Chapter 663: Breaking News
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"I think you should name your skill," Hao Ren said, looking at Vivian after speculating about the red-haired version of her.
"A name?" The vampire maiden looked down at her hand. She felt that what Hao Ren said did make sense. "Hmm... I think I should. After all, the skill does look really cool. How about Finger of Withering?"
Finger of Withering; inflicting 99,999 points of real damage to its target and bringing death as well as destruction right up to the 18th generation of ancestors and even their tombs. Hao Ren felt that the name was totally apt and cool as h.e.l.l. He looked at Vivian in surprise. "I never thought that you could come up with such a cool name for your skill, considering you"re such a low-key person."
"You think everyone"s as awful as you?" Vivian scoffed, rolling her eyes. "And to be honest, I can"t see what"s so cool about the name. Don"t even get me started with Big Guy"s Finger of Death. I"ve asked; when he first started using the name. It was only to indicate that it killed whoever it touched. He had never thought about its coolness…"
Therefore, Hao Ren began to understand how the minds of the strong worked.
When the two returned to the living room, Hao Ren still could not help but ask, "By the way, have you experienced any psychological side effects such as irritability or aggression after you "absorbed" the evil spirit? I remember novels and movies all depicting this. Just in case."
"I feel nothing." Vivian looked down at her body. "Maybe these amulets did their job?"
Meanwhile, Lily had just returned from strolling outside and was watching the TV on the couch. She raised her head and asked when she saw Hao Ren as well as Vivian coming in from the back door. "Where have you two been?"
Hao Ren told her about the development of the "new feature" in Vivian. That became breaking news.
"You slurped that thing up?" Lily looked at Vivian like she was a monster. "How could you eat so indiscriminately?"
Vivien glared at the husky. "You still have the nerve to talk about my diet?"
Experienced and well-informed, Y"zaks took things seriously. "It sounds like an absorption of power fragments... Mr. Landlord"s speculation makes sense. Something similar happened in my world. The power of the strong sometimes materializes and separates. If someone stole and sealed it, then recovered it later, the same symptom Vivian"s experiencing now would happen. However, I haven"t heard of fragmented power separated from the body having the ability to evolve into a humanoid."
Hao Ren turned around and looked at Battie. "When it comes to Vivian, anything is possible. Even her bat doppelgangers have almost evolved into perfection. What"s more, this book was brought by her little bats."
Lily listened to their conversation for a long while, eyes blinking. Suddenly, she clapped her hands. "If there are clues in the book, let"s just try all the other rituals in it. Maybe we can summon more—"
Before Lily could finish presenting her freaking ideas, Vivian her face with a bat. "You still have the nerve to say that! Don"t get me started with what you did last night; the summoning ritual? If it weren"t for you, things wouldn"t have gotten so out of hand. You know, this time—"
Without waiting for Vivian to finish, Lily covered her eyes and yelled back. "Why are you picking on me again? Was Mr. Landlord not the first one who wanted to perform the summoning ritual yesterday? And haven"t you already given me an earful last night?"
"Do you think you"ll ever learn even after I"ve scolded you so many times? Do you think that I"ve never studied how to deal with a husky in the past year? You have the nerve to blame it all on Mr. Landlord… Oh, Mr. Landlord, you too, please sit down, I have to tell you off too! Please don"t touch anything of unknown origin in the future. I"ve told you many times; such paranormal beings are very nasty to deal with. Don"t ever look down on the antiquated wizards on Earth. Sometimes, these things..."
Hao Ren had thought that with Lily being the lightning rod, he could safely stay clear of the line of fire. Little did he expect Vivian to suddenly switch her target and train her gun on him. Hao Ren and the husky sat side by side on the sofa and soon fell into a state of madness. While Vivian lectured the two freaking rascals, Nangong Wuyue happened to pa.s.s by not far away. The siren maiden nervously glanced over the living room before she patted herself on the chest. "Luckily, I don"t play around with such ancient things."
"That snake over there, you come here too! You were too timid last night. You should"ve at least..."
Sensing the atmosphere, Y"zaks lifted his legs, ran off to the corner of the living room and pulled out a motorcycle repair manual. He then called on his daughter to study together. Y"lisabet said in a lowered voice, "Papa, we didn"t provoke her yesterday, right?"
"Shh! Don"t make a sound, eyes on the book."
It was noon when Vivian finished lecturing the hapless ones. Had Vivian not remembered it was lunchtime, she would have chanted until evening. After lunch, Hao Ren summoned the MDT. He was ready to report what happened on the previous night to Raven 12345. He felt that there was more to the matter than met the eye. It was best to let the neurotic woman know, be it big or small. However, just before he managed to dial heaven"s hotline, a message unexpectedly popped up.
"Mr. Landlord! We"ve found the lair of the Cult of Origination. Please come and help – Becky."
Hao Ren was startled for a moment before he realized the matter at hand: he had been so busy lately, and there had been no news from Holletta for over half a month, he had almost forgotten about the brain monster!
While she helped Vivian to clean up after lunch, Ayesha felt as if something was going on, so she curiously asked, "What"s wrong?"
"Oh, we"ve found the lair of the Cult of Origination. The other brain monster may be hiding there," said Hao Ren, rubbing his hands as he got to his feet. He could not let things go wrong this time. Ayesha and Nangong Wudi seemed to be unable to make heads or tails out of it. Only then did Hao Ren realize that the two of them had not been to Holletta yet. "It"s another planet in the Plane of Dreams. I have to go over."
After telling the others about the news, they all got up immediately; everyone was in high spirits and ready to fight. Even Rollie raised her claws and waved them frantically as she meowed. Of course, she had no clue what was going on, but she thought if she could get people"s attention, she would get to eat some dried fish. Y"zaks still remembered how the brain monster escaped the last time. He reminded them, "This time, we can"t let it slip away after we capture it."
"Well, we"ll have to capture it first." Hao Ren smiled. He decided to hold back his report to Raven 12345 until he got the brain monster; just to save some ha.s.sle. He sent a reply to Becky, "I got your message. Let Ophra monitor it. Don"t try to come into contact with it to avoid being mind-controlled."
Then, he a.s.sembled his "battalion" and headed over to Holletta.
Holletta Kingdom, in Becky"s big house.
Like before, they all emerged from the bas.e.m.e.nt of Becky"s house. As soon as Hao Ren arrived, he found that the bas.e.m.e.nt was different. The entire wine cellar had been removed; the piles of casks and bottles, as well as exquisite high-end wine, were nowhere to be seen. The portal was placed in the center of the wine cellar and the bas.e.m.e.nt looked very s.p.a.cious after all the stuff was removed.
Lily sniffled. "The scent of wine"s still here, but where"s the wine?"
Becky"s voice came from the cellar door. "Of course I moved them all away; I don"t want them to meet the same fate again like the last time. I still feel the pain, you know. Two months" worth of wine—all down the drain."
Hao Ren let out a smile when he heard that familiar and spirited voice. He cheerfully looked up and saw Becky standing right there in a special knight costume, with an escort. She was all smiles, looking down at them. It had been a long time. Hao Ren went up enthusiastically to say h.e.l.lo. "Hey, look at you look... Cool, eh? Why aren"t you wearing a n.o.ble"s dress?"
"Don"t even mention it," said Becky, waving her hand. Like a mercenary, she was still as carefree as ever. "You need two hours to put that thing on, and another two hours to take it off; it feels like I"m being tied up with a rope when I walk, and the worse thing is, you"ll soak in your own sweat in no time. I wonder if those aristocratic dresses were designed to make people reminisce on past hards.h.i.+ps and remind them of their happiness today. Anyway, after wearing those dresses a few times in banquets, I"ll never wear them again."
When Ayesha and Nangong Wudi came up from behind, Becky looked at the new faces in surprise. "I"ve never seen them before. New friends?"
"They"re the parents of the Nangong siblings," said Vivian with a smile. "Just found them not long ago."
As if she had found her own family, Becky stepped forward shaking the hands of the Nangong siblings. "Oh! Congratulations..."
Hao Ren hemmed and pointed at Lil Pea, who was swinging her head in his collar. "Let"s get out of here first before we catch up with one another. It smells of wine here, Lil Pea"s getting woozy."