Abnormal Creatures

Hao Ren went to brew a pot of hot tea, then sat in the living room with two abnormal creatures, staring them down in a pointless standoff.

At opposite ends of the long coffee table sat the wary Vampire girl and the puffed-up Lily. The tension between them was palpable, icy coldness and a savage aura clashing continuously in their locked gazes. Hao Ren could practically see blue-gray clouds of energy swirling above the table. The tea had already been served, but neither superwoman had any intention of using it to settle their conflict. In this nerve-racking low-pressure atmosphere, Hao Ren could only hunch his neck further, enduring the double pressure from a werewolf and a vampire with his frail ordinary-human body while desperately trying to figure out how to make these two believe each other.

Lily insisted that the vampire before them was trying to suck the Landlord's blood, and that everything she said was just nonsense she had made up because she could not beat Lily and wanted to escape. How this idiot had so much confidence, no one knew. She also believed Hao Ren had been charmed by vampire magic and was talking nonsense. Meanwhile, the Vampire Girl insisted that Lily was trying to coerce a human so she could infiltrate a human city, and that everything Hao Ren said was the result of threats from the werewolf...

It was a deadlock: neither trusted the other, neither trusted the third party, and there was no fourth party to be found...

Actually, there was a fourth party present: the black-and-white kitten squatting Not Far Away and eating. This magical creature named "Roll" was utterly oblivious to the icy atmosphere in the living room. Guarding a bowl of cat food was like guarding all of heaven. Hao Ren was starting to suspect that this dim-witted cat might be an "abnormal creature" too.

"Well," Hao Ren, as the host, finally had no choice but to break the silence. He first turned toward the source of all this misunderstanding, the Vampire girl. "Miss Vampire, so last night..."

"Please do not call me a vampire." The black-haired girl, dressed simply but carrying a naturally aloof and elegant air, frowned slightly. "Only Blood-eating Servants who possess nothing but instinct are vampires. Those of us who can suppress Scarlet Blood are the aristocrats of the Bloodkin. Humans misunderstand us deeply, so they always get it wrong. You may call me Vivian. I cannot tell you my full name for now."

"Oh." Hao Ren nodded. Though he had no idea what the difference was between Blood-eating Servants and high-ranking Bloodkin, nor what Scarlet Blood was, he could tell that this black-haired girl was actually easy enough to talk to. "Vivian, right? So you were not attacking us last night? You were actually trying to help?"

"I saw a human together with a werewolf, so I did not know whether you had been deceived or threatened." Vivian nodded. "Originally, I intended to simply take you away. No matter what curse the werewolf had put on you, their inferior magic would have been easy to deal with. But I was not in good condition last night, and I actually... actually got injured by a hidden weapon. A beast is a beast. They will use every means possible in battle, with no sense of aesthetics whatsoever."

"How pretentious." Lily snorted. "Losing is losing, yet you make so many excuses. Why do not you point out where I am coercing the Landlord? He can run and jump just fine. I am not holding a knife to his throat."

The cold wind around Vivian suddenly intensified. "Werewolf claws carry curses. Do you think I do not know something that basic?"

Hearing that, Lily immediately lowered her head in surprise to look at her hands. "Wow, I am that awesome?"

Hao Ren decided to ignore this idiot and turned to Vivian with utter sincerity written across his face. "See? I really am not being coerced! I swear to heaven that Lily has not put any curse on me!"

Vivian immediately nodded. Just as Hao Ren happily thought this vampire... Bloodkin girl had finally seen reason, her expression hardened and became even more serious. "Do not worry. I know that you must be too afraid of the curse, and too unconvinced of my strength, to tell the truth. Once I recover, I will show you that this mangy dog that can only throw bricks is no match for a high-ranking Bloodkin!"

Lily slammed a palm onto the coffee table. A large patch of evenly spread cracks instantly appeared across its surface. "Who are you calling a mangy dog?! You winged rat!"

Vivian no longer restrained her hostility either. She sprang to her feet, and frost visibly spread over the coffee table before her and the sofa behind her. "Think you are so impressive? Let's fight again! It is because creatures like you, who cannot control your instincts and keep courting death everywhere, that things have become like this!"

The murderous intent that had been contained around the coffee table finally spread as its owners unleashed it. Along with two furious shouts came howling cold winds and faint wolf cries. The dim-witted Roll finally realized something was wrong. After hastily stuffing down two mouthfuls of cat food, it shot upstairs with a whoosh, leaving Hao Ren staring at his furniture in anguish. "My coffee table..."

No one knew how he had managed to withstand all that killing intent.

"Landlord, do not worry. I will pay for it." Lily was, after all, a good girl. She immediately realized her mistake and hurriedly apologized to Hao Ren despite her rage.

Hao Ren completely understood now. The werewolf before him was an idiot, while the Bloodkin was single-minded to the point of stupidity! Vivian might look normal, but she probably was not much smarter than Lily. Were capable people these days incapable of living without some personality defect?

Just as Lily and Vivian were about to start brawling in the living room, Hao Ren's previously abundant patience finally wore out. He slammed his fist down on the coffee table and let out the most imposing roar he could manage. "Enough! This is my home!!"

That roar and that punch were things the slow, good-natured Hao Ren had not done in years. Yet even a meek leopard had some intimidation when it showed its claws. The Vampire Girl and Werewolf girl finally realized they were in someone else's home, and one of them also realized she owed the Landlord money for a coffee table. They both stopped at once, four unblinking eyes fixed on Hao Ren.

"What are you looking at me for?" Hao Ren had startled himself after subduing two "abnormal creatures" with a roar. He had not expected that he would actually dare shout at powerful beings who could kill a person with a casual wave of the hand—and that it would successfully calm the situation. But then he felt that achieving this feat once in his life meant he had not lived in vain. With four eyes focused on him, he somehow found himself brimming with confidence. "Look at yourselves. One idiot, one stubborn fool! I am the person involved here, okay? Could you stop ignoring the opinion of the person involved and deciding things for me?! And this, this, this... does this even fit your identities? Since when did werewolves and Bloodkin risk themselves to Protect Humanity? Let me, the most confused person here, figure that out first. Then you can sort out your little misunderstanding!"

Hao Ren had been holding that last question in for a long time. These days, with information exploding and cultures mingling, who did not know stories about vampires and werewolves? Search any fantasy movie database and at least two out of ten films would involve those two species. In Hao Ren's mind, bloodthirsty, irrational werewolves and sinister, cold-blooded vampires were symbols as unmistakable as anything. But these two before him... what was going on with them?

If he could not figure that out, he would not even know how to get himself killed properly!

Unexpectedly, Lily and Vivian spoke in unison. "I am not like those wild animals!"

The two girls gave each other a somewhat surprised glance, then snorted and turned away. Clearly, each believed that only she was being sincere.

"I do not know what is wrong with the others of my kind. They seem unable to live without opposing humans," Vivian said with her arms folded. "But ever since I became conscious, I have lived among humans. And instinctively... I dislike other Bloodkin. Do not ask me why. I do not know either. I have always been that way, and I cannot stand seeing other 'abnormal creatures' wage war against humans. They are too stupid. That is all."

"I have never seen other 'abnormal creatures.'" Lily wrinkled her nose, apparently displeased by Vivian's "scent." "I woke up in a very cold place, probably a snowfield, and I was already in human form when I woke up. An old lady adopted and raised me. After that, I lived among humans for decades. I only moved whenever they began to question why I never aged. I like humans. I am used to humans. Got a problem with that?"

Hao Ren looked at these two abnormal creatures and decided to believe them.

In any case, believing them or not made little difference—he could not beat either of them.

(By the way, a few things: first, the new book needs clicks, recommendations, and bookmarks to build a foundation, so I hope everyone will support it enthusiastically. Even those waiting to binge it later... giving it two votes would be fine, right? Second, Xiling Empire has been completed. Readers who subscribed to it, please go rate your satisfaction with the completed work. It is on the right side of the book page. You do not need to subscribe to every chapter; anyone who subscribed to thirty percent can vote for free. Give it all your votes~~~ Oh, right, one last thing about updates—I am learning to drive recently and have absolutely no time to write. I have been regularly using up my saved chapters... Once I get my license, we can speed things up again, okay? =.=)