laugh. “This arm has been the death of 16 heroes and 28 pure-blooded demons who were larger than you. Even from your breathing, I knew you were up to something. Stay still or I’ll give you another lesson…”

Cold sweat instantly formed across Hao Ren’s forehead. This was his first time hearing about Y’zaks’ habit of crushing people to death with his massive arms. It would have been humiliating to die that way.

Nangong Wuyue had already returned to her human form. The siren did not want to stain her beautiful scales with the streams of blood that painted the street. Many of the bodies had since been taken by their respective families but, the stain of blood was still there. The siren maiden frowned as she muttered, “What a horrible mess…”

Hessiana was frowning too as she sniffed intently and wiped her mouth. “What a waste…”

Hao Ren was clueless.

“So much…” Hessiana saw that no one paid her any mind and spoke again in an attempt to attract Vivian’s attention. She walked towards a pool of blood and stood by it as she stomped the floor. “Such a waste, such a waste!”

Vivian gave her an ice-cold stare. “No! Have some restraint!”

Hessiana was about to cry. “Can… I use a straw?”

Vivian stepped forward and slapped the back of her head. “I said, have some restraint!”

Hessiana looked down. “I was just curious about what a demon hunter’s blood would taste like…”

Hao Ren finally realised what was going on and looked at Hessiana in horror. Vivian could only smile awkwardly. “Now do you understand the cultural difference?”

Chapter 313: In the End, It’s All His Fault

In the end, Hessiana did not get to find out what demon hunter blood tasted like. Even though she came up with a multitude of ideas like using a straw, using napkins, setting up candles, playing soft jazz and using proper cutlery, which on the surface seemed to practice restraint. However, Vivian clearly did not find the idea of her minion dining on a pool of blood by the street anywhere close to self-restraint. Aside from that, even Hao Ren and the others were uncomfortable by the thought so, Hessiana had to give it up.

The group were closing in on Hessiana’s turf and the streets looked like something you would see in Stalingrad during World War II. Their turf was almost totally destroyed. The streets and many of the buildings were simply broken walls at this point. Smoking craters marked the streets and the air was thick with the stinging of a mix of smells. These resulted from the various combustibles, acid weapons and remaining poison gas. Hao Ren felt that just walking through the street could cut his life short by 10 years. The other parts of the city were equally damaged but, nothing could match the carnage here. Hessiana’s Daredevils used human warfare tactics by bringing in big bombs with bigger explosions into a fight between unusual creatures, and the result was telling.

As they passed through a street, a vampire clad in combat garb and a steel helmet leapt out from behind some concrete blocks. “Hold it right there… Oh-oh!!! Mistress is back! Mistress is back!”

“Turcan, are you sober now?” Hessiana gave the vampire a sideways glance and pointed towards Y’zaks. “We got Bethanos. Inform Lucas, we have a score to settle with that old bastard.”

Turcan was that drunk vampire who could not get out of his bat form. When he finally became sober, he turned into a rather good looking vampire. Then again, all vampires were almost paragons of beauty and culture. Having listened to Hessiana’s orders, Turcan pointed towards the piazza nearby. “The Lucas Family just arrived not too long ago. They are waiting for you.”

Hessiana then saw that a group of vampires were indeed standing on the piazza, and they looked like they had just got out of a huge fight. Their leader was of course Zeon Lucas. The immaculately dressed vampire was still as swanky as ever. Even though his clothes had blood stains, his entire outlook was still prim and proper. It was a stark contrast to the ragtag state of his underlings. The first thing Hessiana said as she walked towards him was, “Hey, Old Goat. Still keeping up the haughty appearance, eh. I almost can’t tell if you actually fought based on how you look.”

Zeon Lucas and his group turned towards Hessiana. Their sights immediately shifted towards the six-metre-tall demon behind her. “This is…”

“Wang ‘Y’zaks’ Daquan.” Y’zaks had to lower himself before he could speak to Zeon. As he spoke, sparks of flame rained all over the old vampire’s head. The latter’s impeccably kept hair that was untouched by combat was just a fraction away from being ruined. “This is Bethanos. I’ve already taught him a lesson earlier. But, if you want to give him supplementary classes, be my guest.”

As he finished his sentence, he threw Bethanos on the ground. At the same time, he remembered to keep the latter bound with chains made out of demonic runes. Zeon saw how miserable the conniving shadeling had become and could not keep his usual, gentlemanly composure as he broke out into a big laugh. “Hah! Bethanos! This didn’t cross your mind when you sold us out?”

Bethanos acted like he did not hear a thing. Well… in fact, he truly could not hear anything. The old shadeling had passed out even before Y’zaks threw him down before the group.

“Why are you lot standing here anyway?” Hessiana pointed towards her mansion. “Let’s talk inside… We are allies now, no?”

Andrea scowled and spat blood out of her mouth as she heard Hessiana. “Well, no. We are waiting for you lot to sweep the mines.”

Hessiana recoiled immediately as she was about to stomp her foot and scream at her underlings. “Stop playing dead and sweep the bloody mines!”

She shook her head after that. “I may need to find a new place to stay for a few days. This will take at least a week.”

At the same time, a glaring evening light appeared in the sky. Hesperides dragged her spiky, giant mace as she stepped down from the light. She had followed Vivian’s aura and teleported herself there. When she showed up, Hao Ren realised that the evening goddess’ bloodlust had faded and she had returned to her original demure self.

Hesperides had a few fresh streaks of blood on her and the mace had some visible damage. Her face bore the weight of fatigue but, she smiled when she saw Vivian. “So glad I’m in time to see you safe. The city too.”

She then saw the half-dead shadeling lying on the ground nonetheless, her expression did not change. It was almost as if this lunatic, who brought disaster to the sanctuary was nothing but a small fry to her. Hesperides turned to Y’zaks and nodded at him. “The big one, right? I’ve never seen a demon like you before. Are you from the deeper part of the abyss? Well, that doesn’t matter does it. I’m really glad that you fought alongside us.”

Hao Ren was surprised that Hesperides could tell the demon was Y’zaks with just a glance. It seemed like the Ancient One did have some ability to her name. “You can sense his aura?”

Hesperides just gave the party a sweeping look and said, “Exclusion method. The big guy’s missing.”

“…”

Vivian looked at Hesperides’ almost serene looking face and raised her eyebrows slightly. “Got your revenge?”

The evening goddess demurred for a moment before she sighed softly. “No… He got away. I even got a few people to help out but, demon hunters are slippery as usual… and he also had two others with him. Almost as skilled as the godslayers of old. Pfft, but at least, I got something with interest back.”

Vivian stared at the giant, spiked mace that Hesperides was still clutching and could not help but repeat the same thing she had told the goddess a thousand times over. “I think you should go back to using that magic staff of yours. Your melee combat skills are so poor that even a blind demon hunter can take you down.”

Hesperides simply pointed at her forehead. “Here we go again. I want to go back to using my staff too but, this hole here won’t allow it. Every time I get agitated, I go berserk. Even if you give me a staff, I’ll still be clubbing someone with it.” As she spoke, Hesperides touched her spiked mace gently. “It’s better to have this at the moment. At least, the 128 spikes on super heated metal hurts more…”

So, that was why she was so fixated on the mace!

Vivian noticed the slightly weird expression on Hesperides’ face and asked, “Say… do you think being so engrossed in this whole revenge thing is worth it? Haven’t you suffered enough?”

“There’s no value to it. This is war. It all boils down to who lives.” Hesperides gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Smacking him with the mace today was me ticking off one of my long held regrets… But… seeing how you are now, I don’t think you guys are staying?”

“We have accomplished what we came here for,” Hao Ren quickly interjected. “Our goal was too see what the ruins was about. Now that the dimension has collapsed, there’s no reason to stay here any longer.”

Hessiana looked at Vivian and then at Zeon Lucas. She wisely kept her mouth shut about the Sacred Relic of Origins. She knew that Zeon was hungry for power and the Sacred Relic would definitely bring more trouble. Of course, she would not have been able to hide it forever as the Lucas Family would be sending men to sweep the shadeling’s stronghold for information. It was just a matter of time before they discovered it. However, rather than adding into the chaos, it was better to just delay it for as long as possible. Zeon Lucas was stunned as he heard that the other dimension had collapsed. “What?! The ruins… collapsed?”

Hessiana patted Zeon on the shoulder as she pointed to Bethanos. “In the end, it’s all his fault. Just keep him alive once you’re done with him. I still have some questions to ask him.”

Bethanos had begun to stir by then but, he instantly fainted again once he heard Hessiana…

Chapter 314: The Path Towards the Future

Hao Ren planned to just return home. The Sacred Relic of Origins, which they obtained from the alternate dimension tingled his curiosity. What Bethanos said played at the back of his head too, and he wanted to further investigate the matter as soon as he got back. However, Hessiana had invited them to stay back a little longer for a meal, and Hao Ren found it hard to reject.

Well, it was more like Vivian being the only person who got the invitation and Hessiana finding it hard to reject the rest so, she decided to let them stay…

The city was in ruin and much work was needed to restore it. Not discounting the fact that there were still a whole bunch of the dead and wounded, who needed to be tended to. This was not a celebratory luncheon rather, a somber, post-mortem meeting. Hessiana and Zeon had concluded their family matters and arranged for more stringent security detail as well as repair works for the city. Now, they had some time to ponder on the future. The three big families had been reduced to two, and the smaller families literally had no say on the matter. Hence, Hessiana and Zeon were the de facto leaders of the sanctuary. They personally went around the city to invite the Ancients, who participated in the defence of the city. With Vivian’s fame backing their invitation, it was almost a full attendance.

The only Ancient missing was the Great Guardian Tree, Grandalr. It was understandable given his size and mobility but, he sent a familiar of sorts to attend the meeting. The familiar was now in front of Hessiana—a pot with a stalk of leek.

Hao Ren had to pay extra attention to Lil Pea, who was bouncing around in front of him. He had to stop her from biting the stalk of leek… While the little rascal did not eat vegetables, she had the habit of biting anything that looked weird to her just to grind her teeth!

That said, Hessiana’s main hall was now a place of congregation for the most capable and famed group of people. They were split between two factions on the future of the sanctuary.

Some felt that the sanctuary was no longer safe and they wanted to abandon the place to wander or go to another sanctuary for help. Another group thought that things were not as bad as they were made out to be. They wanted to stay and rebuild the place.

Both factions had their logic and sound arguments. With the current situation, neither being in nor outside the sanctuary was safe. The sanctuary was attacked mainly because the Shadowy Divide was sabotaged, and once they repaired the Divide, the demon hunters would have no way to act against the place. The demon hunters knew that the sanctuary had been around for a few thousand years already. And, they very well aware that a huge congregation of unusual creatures lived there as much as they were aware about other sanctuaries throughout the world. Exposure of the location was not a problem on its own. The problem lay in the defence.

Once the defence was restored and rebuilt, things would return to its original status quo.

The Shadowy Divide was indeed created by the shadelings but, vampires and other creatures of darkness were also capable of such techniques. Furthermore, the Divide itself was technically not damaged and rebuilding the defence would not have been too difficult. In fact, the Divide had already been reactivated. It was just that those present were worried if the shadelings left any nasty booby traps in it. Therefore, they needed to recalibrate the defence mechanism. Of course, that was if the sanctuary would not be abandoned.

Hao Ren knew he was just an outsider however, he could not help but care about the city’s fate. He looked at Hessiana, who was standing beside him. “What do you think?”

“Me? Most of the current inhabitants will stay.” Hessiana did not treat it like a major matter. “Actually, this place has been attacked by demon hunters a few times in the past. The latest was during the raging witch hunts across Europe. An army of demon hunters broke through and the battle was even bigger than the one we fought today. We prevailed in the end and we did the same thing as today. A few will leave, most will stay. The demon hunters also did not recommence their attacks for some reason, and it’ll probably be the same today. There have been many wars during the Mythological Era and it has continued long after the era ended. Both otherworldlings and demon hunters are equally depleted. No one has the power or force to destroy a city on a whim.”

Hessiana sighed after she finished. “It’s not safe anywhere anyway. This discussion will never end. It’s really choosing between the lesser of two evils. The demon hunters will not be attempting another attack any time soon. They have a need to take into account their own loses and how pushing us to the brink may cause Athens to be destroyed with them. So… it’s better not to overthink things.”

There was truth in Hessiana’s argument.

At the end of the meeting, it was decided that the sanctuary remained. After mending the Divide, they would return to their status quo against the demon hunters. This sort of crisis was not new to them and the inhabitants of the sanctuary were used to it. Of course, a small minority opted to leave but, even more stayed on to rebuild the place. The Ancients also decided on how to rebuild and redevelop the sanctuary. Hessiana and Zeon Lucas went along with the Ancients’ plans.

With the meeting concluded, the congregation started socialising. Hessiana sheepishly went towards Vivian and tugged at her sleeves. “Lady Vivian, Lady Vivian can I…”

Vivian subconsciously shook her head. “No.”

“But, I haven’t said anything…” Hessiana protested.

“Oh. Sorry, it’s habitual,” Vivian said as she massaged her forehead. “Go on then.”

Hessiana put on another pitiful look. “Lady Vivian, can I move to your place?”

Before Vivian could respond, Hao Ren’s ears sprang into attention but, it was Lily who responded first. “No way! No way! There’s already a vampire at home. We don’t need a second one?!”

Hessiana gave Lily a sideways glance. “And how does this involve you? You can see for yourself that the city is in chaos. It’s obvious that it’s not safe to stay here for a while. I heard that Lady Vivian’s place is a safe haven so, let me stay there for a day or two.”

Hesperides was passing by as she heard the conversation and she gave Hessiana a weird look. “What are you? A tumbleweed? Going where there’s safety? Don’t forget that both you and Zeon are the leaders of this sanctuary. We Ancients are not involved.

Hessiana puffed her chest. “How am I a mere tumbleweed. I’m literally a dandelion. I don’t even need wind to bring me flying towards Lady Vivian. Right, Lady Vivian? Hehehe…”

As Hessiana said that, she tried to snuggle into Vivian’s bosom with the latter recoiling. She had goosebumps all over her. “Oh no, you don’t… How many times do I have to tell you? Have some decency!”

Vivian then looked at Hessiana sternly. “No, not today. The people here need you. You can’t just leave at such a key moment. Once you’re done however, you are free to come and look for me…”

Hessiana had a look of disbelief on her face. “Really?!”

Vivian glanced at Hao Ren. Upon getting his approval, she turned back and broke into a smile. “Our place is a safe haven for otherworldlings, and you are welcomed there. Truth be told, the reason I left you behind was because of circumstances. I really couldn’t afford to feed you…”

Hessiana was almost touched before Vivian continued, “But of course, the more pressing issue was that you were simply too annoying.”

Hao Ren coughed lightly to draw Hessiana’s attention. “Besides, you staying here could help us a lot… I mean, help Vivian out.”

This tactic worked surprisingly well with Hessiana and she nodded like a vibrating controller.

“Dig whatever you can out of Bethanos,” Hao Ren said in a low voice. “We don’t have any right to interrogate him and I don’t have the experience either. But, you have. So, if he divulges anything, please let me know… Or better still, let Vivian know?”

Hessiana looked at Vivian and nodded.

“Another thing is regarding the Sacred Relic of Origins.” Hao Ren looked icily at Zeon Lucas, who was standing some distance away. “Bethanos may let him in on that. The shadeling’s stronghold may also have records of the relic so, Zeon will find out that we have taken the device sooner or later. But frankly speaking… it is important that I keep it as it is really dangerous and I can’t just let anyone tinker with it. So… for my sake… or rather… Vivian’s sake, keep it a secret.

Hessiana agreed as well and Hao Ren finally sighed with relief. “It’s tiring talking to you. I have to bring Vivian up every time… It’s not like you don’t know that helping me’s like helping Vivian.”

Hessiana pouted as she swept her sight between Hao Ren and Vivian before making a face at Hao Ren as she blurted, “Over my dead body if I have to call you Dad!”

Hao Ren, was like, “Huh?!”

The petite vampire ran off like the wind, leaving Hao Ren and Vivian to look at each other in shock. The two shared another glance before they went, “Ah, just a silly girl’s rant. Ignore her!”

This caused Hesperides to raise an eyebrow. “Your synchronicity is just a little too high, ain’t it?”

Hao Ren shifted awkwardly as he caughed. He immediately remembered something as he saw Hesperides. “Oh, right! About you… Do you want to fix the hole in that brain of yours?”

Chapter 315: Are You Sure You’re a Wizard?

They left the sanctuary after Hessiana reluctantly said farewell (especially to Vivian). The real Athens was still sunny, bustling with activity and peaceful. No one would have thought that there had been a thrilling battle in the shadows of this seemingly peaceful city. The demon hunters did not completely evacuate the city yet. After the Ancients risked their lives to expel the demon hunters from the sanctuary, some of the demon hunters built a few new strongholds in the city. These strongholds would probably last more than a century to monitor and suppress the development of the otherworldling’s sanctuary. However, the hunters were not able to get in again for the time being. The Shadowy Divide had been revived and lots of demon hunters were killed in this operation. It was currently impossible for them to pull up a mighty army of churches and exorcists to wipe out an area like they did during the Mythological Era. They also had to monitor other unusual creatures in other parts of the world therefore, it was not easy to organise another large-scale operation like that.

Just as Hessiana said, everything would go on as usual. There was simply a bunch of renewed spirits.

Fearing that the demon hunters in Athens may discover them, Hao Ren and his group did not stay for long. They went through the procedures to return home but this time, there was one more person in the team: Hesperides.

“Are you sure you have a way to dispel the power of the demon hunter?” Hesperides was still a little skeptical of Hao Ren’s promise. She agreed to follow them and leave Athens with Vivian’s guarantee. Yet, when she thought of the hole, which been on her head for thousands of years, she found Hao Ren’s promise a little too good too be true.

Hao Ren looked at the gorgeous, lace headband on Hesperides’ head and said with a confident smile, “You can rest assured that we have professional equipment here.”

Offering to help Hesperides heal her wound was not prompted by a sudden impulse. In fact, he wanted to take this opportunity to study something.

Hao Ren had always been interested in the demon hunters’ power. He had heard about demon hunter training from Nangong Wuyue and Nangong Sanba; from there, he found a lot of questionable points: demon hunter training was more about cultivating the mind and knowledge of “magical things”. And, most of their skills and magic were not acquired through training. These powers were derived from their inborn talent. A newborn demon hunter had these powers from birth, whether it was the power of exorcism or teleportation, or even complex spells. Things that were supposed to be mastered by continuous learning and training were actually the result of heredity. This was the reason why the demon hunters were a group of people who valued “talent” very much. A newborn demon hunter with excellent blood and strong talent would receive very special care. This was because, as long as they grew up healthily, they would have more power than those who were mediocre no matter how hard the mediocre ones trained. This may not sound fair but, it was a trait that had been unchanged for thousands of years.

This caused Hao Ren to question the demon hunters; he wanted to study this. Right now, there was a thousand-year-old hole in Hesperides’ head. It was a specimen of power left by a pure and gifted demon hunter of the ancient times. Nothing was more suitable for research than this.

Of course, Hao Ren also took a lot of other research specimens from the sanctuary: Some demon hunters’ blood, hair and tissue samples, weapons as well as body-strengthening potions commonly used by demon hunters. These things could fill up at least two shelves if they were taken out of the Dimensional Pocket. Hessiana also mentioned that Hao Ren finally did something relevant for a human wizard—he began to show interest in corpses.

Hao Ren did not find that it was something to be happy about. Keeping a whole bunch of creepy stuff in the Dimensional Pocket made his skin crawl while he walked. Lil Pea kept protesting: the little kid was also in the Dimensional Pocket after all. Piles of junk were put next to her fish tank. The little kid felt that her sea-view room was seriously being threatened. Hao Ren had to put a circle of SpongeBob pictorials around the fish tank…

Let’s not dwell on what happened along their journey. They basically just passed their time listening to Lily’s chatter. They finally landed in the small, remote airport. They took the airport bus to the urban area, and then an old bus to the south of the city. After that, they transferred into an older bus to the Southern Suburbs. In the middle of the journey, the bus broke down and they had to trek 20 minutes to their home on the desolate, old-fashioned street. Only Hesperides was able to keep calm throughout the journey. If it had happened to a normal girl, she would have started to suspect that Hao Ren was a man who specialised in trafficking women to mountainous areas. She would have started planning on calling the police. Finally, when Hao Ren’s old house appeared before everyone’s eyes, Hesperides was relieved and said, “Phew… Luckily… I thought I was going to live in a cave…”

Hao Ren raised his eyebrows and asked, “What did you think my house would look like?”

Hesperides did not look like she was joking. “I hope you don’t mind, I’m not being sarcastic—I know a lot of human wizards who live in caves. They behave in peculiar ways and like to do some very dangerous research. Therefore, they can’t stay in crowded places. Nonetheless, the wizards are getting lesser and lesser these days…”

“Because the demon hunters keep killing them?”

Vivian spread her hands and said, “Because the tourism industry is getting too developed. Quarrying has also gotten more and more frequent. There’s no way to stay in the mountains these days. Last year, there was a sorcerer in Zhejiang, who was almost killed while he was conducting an experiment in a cave—now, he’s suing the quarry company’s boss.”

Hesperides sighed and said, “These days, those who can’t hide themselves are basically dead.”

Hao Ren thought about it for a moment and felt that the main reason wizards these days were not doing good was because they were not smart enough. If they took some of the time they spent on studying magic to figure out how to make money, they would probably realise that they could set up a coal mining company in Shanxi and have plenty of caves to use. They could even go to Shennongjia to challenge human limits!

Of course, the wizards had nothing to do with them so, Hao Ren soon forgot about that and led everyone back to the big house, which he had long been separated from. The house was covered in dust but, it was much better than the last time when they travelled to the Otherworld for half a month. Vivian started to tidy the house up and Becky joined her as well. Hesperides was surprised to see Vivian busy cleaning the house, and asked, “This is where you live?”

“How is it? Pretty good, right?!” Vivian just found a rag and she was about to wet it to wipe the table. When she heard Hesperides’ question, she replied proudly, “My living conditions are now much better than before!”

It was not certain what Hesperides was thinking. She just looked at Vivian with a bizarre expression and said, “…It’s not exactly what I had imagined but, it’s a lot better than I thought. Looks like you’re satisfied with this life now?”

“Of course, I’m satisfied. It’s very peaceful, very lively. I don’t have to worry about food or clothing, and very often, fun things happen here. It’s a lot better than wandering here and there aimlessly,” Vivian answered as she cleaned the house. Then, she yelled from the bathroom, “Eh… Why is there no water?!”

“Maybe the pipe’s frozen.” Nangong Wuyue ran to the bathroom with water vapour all over her body and said, “Don’t panic, I’ll come and help! What kind of water do you want? Pure or mineral? Or, weak alkaline water…”

Hao Ren hurriedly reminded her, “Be careful! The last time, you almost flooded the kitchen! By the way, please give Lil Pea a bath…”

Hesperides looked at the family’s daily life in amazement. The daily scene of this little sanctuary was clearly different from what she had imagined. There was no infighting, no layers of defensive traps and a large number of unusual creatures lived together peacefully. This place did not feel like a sanctuary at all. It was more like… an ordinary family.

Hao Ren’s voice interrupted her thinking. “Umm, are you tired? If you’re not tired, let’s go to the basement for a scan and I’ll create a treatment plan for you.”

The moment Hesperides nodded, Lily asked solemnly, “The basement physical examination video?”

Hao Ren slapped the husky’s head and said, “Can you please watch something with healthy and positive content next time? By the way, come and help me. You have nothing to do anyway.”

Hesperides followed them to the basement without thinking too much. When she saw the scene in the basement, she was astounded.

“You… Are you sure you’re a wizard?” She stared at Hao Ren and said, “You better tell me the treatment plan first. Let me mentally prepare myself.”