Fantastic Creatures’ Travelogue - Chapter 27

Chapter 27 Your Labor Welfare in this month

When his cell phone rang, Hao Ren felt very excited. His heart was trembling, his thoughts were trembling, and he even felt his hands trembling — Nokia’s vibration mode was really extraordinary, and Hao Ren believed that if he threw the phone on the ground with the vibration mode on, it could have run at least twenty miles per hour… The phone would not behave this way with normal calls — only when Raven12345 called him. It seemed that the eccentric woman used some special powers to make a mobile phone roar like a tractor, which would ensure that Hao Ren wouldn’t miss her call. Even Lily who was across the street would be able to hear it.

Hao Ren answered the phone. “Hello?” He let out his voice carefully, fearing that Raven12345 had prepared other ways to scare him.

“Yo, Hao Ren, you’re still alive? You’ve taken good care of your new tenants at home, haven’t you?” Raven12345 said, her careless voice coming through the handset. Then, as vibrant as before, “Hey I think there was a mistake in my investigation last time. There should be someone other than the werewolf in your house. A Blood Tribe… is she there? Has she lived a good life? No abnormalities these two days? I went on a business trip. Let me tell you about the landscape in the Blue Corner Galaxy…”

Hao Ren was flooded by Raven12345’s words, and they nearly overwhelmed him. Fortunately, he quickly reacted by interrupting the somewhat eccentric woman, “Wait, wait! I need to talk to you about some problems!”

“Problems? What problems?” Raven12345 said, very surprised, “Wages? Then you’ll have to wait. I haven’t figured out how to pay your wages. Oh, are you talking about the monthly welfares? The month isn’t over yet…”

“Can you just listen to me?” Hao Ren yelled, unable to help himself. After his outburst, he shrinked his neck, thinking that he had caused a trouble. The Goddess was apparently abnormal in her character, and he had dared to yell at her. A spectacular thunderbolt might strike him any moment.

But after Hao Ren waited a few seconds, there was still no thunder outside, and the Raven was just silent for a few seconds, and then replied awkwardly, “Oh, speak, speak. I guess I’m a little excited to be back, hehehe…”

Hao Ren wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, as he had not expected her to be so agreeable, “You left in a hurry, and there’s a lot of things I didn’t have the chance to figure out. Besides, I encountered something strange a few days ago. I had a strange dream…”

Hao Ren recounted the nightmare he had two days before, where the fantasy eroded the real world he lived in. This time, Raven12345 was unusually quiet, and when Hao Ren finished, there came only a weird a burst of grunts from her side, “Oh… schloop… You had a strange dream?… schloop… Then the situation is indeed a bit complicated… schloop… you should come here now… schloop…”

Hao Ren thought the sounds coming from the other side of the phone were strange, so he could not help but ask, “What are you doing over there?”

“Eating instant noodles,” Raven said, continuing her grunts, “I forgot to eat breakfast today, and I just remembered.”

So the silence had been when she had gone to cook the noodles! And did that mean that she also ate instant noodles on a regular basis?

Hao Ren wiped more cold sweat from his forehead and confirmed that Raven12345 would wait for him at the old place. He put on his clothes and prepared to go out while Vivian was preparing Roll’s snacks. Seeing what Hao Ren was doing, she asked subconsciously, “Going out?” Then she looked up, “To her?”

Hao Ren nodded, and suddenly remembered to tell her his plan, “Oh, I might not be back by noon. If Lily comes home, you two can go out to eat, or you can order takeout. The telephone number for the restaurant is on the calendar. That is the only restaurant that delivers.”

On hearing the word “Lily”, Vivian sniffed uncomfortably, but she did not get one word out before Hao Ren blocked it, “Do not talk nonsense. Lily pays for your food. Don’t be so hypocritical now that you are so poor.”

Vivian — the vampire who had scary qualifications, who had been active since the stone age, who had fought with Achilles, and was somehow always in a good temper — was speechless. Since Hao Ren had by now completely figured out Vivian’s character, he didn’t speak with caution and restraint like he had done before.

After enjoining her on the things at home and reminding her to feed the cat at noon, Hao Ren left the house and took the bus to that god-like location: Node en35 of the Space -Time Authority – Special agencies in “Wang Ba Tuo Zi”.

The floating upside-down building was the same as it was a few days ago, and the blue servants in the building maintained kept the place clean while the owner was away. Having traveled under the scorching sun all the way from the South Suburb, Hao Ren could not help but sigh comfortably the moment he was transferred to the Fountain Square in front of the building. Although Raven12345 herself was not very reliable, she had these really weird abilities. She had put the whole house in a wonderful space, where it was neither cold nor hot, and filled with fresh air. Hao Ren felt that he would be a bit reluctant to leave.

“Yo, you came?” The sound of Raven12345’s voice came from behind, and Hao Ren quickly turned his head. The strange silver-haired woman, carrying a large and weird-looking machete, walked slowly out of the Botanical Garden in front of the house. The residue of grass and dirt on her clothes made her look as if she had just trimmed some bushes.

“I was just pruning the landscape trees,” Raven12345 said, raising the silver machete on her shoulder a little bit. It was two meters long, and when she noticed that Hao Ren’s eyes were drawn to the machete, she laughed quite proudly. “Very impressive, right? This is unprecedented  – the other Ravens don’t have one, only me. Okay, let’s talk about the situation you encountered. Come into the house and we’ll discuss it.”

Hao Ren replied with an “Oh,” and followed Raven12345 into the big house. The office was still the same as the last time they met, and so were the decorations. But the “Jian Bing Guo Zi” on the shelf behind the desk had been replaced by an empty instant noodle cup. Hao Ren really could not help but stare at the cup, which was colored bright with red and green. He began wondering if he should continue believing that Raven12345 was what she claimed to be: even ignoring whether or not she was a God, was it appropriate for a member of the highest government of the so-called multiverse to regularly eat things like that?

Raven12345 noticed where Hao Ren was looking, and shrugged carelessly. “I’ve finished eating it, and there’s really nothing left. I don’t provide your meals.”

Hao Ren: “…”

Hao Ren sighed, sat down opposite to Raven12345, and reverently took out a small chewing-gum box, withdrawing the handful of black wolf hair from it. “This is what I told you about. The thing appearing in my hand after I woke up from the nightmare. Lily sniffed it and confirmed that the smell didn’t belong to the human city.”

Raven12345 took the handful of wolf hair and gently snapped her fingers. Countless blue-and-white sparkling lines emerged out of nowhere, forming a 3D array with dazzling speed. The black hair just hung inside the lines, and gradually waves of gray mist evaporated from it.

Hao Ren watched the scene in amazement. It seemed that Raven12345 wasn’t just talking nonsense, and doing who knows what else. At least this trick was more effective than Vivian’s unreliable Blood Magic. The lines the woman was drawing was so straight…

“Infiltration from the world…” Raven12345 said to herself, looking at the residue left after the evaporation.

Hao Ren listened, stupefied. “Infiltrated from where?”

“The Dream Plane, but you don’t need to concern yourself with it — at least for now. Your level is too low to deal with this problem.” Raven12345 shook her head, and the rarely-seen serious look appeared on her face. “I have to report this to the headquarters in the the Shadow City, as this world is an area that is notoriously difficult to deal with, and those in the authority have been waiting for news for many years.”

Seeing the confused look on Hao Ren’s face, Raven12345 readily pulled out a small silver hexagon thing and threw it over.  “With one look, I can tell that you lack common sense, so I’ll give this to you: a Personal Data Assistant, Special Version for the Examiners. I have just gotten the authorization for you. You can consult it with all your problems, including the staff’s code of conduct and stuff like that. You can also check the Space-Time node route map and timetable, and the equipment you’re cleared to use… Oh, you are still on probation, so most of the functions are unavailable, but it’s best to get used to it in advance.”

Hao Ren had only seen a silver shadow hurtling towards him, and fortunately reacted in time to catch it. As he’d heard Raven12345’s words, he could not help but get totally excited: Finally, his labor welfare had come!