Chapter 36

It has been proven that when a particularly unusual person confidently tells you that everything is under control, you basically can't expect anything from them—Hao Ren realized this truth a bit late. So, when Vivian, speaking in a fluent but archaic Anglo-Saxon accent, asked a local for directions, Hao Ren was completely stunned, deeply doubting whether his preparation for this trip was a bit too hasty.

A dazed little landlord, a nearly comatose but still trying to walk upright werewolf, and a vampire who seems reliable in normal times but is completely useless in critical moments—these three people confidently arrived in a foreign country and encountered an unprecedented crisis: they didn't know the way, couldn't communicate in the local language, and because they hadn't prepared properly before departure, they hadn't even checked online where to find someone to ask for directions. Of course, there were also reasons related to experience. Hao Ren was a bit dazed and hadn't even thought to seek help from the airport staff—logically, even if the staff couldn't pass a basic English test, they should at least be able to tell you how to get to the nearest embassy. But this unreliable guy hadn't even thought of that.

Vivian spoke to a passing local elderly man in a strange accent, and Hao Ren stood there, stunned by the archaic English that had been lost for centuries. The elderly man was even more stunned, poor old man, being asked in his own language (genuine and real) and repeatedly saying "what"...

"Stop trying," Hao Ren pulled Vivian aside, "Your English is from around the 11th century AD. Do you know how much the accent of people from a thousand years ago differs from modern people? Look up the pronunciation of ancient Chinese online, and you'll understand."

Vivian looked dejected, "How could it change so much? I thought only the environment had changed, and people's speech shouldn't have changed much. At most, my words would be like classical Chinese to them... How could the pronunciation change too?"

Hao Ren sighed, "When you were born, humans still communicated mainly through different lengths of hisses and chest thumping. You can't be so oblivious that you haven't even thought about this?"

"I'm not that old, okay?" Vivian glared, "What you're talking about is the Stone Age!"

At this point, the British elderly man, thoroughly confused by Vivian, thought these two young people were arguing and hurriedly came to mediate (the old man was quite a gentleman, having been tortured by this almost alien ancient English for so long, he didn't get angry). He tugged at Hao Ren's arm and kept asking, "Chinese? Are you Chinese?"

Hao Ren blinked, fortunately, his basic English hadn't been completely forgotten, so he nodded vigorously.

The patient old gentleman smiled and pointed to an open area next to the terminal, where uniformed airport staff were standing. This time, even if Hao Ren and Vivian were a bit slow, they should have gotten the hint.

Hao Ren and Vivian exchanged an awkward glance, thanked the old gentleman repeatedly, and then dragged the already sleeping upright Lily to the airport staff. The staff member was a handsome young man, neatly dressed, and looked full of energy. Vivian approached and started speaking, "%￥@@%￥#￥#%￥@?"

Hao Ren pushed this unreliable vampire aside at a critical moment and smiled at the puzzled young man, "Excuse me, how do I... " He suddenly realized this might not work, so he slowed down and switched to more standard Mandarin, "Hello, I don't speak English. I want to go somewhere. Who should I ask?"

The young man frowned and slowly listened, struggling to piece together the phonetics in his head. Then he smiled professionally, pointed to a nearby parking lot, and said in broken Chinese, "There, some taxi drivers are Chinese, go... go... let him help you."

Clearly, the young man couldn't come up with the rest of the words.

This was already quite satisfactory. Hao Ren thanked the young man very happily and, as he turned toward the parking lot, couldn't help but feel a myriad of emotions: Who would have thought that a vampire who could hold her own in a verbal spat with Arthur Pendragon would be completely useless, and her "English" would only succeed in confusing a foreigner. In the end, he had to ask for directions in Chinese...

Life is indeed more interesting than novels, because life doesn't care about reasonableness!

"Wait until we get to the hotel to sleep, just hold on a bit longer," Hao Ren turned and patted Lily's shoulder, but the only response was a series of light snores. This thick-skinned werewolf girl wouldn't disrupt her biological clock anywhere. It was morning in London, and it was also her nap time at home. She was so sleepy she couldn't keep her eyes open, but she was still following Hao Ren in a half-asleep, snoring state. Fortunately, as a wild animal, her keen senses hadn't been lost: Lily followed Hao Ren and Vivian, walking with her eyes closed and sniffing the air to stay on track, and she didn't lose them...

Hao Ren soon found the "Chinese taxi driver" the young man had mentioned. The skin color matched, but after finding several, they turned out to be local-born British Chinese. Their Chinese was only slightly better than the young man's, and they looked at the address Hao Ren had written in Chinese characters as if they were reading hieroglyphs...

After more trouble, they finally found one with barely passable Chinese. Hao Ren felt completely exhausted, and the various inconveniences of being in a foreign country flooded his mind. The initial excitement of getting a large budget and a chance to travel abroad on company funds slowly dissipated. He realized this was indeed a task, a task that was mentally and physically draining—Raven 12345 said it was to train new employees' problem-solving skills, and this was no joke!

Raven 12345 probably anticipated that Hao Ren, after getting a large budget and the chance to travel abroad, would become overconfident and leave without any planning.

Of course, there was another possibility: Raven 12345 knew from the start that Hao Ren had two companions who were more trouble than help, and this was a way to make him adapt in advance...

Despite not preparing many things before leaving, Hao Ren at least knew to book a hotel in advance online. With a generous budget, he booked a fairly high-end hotel, which, according to the official website, had staff fluent in several languages and could provide quality service to Chinese tourists—now, Hao Ren didn't dare to hope for quality service; he just hoped the staff could lead him to his room. Once in a quiet place, his first task would be to contact Raven 12345 and see if he could get some help with the mission.

After about an hour with a Chinese-speaking driver whose language skills were barely passable, Hao Ren and his group finally entered the center of London and arrived at the hotel they had booked. After paying the fare (he didn't know if he had been overcharged, but he didn't care anymore), Vivian looked up at the sky, which was now completely bright, and sighed, "It's been many years. When I first came here, there weren't so many buildings."

"Why don't you say that when you first set foot in Europe, humans still lived in trees?" Hao Ren, supporting the wobbly Lily, sarcastically remarked to this useless vampire, "Living for so long, why don't you think about the lifespan difference between you and humans? Half of today's difficulties are because I had too much faith in you."

Vivian frowned, looking serious, "I have a good temper, but I also have the dignity of a high-ranking vampire. If you keep mocking me, it's an insult to the nobility..."

"Pay next month's rent."

"Of course, I, as a noble, won't haggle with you over such trivial matters."

Hao Ren: "..."

He had never seen a noble who could be pushed to this extent by a month's rent!

"According to the plan, we'll rest here for a day or two to adjust to the time difference and organize our materials. I'll submit a report to Raven 12345, and then we'll set out on the second or third day," Hao Ren sighed, "The address Raven 12345 gave is too remote. Based on our experience this morning, it will be difficult to get directions from locals."

The three of them walked toward the hotel entrance, and on the sixth floor of the hotel, a curtain was suddenly pulled back, a sharp gaze scanned down for a few seconds, and then the curtain returned to its original position.

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