The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 881

Chapter 881: The Shade of Chaos

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

The moment Vivian heard Hessiana’s voice, she trembled and was about to break up into a swarm of bats and hide—a reaction that had become a reflex when she sensed Hessiana was going to pounce on her. However, Hessiana stopped short of doing that at the last moment, as she realized that it was not the most appropriate occasion. Defying her inner urge, she stood still on the spot at the table and just said hello.

Convinced that Hessiana would not jump at her declaring her love like an eager puppy, Vivian breathed a sigh of relief and began to pay attention to those in the assembly hall.

There were a dozen men and women, both young and old; all had their strange auras sitting at the expensive wooden conference table and staring at Vivian and Hao Ren. Other than the familiar faces such as Hessiana and Zeon Lucas, the rest must be the bigwigs from other families in the sanctuary that Hesperides had mentioned, Hao Ren figured.

The assembly hall appeared too empty with only a dozen people assembling there. These people were divided into groups sitting far from each other at the large table. No doubt they were of different races. The vampires and werewolves were seated at the farthest end of the table, while the rest of the people did not seem to be very fond of each other too.

The misfit between different races was not much a surprise to Hao Ren anymore as the otherworldlings had been hostile to each other for tens of thousands of years.

Vivian could only recognize less than half of those at the table. She gave up digging into her memory for the names of the rest and sat down down matter-of-coursely at the round table together with Hao Ren, Y’zaks and the rest. “Hello, long time no see. In case you don’t already know me, I am Vivian Ancestor,” Vivian said.

She appeared calm and dominating, which was traits that she rarely displayed at home, but Hao Ren was not surprised at all. She did it unconsciously when facing otherworldlings of her junior. It was a method to impose authority and dominance; acting like a weakling would only get excluded in the otherworldling society where seniority and experience were important.

There was no display of resentment towards Vivian. A middle-aged man in a black suit sitting across the table rose up with a big smile, bowed and greeted Vivian respectfully. “Please forgive me for not recognizing you earlier, Countess Ancestor, as I was too shocked; I didn’t expect to see you appearing among us suddenly, after all, you have been very quiet for more than a century.”

The middle-aged man’s move seemed to be a signal as everyone at the round table got to their feet and greeted Vivian though they were of different races and forces, some of them were even rivals. The vampires bowed reverently, while the werewolves nodded slightly as a minimum gesture of respect, even the patriarchs in the sanctuary who were acquainted with her paid their tribute to her. The whole process became as solemn as a ritual. Even Hesperides who came in later bowed slightly.

Everyone was like giving Vivian a standing ovation. Vivian, Hao Ren, and Lily were stunned. The husky maiden looked at Vivian, wide-eyed. “Wow, Battie, you’re a big cheese!”

“It’s a modern day now, so put yourself at ease.” Vivian let them sit down, and she looked at the middle-aged man. “Who are you?” she asked.

The middle-aged man was about to sit down when Vivian asked him. He did not aim correctly on the chair and almost fell on the ground. He hemmed and tried to look calm. “Countess Ancestor is very humorous. Ahh, you may have forgotten.”

This middle-aged man seemed to have realized Vivian’s memory problem. He tidied up his clothes and introduced himself. “You once saved my father, Wayne Walter, the elder of Blood Clan from the North American Sanctuary. I was honored to meet you several times when I was young. Back then, you had a close relationship with our family, but then our family went bankrupt and moved to North America, we lost contact since. After our family had reestablished itself, my father had always wanted to find you to no avail.”

Two words stood out: ‘close relationship’ and ‘bankrupt.’ Hao Ren looked at Vivian with a wacky expression; this woman was a real jinx, he thought.

Vivian felt a bit embarrassed. Cold sweat started to trickle down her forehead as it was the other old acquaintances’ turn to introduce themselves. Fretting about hearing more bankruptcy stories, which might mean she owed them money, she quickly interrupted them. “Self-introduction is unnecessary; I may not remember you after all. I’m here for the shadowy monsters, which I heard that they were called the Shades of Chaos.”

Hesperides added, “Two persons at the sanctuary of the Countess was also attacked, but they have captured the thing.”

It caused a stir among the patriarchs. Hao Ren heard someone whispering, “It is said that the Countess is living in Asia, and I have not thought that the monster has spread over there.” “The dimensional coordinates of the seal leaks may not be the same as that of the real world.” “Three days ago, in South America—”

Hao Ren hemmed to interrupt them. “What exactly is that shadow?”

Some patriarchs began to notice the presence of Hao Ren this time. Initially, they thought Hao Ren was just a follower of Vivian and never expected him to speak. Zeon Lucas and a few patriarchs quickly introduced Hao Ren to the others. Then Wayne Walter got to his feet. “It seems that Countess Ancestor has forgotten about the shadow, then allow me to explain it to you. Our family was an ally of the Ancattero family hundreds of years ago.

“The Shade of Chaos is a kind of weird creature first appeared in the ancient times and the early days of the Mythological Era. Whether it is a creature is still controversial, but its behaviors are very similar to that of a creature. I guess everyone now knows what the shadow looks like; it is parasitic in the shade, moving on the surface of physical objects, looks like an image, does not need to eat or rest, and is extremely dangerous.

“The Shadow of Chaos will attack the supernatural races including the demon hunters indiscriminately. They are good at hiding themselves, and it is kind of difficult to know when they will attack. They are invisible and can damage the body tissue of its target with magic and cause mental trauma. This kind of shadow can hide in the shades, and move quickly on object surfaces. It is almost impossible to destroy them with normal attacks.

“The only effective way to fight the Shades of Chaos is to bind them with powerful shadow spells and exile them into the purely shadowy dimension, where they will slowly blend into the dimension itself. When they couldn’t regroup themselves, they will dissipate by itself. Apart from that, I also heard that the Holy Flame of the demon hunters was effective against the shadows, but there is no way to verify it.”

Wayne paused, giving Vivian and the others a chance to ask questions and think. Hao Ren immediately seized the opportunity. “Did you just say that the Shades of Chaos will only attack the supernatural races?” he asked.

“Yes,” Wayne replied and nodded, “including the demon hunter and us.”

The ‘us’ he meant was obviously including the werewolf and the vampire. This information immediately got Hao Ren’s attention. “Humans will not be attacked?”

“I’ve never heard of them attacking human so far.”

Hao Ren wanted to tell Wayne that he was attacked too, but when he thought of the alien tech and magic blessings he had, it was embarrassingly simplistic to say that he was a pure human. He thought better of it, but his mind was racing.

If the shadow just attacked the supernatural races, that would only mean the otherworldlings from the Plane of Dreams. He was wondering if the shadow was also affected by the innate nature of hostility.

Vivian nodded to Wayne and signaled his party to continue.

“There is something about the power of the Shades of Chaos I need to explain. The most dangerous of those shadows is not their lethality, but their ability to attack the mind and cause madness. After being attacked by the Shades of Chaos, your mind will be affected, and you will go mad very quickly.”

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Chapter 882: The Ancattero Family

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

The information of the Shades of Chaos that Wayne revealed was bothering Hao Ren. It was not known if it was instinct or something else that; he could vaguely sense the Shades of Chaos, and the otherworldlings were related judging from their attributes.

They made people mad?” Hao Ren interrupted Wayne. “How?”

Wayne was very patient. “They attack indiscriminately, but their targets are still limited to the supernatural races. We don’t know it for sure because all this is just the record in the ancient book.”

The Shades of Chaos targeted unique races with supernatural powers, in other words, those who were from the Plane of Dreams, and those who were attacked would fall into the frenzied state of the indiscriminate attack. This unusual nature reminded Hao Ren of one thing: it was a primitive manifestation of “innate hostility,” a tendency to attack each other among the otherworldlings.

It was now unclear why Y’zaks and his daughter had also become the targets. Though they were of a supernatural race, they were not from the Plane of Dreams.

Hao Ren kept the doubt to himself and continued to listen to Wayne’s explanation.

“The origin of the Shades of Chaos is a mystery. It is very ancient, not many people know about it now. All I know is that the Ancattero family in South America has been responsible for guarding the seal for many years. I think the few elders here should know better than I do.”

While saying, Wayne looked at Hesperides, who was sitting in a corner. Hesperides nodded slightly and got to her feet. “As far as I could remember, the last time the Shades of Chaos appeared was in the early days of the Olympus era in Rome. Violence broke out, dragging several deicidal families into conflict. At last, several ancient families joined forces, captured the Shade of Chaos and sealed them together with the source of their power before transferring them to a mountain in South America. The few families building the seal had had some problems, and finally, the Ancattero family took over the job of guarding the seal.”

Everyone else at the scene already knew the story, so basically, Wayne and Hesperides were telling it to Vivian and Hao Ren who had just arrived. After Hesperides sat down, Vivian hemmed embarrassedly. “Do you know who was responsible for building the seal?”

As she spoke, she looked around nervously, but it was evident that no one knew the answer. Even Hesperides, who was the most senior, shook her head. “I was still young, and the Olympus family didn’t participate in the incident directly. I just heard from the elders that there was a battle in the wilderness, and then the incident ended confusingly.”

Vivian acknowledged with an ‘Oh’ and turned her head away rather weirdly. “I… maybe… I mean possibly I was involved in the sealing of the Shades of Chaos.”

Everyone was stunned. Wayne, who after telling Vivian so many things, almost fell to the ground again hearing what she said. The ancients could not believe that the clueless Countess Vivian Ancestor was involved but needed her juniors to tell her what had happened. Trying to hide their gaffe, everyone pretended to be busy; some pretended to drink, some pretended to look at their watches and read documents. They wanted to suggest to Vivian to take more melatonin but were too embarrassed to do so. Vivian was self-conscious and knew what they were thinking. She sighed. “I know I look funny, but I couldn’t help it, I have forgotten everything. I have even learned the name of Ancattero from you all just now. Since I was the one who sealed those things, I should also be responsible when they escaped,” she said.

Vivian turned to Wayne. “Do your family still keep in touch with the Ancattero family? What happened to them?”

When talking about this, everyone the assembly hall fell into silence again. Wayne only spoke after a while, face serious. “The Ancattero family has lost contact with the outside world. Their family’s secret realm has been completely sealed from the outside world since last month. All the investigators except one who went to check them out did not make it back. The one who made it back was severely injured and became mad. According to the confused narration of the surviving investigator, the Ancattero family may have been wiped out.”

“Wiped out?” Vivian’s eyes widened. “Are there any other members of their family on the outside?”

“The Ancattero family is a very, very conservative family. They are hermits. None of their family members had ever ventured out in the open. They retain a small number of alien dimensions in the world and live in a semi-self-sufficient way. Only a tiny number of their family members are, but those humans know even less.” Wayne shook his head. “The Ancattero family is very mysterious. There have rarely been in contact with others during ancient times. Our family had only conducted a minimum business relationship with them as they produced high-quality rune items.”

Y’zaks had been silent since the beginning. He suddenly cut in. “I just heard you say that the matter is related to the demon hunter?”

“We have no evidence,” Wayne said, shrugging. He then pointed at a burly, dark-skinned man who was a distance from him. “The Holfinly family said they had the evidence.”

“I’m Holfinglian werewolf leader, Hogwarf. I met them in the Battle of Troy three thousand years ago.” The tall, muscular black man nodded to Vivian and introduced himself. “Our family is currently active in Western Australia. But last month when the Ebben family and we bumped into the demon hunter when we met in South America. The retreating family warriors said that the demon hunters happened to be active nearby the Ancattero family, who also happened to lose contact with the outside world a few days after that. I suspect that the demon hunters attacked the Ancattero family and stupidly destroyed the seal.”

Before Hogwarf’s voice trailed off, and a woman dressed in black, with a pale complexion and a gloomy face sitting across from him snorted softly. “I don’t think the demon hunters would be stupid to ignore the many families in South America and only go for Ancattero. Didn’t they collude with each other all this while? I’m afraid your intel isn’t that accurate; retreating soldiers? More like deserters lying to you to escape punishment.”

The woman in black angered Hogwarf. This veteran werewolf leader did not mince his words when he displayed his temper. His hand banged his hand on the table and caused a large crack in the wood. “Hayla, you mix-blood don’t deserve to stand here! You’re just like your bastard father, shallow!”

Hessiana immediately looked at the crack wooden table and yelled at Hogwarf, “This table costs 60 grand!”

The woman in black, Hayla, also hit the table with her hand. “Hogwalf, do you think that I don’t know? You just wanted us to go to the demon hunters and get massacred. You already have a notorious reputation in South America!”

Hessiana jumped on both Hayla and Hogwarf. “You two must share the cost of damage!”

Hogwarf and Hayla finally noticed Hessiana. Both of them glanced at Hessiana, stunned. “Why is it so expensive?”

Brawls among the otherworldlings were the norm. No one raised an eyebrow. Hao Ren asked Zeon Lucas who was nearby him, “Do they have grudges?”

“Hayla is a survivor of the Odin family. Her father, Rocky, once lured Thor to use a lightning bolt to ignite a laurel tree on the mountain to test the accuracy of his magic and unwittingly killed a giant wolf that happened to be under the laurel tree at that time. The wolf was Hogwarf’s distant nephew,” Zeon Lucas whispered. “Though it was more than 2,000 years ago, and Rocky and Thor had died, but their surviving family members were in loggerhead ever since.”

Fortunately, a fight did not break out between Hayla and Hogwarf; in one hand, Hessiana had interrupted them and on the other hand, they scrupled as they had high respect for Vivian Ancestor was treated like their half-mother. The angry old demons bit their lips and sat back down and signed an I-owe-you letter for Hessiana. When things had quieted down, Hao Ren asked, “Hayla said that the Ancattero family colluded with the demon hunters? What was going on? Are there otherworldlings that would want to collude with the demon hunters?”

“It’s all rumors!” Wayne Walter said with a wry smile. “There will always be one or two bad apples in a basket. The Ancattero family had been low-key since the Mythological era and never participated in any battle, including the battle with the demon hunters. After the end of the Mythological era, they escaped the persecution of the demon hunters and the human church, so it is understandable that people would suspect them.”

Though there was no proof to Wayne’s words, it reinforced the notion of the existence of some “tacit understanding” between the Ancattero family and the demon hunters. Hao Ren could only be stunned.

Was there an otherworldling family in the world that could conspire with the demon hunter? Where was the congenital hostility?

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Chapter 883: Set Off

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

The otherworldlings had never been truly united. They even had a problem sitting together and talking to each other. Distrust and backstabbing were norms. They were just a loose alliance, and everyone just did things their way. Naturally, the meeting came to nothing at the end of the day. Hao Ren did not expect the meeting a productive one. He was there to sort out the overall picture of the event.

In the age where humankind was not yet civilized, and the ‘spirits’ from the otherworlds ruled the planet, there was a dangerous force in the world called Shade of Chaos. Just like the mysterious, vengeful spirit, the Shade of Chaos brought great suffering to the world with its powerful and strange powers. They were almost indestructible and could cause the supernatural races to kill each other by affecting their minds. Later, the leaders of the otherworldlings of the ancient times–including Vivian–joined forces, captured and sealed these Shades of Chaos and placed it under the guard of several large families. Later, at the end of the Mythology era, the otherworldling families dwindled, and the Ancattero family became the only one guarding the Shades of Chaos. Since then, the record of the Shade of Chaos had become blurry over time. To many people, it was merely a legend today.

The Shade of Chaos had disappeared from the world for thousands of years, but when the Ancattero family, who was responsible for guarding the seals, suddenly lost contact with the outside world, and the shadow monsters reappeared. At present, all clues pointed to the demon hunter, as it seemed that the demon hunters had attacked the Ancattero family and accidentally damaged. As for the truth, according to Wayne, the investigators investigating the Ancattero incident were either dead or mad, and no one dared to go there again.

After finishing the storytelling session, the meeting fell into a long debate and stalemate.

They reached a consensus on one thing though, that was, the Shade of Chaos was very harmful, it was necessary to immediately find out what happened to the Ancattero family and find a way to reseal the shadow, but they were split when it came to deciding who should do the job. No one was willing to do the dirty job, and they were even more reluctant to form a joint investigation team. The werewolves were not willing to work with the Blood Clan, the phantoms were suspicious of the wizards, and the descendants of the gods were lone rangers, not willing to work with anyone. They were suspicious of each other and wary backstabbing, sabotage, unfair loot distribution, collusion with the demon hunter, land grabbing and things like that.

What was worse was that their mutual suspicion was right; they were always plotting against each other.

This meeting was impossible to come to any result. Hao Ren had ball ache watching on. He could not help but whisper to Zeon Lucas, “Why are you still fighting among yourselves?”

“You think this is serious? It’s a lot better than what happened a few hundred years ago,” said Zeon Lucas, who still maintained his gentleman’s demeanor, but when it was talking about the internal bickering among the otherworldlings, he sounded sarcastic and self-deprecating. “At least we can sit at the same table but not fighting. If not for the weakening ‘innate hostility’ phenomenon, there would have been a bloodbath here.”

Lily pouted. “Is that necessary?”

“Asking them to trust each other at the back of thousands of years of hostility is not possible.” Vivian sighed softly. “Mostly because no one would believe the other would cooperate with them. The main worry here is the demon hunter. According to Hogwarf, there are hunters in the vicinity of the Ancattero family. If this incident is the demon hunter’s doing, then the Ancattero territory should have already fallen into the hands of the demon hunters, and whoever goes there now would be cannon fodder at best. It is not a Mythological era anymore, the modern otherworldling families barely survive and no longer have the strength to confront the demon hunters. Even the brave race like the werewolf had to hide seeing the demon hunter.”

Y’lisabet arched her mouth. “Oh, so shameful of them. What’s so difficult? Papa used to unite the whole world–”

Her papa quickly pulled her back before she finished speaking. The great demon appeared a bit awkward. “Papa is an exception rather than the norm.”

Hao Ren agreed with Y’zaks. For Vivian to achieve what Y’zaks had produced, she would have, but this would not happen on Earth. Hitler tried and was dead.

All the otherworldlings had their ax to grind and wanted to preserve their strength, but at the same time, they all wished someone else could step forward to solve the shadow problem. This negotiation was destined to fail. However, Hao Ren did not come here to listen to their nonsense. Before the old fags finished quarreling, he got to his feet. “Have you guys finished talking? Now it’s my turn to talk.”

The old fags looked at him, bewildered, wondering what this ‘sorcerer,’ who popped out of nowhere, was going to say. In the eyes of the patriarchs, Hao Ren was a little-known junior with no experience, background, emerged like a rescuer called in my the monkey out of thin air, asides from being the leader of a small sanctuary in some part of Asia he had no title and even if he had it was just an empty one. Despite all these, the staying of Vivian Ancestor stayed in his ‘sanctuary’ had Hao Ren shrouded in a mysterious aura. The patriarchs were curious about the ‘sorcerer’ now.

“I know that you are worried. The Ancattero territory is dangerous, and it’s normal to have hesitation,” Hao Ren said as he pointed to several people around him. “It’s okay if you don’t want to go, we are going anyway, including Vivian.”

Everyone was silent. Wayne looked at Vivian incredulously as if looking for her confirmation. When Vivian nodded, he was more surprised. “How many of you?”

“Just a few of us here.” Hao Ren pointed to Vivian, Lily, Y’zaks, and Y’lisabet. “Of course, we will call for reinforcement if there is a need. Don’t worry about us.”

When Hao Ren said ‘reinforcement,’ he was talking about the hundred-million tenants that he had, but he did not need to explain this to the strangers. Seeing Wayne’s stunned face, he quickly said, “We could take care of ourselves. You’re not willing to go doesn’t mean you have to stop us too. I have a request though; give us a few guides, at least we could enter into the Ancattero territory.”

Vivian remained silent all this while. Her job was to nod her head as an endorsement when Hao Ren spoke so that the old demons in the assembly hall would have no objection and agreed to let Wayne Walter’s family contribute a few more guides.

Wayne had lost some of the most elite blood sentinels in the family because of investigating the sinister Ancattero territory earlier. Though he was not prepared to send out more people, he was difficult to decline the request especially in front of Vivian, and also considering what Hao Ren needed were just a few guides, he relented. “Well, I will provide my guides, and bring you right to the entrance of the territory of Ancattero. Beyond that point, you all will be on your own.”

Other patriarchs cheered and clapped their hands.

Hao Ren let out a sigh quietly, shaking his head at their selfishness. They were not willing to form a joint investigation team, nor did they had the ability to do it on their own. They were mutually suspicious ‘alliance.’ It was a wonder that the demon hunters had not annihilated them yet.

Vivian finally got to her feet. “We will try our best to find out the origin of the Shade of Chaos and how to seal it, but don’t put all your hope on us. You have to take care of the safety of your family members so that in the event we fail; you can save yourself.”

After saying this, Vivian looked at every one of them with a stern expression. After a long while, she said again, “Don’t forget that this is not the Mythological era anymore. With all the people that are left now, you may not be able to defeat the Shade of Chaos.”

As the meeting ended, Hao Ren and his entourage immediately set off for South America.

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Chapter 884: Hillside Town

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

South America.

A group of unique visitors had come to the little-known town.

With the address provided by Wayne, Hao Ren had arrived in this place ahead of Wayne, and chosen to stay in a homestay to avoid any unwanted hassle.

Wayne Walter had to return to his family to attend to some business before he would join them in the town two days later. Meanwhile, Hao Ren and his team could move freely. After checking into the accommodation and familiarizing themselves with the homestay environment, Hao Ren and Vivian left to hang out in the town.

The atmosphere of the town reminded Hao Ren Southern Suburb. Though the architectural style of the town looked very different, it was an economic backwater, where time seemed to be stagnant as everything here—the houses and streets—looked old and rundown. The town was at least 100 years old. When Hao Ren and Vivian walked on the street, they saw old and traditional brick houses with the mottled exterior wall, and the roads were in bad condition. The town was built along a two-lane-wide paved road, which was the thoroughfare of the town. Houses did not look uniform, moss and mildew had grown all over the walls. In the historical town were modern street lamps and billboards that seemed somewhat out of place. Though this town was not related to the ancient times, Hao Ren could not help but think of it as a place that befitted the ideal location for the old hermit family.

The century-old town, as well as the otherworldling families from the ancient times, were all forgotten and equally out of place in the modern society.

“I didn’t expect Hessiana to stay back in Athens at last.” Hao Ren recalled the little bat demon still clung to Vivian’s legs before they left. He could not help but smile. “I thought she would want to follow us and kudos! You dissuaded her.”

Vivian instantly felt a headache when Hessiana came to mind. She rubbed her forehead. “That kid is getting out of hand. Letting her stay at our home was a mistake. She would only become the more greedy and disobedient.”

Hao Ren was helpless when it came to the relationship between Vivian and Hessiana. He just smiled and looked up into the air.

A blue, star-like object swept across the sky.

The MDT was scanning the terrain of the entire town and the surrounding areas in the air and sharing the visual with Hao Ren in his mind. Hao Ren was essentially multitasking now, seeing the place in his mind’s eye from a few hundreds of meters in the air.

Looking from above, the town by the hillside had a population of only a thousand people and wilderness in the surrounding area. Built along the gentle slopes of the hills, the town appeared like a gorgeous necklace lying at the foothill at night. It did not look bizarre at first glance; the bare stone hill or the old town at the foothill was unremarkable. After much carefully observation, Hao Ren found that the layout of the town was somewhat incongruous with its surroundings. All building construction stopped abruptly on the hillside.

Though this phenomenon could be understood from the standpoint of cost and convenience that people did not build their houses on a higher altitude, the boundaries where the construction stopped was just too neat to be natural. It formed a clear dividing line between the dark and the bright side on the hillside with humanmade light stopping right on that dividing line as if it was avoiding something.

The dark side was not empty though; there were a few abandoned houses on the north of the demarcation line. They were like outcasts of the town that had been left behind for many years. There was no road to access the abandoned houses from the town, but some tracks were still visible lying between the abandoned houses. When the MDT zoomed in the visual, Hao Ren saw some things like cement blocks and broken bricks scattered further up the hillside.

Vivian did not pay attention to the image that the MDT had sent her. She just looked at the quiet town in thought. “The atmosphere here is a little unbelievable. This territory of the Ancattero family is less creepy than I thought.”

“The otherworldlings must be hiding their tracks. Look at the size of the Athens’ sanctuary and the liveliness of Athens, and you would get the picture,” Hao Ren said casually. “What’s more, the Shade of Chaos does not attack humans.”

“You may be right,” Vivian whispered. “I don’t know how the Ancattero family hides. I couldn’t find any signs of the mysterious realm nor where its entrance is. It looks like we have to depend on Wayne’s guides.”

Hao Ren replied with a “Hmm” as he cast his eyes to the end of the street, which was sloping upwards to the hillside. Lights were illuminating the dark hill. “There may be something north of the town, where the abandoned houses looked very suspicious. Would you like to check them out? Maybe they were the property of the Ancattero family,” Hao Ren said.

“Check them out?” Vivian blinked. “But the Wayne family’s guides would only arrive two days later.”

“We’re idle anyway.” Hao Ren shrugged his shoulders. “The demon hunters might be active in the town and after the Ancattero family. If we can find them, we would be in a better position later.”

Ordinary otherworldlings would avoid the demon hunters like the plague, just like how Hao Ren behaved in the beginning. Now, his style had changed. With the many encounters with the demon hunters and the experience in handling a dangerous situation, Hao Ren was more accustomed to thinking of more positive solutions. He even chose to actively engage the demon hunter to avoid falling into the defensive. What was more, Hao Ren had nothing against the demon hunters—he was not an otherworldling like the vampire and werewolf, he was neutral as an inspector. He just happened to have adopted a bunch of demons, which unwittingly put him in an awkward position in dealing with demon hunters.

Vivian had objected to Hao Ren’s decision. She also held an indifferent attitude towards the demon hunter. As Hao Ren walked toward the end of the town, she followed him.

Soon, they came up the hillside, where the road had ended.

A fence was in the way and extending out to both sides and disappeared into the darkness as if it was a wall separating the town from the hill. It was brightly lit on the south of the fence, while it the dark hillside on the other side. Looking into the dark side, Hao Ren could see a few shadowy structures lying in the dark. Those were the abandoned houses the MDT had observed from above.

There was a red No Entry sign hanging on the rusty gate of the fence. Hao Ren stepped forward and shook the gate a little, and it squeaked. The gate had not been opened for years, and the hinges were full of rust.

Vivian looked around, knowing that no strangers were around, she burst into a swarm of bats and fog and flew across to the other side. Hao Ren did not want to be left behind, with little effort, he jumped across the two-meter-tall fence.

“We should have gotten information from the local people first,” Hao Ren said to the swarm of bats around him. “Asking them why they need to fence up the town would not appear suspicious, after all, we’re outsiders.”

“That’s a little too late,” Vivian said, emerging from a swarm of bats. “Let us check out the abandoned houses there. Oh, wait a second!”

“What happened?”

Vivian’s brows knit together as she looked at the abandoned houses. It looks like somebody was in there.”

---

Chapter 885: A Detective That Came Out of Nowhere

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

“The breath of the living?” Vivian immediately got Hao Ren’s attention. “Human? Otherworldling?”

“I don’t know, it’s very weak,” Vivian replied with a whisper. “Let’s check it out.”

Hao Ren was surprised that people would come to this deserted area outside the town. He looked back at the small town on the other side of the fence and then the silhouette of the building in the distance. He was damn sure that ordinary people would not cross the fence and come to the dark place at this time of night. The Ancattero family who had been active here and others, such as the demon hunters came to kind. These two were the most likely suspects.

After all, he and Vivian came here for the same reason.

He and Vivian hid their breaths and quickly came closer to the house under cover of darkness. They stopped ten meters away from the house, observing the house from afar. He could see the house, which was old, built brick and tile, two-story high, with a spire and a half-collapsed chimney, and overgrown weeds and the pitted roads were around the house. The ground near the house was used to be flat, and once covered with bricks, but now nature had mostly reclaimed the land, as the overgrowth had covered the broken masonry and weeds thrived in the gap between the bricks.

Hao Ren’s eyes landed on that vegetation in front of the house. He had noticed signs of trampling.”Look, the weeds have just been cleaned up, someone is here to check out the place just like us.”

Vivian’s brows knit together as she carefully analyzed the breath in the air, and squinted to look at the house. In the eyes of the vampire, she saw the house in a cold blue tone, red marks at the doorway and on the window on the second floor. She focused her vision and finally caught a fresh, warm blood target in the house. The target was like a beating heart emitting a faint red glow.

“It’s a human,” Vivian said with a disbelieving tone of voice. “Judging from the breath, it’s just an ordinary human.”

“Human? At this time of the night in this place?” Hao Ren was surprised, but he trusted Vivian’s judgment, “I thought it was a demon hunter.”

Before his voice trailed off, a light was flashing on the second floor of the house. It was a torchlight. Judging from the speed of movement and the light beam, someone was moving cautiously. Hao Ren and Vivian looked at each other. “Should we go in and say hi? Or do you want to send a bat to check it out first?”

Before his trailer off, they heard a loud noise in the abandoned house, followed by a terrified scream from the second floor. Hearing that sound and considering that the one inside was just a human, Hao Ren could not wait but storm into the house with Vivian.

The front door was left ajar when they came in. The first thing they saw was an empty living room with a few pieces of broken furniture, which were covered in dust and spider webs, at a corner. At the other end of the living room was a folding staircase leading up to the second floor. The scream had stopped when they came into the house and replaced by total silence. Hao Ren focused his attention and was able to hear a faint breathing sound coming from above; it seemed the person up there was still alive.

They rushed up to the second floor. A flashlight was on the floor at the end of the pitch-dark corridor. The light beam of the flashlight shone on a man lying on the floor. The man was dressed in a black, loose suit and looked more than forty years old. The man’s face was pale and looked horrified, hand pressing the chest in pain. After hearing footsteps, the man looked and saw them, and his lips twitched as if he was calling for help.

Seeing the man’s condition, Hao Ren immediately came up and checked the man’s injury, but he found no visible wound. He waved at the MDT. “Examine and see what happened to him,” he said.

“He has a heart attack.” The MDT had scanned the man before Hao Ren asked him to. It floated over the chest of the man. “Move over, I’m going to perform defibrillation…1,2, 3, here you go!”

As soon as the voice of the MDT trailed off, it had produced a small electric arc. The man’s body twitched violently, but his face eased rapidly. Soon the man was able to open his eyes, looking at Hao Ren and Vivian with a grateful expression. “Thank you… thank you, I owe you my life.”

The MDT slipped back into Hao Ren’s pocket before the man recovered fully from his stupor.

Hao Ren picked up the flashlight and helped the man to a pile of debris in the corner and let him sit against the wall. Then he asked, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

The man, who had just escaped from danger and was rescued by Hao Ren, was most vulnerable to questioning. Though puzzled, he still nodded and answered, “My name is Pierre. I’m a … spirit detective coming here just to investigate something.”

“Investigate something? Detectives?” Hao Ren was surprised that even detective had come to this place. “Can I ask you what are you investigating?”

Pierre, the spirit detective, was slightly hesitant. He looked at Hao Ren and Vivian. “Can I ask who are you people?”

“Oh, we are also detectives,” Hao Ren said casually. “But we don’t know if your investigation is the same thing that we investigated.”

Pierre was very cautious. “I am investigating a missing-person case, but due to professional ethics, I can’t reveal too much, I’m sorry.”

Pierre did not tell the truth.

Hao Ren could see Pierre had something to hide without needing Vivian’s telling him.

He could understand Pierre’s concerns. Coming at this critical time and place, if it was not a coincidence, then it could only be about the Ancattero family. If the latter were true, he would have to be very careful as the matter was concerning the otherworldlings. Some of the ordinary humans did know about the existence of the otherworldlings. They lived in the shadows of human and supernatural society, and an extraordinary life like the thriller and supernatural stories; the human servants of Hessiana and some monks of the church were such people. There were also those ‘small-time players’ who stepped into the worlds of the otherworldlings or demon hunters by accident. Such people would be more vigilant. Pierre could be this category.

Hao Ren stared into Pierre’s eyes and did not intend to play nice. “You are lying.”

Pierre rubbed his hands, in a dilemma. “I am very grateful to you for saving my life, but I really can’t reveal my secrets. And even if I tell you, you would think that I’m mad.”

It sounded like Pierre had admitted it tacitly. Hao Ren quickly asked: “Is it about some supernatural power?”

Pierre was wide-eyed.

“So you do admit it,” Hao Ren looked serious. “You come for the Ancattero family. Am I right?”

Pierre was confused now, and he was not faking it. “Ancattero? I don’t know about what you are talking. I am indeed investigating some supernatural things, but it has nothing to do with the family that you talk about.”

Hao Ren’s brows pulled together. He could not tell if Pierre was telling the truth, but since Pierre seemed to know a lot of things in the supernatural field, things would be easier. He patted Vivian’s shoulder gently. “Show him some special effects,” Hao Ren said.

Vivian immediately got what he meant. Her eyes quickly turned into red, cold blood mist-shrouded her, and her vampire’s fangs grew out of her mouth in the darkness. “What are you investigating?”

Usually gentle, but Vivian did possess the means of frightening people out of their twits. After all, she had 10,000 years of experience under her belt. Pierre quickly had his second heart attack.

They resuscitated the free detective with great effort. Hao Ren said to Pierre, “Your physique is not suitable for your job. It is the first time I see people with heart disease investigating the supernatural phenomena.”

Pierre did not seem to listen as he was staring at the vampire and to confess in a trembling voice, “Please forgive me for lying. I’m going to tell you everything; I am looking for the legendary Golden Manor.”

“The Golden Manor?” Hao Ren was startled.