Chapter 1 The First Surreal Battle

The skirmish with a group of demon hunters was the first time in Hao Ren's life that he'd participated in a truly surreal battle, and he remembered every detail vividly. That's why he instantly recognized the woman before him as the female demon hunter he'd fought that day—the scar was unforgettable. But he never would have imagined meeting her in such a place and in such a delicate manner: this demon hunter was selling cell phones...

Vivian also remembered that face. She reacted at the same time as Hao Ren, instantly taking a half-step back. The surrounding temperature began to drop, but just as the vampire's power was about to erupt, the female demon hunter waved her hand. "Is this...appropriate?"

Hao Ren felt his heart slowly getting used to this kind of startling life. He quickly calmed down and gently tugged at Vivian's sleeve to keep her from acting rashly. The customers around them had also sensed that the atmosphere here was abnormal. They didn't seem to realize the suspicious conversation happening around this strange cell phone salesperson, but many were at a loss because of the sudden cold wind. Some rubbed their hands and looked around blankly, eventually casting several glances at Vivian. Fortunately, Vivian withdrew her power in time, and the onlookers didn't riot because of a gust of cold wind. Soon, the cell phone store returned to its usual order.

Vivian sensed that the female demon hunter had no hostility, not even a desire to fight, so she relaxed a little, but she didn't lower her guard. She asked softly, "You're the demon hunter from that day? I thought you were taken away by the arcane servants."

"And then released," the female demon hunter said quietly. She used some method to make everyone around her, including the other salespeople at the counter, focus their attention elsewhere. She was chatting with Hao Ren and Vivian here, but not a single colleague came to ask about the situation out of curiosity. If Vivian's cold wind hadn't briefly broken the strange "aura" she had created, she would have seemed to be in a peaceful barrier.

Hao Ren opened his mouth, trying to think of something to say in this situation, but he never expected to meet a demon hunter he'd once fought in this way. After stammering for a long time, he finally managed to say, "What are you doing here?"

"Working," the female demon hunter replied in the same calm tone. "I've been working in this mall for more than five years. I was selling clothes next door not long ago. If I hadn't been caught by that blue creature and stayed in a strange place for so long, I should still be selling clothes."

Hao Ren: "...No, that's not what I meant. I mean... how can you be here? As a demon hunter, shouldn't you... uh, live in a place that looks like a basement, report to the secret societies under the major churches every day, and then take the demon-slaying orders and travel around the world to kill demons, stand on the TV tower at dawn to greet the rising sun, and silently protect the peace of the city...? That's what I thought demon hunters were like."

The female demon hunter had a blank face like a wooden board. After listening to Hao Ren's words, she only said one sentence: "I don't understand what you mean, but if I lived the way you described, I wouldn't even be able to go to work, so where would I get the money to eat?"

Hao Ren: "..."

He was stunned by her theoretically logical answer and couldn't say anything for a long time. Finally, he reacted: "Wait, so other demon hunters usually... go to work like you? Buy groceries? Eat? Sleep?"

Even Vivian couldn't listen anymore and poked Hao Ren's arm from behind: "Have you ever seen anyone at home who doesn't eat?"

The female demon hunter nodded. "We usually live among humans too. I thought you should know these common sense things."

Vivian had indeed told Hao Ren a lot about demon hunters, including the fact that they mingled in human society and lived with ordinary people, but Hao Ren had obviously misunderstood before. He had simply understood this "living together" as a means of disguising their identities, but now it seemed that these superhumans really needed to eat, drink, and excrete just like everyone else—Hollywood was misleading. Hao Ren thought that these superheroes in the dark only beat up little monsters and struck poses on TV towers all day long.

As for the other demon hunter, Nangong... Hao Ren still didn't think of him as a demon hunter...

"So, it looks like we don't have to fight today, right?" Although Hao Ren sensed that the people around him weren't paying attention to this side at all, he couldn't help but lower his voice when speaking. He looked warily at the scarred woman in front of him, fearing that she would suddenly pull out a half-meter-long crossbow and shoot him on the wall. "I didn't even know that female psychopath let you out—I don't even know where she locked you up. Where have you been these days?"

That day, the arcane servants under Raven 12345 came to the rescue and took away all the demon hunters who were half-dead or completely dead, regardless of whether they were alive or dead. Raven 12345 said that she would personally educate these guys, but Hao Ren hadn't seen these demon hunters when he went to the ocean house to report later. The arcane servants later vaguely indicated that the captured demon hunters were held in a special space, which was not only a prison but also an "educational facility." Raven 12345 used her own behavioral correction plan to treat these extremist racists. Hao Ren originally thought that he would probably never see these demon hunters in his life, but he didn't expect to suddenly meet the scarred woman today. He took this opportunity to inquire about her experiences in recent days.

The scarred woman didn't draw her weapon immediately after seeing Vivian, so it seemed that Raven 12345's "education" had been successful.

The female demon hunter pondered for a moment. Hao Ren saw a trace of fatigue and fear in her expressionless face, as if the previous period of imprisonment was a terrible memory she didn't want to recall. But just as she was about to speak, another voice suddenly came from the entrance of the store, a middle-aged male voice: "Zhao Xi, come out a..."

The female demon hunter stood up when she heard the name "Zhao Xi," and Hao Ren also turned his head when he heard the familiar male voice, only to find that it was a man in a suit who looked extremely ordinary—if he wasn't the leader of the demon hunters that day, he would really be extremely ordinary.

Vivian instantly became nervous again, but the leader of the demon hunters didn't seem to have any intention of fighting either. He was just extremely surprised, and then he showed an expression that was hard to tell whether it was crying or laughing, and waved to Hao Ren and Vivian to say hello: "We meet again. No fighting today."

Then he turned to the female demon hunter: "Zhao Xi, put away your little tricks, and then... come over here with these two 'friends.'"

The female demon hunter nodded expressionlessly, bent down, and pulled out a small piece of paper with Runic letters drawn on it from under the counter in front of her and stuffed it into her pocket. As the paper was removed, the surrounding atmosphere changed obviously. The customers and employees who had been intentionally or unintentionally avoiding this small area curiously looked at Zhao Xi's surroundings as if they had just woken up from a dream. A clerk belatedly looked at Hao Ren: "Hey, Zhao Xi, are these your acquaintances?"

It seemed that the environment that had dispersed the idlers just now was the effect of the Runic letters.

Hao Ren and Vivian followed the "leader of the demon hunters" to a quiet corner outside the store, and the female demon hunter named Zhao Xi was also called out. The middle-aged man first reprimanded his subordinate: "Can't you take your job seriously even for one day? You put on the runes as soon as you come to work and then sleep all day, or you play with your phone all day. You're making it difficult for me—you're lowering the entire store's performance!"

Zhao Xi looked at her boss with a wooden face: "It's just paying for one more person's salary. It's not that serious."

The middle-aged man frowned: "But you can't just drift along every day, right?"

"First of all, I have a scar on my face," Zhao Xi pointed to her scar, and then pointed to her face. "Secondly, my facial nerves were paralyzed by vampire venom forty years ago. In summary, if I don't use Runic letters to divert other people's attention, I'll have even more of a negative impact on performance."

The middle-aged man: "...Your reasons are valid, but your work attitude is still problematic..."

This sounded like a normal argument between a store leader and a slippery employee. If you didn't consider their identities as demon hunters and the vampires mentioned in the conversation, there really wouldn't be much information, but once you considered the above two key points, the amount of information was huge. Hao Ren coughed, and the middle-aged man had to face the two "old friends" in front of him, who made him feel very embarrassed but had to be treated with respect. He still had that expression that was hard to tell whether it was crying or laughing: "Sorry, let me introduce myself. My name is Liu Sheng—the name I've been using in recent decades. I'm the section manager of this electronics market and the home appliance market next door. Also... I'm a veteran demon hunter."