Vivian knew about The Plane of Dreams. When Hao Ren returned from seeing Raven 12345, he had told her about the origin of unusual creatures. So, they had their minds on The Plane of Dreams when they heard about The Day of Return.
Even though there was still no concrete evidence pointing to the shadow of The Plane of Dreams behind The Day of Return, as the hometown of all unusual creatures on Earth, it certainly had a defining influence over the creatures worldwide. If the unusual creatures were regaining their power once lost a thousand years ago, then the probability of paranormal activities occurring in The Plane of Dreams would be very high.
If all this was not enough to trigger their concern, then the siren's prophecy delivered by Bluphlei should have been conclusive proof of evidence. To those in the know, there was nothing like the world of strange species and supernatural powers that would befit the ancient 'Glorious Imperium' name.
"Actually, I wanted to ask..." Hao Ren looked at Vivian curiously. "...in theory, you're supposedly one of the oldest unusual creatures still existing on Earth. Are you sure you don't remember anything about The Plane of Dreams?"
"Not a thing." Vivian forced a smile as she shook her head. She was helpless when it came to her early memories. "The earliest memory I have is of a long and chaotic dream—a condition where every one in the Blood Clan would experience after a long period of sleep. And it seems I slept for a very long time. I woke up inside a cave on a mountain range, wearing a very strange and old piece of garment. Then, I saw a primitive tribe having a bizarre ritual just outside of the cave as if they saw me as their god of protection... That's all I can recall. But, it's obvious that I've been living for a long time on Earth even before that moment at the cave and been in contact with other unusual creatures. The garment on me was way ahead of its time. Humans were still clad in leaves and animal skins while I was clad in an attire made by a half-sheep, half-human tailor."
Then Vivian sighed. "Don't count on me. My memory's worse than Lily's."
Nangong Sanba and Nangong Wuyue had a lot to say to each other as if they had not seen each other for a long time. While at times, the siren maiden was violent towards her brother, their relationship was in fact not as bad. She nagged him, reminding him to take care while being out there; it was out of love and concern more than anything else. Lily, still gnawing on a frozen bone, overheard the two's conversation. She shoved a plate of food towards Nangong Sanba. "Eat, eat..."
"I'll reheat the food," said Vivian before she wheeled and walked towards the table. "I'm still hungry."
It was a bumpy lunch. It was some time past one in the afternoon. Everyone gathered around the table. Hao Ren placed his hand on the cold tail of the little mermaid, trying to quicken the defrosting process. Nangong Sanba took out pieces of paper under his coat. "Actually, the main purpose I came here today is to pass you these. You may need them."
Hao Ren took them. They were information and photos of people.
"This is..."
Nangong Sanba smiled. "North China is where demon hunters usually reside. The assigned region of each person, their cyclical patrol patterns, rendezvous points, the combat styles of some whom I have frequent contact with and their likes and dislikes are all in there. Although it's not comprehensive—it doesn't include their movements as humans and it's only limited to the veteran demon hunters because anything related to the lower ranks was too scattered and too difficult to collect—it might be useful."
"My god!" Hao Ren immediately kept the information. "This is damn good intel."
"Aren't you feeling a bit of guilt, selling out your 'teammates'?" Vivian gazed at Nangong Sanba in disbelief. "You're still a demon hunter after all."
"I doubt they'll treat me as their teammate if they know who I really am." Nangong Sanba was unperturbed. "I know all too well their spirit of extremism; compared to other barbaric but more compassionate creatures, demon hunters are more dangerous. I have to protect my sister from them. And I'm used to collecting intel on the local demon hunter and passing it to her. I'd be happy to give it to you too. I don't care about them. All I care about is my sister's safety."
This guy was a control freak, Hao Ren thought. But, he did not say anything. After all, it was none of his business. As he nodded his head, a question came to mind. "Do you have any information about their major movement?"
"What do you mean by major movement?"
"About the uprising of the other kind... it seems they're preparing for something big. Any movement on the demon hunter's side?" Hao Ren tried to extract intel from Nangong Sanba.
"There is indeed something." Nangong Sanba's face turned grim. "I heard that the demon hunters in some regions are calling upon the veterans to form small groups to clean up all old ruins, where the other kind once resided several hundred years ago. There's a good chance that nothing's going to be found in these places but, they still sent men there anyway. Just a few months back, a group of demon hunters had gone to the Arctic.
"It's understandable that they want to clean up these ruins. Since the other races are trying to find their lost sacred items, the demon hunters would definitely want to find and destroy these items before the others can reach them. But, why the Arctic?" Vivian frowned. "Frost giants were active in the Arctic but they quickly disappeared. These frost giants left no meaningful civilization. They were a bunch of low-intelligence life form...so, theoretically there wouldn't be ruins of anything left."
"That's nothing I know of." Nangong Sanba spread his hands out. "I'm just a peripheral rookie. I used to talk as little as possible when I saw other demon hunters to avoid my identity from being exposed. They leaked this information during a normal course of chattering. It might not be valuable."
"Okay, that will suffice." Vivian grinned as she nodded to Nangong Sanba. "What you've provided is very useful. Definitely worth the lunch."
Nangong Sanba forced a smile as he got to his feet and tidied his clothes. "I'm done here. I don't want to bother you any further. The Russians wish for me to go to them immediately. I'll depart in the afternoon. Wuyue, please take good care of yourself. Be nice to your friends for the sake of our family's honor—"
Nangong Wuye shoved him out of the door. "I know, I know. Please, go now!"
The living room quieted down again. Hao Ren's hand was still on the little mermaid but, his mind was not on Earth. Suddenly, he felt a jolt under his hand: the defrosting process was complete. The little one opened her eyes slowly, her tail began to flap on the table and she started to call out her guardian's name.
Seeing this, Hao Ren's mind returned to Earth. He held the little mermaid nervously in his hand and examined his own daughter carefully. The little one tilted her head sideways and thought for a moment before she remembered what she was doing prior to the hibernation. She brooded for a while before she opened her mouth and cried—continuing where she left off earlier.
However, Hao Ren felt a sense of relief. From her cry, he knew Lil Pea was doing fine despite the hibernation. She was as fit as a fiddle.
"There's something I can't wrap my head around." While Hao Ren clumsily comforted Lil Pea, Vivian said to Nangong Wuyue, "Sirens are a peace-loving race, right? So, they're not interested at all in the war on the surface."
"Yes, basically they are." Nangong Wuyue nodded. "I am, at least. I've never seen other sirens. What I've heard of them is basically that—peace-loving."
"Then, what about news of The Day of Return they brought up from the deep sea?" Vivian squinted. "It would be total chaos. If sirens are truly peace-loving, would they be concerned about the revival of the Mythological Era?"
Nangong Wuyue realized something was amiss after she heard what Vivian said. She tried to put herself into her senior's shoe of thought. "Could something have happened down there that has a direct connection with The Day of Return on the surface?"
"It'd be nice if I could go down there as well..." Vivian sighed.
"Before that, I want to return to The Plane of Dreams," Hao Ren chimed in. "Let's go together. I need to confirm something there."