Chapter 75

The next morning, just as the sky was beginning to lighten, Hao Ren got out of bed. He ran into Vivian, who looked like she hadn't slept all night, and Izaak, who had also risen early. The three of them, without any prior agreement, said the same thing: "Let's check on Lily (the big dog)!"

After slapping herself unconscious the night before, Lily was no longer in danger. It seemed that she wouldn't go on a rampage when she lost consciousness. Hao Ren and Vivian had worked together to carry the werewolf girl back to her room. Now, after a night had passed, Hao Ren guessed that the girl should be awake, so he and Vivian pushed open Lily's door. What they saw made Hao Ren jump in surprise:

Lily was still in her wolf form and had already woken up. She was crouching on the bed in a wolf-like posture, her tail straight and taut. Since Lily's back was to the door, they couldn't see her expression, but Hao Ren could clearly sense an unsettling, oppressive aura emanating from her, as if she were a wild animal.

The furniture in the room appeared to be intact, suggesting that Lily had just woken up and hadn't had time to cause any damage yet.

Vivian took a step forward, and at almost the same moment, Lily's ears perked up sharply. A low growl came from her throat. In the next second, Hao Ren saw a blur, and Lily darted across the room like a silver lightning bolt. She ran along the walls and ceiling, circling around to Vivian's side, and pounced with her fangs bared!

"Lily!" Hao Ren managed to exclaim in shock, but Vivian had already dispersed into a cloud of bats and flown into the air. The werewolf girl only pounced into empty air, then stopped, confused, and began to sniff the floor.

Hao Ren noticed that Lily seemed to be hostile only toward Vivian and had no intention of attacking him. He mustered his courage and took a few steps forward: "Lily... can you hear me?"

"Ho... hiss..." A muffled sound came from Lily's throat, but she obediently lifted her head and smiled when she saw Hao Ren. "Landlord, eat... food..."

Hao Ren: "..." Is this food bucket even worth saving!?

It seemed that Lily could still recognize familiar faces, but Hao Ren carefully observed her and noticed that her eyes were somewhat unfocused. Her golden eyes no longer clearly showed the whites or pupils, and her breathing was very erratic. Her facial expressions also kept changing when she spoke, clearly indicating that her mental state was very poor.

Seeing this, Hao Ren couldn't help but slap his forehead: They shouldn't have waited until the next morning. Lily's condition had deteriorated so quickly that they should have taken the risk and sent her to Raven last night!

Vivian reformed into human shape in the living room and cautiously circled back behind Hao Ren, keeping a distance of more than five meters from Lily: "Big dog, are you still going to bite me?"

"No... bite," Lily crouched on the ground, scratching her face with her foot. Speaking was difficult, but her thoughts were still clear. "I just see things a bit... blurry. When I first woke up, I wasn't... very clear-headed, but I'm much better now. Landlord, take me... to the doctor?"

"Let's go, we'll go now," Hao Ren, seeing how hard it was for Lily to speak, felt a pang of sympathy. He stepped forward to help the werewolf girl up. "Just try to stay clear-headed, and I'll take care of the rest."

"Landlord, don't... help me," Lily quickly shook off Hao Ren's hand. "I'll throw you... see, I threw you, didn't I?"

Hao Ren got up from behind the sofa, looking dejected at Lily's confused state: "Can you retract your ears and tail? You can't take the bus like this!"

"Do you still want her to take the bus?" Vivian shouted. "She's in this state, and you still want her to go to public places? She could easily kill someone with a sneeze right now!"

"What can we do?" Hao Ren spread his hands. "If I had known her condition would get worse, I should have taken her to Raven last night. Now the sun is up, and her condition hasn't improved at all!"

"Don't panic, I'm preparing a portal," Izaak's voice suddenly came from the side. "I went to that turtle mound last night and set the coordinates. In a few minutes, the portal will be ready."

Hao Ren let out a long breath: "Phew—almost forgot that demons are good at spatial teleportation. I didn't expect you to be able to open a portal here, where you're unfamiliar with the area."

Izaak's voice had a hint of pride: "The spatial parameters of this world are a bit different from mine, so I had some trouble establishing the connection, but my fundamentals are solid. I just had to adjust the formulas. By the way, do you have any soy sauce?"

"Soy sauce?" Hao Ren was initially impressed when he heard that a demon was opening a portal in his living room, thinking that he finally had a tenant with some real flair. A demon portal sounded so high-end and sophisticated. But when he heard this, he couldn't help but walk over to Izaak, who was crouched on the floor drawing symbols. Izaak had already drawn a large circle about two to three meters in diameter on the living room floor, and next to him was a small bowl containing a small amount of dark liquid that smelled strongly of soy sauce...

"Is this even possible?!"

"Why not? As long as you have the skill, you can draw an array with water. Everything in the world has a magic capacity. I know a very powerful demon master who, when surrounded by twenty thousand orcs, calmly urinated to draw a hellfire barrier and held out until reinforcements arrived—though he later denied it, insisting that he had used blood to draw the array... Hey, do you have any more soy sauce?"

Hao Ren: "...Yes! I have plenty of soy sauce! Damn, I can't be picky at a time like this. I knew I'd never be associated with anything high-end and sophisticated! Vivian, go get the soy sauce..."

After using an entire bag of soy sauce, Izaak finally finished the portal array. Surprisingly, it looked quite impressive, despite the material. Complex and bizarre demonic runes were arranged in three concentric circles, and rows of obscure incantations moved like living things in the center of the array. When Izaak channeled his power into the runes, the entire pattern began to emit a murky red-green glow, and it actually worked!

The only downside was that the living room now smelled strongly of soy sauce.

Hao Ren's mind kept repeating: Is this even magic?

But at this point, even the most un-magical thing had to be used. Lily's mental state was visibly deteriorating. She was crouched on the ground, silent, and her posture and movements were becoming more and more like those of a wolf (or a dog). Hao Ren even saw her uncontrollably gnaw on the table leg under the dining table. If the wood hadn't been so hard, he would have lost another table in the few minutes it took Izaak to draw the array.

Izaak stood up and pointed to the portal he had just drawn: "Everyone, stand in the center of this circle. I'll activate the portal. It can only be used once, so it's best to go together."

Hao Ren asked instinctively: "Is it because the soy sauce can only store a limited amount of magic?"

"No," Izaak shook his head and pointed to the cat "Roll" sitting on the sofa. "Based on its expression, it will come to lick the soy sauce as soon as we leave, which will damage the array's integrity..."

Hao Ren quickly jumped into the circle: "Alright, alright, let's go. If we keep talking, I'll never be able to look at any mythological works again."

Fortunately, the portal drawn with soy sauce worked normally, and the group was successfully transported to their destination.

The area around the turtle mound always looked desolate, even in broad daylight, with few vehicles passing by. Plus, Izaak's portal had a camouflage effect, so their sudden appearance didn't cause any trouble.

Hao Ren, feeling dizzy, leaned against a utility pole, trying to suppress the urge to vomit: "Speaking of which... a portal drawn with soy sauce is indeed unreliable. Why am I so dizzy?"

Izaak smiled innocently: "Demonic things are always like this—brutal and simple, but very durable. You'll get used to it."

Lily was still crouched on the ground in her wolf form, her head hanging low and swaying slightly. Hao Ren carefully touched her shoulder: "Lily, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Lily lifted her head, her completely cloudy eyes no longer reflecting Hao Ren's image, but her mind was still clear. "Where is the big house floating in the sky that you mentioned?"

Hao Ren smiled confidently and found the characteristic old doctor's advertisement on a nearby utility pole: "Now, it's time to witness the miracle!"