The few days since returning to Earth had been completely uneventful, and no new news had come from any side. Hao Ren was satisfied with the peace and quiet of the past few days, but he also took time to continue studying the Radiant Church, the Return Sect, and the various kinds of knowledge an inspector needed to possess. Whenever he had free time, he devoted himself to teasing the cat, playing with the fish, and amusing the dog. His life was actually quite pleasant. He had already grown accustomed to the lifestyle of an inspector: being as busy as a dog when trouble came, and as lazy as a cat when nothing was happening, using the contrast to ease his tightly wound nerves. The good news was that he had both kinds of creatures around him, so he could observe and learn their habits whenever he wanted.
Just like the past few days, when the first rays of morning sunlight streamed through the windows and into the house, Hao Ren was awakened on time by scratching at the door and a whole mess of assorted noises. First came Lily's hysterical "Awoo!" after waking up, followed by Vivian's swarm of bats flying into the living room with a flurry through every open window. They had brought back freshly picked wild vegetables still covered in morning dew, along with herbs suitable for medicinal dishes. Then the silly cat's long, mournful howl came from outside the door: "Big Cat! Big Cat! Food! You've gotta mix my rice! Open the door! I know you're in there, so why won't you open it? Why have you started locking the door lately? Let me in so I can lick you! I wanna come in and lick you! Why are you locking the door, meow?"
That