Chapter 17 (1/2)
Hao Ren had a dreamHe hoped of becoming a warrior. Having superhuman powers, he would travel the world, upholding justice and protecting all four corners of the world without fearing.
Hao Qiang. He would be loved by all the people and become a hero in due time.
Oh, that was when Hao Ren was nine – it was ages ago. Also, his perception of the ‘four corners of the world’ then was limited to the radius of Nan Jiao Elementary School and a couple of streets nearby. Also, Hao Qiang was his class teacher.
In the past couple of years, similar to most of the people then, Hao Ren’s noble ambitions had dwindled to things more realistic: having a higher than average salary, getting married to a above than average woman, having one or two children that are better than the average kids; buying a decent house (which is not much of a worry as he already had one. Those where the things he thought would make up his life – up till this moment.
The turning point of his life was inching closer, Hao Ren could literally feel as if an entirely different future was laid out right in front of him. Looking to the self-proclaimed, but seemingly queer Goddess in front of his eyes, he nodded. “Alright, I promise.”
There was not a shade of surprise on Raven 12345’s face, it seemed that she had gotten quite used to this kind of situation. Also, she already knew what Hao Ren’s answer would be before he even say it and she just nodded her head. “Yes. From now on you will be on probation as a junior examiner in the Space Administration. The welfare that you’ll be receiving will be similar to part-time trainees outside the administration…..”
Hao Ren replied, “… Please don’t go into the details. I’ve had a hard time picking up the courage to do this!”
Raven 12345 seemed to smile upon seeing the worried and lost Hao Ren. “Don’t worry. We’re not evil, we maintain universal peace. Don’t you think it’s a very noble job? If I were to look for an assistant in another galaxy, I would have people queuing up the mountains and sea. It’s just that planet earth is at such a state of godlessness, that’s why I did not get myself involve all this while. And since I had to look for an assistant now, I can only keep a low profile while doing it. So don’t be embarrassed of your job because of this…”
Hao Ren muttered. “Why do I feel that you do not sound like a God? Gods behave this way?”
“Sigh…. It’s not just you, even I myself am not used to this title.” answered Raven 12345 with a carefree tone which surprised Hao Ren as she swung her hands. “We’ve only changed our title in these recent years, we were not called Gods prior to this. I you prefer, you can address us as Xi Ling disciples. That was our clan name, and being God is actually our job.”
“Xi Ling disciples?” Hao Ren asked as he tried to take in this new bizarre term. “It still does not sound right…. What should I normally address you? Royal Goddess??”
Hao Ren was lost for words: if this woman was a self-proclaimed God, he should address her as a Royal Goddess, but that did not seemed right at all. From their conversation so far, Raven 12345 reminded him of an elderly sister, having a casual chat with him in the supermarket. So this was how Goddesses supposed to be like?
“Well, I’m not saying that you have to have a halo behind you but at least do not fiddle your fingers whilst talking?!?!”
Raven 12345 took no notice of this matter and continued fiddling away with her fingers whilst nodding her head at Hao Ren. “Well, I’m not used to this title. Just call me by my name, or call me 12345.”
“……..that is worse… that is not a human name at all….” Hao Ren was speechless.
After that, Raven 12345 went into the details of Hao Ren’s future ‘career’. There was actually not much to it, it was just about how he should continue to welcome bizarre guests into his home. Since he already had a werewolf and a vampire in his house, Hao Ren thought to himself that a few extra abnormal creatures would not be a problem – well, as long as the new guests wereas easy going as the current two.