Unfamiliar with Life, Difficulties Everywhere

It turns out that when someone who is exceptionally abnormal in every way confidently tells you that everything is under control, you can basically expect nothing – Hao Ren learned this truth a bit too late. So, it wasn't until Vivian was asking locals for directions in authentic, Old Anglo-Saxon "English" that he froze on the spot, deeply questioning whether his preparations for this trip had been too hasty.

A disoriented little landlord, a werewolf who was practically asleep on its feet but still managing to walk upright, and a vampire who seemed reliable normally but was completely useless at a crucial moment – these three arrived in a foreign land full of confidence, only to face an unprecedented crisis: they didn't know the way, couldn't communicate, and because they hadn't made relevant preparations before leaving, they hadn't even bothered to check online where to ask for directions when there was a language barrier. Of course, there were also reasons related to experience; Hao Ren was a bit flustered, and he hadn't even thought of asking airport staff for help – theoretically, even if the staff here couldn't pass a CET-6 in Mandarin, they could at least tell you how to get to the nearest embassy. Yet, this useless fellow hadn't thought of it.

Vivian chatted with an elderly local gentleman passing by in her peculiar accent. Hao Ren stood by, stunned, listening to the ancient English that had likely fallen out of use centuries ago. The old gentleman Vivian had stopped was even more bewildered than Hao Ren. Poor old man, at his age, he was being asked "what" repeatedly in his own native language (the genuine article).

"Stop trying," Hao Ren pulled Vivian aside. "Your English is from around 1100 AD. Do you know how much the accent difference is between people a thousand years ago and modern people? Go home and look up ancient Chinese pronunciation, and you'll understand."

Vivian looked dejected. "Why has it changed so much? I thought only the surroundings would be different, and at least people's speech wouldn't change much. At most, what I say would be equivalent to classical Chinese for them... How did even the pronunciation change?"

Hao Ren let out a long sigh. "When you were born, humans basically communicated through varying lengths of roars and by pounding their chests. No matter how muddled your life is, you can't have never thought of this, can you?"

"I'm not that old!" Vivian glared. "What you're talking about is the primitive human era!"

At this moment, the British gentleman, who was thoroughly confused by Vivian, saw the two young people seemingly arguing and quickly came over to mediate (the old man was quite gentlemanly; after being bothered by nearly alien language for so long, he wasn't annoyed). The old man tugged Hao Ren's arm and kept asking, "Chinese? Are you Chinese?"

Hao Ren blinked. Fortunately, his basic English hadn't been completely discarded by his teacher, so he nodded vigorously.

The very patient old gentleman smiled, raised his hand, and pointed to an open space next to the terminal building. There stood airport staff in uniform. This time, even if Hao Ren and Vivian were a bit slow, they should have figured it out.

Hao Ren and Vivian exchanged an embarrassed glance, thanked the old gentleman repeatedly, and then, dragging the still-sleeping-upright Lily, they rushed to the airport staff. The staff member was a handsome young man, his uniform crisp and looking full of energy. Vivian stepped forward and asked, "%￥@@%￥#￥#%￥@?"

Hao Ren pushed the vampire, who had failed him at a critical moment, aside and smiled at the confused airport young man. "Excuse me, how do we get to this place..." He suddenly realized that saying it like this might not work, so he slowed down his tone and switched to more standard Mandarin. "Hello, I don't speak English. I want to go somewhere, could you tell me who to ask?"

The airport young man frowned, listened carefully, and after struggling to piece together the phonetics in his mind, he showed a professional smile and pointed to a parking lot not far away. He said in very broken Chinese, "There, taxi drivers have some Chinese people, go... go... let him help you."

Clearly, the airport young man couldn't come up with the rest of the sentence.

This was already quite satisfactory. Hao Ren thanked the airport young man very happily. As he turned towards the parking lot, he couldn't help but feel a flood of emotions. He never expected that the vampire, who was rumored to be able to argue with Arthur Pendragon and come out on top, was completely useless. His "English" greatest achievement was confusing a foreign friend, and in the end, he had to rely on Chinese to ask for directions...

Life is indeed more exciting than novels because life doesn't adhere to logic at all!

"We'll sleep when we get to the hotel, just hold on a bit longer," Hao Ren turned and patted Lily's shoulder. The only response he got was a series of soft snores. This thick-skinned werewolf girl never disrupted her biological clock no matter where she was. It was early morning in London, which was Lily's nap time at home. She was so sleepy she couldn't open her eyes, following Hao Ren in a state of sleeping with her eyes closed and snoring. Fortunately, her keen senses as a wild animal hadn't been lost. Lily followed behind Hao Ren and Vivian, walking with her eyes closed and her nose twitching slightly, relying on scent to keep track. She hadn't gotten lost...

Hao Ren quickly found the "Chinese taxi drivers" the airport young man had mentioned. The skin color matched, but after looking for several, they were all native locals: British Chinese. Their Mandarin proficiency was only slightly better than the airport young man's. They looked at the address Hao Ren had written down in Chinese as if it were a celestial script...

After another half day of trouble, they finally found a Chinese speaker whose Mandarin was barely passable. Hao Ren felt utterly exhausted. The inconveniences of being abroad in a foreign land all came rushing back. Only now did the initial excitement of "swindling a large sum of funds for a public-funded trip abroad" slowly fade. He realized this was truly a mission, an exhausting one – Raven 12345 said it was to train new employees' problem-solving skills, and that was certainly true!

It was likely that Raven 12345 had planned from the beginning that Hao Ren would immediately get carried away after receiving a large sum of funds and the opportunity for a public-funded trip, and then leave without any planning.

Of course, there was another possibility: Raven 12345 knew from the start that Hao Ren had two people around him who were more trouble than they were worth, and this was an opportunity to let him adapt in advance...

Although many things weren't properly prepared when they left, at least Hao Ren knew to book a hotel online in advance. And due to the ample funds, the hotel he booked was quite upscale. At least the official website stated that the hotel staff were proficient in several foreign languages and could provide quality service to Chinese tourists. Hao Ren no longer dared to hope for quality service; he just hoped the staff could successfully take him to his room. Once he found a quiet place, the first thing he would do was contact Raven 12345 to see if he could get some task assistance.

After being driven for nearly another hour by a Chinese driver whose language was barely understandable, Hao Ren and his two companions finally entered London's city center and arrived at the hotel they had booked. After paying the full fare (he didn't know if he'd been ripped off, but Hao Ren couldn't be bothered anymore), Vivian looked up at the sky, which had completely brightened, and sighed softly. "So many years have passed. When I first came here, there weren't this many buildings."

"Why don't you say that when you first set foot in Europe, humans still lived in trees?" Hao Ren supported the swaying Lily and retorted grumpily at the useless vampire. "With such a long lifespan, why don't you ever think about the difference in lifespan between you and humans? Half the reason we're facing so much difficulty today is that I placed too much hope in you."

Vivian frowned, her expression very serious. "I have a good temper, but I also have the dignity of a high-ranking Blood Clan. If you continue to mock me like this, it's an insult to nobility..."

"Pay next month's rent."

"Of course, your mouth is your own. As a noble, I won't quibble with you too much."

Hao Ren: "..."

This was the first time in his life he had seen a noble who could be brought to heel by a month's rent!

"According to the plan, we'll rest here for a day or two to adjust to the time difference, sort out the information, and then I'll submit a report to Raven 12345. Then we'll depart on the second or third day," Hao Ren sighed. "The address Raven 12345 gave is too remote. Based on our experience this morning, it'll be very difficult to find locals to ask for directions."

The three of them walked towards the hotel entrance. Unbeknownst to them, on the sixth floor of the hotel, the curtain on a window was suddenly pulled open, a sharp gaze swept down for a few seconds, and then the curtain returned to its original position.