The Record of Unusual Creature

It was nightfall but Rollie was still not home.

Hao Ren led everyone to scout around the house, a few of Rollie’s favorite hiding spots, and two trees. However, there was no trace of the silly, black and white cat. Initially, everyone thought that the cat may have just strolled a little too far on a whim. But, as time went by, it got really late and the cat was still not home. Vivian became a bit worried.

“What could have happened to Rollie?” Vivian leaned forward and looked out the window. “I heard that there’s been a lot of dog-stealing incidents lately…”

Nangong Wuyue was amused. “But Rollie’s a cat,” she said.

“You know what I mean.” Vivian waved her hand. “Its daily routine has been pretty normal all this while. Why hasn’t it come home today?”

Among all of them, Hao Ren appeared the calmest. Although he had led everyone on a search, he was not worried at all. “Rest assured, that cat is good for nothing except the fact that it has nine lives. Don’t forget that it’s a stray. It’s been wandering the streets for more than two years. So, I always think that it’s not a big deal at all if it suddenly runs out and doesn’t come back. It may have gone to revisit some memories from its youth.”

“A cat recalling its youthful days?” Nangong Wuyue looked at Hao Ren in a weird manner. “Why don’t you just say that it’s gone to find itself?”

At this moment, a commotion was heard outside the doorway, followed by a few loud but low dog cries. Lily scurried to open the door. Hao Ren could see through the gaps around Lily’s body that a group was squatting outside. It had to be the maiden’s paparazzi team.

When Lily went out to find the cat in the afternoon, she had sent out instructions to her trusted ministers—Green Bean, Beanbag, Wangcai, Prince Reinhardt and the like to mobilize the entire dog squad in the city. No dog dared to go against the command of the Southern Suburbs Dog King. Dogs without a master came straight to rendezvous, while those with a master faked their illness and joined the others to gather in front of Hao Ren’s house at 8.30 in the evening. Seeing the hoo-ha outside, Hao Ren was a little perplexed. He did not feel the urgency of the matter, but Lily had already taken it to heart.

Lily, the Dog King of Southern Suburbs, was seen talking to a group of hench-dogs. Making some gestures from time to time, she was probably describing Rollie’s size and breed to all the hench-dog who were lining up in front of her according to seniority. They were taking turns in reporting their findings to her. It seemed that the group had already developed into a disciplined, large-scale organization. Vivian sighed as she hugged herself. “It’d be good to know some foreign languages… I don’t have a clue what they’re woofing about.”

Hao Ren stepped forward and patted Lily on the shoulder. “Is that necessary? Rollie’s just been gone for half a day.”

“It’s absolutely necessary.” Lily pointed at Beanbag in front. “See for yourself.”

Hao Ren looked down and saw the so-called former Dog King of Southern Suburbs. It had ruled all the strays in the town before Lily came around. Now,it was in an embarrassing state. It had lost a third of its body hair and it had two bloody marks on its face. Not to mention, its front paws were just as bloody as if they had been gnawed by some brutal beast. Beanbag seemed to know that it was a disgraced dog. It whispered a little before it lowered its head and looked away from Hao Ren.

Hao Ren smacked his mouth and said, “Is it the one that always challenged the Chow Chows. Did it finally meet its match?”

Beanbag was the most outrageous dog in Southern Suburbs. It was notorious for its bullying behavior, especially when it came to Chow Chows.

“It was beaten by Rollie,” Lily said quietly. “Got chased down the street with its tail between its legs.”

Hao Ren was shocked upon hearing that.

Although he did not have a good rapport with the dogs like Lily, Hao Ren at least knew a thing or two about the goings-on among the strays in the Southern Suburbs. Rollie used to be a bully king among the street cats, but Beanbag was its nemesis. As capable as Rollie was, it was only a cat; at no time would Rollie not be beaten black and blue by Beanbag. So, what Lily said this time had him dumbfounded.

Lily even repeated it to Hao Ren, in case he did not believe it. “Rollie bit it. This afternoon, when Beanbag bumped into Rollie on South Street, it went to bully Rollie like it always did. Little did it expect Rollie to beat the daylights out of it this time. Rollie was supposedly behaving in a strange manner at that time, as if it was looking for something, and there was a red glow in its eyes—Mr. Landlord, did Rollie eat something wrong?”

“I don’t think so…” Hao Ren said hesitantly, but he vaguely began to sense that some supernatural thing had happened to his cat: he had seen far too many supernatural things and could now sense strange events around him. Honestly, he would not be surprised even if Rollie were to suddenly fly back in a UFO, wanting to conquer Earth.

Lily had further conversations with her hench-dogs. Some of the neighbors began to switch on their lamps; the movement and noise there had probably attracted unnecessary attention. So Lily dismissed the group before she shook her head regrettably. “The last one to spot Rollie was Prince Reinhardt. It saw a cat going into the field. This makes it harder for us to find it.”

Hao Ren blinked his eyes. He could not make out what the nerdy cat was doing this time.

A cool breeze blew around them as Vivian turned in a vampire. She was circled by a swarm of bats. “Let me help. Rollie’s been in a fight, I’m sure it has the stench of blood on it. My bats can search for bloodstains better than your dogs’ noses, ” Vivian said.

Lily gritted her teeth, feeling displeased. But in the end, she did not say anything.

Looking at Vivian’s bat swarm disappearing into the night sky, Hao Ren could only hope that those little bats would trace the blood on Rollie. He finally realized that his cat had experienced some unexpected changes… mostly related to the unusual creatures.

Nangong Sanba looked around and noticed that everyone had serious expressions. He could not help but stand up. “What can I do to help? I’m a demon hunter, I’m good at searching.”

“Let’s just keep your half-baked searching skills to yourself,” Nangong Wuyue unceremoniously dismissed her old brother’s enthusiasm.

Hao Ren also shook his head. “Let’s see what Vivian can come back with. If she can’t find it, no one can. If you have free time, please teach Lil Pea how to use her demon hunter powers.”

After Nangong Sanba came onboard, Lil Pea, the unprecedented demon hunting fish had a personal instructor. Although Nangong Sanba himself was just a half-baked demon hunter, Hao Ren did not intend to make Lil Pea a professional demon hunting fish—just by looking at her body size, one would know how far the training would get her to. He just needed someone who knew the basics to teach Lil Pea the way to control her natural skills.

Obviously, Nangong Sanba was at a loss on his first day at work. He sat on the couch, staring at Lil Pea, who was staring back at him on the coffee table. The little mermaid had been an obedient girl all this while, listening to her daddy’s words. She did not run around, but she did not seem to understand what Nangong Sanba was up to. Hence, she just stared at his big face curiously and slapped her tail occasionally, signifying that she was listening.

Nangong Sanba grabbed his head, feeling that he had to be the first and last instructor ever since the appearance of his species to teach a fish how to harness its power.

“Let’s start with the basics on how to focus your mental power on weapons. This basic training will let you control your mental power. If you wish to control your other abilities in the future, this basic training is indispensable,” said Nangong Sanba as he finally remembered what his father taught him, and likewise, he taught it to Lil Pea. He took out a small crossbow. “This is the weapon of demon hunters. In addition to using it in combat, it’s also a tool for practicing mental power. Look at these symbols; now raise the crossbow and touch your forehead with this silver nail…”

Lil Pea obediently picked up the crossbow, which to her was like an oversized crossbow. She found that her head could not even touch the so-called “silver nail”: she was small in size, even smaller than the small crossbow.

Lil Pea tried for a long time and found that there was no way she could do it. She decisively shifted her attention by playing with the trigger and the unloaded string of the crossbow. Before she knew it, she heard a humming sound and was flung half a meter back to the coffee table. The crossbow did not move an inch.

Nangong Sanba sighed and said, “Well, it looks like I’ll have to design a miniature crossbow for you.”