Chapter 568: A “Calm” Morning
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A few days after returning to Earth, everything was calm and quiet on the Western Front. Hao Ren was pretty much content with the quietness of his recent days. On top of that, he took the time to study up on the Disciples of Glory, the Cult of Origination, and various inspector knowledge. His time was also occasionally devoted to teasing the cat, fish, and dog. Life was comfortable. He had now adapted to an inspector's rhythm of life, whereby when things came up, he would work like a dog, and when there was nothing do, he would be as lazy as a cat to balance his life. The good news was, he had both creatures around him and he could observe their habits at any time.
Just as the past few days, once the first ray of morning sun shone through the window into his room, Hao Ren was woken up by the scratching sounds and a ton of voices outside his door. There was Lily's howling when she woke up, followed by flapping sounds from Vivian's bat swarm flying through the open windows into the living room. They had brought back freshly plucked wild vegetables still covered in morning dewdrops, and herbs for tonic food. Then there was the silly cat's long cry coming through the door. "Big Boss Cat! Big Boss Cat! Where's my breakfast? Give me my breakfast! Open the door, I know you're inside. Why have you been locking the door lately? Let me go in and lick you. Why did you lock the door?"
This noise finally woke Lil Pea up, and the small table in Hao Ren's room began to creak and squeak: Lil Pea was doing stretching exercises in her pot. While Lil Pea was only half way into her workout, half of the pot's water had already spilled out.
Hao Ren slowly got changed amid the buzzing noises of the cat, the bat, and the splashing water. It felt like he had been sleeping in a zoo, and the situation looked like a good shooting scene for Animal Planet—as long as the director and audience liked it, the ecological environment in his house was enough to make at least 20 episodes of animal documentary!
After Lil Pea was done with her water splashing, she leaped over Hao Ren. He held her up in his hand and headed for the door. As soon as he yanked the door open, he saw the silly cat standing at the doorway, looking up at him with watery eyes. "Why did you lock the door?" the silly cat asked.
"Because of this!" Hao Ren pointed at the floor by the doorway; wood chips were everywhere. The good old door was scratched almost like a terraced field. "Whenever you wake up early, remember not to scratch the door. Then, I'll let you in."
Lil Pea saw the wood chips on the floo and jumped down immediately. She began to savor and eat them up, sounding like a rodent grinding its teeth. Soon the wood chips were gobbled up by the little one. This had been a regular affair lately: the silly cat would get up early in the morning and scratch the door, while Lil Pea would eat the wood chips as breakfast, cleaning up the floor in the process. This saved Hao Ren the trouble of feeding the fish. But in all honesty, Hao Ren would rather not feed the fish this way, because the door would be gone before he knew it!
However, how could the silly cat understand this? She bluntly said, "I used to wake you up this way. But you've changed and been really weird recently. Give me a little dried fish."
Holding two pieces of wood chips in her hands, Lil Pea looked up at Rollie. The silly cat's ears twitched and she immediately took a step back. "Maybe a small cookies will do…"
"Look at you!" Hao Ren picked Lil Pea up from the floor and poked the cat-girl on her head. "Let me teach you one last time: No. Door. Scratching! Don't your fingers hurt? Do you want me to install a security door in my room?"
The cat-girl thought for a moment and lifted her paw. "That works too. It sounds nice!"
The thought of the screeching sound of metal suddenly gave Hao Ren goose bumps all over his body. He found that he was completely unable to deal with the cat. The good news was, he had never been able to do so in the past, so in a sense, the situation had not gotten worse.
Vivian was picking through a large amount of wild vegetables and herbs in the living room. Several small bats were flying around her. They were helping her to pick out the rotten leaves, straw sticks and roots, as well as throwing them away. The whole thing looked very efficient and fun. Vivian had developed the habit of sending a swarm of bats out at night before going to bed, leaving only her consciousness behind to issue commands. The next day, the bats would come back with enough harvest to feed the entire family. The maiden who had a hard enough life in the past could always find ways to save Hao Ren a few pennies, although it was not necessary.
Nevertheless, the dishes she made with these wild vegetables were pretty well-liked, so Hao Ren let her be.
Lily was squatting and reading a book on the sofa not far away. As usual, she was in her werewolf form in the morning. Hao Ren said hello to her. "Hey Lily, what are you reading?"
However, the maiden did not respond. Hao Ren curiously went up to her and found two thin cords attached to her pointy, hairy ears. The headphones were deeply covered by her fluffy ear.
Lily suddenly twitched her nose as she picked up Hao Ren's smell. She turned her head around and greeted him with a smile as she pulled out four ear plugs from her pointy ears under her hair. "You're awake, Mr. Landlord!"
Hao Ren was stunned. "...Four channels?!"
Lily froze for a moment before she came to her senses and bragged, "It's an amazing stereo! Mr. Landlord, let me tell you, every note feels like it's being knocked into my head. This headset was built with Y'lisabet's help, and it sounds fantastic! Do you want to try it?"
Hao Ren shook his head as cold sweat ran down his forehead. "I don't fancy it... Don't you find the noise too loud when you're in werewolf form?"
With arms akimbo, Lily said, "I'm curious... Don't you feel bored when you have no tail to bite?"
The MDT suddenly came out of nowhere and circled Lily curiously. "Oh, that's interesting. All kemonomimis¹ here are four-channeled. I've heard that kemonomimis in other worlds are two-channeled. It's a really big universe."
Hao Ren was startled. "There are kemonomimis in the otherworlds?"
"Of course. They are a normal race created by God. Why can't they breed everywhere?" The MDT scoffed at Hao Ren's shallow knowledge. "The canis protector itself is a two-channeled nine-tailed fox."
"...That's a funny position among the Xi Ling Celestials!"
After breakfast, Y'zaks took his daughter out for a walk. Lily and Nangong Wuyue went out too. Hao Ren had nothing to do, so he stood up and said to the great demon, "Wang, I'll go with you."
Hao Ren conveniently passed Lil Pea to Nangong Sanba, who was immersed in making Letta rune cards at the coffee table. "Continue to impart demon-hunter knowledge into her. Don't let her eat too many books. The ink will make her fat."
Nangong Sanba nodded with a smile. "Don't worry. I've put together the tutorial materials. I can even teach the little one without any tools, but there's something I want to tell you..."
Hao Ren saw Nangong Sanba's hesitation, so he waved to him. "Whatever it is, please say it."
"At present, I can still deal with the basic parts of teaching," said Nangong Sanba, pointing to the little mermaid who was jumping on the table. "But, I guess my knowledge will soon be insufficient to teach the kid. She is highly gifted. Besides the fact that her small size is limiting her fighting power, she is actually a fast learner. She could memorize the Letta tunes with just one glance, she's now better than me at controling her mind power, and she learned the Second Sight skill on her own. She's a genius, and my half-baked skills won't be enough to teach her in two months."
Hao Ren scratched his chin. "What can we do? After all, she derived her strength from the Sacred Relic of Origins. In theory, she has the earliest demon hunter bloodline in her. I guess no one else is purer in ancestry and more talented than her except your ancestors."
"The demon-hunter is a race that values the bloodline. Although hard work may also create miracles, the role of congenital pureblood cannot be underestimated," said Nangong Sanba, shaking his head finally admitting his inadequacy. "I won't be able to teach her soon."
Hao Ren looked at Nangong Sanba. "What's your suggestion?"
"Find a more suitable teacher as soon as possible. A professional demon hunter, not necessarily a purebred one, but at least one with complete knowledge and heritage. Or else, it'll be a waste of this child's great talent."
Hao Ren thought for a moment, then something crossed his mind. "Wait a second, isn't Lil Pea just a foot long?"
"Yes."
"...She can learn all she wants, but what's the point? Only to slap people in their faces?" Hao Ren could not help but laugh. "Right now, just teach her how to control her abilities. I don't expect much from her anyway. I honestly don't think she can beat anyone other than overpower the vengeful spirit with her singing."
"...Maybe you're right," Nangong Sanba responded.