Chapter 25

It was yet to be seen whether Vivian's talisman would work, but at least Hao Ren didn't have any more nightmares for the next three nights—though he didn't think it had anything to do with the octagonal disc.

One reason was that he knew the octagonal disc wasn't designed to ward off evil spirits; it was more for feng shui and finding auspicious locations or treasures. Using it to pacify souls and drive away evil spirits was a bit out of its league. The second reason was that he found a line of small text in a corner of the disc, which read the name of a woodenware factory in Sichuan... That completely ruined its credibility.

He decided not to tell Vivian the truth.

Regardless, not having nightmares was a good sign. Although the wolf hair he brought from the dream world still made him uneasy, Hao Ren was almost certain he was being watched by something formidable. However, he was a guy who could easily talk himself into feeling better. Even if the sky fell, as long as Yao Ming was still alive, he could be happy—nightmares and all, he would ask Raven 12345 when he saw her again.

Speaking of Raven 12345, Hao Ren had visited her a couple of days ago. After their last hurried meeting, there were many things left unsaid, and he had accumulated a lot of questions at home. But when he went to see her, he didn't find the peculiar "goddess."

Hao Ren used the same method as before, taking a bus to the ridiculous-sounding "Wangbatuizi," then finding the lamppost with the old Chinese medicine advertisement, and smoothly teleporting to the inverted mansion that was likely in another dimension. This confirmed that his previous experience wasn't a dream, but there was no sign of Raven 12345 in the mansion. Hao Ren only saw a few blue mist people patrolling the garden and the main house—they seemed to be Raven 12345's servants, highly intelligent but unable to speak, making communication impossible.

A blue mist person handed Hao Ren a note. Raven 12345 wrote that she had important business in Centaurus and would be back in three to five days, or possibly three to five years if she got carried away.

Then Hao Ren was escorted out by the blue servants, clutching the unreliable note.

"This is really unreliable..." Hao Ren sat in the living room, blowing the air conditioner and reading a magazine. Thinking about his visit to the "Time and Space Administration Office in Wangbatuizi" (the full name was important!) made him feel a bit frustrated. He had no idea when Raven 12345 would return to answer his questions. Now, Hao Ren felt like he was shrouded in a fog, surrounded by things he couldn't understand or grasp, and the only one who could tell him everything was a "goddess" as unreliable as a lunatic.

If he weren't so easygoing, he felt like his OCD would drive him crazy.

Of course, over the past two days, he had also tried to learn about "aberrants" from Vivian and Lily. To put it mildly... he had some gains. At least he had a better understanding of werewolves and vampires, and a vague impression of the "world" that existed outside human society.

"Aberrants" was the term Hao Ren subconsciously used for Lily and Vivian, and it was also the term many humans used for non-human entities. Even Lily and Vivian called themselves that, and they didn't seem to mind.

The origin of aberrants was unknown, but they seemed to have existed since the beginning of human history. From the bizarre myths and monsters of ancient times, to the grand church hunts of the Middle Ages, and the occasional scary stories of modern times, aberrant legends were everywhere, half-true and half-false. Vampires, werewolves, demons, and undead were now seen by many as mere scare stories, but in the early days, they were real "sightings."

Most aberrants were a threat to humans. The initial conflicts are now unverifiable, but it's certain that aberrants and humans had been clashing even before recorded history. However, there were also many instances of close contact and coexistence. In the early days of human cave-dwelling, aberrants were the original gods and fierce beasts in ancient stories. Many ancient texts mention "divine beings" and "strange people" with animal features or multiple heads and arms, or creatures that looked bizarre and didn't fit evolutionary theory. Some of these records were exaggerations, some were deformed children born due to inbreeding and disease in ancient times, and the rest were truly existing aberrants.

They co-wove the early chapters of Earth's civilization and played the role of "gods and monsters" in historical records.

Vivian had experienced that era—though her memory was somewhat confused (perhaps from living too long?), she could still provide some basic information. The most shocking thing Hao Ren heard from her was that Zeus was a real person, a thunder giant with a bit of a screw loose...

It was clear that in the early days of contact, aberrants had a dominant position: they usually possessed special abilities far beyond human understanding, had long lifespans, were resilient, and were much smarter than early humans. Aberrants ruled over humans, and whether they became benevolent deities or malevolent beasts depended on their whims. However, this situation changed over time. Vivian's memory was unreliable, so she wasn't sure how aberrants suddenly declined, but there were three main reasons: first, humans gradually became civilized and learned to unite and create more advanced tools to fight against the tyrannical gods and monsters, while the aberrants remained in small, loosely organized groups, making them easy to pick off one by one; second, aberrant populations mysteriously declined (for unknown reasons); third, the witch hunters appeared.

The third point was the most important.

Witch hunters were strange beings with half-human blood. No one knew how they appeared; it was as if they came out of nowhere, and once they appeared, they started hunting "aberrants" worldwide. Initially, they didn't have a fixed name, but during the Middle Ages, the European Church popularized the term "witch hunter," which gained widespread acceptance. At that time, Europe was the last place where aberrants were rampant (aberrants in other regions were mostly eradicated by local people and witch hunters), so the European Church's classifications and definitions of aberrants and witch hunters became the "final version," continuing to this day.

It's unclear whether this was Europe's good fortune or misfortune...

In any case, the activities of witch hunters led to aberrants gradually stepping down from the main stage of Earth's civilization, transitioning from rulers to outcasts. Although aberrants still possessed great power (compared to ordinary people), they no longer caused much trouble.

This was the situation Hao Ren learned from Vivian, a hidden and unbelievable side of the seemingly calm reality he had believed in for over twenty years... But since his worldview had already been rebuilt, he didn't mind if it collapsed again.

As for the two female superheroes at home, Hao Ren also took the time to understand them.

Lily was a "young werewolf" with only a few decades of life experience and a seasoned goofball, so she couldn't provide much information. Vivian, on the other hand, was a high-ranking vampire who had lived for many years. Hao Ren was shocked by her credentials when he first heard about her: she had been active in the world since before humans invented currency, making her older than many human civilizations! Strangely, Vivian's knowledge was also limited. Her thousands of years of memory were a bit hazy, and she mostly spent her time sleeping in various places. Until modern times, human society was quite dull and uninteresting to her. This eccentric and seasoned vampire wasn't as enthusiastic about tormenting humans or "refining her taste" as her kind. Most of her time was spent dealing with her bad luck... She had lived in a daze for so long that Hao Ren thought she was a disgrace to vampires.

But she was a good girl to humans.

It was unclear how her worldview had formed.

(Special circumstances in the afternoon... couldn't access the web, finally fixed it now.)

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