Chapter 9

Hao Ren ran to brew a pot of hot tea, and then he sat in the living room, staring at the two abnormal beings, who were glaring at each other.

The long, narrow coffee table had the vampire girl and the puffed-up Lily sitting at its farthest ends, both on high alert. The tension between them was palpable, with a cold, icy atmosphere and a wild, powerful aura swirling around as their eyes met. Hao Ren could almost see a visible, bluish-gray mist rotating above the coffee table. The tea was already on the table, but neither of the two superwomen had any intention of using it to ease the tension. In this oppressive, low-pressure atmosphere, Hao Ren could only hunch his shoulders, using his frail human body to withstand the dual pressure from the werewolf and the vampire, while trying to figure out how to make these two believe each other.

Lily insisted that the vampire in front of her wanted to suck the landlord's blood, and that all her claims were just made up to escape because she couldn't win (he didn't know how she was so confident). She also believed that Hao Ren had been enchanted by the vampire and was now talking nonsense. The vampire girl, on the other hand, believed that Lily was trying to coerce humans to infiltrate human cities, and that all of Hao Ren's statements were under the threat of the werewolf...

This created a deadlock: neither of them trusted the other, nor did they trust a third party, and there was no fourth party to be found...

Oh, there actually was a fourth party, a black and white cat named "Gun" who was eating nearby. This peculiar creature was completely oblivious to the cold atmosphere in the living room, treating a bowl of cat food like heaven. Hao Ren was almost convinced that this dim-witted cat was also an "abnormal" being.

"Um," Hao Ren, the host, finally broke the silence, turning to the source of all the misunderstandings, the vampire girl, "Miss Vampire, so last night..."

"Please don't call me a vampire," the girl with long, straight black hair, dressed simply but with a naturally cold and elegant aura, frowned slightly. "Only those instinct-driven blood-drinkers are vampires. We, who can control our crimson desires, are the nobility of the bloodline. Humans misunderstand us deeply and often get it wrong. You can call me Vivi, but I can't tell you my full name."

"Oh," Hao Ren nodded, not knowing the difference between blood-drinkers and high-ranking bloodline members, or what "crimson desires" were, but he could see that the girl with long, straight black hair was quite reasonable. "Vivi, then. So last night, you weren't attacking us? You were actually trying to help?"

"I saw a human with a werewolf and didn't know if you were being deceived or threatened," Vivi nodded. "I originally planned to take you away, regardless of any curses the werewolf had placed on you. Their low-level magic is easy to deal with. But last night, I wasn't in good condition and was actually... actually injured by a hidden weapon. Beasts are beasts; they use any means in battle, with no sense of beauty."

"Ridiculous," Lily snorted. "If you can't win, you can't win. Stop making excuses. Look at me, where am I coercing the landlord? He can run and jump, and I'm not holding him by the neck."

The cold wind around Vivi intensified: "A werewolf's claws carry curses. Do you think I don't know this basic fact?"

Lily, hearing this, looked down at her hands in surprise: "Wow, I'm so powerful?"

Hao Ren decided to ignore this dim-witted one and turned to Vivi, his face full of sincerity: "See, I'm not being coerced! I swear to heaven that Lily hasn't cursed me!"

Vivi nodded, and just as Hao Ren was happy that the vampire... bloodline girl had finally seen reason, she became even more serious: "Don't worry, I know you're only holding back because of the curse and don't trust my strength. Once I recover, I'll show you that this brick-throwing wild dog is no match for a high-ranking bloodline member!"

Lily, hearing this, slapped the coffee table, causing a large, uniform crack to appear: "Who are you calling a wild dog?! You winged rat!"

Vivi no longer suppressed her hostility, standing up abruptly. The coffee table and the sofa behind her were visibly covered in frost: "Think you're so great? Let's fight again! It's because of you uncontrollable beasts that the situation has become like this!"

The originally contained killing intent finally spread out, accompanied by two angry shouts, followed by a howling wind and a faint wolf howl. The dim-witted "Gun" finally realized something was wrong, quickly eating a few more bites of cat food before darting upstairs, leaving Hao Ren looking at his furniture, his heart burning with anger: "My coffee table..."

He didn't know how he managed to withstand that killing intent.

"Landlord, don't worry, I'll pay for it," Lily, a good girl, immediately realized her mistake and apologized to Hao Ren, even in her anger.

Hao Ren had already understood: the werewolf in front of him was a dim-witted one, and the bloodline member was a stubborn one. Despite Vivi's seemingly normal appearance, she was probably no smarter than Lily. These days, capable beings had to have some personality flaws to survive, right?

Just as Lily and Vivi were about to start fighting in the living room, Hao Ren's patience, which had been worn thin, finally snapped. He slammed his fist on the coffee table and roared with as much authority as he could muster: "Enough! This is my home!!"

This roar and punch were actions Hao Ren, the slow and easy-going good guy, hadn't taken in years, but the intimidation of a dormant tiger finally showed some effect. The vampire girl and the werewolf girl finally realized they were in someone else's home, and one of them realized she owed the landlord a coffee table. They both stopped, their eyes fixed on Hao Ren.

"What are you looking at?" Hao Ren was surprised by his own roar, which had actually intimidated the two "abnormal" beings. He hadn't expected to have the courage to shout at these powerful beings (and to actually succeed in intimidating them), but he felt that this one act of bravery made his life worth living. Now, with four eyes on him, he felt a surge of confidence. "Look at yourselves, one dim-witted, the other stubborn! I'm the one involved here, okay? Don't ignore the party involved and make decisions for them! And this... this isn't in line with your identities, is it? When have werewolves and vampires ever been so selfless in protecting humans? First, let me, the most confused one, understand this, then we can sort out your misunderstandings, okay?"

Hao Ren had been holding back this question for a while. In this age of information explosion and cultural integration, who didn't know the stories of vampires and werewolves? A quick search in the fantasy movie library would yield at least two films related to these species out of ten. In Hao Ren's mind, bloodthirsty, irrational werewolves and cold, cruel vampires were as prominent as symbols. But these two... what was going on?

Not understanding this question, he couldn't find the right rhythm to take risks!

Surprisingly, Lily and Vivi spoke in unison: "I'm not like those wild animals!"

Then the two girls looked at each other in surprise, snorted, and turned away, clearly only believing in their own sincerity.

"I don't know about other members of my kind, but it seems they can't live without opposing humans. I've been with humans since I became conscious," Vivi said, crossing her arms. "And I instinctively... dislike other bloodlines. Don't ask me why, I don't know, but it's been like this since I was young. I also don't like other 'abnormals' fighting humans; they're too stupid. That's it."

"I haven't seen other 'abnormals'," Lily sniffed, clearly not pleased with Vivi's "scent". "I woke up in a very cold place, probably a snowfield, in human form. I was raised by an old lady and have been with humans for decades. I only move when they start to question my youthful appearance. I like humans, I'm used to them, is there a problem?"

Hao Ren looked at the two abnormal beings and decided to believe them.

After all, whether he believed them or not, it didn't change the fact that he couldn't beat either of them.

(Just a note: First, the new book needs clicks, recommendations, and collections to get started, so I hope everyone will support it, even if you're a "fattening" reader... two votes would be great, right? Second, the Xi Ling Empire is already finished, and I hope readers who subscribed will vote on the completion satisfaction, which is on the right side of the book page. You don't need to have read the whole thing; 30% subscription is enough to vote for free, so everyone, go ahead and vote! Oh, and finally, the update issue—recently I've been learning to drive and have no time to write, so I'm often using my saved drafts... once I get my license, I'll speed up, okay? =.=)

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