Chapter 294 The Hunter Within

The sound of knocking made Vivian look up in surprise. "Who could be visiting at this hour?"

Honestly, Hao Ren was most afraid of people visiting his home right now. This group of oddball creatures was getting more and more accustomed to their undisturbed life, revealing their true forms like a horde of demons when at home. Lily would basically transform her tail and ears whenever she was home to let them breathe. Some time ago, when it was hot, Vivian would occasionally revert to her true form to cool the house down, while these past few days, with the weather turning cooler and drier, it had switched to Izhaks using demonic flames to heat the house and Nangong Wuyue using her siren powers to humidify it. In any case, these were scenes that couldn't be seen by outsiders. Hearing someone knock, he immediately felt troubled, but he still had to tell Lily to put away her ears and tail, then put the little mermaid in the pot and instruct Nangong Wuyue to keep an eye on her so the little one didn't suddenly jump out before going to open the door.

As a result, when he opened the door, he knew he had been a bit paranoid: standing outside was none other than Nangong Sanba.

This guy was still wearing his flashy, pretentious black trench coat (not that there was anything wrong with wearing this normally). He stood at the door, smiling harmlessly. "Hehe, I'm back again—Russia's been pressing me hard. I have to leave this afternoon, so I came to say goodbye to my sister before I go."

Hao Ren thought, *You sure timed your visit for dinner,* but he didn't say it. Without thinking, he welcomed Nangong Sanba into the house while shouting, "Vivian, get another set of chopsticks! Sanba's here! Also, Lily, you can keep wagging your tail."

"You can just call me Nangong…" Nangong Sanba said awkwardly, following behind Hao Ren. He remembered a similar conversation happening just yesterday. After entering the house, he discovered that the dining table was even more lively than he had imagined, with two strangers added to the mix. So he nodded politely. "Everyone's eating, huh? Heh, my timing really isn't the best…"

"You came right on time for dinner, so don't be coy," Hao Ren already knew the nature of this demon hunter beside him. He slapped Nangong Sanba on the back. "I didn't treat you properly last night, so consider this a farewell feast to make up for it. Go sit next to your sister."

But just as Nangong Sanba was about to step forward, the two werewolf elders finally reacted. Bruf莱 slammed the table and suddenly transformed into a cloud of black mist, instantly appearing in the other corner of the living room, glaring and shouting like thunder, "Demon Hunter?!"

The table slam scared Dou Dou so much that she jumped out of the pot. The little fish baby landed with a *plop* in Nangong Wuyue's arms, letting out a sharp, short cry that sounded like she was crying. Nangong Wuyue quickly comforted the little one while waving her hands frantically. "Misunderstanding! Misunderstanding!"

Brushette transformed into black mist and flashed to the other side of the living room after Bruf莱. The two werewolf elders almost instantly completed their transformation, striking a ready-to-attack pose towards Nangong Sanba. Nangong Sanba, after a moment of愣住, felt the overwhelming murderous intent. Years of demon hunting had conditioned him to instinctively pull out a stack of talisman cards and a small hand crossbow from his coat. Vivian reacted instantly, transforming into her vampire form and standing between them. Dou Dou was still crying, and Lily choked on a mouthful of soup, coughing. Hao Ren, however, was pulling Nangong behind him with all his might. He finally remembered that he had forgotten something important: there were two genuine werewolves at home who didn't know the details!

For a moment, the house was in chaos, with children crying and adults yelling. Dou Dou's cries had already turned into a four-four time signature aria. The little one had shown musical talent that matched her mermaid persona even before she was a week old—but who the hell cared about that right now! Hao Ren was sweating bullets, almost to the point of soaking his heels. He had gotten along well with both Nangong and the two werewolf elders, but he had completely forgotten that the two sides were sworn enemies. Now, he could only strain his voice and shout, "Calm down! Calm down! He's not an enemy!"

Vivian released a gust of extremely cold air. A swirling vortex of mixed ice crystals howled through the living room, causing the temperature to plummet to an unknown degree below zero. The low temperature wasn't lethal to anyone present, but it successfully distracted the two werewolf elders. Vivian was using this method to divert their attention. Izhaks then quickly pointed a few times at the two werewolf elders and Nangong Sanba. Three blurry gray beams struck the three of them, immediately causing the black mist around the werewolves and the light from the talisman cards in Nangong Sanba's hand to vanish instantly—this was the demon's signature power, "Weaken Finger," which temporarily suppressed magic, removed strength, weakened, and impacted the target's mind, causing them to be恍惚. Although the effect lasted for only a short time, it was perfect for the current situation.

Fortunately, Izhaks was a reliable old brother who never messed up. He didn't accidentally use Death Finger…

The cold wind was still howling in the living room. The two sides who were almost about to start a war finally calmed down. Izhaks looked at them with a smile, his tone gentle. "Everyone's calm now? Then come eat. Landlord, explain the situation."

His voice was as calm as if nothing had happened. Izhaks was definitely the calmest one there.

"That's a demon hunter," Bruf莱 said, shaking his head. "He even took out his runes and crossbow… What exactly is going on?"

The two werewolf elders were still trying to shake off the weakening curse of the high-level demon. The strength of the werewolf body was well-deserved. They had already stood up in just a few seconds, but their bodies were still swaying slightly, and it was estimated that they wouldn't be able to use their shadow powers for a while.

Nangong Sanba was still sitting on the ground. He didn't have the strong physique of the two old werewolves, and he was still as soft as tofu. Seeing this, Izhaks had to take the initiative to dispel the effects of Weaken Finger; otherwise, this half-baked demon hunter wouldn't be able to resist the curse himself for who knows how long. After the curse was lifted, Nangong Sanba struggled for a long time before finally standing up, panting as he said, "I'm a demon hunter… but I'm on your side…"

The two werewolf elders were understandably懵了.

"Everyone, sit down, sit down. Vivian, turn off the AC, the food's going to get cold if you keep freezing us. Senior werewolves, put away your claws too, there are still children here." Seeing that the crisis had been averted, Hao Ren breathed a sigh of relief and invited everyone to sit down again. After Bruf莱 and Brushette reluctantly sat down with bewildered expressions, he pointed at Nangong Sanba and introduced him. "His name is Nangong Sanba, he's Nangong Wuyue's brother. Although he doesn't live here, he's considered a… uh, an outer member of our haven."

It was most important to dispel the two old werewolves' concerns now, so Hao Ren casually gave Nangong Sanba the identity of an outer member. He knew Nangong Sanba definitely wouldn't mind—otherwise, his identity as a lone demon hunter would be enough to get him torn to pieces here.

"Outer member…" Bruf莱's eyes were wide. He kept sizing up Nangong Sanba's gear, then looked at Nangong Wuyue. "Still a siren's brother… a siren's brother… This… how did you guys do it?"

In the end, he could only choke out the phrase "how did you guys do it" to express his surprise.

Hao Ren thought for a moment and made something up. "Our comrades are all over the world, even infiltrating some organizations."

He said this with a serious expression and a solemn tone, looking like a Shanghai underground party member if you covered his face. Of course, the old werewolf brothers didn't dare to believe it, but looking at the situation in front of them, they couldn't help but believe it. So, one after another, a total of two, they showed expressions of amazement. "It's simply unbelievable… No one has ever thought of infiltrating the demon hunters… It's simply impossible! The Nightmare Clan back then wasn't able to invade even the weakest demon hunter's mind until their clan was wiped out! Their thought-worlds are as solid as steel!"

"So this wasn't won through mind control," Hao Ren patted Nangong Sanba on the shoulder. "This comrade of ours has been developing since more than a hundred years ago, receiving the organization's advanced ideological education from birth, and reading the Great Unity of the World's Peoples since childhood…"

Vivian kicked him under the table. "Too much nonsense, get to the point."

"In short, he's one of us, don't worry about how we did it," Hao Ren spread his hands. "I'm telling you, don't look down on our haven just because it's small, we have the ability to set up camp in a crowd…"

The two old werewolves nodded vigorously: *This ability is too great!*

(A new month has arrived, everyone砸月票 hard!)