Y'zaks and Nangong Wuyue reached home at the same time; one of them was doing street performance, the other one was merely a scarecrow in the job market. They went out on the dot, and came home by bus everyday. Today, they stumbled into each other on the bus on the way home. It was a coincidence. It startled them before they had even stepped through the door: a large group of canines emerged from inside the house, some even got into a formation and marched like an advancing troops--how could it not be scary?
Only when they were inside the house they knew what was happening.
"Demon hunters' coming again?" Y'zaks frowned. He had met demon hunters only once, but that one encounter was enough to have a bad impression of these obstinate extremists. "Obviously they hadn't learned."
"They must be from another group." Hao Ren waved in dismissal. "I believe the previous group's still being corrected by Raven 12345."
Nangong Wuyue was staring at the rune cards laid open on the table, her mind went absent for a long moment before her face twitched together and said, "What should we do next? Fight or...run?"
"Run? This is our territory. They can't just come to out turf without even taking off their shoes!" Hao Ren scoffed. "Vivian and Lily have got surprises for them. And when those demon hunters show up, we'll nab those who stray from the group. We'll call for backup if we couldn't hold them back. By the way, why am I feeling your mind's elsewhere?"
"Siren doesn't like fighting." Nangong Wuyue squeezed out a dry smile and tried to divert the conversation elsewhere. Lil Pea emerged from the pot waving at them, she took this opportunity to walk away. "I'm going to get Lil Pea a new pot of water. You guys carry on."
"When it comes to fighting, she's the least we can count on." Vivian wasn't surprised with that. She now turned to Y'zaks. "We'll need your help if fighting isn't avoidable, because you have great combat capability. If the last encounter is any indication, many tricks of the demon hunter won't work on you because you're from the other world."
"I'm flattered," Y'zaks grinned from ear to ear. "but still I wish I could educate them so that they'd get back on the right path..."
Hao Ren smirked: death seemed to be easier than enduring the lectures of Y'zaks.
"But there's a problem: this' a residential area; though there're not many people left in this area, still, there're people. If fighting broke out, collateral damage isn't avoidable. And most of the people left are elderly." said Y'zaks with concern.
"Yes, we care about that but demon hunters may not." Vivian's hands spread out. "For them, the lost of innocent life's a necessary evil. They even them 'martyrs."
Y'zaks was enraged and banged the table. "Then they deserve even more lectures! Heck, even demons wouldn't have done what they do! Landlord, I'd buy you a new table when I've got a job."
Hao Ren raised his hand to wipe off his cold sweat. "Really appreciate that..."
With the plan sorted, Raven came to mind. Hao Ren let the MDT contact Raven on the 'heaven hotline' but he got an machine reply: "The God you call isn't reachable at the moment. Please call again later. Thank you." She was most likely on a trip, she mentioned that before--God was always not there when he needed her.
And there was no sign of enemy either for the rest of the day.
Vivian's bats had returned safely. They had found only traces of runes and drugs left behind by demon hunters, and that was a day before. There was no lead and there was no sign of demon hunters nearby. In contrast, Lily's sniffer squad had some fruitful findings: they had retrieved over a hundred rune cards from all corners of the town. These rune cards were piled up like a mountain on the table. Basically, the doggies would come back every few minutes with rune cards in their mouths. Every time when there was a bark outside, Hao Ren would go out and collect the cards from Green Bean or Prince Reinhardt (remember these two chief hench-dogs of Lily?). After a few rounds, Hao Ren found it really tiresome. Lily also thought it was too inefficient. So she called back her squad, reassigned their patrol zones, divided them into different ranks of command. One dog would be assigned to each zone responsible for collecting information and cards from other sentinels and then relaying the information and cards back to their senior officers who in turn would report back to the king--Lily. That way they could enjoy a quieter afternoon.
Asides from serenity, Hao Ren and Vivian were flabbergasted at what the sniffer squad had become: half a day into its operation, the squad had already established a clear chain of command with Green Pea and Prince Reinhardt (remember these two chief hench-dogs of Lily?) appointed to the rank of captain. Bean Bun, the ferocious dog in Southern Suburb which was a 'surrendered general' from the previous dynasty, was placed under probation while serving as team leader in charge of Avenue 3, Southern Suburb...
Hao Ren and Lily were arguing about whether Bean Bun was a 'surrendered general' or a surrendered emperor'. Logically, Bean Bun should be the former but Lily was hell bend on calling it a 'surrendered general'. Hao Ren gave up--he was out of his mind arguing with the husky, he thought.
Lily the dog king of Southern Suburb was really at fun. The husky in her was lively, jumping, and rolling. For thrice, Vivian had sworn not to fight with Lily--it wasn't worth it.
Just like the bats, the sniffer squad had found more and more rune cards but not the faintest sign of demon hunters until the late afternoon when Captain Prince Reinhardt reported back for the last time. Lily's face turned dead serious as she said, "The demon hunters are playing us..."
Of course what the husky said wasn't taken seriously. Vivian had Lily continuing to stay alert, sending out a few strays with messed-up body clock to patrol at night while she sent more bats out as air support. No amount of diligence was enough when it came to dealing with these extremists with terminal 'demon-hating compulsive disorder'. Never had one ever hear these demon hunters gave up without a fight; the deeper they hid the more dangerous they were.
A cautious hunter was much more difficult to deal with than a brave but slack one.
After their dinner, Hao Ren went out to mooch around the town as usual; for helping in digestion, and also for surveilling. Of course he knew the risk, that was why he had the MDT with him. If he ever bumped into any demon hunters, he could escape by teleporting. And if worst comes to worst, the MDT made a great self-defense brick. So he had it all well thought out.
After loitering for a while, he found the streets completely quiet as usual, except the sudden increase of dog activities on the dark corners of the streets--they were the eyes sent out by Lily. Even Chow, the old lady, who came back from her walk told Hao Ren, "Dogs are coming out in large number tonight. Could it mean the coming of an earthquake?"
And this was her favorite chatter.
Hao Ren kept wandering a while and found nothing unusual, so he sashayed back to his house. When he stepped through the door, he saw Nangong Wuyue was carrying the little mermaid and fed something to her. And it wasn't chopstick.
Hao Ren came up closer and saw the little mermaid was happily chewing a piece of rune card like it was a cookie.
The little mermaid looked up. When she saw her 'daddy', she slapped her tail and jumped into Hao Ren's arms excitedly. He was still startled. "Is this even edible? Will she be okay?"
Nangong Wuyue nodded. "I was away for a while and when I came back she was already chewing these cards. Vivian said the rune cards are made from paper and plant-based die, it's absolutely safe."
"Areuh—areuh," the little mermaid cooed.
Hao Ren stared silently.
No-one could tell if the demon hunters would come that night but, one thing was for sure—there was enough 'food' for the little mermaid. So much so that Hao Ren did not need to buy her chopsticks for a long time!