The Record of Unusual Creature

Y’zaks and Nangong Wuyue reached home at the same time; one of them was doing street performances while the other one was merely a scarecrow in the job market. They went out on the dot, and came home by bus everyday. Today, they stumbled into each other on the bus on the way home. It was a coincidence. They were startled even before they stepped through the door: a large group of canines emerged from the house. Some even got into a formation and marched forward like an advancing troop—how could it not be scary?

They only knew what was happening when they were inside the house.

“Demon hunters are coming again?” Y’zaks frowned. He had only met with demon hunters once but, that one encounter was enough to leave a bad impression of these obstinate extremists. “Obviously, they haven’t learned.”

“They must be from another group.” Hao Ren waved in dismissal. “I believe the previous group’s still being corrected by Raven 12345.”

Nangong Wuyue was staring at the rune cards, which were laid open on the table. She stared into space for quite some time before her face twitched. “What should we do next? Fight or…run?” She said.

“Run? This is our territory. They can’t just come to our turf without even taking off their shoes!” Hao Ren scoffed. “Vivian and Lily have some surprises for them. And when those demon hunters show up, we’ll nab those who stray from the group. We’ll call for backup if we can’t hold them back. By the way, why am I feeling like your mind’s elsewhere?”

“Sirens don’t like fighting.” Nangong Wuyue squeezed out a dry smile, and tried to divert the conversation elsewhere. Lil Pea emerged from the pot, waving at them. She took this opportunity to walk away. “I’m going to get Lil Pea a new pot of water. You guys carry on.”

“When it comes to fighting, she’s the least we can count on.” Vivian was not surprised with that. She now turned to Y’zaks. “We’ll need your help if fighting isn’t avoidable because, you have great combat capability. If the last encounter is any indication, many of the demon hunter’s tricks won’t work on you because you’re from the Otherworld.”

“I’m flattered,” Y’zaks grinned from ear to ear. “But still, I wish I could educate them so that they’d get back on the right path…”

Hao Ren smirked: death seemed easier than enduring the lectures of Y’zaks.

“But, there’s a problem: this is a residential area; although there aren’t many left in this area, still, there are people. If a fight breaks out, collateral damage will happen. And most of the people left are elderly,” said Y’zaks with concern.

“Yes, we care about that but, demon hunters may not.” Vivian spread her hands out. “For them, the lost of an innocent life is a necessary evil. They even consider them as ‘martyrs’.”

Y’zaks was enraged and he hit the table. “Then, they deserve even more lectures! Heck, even demons wouldn’t have done what they did! Landlord, I’ll buy you a new table when I get a job.”

Hao Ren raised his hand to wipe off his cold sweat. “Really appreciate that…”

With the plan sorted, Raven came to mind. Hao Ren asked the MDT to contact Raven 12345 on ‘heaven hotline’ but, he got her answer machine: “The god you’re calling is not reachable at the moment. Please, call again later. Thank you.” She was most likely on a trip. She had mentioned it before—God was always not there when he needed her.

And there was no sign of enemy either for the rest of the day.

Vivian’s bats returned safely. They only found traces of runes and drugs left behind by demon hunters, and they were from a day before. There was no lead and no sign of demon hunters nearby. In contrast, Lily’s sniffer squad had some fruitful findings: they retrieved over a hundred rune cards from all corners of the town. These rune cards were piled up like a mountain on the table. Basically, the doggies would come back every few minutes with rune cards in their mouths. Every time there was a bark outside, Hao Ren would go out and collect the cards from Green Bean or Prince Reinhardt (remember Lily’s two subchiefs?). After a few rounds, Hao Ren found it really tiresome. Lily also found it too inefficient. So, she called her squad back, reassigned their patrol zones, and divided them into different ranks of command. One dog would be assigned to each zone. It would be responsible for collecting information and cards from other sentinels. Then, relaying the information and cards back to their senior officers who in turn would report back to the king—Lily. That way, they could enjoy a quieter afternoon.

Aside from the serenity, Hao Ren and Vivian were flabbergasted at what the sniffer squad had become: half a day into its operation, the squad had already established a clear chain of command with Green Pea and Prince Reinhardt appointed to the rank of captain. Bean Bun, the ferocious dog in the Southern Suburbs, and a ‘surrendered general’ from the previous dynasty was placed under probation while it served as team leader of Avenue 3, Southern Suburbs…

Hao Ren and Lily were arguing about whether Bean Bun was a ‘surrendered general’ or a ‘surrendered emperor’. Logically, Bean Bun should have been the latter but, Lily was hell bent on calling it a ‘surrendered general’. Hao Ren gave up—he was going out of his mind from arguing with the husky, he thought.

Lily the alpha dog of the Southern Suburbs was really having fun. The husky in her was lively, jumping, and rolling around. For the third time, Vivian swore not to fight with Lily—it was not worth it.

Just like the bats, the sniffer squad had found more and more rune cards but, not the faintest sign of demon hunters. That was until the late afternoon, when Captain Prince Reinhardt reported back for the last time. Lily’s face turned dead serious as she said, “The demon hunters are playing us…”

As expected, what the husky said was not taken seriously. Vivian had Lily continue to stay alert, sending out a few strays, whose biological clocks were messed-up to patrol at night. Meanwhile, she sent more bats out as air support. No amount of diligence was enough when it came to dealing with these extremists with terminal ‘demon-hating compulsive disorder’. No one ever heard of these demon hunters giving up without a fight; the deeper they hid, the more dangerous they were.

A cautious hunter was much more difficult to deal with than a brave but, slacking one.

After their dinner, Hao Ren went out to mooch around the town as usual; to help with his digestion, and also for surveillance. Of course, he knew the risks. That was why he had the MDT with him. If he ever bumped into any demon hunters, he could escape by teleportation. Worst came to worst, the MDT made a great self-defence brick. So, he had it all well thought out.

After loitering for a while, he found the streets completely quiet as usual except for the sudden increase of dog activity in the dark corners of the streets—they were the eyes sent out by Lily. Even Madam Chow, the old lady, who came back from her walk told Hao Ren, “Dogs are coming out in large numbers tonight. Could it mean the coming of an earthquake?”

This was her favorite thing to chatter about.

Hao Ren kept wandering for a while and found nothing unusual so, he sashayed back to his house. When he stepped through the door, he saw Nangong Wuyue carrying the little mermaid and feeding something to her. It was not a chopstick.

Hao Ren came up closer and saw the little mermaid happily chewing on a piece of rune card like it was a cookie.

The little mermaid looked up. When she saw her ‘daddy’, she slapped her tail and jumped into Hao Ren’s arms excitedly. He was still startled. “Is this even edible? Will she be okay?”

Nangong Wuyue nodded. “I was away for a while and when I came back she was already chewing on these cards. Vivian says the rune cards are made from paper and plant-based die. They’re absolutely safe.”

“Areuh—areuh,” the little mermaid cooed.

Hao Ren stared silently.

No-one could tell if the demon hunters would come that night but, one thing was for sure—there was enough ‘food’ for the little mermaid. So much so that Hao Ren did not need to buy her chopsticks for a long time!