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"Genetic disorder?" Hao Ren furrowed his eye brows. "That means demon hunters will be extinct someday?"

"No. Not to that extent yet, but they are surely weakening and their numbers will dwindle in the future. It will get worse from one generation to the next." The MDT paused, then continued, "We have insufficient blood and tissue samples to make a more comprehensive analysis of the race and draw up an evolutionary map for them. We also have no way to confirm whether the disease affects their entire race. Like I said, it's just a guess."

Hao Ren had heard many people talking about the declining phenomenon of demon hunters. In fact, he had also considered the possibility of genetic deterioration but there was no way to verify it back then. No one really knew whether creature like demon hunter's gene worked the same way as other regular races. But now it seemed this conjecture had been confirmed. Hesperides' face lit up on the news of demon hunter's declining. "Haha, that's a good news. I'm going to everyone back home."

"Just don't be too optimistic." The MDT poured cold water on her enthusiasm. "All the analysis shows is just the early symptom. I will take thousands of years before the genetic deterioration rears its full ugly head. And considering the lifespan of demon hunters, my best guess is your present predicament wouldn't go away for another few thousand years. And maybe, who know, by then your race would've been extinct before they do."

The MDT wasn't exactly polite in saying that. Hesperides was visibly annoyed. Hao Ren quickly intervened to smooth things over. "*Cough cough*, please don't take it to heart. The MDT didn't mean it. Its brain just works differently."

Hesperides was silent. She knew she shouldn't get in over her head with a piece of machine, she quickly calmed herself down. But something had come into mind that had Hao Ren frowned: a more in depth investigation might be required to probe the cause of the weakening of demon hunters. He might even need the help of Raven 12345.

He knew he shouldn't let the news of weakening demon hunters get in over his head too; he was an inspector, he shouldn't be emotional. If it was a natural phenomenon, then he should let i be. But if it had got something to do with the imbalance in The Plane Of Dreams, then..."

"What are you thinking?" Hao Ren's silence had got Vivian's curious. He was jolted out from his thought. "Nothing. Nothing." he said.

The three of them were in the science lab until afternoon, working hard to verify the analyses, and studying the various weaponry of demon hunters: the magical crossbows and daggers with demon-expelling power. Vivian and Hesperides had been of great help as both of them were veterans in terms of battling the demon hunters. Despite her screwed-up memory, Vivian still had a great deal of memory about the demon hunters and their secrets. They compared the weapons on the test bench and explained it to Hao Ren of their powers, features and usage. Hao Ren had learned a great deal from them. Though he wasn't keen to battle those mad men, the knowledge would come in handy when the situation called for it.

They were done in the science lab. They went home the same way they came. Hao Ren didn't feel dizzy at all this time. He was happy that his decision to build a gateway in the basement was right— the gateway was far more comfortable to use than the MDT. Meanwhile, Hesperides was lamenting about the grandma stories of the mythological era: in fact, teleportation used to be as common as simile for the major otherworldling families. She used to regularly traverse Mount Olympus and Athens by way of teleportation formation. But as the mythological era came to an end, most ancient facilities and equipment were destroyed by the demon hunters and also the angry humans. She hadn't seen a home-based teleporting formation since then.

And she hadn't realised she was teleported to Kuiper Belt—the space station 40 astronomical units away from Earth. No one knew how she was going to react if she found that out.

Hao Ren turned and looked back at the little gateway which he had built together with Lily. He couldn't deny its look. "It really looks like a loo..."

Vivian covered her mouth, giggling. "Let's take it down these two days, or I'd have to cover it up when I sleep."

When they arrived home, Nangong Wuyue and Becky were there. Lily was lying like a starfish on the couch but Y'zaks was nowhere to be seen—probably the demon was still going for job interviews and scaring the hell out of all those pretty receptionists, so he wouldn't be home any time soon. The first thing Hao Ren did was threw Lil Pea in a basin. Rollie came up to him. He instructed his cat to look after his fish as if the cat understood what he was saying. When he was back in the living room, he felt something was off.

He only noticed what was wrong after a long while: Lily was used to like having a constant dose of amphetamine in her blood, she would always yap and jump up like a puppy when she saw people coming home. But today Lily was out of her character, she hadn't moved a muscle despite he kept shuffling before her. She just let herself sink into the couch like a starfish, eyes staring blank at the tea table.

Hao Ren came up to her, patted her on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Uncharacteristically, Lily let out a sigh. "Life is torment."

Even Vivian was stunned, almost stumbled on her feet. "Doggie, what have you eaten in the street?"

Becky, burying her head watching movie with her MP5, looked up and said quietly, "She has been losing steam since she was back. Wuyue and I didn't dare to bother her."

Hao Ren was worried. But before he asked, Lily quietly said, "I was seeing a golden retriever on house call this morning, that poor guy hung around the rubbish bins and had since got skin problem. He has lost a huge piece of fur on his back."

Hao Ren looked at Lily, whose face was soaked in sadness, baffling. "Then what it has to do with you?"

Lily let out a long sigh before yanking out her tail, carrassing it with a sad face. "Misery loves company... my tail isn't recovering at all! The burnt fur is still there!"

Hao Ren was almost choked himself hearing that, gosh, she was worried for the tail. But he still tried to confort her, besides he was also wondering: two days had passed since Lily's tail was set on fire by the energy storm; her unique body should have heal the wound in half a day. But it hadn't. Almost a third of her tail was still covered in brownish burnt fur.

"I've tried to accelerate the regeneration process, but it didn't work." Lily cuddled her own tail, sobbing. "I've gone through two sheddings since then, only the tail hadn't. Could it be the follicle damaged?"

Hao Ren started to get curious and interested. He bet no one in this world had ever studied huskys. God knows what had happened to the maiden. He sat beside Lily, grabbed her tail and said, "Let's see."

Lily flinched but then she thought "Hmm, why not?" She let him held her fluffy tail; he had grabbed Lily's ear a few times before, but it was the first time he was getting so close up physically. It was snow white, soft and smooth and felt like satin. But the burnt fur felt coarse. He plucked a few of the burnt fur, Lily screamed. "Stop it! New fur isn't growing, if you keep plucking, I'll be bald soon?"

Vivian came up to them, full of curiosity. "I think the follicle is fine. See, the fur broke off in the middle, probably just some minor skin damage. Do you want to try hair restorer?"

Lily was dumbfounded. She asked, "Does it even work?"

"If you don't try it you will never know!" Hao Ren was impressed by Vivian's creativity. He said, "Don't ever look down on human's creativity. Hadn't shadelings learned the hard way when they were blown to high heaven by human's guided missiles and RPG? By the way, do we even have hair restorer here?"

Of course there was no hair restorer at home. Shops around here weren't selling that stuff either. But Vivian had got an idea, her thousand-year experience living on earth had taught her some life skills—she had a long list of folk remedies up her sleeve. She scurried into the kitchen, saying, "Wait a minute! I'll make some cream..."

Ten minutes later, Vivian came back out from the kitchen with a steaming bowl in her hand. A waft of ginger mixed with other unknown ingredients began to assualt everyone's senses. Lily had smelt it from afar. She immediately hid behind Hao Ren and said, "Battie, is this a revenge?"

"It's a folk remedy!" Vivian held the bowl filled with a mushy substance coming up to her. "It's mash of ginger and herbs cooked in my own blood. Don't be so *rseh*le."

Touched by Vivian's bloody sincerity, Vivian stuck her neck out and said, "But it still smells like shit, doesn't it?

Vivian shot Hao Ren a look but Lily spotted it. She fled as she screamed. But Vivian had got hold of her and motioned Hao Ren for help. "Landlord, hold her tail! I'm going to medicate her."

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