The Record of Unusual Creature

Whether Mr. Nangong was a real demon hunter, a very experienced swindler or a delusional crackpot (chances of him being that were not that high), neither Hao Ren nor Vivian could come to a conclusion after hours of discussion.

Vivian said she had an instinctual reaction to demon hunters, owing it to her hand injury. However, she concurred that her instincts may or may not have been right. As such, it could not be used as concrete evidence against him. As for Lily, he may as well just forget about it. She had never even met a demon hunter before. Lily was like a baby in Vivian’s eyes and if they were assaulted by a demon hunter, she doubted Lily would be able to react in an effective manner at all.

According to Vivian’s explanation, demon hunters were quite literally part human part monsters. They were able to unleash supernatural abilities during combat and even mutate depending on the situation. Not forgetting, their ability to blend into the crowd like normal humans without giving away any aura or scent, which could have exposed them. That ability was a trump card demon hunters had against the supernaturals.

How Nangong carried himself felt wrong to Vivian.It was unlike a demon hunter. The way he boasted about his job so openly differed a lot from the demon hunters who plagued her in the past. Nevertheless, she could not totally discount the fact that he was the real deal given that she had never met one in ages. Even the ones she had met comprised just a small group among a vast group of hunters. She did not know them particularly well and her memory was no different than a senile old woman. Not to mention her streak of bad luck… Hao Ren really hoped that her bad luck did not rub off on him for them to meet a real demon hunter on the first day of the mission.

This left Hao Ren pretty nervous.

The three of them were pretty listless in England, given their unfamiliarity with the place. While they had solved the issue regarding the language barrier, the journey itself had taken a toll of them and even Lily was too lazy to move about. So, they went back to the hotel after lunch. Lily was now slouched on the lounge sofa fiddling with the TV remote. She seemed to be enjoying herself despite not being able to understand a single word. Vivian on the other hand, was doing something surprisingly useful: She had taken out the cash stock Hao Ren had prepared for the trip. She was counting them over and over again.

Hao Ren looked at Vivian alarmingly and and sat as close to her as possible. He stared at Vivian’s thin, pale hands without blinking. He was afraid that if he moved his attention away, the pile of cash would just disappear into thin air due to her bad luck. Hao Ren had realized the gravity of Vivian’s bad luck with money and ‘bad luck’ was a serious understatement when describing the facts of the matter. It was almost like the will of the universe or an effect of the laws of nature. Allowing Vivian to touch money would trigger an adverse psychological reaction in him.

Vivian was eagerly counting the stack of cash. Then, she sighed. “Haihhh… It’s really a rare moment to be able to be spendthrift… So, this is how counting money feels like… Following Mr. Landlord was the right choice… Uh… Can you stop being so fidgety, Mr. Landlord?”

“I told you that you can just call me Hao Ren when we’re outside.” Hao Ren gave Vivian a frozen smile. “Sides, I have my reasons for being nervous. By the Gods, if I looked away for one moment, you could somehow lose all of our spending money. Can you do something more productive? At first, I was wondering why you emptied my wallet. You’re just gonna sit here and count money?”

“Could you possibly even understand the feeling of someone who’s been broke for millennia?” Vivian took a long, deep sigh. “The last time I had the chance to count money like this was during the Republic era. I was carrying a gunny sack to buy rice and I actually stood by the doorway to count the silver notes… but… it doesn’t feel as good as now. Paper then was as good as waste paper. They don’t hold water to how this British pound feels. Humph! I’m done counting this stack. Let me count it again… Oh come on Hao Ren, just let me count it one more time, please!”

Hao Ren adamantly decided to put the cash back into his wallet and into his pocket. He went, “My dear Ms. Vampire, if you really want to count money, we’ll go to Zimbabwe someday so that you can count your heart out. As of now… please do something useful for once… Say, about that demon hunter stuff, why are you no longer nervous about it?”

“I’ve already been through so much for so long so, why should I keep worrying about small matters like this? “Vivian looked at Hao Ren’s wallet forlornly as it bulged in his pocket. She then quickly shifted her gaze elsewhere as she went, “By the way, do you know how a real demon hunter looks like?”

Hao Ren perked up with interest in the topic, “How do they look like actually?”

“Based on what I’ve seen thus far, they prefer black garbs when they are out hunting. Earlier they had a hunter getup and later on, some tight-fitting, western style clothes… Those from the east wore something out of the kung fu flicks… They looked about as drab as one could be. Otherwise, they look and dress pretty much like normal people do. That aside, they are also usually rather shady and reserved, consciously hiding their identities to avoid detection. Don’t even start about divulging their identities. Some will even kill innocents if they suspect that their identity has been compromised. Additionally, the hunters are very very good at blending in, at being ‘normal’. They are somehow able to assimilate into the crowd, regardless of time and age. When people were burning witches, they joined in. When Napoleon was at his prime, they sang praises about him and so on… As you can see, they are masters at hiding their identities. How the people look like on the streets, that’s how they’ll look like with layers and layers of false impressions as well as identities. Hence, I really don’t think that Mr. Nangong is of any real threat. No self-respecting demon hunter would boast about their trade, even in the harshest of times. It’s almost a taboo in their creed.”

Vivian nodded as she finish explaining. “So… I think we are just being overly nervous now… I’m nervous about the hunters and you are nervous about your first mission… I think we just got scared silly by a swindler of an exorcist…

Hao Ren nodded in agreement. “Hmm, that’s true… but should we really just take it easy now?”

“Precautions are still a must.” Vivian shook her head. “While the guy certainly doesn’t look like a real demon hunter, I think he may have met a real one before since, he did know about their origins. The ‘work’ that he talked of seems legitimate as well. I’m guessing he could be the pawn of a real demon hunter. Those sly bastards will pull this trick at times. So, let’s just be careful not to let that Mr. Nangong detect anything unusual. Otherwise, I don’t think he poses much of a threat. We are here to look for someone not fight after all.”

Hao Ren concurred and the whole discussion on Nangong ended there.

At this point, Lily had gone through all of the channels and could not understand what was on TV. Looking bored, she threw the remote control aside and clambered towards Hao Ren’s back. “Hey, Mr. Landlord, can you talk Raven 12345 into giving each of us an MDT? You’ll never know if you will meet a new person in the near future. If that person ends up being a foreigner, it would be very embarrassing if you don’t understand him.”

Hao Ren sniggered. The dumb werewolf had finally thought of something actually useful. Well, it was more for understanding the TV program she was watching however, it was a pretty convincing argument. While he was getting ready to explain about the team system, something on the TV caught his attention. “…The Yorkford Castle near Brewshire has been attracting a good number of supernatural enthusiasts as of late…”

Hao Ren quickly turned to look at the TV program and saw that an interview was going on. A blonde, blue-eyed Caucasian woman was standing by the broadcast van with a microphone. Behind her, was a rock littered plain with a complex of ruins near the far end. Beside her was a short, stocky old man in a white T-shirt. He obviously did not look like a TV crew member. The man sported a full face beard and was slightly bald. His shirt looked a little worn. He seemed like a local farmer in the midst of being interviewed.

“…Now, we are looking at Yorkford Castle. It very much fell into ruin so, we can’t actually see the actual structure. As there are no roads leading up to the ruins, the broadcast van can only stop here. I will be going into the castle ruins in a moment to let those of you at home have a close up view of the building. The female interviewer explained the current scenario and gestured to a stocky, old man. “Mr. Angus here, was the first person who sighted supernatural happenings in the castle…”