Absorption

Hao Ren retrieved a tuft of black wolf fur from the ground by the streetlamp. He felt cold sweat seep from his forehead in waves, but fortunately, after encountering so many bizarre things over the past two days, his nerves had grown somewhat stronger. He did not lose his composure over the strange situation. Once he had calmed down, the first thing he did was check whether there were any suspicious "phenomena" nearby. This was an experience he had gained from spending two days with Lily and Vivian: whenever supernatural beings acted, they were accompanied by obvious phenomena, such as Lily's beastly aura of oppression and Vivian's blood-colored freezing wind. He figured that the inexplicable situation just now—whether it had been a dream or something else—might also have involved a supernatural being. After all, that was all he had encountered these past two days. But after searching around, he found nothing unusual, and even his usually reliable sixth sense remained completely still.

"Landlord?" Lily blinked. Her unusually bright eyes looked somewhat eerie in the night. "What's wrong?"

"Do you think there's anything... strange around here?" Hao Ren suddenly remembered that wolves were highly sensitive to danger. He also recalled the horrifying sight of the Wolf pack pouncing at him before he woke from the nightmare, but he shook his head and tossed that second thought aside. "Like some other 'supernatural beings' or something."

Lily sniffed, then, under Hao Ren's speechless gaze, lay down and carefully sniffed around the area. Only after that did she stand up and shake her head. "Nope. They're all familiar scents, and no strangers have been here. Landlord, did something happen to you?"

"Let's talk about it after we get back." Hao Ren tightened his grip on the fur and headed home. Lily followed behind, somewhat confused, but she did not forget to carry the reclining chair back with them. She really was an excellent guard dog.

In the living room, Hao Ren sat solemnly on the sofa. Across from him sat a bewildered Lily and an intensely curious Vivian, while "Roll" sat beside them. The "family of four" was complete. Since the two superwomen had casually destroyed the coffee table, everyone now had a somewhat old low table in front of them instead. Hao Ren placed the tuft of black wolf fur on the table and looked into Vivian's eyes. "I've encountered something strange."

He then recounted the bizarre dream in as much detail and clarity as possible. He particularly emphasized the endless grassland in the "dream" and the sight of the two silver moons in the sky. Finally, he pointed at the wolf fur on the table. "I woke up with this in my hand. Do you think I took a high-speed, budget version of a trip through space-time, or did I somehow gain the ability to twist fantasies into reality?"

Vivian furrowed her lovely brows, ignoring Hao Ren's ridiculous joke. She pinched up a few strands of wolf fur and sniffed them beneath her nose. "It smells like a beast, and there are no traces of black magic. This really did come from a natural animal. Big Dog over there has a better nose. Come and smell this."

Lily gave an "oh," placed the wolf fur beneath her nose, and inhaled deeply. "It doesn't smell quite like the wolves I'm familiar with. And it really does carry a scent... different from this city. There's an earthy, grassy smell mixed in. Only a Werewolf could distinguish something this subtle." After a while, she finally realized what Vivian had said. She slapped a palm on the table. "Wait, who did you just call Big Dog?!"

"Hey, take it easy!" Hao Ren looked at his battered table anxiously. Fortunately, Lily was in human form and had not used her full strength, so the table would not end up destroyed like the coffee table. He then turned to Vivian. "What do you think is going on? Is this so-called magic?"

"If it was simply a dream, it would be easy to explain. Various illusions and hypnosis techniques could produce the same effect." Vivian still had her brows furrowed. "I can weave a dream powerful enough to put hundreds of people to sleep together, and they absolutely wouldn't realize they were dreaming until they woke up. Give it to someone with a vivid imagination, and they'd definitely think they had traveled through space-time. But bringing something out of the dream... I can't explain that. At least, among the magic I know, there's nothing capable of doing it. Of course, it might not be magic. The hidden world is complicated, and my knowledge is limited."

"Actually, it could have happened like this," Lily suddenly cut in, her face alight with excitement. "First, someone used an illusion or hypnosis to give Landlord a nightmare and set its contents in advance. Then, while he was sleeping, they secretly came over and stuffed the wolf fur into his hand..."

Vivian listened to her in a daze. She could not help but twitch the corner of her mouth. "Could you stop ruining the mood?"

Hao Ren actually thought Lily's explanation made a fair amount of sense. Aside from being maddening, it perfectly solved the problem at hand. How should he put it? Idiots had an idiot's worldview, and under normal circumstances, it was absurdly simple and effective...

However, Lily had already confirmed that no unfamiliar scent had been left at the scene, so this maddening theory was not very convincing either.

"In any case, it's certain that what happened to me wasn't normal. The natural environment definitely couldn't make me dream of fantasies eroding reality." Hao Ren sighed. "I've more or less resigned myself to it. Once there are too many lice, you stop itching; once there are too many debts, you stop worrying. Whatever bizarre thing wants to come, let it come—but before that, I have to find a way to stay alive. Living with a bunch of superpowered beings like you... could very well get me killed!"

Vivian and Lily both knew that Hao Ren had signed an employment contract with a woman claiming to be a goddess and been dragged onto a pirate ship, so neither of them brought up the nonsense of voluntarily leaving. Instead, they began thinking seriously. Vivian was a very intelligent girl—at least, more intelligent than Lily. She could tell that although Hao Ren was a petty urbanite, an ordinary person, and a lazy young man who hated trouble, his courage and capacity for accepting things were astonishingly strong. Every time he encountered something capable of utterly shattering a person's worldview, he would spend no more than ten seconds being surprised before seriously analyzing it and seeking a way out. This time was no different. It was a rare quality. But no matter how strong his courage and acceptance were, Hao Ren was still an ordinary person. Vivian truly had no idea how to make an ordinary person become powerful in an instant.

"That Raven 12345 didn't give you some kind of cheat ability?" Lily lay on the table and asked curiously. "That's how it always works in human novels. You're working for a god, so the Time-Space Administration Bureau should at least give you some labor-protection equipment, right?"

"She might have forgotten. I didn't ask either." Hao Ren thought about it. "I'll ask her in person the next time I run into her. Her phone number doesn't work, so if I want to find her, I'll probably have to go to that damned place again... I'm starting to feel like the Time-Space Administration Bureau is becoming less and less reliable."

"Distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. You've already had one strange dream, and you didn't resolve its source in the dream. According to the usual rules of illusions, this dream will definitely continue to take effect. You can't simply stop sleeping, can you?" As Vivian spoke, she slowly transformed into her Vampire form. "I'll make you a protective charm first. Whether you're under an illusion or something else, suppressing it will make it dissipate quickly."

Hao Ren immediately remembered the collection of "protective charms" Vivian had on her and instinctively asked, "Are all those odds and ends of yours reliable?"

"Who said anything about those treasures of mine?" Vivian slightly furrowed her delicate brows. "I'm talking about the power of the Bloodkin!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Vivian bit her finger with her sharp fang without hesitation. A drop of blood surrounded by a strange golden-red glow immediately welled up from her fingertip. "Come here. Let me smear this drop of blood on the back of your hand. It should be enough to suppress that nightmare—if it really is an illusion."

Hao Ren extended his hand hesitantly. As he watched Vivian smear the blood glowing with an eerie light across his skin, he could not help muttering, "I remember that according to legend, Vampires can turn ordinary people into Vampires using their own blood. Do you think I might mutate?"

"Don't even think about it. That's just a scare tactic." Vivian snorted. "I've heard your human legends. Apparently, one bite can give you another subordinate... If Bloodkin reproduction were really that easy, what need would there be for you humans? We would have covered Asia, Africa, and Europe back in the Bronze Age. Would we really have been reduced to this state by the Demon Hunters and the Church working together?"

She spoke of the history of the Vampires being driven to the edge by humanity, yet she showed no hostility whatsoever toward Hao Ren, despite his being human. That was rather interesting.

"Eh? How could this happen?"

Vivian cried out in surprise. The moment her blood touched Hao Ren's skin, it vanished at incredible speed!

It was as though it had been absorbed—and the absorption was astonishingly fast.