Chapter 20

The pressure from the monster hunter seemed to be significant. Despite the vampire girl's efforts to appear calm, her anxiety and worry were obvious even to someone as dull as Hao Ren.

Vivian offered to leave the city immediately if the monster hunter appeared, to avoid involving innocent people. Hao Ren was quite moved by this, despite the reputation of vampires as treacherous and cruel, Vivian was clearly different. He didn't know about other vampires, but at least the one he knew wasn't bad.

Of course, being moved was one thing, but he couldn't let Vivian leave just like that. He still had three sheets of paper in his pocket, claiming to be the Covenant of the Gods. If the abnormal beings in his house left, he wouldn't be able to explain to Raven 12345: "Don't worry, just stay here. Even if a monster hunter does show up, there's no need to worry. I'll find a way to deal with it..."

"Where does your confidence come from?" Vivian looked at Hao Ren strangely, wondering how this landlord, who seemed so honest and trouble-averse in the morning, suddenly became so responsible. "If it's to comfort me, don't bother. I don't need it. Don't think too highly of the monster hunters. They aren't pure humans themselves and won't hesitate much when it comes to action."

"Well... I ran into something this afternoon. Optimistically, I can't let you leave just like that." Hao Ren thought for a moment, deciding there was no need to hide anything, and pulled out the papers from his pocket, handing them over. He then recounted his meeting with Raven 12345 to the two monster girls.

Lily, being the scatterbrained one, didn't understand much, but Vivian read the employment contract in Hao Ren's hand carefully, listening to his story while thinking. She was eventually stunned: "You... are serious?"

Hao Ren shrugged: "Absolutely genuine. Why would I lie to you?"

"I've heard of the concept of the multiverse, from humans," Vivian waved the printed papers, "I must say, your 'science' is quite amazing. So, you met a super civilization that claims to rule the multiverse, and they have an organization called the Temporal Administration that manages various worlds. A woman named Raven 12345 claims to be a god and asked you to be her assistant. In summary, you are now..." Vivian looked down at the contract, reading each word: "An intern auditor of the Xi Ling Empire Temporal Administration, EN35 Node, Wabatuozi Branch, probationary apprentice, temporary employee..."

Hao Ren wiped the cold sweat from his forehead; hearing someone else read that sentence was even more nerve-wracking than reading it himself.

Vivian paused, then said earnestly: "Landlord, I know you're under a lot of pressure..."

"I'm being serious," Hao Ren said with a bitter smile, "It took me several hours to reorganize my worldview. No matter what the Temporal Administration looks like, Raven 12345 is definitely a significant figure. If you don't believe me, I can take you to meet her next time; it shouldn't violate any rules."

Vivian, seeing Hao Ren's serious expression, realized this wasn't a joke and frowned, thinking: "I've never heard of such an organization. I've lived... well, a very long time, since the Bronze Age, but I've never heard of the Temporal Administration. I've heard of many gods, but most are just human fears. And this Raven 12345 doesn't sound like a god... strange, where did they come from?"

"I asked her too," Hao Ren nodded, "Raven 12345 said humans developed well on their own, and she was busy with other things, so she didn't pay much attention to Earth. She didn't even care when humans started promoting atheism. She occasionally finds an assistant to handle some Earthly matters, so humans never knew about the empire—oh, she always refers to the gods as 'the empire,' which is also quite strange."

"Let's not think about that for now. In short, Raven wants you to take care of the 'abnormal beings' in your house, right?" Vivian returned the papers to Hao Ren, "This means she's not on the same side as the monster hunters, which is good for me. If she helps when the monster hunters appear, that would be even better."

"The chances of that are low," Hao Ren shook his head, "According to her, the empire rarely interferes directly with Earth's affairs. They only step in if humans are on the brink of self-destruction. But she will contact me again, so I'll ask about the situation then. I left in a hurry this afternoon and didn't have time to ask much."

Hao Ren chuckled to himself, "Hey, you know, my mind is still a mess."

"It's fine," Vivian pointed to the dazed Lily, "She's a mess every day and still lives, right? Being brave and optimistic is the key to a better life..."

Lily suddenly jumped onto the table: "Say that again, you b*stard!?"

Vivian almost ignored the wolf girl, but she seemed to have made a decision and nodded at Hao Ren: "I need to find a chance to meet Raven 12345... Her appearance is quite mysterious, and she seems to know a lot about the relationship between abnormal beings and humans. I need to ask her." Vivian's face then showed a hint of embarrassment: "Actually, we don't live very well in this world. Due to the frequent activities of monster hunters and the increasing difficulty of dealing with ordinary humans in recent centuries, abnormal beings, once at the top of the food chain, have become marginalized. We don't even have our own history and are isolated from each other. So, we often have to rely on human records to learn about our own races, like this wolf girl—she has never met her own kind and only discovered she was a wolf girl from human stories. I don't want to be as ignorant as her."

Hao Ren understood that Vivian wanted to find out more about her own kind from Raven 12345. Considering Raven's ability to talk around the subject while keeping secrets, he thought Vivian's chances of success were low, but he didn't say anything.

Meanwhile, Lily finally snapped out of her daze and thought of one thing: "Hey, landlord, let's eat?"

Hao Ren: "..."

He suddenly felt a bit envious of this simple and straightforward canine.

Vivian also gave Lily a disdainful look, then smiled and stood up: "I'll cook today. Since I'm basically a freeloader, I'll take care of the cooking and cleaning until I find a job and pay you back, how about that?"

Hao Ren quickly waved his hands, showing his generosity: "No need, no need, don't be so formal..."

Vivian's expression was very serious: "This is my dignity as a vampire. I can't live off others and eat for free."

Lily, being straightforward, said: "If you're this poor, don't act so proud. Is a vampire's dignity just about being a maid for food?"

Hao Ren quickly grabbed a cookie and stuffed it into Lily's hand to distract her: "You're so scatterbrained and blunt, don't go poking at people's sore spots like that!"

The idea of a noble vampire cooking in the kitchen, with a wolf girl guarding the house, made Hao Ren feel unusually self-important. Since "Roll" came to his house and made him the second-in-command, he hadn't felt this comfortable in a long time. He put his worries aside, made himself a pot of hot tea, and started reading the newspaper, imagining himself as a very impressive person. Lily, being a canine, quickly got comfortable and started flipping through TV channels, excitedly shouting: "Hey, landlord, the TV has a signal!"

Hao Ren immediately remembered the half-brick embedded in the TV tower, and his mood plummeted: he realized he was essentially a high-level nanny, and a weak one at that...

When Vivian brought out dinner, Hao Ren's worldview was refreshed once again.