Chapter 187 The Disappearing Hunting Instinct

Hao Ren looked around, making sure no one was paying attention to them, and then simply sat down next to Liu Sheng. "What are you two doing here?"

"Like we said, just passing through," Liu Sheng said with a smile, nodding. As he spoke, he placed a Leta sigil card that interfered with perception on the table. Flipping the card over, he blocked the attention of other ordinary people nearby, "We both used to live in this area for a while. We remembered it today, so we came to take a look. We didn't expect to run into you here, actually…running a shop."

"The shop isn't mine, it belongs to a couple of friends," Hao Ren glanced at Liu Sheng. He wasn't wary of the two of them; though they were demon hunters, Raven 12345 had thoroughly "educated" them, so they were considered harmless to his side for the time being. He was just surprised that they'd suddenly popped up. "Are you really just passing through?"

Liu Sheng smiled and paused for a few seconds before saying, "Alright, actually we do have something we wanted to talk to you about, but that can wait. Besides, we really were just passing through. At least, before we came to this little restaurant, we really didn't know you guys were running it. We were still wondering how to find you."

"Just opened today," Hao Ren turned to look at the shop, already a chaotic mess, and sighed. "All amateurs, look at this mess—luckily, most of them are neighbors, so everyone is being understanding. Just let them make a ruckus."

Hao Ren didn't need to tell the traditional demon hunters too much about the Nangong couple. After all, they weren't that close. Zhao Xi, on the other hand, started speculating on his own. "I saw a couple in the back of the shop who look like they're married… Are they the owners? Are they planning to live in seclusion in human society, being obedient and law-abiding aliens?"

"Is it so unbelievable for aliens to be obedient and law-abiding?" Hao Ren glanced at him. "They're not devils or monsters. Especially those who survived in modern society, many aliens just want to live peacefully. You guys just don't give them the chance."

"We know," Liu Sheng nodded. "We've both been unbiased for a long time. It's just a little rare to see aliens living honestly in human society. After all, the aliens we've seen before were either hiding in the deep mountains and forests, or controlling a bunch of human servants to build nests in the city, or the ancient aliens we read about in ancient books…the kind that brought disaster to a region…I've never seen anything like this before. They don't seem any different from humans."

Hao Ren casually said "Oh," then suddenly realized something was wrong. "Wait, you can't tell what race the couple in the back of the shop are?"

Demon hunters were excellent hunters, especially when dealing with aliens. They could even use their intuition to determine the other party's race and approximate abilities. This was also an important factor in their ultimate victory in the long war against other races and the end of the "Mythological Era." Therefore, Liu Sheng and the other should be able to tell at a glance what races the aliens in the shop were! But their current performance clearly showed that they hadn't recognized the Nangong couple's race.

It was understandable that they couldn't recognize Nangong Wudi. After all, a demon hunter's hunting instinct was ineffective against their own kind, and every demon hunter was good at concealing their own aura. In front of their own kind, unless they took the initiative to reveal their identity, they could often get away with it. Only Hasu, with his exceptional experience, had seen through Nangong Sanba's identity at a glance back then. But Liu Sheng and Zhao Xi should be able to recognize that Aier Sha was a siren, right? Sirens were an extremely rare race on the surface. Anyone who saw them should be surprised at first and then ask all sorts of questions. But Liu Sheng's attitude clearly showed that he hadn't recognized her. He probably thought the Nangong couple were ordinary terrestrial aliens.

Liu Sheng was stunned when he heard Hao Ren's words, and then smiled helplessly, "You saw through us… This is one of the reasons we came to find you today."

Hao Ren realized that the two of them hadn't just come for fun. He scooted forward. "What's going on?"

"Our hunting instinct has disappeared," Zhao Xi said with a poker face, his voice calm.

Hao Ren couldn't help but blurt out, "What?!"

At this moment, Lily's voice suddenly came from behind, "Landlord, you're slacking off here! Bat told you to come help… Wow!"

Lily had finally seen the two demon hunters sitting in the shop. She jumped back a step. "What are you two doing here?"

"Don't be so nervous, didn't we stop fighting a long time ago?" Liu Sheng looked at the werewolf girl, who had once fought them, with a wry smile. "Just treat us like ordinary customers. We're here to talk about something today."

Lily's wolf (dog) ears, which had almost popped out, immediately returned to their original position. She nodded and put the menu on the table. "Then order. It's our grand opening today, all dishes are 30% off, free beer, and two cold dishes for every order over thirty-eight yuan."

The husky girl's personality was just that straightforward—she seriously treated the two demon hunters as diners.

Liu Sheng didn't expect the girl to be so honest. He was stunned for a moment before he came back to his senses. Looking at the simple menu, he casually ordered a dish, "Duck yolk with string beans…"

Lily stared blankly, "We don't have that yet. We were just busy writing it on the menu, but after asking around, no one knows how to make it."

"…Then do you have steamed carp…"

"We can't steam fish today, the landlord's daughter is watching the fun in the kitchen."

"What kind of reason is that?" Liu Sheng was stunned. "Then give me Kung Pao Chicken."

"We're out of chicken, but we have eggplant. If you don't mind, I can let Bat invent something. He should be able to stir-fry a dish…"

Liu Sheng looked at Lily intently. "We've already stopped fighting, right? I'm not here to make trouble—why do you still have a problem with me?"

Hao Ren raised his hand to stop Liu Sheng. "Does this girl look like she's deliberately trying to cause trouble? She probably really doesn't have any."

Lily stared at Liu Sheng with her innocent eyes. Liu Sheng immediately realized from her dazed expression that she was probably a creature permanently immune to "harsh and mean" attributes, so he shrugged with a wry smile. "Alright, then do you at least have braised ribs? And just give us two cold dishes. And finally, two bowls of rice."

Lily blinked. "We're out of ribs too—can we do stewed chicken instead?"

Liu Sheng looked exhausted. "Fine, fine, just make us anything. We're really a little hungry."

Lily nodded and was about to leave when Hao Ren stopped her from behind. "Hey, wait a minute, I don't see many people ordering ribs, how are you already out?"

Lily smiled sweetly. "I saw that no one wanted the rest, so I ate it all!"

After Lily left, Hao Ren immediately held his head. "I'm really worried about whether this shop can stay open normally… Are aliens suited to do this?"

Liu Sheng: "From what I'm seeing…it's hanging by a thread."

Hao Ren sighed. He thought that he couldn't expect too much from a group of free-spirited monsters running a restaurant in human society. It was already an extraordinary performance that Lily could resist her cravings and serve dishes normally. He shook his head and put these things aside, looking up at Liu Sheng and Zhao Xi. "Tell me about your situation, what's going on with the disappearance of your hunting instinct?"

"What it sounds like," Liu Sheng cautiously looked around. Even though the power of the runes dispelled the attention of ordinary people, he still subconsciously acted cautiously. "We don't know exactly when it started, but it was probably within the last month or two. And it didn't disappear completely all at once, it weakened little by little. By the time we realized it, we had completely lost the feeling of it."

Zhao Xi added from the side, "We encountered a wandering Shadow Demon a while ago. That's when we realized that our hunting instinct had completely disappeared. Before that, we just felt a little sluggish, and we didn't think much about it."

A demon hunter's hunting instinct only took effect when facing aliens. If they didn't encounter an alien, even if their hunting instinct disappeared, it would be difficult for them to feel anything themselves, so what Zhao Xi said was not difficult to imagine.

"A large part of our ability to identify and warn of aliens is based on our hunting instinct," Liu Sheng said with a layer of haze on his face. "After returning from 'God,' our hunting instinct was actually still there. We would have instinctive physical reactions when facing aliens, but we just relied on reason to forcibly suppress this instinct. But now…"

Liu Sheng paused, smiled wryly, and spread his hands. "We truly have no sense of hostility towards aliens at all."