Hao Ren had initially thought that having two unheard-of heteromorphic roommates in the house would completely turn his life upside down. He would bid farewell to the mundane existence of an ordinary man concerned with nothing more than three meals a day and daily necessities, and live a martial-arts-world life in white robes, coming and going like the wind, fighting armed police officers or superheroes every few days. But after three or four days, he discovered that things still went on as usual: the two girls in the house had barely changed his daily routine at all.
Lily's daily life went like this: sleeping, eating, eating, eating, fighting with Vivian, then returning to her room to write—don't forget, this girl was also supposed to be a writer. In short, the Werewolf girl's life was simple yet meaningful, and she was quite happy with it herself.
Vivian's daily life was somewhat more colorful: sleeping, eating, fighting with Lily, going out to look for work, losing the job, looking for work, losing the job, looking for work, losing the job... To be honest, even Hao Ren couldn't bear to watch her terrible luck. Three jobs in three days—could anyone believe it? On one hand, Hao Ren was amazed by Vivian's efficiency at finding work. In a place where she was unfamiliar with everything, she somehow managed to find a job every time. On the other hand, he was amazed by the Vampire's bad luck: so far, the longest she had kept a job was less than three hours...
Unfortunately, Hao Ren had never personally witnessed the girl's misfortunes. Every time, he only learned that she had messed things up again when Vivian returned dejectedly. If he got the chance, he really ought to follow her and see exactly how she managed to lose her jobs.
That was how the lives of the two superwomen went. Each had her own share of absurdities, but neither went beyond the scope of Hao Ren's familiar daily life. Vivian did not have the "predatory habit" of flying out at midnight every day to suck people's blood, and Lily did not howl at the moon in the dead of night before transforming into a Werewolf and hunting rabbits in the wilderness. They lived just like ordinary humans—and supposedly had done so since birth. This left Hao Ren deeply disappointed, but also somewhat relieved: at least he didn't have to worry about fighting armed police officers and superheroes...
The shadow cast by that strange dream from several days ago seemed to have completely dissipated. Apart from the slight unease he still felt whenever he remembered it, Hao Ren had temporarily put it out of his mind. Now, he was patiently waiting for that not-quite-normal Goddess to return, while gradually becoming familiar with the daily habits of the two new roommates in his house.
Lily had been busy washing up, dressing, and picking out clothes since early morning. She looked like she was about to go out. The Werewolf girl was occasionally a bit of a goofball, but her lifestyle habits were no different from those of ordinary human girls. Apart from the fact that she would be frightened into dropping onto all fours whenever "Roll" suddenly appeared, she was perfectly normal. Seeing her bustle around the living room looking bright and tidy, Hao Ren couldn't help asking curiously, "Are you going out?"
"Yep, I have a patient to see." Lily straightened her clothes using the television screen as a mirror while speaking in a rapid-fire stream. "Life in this city looks like it'll go very smoothly. Writing is going smoothly, renting a place is going smoothly, and my first patient is going smoothly too..."
Vivian was busy doing housework nearby. Hearing that, she raised her head curiously. "You? You're a doctor?"
Only then did Hao Ren remember that Vivian didn't know about Lily's work. Vivian hadn't been present when Lily introduced herself, and afterward, the two of them had barely managed to live under the same roof, so neither had been interested in learning more about the other. He pointed at the wolf girl and explained on her behalf, "Lily's a traveling veterinarian."
The Werewolf girl seemed to think of something. She suddenly turned toward Vivian and proudly thrust out her chest. If she had been in Werewolf form, her tail would probably have been wagging so fast that it left afterimages. "I'm licensed! I'm a veteran veterinarian with over a decade of experience, and I'm also a professional writer. I've contributed to Shen Bao since the Republic of China era. You know Zhou Shuren? I used to chat and laugh with him! 0w0!"
Hao Ren had been studying a magazine and had only casually exchanged a few words with Lily. But at that moment, her words shocked him so badly that he fell straight off the sofa. "What did you say?!"
"I'm a professional." Lily looked at Hao Ren in confusion, apparently thinking he was making a fuss over nothing. "I've always made my living by writing while living in human society. Being a professional veterinarian is only something I've done in recent years. I treated animals before that too, but it wasn't my main occupation."
"That's not what I meant." Hao Ren stared blankly at the Werewolf girl he had always regarded as nothing but a complete goofball and thus never taken seriously. "You said, during the Republic of China era..."
"I contributed to Shen Bao. Did people in the Republic of China era stop reading newspapers or something?" Lily nodded. "I told you I've been alive for... Anyway, it's been a very long time. You haven't forgotten, have you?"
Hao Ren was left speechless. At last, he more keenly realized just how vast the difference was between these nonhuman creatures and human beings. Even a Werewolf like Lily, who seemed to have a hole in her head... once she started talking about her past, she could still scare someone half to death!
He had indeed heard Lily and Vivian mention some of their life experiences before, but he hadn't paid much attention at the time. The events that were too distant in the past had seemed more like legends to Hao Ren, while the more recent ones hadn't felt particularly real to him. But with one sentence, Lily had finally made Hao Ren understand the meaning of historical perspective in the most direct way possible...
Seeing Hao Ren act so startled at just a few words from Lily, the Vampire girl, who was far more experienced than Lily, was naturally very displeased. She folded her arms and pushed Lily aside before drawling, "You haven't even grown all your fur yet, little girl. Have you ever fought Achilles? Have you ever kicked Octavian into a moat? Have you ever kicked Caesar into a moat? Have you ever kicked the Emperor Yan—oh, I haven't kicked him either. Moats weren't popular back then... Come to think of it, the Yellow Emperor was quite a remarkable man!"
Hao Ren let out a long sigh. He felt that he could no longer concentrate on the magazine in his hands. What was happening in front of him was clearly more interesting than any magazine!
Lily looked at Vivian with deep disdain. "What use are those experiences? Can fighting Achilles make you money? Can kicking Octavian into a moat make you money? Can kicking Caesar into a moat make you money?"
"How could it not? I charged for all of it back then!"
"Then where's the money?"
"...Let's change the subject."
Hao Ren wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, thinking that he absolutely couldn't let the things he had heard in the living room today slip out. Any one of those statements would be enough to make half the world's archaeological community tremble for six months! What exactly had this seemingly useless Vampire girl done back then to shake the world? At this point, just how much of human history could be trusted?
Vivian's greatest weakness was her unbelievably terrible financial luck. Even Lily, who was a total goofball, could make a couple of deeply sarcastic remarks about it. The Vampire Girl had been defeated in an area where she couldn't argue back and felt completely dispirited, so she could only lower her head and continue tidying the house. She had volunteered for this herself. Vivian knew herself well; she understood that with her financial luck, she probably wouldn't be able to repay her debts anytime soon. Thus, she had taken the initiative to offset her food and rent costs by doing housework.
Hao Ren hadn't expected a veteran Vampire to have such upright values. At first, he had felt somewhat apprehensive, but after repeatedly confirming that Vivian truly thought this way, he was happy to go along with it. It was basically like hiring a maid. How expensive were maids these days? Especially young and beautiful ones—they could easily and accidentally become the lady of the house, after which you would have to hire another maid for her... Oh, he was overthinking this.
Lily cheerfully left the house. Hao Ren hadn't had time to ask how she had managed to start working as a veterinarian in a place where she was unfamiliar with everything, but he could more or less guess. In all likelihood, she had asked the local mutts for information. Over the past two days, he had happened to run into several bizarre scenes while going out—Lily crouched by the roadside, seriously chatting with local stray dogs. Sometimes even their crouching postures were identical, making them look exactly like sisters... With Lily's outstanding talent, she wasn't merely ahead of the competition from the starting line as a veterinarian—she had been standing at the finish line from the very beginning...
Just as Hao Ren was preparing to continue studying the magazine in his hands, which was already nearly crumpled beyond recognition, a phone ringtone as urgent as a death knell suddenly rang from the armrest of the sofa beside him.
As if by some kind of psychic connection, Hao Ren shuddered all over the instant the phone rang. Then he sprang up and grabbed it. A line of numbers leaped into view on the screen:
00000012345
That mentally abnormal "Goddess," who had been missing for several days, had finally reappeared.
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