Chapter 14 Demon Hunter

The tall, thin man chuckled, a little embarrassed. "You might find it absurd, but I'm a demon hunter, specializing in traveling the world to exorcise ghosts..."

Demon hunter!

No sooner had he spoken than Hao Ren heard a crash beside him. He turned to see Vivian lifting her head from her plate, the vampire girl wiping sauce from her face as she tremulously asked, "What did you say you do?"

"I knew you'd react like this," the tall, thin man said, more helpless than surprised. It seemed he was quite used to such reactions. "When I told others before, their reactions were even more extreme than yours. But I really am a demon hunter – have you seen the movies? Like Van Helsing. My job is similar, but our exorcism methods are different from what you see on screen."

The tall, thin man spoke earnestly and fluently. Hao Ren subconsciously scooted back, maintaining a distance from him, his mind flooded with question marks. This guy was a demon hunter? Real or fake? A genuine superhuman or just a chuunibyou (a Japanese term for someone with delusions of grandeur) con artist?

If it were an ordinary person, they might have dismissed the tall, thin man's words as a joke, or just listened to it as a story, or regarded him as a charlatan. But Hao Ren was bound to overthink things: he knew that demon hunters were a real group!

Of course, he didn't immediately believe the man's claims and take him as a demon hunter. It was more likely that he was just joking. A real demon hunter probably wouldn't be so casual about revealing their identity, would they?

"You don't believe me?" the tall, thin man spread his hands helplessly. "That's fine, most people don't. And look, I'm Chinese. If I claimed to be a lay disciple from Mount Wutai, it might be more convincing. But I really am a demon hunter. It sounds very foreign, but in fact, every country in the world has them. Our history is long, with records dating back to the four ancient civilizations..."

Hao Ren subconsciously exchanged a glance with Vivian. This sounded like the real deal. In most people's minds, "demon hunter" was a Western term. Few knew that they had been wandering the world from the very beginning. Demon hunters in China were called immortals or alchemists by the ancients, while demon hunters in other countries were called wizards or priests. But demon hunters themselves wouldn't use these foreign terms, and what this man was saying clearly matched the facts – facts that the average person wouldn't know.

"Um... Mr. Demon Hunter, is it?" Lily finally couldn't eat anymore. The werewolf girl hadn't met a demon hunter, but she had heard many terrifying stories about them from Vivian. She was a little nervous. "Are there really demon hunters in the real world?"

At least Lily wasn't completely clueless, and knew to ask indirectly.

"Most people treat it as an urban legend or a horror story," the tall, thin man chuckled. "But I'm the real thing. And to be honest, there are still quite a few people who believe in ghost stories. In places you don't know, exorcisms and demon slaying still happen from time to time. My main job is exorcism. This time, I came here to investigate the haunting of the old Yoford Castle."

"Oh, so your job should be highly confidential, right? How can you just tell people about it?" Vivian asked calmly, outwardly unconcerned, but inwardly wondering: why did this "demon hunter" suddenly reveal his identity?

Whether he was real or not, his high-profile attitude was a bit abnormal. This line of work was always a shadowy profession, most of them living in seclusion, and even when living among ordinary people, they would try to hide their identities. She had never heard of a demon hunter who would grab strangers and enthusiastically advertise their job like this man. Vivian thought about the demon hunters she had met in her long life, and a question swirled in her mind: Could it be that these guys had finally been afflicted by the same bad luck as her, and couldn't find a job in modern times, so they had to publicly seek employment?

Hao Ren's thoughts were similar to Vivian's, but his direction was different: when did the profession of "demon hunter," which should be wearing black robes and hiding in corners, become so high-profile? Shouldn't these world-saving heroes hide their faces and keep their identities secret? Look at Hao Ren himself, he didn't go around announcing that he was a policeman sent down from heaven... Of course, the main reason he didn't say it was because the organization had rules.

"What's so confidential about it?" the tall, thin man said dismissively. "It's not like it's a shameful job. Look, even palm readers and fortune tellers have their own websites now. Why can't we demon hunters talk about our work?"

Hao Ren and Vivian quickly exchanged glances, thinking about how they should act to seem like two "ordinary people." They quickly reached a consensus, revealing the kind of interested but disbelieving expressions of people listening to a lively story. Vivian wore a polite but slightly distant smile. "So, are you going to eliminate the vengeful spirits in the castle this time?"

The tall, thin man's enthusiasm dropped by half when he saw Vivian's expression, but he still smiled. "I have to wait until tomorrow to see the situation. I know you probably don't believe what I said, and I don't intend to make you believe it. But we can travel together. When are you leaving? If it's tomorrow, we're going the same way. I know the route very well. There's a train that leaves in the morning and arrives in the evening."

Hao Ren was about to say that he had just arrived in England and needed a day to get over the jet lag when he heard Vivian take the initiative to say, "Okay, it's fate that we met. We don't know the way, so we'll trouble you to lead the way. May I ask your surname?"

"My surname is Nangong, a compound surname," the tall, thin man stood up. "As for my specific name... for work reasons, I can't reveal it. You can just call me Nangong. How about this, I'll wait for you at this restaurant tomorrow morning at six thirty. We'll go together. But I'll only wait for fifteen minutes – any later and we'll miss the train."

Hao Ren was about to say that he had a slowpoke with a terrible jet lag on his side, and might not be able to get up tomorrow morning, when Vivian once again took the initiative to nod and agree. "Okay, Mr. Nangong, we'll see you at six thirty tomorrow morning. Oh, I'm sorry, I was so busy talking that I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Vivian, and this next to me is..."

Hao Ren stared blankly at Vivian, who was chatting with a "demon hunter" as if nothing was wrong, until Mr. Nangong left the restaurant before he had a chance to speak. "Hey, aren't you afraid that he really is a demon hunter?"

"Doesn't seem like it. Demon hunters aren't this type," Vivian waited until Nangong disappeared at the restaurant entrance before plopping back into her chair, breathing a slight sigh of relief. "And to be honest – we really are missing a guide. Our destination is the same as this Nangong, so there's a high chance we'll run into each other after we get to Yoford. Instead of being caught off guard by a sudden encounter, it's better to travel together on the way, figure out his actions, and then take the opportunity to separate, which is the same as taking the initiative into our own hands. Of course, this is assuming he really is a demon hunter. If he's just an ordinary exorcist swindler... then it'll be easy. Ordinary people are no threat. Just let him lead the way."

Vivian's analysis was well-reasoned, and Hao Ren had to admit that this vampire girl thought more deeply than he did. But in the end, he still had a question he really wanted to confirm. "Vivian, do you have any way to determine if someone is a demon hunter? They're different from ordinary people, so there should be some identifying characteristics, right? That Nangong just now, besides his 'style' of speech, can you confirm his identity?"

Vivian frowned, her eyes staring blankly in a certain direction. "It's really hard to say. The most dangerous thing about demon hunters is that they can hide among ordinary people before they activate their abilities. My clansmen often had their entire families wiped out because demon hunters had infiltrated the blood slaves they kept. I'm a high-level bloodkin, so I can analyze his identity through blood, but that requires blood. It's not easy, not easy at all."

After a moment of silence, Vivian probably felt that she couldn't be of use and lost face, so she said hesitantly, "But if I had to say, I think I really felt something different from him – I fought demon hunters in the past, and I was injured in my right hand. After that, I developed a strange ability. When a demon hunter is nearby, my right hand will heat up. I feel..."

"Stop feeling, your hand is in the soup."

"Wah!"