Chapter 621 (1/2)

After saying their farewells to the sirens in Nasaton, Hao Ren and his crew headed back home.

Hao Ren was really worried that something would go wrong at home, as this time around, the ones staying back and looking after the house were the trio of rascals. A dare-devil baby mermaid, a dumb cat with a brain full of fish jerky, and a demon loli, who was habitual dismantler; Hao Ren dared not imagine what would happen when the three of them were together. Thankfully, Y’lisabet did not disappoint. The little demonic runt had dusted off her skills as a commander of Helcrown and managed to put the fish as well as the cat on tabs. Everything at home was a-okay.

Except… all of the electrical items were dismantled and reassembled.

After confirming that everything at home was fine (at least on the surface), the first thing everyone did was to sleep to their heart’s content. They temporarily let loose the tension from the incident on Io, the giants, the brain monsters and a whole bunch of crap. After that, it was back to normal for everyone. They were seasoned veterans by now, and were used to how things work.

Hao Ren actually wanted to take a few more days off, but he could not afford himself such a luxury; he had a boatload of reports to prepare and had to organize another truckload of newly-obtained information, so he was up and about since morning. A year into his job, Hao Ren had adopted the very good habit of recording everything he had encountered down, right to the minute detail; any information he collected had to be included in the report or his work journal. That was the only way to prevent himself from scratching his head later down the line. Now, most of the things he had encountered were “beyond natural”, and this domain was still unknown waters. Even the most basic of knowledge was very difficult to digest, not to mention the misinformation that could follow. If he did not have enough wisdom, or natural ability for the job, he had to compensate for it with good ol’ hardwork.

After getting the reports done, Hao Ren planned to pay Raven 12345 a visit; there were just too many things that he needed to inform her.

Rollie was still curled up like a ball on the sofa as she nudged him on the waist with her head. She let out a series of slow growls to ease her boredom. Her old form would only previously take up one seat at the most, but her current form easily occupied two thirds of the sofa. With Hao Ren in tow, there was pretty much no place left for anyone else. So, Lily had to squat on the seating pillow next to the sofa as she shuffled the channels for Animal Planet. As she went through the motion, she started to mumble, “Mr. Landlord… I just realized something.”

Hao Ren was still doing his report, and he responded without even raising his head. “Yeah?”

“…It seems like I’m the only one paying rent, right?” Lily’s ears twitched as she gave Hao Ren a blank look. “Seems like I’m on the losing end of things?”

As she finished, Y’zaks, who was reading the paper; Vivian, who was cleaning the table; Nangong Wuyue, who was putting some ointment on her tail; and Nangong Sanba, who was teaching Lil Pea to read Letta runes all became quiet as they threw each other an awkward glance. It was finally Hao Ren who broke the silence as he patted the husky on the head. “It took you a year to think this through?”

Lily’s ears dropped. “Am I that slow… Say, Mr. Landlord, am I losing out on something?”

Hao Ren ruffled the husky’s head. “No worries, I’ve already converted your monthly rent into the purchase of ribs. Where did you think those extra 10 kg of ribs you’ve been having each month come from?”

Lily suddenly thought that she was not losing out on anything and promptly forgot about the matter. She gave Hao Ren’s fingers a satisfied lick before continuing to watch TV. Rollie opened her eyes as she nudged Hao Ren’s arm. “Nyaaaa can’t stand her….”

Lil Pea too flapped her tail excitedly. “Cant stand her, can’t stand her!”

“Say.. How is Lil Pea faring in her studies?” Hao Ren looked at Nangong Sanba as he heard Lil Pea’s voice.

“She now recognizes most of the Letta Runes. Her memory is incredible, and her talents are pretty good, I think she can complete everything by the end of this month.” Nangong Sanba was a rather proud of his teaching progeess. In the face of a group of otherworldlings, that was the only part that he could brag about. “Wanna see her holy flame? She can cast it without incantation!”

Hao Ren was instantly intrigued. “Let me have a look!”

Lil Pea realized that this was her time, and happily tapped her tail on the table. She lifted her tiny hands as she rubbed it, a spark later a little white ball of fire appeared. Nangong Sanba motioned for Lil Plea to stay still before pulling out a cigar from his pocket and rolled the tip on the flame. Taking a deep breath, he said. “Still a cigar lit with holy flame taste the best…”

Hao Ren gawked, “… So after a good month, you taught her to be a bloody lighter?”

Lil Pea excited bounced before Hao Ren before proudly showing him the ball of fire, “Daddy, need a light?”