Will life always be like this from now on?

Hao Ren walked home, a stack of cheap printer paper clutched in his hand, his heart surging with emotion.

He was also on the verge of tears.

Starting today, he was an employee of some super-civilization spanning multiple worlds, an Earthling who could speak directly with deities. Behind him stood the Time-Space Administration Bureau, a colossal entity that could make anyone tremble just by hearing its name. In his possession was the Contract of the Gods, and his employee ID could be found in the Heavenly Attendance Register. If he were transported to a world where divine authority reigned supreme, he could even proudly declare himself a candidate for Holy Son, with the potential to transition from a contract-based Holy Son to a lifetime appointment simply by passing his probationary period…

Could anyone blame him for feeling his heart surge and tears well up?

Why were the affairs of gods so different from what he'd seen on TV and in novels!

Regardless, Hao Ren had officially joined an incredibly significant organization. No matter how strange Raven 12345, the Time-Space Administration Bureau behind her, and the entire "Xiling Empire" were, they were undeniably more incredible than anything Hao Ren had ever encountered.

Hao Ren looked down at the contract in his hand, recalling Raven 12345's parting words: "From today, you are a Probationary Examiner. Your sole current task is to ensure your tenants at home behave. We, the Xiling Pantheon, don't favor managing our direct subordinate organizations in the same way traditional religions use churches. Therefore, our unit ranks employees based on attendance and merit. You'd best not mess around with religious legends or those church pamphlets from Earth. I've encountered those kinds of brats in other worlds… Don't bother with that; just do your job well."

He sighed softly, once again confirming he'd boarded a pirate ship. Hao Ren folded the few sheets of paper and stuffed them into his pocket, intending to lock them away somewhere safe to prevent "Gun" from tearing them up and eating them. To be honest, Hao Ren didn't entirely believe his experiences today, and he harbored many doubts about Raven 12345. Holding these few pages made him even more suspicious of the entire affair (Of course, who ever heard of a divine contract printed on a printer? And it even had typos!). But as mentioned before, Hao Ren was a person who could clearly assess the situation. Regardless of Raven 12345's background, purely in terms of ability, the difference between her and Hao Ren was like that between a god and a mortal. Even if she made typos, liked to pick her fingernails, eat Jianbing Guozi with scallions, and spoke incoherently… she was still not someone an ordinary person could handle.

Therefore, if Hao Ren wanted to ensure his life remained peaceful, he had to cooperate wholeheartedly.

Walking along the deserted highway under the scorching sun, Hao Ren took out his phone to check the time. He looked ahead and behind; the road was completely empty, not a soul in sight. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly: working for gods is too unreliable. Why didn't they even provide transportation? With his current status, he'd be at least a Prophet in a theocratic society. Yet, after receiving his divine calling (i.e., signing the contract), he still had to squeeze onto a public bus to get home. And he'd been waiting for ages without a bus in sight!

He couldn't help but recall Earth's myths and legends, trying to find out how the saints and prophets of history returned home after achieving enlightenment. Did they squeeze into carriages with others or run back on foot? After thinking for a long time, he found no conclusion: which Bible would ever write about such things!

As he was lost in thought, a ringing sound suddenly reached his ears. Hao Ren grabbed his phone and saw it was an unknown number—thank goodness, it wasn't a life-threateningly eerie number like 00000012345.

"Hello, who is this?" Hao Ren answered, asking politely. From today onwards, he was a person of status and needed to be mindful of his words and actions. Although the goddess above him wasn't very reliable, he decided to appear more reliable himself.

Then, Lily's voice came through the receiver, tinged with a hint of anxiety: "Landlord! It's me! It's Lily!"

"Li… Lily?" Hao Ren almost blurted out "that silly werewolf" but managed to control himself in time. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, I suddenly remembered the rental advertisement had your phone number. I spent all day yesterday looking for the address, and I couldn't find it. It would have been so much easier if I'd just called you directly then…"

Hao Ren's forehead broke out in a sweat: "…Are you calling me in such a rush just to say that?"

Lily's voice suddenly became agitated: "Ah, no! Vivian's situation is a bit unusual. She suddenly flew out just now, flew right out the window in broad daylight! I chased her with all my might, but I couldn't catch her!"

Hao Ren really wanted to shout: That's the main point! Why are you calling me with such disjointed information, you silly girl?

"Vivian flew out? Turned into a bat and flew away?" Hao Ren didn't know why he was still focusing on such strange details at this moment, as he was already quite bewildered. Just a few minutes ago, he had been on a woman who claimed to be a god, patting his chest and promising to keep the strange creatures at home in line. And now, only a few minutes after leaving her, something had happened at home!

"She flew away as a whole swarm of bats," Lily corrected him earnestly, then said in a hurry, "When she flew off, she said something about this place not being safe… I didn't know who else to call, so I called you."

"Wait at home, don't go out randomly. I'll be back soon," Hao Ren said urgently. At the same time, he saw a dilapidated bus approaching from not far away. While flagging it down, he instructed Lily, then hastily hung up the phone, squeezed onto the bus, and started pondering: What was Vivian up to?

Although Hao Ren knew very little about otherworldly beings, his only knowledge came from those unreliable TV shows, novels, and urban legends (which had already proven to be completely unreliable). However, he was at least certain that vampires were uncomfortable in sunlight, and Vivian herself had admitted this. Therefore, he dared to believe that the vampire turning into a swarm of bats and flying out in broad daylight was definitely not because she woke up and wanted to go for a stroll—it must have been an emergency! And what did Vivian mean by "this place not being safe"? Was she referring to his home?

Hao Ren knew that besides the vampire, the most powerful creature at home was that silly werewolf. And Vivian basically looked down on Lily, so the scenario of "the vampire being driven out by the werewolf's aura" could be completely ruled out. So, what exactly was unsafe at home?

Hao Ren suddenly felt that the task Raven 12345 had given him… was probably a trap.

It took Hao Ren another half hour to return to the old district in the South Suburbs. As soon as he got off the bus, he saw a few people in work clothes walking towards him. His heart immediately tightened: Exposed already? What were these people doing? Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences? Setting up traps to capture vampires? Installing surveillance equipment near his house? Special forces disguised as China Netcom employees?

It wasn't until they got closer that Hao Ren breathed a sigh of relief: they were just a maintenance crew…

As the maintenance crew walked past, Hao Ren vaguely overheard their conversation:

"…This is the first time I've encountered something like this in all my years of work. How did that brick fly up there?"

"Who knows? It couldn't have been thrown by a person, right? The TV tower is so high, who has that kind of strength. But it's really weird, that brick almost broke three steel bars…"

"Tell me about it. We were told today that the TV signal in the South Suburbs was out, and we thought it was something else. Turns out half a brick was smashed into the signal tower. How are we supposed to write this work report?"

As the maintenance crew walked further away, Hao Ren listened blankly and understood two things:

First, he knew why his TV had no signal at home.

Second, he knew where one of the bricks Lily threw during her fight with Vivian last night had ended up…

What good did knowing that do!

Hao Ren sprinted to his front door. First, he cautiously confirmed that there were no lurking special forces or suspicious individuals in black suits around. Only then did he step forward, take out his key, and unlock the door. However, before he could even insert the key into the lock, the door opened by itself.

Vivian stood before him, a smile on her face: "Landlord, you're back?"

Hao Ren almost couldn't catch his breath. After finally managing to gasp for air, he stared blankly at the vampire girl standing before him, who was supposedly "flown away," his expression shifting between anger and disbelief: "Vivian, you… didn't you fly away?"

Vivian chuckled dryly twice: "Uh, there was indeed a situation where I stepped out for a bit, but I'm back now."

Hao Ren: "……"

Is this how all future days are going to be?!