Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The couple standing before Hao Ren looked very young, the lady was dressed in a dark blue skirt of unknown material and her long hair was tied up high. Her eyes looked very similar to Nangong Wuyue while the man wore a black longcoat, and under his coat was the trademark demon hunter wide belt. A silver dagger hung from the belt and aside from that there were no crossbow or any other weapons. His facial features was about fifty percent of Nangong Sanba's. Due to Siren's unique 'selective genetic transfer', the Nangong siblings each share their parent's look.
As otherworldings themselves, the couple had not aged in the past hundred years. They still looked youthful, but more matured than their offsprings. They were surprised to see a large group of people before them, and panicked even, and as they heard Wuyue's voice they were immediately stunned.
"Mom, Dad! It's us!" Wuyue pulled her brother as she ran ahead. "I'm Wuyue! Me and brother have been looking for you!"
"Wuyue? Sanba?!" The male demon hunter could not believe his eyes as he looked at the two youngsters, his steps shaky. He never thought that he'd encounter anyone else here, and didn't dare to think that he would meet his flesh and blood appearing before his eyes. "You... how did you arrive here?"
"We had caught the vengeful spirit from that time and Mr Landlord had managed to find out this place from its memories." Sanba tried to compose himself as he explained. "All here are our friends. It's through their help that we managed to find this place. Mom, Dad... have you been living here for the past hundred years?"
The reunion was certainly touching, but Hao Ren felt awkward as an outsider. Seeing that the family of four was so excited to see each other, he feigned a light cough. "So... all of you go catch up on old times, we'll go somewhere else... lets meet at the entrance of the mall."
Nangong Sanba nodded appreciatively, but words failed him. Hao Ren smiled back as he motioned for him to carry on and dragged Lily by the arm away from the four.
"They were finally reunited, it's sure worth coming all the way here." Vivian said as she walked along the empty mall. Stretching her neck to look far ahead, she continued. "They would probably need plenty of time to catch up. Our main objective can be considered achieved now."
The brutish Y'zaks too had a rare expression on his face. He recall his own adventure not too long ago and broke into a smile. "I can understand... I too had experienced this a while back."
Hao Ren ruffled his hair, sightly embarassed. "Why do I feel embarassed now..."
Lily took a stab at Hao Ren. "No one is even praising you yet! Too soon too soon!"
Without much notice, the group had reached the second floor of the mall. It was empty as ever, but the rows of shelves were fully stocked. The cashier counter and shelves were spotless. Lily simply grabbed one of the packets on the shelve and after confirming that it was food, she immediately stuffed it into her mouth. Vivian immediately reminded her. "Eh, be careful! Don't just anyhow eat anything here! It's unknown..."
Lily took another big chomp before rolling her eyes at Vivian. "Are you stupid? Mr and Mrs Nangong had lived here for a hundred years. Of course this is edible!" As she said, she pulled something that looked like prawn crackers and stuffed it into Hao Ren's mouth. "Mr Landlord give it a try! It tastes like fried rings!"
Hao Ren was conflicted as he was fed by a dog. Why does Lily only show a spark of brilliance on things like this...
"Not sure what's the date of this place... but all of this are pretty recent products." Y'zaks attention was on something else. He tried to take Lily's snacks to check the date but just as he lifted his hands, the werehusky started letting out a threatening growl, her eyes locked onto Y'zaks big arms and her fangs bared. The great demon could only shrug as he saw that. "What an obvious reaction. Fine, I'll get one myself."
Vivian gave both Lily and Hao Ren an odd look. "Well, you really taught her well."
At the same moment a soft beep came from not too far away as the wall opened a hidden hatch. A little automated van came out from it. The van was filled with plenty of different products. It ignored the curious crowd inside the shop as it came to the shelf. A floating-plate like device started raising out from the van and started restocking the shelf: The two packets of snacks Lily and Y'zaks had taken.
Seeing so, Vivian also grabbed one from the shelf and with a buzz from the van, the floating plate started restocking again at haste.
"It's all automated." Vivian said as she looked at the packet in her hand. "But are there actually anyone coming here to 'buy' things?"
Y'zaks smiled. "At least two person."
Ten minutes later, the group met at the entrance of the mall. The Nangongs seemed to have recovered from the initial euphoria of reunion. Granted, that will probably take a few days to fully fade away. Wuyue then introduced her new friends to her parents, but before she could put two full sentence in, Lily's rapid fire interjection had it done it mere moments. That was how she operate.
"We have heard how you came over here." Nangong Wuyue's mother, Ayesha smiled as she took a deep bow at Hao Ren. "We are forever in your debt, while we are not sure what both of us can help, but if you ever need anything, please let us know."
Ayesha's husband too nodded. "I heard that you are investigating the place. We have also lived here for a hundred years, we can probably be of some help."
Y'zaks was glad to hear that. "That is great. Sanba's Dad right? We..."
The great demon had never paid any attention on how to address someone. Nangong Sanba's father smiled as he waved his head. "That's sounds weird.... This lowly one is Nangong Wudi*, I shall be in your care."
An awkward silence descended upon the place as Hao Ren's stiffened face took a good while to recover. This uncle's damn is just too damn awe-inspiring!
He then patted Nangong Sanba by the shoulder as he spoke with a hushed voice. "Is that his stage name or something?"
Nangong Sanba's face stiffened. "His real name"
"Your family's name sense is only for the boys?"
Venom seeped from Nangong Sanba's clenched teeth. "Hush you."
Nangong Wudi did not see anything wrong with his name. The awe-inspiring-pretty-much-in-name only demon hunter who was just as half-baked as his son smiled as he motioned to the rest. "This is not a place to chat. I'll bring you to our temporary abode."
Lily was surprised. "You have a house here?"
Ayesha smiled warmly as she pointed towards the vast city. "There are houses everywhere."
Everyone then knew what was going on.
Mr and Mrs Nangong's place was a distance from the shopping complex, about a few streets away. They casually led the group to the roadside as they hailed a floating bus. Like how everything in the city was, it was unmanned.
The bus drove effortlessly under its automated system as it followed an arrow up a slope towards the residential zone. All along the floating bus' path was a glowing guidance tape, probably to prevent collision agains other airborne vehicles. Hao Ren sat at the front most seat as he looked at the driver's seat: It was nothing but a bunch of flickering meters and a sterling and drive shaft that was being operated automatically. There was a seat behind the driver's panel. It seemed like this automobile was designed with a driver in mind, and the autopilot was just another mode.
The screens inside the bus played some rather dull advertisements, a large group of children was surrounding an oddly shaped amusement faciltity as they jumped about. The subtitles beneath indicated that it was an advertisement for a newly opened amusment park.
The world within the screen was lively and vibrant, the world outside the screen was quiet and dull.
The childrens laughter and melody played from the advertisement filled cabin, but that only served to unnerve them all.