Chapter 23: Absorbed
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Under the street lights, Hao Ren picked up the wolf fur which he found on the ground. Despite being drenched in cold sweat, he managed to regain his composure quickly thanks to the ‘training’ he had in nurous past encounters . He first wanted to make sure that there were no other suspicious signs within the vicinity—a lesson he learned while spending the previous two days with Lily and Vivian. The presence of ‘the other kind’ could usually be detected simply by identifying the characteristic signs and phenona. For example, the breath and beastly sll of a werewolf or the blood-tinged chill of a vampire. He felt that the dream had to sohow be related to ‘the other kind’ (after all, he had bumped into many of them during the last couple of days) although, his sixth sense detected no trace of any anomalies.
“Landlord?” Lily looked at him, her eyes appeared unusually bright and spooky in the dark. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Did you find anything amiss?” Hao Ren knew that the wolf was a highly vigilant creature. He could still vividly rember the mont of the wolf’s attack in his dream.
Lily got down on the floor and sniffed around carefully. After that, she got up and shook her head. “None that I could find. Everything is as usual. You saw sothing unusual?”
“Never mind, let’s head back.” Hao Ren took the wolf fur in his hand as he headed back ho. Lily carried the deckchair and followed cluelessly from behind.
Back in the living room, Hao Ren sat on the sofa looking solemn and quiet. Sitting across him were Lily and Vivian who did not have a clue what was brewing in his mind. An old coffee table had been placed in the middle by Hao Ren as the previous one was wrecked by Lily and Vivian earlier on. Placing the wolf fur on the table, Hao Ren confessed to Vivian, “I saw sothing strange.”
He talked about the strange dream he had in great detail. He told them especially about the vast grassland and two silver moons, hanging in the sky. “I got this when I woke up from the dream. I may have taken a shortcut to the other side or mastered reality warping superpowers,” he joshed, pointing at the wolf fur.
Vivian did not find it amusing. She raised her eyebrows while picking up so of fur from the table. “It has the sll of an animal, not of black magic. This is definitely animal hair. Hey, big dog! Can you please confirm this?”
“Okay!” Lily took the wolf fur. “It slls very different from what I know. It has a different scent… the sll of another city—a mixture of soil and grass in it. This subtle variance can only be picked up by werewolves.” Then suddenly, it hit her. She banged the table as she lashed out at Vivian, “Wait a minute, who did you just call a big dog?!”
“Oh c’mon, be gentle!” Hao Ren pleaded. The old table could have t with the sa fate as the tea table if Lily was in a transford state instead. He turned to Vivian, “So, what do you think? Was it so kind of magic?”
“It’s pretty simple to explain if it’s just a dream; sorcery and hypnotism could have achieved the sa thing.” Vivian’s eyebrows were still raised. “I could build a dream world big enough for hundreds to dream in without them realizing it was a dream. If one was creative enough, the person would believe he had made it to the other side. But I still can’t explain the object you brought out from the dream. As far as I know at least, there isn’t any magic which could have done that. It couldn’t possibly be magic. The dark side is a much more complicated world than I had imagined.”
“Maybe, it could be this…” Lily eagerly interjected. “First, he was induced into a preditated dream by way of sorcery or hypnosis, and the wolf fur could have been planted in his hand while he was asleep…”
“Oh please, can you say sothing more constructive?” Vivian chid in before Lily could finish her sentence.
However, Hao Ren found that what Lily said was completely plausible. Her simple mind aside, her theory was a perfect explanation for what could have been an unsolvable mystery. Sotis complex questions had simple answers.
Nonetheless, Lily had already ruled out the involvent of ‘the other kind’ so, her argunt that it was a preditated act did not hold up.
“I’m sure that what I got into was of sothing unusual; as sure as I am that God made little, green apples.” Hao Ren sighed. “That’s just fate. Whatever cos, let it co but before that, I need to take a break!”
Both Lily and Vivian had learned that Hao Ren was conned into signing a fishy employnt agreent with the self-proclaid Goddess. Vivian was a smart girl—way smarter than Lily. She could see in Hao Ren the quality of extraordinary adaptability and guts as well as the ability to think on his feet despite his humble background as a sluggish youth, who wanted no trouble. Yet, Vivian did not know any ways to make him a superhuman overnight.
“Did Raven 12345 leave you any cheat codes or sothing?” Lily asked as she laid her face on the table. “I read from human novels that if you work for a God, the God will provide you with so kind of personal protective gears?”
“Hmm, she may have forgotten. I didn’t ask either,” he said as it just crossed his mind. “I’ll ask when I see her. Anyway, I tried to call but I couldn’t reach her cellphone. I guess another trip to that place is necessary. I have a goddamn feeling that the Space Administration is a broken reed.”
“You already had your first, strange dream. You need to fix the problem right at the source. I think it’s a day late and a dollar short now. As per sorcery norms, you’ll continue to experience the sa dream again unless, you’re a bullfrog that doesn’t sleep.” As Vivian talked, she slowly shapeshifted into a vampire. “I’ll give you an amulet. It will protect you from whatever sorcery or black magic.”
The many talismans she wore caught Hao Ren’s eyes. “Do those things even work?” he asked cheekily.
“Who said that I was going to give you that?” Vivian’s eyebrows were raised. “What I an is the power of the Blood Clan!”
Without hesitation, Vivian bit her finger and a drop of golden red blood was seen coming out from her fingertip. “Co over, I’m going to rub it on the back of your hand. It’s powerful enough to stop the worst sorcerous dream.”
Hao Ren hesitantly reached out and looked on as Vivian rubbed the blood onto his hand. “Legend has it that vampire blood can help turn humans into vampires. So, am I being turned right now?”
“Not in a million years,” she sneered. “Humans believed that a vampire bite is the vampire’s way to reproduce. If that’s true, we wouldn’t have to endure the persecution from the monster hunters and the church. We would have taken over the world since the bronze age.”
While relating the history of human’s brutal persecution of the vampires, Vivian as a vampire herself, did not show signs of hostility towards Hao Ren.
“That’s impossible!”
Vivian yelled as she was shocked to see the drop of blood had disappeared the mont it made contact with Hao Ren’s hand.
The blood was completely absorbed.
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