Chapter 70

Hao Ren played with the small metal piece in his hand, not feeling anything special about it—indeed, it looked quite ordinary. It was just a palm-sized rhombus-shaped iron piece, looking like a reinforcement piece that had fallen off an old wooden farming tool. It was gray and black, with signs of wear and tear, one side smooth and the other side marked with wavy, vein-like patterns, resembling hieroglyphs carved on fake antiques to deceive people. Hao Ren could confirm that it was just ordinary iron: he had tested it with a magnet.

"Let me see." Without waiting for a response, Vivian snatched the small iron piece and examined it closely, turning it over and over. Hao Ren finally reacted to her action: "Do you recognize this thing?"

"…Not sure, but I think I've seen it somewhere," Vivian frowned, "Not this exact thing, but I've seen the symbols. By the way, where did you get it?"

"I don't know either," Hao Ren scratched his head, "I remember having this thing when I was very young, around four or five years old. At that age, a kid wouldn't notice if something was missing from the toy box. I just remember that I picked this up myself, and for some reason, I treasured it a lot. Even when we cleaned out old stuff a few times, I never threw it away."

Vivian clearly wasn't satisfied with this answer. She held the small iron piece, running her fingers over the patterns, and after two minutes of recollection, she looked up: "I have definitely seen these symbols, and it was a very long time ago… I mean, at least a thousand or eight hundred years ago. But I can't remember the details— you know my memory is a bit faulty, and it gets fuzzy over time."

Hao Ren swallowed, not quite hearing everything but catching the words "thousand or eight hundred years." He was instantly excited: "You mean this thing could be an antique?! And possibly over a thousand years old?!"

Vivian gave Hao Ren a look: "You can try selling it on the antique market and see if anyone wants it."

Hao Ren laughed awkwardly, realizing he was showing his petty side again. He stopped talking about selling the antique for money but still carefully put the small iron piece away: even if it wasn't valuable, it was a treasure because it had surprised Vivian, the thousand-year-old vampire.

They continued to tidy up the room. There wasn't much clutter to begin with, and Hao Ren often came down to clean, so the work was done quickly. The clutter that needed to be moved was thrown into a small storage room nearby, and Hao Ren also cleared out half a box of old junk that should have been thrown away long ago. The basement became a clean new room. It had a bed, a table, a chair, and even an internet connection, but it lacked the one thing Vivian hated most: the big sun. The only window in the basement was a small skylight on the west wall, half-buried in the foundation of the house, which only received direct sunlight when the sun was setting, perfectly fitting Vivian's lifestyle.

Hao Ren still felt it was a waste to have a beautiful girl like Vivian (remember, vampire girls are always seventeen) living in the basement, but seeing the clean room made him feel a bit better. More importantly, Vivian looked particularly happy. She enthusiastically helped Hao Ren brush off the dust from his work, smiling brightly: "Landlord, you're such a good person, thank you. I've never had anyone treat me this well before, back then…"

Well, the vampire girl's past hardships could be talked about endlessly, but the important thing was that this unfortunate girl finally had a good life after several thousand years of hardship— at least in her view, the current life was pretty good. She was easy to satisfy to an extreme degree, just like Lily.

Izax might need a few more days to adapt to his new life here, and as the cook, Vivian would need a few days to get used to having a second big eater in the house (the first big eater was Lily, who could eat three bowls of noodles in one go). The adjustment period for the new housemates had just begun, but according to Hao Ren's observations, things were going smoothly so far: the Great Demon was a gentle and unassuming guy, with a temperament that was the opposite of his race's stereotype. This way, Hao Ren didn't have to worry about his daily life becoming even more chaotic: with Lily and Vivian around, if another hot-tempered person joined the household, Hao Ren would have to consider sleeping on the street.

Since there was no immediate worry about fights at home, Hao Ren naturally turned his attention to his workplace: he hadn't seen Raven 12345 for several days and had a pile of questions.

So, on a clear, crisp autumn morning, Hao Ren boarded the dilapidated bus to Wangbatuozi. After a bumpy ride, he arrived at the majestic and imposing place: the Heaven's Earth Office, or simply, the Earth Office.

Raven 12345's luxurious mansion always looked the same. The space it occupied seemed to be frozen in a misty morning, with pleasant scenery inside the mansion and a thick, impenetrable fog outside. Hao Ren sometimes wondered if he should explore that fog, perhaps to uncover the secrets of this "heavenly realm," but he never dared to mention it to Raven 12345— who knew what that neurotic woman would do if she heard Hao Ren's wild idea.

Hao Ren was led to Raven 12345's office by a blue elemental servant. When he pushed the door open, he saw the goddess intently studying a floating image behind her desk. Seeing her frown and fall into deep thought, Hao Ren was shocked: this unreliable person actually worked seriously sometimes!

At this moment, Raven 12345 sensed someone entering and looked up, greeting him casually: "Hey, Hao Ren, it's been a few days. You look good, have you adjusted to the time difference?"

"Um, yeah, yeah," Hao Ren couldn't enter the "mortal worship" state when meeting this goddess, and over time, he just got used to it, treating it like meeting a department manager, "I came to…."

"Wait a moment, give me a detailed report of your mission," Raven 12345 waved her hand, "You were too brief the other day, I can't write the report."

Listen to this, how formal! Even God has to write reports…

Hao Ren cleared his throat and recounted his experiences in Britain over the past two days in detail, emphasizing the undead in the catacombs beneath Yoford Castle and the half-baked demon hunter named Nangong. He felt this was the biggest surprise during the mission, so it was worth mentioning. After listening, Raven 12345 was silent for a few seconds and asked Hao Ren a question: "What do you think was the biggest challenge you faced during the mission?"

Hao Ren was silent for a few seconds before speaking frankly: "Being a mortal, I really can't handle this life-threatening job—I think I need some combat ability. Even if I don't have combat ability, some self-defense skills would be nice. In the catacombs, I almost died just running with Lily. Most of the time, I wasn't even fighting the monsters; I was just trying to avoid being killed by them. This could be fatal! The physical enhancement you mentioned did arrive, but the speed of arrival is a bit slow. Or maybe you could give me a less life-threatening mission next time…"

"The job I gave you was the simplest one. The only other one available is a mission to mediate a war on Betelgeuse, do you want to go?" Raven 12345 rolled her eyes, "But you do need to train and strengthen yourself. Physical adjustments can only give you a foundation; real combat ability requires training. Here, let me give you…."

Before Raven 12345 could finish, Hao Ren perked up: "A secret manual or technique, right? It should be there!"

"Ha ha—" Raven 12345 gave Hao Ren a sidelong glance, "You read too many novels, and you think that if I give you a manual or technique, you'll instantly become powerful? That thing also requires learning and training. A mortal needs to do two months of homework to familiarize themselves with the formula for a fireball spell, and arcane magic requires advanced mathematics. You think it's like a game where you can double-click a skill book and casually cast an ice arrow? Dream on. A person who complains about math problems won't even finish reading a book of forbidden spells, let alone the opening section with 'ten years of casting, thirty years of simulation' exercises. So… do you still want the manual?"

Hao Ren: "…"