The Record of Unusual Creature

As Becky had since returned home, there was a spare room in the house, and with Nangong Sanba not being able to leave for the moment (he have yet to meet Raven 12345, and that needs to be done before he leaves), thus he stayed the night as Hao Ren’s place. As the new guy in the block, Nangong Sanba went about checking on the backstory of the group. He even met Big Beardy, and after the latter gave him a lecture on low-carbon healthcare and the Goddess’s teaching, Big Beardy dropped the bombshell, “Actually, I’m also a temporary tenant.”. That put laid to whatever enthuasiasm Nangong Sanba had.

Hao Ren did not sleep well last night. He was still thinking about the missing cat. Although Rollie had a history of leaving the house and go crazy for a night or two, and for a former stray cat, not coming home was a normal thing, but there was something rather off about this. Hao Ren was disturbed by the information Lily gave him, and plus the recent encounter with the First Born still weighed heavily on him, he had been having all sorts of dreams during his slumber. First was an invasion by a bunch of alien cats, the next was the scene where the Goddess in the Plane of Dreams sowing the seeds of life, last was him being dragged into the deep and was drowning. The moisture on his nose and lips were almost too real, and as he woke up in shock, he realised it was real. Lil Plea had leapt on his face and fell asleep. The moisture was from her wet tail….

The MDT laid lazily by the head of the bed, as it explained how Lil Pea ended up on him. “She leapt on to you herself, and it was pointless even if I kept an eye on here. Sides, you’re a father, it’s only right if she decided to trouble you.”

The little rascal was still revising her lessons even while asleep. Between breaths she mumbled what Nangong Sanba had thought her in the day. “Fooohhh…kusss..Koonn…truu…ll….gulugulugu….telly…poottt….”

As she mumbled the little mermaid activated her teleportation ability and slammed right into Hao Ren’s jaw. Lil Pea immediately woke up before slapping her tail happily and waving at Hao Ren. “Papa! Awake!”

No wonder Nangong Sanba kept reminding him to not have anything sharp near where Lil Pea was practicing her teleportation. And to keep the windows and any holes which she may go through sealed. Apparently the demon hunter’s ability could be activated even when the user is asleep!

Hao Ren brought the mermaid downstairs and saw Vivian sitting on the sofa meditating. He knew what the vampire was doing. “Have you found it?”

“All across the area, even the urban area of the Southern Suburbs and part of the town area. I even sent a few bats into the town, but a cat should not have ran that far away.” Vivian said as she slowly opened her eyes and messaged her temple. “I did felt some scent of blood, but it’s the trail is broken, almost as if something is happening to the person that is masking the scent…. I might have lost it all together.”

As Vivian spoke, the guest hall’s window suddenly opened by itself. A part of the bat swarm had completed their reconntoire and were heading back. Each of the bats had some vegetables in their claws. Vivian stood up to stretch, “That cat aside… I got some of the bats to bring back some vegetables. Let me make you some vegetable stew. You’ve a lot on your mind these few days, time to have something hearty.”

Hao Ren nodded, and was slightly touched by Vivian’s thoughfulness. At that very moment, a crash rang from the second floor, as if a window was forced open and the pots of the windowsill had toppled over.

Vivian let out a swarm of bats. “Let me see what’s going on.”

The bats quickly went upstairs. Just as Hao Ren was about to ask what was going on, he saw Vivian’s expression changed drastically as the latter stormed upstairs as well.

Seeing Vivian’s reaction, it was natural for Hao Ren to instictly follow her, but he was stopped at the staircase by Vivian. “Stand back Mr. Landlord, let me check things…. Doggie! Doggie, come here! Bring two of your old clothes!”

Lily poked her head out of her room door in a daze, “Ah?”

“The one in your hands will do!” Vivian said as she ordered her bats to snatch the a set of casual wear off Lily’s hands. The husky immediately leapt up, “Eh what you’re doing Battie! I was just taking those to wash!”

“I’ll explain later!” Vivian took the clothes and dashed up the second floor without turning back. “You’re pretty hygenic…”

Hao Ren could only look on in absolute confusion as the event progressed. He didn’t know what Vivian was up to. It was not until he heard sounds of crashing and shrills that he yelled, “Vivian! What’s going on?!”

“Don’t ask me! I’m confused myself!” Vivian replied. In the between her words were sounds of bare foot stomping the wooden floor. Things finally came to a rest after a crack of thunder, and it sounded like Vivian had shocked somebody down…

A moment later, Vivian’s head popped out of the stairwell, “It’s done… I’ll bring her down. She’s still in a daze..”

As Hao Ren looked on curiously, Vivian carried a person down the stairs.

It was a petite young lady, about a good head smaller than Lily. She had black hair and very refined features. Even from a distance she was a pretty looker, but it was rather difficult to discern anything with her face covered in soot and part of her hair was bristling due to statis electricity. So she was the one who ate Vivian’s lightning bolt earlier…

This lass of unknown origin was still stunned as she was brought downstairs by Vivian. Everyone in the house too were drawn in by the commotion and got out of their rooms to see what’s what. Hao Ren joined the crowd as he asked, “Who is she…?”

The stranger looked up as she heard Hao Ren’s voice and let out a silly smile. Her tail wagging at the back.

“… A tail?” Hao Ren exclaimed.

He only just realised that the person had a black bushy tail at her back, and on her head a pair of pointed, bushy cat ears! He thought it was just some decoration…

Lily blinked. “What does this ear shape looks so familiar?”

Hao Ren went and poke the lass’ ears and immediately pulled his hands back in shock. “It’s real!”

Lily’s ears too popped up at the same time. “Of course it is! You can tell it just by a glance. My ears are out and about almost every day and you still can’t still a fake a part?”

“What’s this situation?” Hao Ren looked bewilderedly at the lass. He looked on as she slowly recovered from her daze and numbness, and went about nonchalantly towards the cushion by the stairwell and rolled up into a ball. He looked at her struggling with her clothes – it seemed like she wasn’t used to it. A rough guess soon took hold.

“That can’t be Rollie can’t it?”

The cat girl who was just about to curl up and sleep quickly perked up, as if she heard something important keyword. Her eyes were fixed on Hao Ren, and let out a lazy and nonchalant “Meowwww—”

Seeing the cat girl like this, Hao Ren had no doubt of her identity.

“She jumped in from the window on the second floor. That’s Rollie’s usual route home.” Vivian explained what she saw upstairs. “It’s probably because she had became so big that she knocked aside everything on the windowsill. Putting the clothes on her was a chore too, she even scratched me a few times.”

Vivian showed Hao Ren the white claw marks on the back of her arm. “Then I gave her a shock.”

Nangong Sanba looked on, too stunned to speak. Only after a while that he mumbled to himself. “…Is this a case of sudden gene mutation… it’s just too…unreal?!”

Hao Ren messaged his temple. “Don’t ask me. I’m just as confused.”

Y’zaks arms was crossed as he stood on the outer circle of the crowd. “Hmm.. her aura is similar, but the change is huge. No wonder Vivian could not locate her. But the key is… how did she turned out like this?”

As everyone around discussed and hypothesised what happened to Rollie, the cat girl too opened her eyes. Seems like she could not sleep under such an enviroment. Her slit-eyes looked around for a bit before landing on Hao Ren again. After a few mewling, Hao Ren pet cat finally spoke her first words:

“Poop scooper, where’s my food?”

Yes that was it, but then again anything that lived under this roof, even if it was only a cat, it is only normal if it’s weird!