Chapter 187 Back Home

The three of Heissena never imagined that they had used a teleportation portal to travel from Earth to Purgatory, but they returned in a spaceship. Fate is such a wonderful thing; you never know what it tastes like until it smacks you in the face.

Later that day, Hao Ren and his group returned to their home in the southern suburbs.

Izhaks was at the door sunbathing with his daughter. Seeing Hao Ren appear at the street corner carrying a pile of things from the vegetable market (mostly ribs for Lily), Elizabeth was the first to run up to greet him excitedly. Hao Ren casually shoved the things he was carrying into Lily’s hands, and while stroking Elizabeth’s head, he looked at his familiar home and smiled. Although this trip to Purgatory wasn’t particularly dangerous or far compared to previous “business trips,” he had a kind of inexplicable, spiritual weariness, and this feeling wasn’t relieved until he saw his front door.

He knew it was because too many things had happened on this trip to Purgatory, and the most important thing was related to Vivian—the impact of that demon goddess Vivian was physically and mentally exhausting. If his nerves weren't so thick as to be practically dead, he was afraid that the psychological shadow would still be lingering.

He guessed that the others had a similar feeling, because when they saw the front door, Nangong Sanba and Nangong Wuyue couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and even Vivian couldn't help but show an unusually relaxed look. Among the group, only Lily was as carefree as ever. She didn't show any extra emotion, just happily carrying her ribs towards the gate: this girl's happy spirit was practically at the level of a law. Hao Ren even suspected that even if the sky fell and crushed her, as long as she wasn't killed on the spot, she could still be happy.

Probably the only one who could be as happy as her was the little girl Elizabeth jumping up and down next to her. This child's nerves were extraordinarily resilient thanks to her father's education. After being blown away hundreds of meters and landing, she would happily say: "That was so exciting!"

Vivian smiled faintly and muttered to herself, "It's good to be home."

Hao Ren heard her mutter and nodded with a smile: "Yeah, a lot happened outside this time. Don't think about anything after you get home. Just rest for two days. I'll consult with the Raven about your problem later."

Heissena frowned as she looked at Vivian and then at Hao Ren. Suddenly her face fell: "Crap, Mistress Vivian has completely taken this place as her home! If this goes on, she won't pay any attention to me at all!"

Seeing this, Cassandra had no choice but to step forward and softly comfort her: "Mistress, look on the bright side—Mistress Vivian never paid attention to you before anyway."

The story of this vampire almost being beaten to death back then must be true. And to be honest, with her style, she might be beaten half to death by Heissena in the future—it just depends on when she makes her move.

Everything in the house was as before. With Nangong's parents staying to help take care of the place, Hao Ren no longer had to worry about cleaning up a pile of dust and finding a place to sleep every time he came back from a business trip. When he walked into the house, he saw the TV in the living room was on. Above the back of the sofa facing the TV, a pair of pointed cat ears with a tuft of white hair were visible, and a long tail was swaying beside the sofa.

He called out to this heartless simpleton, "Gun! Why are you just watching TV? You didn't even greet me when I got back?"

The silly cat finally poked her head out from the back of the sofa. She stretched out her hand, made a ball with her paw, and waved it at Hao Ren, meowing softly. Then she pointed to the cat food commercial playing on TV with her tail: "Big Cat, I want to eat this! Go buy it for me!"

Hao Ren: "... Sure enough, you're a heartless guy. Don't you know I just got back from a business trip?"

"Oh," the cat girl shook her head, as if she understood something. So she jumped off the sofa lightly and came over to rub against Hao Ren's trouser leg with her head. "I'll rub my ears on you, will you play with my tail? It's so much fun! I'll let you play for five minutes."

Hao Ren: "..."

Izhaks watched from the side, grinning and revealing his blood basin mouth: "She's not heartless, she's just trying to get along with you in her own way."

Hao Ren scratched Gun's ears in amusement, coaxed the cat girl back to the sofa, and then ran to the utility room and found Doudou soaking in the basin. The little mermaid seemed to sense something, and before Hao Ren could even show his face, she couldn't wait to splash around in the water. As soon as Hao Ren appeared, the little thing spat a face full of water at him. He was a little surprised when he reached out and picked Doudou out of the basin: "Hey, you're really heavy... Have you grown again?"

"I've grown!" Doudou happily patted Hao Ren's arm with her tail. "And I've shed scales!"

"Shed scales?" Hao Ren was stunned. Only then did he notice that there were some tiny, shimmering things in the basin that Doudou had been lying in. They were actually tiny scales from the mermaid's tail. And on the little thing's tail, he could see some lighter-colored parts, which looked like newly grown scales. "When did this start?"

Doudou counted on her fingers and replied loudly, "Three days ago! Not counting today."

Hao Ren quickly held Doudou and went to the living room to consult with Nangong Wuyue: "Did you know Doudou was shedding scales?"

"How would I know?" Nangong Wuyue rolled her eyes at him. "I've been following you around this whole time, remember?"

Hao Ren slapped his forehead and remembered that. But just then, Elsa happened to come out of the kitchen. She heard Hao Ren and Wuyue's conversation and casually said, "Shedding scales might be normal. She's growing faster and faster, and the patterns on her tail are changing with it. Probably this kind of mermaid should shed scales when they transition from the cub stage to the child stage. I've been observing her, and the little one is quite healthy. And the patterns on her newly grown scales are completely different from the original scales. They're clearly from two different physiological stages, so it should be normal."

Hearing Elsa, this deep-sea creature expert, say this, Hao Ren finally felt relieved. He held Doudou and looked her up and down for a long time, and found that the little thing was indeed as energetic as before, and the parts where she had shed scales had also grown back well. It seemed that this was really a normal physiological phenomenon.

Seeing Hao Ren's anxious appearance, even Lily couldn't help but mutter at him, "It's just changing scales. I shed my fur twice a year, and I haven't seen you get anxious about that."

"Nonsense, I've seen Zhao Daye's Erhuang shed its fur dozens of times since I was a kid, but this is the first time I've seen a mermaid shed scales," Hao Ren glared at Lily. "Speaking of which, mermaids really aren't the same as ordinary fish... This is the first time I've heard that fish scales can be replaced after growing up. I thought they lasted a lifetime."

Lily crossed her arms and swayed back and forth on the sofa, reminiscing as she swayed: "Before I shed my fur for the first time, I also thought my fur would last a lifetime—but after I became sensible, I was so scared when I noticed myself shedding large patches of fur. I thought I was going to die. I even thought about getting some glue and sticking the shed fur back on. I wonder if it would work. Childhood... it's so nostalgic."

Hao Ren looked at her with a strange expression: "You should have observed how dogs shed their fur. Didn't you even have a dog where you lived when you were a kid?"

Lily crossed her arms righteously: "I thought I was a werewolf at the time! And I figured I wouldn't need to shed my fur after I became a spirit..."

Everyone: "..."

Heissena sat somewhat restrained on the sofa, listening absentmindedly to Hao Ren and his abnormal family discussing things that normal people would never understand or experience. She felt an atmosphere in this environment that had never existed in the Athenian Sanctuary. This atmosphere made her feel a lack of discipline, a lack of vigilance, a lack of stability and controllability, but she inexplicably felt a yearning for it.

Vivian sat down next to her and asked casually, "You still have your family to take care of, right? When are you planning to leave?"

Heissena was stunned for a moment. She realized that she was not liked here after all, especially not welcomed by Vivian, so she lowered her head slightly: "Oh, yes, I'm leaving... I'll leave tomorrow. Is it okay if I stay for one day today?"

Vivian glanced at Hao Ren and scratched her hair lightly: "It's not a problem. Actually, I wanted to say it's okay if you stay for two or three more days, but don't delay your family's affairs: after all, the Athenian Sanctuary isn't a safe place, and the demon hunters are still watching you. You have to go back and take charge."

Heissena was stunned. She couldn't believe that Vivian would take the initiative to invite her to stay here for two more days, although this "invitation" could almost be described as indifferent by general standards, it was an unexpected surprise that she had never experienced in thousands of years: "Mistress Vivian, you... don't you find me annoying?"

"I'll definitely find you annoying if you make a fuss," Vivian said immediately. "But after spending the last few days together, I've found that you've matured a lot, and you're not as clingy as before. And the landlord also advised me to care more about you. You can thank him."

Heissena's expression became even more wonderful than before. She looked at Hao Ren even more incredulously, her mind full of complex thoughts that no one knew. In the end, she sniffed hard and muttered in a sulky tone, "Thank you, Second Dad."

Then Hao Ren slid under the coffee table with both the person and the fish in his arms.