The Record of Unusual Creatures

It was impossible to know the specific year and location, but Hao Ren could still roughly deduce the “landing spot” of his retrospective journey from the surrounding architecture and Vivian’s handwritten record. If Hao Ren had guessed it right, Lily and he should now be somewhere between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. Based on the accent of the passers-by, they were likely in France, though he could not make out which city.

However, knowing the approximate year was good enough. At least Hao Ren could decide what identity to use as a disguise: a stalker demon hunter hidden amongst human society.

Before Hao Ren set off on the retrospective mission, he had learned about the demon hunters from Hasse and White Flame. As the most powerful actors in the entire Mythological Era, the demon hunters were the race that Hao Ren would frequently deal with throughout his journey back in time. Hasse and White Flame had provided Hao Ren a crash course in that regard. He learned that even during the height of conflict, the demon hunters were steady. Contrary to the otherworldlings’ perception of them as being killers full of fanaticism and hatred, they were actually rational and disciplined.

Excluding the sages and the Council of Elders in the Arctic, there were three categories of demon hunters.

The first category was the regular force, the Sacred Army, or also known as the Battle Group. It was very active during the Mythological War with hundreds of thousands of them on the battlefield. The Battle Group used brute force to destroy all the ancient Mythological Kingdoms. It was the force behind the Twilight of the Gods event. But after the end of the Mythological Era, this frontline force lost its purpose of existence. It gradually disintegrated and was incorporated into the second as well as third categories.

The second category was the Hunters. They were elite combat units composed of a small number of demon hunters, usually ranging from the dozens to hundreds. They were mainly active at the end of the Mythological Era, and the Dark Ages. At that time, the army of the gods had disintegrated, and there were no more epic battles across the Great Plains of Vigrid. Exiled sects as well as small heretical worships still existed underground and controlled a few towns. The Hunters’ job was to hunt down these remnants.

The third category was not even an organized force. The Stalkers were demon hunters who acted individually. Sometimes, they worked in a group of two or three. Their active period was similar to the Hunters’, and they were masters of solo combat. When the otherworldling gods hid in the narrow spaces between the different human civilizations, these solitary elite combatants took up the role of cleaner in the villages and the wild. They went where the Hunters could not reach to weed out the otherworldlings.

The Hunters and the Stalkers were not strictly differentiated though. They could be the same under certain circumstances. When elite Hunters passed specific tests, they would be qualified to go hunting alone, effectively as a Stalker. During an emergency like detection of a group of heretics, Stalkers nearby would come together and form a hunting party much like the Hunters.

Hasse once told Hao Ren that the demon-hunter organization had discipline. But as always, there were loopholes in everything. Among the three categories of demon hunters, the Stalkers were the most likely to circumvent the rules and discipline. They lived in isolation and were very secretive.

In the wild where the remaining otherworldlings were still strong, communication between the Stalkers and the demon-hunter organization would be extremely infrequent. They went deep into the enemy’s heartland, usually without contact with the outside world for half a century. Sometimes, the Stalkers would change their faces and appearances just to track down extremely sneaky prey. They would not even reveal their identity when they were in contact with other demon hunters. It might sound incredible, but under the premise of innate hostility, everything was explainable. Irrespective of the demon hunters or the otherworldlings, they judged whether one was friendly or hostile through innate hostility. If there was no sense of hatred or the urge to kill the other, then they were friendly. The way two demon hunters identified each other was not as sophisticated as one would think, especially when it was between the Stalkers.

Now there was an outlier in that space and time. There, Hao Ren was effectively an “otherworldling”. However, he would not trigger innate hostility in anyone, and that gave him maximum convenience.

So, Hao Ren disguised himself as a Stalker.

To get ahead of the situation, Hao Ren had borrowed a full set of demon-hunter gear from Hasse. It was all genuine stuff, which only craftsmen from Coldpath could make. Hao Ren would use them as camouflage, and that would fool the demon hunter elders from detecting him. But for the moment, he would only carry the sacred dagger and some runic cards; a Stalker usually did not wear a full set of gear. Disguising as ordinary people was their modus operandi.

The medieval French towns, like all other places in Europe during the same period, were shrouded in a dark and gloomy air. Such an atmosphere was especially apparent at night. There was a curfew at night and a vigorous witch-hunting movement. The town was unusually quiet after sundown. The residents even dared not laugh out loud at night for fear of being labeled as witches by the whistleblowers.

Only the patrolmen and knights who patrolled the town swaggered along the streets.

The Renaissance had begun to bloom in the cities of Italy, but the movement was far from reaching the little town in that remote area of France. There, darkness still reigned.

Hao Ren and Lily padded through the empty streets and alleys, carefully evading the eyes of the night patrol. They focused on sensing out the insidious eyes in the dark.

“This place stinks to the high heavens.” Lily frowned. She had torn apart the lower section of her dress as the overly long skirt hindered her movements. But it was still not good enough; she needed to carry her skirt while she ran. What aggravated the discomfort was the ubiquitous stench. “I’ve only read about it from books before. It looks like the medieval European towns are really stinky.”

“There was a lack of public hygiene awareness even in the big cities back then, let alone a small town like this.” The stench irritated Hao Ren too but it was not as severe for him as it was for Lily who had a hypersensitive nose. “Had it not been for the plague, which was caused by the dirty environment, the witch hunt movement would not have been so intense.”

“Do you have any clues, Mr. Landlord?” Lily tried to identify any scent of otherworldlings from the stinky odor. She whispered to Hao Ren, “Finding Vivian’s hibernation place in this utterly unfamiliar place is like looking for a needle in the haystack.”

“I have some ideas.” Hao Ren was confident. “First of all, our ‘drop zone’ is definitely nearby Vivian’s hibernation place. From a geographical point of view, we don’t have to worry. Secondly, there would be irregular phenomena around Vivian’s hibernation place, and these supernatural occurrences would attract otherworldling survivors who are seeking power and inheritance, as well as the demon hunters. These guys will lead us to Vivian. So we should first find out if there have been any reports or urban legends about supernatural phenomena nearby. The most recent events will act as clues. We can then go and investigate by disguising as demon hunters. This is the best way I can come up with. If this method doesn’t work, I still have Plan B—causing a commotion to attract the attention of the demon hunters. Then I can infiltrate their organization and look for their surveillance records. There have to be some valuable clues. But this second option is dangerous; you mustn’t let the demon hunters see you. So you better stay in the safe house.”

The safe house was the hunter’s cabin lodged in the space-time boundary. Hao Ren had conducted a little test on the cabin earlier; Lily and himself were the only ones who could see and enter the cabin, hence it was their safe house.

“I would prefer Plan A.” Lily was not fond of staying in the black and white world of the wooden cabin. “Don’t worry about me, Mr. Landlord. I’m not afraid of the demon hunters. But I’m also not that stupid to clash with them head-on. I’ll run if I can’t beat them. My bloodline is unique in a way that even if my current ‘old body’ contains an innate hostility factor, it’s not strong enough to trigger detection. I can easily slip under the noses of the demon hunters. Worse comes to worst, I could pretend to be a prey you’ve caught. If you meet the otherworldlings, you could pretend to be prey that I’ve caught. Aren’t we a perfect combination?”

Hao Ren was speechless.

He was not sure if he and Lily were a perfect combination, but he could not deny that the cheeky dog’s logic made perfect sense.

Lily suddenly halted in her steps.

“Wait a second,” Lily said, lowering her voice. “Someone’s right ahead. I can smell the scent of a potion.”