Chapter 1 Proving Something

Events proved that when a decidedly unusual fellow, in every respect, confidently tells you that everything is under her control, you basically can't count on anything – Hao Ren realized this truth a little late. So it wasn't until Vivian, speaking in a perfect, original Old English accent, asked the locals for directions that he was completely stunned, deeply doubting whether his preparations for this trip had been too hasty.

A disoriented small-time landlord, a werewolf who was nearly asleep but still trying to walk upright, and a vampire who seemed reliable but was completely useless at critical moments – these three, full of confidence, encountered an unprecedented crisis when they arrived in a foreign country: they didn't know the way, didn't speak the language, and because they hadn't prepared properly before leaving, they hadn't even checked online where to find someone to ask for directions when they didn't speak the language. Of course, there was also the matter of experience. Hao Ren was a bit dizzy and hadn't even thought of asking the airport staff for help – in theory, even if the staff here couldn't pass the CET-4 or CET-6 in Mandarin, they could at least tell you how to get to the nearest embassy. But this clueless guy didn't even think of that.

Vivian spent a long time communicating with a local old gentleman in a strange accent. Hao Ren listened to the ancient English that God knows how many years ago had been lost and stood there in a daze. The old gentleman who had been stopped by Vivian was even more stunned than he was. The poor old man, at his age, was actually asked questions in his own country's mother tongue (genuine) and kept saying "what"...

"Stop trying," Hao Ren tugged at Vivian. "Your English was used around 1100 AD. Do you know how big the difference in accent can be between people from a thousand years ago and modern people? Go home and check the pronunciation of ancient Chinese and you'll understand."

Vivian looked dejected: "Why is there such a big change? I thought only the surrounding environment was different. At least the way people speak should be the same. At most, what I say would be like classical Chinese to them... How come even the pronunciation has changed?"

Hao Ren sighed: "When you were just born, people basically relied on screams of varying lengths and vigorous chest-thumping to communicate. Even if you're usually muddle-headed, you shouldn't have even thought of that, right?"

"I'm not that old, okay?" Vivian glared. "What you're talking about is the Stone Age!"

At this time, the British old gentleman, who was confused by Vivian, saw that these two young men and women seemed to be arguing and quickly came up to dissuade them (the old man was still very gentlemanly, and he wasn't annoyed even after being tormented by nearly alien ancient English for so long). The old man tugged at Hao Ren's arm and kept asking: "Chinese? Are you Chinese?"

Hao Ren blinked. Fortunately, the little English he knew hadn't been completely thrown back at his teacher, so he nodded vigorously.

The very patient old gentleman smiled, raised his hand and pointed to an open space next to the terminal: there stood uniformed airport staff. Even Hao Ren and Vivian should have gotten the idea now.

Hao Ren and Vivian exchanged an awkward look and thanked the old gentleman repeatedly. Then they dragged Lily, who was already sleeping upright, to the airport staff. The other party was a handsome young man, with a smart uniform, looking full of energy. Vivian stepped forward and asked: "%￥@@%￥#￥#%￥@?"

Hao Ren pushed the vampire, who was dropping the ball at this critical moment, aside and looked at the airport boy, who showed a puzzled expression, with a smile: "Excuse me, how do you get to..." Halfway through, he suddenly realized that this probably wouldn't work, so he slowed down his tone and changed to more standard Mandarin: "Hello, I can't speak English, I want to go to a place, who should I ask?"

The airport boy frowned and listened slowly, racking his brains for a long time, then showed a professional smile, pointed to the parking lot not far away, and said in very poor Chinese: "There, taxi drivers have some Chinese people, go... go... let him help you."

Obviously, the airport boy couldn't squeeze out the words that followed.

This was already quite satisfactory. Hao Ren thanked the airport boy very happily. When he turned to walk towards the parking lot, he couldn't help but feel a lot of emotions in his heart: He never expected that the vampire, who was said to be able to argue with Arthur Pendragon and hold his own, was of no use at all. The latter's greatest achievement in "English" was to confuse a foreign friend. In the end, he actually asked for directions in Chinese...

Life is indeed more exciting than novels, because life doesn't make sense at all!

"Wait till we get to the hotel before you sleep, hang in there for a while." Hao Ren turned his head and patted Lily's shoulder, but all he got in response was a series of soft snores. This thick-nerved werewolf girl wouldn't disrupt her biological clock anywhere. It was morning in London, and it was also the time when Lily was taking a nap at home. She was so sleepy that she couldn't open her eyes, and she was following Hao Ren in a state of snoring with her eyes closed. Fortunately, as a wild animal, her keen senses hadn't been lost: Lily followed behind Hao Ren and Vivian, walking with her eyes closed, while slightly twitching her nose, relying on smelling the scent to keep up, and didn't get lost...

Hao Ren quickly found the "Chinese taxi drivers" that the airport boy was talking about. The skin color was right, but after looking for several, they were all native-born locals: British-born Chinese, whose Chinese level was only slightly better than the airport boy. They looked at the address Hao Ren had copied down in Chinese characters as if they were looking at a heavenly book...

After messing around for another long time, he finally found one whose Chinese level could barely pass. Hao Ren felt that he was exhausted. All kinds of inconveniences of being abroad in a foreign country flooded into his heart. It wasn't until this time that the initial excitement of "cheating a lot of funds to go on a public-funded trip abroad" slowly dissipated. He realized that this was really a task, a task that made people feel exhausted – Raven 12345 said that it was to exercise the ability of new employees to handle affairs, and this was really true!

It was estimated that Raven 12345 had calculated from the beginning that Hao Ren would immediately forget himself after getting a large amount of funding and the opportunity for a public-funded trip, and then go out without planning anything.

Of course, there was another possibility: Raven 12345 knew from the beginning that Hao Ren had two guys who were more likely to spoil things than to accomplish them, and this was taking the opportunity to let him adapt in advance...

Although many things were not prepared properly when he went out, at least Hao Ren knew to book a hotel online in advance, and because he had plenty of funds, the hotel he booked was also quite high-end. At least the official homepage stated that the hotel service staff were proficient in several foreign languages and could provide high-quality services to Chinese tourists – now Hao Ren didn't dare to expect high-quality, he only hoped that the waiter could successfully take him to the room. After he got to a quiet place, the first thing he would do was contact Raven 12345 to see if he could find some task assistance.

After being driven by a Chinese driver who could barely speak the language for nearly an hour, Hao Ren and his party of three finally entered the center of London and arrived at the door of the hotel they had booked in advance. After paying the fare (he didn't know if he had been ripped off, Hao Ren couldn't care about that much now), Vivian looked up at the sky that was completely bright and sighed slightly: "Many years have passed. When I first came here, there weren't so many houses here."

"Why don't you talk about how humans still lived in trees when you first set foot in Europe," Hao Ren supported the swaying Lily and complained unhappily about this useless vampire. "How can you not think about the difference in lifespan between you and humans after living for so long? Half of the reason we're having such a big problem today is that I had too much hope for you."

Vivian frowned, her expression very serious: "I have a good temper, but I also have the dignity of a high-ranking blood clan. If you continue to sneer like this, it's disrespectful to the nobles..."

"Pay next month's rent."

"Of course, the mouth is on your body. As a noble, I won't argue with you too much."

Hao Ren: "..."

This was the first time in his life that he had seen a noble who could be forced to this point by a month's rent!

"According to the plan, let's rest here for a day or two first, get over the jet lag, and sort out the information. I'll submit a report to Raven 12345, and then leave the day after tomorrow or the third day," Hao Ren sighed. "The address Raven 12345 gave is too remote. With our experience this morning, it's probably very difficult to find out by asking the locals."

The three of them walked towards the hotel door, and in the sixth floor of the hotel, which they had not noticed, the curtains on a window were suddenly pulled open, and a sharp gaze swept down for a few seconds, and the curtains returned to their original position.