Chapter 113: Visitor
They were going to two separate destinations. Travelling together would seem odd and attract attention. So, the two werewolves, Hao Ren and his tenants decided to say goodbye and split up in the wilderness up north. As they waved goodbye to each other, they felt strange.
It was the first time for Vivian to say ciao in such a friendly way to the werewolves—this referred to the normal werewolves, not Lily the dumbbell. Vivian had never treated her as normal.
It was also the first time Lily met her fellow species. She was filled with curiosity and showed extreme interest in Casar and Ewen. She did not mind that she was once kidnapped by them.
Meanwhile, the Ebbens were still no way near their light-bulb moments. It was the first time they had ever found that there were many things beyond their comprehension. The encounter with Hao Ren’s strange tenants was a real eye-opener, but they would need months to digest what they had seen.
The two werewolves had wised up. They didn’t ask any further about the blue and strange creature for fear that they mightn’t be able to leave if they did. For Y’zaks alone was more than capable to crush them in pieces. If either Vivian or Hao Ren had the intention of killing them to shut them up, there wasn’t much time for them to write their wills, or maybe just enough to leave a nuncupative will—three-hundred words, tops. But then, there wasn’t a guarantee it would reach their kin.
“We’re headed straight back to Europe. If the elders wish to meet the countess, we’ll send a messenger. You deserve our courteous treatment. After all, you’re an elder too.” With cap in hand, Casar Ebben nodded slightly to Vivian. It was the most polite gesture werewolf had ever given to a vampire. “The world isn’t in its most peaceful time right now, so it’d be a long time before we’ll meet again.”
“Yes, it’d be better if we don’t meet.” Vivian was somehow rude. She waved to them. “Let’s hurry up. You don’t want the demon hunters to be on your *rse again. By the way, you think your cloths are fine? You probably wouldn’t be able to use black fog for the moment, so you could only get back to town on foot.”
Ewen Ebben grabbed his torn cloth which looked like a rag in performance art. “You’ve helped us cleaned up the blood stains, we can handle the rest. Casar and I would take a detour back to the town by disguising as beggars or artists.”
With a plastic smile on his face, Hao Ren reminded, “To avoid trouble, it’d be better to disguise yourselves as performance artists who are touring the the world. Foreign beggars in town will likely make the news headline…”
“Got it. We’ve been in China for long enough.” Casar Ebben laughed. “You take care too. The gathering of demon hunters doesn’t sound right to me, they must be up to something. Maybe they’re just in transit but the disappearance of a large number of them in this city will certainly a cause for alarm, more will be coming. Just keep your head down. And sayonara!”
Hao Ren smacked Casar’s arm. “You should go now. Don’t talk to me as if you’re local!”
After the two werewolves disappeared into the distance, Vivian let out a long sigh. “What a bad day for them—getting whacked twice just for one werehusky. In the end, they left empty handed. By the way, nice cloths they have there, must be expensive stuff. What a shame, it probably worth half-a-year of meals.
What she really cared for was the clothes.
Lily stamped her feet and yelled, protesting. “What’s wrong with that, huh? What’s wrong with being a husky? Huskes were wolves 800 years ago!”
Because of the frolic, werewolf maiden (or shall we call it weredog?), Hao Ren had enjoyed some hearty moment and forgot about his worries for a while. He patted Lily’s head and complimented her. “Thanks to your steam that saved the day. Though strange, it worked!”
The werewolf maiden smiled, she had forgotten she was humiliated a while ago. Four of them, plus the noisy MDT, headed home. They needn’t worry about the signs of struggle left behind at the warehouse. Raven 12345 had it covered when she sent the Big Bluey over. Just as what Y’zaks mentioned, the scene was more like a ruin than a warehouse because of the lightning, tornado, fire, and explosion; all evidences of paranormal activity had been wiped clean. Even the best of experts would only be able to find the scene as an aftermath of natural disaster. How good it would be if Raven 12345 could do that every time.
They came by flying and teleporting, but they had no more juice to do that on their return trip. They hopped on a public transport and staggered all the way back. After a two-hour ride they arrived at their comfy nest at the Southern Suburb. By then, it was dusk.
As they stepped through the door and switched the light on, Rollie was there to welcome them. Hao Ren grabbed and snugged it into his arm. Then his stomach growled. “I think I haven’t eaten anything since this morning.”
“Yeah, me too.” Vivian said as she glanced sideways at Lily. “All for the sake of the dumbbell. The irony is, she had got a six-course meal while being kidnapped.”
Lily gave a dry smile as she rubbed her tummy. “But I’m still hungry. I’d like a rib steak.”
“I’ll reheat the food.” Vivian sighed. “Could you give me a hand, landlord?”
Their lunch had been left untouched on the table. Hao Ren had faith in his cat that he hadn’t helped himself to their lunch. Rollie was an amazing cat. He was a stray, liked to steal food from the kitchen and tuck himself in his master’s bed to get warm. He would scratch everything he could lay his hands on, and he never caught mice. But one thing Hao Ren really liked about Rollie was that he would never jump onto the dinner table. There was a story behind this. When Rollie had just arrived at the house, he was wild and untamed—he still was, an a**hole cat. Back then Hao Ren was having his dinner, Rollie jumped up and helped himself to his food.
And it was a bowl of pepper soup. A steamy, hot one.
After the incident, Rollie was discharged from animal hospital and he recovered. But he had developed dinner-table-phobia since. He would stay away from the table like a plague.
“We’ve seen enough the true color of the demon hunters.” Hao Ren sighed as saying while he helped out Vivian in the kitchen. “They’re trouble-makers. Will there be more to come?”
He recalled what the two werewolves had said to him, and he knew the sudden disappearance of eight demon hunters at one go would definitely arouse suspicion from the other demon hunters. Though he wasn’t afraid of them, the influx of a bunch of psychos into the city felt like a pain in the a**.
“Let them. They won’t stay long.” Vivian sounded as though she wasn’t concerned. “They come and sniff around for a few days, they’ll leave if they find nothing. They wouldn’t have guessed it that we’re still here after the conflict.”
Hao Ren did not say a word. Suddenly he recalled in his mind the arcane servant who had come to their rescue, and his face was half smiling. “Speaking of which, Raven 12345 was no slouch. I had thought that she was sleeping on her job but in reality she knew the situation on the ground.”
Raven 12345 had been of great help by sending the arcane servant. If not for her, Hao Ren would have trouble wrap things up and clean the scene. He didn’t know what would happen to the captured demon hunters. What would Raven 12345 do to them? The thought of the psychotic goddess suddenly made Hao Ren pitying them, their fate would have been a lot better if they were beaten to death outright at the warehouse.”
Just when Hao Ren was trying to guess what the psychotic goddess would do next, the door bell suddenly rang.
Vivian and Hao Ren looked at each other before scurrying out to the living hall. Lily was staring nervously at the entrance. As everyone was still in alert mode after the battle with the demon hunters, a sudden ring of the door bell really hit their nerve.
Y’zaks was the least nervous. He was watching the TV while enjoying the melon seeds on the couch. He raised his head and looked at Hao Ren. “Landlord, someone’s at the door. Shouldn’t we answer it?”
“Calm down, everyone. I’ll take a look.” If it was really the demon hunters out there, they wouldn’t be so polite to ring the bell. He motioned Lily to sit down and Vivian to get back to the kitchen. He checked his armor to make sure it was fully charged. Then he took a deep breath and came to the door. “Coming, stop pressing the goddamn bell.”
As he opened the door, a girl who he had never seen was standing there.
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