Chapter 1 The Rescue Operation

If Vivian was right, then Lily wouldn't be in any real danger—though her freedom was hardly guaranteed.

Werewolves are actually a species that prefers solitude. Most werewolves don't stay with their pack after reaching adulthood, which led to them being one of the fastest-declining and most scattered heterogeneous species after the end of the mythological era on this planet. The Aibon family, however, is an exception among werewolves: they are a group of werewolves with a concept of family, and they maintained close pack ties for a long time after the end of the mythological era, the rise of the human church, and the dominance of demon hunters. Today, they have become the last surviving large family among werewolves.

No one knows the organizational structure of the Aibon family's upper echelons. Vivian's understanding of them is limited to their external actions. This group has been committed to reassembling those constantly scattered family members. Their original base was in Europe and Latin America, and they didn't leave this range until a hundred years ago.

"They're a bunch of weird guys, with a little more brains than ordinary werewolves, but only a little," Vivian commented casually when introducing the Aibon family. "They also know that there is strength in unity, but they are stupid enough to want to rebuild the mythological era with the little strength they have on hand. Tsk tsk, even Fenrir was stewed by the demon hunters later, and they still don't know how to restrain themselves."

"What will happen to Lily if they take her away?" This was Hao Ren's most pressing concern.

"Forced recruitment," Vivian said with a pout. "Werewolves have that kind of intelligence, they never use euphemisms, and they are used to using tough methods even with their own people. The Aibon family is probably regarding all scattered werewolves as targets to win over. They have a large number of people and a strong momentum, so they will definitely take coercive methods. That idiot Dà Gǒu (Big Dog) won't have any problems for the time being, because she is currently considered 'one of their own' in the eyes of those two werewolves, but after the two sides show their cards, they will definitely fight. With that idiot's half-baked skills as a newly adult... she will probably get beaten so badly that she won't even recognize her own mother."

Hao Ren broke out in a cold sweat when he heard this, and quickly lowered his head to continue searching for clues on the city map.

Based on her experience, Vivian judged that the werewolf who used black mist took Lily away using the Aibon family's innate power, and the transfer range of that kind of black mist would not be too far, so Lily should still be within the city. Hao Ren's search target was limited to this area. He opened the data terminal and asked it to project the city map, and then searched for more than a hundred targets with "Haoyun" (Good Luck) as the keyword. Among these more than a hundred targets, there were more than a dozen targets related to warehouses, factories, and other large facilities.

What an unlucky, common name... Now Hao Ren can only be glad that Lily wasn't locked up in the Guangming xx Factory (Bright xx Factory), that name is even more common...

"Speaking of which, don't you have a signal tracking function?" Hao Ren tapped the data terminal's shell with dissatisfaction while searching for those suspected locations one by one. "When Lily called just now, wouldn't it have been over if you had tracked the signal?"

The data terminal said with confidence: "This unit was sleeping just now. You didn't remember it yourself, so why are you blaming others? This unit is a tool, you are the user, okay? You didn't turn it on yourself, and you're complaining that the alarm clock didn't ring, you're so embarrassed."

Hao Ren was speechless, so he had to continue working with his head down. He did think about whether or not to send a distress signal to Raven 12345, after all, this was considered a sudden situation at work, but he threw this idea aside after it only flashed for a moment: this was his responsibility, and he had to bear it. No matter what, he was now considered Lily's guardian, so it would be too embarrassing to ask his superiors for help if he encountered a little emergency.

"In the city and surrounding counties, there is an electrical appliance factory, two logistics companies, two warehouses, and six or seven other units that don't seem very reliable with the words 'Haoyun' (Good Luck) in their names. The place Lily mentioned sounds like an abandoned warehouse, or it could be a warehouse built by a factory itself, or simply an empty factory building... Well, the electrical appliance factory can be ruled out, they are still operating, it's not an abandoned factory. By the same logic, rule out one more logistics company, and there are three targets left."

Three targets, all units that have been abandoned for several years, can't be found on the Internet at all. Fortunately, the data terminal can collect information about them from remote corners. All three places meet the characteristics of "resembling an abandoned warehouse," so there is no way to continue the investigation.

"Then go take a look at them all," Vivian glanced at the map and found that the three places were far apart. One was in a relatively remote old city area, one was in the northern suburbs, and the other was simply in another town dozens of kilometers away. They all belonged to those neglected development planning areas, neglected pieces of land that have been abandoned for several years without anyone taking over. "It really fits the movie rules. Hiding people in this kind of place is really not easy to find."

"It's quite far away," Hao Ren frowned as he looked at the map. "I really should buy a car first... I'm working for God, but I even have to provide my own means of transportation."

"I'll send bats to fly over," Vivian waved her hand and summoned three small bats, then looked at the sun outside, her face not very good. "Tch, big sun, the weather forecast is not accurate at all. The bats will probably get roasted half to death if they fly over. That idiot owes me a big favor."

The three little bats hovered and danced around Vivian, and then flew towards the window in an almost heroic manner to prepare to welcome the bright sunshine outside. Hao Ren heard Vivian's words and suddenly remembered something, and quickly shouted: "Wait a minute, I have a solution!" Then he ran to Lily's room and took out a bottle of something, which was a bottle of sunscreen.

"That girl bought a bottle of this on a whim a few days ago, but she doesn't use it at all, so it's just right to use it on your bats." Hao Ren cheerfully unscrewed the cap of the sunscreen and waved to Vivian's bats to land on the table. The vampire girl was immediately stunned: "Your thinking is quite broad... hiss, it's so cold!"

Bats and Vivian share senses. When Hao Ren applied sunscreen to the bats, Vivian immediately felt it. That soft and charming exclamation made Hao Ren's hand shake, and he almost knocked the whole bottle on the table: "Don't react so much..."

"I've never used such expensive things in my life," Vivian said with a look of resentment. "The first time I used sunscreen was actually for my bats... hey, apply less, it will be too heavy to fly!"

After a while, Hao Ren finished the work. The three little bats covered in sunscreen flew out of the window happily and flew towards three directions, their speed far exceeding normal bats. The slowest was estimated to be eighty or ninety miles per hour. Hao Ren looked at the three little black dots that quickly disappeared, and he also sighed: "My thinking is really quite broad."

Vivian didn't reply. She was already immersed in the sensory sharing of the three bats, and was focusing on perceiving everything within the sensory range of the three bats. The city was rapidly expanding in her spiritual world in the form of a three-dimensional model. Soon, the first bat arrived at the nearest destination, which was the abandoned logistics company warehouse located in the city.

The warehouse was deserted inside and out, and the first location was ruled out.

The remaining two bats flew to the satellite town dozens of kilometers away and the northern suburbs at the other end of the city.

"Huh..." Vivian suddenly woke up from her focused state and exclaimed softly. Hao Ren immediately leaned over: "Found it?"

"One of the bats died," Vivian said in confusion. "I didn't even realize what was going on. One of the bats suddenly stopped moving. It was the one flying to the northern suburbs, which disappeared when passing through the city center."

"Could it be the werewolf who did it?"

"No, werewolves can't fly and generally can't deal with my bats," Vivian frowned. "It may have hit a transformer and got electrocuted. This kind of accident occasionally happens when flying too fast... The troublesome things humans have made in the past two years are really annoying. I've even hit them myself a few times. Speaking of which, is there any more sunscreen? I'll release another one."

Hao Ren handed the sunscreen over smoothly: "You do it yourself. I feel weird watching your expression change while I'm applying oil to a bat."

Vivian glared at Hao Ren and began to lower her head to apply sunscreen to the bat. The fourth "scout" quickly set off.

"It really is in the northern suburbs!" Vivian finally successfully discovered a clue. "There's that Dà Gǒu's (Big Dog's) aura!"