Chapter 1

Standing on a small mound by the side of the road, staring at the desolate and dilapidated village not far away, Hao Ren racked his brains, wondering if there was any saving his intelligence – how could he have been so easily tricked into coming to this place?

He was surprised that there was such a place around the city where he had lived for more than twenty years, such a primitive and rundown little village. Although it was indeed quite far from the city, Hao Ren had always thought that such villages should only exist in remote mountain valleys: towering mountains blocking civilization, treacherous rapids and steep cliffs cutting off transportation. Only then would human settlements maintain such a look. But this place wasn't that remote; there was even a road leading to the city near the village... Therefore, he was quite surprised by the village before him.

But what surprised him even more was that the strange woman on the phone had actually used the name of an import and export trading company to lure him here for a job interview... This was unacceptable! You can insult a person's character, but don't insult their intelligence, okay? Although Hao Ren had never been able to tell the difference between a trading company and a street supermarket, at least he could see that the village in the distance probably didn't even have a grocery store!

Hao Ren stood by the side of the road under the scorching sun, silently watching the direction in which the broken-down bus had disappeared. He would have to wait for an hour or so before the next car passed by, and the thought of that filled him with pessimism about life. At this moment, he even missed the stubborn, penniless, rent-dodging, freeloading, and trouble-making vampire back home – he missed the cold air around Vivian. Although that cold air always carried a bloody scent, at least it was cool! There wasn't even a sapling to be seen for hundreds of meters around here, and the largest shady spot within sight was under the telephone pole a hundred meters away, the shadow area of which was just enough for Hao Ren to cool down his arms... This was no way to live!

As for the small village that looked like it was only a ten-minute walk away... Hao Ren didn't plan to go there at all. Even if the job interview was real, he wouldn't go. Wasn't it obvious that no one in their right mind would come to work in this kind of place?

Moreover, this looked like a joke at first glance. He had been tricked by the mysterious woman on the phone.

Hao Ren was now only curious about one thing: why did he involuntarily get tricked into coming here when he answered the phone? Why didn't he feel anything strange when he heard such a magical name as "Wangbatuozi"? Why did he only realize he was an idiot after getting off the bus and actually seeing the village? He hadn't thought about these three questions before, but now that they suddenly occurred to him, he broke out in a cold sweat!

That's right, Hao Ren remembered that he had indeed thought about it for a long time when he received that strange phone call, hesitated for a long time, and then decided to come and see what was going on after "careful consideration." At the time, he felt that his state of mind was perfectly normal, and those few minutes of hesitation and thought were enough to prove that he had decided to come here of his own volition. But now that he thought about it... his coming here didn't make sense at all!

Even if it was just the combination of the words "Wangbatuozi" and "import and export trading company," he should have been suspicious!

Hao Ren subconsciously touched his head, wanting to confirm whether the few pounds of stuff on his neck still belonged to him.

A few seconds later, Hao Ren began walking back in the direction he had come from: it wasn't realistic to walk all the way home from here under the scorching sun, but he felt that he should at least get away from this damned place! Staying away from the address provided by that mysterious woman might increase his safety factor. He could wait for the bus to pass by on the road anyway, since that broken-down bus didn't have a fixed stop and would stop anywhere along the route if you waved it down.

That phone call was abnormal, the number was abnormal, the mysterious woman was abnormal. She used a loophole-ridden excuse to trick Hao Ren into coming here, so Hao Ren knew that his thinking had probably been abnormal for a while. Now he had to leave here as soon as possible and return to the side of the other two abnormal creatures at home. Perhaps Lily and Vivian would have some way to help – at least that vampire seemed to know some magic; she had mentioned things about magic.

But just as he had taken a few steps, the cell phone in his pocket suddenly rang frantically, as if urging him to his death.

Hao Ren was startled by the familiar ringtone. It seemed at least ten times louder than usual, making his eardrums ache, as if a faint sense of anger was being transmitted through the ringtone. Hao Ren frantically took out his phone, and on the not-so-large color screen was the string of phone numbers that was abnormal no matter where you put it: 00000012345.

Hao Ren stared at this string of numbers for a long time, and decisively took out the battery – fortunately he didn't buy an iPhone. Apple users would probably have to smash their phones in anger in the face of this kind of supernatural situation.

But he soon realized that he could only smash his phone in anger: after removing the battery, the ringtone didn't stop at all, just like the situations that appeared in every supernatural horror movie. His phone was still not quiet even with the battery removed, and the eerie numbers on the screen continued to urge him to his death along with the ringtone – if Hao Ren was only a little suspicious and unsure before, then this time he was 100% sure that he had been entangled by an abnormal phenomenon again!

And what was even more deadly was that he couldn't find anything to protect himself with. He hadn't even had time to ask Lily or Vivian about the world of "aliens" before rushing out!

When the ringtone repeated for the third time, Hao Ren finally made up his mind, raised the Nokia high in his hand, and smashed it hard on the ground!

"I don't believe you can still ring even if you're smashed to pieces... What the hell, this is possible too?"

Nokia truly deserved to be the number one indestructible phone in the world. Hao Ren watched helplessly as his old phone, which was already past its prime, drew an afterimage as it smashed on the ground, and then... then it embedded itself in the cement ground, can you believe it?! And it was still ringing like it was urging him to his death!

Hao Ren was sure that he didn't have that much strength, so the only explanation for the phenomenon before him was that the person calling was using this method to warn him not to put up futile resistance. Some things don't make sense scientifically, don't make sense logically, don't make sense according to common sense – even if you tied the phone to a strategic missile and fired it to the other side of the earth, it probably wouldn't work!

Hao Ren bent down tremblingly to pick up the phone, which was undamaged, and put it to his ear. Although he was apprehensive, he was still confident (he was a very face-saving person, that is, a person who would put on a brave face even when facing death): "Hello! What exactly do you want!?"

"Nonsense, I told you to come for an interview!" The beautiful but frightening female voice rang out again, but for some reason, Hao Ren felt a little relieved the moment he heard the other person's voice. Perhaps it was because the other person was also speaking human language, which made him feel that this was someone he could communicate with? Or perhaps it was because the mysterious woman was still mentioning the "interview," which gave him a little inexplicable comfort.

It had come to this point, with all kinds of strange phenomena in front of him. If the other party had malicious intentions, then now was the time to tear off the mask. Since the woman hadn't used her extraordinary ability to directly strike him with a bolt of lightning from afar and convert him, then Hao Ren considered himself temporarily safe.

As for why it was lightning and not something else... that was because Hao Ren's imagination stopped there. He couldn't think of any more powerful divine might. Last night's fight between Lily and Vivian looked like a Hollywood blockbuster to him.

"Interview..." Hao Ren tried to calm down, pretending that he wasn't afraid at all, and his voice was indeed quite steady. "Let's just be frank, anyway, I'm already here. Are you really planning to keep making up that import and export trading company thing? Can't you just tell me what's going on?"

"Oh, we have rules from above. We can't reveal secrets until the time is right and the conditions are met," the female voice on the other end of the phone didn't sound sinister or terrifying, nor did it have any threatening intent. It sounded completely like an ordinary person discussing things, which surprised Hao Ren very much. "Now, follow my instructions and you'll find the location of our workplace..."

"Wait!" Hao Ren interrupted the other party loudly. He couldn't keep following the other party's rhythm. "Let's get something straight first – what exactly do you want? Let's not beat around the bush, okay? Drop the interview facade."

The woman on the other end of the phone sounded impatient: "Why are you being so long-winded? I said it's an interview, it's an interview. If you really want to know the unit's rules, you have to come here first! Now listen, do you see the telephone pole in front of you? Walk to the telephone pole, put your hand on the old Chinese medicine advertisement plastered on the telephone pole, and face north... Don't know which way is north? North up, south down, west left, east right, look up!"

Hao Ren: "..." He felt that the person on the other end of the phone was probably a psychopath.

But when he actually looked up, he was stunned.

A huge, upside-down building was suspended above his head!

(It is said that if there are two updates, putting the first update at noon is more effective? Then I'll try it =.=)