The Record of Unusual Creatures

As the first light of dawn shone into the hall, Zhao Xi woke up from the unfamiliar sofa. She shook her head and felt like she had gone through a very long nightmare. It was only after a good while that she started to recollect what had actually happened, and it took her a good minute to remember everything.

Hao Ren was already seated opposite the sofa. As he saw the demon hunter waking up, he greeted her, “Yo, you’re awake?”

“Yeah… thank you.” Zhao Xi thanked Hao Ren sincerely as she adjusted her clothes. She had just slept with whatever she wore the other night and needed to pat her clothes down now. She looked around and saw Liu Sheng was up even earlier than her. And the latter now was busy playing chess with Y’zaks at the corner of the living room.

“I never thought that… I would be staying in this place.” Zhao Xi rubbed her temple. She was still in a daze after receiving treatment last night and fell asleep very quickly with her senses muddled. This time around she had recovered and was very thankful after what she had been through. “Our first meeting wasn’t all that pleasant.”

“The past is the past. Well, now you have the head honcho and second in command of the demon hunters in my place, technically we are already allies.” Hao Ren waved off, his generosity apparent. “So how do you feel?”

By that time, everyone in the house realized that Zhao Xi was awake and started converging in the living room. Liu Sheng too stopped the game to check on his underling’s situation. After confirming that his charge had indeed fully recovered, Liu Sheng appeared rather emotional. “That’s good… that’s good… we really cannot afford to lose anyone now…”

Zhao Xi smiled awkwardly, probably at the sight of her superior who was both a teacher and a friend to her making such an expression. “I’m fine…”

Liu Sheng seemed to be stunned for a little bit as if something was not right. After a good while, only did he realize. “Oh, Zhao Xi, that facial paralysis of yours have been cured?”

The smile on Zhao Xi’s face suddenly stiffened, and Lily who was beside her decided to join in the fun. “Eh, Mr. Landlord! Look! Her facial paralysis is cured! She did smile earlier, right? Come, come, let me see more! I’m your former lor—”

Before the dumb husky could finish, Vivian pulled her tail back. As she went Vivian nagged, “Can’t you be quiet in the morning? Why must you get involved in everything?”

Hao Ren looked at the stiff expression on Zhao Xi’s face and explained with a straight face. “Perhaps that medical pod had cured your facial paralysis along the way.”

“…”

Vivian threw Hao Ren an eye roll from afar, and with a dry cough, he switched the matter at hand. “Ahem, that is secondary, we are focusing on the wrong thing. Actually, I have something to ask you two. You know anyone else amongst the demon hunters that had the same symptoms as Zhao Xi?

“Similar symptoms as Zhao Xi?” Liu Sheng’s expression turned serious. “You mean to say…”

“You probably don’t know much about the ‘goddess’,” Vivian sat beside Hao Ren as she looked at Liu Sheng in the eyes and nodded gently. “I can only give you a brief explanation. Coldpath, where the demon hunters live is a ruin left behind by a very powerful goddess. This goddess is not like those false gods from the ancient times, but a real, veritable, world-changing god. You’ve met one before, so you know what I mean. And now when that goddess finally fell she did not totally disappear, part of her will remained in Coldpath, and this will could easily affect mortal minds. Zhao Xi was probably afflicted by this power, and we are worried that she might not be the only one.”

Vivian’s concern was not a spur of the moment thing, but it was something that occurred to her when she discussed the matter with Hao Ren yesterday. The will left behind by the goddess of creation in Zhao Xi’s spirit only contained a sentence, and while it bore a very important meaning, it was still a fragment. And for a massive realm like Coldpath, there are probably more of such powers still lay hidden. If there are more of her will still remain, that means the danger the demon hunters faced is still not over yet.

Liu Sheng and Zhao Xi had no idea about the whole ‘goddess’ situation, and they ranked only somewhat in the middle of the hierarchy, if not for Hao Ren and the rest living in their jurisdiction, they probably would not have the authorization to know of Vivian and Lily’s real identities. And thus, they naturally have no clue about the truth of the other world. But after the civil war at Coldpath, they had somewhat heard of the great powers that were hidden within the demon hunter’s holy sanctuary. So Vivian’s explanation was not hard to digest. Liu Sheng was stiff. “I’ve never heard of anyone having symptoms similar to Zhao Xi, as I took a while to convalesce, and Zhao Xi was in that state, so we left Coldpath rather late. By the time we left, aside from Zhao Xi, all who suffered the soul detachment had fully recovered, and there is probably no other ‘hosts’. But your concern is indeed well-placed; not discounting the fact that there is a possibility such powers still remains in Coldpath, and it could be hidden in any corner… more so… us demon hunters have no way to resist it.”

Hao Ren and Vivian looked at each other before turning to Liu Sheng with a nod. “Alright, we know what to do.”

“Then we’ll be leaving as well,” Liu Sheng said as he pulled Zhao Xi up. He knew a demon hunter of his level could only provide Hao Ren so much information, and the rest would probably need the ancients’ deliberation. With a well-trained movement, he bowed. “Words can’t begin to describe my gratitude, we are ever in your debt for the help you have Zhao Xi. If there is anything that we can help in the future, just say the word, we will come to your aid even if we must go through hell.”

It was clear that as professional demon hunters, Liu Sheng and Zhao Xi were taciturn folks. In face of the big help, Hao Ren had given them, the two did not go around showering him in thanks, and went straight to pledging their aid.

If based on a normal plot flow, Hao Ren as the leader of his house would probably rise up, with his hands held in the Chinese greeting posture, and spouting platitudes like “We shall meet again”, or “It is an honor to help,” or “We shall once again draw swords together…” or something to that effect, but going by Hao Ren’s style, things would always go the other way. Before Liu Sheng could even finish saying his farewells Hao Ren cut him off mid-sentence. “Ah, don’t fret, don’t fret. Leave after you have a meal. The salted eggs Vivian had made earlier is ready, you’ve got to give it a try…”

And thus Liu Sheng and Zhao Xi bade their farewells after stuffing their face full of salted eggs…

After the demon hunters had left, Lily immediately darted to Hao Ren’s side. “Mr. Landlord, Mr. Landlord! I heard Rollie said that you were playing with a sword? Why did you call me for something this fun?”

“Why do you need to get involved in everything?” Hao Ren pushed the dumb husky who was almost at licking distance away with all his might. “We were conducting serious business last night. What’s the fun in that?”

Lily wagged her tail expectantly. “Something like that, something like that! Say, you managed to actually speak with the Godslayer’s spirit? What’s it like?”

“Go talk to it yourself.”

As Hao Ren said that he pulled the Godslayer out, and after establishing a mental link, the Godslayer activated its cogitative module and greeted the rest. “Hello everyone, I’m the Godslayer, my other name is the Echo Wall, and my nickname is Smallsword, you guys can call me McStabby too…”

Hao Ren had only intended to let the sword greet everyone, but he never thought the latter would start blurting out a whole lot of weird names. That sent Hao Ren into a confusion. “Hey, wait a minute. Who thought you all that?”

The Godslayer said with an ever honest tone, “The MDT? That Data Terminal.”

“…MDBrick! Some explanation is in order!”

The MDT darted out from god knows which corner of the house. “Uh, calm down pardner. I was just testing if a mental link between my AI and the Godslayer would activate its cogitative abilities since I am also an intelligent being…”

Hao Ren gritted his teeth. “So what’re the results?”

“Quite a success I might say. Look how fast he’s learned!”

Hao Ren immediately grabbed the MDT and threw it into Lil Pea’s fish tank. “Do your worst!”

At that very moment, Lily’s attention was fully fixated on the Godslayer. The husky was surprised by the Godslayer’s personality. “You’re the Godslayer? You sound so honest, I thought you were some evil monstrosity.”

Hao Ren shrugged. “The fault lies with the person, not the weapon. Its just a sword, how evil can it be?”

“That’s right. Just that reason.” Vivian nodded.

“So now you’ve met the sword, we need to talk about something else,” Hao Ren said as he kept the sword again. “I need to make a trip to the demon hunter’s HQ again.”