The whereabouts of his daughter was the single most important thing to Y'zaks. He could not wait topack up and go home that night. But once he calmed down, he realised that he needed a plan. He had to brief Hao Ren and the rest about the situation in his hometown, prepare them for battle, find a disguise, carry out some recce, and allow Lanina to recuperate from her injury.
Lanina was different from Y'zaks. Judging from her physical appearance, she was not a skilled fighter. She was hit by a spacecraft and she injured her leg in the process. It had yet to recover and the wound was starting to show its sequelae. Without advanced medical attention, the injury would likely linger on. Luckily, Hao Ren had all the medical facilities she needed right down in the basement.
Hao Ren as well as Y'zaks brought Lanina down to the basement and pointed at a row of silvery white caskets. "Pick one and lie inside. After 30 minutes, your legs will be healed. And tonight you'll have to put up with Vivian here. The rooms upstairs are all full."
The four ascetics had occupied the last two rooms since they came. Vivian was the only one who slept in the basement, which was pretty large. Hao Ren only needed to add an extra bed down there and it was good to go.
The demoness was astounded upon seeing the silvery white devices. She blinked her eyes in amazement. "So, you're a necromancer?"
Hao Ren replied, "...Just do as I say. Questions aren't really necessary. I have a unique aesthetic perception."
The demoness lowered her head and laid herself in the nearest hibernation pod. The pod shut and started performing a biophysical scan on her body before coming up with treatment options. Hao Ren let out a sigh of relief and said, "Dang... Looking at her is so stressful."
"Stressful?" Vivian, who was packing up on the bed nearby glanced at Hao Ren curiously. "What stress is there with a maiden?"
Embarrassed, Hao Ren replied, "There's something you may not know. I find Lanina weird. She's pretty no doubt, but theoretically I shouldn't have gotten that love-at-first-sight kind of feeling. I don't know. Every time I look her in the eyes, I almost lose myself.
Hao Ren was very honest with his feelings towards Lanina. He confided in Vivian as he found his feelings unreal and unnatural. He did not think that they were real. Vivian just frowned and scoffed at him. "I see, that's your cup of tea; someone literally horny with sheep hooves, and whip-like tail. Your taste is pretty unique, eh? Are you judging people by their faces and boobs alone?"
Hao Ren quickly explained, "No, no, no. You're mistaken. It's got nothing to do with appearance. But honestly, I think you look prettier than her..."
Y'zaks came to his rescue and explained, "That's normal; Lanina is a succubus; seduction is her inborn talent."
Hao Ren was startled. "Succubus? This is a succubus?!"
"Yup. I don't know if there are any succubi in this world. In our world, female demons like Lanina are succubi," Y'zaks said as he nodded. "They're good at seduction and they draw their power from the spirits of male creatures. They like to play with feelings, but sometimes they do get involve in seriousrelationships with male humans or other humanoids for a while. They are one of the demon races whose mind is stronger than the body. That's the uniqueness of succubi in our world. However, Lanina is a little extraordinary. She's not interested in seducing others and has never really practiced her skill. What you encountered a while ago was just her aura exuding inadvertently. By resisting her seduction just now, it means you already have pretty strong will power."
Hao Ren was astonished "Whoa! If that's how it felt with an inadvertent show of power, how much stronger are true succubi?"
"The strongest ones can brainwash people with just a glance , and make highly trained warriors be willing to die for them with just a single word. However, their powers only work on male targets, andthe effects are temporary," Y'zaks briefly explained. "In fact, their seduction ability is just a survival skill and not their strongest ability. In my hometown, succubi are valued for their brains; they're smart, and as long as their masters are strong enough, succubi will be loyal to them. Many demon commanders or kings use succubi as strategists. What's more, succubi are good weapons against intelligent beings like humans, thus making them even more valuable."
"Ahh, so that's why Lanina became your military strategist?" Hao Ren suddenly became interested in the demonic ecosystem of Y'zaks' hometown. He thought of the strange attitude Lanina had towardsY'zaks—it looked like she almost worshipped Y'zaks. He suddenly realised that he had cracked the secret. "Wait a second... judging from Lanina's mental state and her reluctance to seduce others, could it be that she has feelings for you?"
"That's bullsh*t." Y'zaks' face suddenly turned serious. "I adopted Lanina since she was a kid. I treat her almost like my own daughter. I knew she liked the art of war, so I made her my strategist. Back inmy hometown, we don't practice hanky panky."
Hao Ren still thought he had cracked it. "You still don't see it. The maiden obviously worships you—she's almost fanatical. She even discarded her seduction ability. Isn't it because she has someone in her heart?"
Y'zaks spread out his hand. "She likes women!"
Hao Ren's jaw almost dropped to the floor. Meanwhile, Vivian who had been a spectator suddenly jumped up from her bed. She hit the ceiling and broke into a swarm of falling bats. When she finally collected herself back to her original shape, she stared at Y'zaks. "What did you just say?"
"I said, Lanina likes women," Y'zaks sounded like he was about to cry. "I don't know if my teaching went wrong somewhere or she was just born that way. The truth is, she avoids males and she's tucked away her talent for seduction. To make up for her regressing talent, she began studying magic and combat techniques."
Then, Y'zaks helplessly pointed to where Lanina was lying. "She's the only succubus in history who's devoted herself to honing physical strength..."
Hao Ren chimed in quietly in his mind, It's because she grew up with a poor diet.
There was a drastic change on Vivian's face before she lunged towards Hao Ren and grabbed his shoulders. "You want me to share a bed with her tonight?"
Hao Ren began to see ghostly images because Vivian was grabbing him and shaking him like a dog. "Hey, let go... That was just an initial plan..."
Vivian released her grip, her face almost green. "Why is it that I always end up meeting with weirdos? We have enough of them here already."
"Please don't be prejudiced against her." Hao Ren waved his hand. "Besides, where is she going to sleep if not with you? You have the largest room here. The rooms of the other girls can only fit one person."
"Just let her mess with Doggie!"
"Please don't mind it. It's not like you don't know Lily; she'll wreck the whole house if things go wrong." Hao Ren glanced at Vivian then continued, "To be honest, I still think that this is the best place—after the long struggle you've had with Hessiana, you may have already learned enough defensive techniques..."
Before Vivian could say anything, the hibernation pod suddenly chimed. The pod began to slowly open and Lanina sat up.
The demoness got out of the "casket"lithely and walked around. She was delighted to find that the injury on her leg had completely healed. Even her entire body had been tuned back to its peak performance level. She bowed down joyously and thanked Hao Ren. "Thank you for your help. You're the kindest human I've ever met... Umm, is there something wrong?"
She noticed the strange atmosphere.
Hao Ren quickly shook his head and said, "Oh, nothing. We were just discussing about the upcomingoperation."
Meanwhile, Vivian was not that subtle. "Lanina, may I ask you a question about your sexual orientation?"
"Sexual orientation?" The succubus had no clue of what Vivian's highly sophisticated vocabulary meant—Vivian had it forcibly translated into the demonic language. No translation plug-in could make up a non-existent term in the demonic language and feed it into Lanina's brain..
Vivian had her arms in akimbo as she said, "I'm asking whether you like men or women. I heard you like women."
Cold sweat trickled down Hao Ren's forehead. Little did he expect the usually reserved Vivian to be so crude. She was obviously desperate.
True to Lanina's nature as a succubus, there was not much reaction on her face. She just shook her head in confusion. "Who said I like women?"
Vivian's facial muscles immediately relaxed until she heard the second part of Lanina's words. "I just don't like men..."
Vivian's face immediately turned green again...