The Record of Unusual Creatures

Hao Ren looked in the direction Vivian was pointing at. A man was sitting behind the long table near the bonfire. He had a prominent European face, sunken eyes, high nose, and was wearing an old woolen coat, chatting cheerfully with his friends. The fire cast wavy shadows on his sharp, angular face.

Hao Ren saw the man was somewhat familiar, but he could not remember who the man was. Poking the MDT in his pocket, Hao Ren said, “Hey, Brickie, look up the database and see if there is information about this person.”

“Pierre, male, spirit detective, you have met him once,” the MDT reported. “You must have forgotten—when looking for the Ancattero Family, the Tannaeans in exile on Earth—we met this man in the small town outside the Golden Manor. He claimed to be a detective of the spiritual world, but he was only an ordinary human with no special strength, relying on excavating antiquities in various supernatural ruins and knowledge for a living.”

Only then Hao Ren started to remember who this man was. An emotion instantly rose within him: the world was such a small place where after their brief encounter last time, he thought they would not see each other again. But fate had it that they were to meet here again.

There were others—two men and a woman—sitting beside the spirit detective. The three might be Pierre’s partners, at least coming from outside the village with modern clothes. The two men, Asian faces dressed in sportswear, and the woman with short blond hair wearing an old long-sleeved shirt and trousers were all out of place with the surroundings. Not just that, Hao Hen had also noticed something else: the clothes of the four, including Pierre’s, were unusually old and dirty as if they had been in the village for a very long time.

The three men and woman were talking to each other cheerfully, and occasionally struck a conversation with the villagers. Pierre was peeling a roasted potato, but his eyes fixated on the bonfire as if in deep thought Nothing unusual about the four of them except their old clothes. There was no sign showing that they were trapped here.

“Ahh, those are the other guests I have mentioned,” said the village head who came up suddenly out of nowhere. “They seemed to be lost in the forest, but luckily they found our village.”

“Let me go up and say hi,” Hao Ren said and went up straight to Pierre.

The spirit detective, as alert as ever, had already sensed someone was approaching him from ten meters away. He immediately came out from his deep thought and was surprised to see Hao Ren and Vivian.

But that surprised look just appeared in a flash of a second before replaced by a hint of excitement.

“I’ll be damned!” Hao Ren sat down across the table opposite the spirit detective. “I have never thought of bumping into you here.”

Pierre remembered Hao Ren and Vivian—he could never forget them in fact because he had a deep impression on them in the course of his life as a spirit detective. But it took him a while before he could recall Hao Ren’s name. “It’s a small world, eh! What make you here?”

“I’m looking for something,” Hao Ren said. His reply was vague as he believed that the spirit detective, with his sound senses, would be able to understand what he meant. “I was looking for someone. But it seems that the person is no longer here.”

“Looking for someone?” Pierre said, raising his voice pitch. He quickly toned it down when realizing who Hao Ren and Vivian were. But he could not hide the strange expression on his face—he had a lot to say, but the words choked in his throat as if he was worried or threatened. Hao Ren had quickly noticed it and said casually, “These three are…?”

The two men and a woman, only nodded courteously when Hao Ren helped himself sitting at the table, talked among themselves about some triviality. One of the Asian faces, a dark-skinned, turned his head around and smiled when Hao Ren spoke. “Hello, my name is Wang Kaiwen. This is my brother Wang Kaiwu, and Catherine, who arrived earlier than we did. Are you a friend of Pierre? Fate has brought us together, it seems. Enjoy your stay here—this is a good place!”

Wang Kaiwen, always had a smiley face and would wave to say hello to the villagers who passed by him, seemed to enjoy his life here. But it was Pierre’s introduction of Catherine that caught Hao Ren’s attention. “She arrived before you did? Are you all not together?”

“I was the last arriving,” Pierre said with a smile. “Catherine was the first, then the Wang brothers.”

Hao Ren’s brows knit together when he saw the smile on Pierre’s face.” How long have you been here?”

When Pierre about to say something, the voice of the village head came from behind him. “Ahh, you guys know each other?”

Hao Ren turned his head to look at the old man who stood behind him, leaning on a staff. Next to the old man was Lily, who appeared to be bored, and Vivian and Hesperides were much farther away, observing the venue of the banquet.

“We met each other a long time ago,” Pierre replied as he got to his feet. “Mr. Winston, shall we start the party? I can’t wait!”

Winston was the name of the village head.

“Oh, ya.” Winston nodded, his face looked cheerful. “You have begun to enjoy life in this village, eh? Come on, come on, serve the soup and berry pies and muffins. Let’s start the celebration!”

Hao Ren and his men were confused while the three men and woman beside Pierre were excited. Immediately, the peasant women started to serve food— black and sweet, savory soup and hot pies in bowls and tableware made of wood filled the tables to the brim. The village head, Winston, enthusiastically ushered Hao Ren and his men to sit down, repeatedly said that the banquet was to welcome the guests from afar, who sat down out of curiosity anyway though the situation looked strange to them.

Wang Kaiwen, who appeared delighted, started to fill Hao Ren’s bowl with soup, and said enthusiastically, “You must try this soup, I couldn’t believe that there was such a delicious thing in the world when I first drank it! Ahh, this place is heaven. Everything here is worth your stay for a lifetime.”

“What is the soup made from?” Lily took a bowl and took a few sips. “It’s sweet!”

“It’s made from the ingredients derived from the forest,” the village head said proudly, sitting among his guests. “Everything here comes from this generous forest. You wouldn’t find better food anywhere else.”

Hao Ren looked up slightly at the surroundings. The other villagers gathered at the other long tables, but they were secretly looking at this direction, specifically him and his teammates. Their attention was very covert and subtle, but Hao Ren could pick it up with his spiritual senses—as conspicuous as Y’zaks standing on the street.

The Wang brothers started to guzzle the soup down and gobbled up the muffins while Catherine complimented the richness of today’s meal. Pierre, probably the most normal-behaving one, began to take a few sips of the soup. While at it, he said somewhat intentionally, “Keep it slow, don’t drink too much—I mean we will have the main course coming.”

As the voice of the spirit detective trailed off, Lily had gulped down her bowl of soup. Raising the bowl in the air, Lily said happily, “One more bowl, please!”

Pierre was struck dumb.

Hao Ren was rendered speechless.

After a bowl of soup down, Lily looked as if she was intoxicated.

But the good thing was that the atmosphere at the scene became livelier than before. The peering eyes instantly became less intense as everyone seemed to start to get comfortable with each other at the dinner table. Hao Ren, Pierre, and the others began to strike up casual conversations with each other.

Wang Kaiwen was the most talkative while his younger brother was somewhat reticent. Catherine seemed to be equally introverted, even dull. But Pierre seemed not to want to talk at the dinner table. So Wang Kaiwen was the only one talking all the time.

Most of the time, Wang Kaiwen was praising the village that it was a paradise, its hospitality, what a fantastic place to live and whatnot.

The brief responses of Wang Kaiwu and Catherine, however, also revealed their support of Wang Kaiwen’s view.

“You are not going to leave?” Lily asked. By now, she was already on her third bowls. Wiping her mouth, she said to Wang Kaiwen curiously, “You must have lived here for a long time.”

Wang Kaiwen was stunned, but he quickly waved his hand. “Why should I leave? There is everything here.”

Lily, on her fourth muffin, pressed on and asked, “Are you not going home?”

Wang Kaiwu’s brows pulled together. “Go home? Maybe someday, but for now it is too good to leave.”

At this time, Winston suddenly interrupted Lily. “Let’s forget the trifle. We should be enjoying the food now.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Let’s eat!” Pierre echoed what Winstone said. “We have a lot of time to chat later. By then I will bring you around this place.”

Hao Ren glanced at Pierre with a thoughtful look. The latter, as expected, nodded subtly back at him.