What Good Is a Sixth Sense Alone?

What did it feel like to have a Werewolf living at home?

Apparently, it felt like nothing much. There was no full-moon transformation, no bloodthirsty Werewolf slaughtering the whole family, nor any Demon Hunter leading two hundred paladins over to punish evil and incidentally flatten his house. Hao Ren felt that the night had been so peaceful, it was as if nothing had happened at all. That Werewolf was easy enough to talk to, obediently paid her rent, and didn't go berserk after transforming. Her only traits were being afraid of cats, being a bit of a chatterbox, and being mildly annoying. Other than that, she had no flaws. Besides, whether transformed or not, she looked adorably cute. Maybe this wasn't so unacceptable after all.

Early the next morning, Hao Ren was awakened by something wet and scratchy against his face. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw a fluffy black-and-white silly face staring right at him. Those golden vertical pupils conveyed only one message: breakfast!

"Good morning, Roll." Hao Ren fought the urge to fall asleep again. Only after several yawns and stretches did he finally wake up. He waved his family's second-in-command down to the floor and got up to dress in a daze.

Then he suddenly remembered that there was a new tenant in his house.

Then he suddenly remembered that this new tenant was an unidentified life-form claiming to be a Werewolf.

The whole thing had kept him tossing and turning until well past midnight before he had barely managed to sleep. Even now, after waking up, the fog in his head had yet to clear. He scratched his hair and muttered, "This isn't a dream, is it?"

But he quickly realized it wasn't a dream. A rapid patter of footsteps came from the living room, followed by that somewhat familiar, noisy voice. "Landlord! Landlord, does your TV have no signal? Didn't the ad say there was TV to watch?"

Hao Ren sighed and finally accepted that his life had changed forever. But he knew he was nowhere near prepared for it—honestly, unless someone had spent years steeped in adolescent fantasies until reality itself had been invaded by them, who could be prepared for something like this? He had no idea how to get along with a Werewolf, nor did he know what might happen the next day. As things stood... he would just take it one step at a time.

He pushed open the door and saw Lily sitting in the living room. The Werewolf girl had changed clothes, too. She wore a cool little tank top and denim shorts, radiating youthful energy. Her slightly wheat-colored skin, paired with that outfit, made her look as if she had just stepped out of some fitness show. The moment she saw Hao Ren emerge, Lily happily waved at him. "Good morning, Landlord! Why does the TV have no signal?"

Then she spotted the little black-and-white cat perched on Hao Ren's shoulder, wearing an expression like an emperor inspecting his domain. She immediately did a backflip behind the couch, cautiously poked out half her head, and stared fixedly at that feline face with eyes that had already turned pale gold. After holding it in for a long while, she finally greeted it in a trembling voice that was practically worshipful. "Roll... good morning."

"As a Werewolf, could you please show a little dignity?" Hao Ren silently glanced at Lily. He felt that every extra sentence he exchanged with this girl weakened the sense of crisis he had about his uncertain future. She was just too good at relieving stress. Then he looked at the LCD television in the living room, which he had bought only two or three years ago. Its screen was a solid blue. "The TV's broken? You can't get a signal in your room either?"

This unremarkable rental apartment had one surprisingly lavish feature: every room had a television. Hao Ren had impulsively bought them all back when business had been booming a couple of years ago. Luckily, there had been a huge sale, so they had not cost too much. Nowadays, having a TV in every room was his most attractive selling point when renting the place out.

Lily nodded and cautiously edged out from behind the couch, moving on all fours like a puppy. "There's no signal in my room either. I watch the documentary channel in the morning."

"You like documentaries?" Hao Ren asked casually as he crawled behind the television to check whether the wiring was the problem. Lily's voice came from behind him. "No, it's just that there's a dubbed program recently about prairie wolves. I have to keep up with what my fellow clan members are doing..."

"You came from the African savanna?" Hao Ren turned and asked curiously. Thinking of her identity as a Werewolf and the topic they were discussing, that strange feeling came rushing over him again.

Lily shook her head. "No. I don't know where I came from either. Maybe somewhere near the snowfields. My memories from before my 'awakening' are all hazy. I can't remember anything at all. But I think wolves everywhere are one family—humans have so many different races, but you still collectively call yourselves Earthlings, right? I think the Main Reason us 'others' have been pushed into the lower levels of Earth's social circle is that we aren't united enough..."

Lily started rambling on again, and Hao Ren felt completely unable to keep up with her topic anymore. Damn it, how was he supposed to follow this? Discuss evolution or species with a canine from the snowfields?

"The wiring is fine, and the TV is fine. Since you can't get a signal in your room either, the problem should be with the signal tower." Hao Ren poked his head out from behind the television and spoke as if he were an expert. In truth, he had no idea what was going on. He just felt that he could not lose face in front of an idiot Werewolf who dropped to all fours at the sight of a cat. "There aren't many cable connections around here. We mostly rely on the TV tower."

"Oh." Lily sounded rather disappointed, but the expression lasted only a few seconds before vanishing without a trace. Hao Ren first filled Roll's food bowl, then prepared to head into the kitchen to make breakfast. But just as he took a step toward the kitchen, a series of loud knocks suddenly came from the front door.

Perhaps it was just his imagination, but one second before the knocking began, Hao Ren suddenly felt a vaguely familiar chill. It had appeared only for an instant, like a hallucination, and he assumed it was because his nerves were too tense.

Lily frowned and sniffed, but found nothing. She pointed toward the door. "Landlord, you have a guest!"

"I know, I know." Hao Ren jogged over to open the door, wondering who would visit such a remote place. It did not seem like the time for someone collecting utility bills. When he opened the door, he habitually began, "Hey, are you looking for—?!"

A girl he did not know stood outside.

She was tall, at least five foot seven by the look of her, with a slender figure and waist-length hair. She wore a simple black dress and a pair of somewhat worn sneakers. There were no other accessories, yet her plain clothing could not conceal her remarkable beauty. Her features were exquisite, carrying a certain air of nobility. Her eyes were not large, but when slightly narrowed, they seemed to possess an elegant charm. Her nose was petite and tilted slightly upward, while her thin lips were vividly red despite the absence of makeup. Her face had a faint Eurasian quality to it, making her seem like a beautiful mixed-race girl. What drew the most attention was her complexion: her skin was so clean and tender it seemed ready to break at a touch, and exceptionally pale... almost too pale. Hao Ren even thought she looked a little bloodless.

Hao Ren was not the sort of person who became unable to walk at the sight of a pretty girl. Though he certainly longed to have a girlfriend, he otherwise had decent self-control. Even when Lily, a beautiful girl of that caliber, had bounced into his life yesterday, he had not stood there dumbfounded for this long. The main reason he was frozen now was that the girl before him looked even more shocked than he was.

The unfamiliar girl at the door raised a hand to shield herself from the sunlight, as if she disliked weather that was too bright. When she saw Hao Ren open the door, she made no attempt to hide her astonishment. Before he could even speak, she cried out, "You're the one from last night... You're not dead?!"

"Watch how you talk!" Hao Ren reflexively snapped back. Then he realized the implications of her words. "Last night... holy crap! Lily, transform!"

Other than Lily, he had only met one other "person" last night!

And now he could be completely certain that the chill he had felt before opening the door was not an illusion. It was the mysterious sixth sense he had cultivated since childhood. But the facts proved that without vigilance, a sixth sense alone was useless—he had already opened the door, and he was less than two meters away from last night's attacker!

Hao Ren's final thought in this chapter was: I didn't expect her to be such a pretty girl...