Thanks to the five-digit White-Haired Demoness, the generous funds she provided allowed Hao Ren to enjoy life as a rich man in a foreign country for a while—of course, he was nowhere near a true tycoon, but at the very least, being able to book a suite with two bedrooms, a living room, and a bathroom in a hotel of this caliber put him firmly in the ranks of the wealthy. After stumbling through the check-in process, the three of them followed a hotel attendant to the room they had booked two days ago. By the time they entered, Lily was so sleepy that she had completely lost her humanity—she came in on all fours.
Hao Ren could only explain to the dumbfounded hotel attendant beside him, "Sleepwalking, sleepwalking..."
The hotel attendant looked rather strange. He had probably never seen a sleepwalker reach this level of divinity in his entire life, but his excellent professionalism wisely kept him from asking further questions. He merely explained the suite's facilities and hotel services in somewhat odd but fairly standard Chinese before taking his leave.
"The hotel's advertisement wasn't lying. Listen to how well he speaks Chinese—it's much better than your English," Hao Ren said as he dragged Lily toward the small living room, not forgetting to turn around and take a few jabs at Vivian. "Check that the door's locked, then use your superhuman five senses to make sure there aren't any cameras or anything like that in here. I don't want to alert any of the scientists who should be alerted."
Vivian pursed her lips, checked the door, then muttered something as she wrote a few characters in the air over it. Only then did she turn back. "Done. I'll know immediately if anyone approaches."
Hao Ren nodded and tossed Lily, who was already dead asleep, onto the living-room sofa. Only then did he have time to look around at their surroundings. In all fairness, this was the most luxurious hotel room he had ever stayed in. A thick, pale-yellow carpet covered the living room, while warm-colored lights shone against the walls, creating a comforting warmth at a glance. There was an LCD television and a small liquor cabinet on one side of the living room, and a sofa, coffee table, and table and chairs for entertaining guests on the other. At the north and south ends of the living room was a bedroom, each with its own bathroom. The last part was essential, because Hao Ren knew full well that he could not share a room with two girls, but he was even less willing to let these two unreliable superhuman women out of his sight. Thus, he could only book a two-bedroom suite, with him in one room and the two superhuman women in the other.
There was actually one hidden danger in this arrangement: Would Lily and Vivian get into a fight if they stayed together? But when he booked the hotel, he really could not find anything suitable, so he had no choice but to make do. In any case, before setting out, the two superhuman women had solemnly promised that they would get along harmoniously throughout the trip. Of course, how credible that promise was remained to be seen.
Hao Ren studied the suite, which seemed extravagantly luxurious to him, with the satisfaction of a country bumpkin—even though, in the eyes of a truly rich person, it probably only counted as escaping poverty. Just then, Lily suddenly opened her eyes beside him. The Werewolf girl sat up in one smooth motion, stretched vigorously, and shouted, "Landlord, we've arrived?"
Hao Ren gave the energetic Lily a strange look. The bright morning sunlight outside the floor-to-ceiling windows slanted across her face. It was six-thirty in the morning local time, and Lily's natural nap time had just ended. The amazing werewolf girl had regained her energy precisely on the dot.
"I have a feeling this mission is going to screw us over," Hao Ren sighed. He pulled his Data Terminal from his pocket and, after activating it without a hitch, found the mission details Raven 12345 had given him. "We'll set out the day after tomorrow. The destination is nearly a full day's journey from London, even if we take the highway. So our main task tomorrow is to figure out the route and determine exactly where this place called 'Yuefu'erde' is. Raven 12345 said something about testing newcomers... Is this how you test someone? At least give me a more precise map!"
"Yuefu'erde... It isn't even on the map." Lily was fully awake by now. She leaned over beside him and looked curiously at the image projected by the Data Terminal. "Hey, Landlord, we haven't had lunch yet, have we?"
Hao Ren glanced at the sky outside. "It should be around breakfast... before or after breakfast, anyway. We'll go downstairs to eat later. Also, once we leave, don't call me Landlord anymore. Just use my name. It sounds weird otherwise."
"Okay, Landlord. Got it, Landlord."
Hao Ren: "..."
Vivian first excitedly wandered through every room in the suite, even making a special trip to inspect the bathroom. Only then did she return with an even more pronounced country-bumpkin look than Hao Ren's. She glanced at the holographic image floating before Hao Ren and reminded him, "Didn't you say you wanted to report to that Raven? See if you can ask for more details."
"Oh, right. I almost forgot about that." Hao Ren slapped his forehead, then pinched one edge of the Data Terminal as he remembered the method and began searching his mind for Raven 12345's communication channel. "Hopefully she's working today. That woman is rarely reliable."
This time, Raven 12345 finally did not leave Hao Ren stewing in frustration. The holographic projection above the Data Terminal flickered several times, and a beautiful woman with gorgeous silver hair appeared before Hao Ren. "What is it?"
"I've arrived in England." Hao Ren's expression was a little strange, because he noticed that the background behind Raven 12345 was unmistakably outer space. "Where are you?"
"England? What are you doing there... Oh, right, I remember. I told you to pick someone up. How's it going?"
"Not well." Hao Ren did not even have time to investigate why there was a huge flash that looked suspiciously like an explosion behind Raven 12345. "Vivian dropped the ball, Lily was sleeping like a dead dog a few minutes ago, that 'Yuefu'erde' you told me about isn't an address that exists anywhere on the map of England, and... not one of the three of us speaks English. You said this was a covert mission. We can't just find a local to act as our translator, can we? What if they discover the existence of abnormal life-forms?"
"You don't speak English? That's all?" Raven 12345's mouth did not move as she spoke, yet her voice came from the image. Clearly, since she was in outer space, she was using some other method to communicate with Hao Ren. Another bright flash appeared in the background of the holographic image. Raven 12345 turned her head and threw a glaring blue-white ball of light at it, then turned back around. "I told you to study your Data Terminal properly. Why won't you listen? Open the application list and find the translation program."
Hao Ren watched Raven 12345 throw ball lightning around in outer space. His curiosity about what she was doing grew, but he still focused on answering his own question. "I found the translation programs. They're either XX Star Language or the XX Universal Cosmic Dictionary. I figure they'd be enough even for traveling to another world, but there's nothing that works on Earth..."
Raven 12345 froze for a moment, then slapped her forehead. "Oops, I installed the wrong ones for you... You know I don't really understand this kind of technology-oriented stuff. I'll have someone who knows what they're doing send you a normal translation program later. I'll deal with this bastard first. It'll be quick."
As she spoke, Raven 12345 turned around and flung another bright blue "arc of electricity" out. Hao Ren could not tell from the holographic projection how large the arc really was. He only saw it fill almost the entire image in an instant. He was utterly astonished. "What exactly are you doing? Why does it look so lively over there?"
"Oh, cleaning the room," Raven said casually. "A bunch of lunatics felt that their fate was too miserable and decided to destroy the world. They even built a mathematical-rate weapon. I have to clean them out before they hurt anyone else..."
As Raven 12345 spoke, Hao Ren saw a strange, mountain-sized wreckage slowly glide through outer space in the background, wrapped in blue flames. It disintegrated as it flew, and large numbers of small spaceship-like objects broke away from the wreckage. Without exception, they were blasted into pieces by blue beams that came from who knew where.
Hao Ren immediately realized that he could not pursue this question any further. Whatever Raven 12345 was doing clearly was not particularly harmonious...
"Now, where was I?" Raven 12345's voice pulled Hao Ren out of his daze. "Oh, right. I'll upload a new translation program for you. Sigh, you probationary workers are such a hassle. It'll be fine once you're officially certified. Things like translation systems can be directly installed into your spiritual worlds then, so you'll have automatic Chinese localization wherever you go."
"..."
Before you continue