Chapter 88

On the other side of the intersection, a girl playing and singing by herself caught Hao Ren's attention, as well as that of many passersby. Perhaps it was because such street performers were a rarity in the southern suburbs, her presence quickly became the focus of everyone's gaze.

These days, people who set up instruments on the street can be divided into three categories: one is the literary beggars who wear dark glasses and play the erhu, their tunes lacking in melody but full of sorrow; another is the behavioral artists who have no musical talent and poor craftsmanship, simply venting their frustrations at society; and the third is the truly talented street performers. Although the young girl across the street looked inexperienced, Hao Ren believed she belonged to the third category: despite her worn-out clothes, she was neatly dressed, with a lively and spirited expression on her face. She seemed wealthier than the poor vampire at home. Her music also made people stop to listen; the melody was something Hao Ren had never heard before, seemingly composed by herself. It sounded completely different from modern pop music, evoking a sense of vastness and remoteness, reminding one of grasslands and wind. This association was strange; Hao Ren had never understood what "the highest music can convey one's state of mind" meant until now, but he believed it. The melody indeed carried a power that broadened one's mind.

When the young girl began to sing an unnamed ballad, Hao Ren heard a language he had never heard before. It sounded like whimsical murmurs, with no discernible meaning or vocabulary, as if it were a temporary hum to express her thoughts. Even Izaak, the great demon, couldn't help but stop to listen for a moment, then showed a puzzled face: "Can't understand it? Is the translation system incomplete?"

"Terminal," Hao Ren poked the data terminal in his pocket, which was in sleep mode, "listen, what language is this? Why isn't it in our translation database?"

The data terminal first played a system startup BGM, then listened for a few seconds: "Irregular, illogical, and uninterpretable pronunciation. The system determines that these sounds do not need to be translated—they are just a pile of sounds with no meaning."

Hao Ren thought for a moment and came up with a simple explanation: "So, you're saying this girl forgot the lyrics and is just making it up as she goes?"

"Can't you occasionally consider the atmosphere when you speak?" The data terminal vibrated twice in Hao Ren's pocket, "It sounds so beautiful. Even if you say she's singing from her heart, it's better than saying she forgot the lyrics and is just making it up—though the terminal also thinks she forgot the lyrics."

At this moment, the girl singing across the street seemed to notice the situation (or perhaps she noticed Izaak first, as the over two-meter-tall demon had a presence that drew attention from a two-hundred-yard radius, making him a landmark on the street). She looked up at Hao Ren and gave him a sweet smile, as if greeting him.

Hao Ren, of course, didn't know her, so he politely smiled back and then followed Izaak away from the intersection: he had important matters to attend to, and there was a werewolf girl at home who needed to be fed before her transformation tonight. He couldn't afford to waste time here.

Just as Hao Ren and Izaak were about to reach home, the data terminal spoke up: "By the way... she greeted you just now. Shouldn't you have put ten yuan in her collection box? The terminal checked the Earth's customs and found that this is the norm."

Hao Ren thought for a moment, his face showing a purified smile: "Did you hear her song? Such a clean and vast voice, I don't think it can be measured by money. Although she is a street performer, I believe a smile is more meaningful than ten yuan."

"But after you two left, the girl rolled her eyes at you during a breath, and muttered that you were a miser..."

Hao Ren: "..." His purified heart was instantly polluted again. This talkative data terminal couldn't leave him a moment of peace!

When the two returned home, Vivian was already there. The vampire girl had flown for most of the night and didn't return in the morning, apparently going to a distant place to collect "materials." As soon as Hao Ren entered the living room, he saw her busy on the coffee table, grinding some powder. Vivian looked up and casually asked about the large bag in Izaak's hand: "Bought so much?"

"In case Lily gets hungry after transforming. I read that werewolves have an unusually strong appetite after transformation, so I bought twenty packs of spicy sticks and ten packs of bread to prevent her from running into the city and hurting people when she's hungry."

Lily, hearing about snacks, immediately cheered and leaped off the sofa, then opened a pack of spicy sticks and started munching on it. Vivian stared at Hao Ren in disbelief: "Twenty packs of spicy sticks... what were you thinking?"

"She likes these little snacks," Hao Ren looked at Lily with a doting gaze, "and spicy sticks are quite satisfying. I also checked with Raven 12345, and spicy food can promote Lily's evolution..."

"I've never heard of werewolves evolving by eating spicy food," Vivian said with a frown, "you should also prepare ten bottles of mineral water. Lily will need a lot of cold water. Your thinking is getting more and more like that goddess's."

Raven 12345's goddess status still carried some weight, and while Hao Ren could casually mention her, Vivian wouldn't dare to call her a "crazy woman." This showed that the vampire girl was still somewhat wary of gods and religion.

Hao Ren helped Izaak put the two large bags on the dining table, then curiously approached Vivian: "What are you doing? It looks a bit disgusting... Oh, the smell is just..."

Vivian spread out several old newspapers on the coffee table, on which were placed a variety of items. Some looked like wild herbs, but they were clearly precious materials that Vivian had gone to great lengths to find. These herbs, still carrying the smell of earth, were carefully divided into several piles, with water droplets on them, indicating they had been washed. Next to the herbs were various odd items that looked like clumps of soil, wood chips, moss, and even stone fragments. If it were in another context, Hao Ren would have thought they were picked from a large trash bin, but Vivian was handling them seriously: she was placing the materials in several stainless steel bowls according to certain rules and dosages, some already ground into powder, others still being processed.

"This is a mixture of three dried herbs ground into powder, mixed with rabbit blood and water to drink, which can forcibly stabilize the mind. Ordinary people would fall asleep after two sips, but for werewolves, this dose is just enough to calm them down," Vivian explained the suspicious mixtures on the table, "these grayish-white powders are incense, which will be mixed with wormwood juice to form a cake. It will be burned when Lily transforms, and the aroma will suppress her aggressive desires. This is commonly used in werewolf coming-of-age ceremonies, so the formula is definitely correct. The moss was collected from a cemetery; I flew a long distance to find it. It can凝聚灵力, and since werewolves are a species with more muscle than brain, they lack innate mental strength and need this kind of thing..."

Before Vivian could finish, Hao Ren couldn't help but gag. Even in a country of big eaters, few would dare to taste these things, but two-thirds of them would be processed into "medicine" that Lily had to take tonight. The thought of it made him feel nauseous. Hao Ren looked at Vivian, hoping to see some hint in her eyes: "Tell me honestly, are you trying to get revenge on Lily?"

Vivian smiled: "Landlord, look at my honest eyes..."

Hao Ren sighed: It seems this is indeed revenge.

But as the party involved, Lily seemed completely unaware. She was still enthusiastically watching a soap opera while munching on a pack of spicy sticks, showing no concern about the mysterious mixtures on the coffee table. Hao Ren couldn't help but call out to her: "Lily, come and look at what Vivian has prepared for you... you have to eat them tonight..."

Lily turned her head and sniffed: "Yeah, it's all good! I'll eat anything!"

Hao Ren: "..."

This omnivorous werewolf doesn't need any treatment at all!