Chapter 1 The Battle in the City Seems to Have Ended

A group of people ran out of the Shadow Demon Castle's underground passage, climbed onto the last remaining dilapidated tower of the castle, and looked towards the city. Even now, they could still see thick smoke billowing from the streets. The stench of blood and the smell of gunpowder from the battle had not yet dissipated, but the sounds of fighting had quieted down. The spatial channels opened by the demon hunters, as well as the pillars of light left behind by the large-scale spells they had guided in their attempt to destroy the city, had all disappeared. Looking as far as they could, they could vaguely see some people cleaning up the battlefield on the streets, and some fully armed city guards patrolling the streets.

Hespera quickly turned on the walkie-talkie: "Duncan! What's the situation?"

"Mistress? Mistress, are you alright?!" A surprised voice came from the other end of the walkie-talkie, "That's great, we just heard you went to hunt down Bessemon..."

Hespera laughed loudly: "Nonsense, how could anything go wrong with me personally taking action? So, the demon hunters retreated?"

"Yes, yes," Duncan replied hastily, "The demon hunters suddenly retreated... Probably because they realized there were too many city guards and Ancient Ones. After losing their advantage in the surprise attack, they were afraid of too many casualties. Everything is fine back home... Some casualties, but not too bad."

Hespera gave a few instructions to her subordinates, got a general understanding of the demon hunters' retreat, and hung up the communication with a strange expression on her face. Vivian turned her head and grabbed a small bat, smashing it towards Bessemon's head: "Speak, what exactly are the demon hunters up to? Don't tell me you don't know!"

Hao Ren covered his face, watching the small bat that Vivian had thrown. He suddenly felt that there was something wrong with this girl's method of using his bats... But after turning his head and looking at the data terminal on his shoulder, he felt that this method of use didn't seem to be wrong either.

Anyway, the two of them seemed to be gradually synchronizing in certain habits.

Bessemon's face was ashen. The successive blows made him feel exhausted. At this time, he didn't say any more harsh words or put on any airs, just sighed weakly: "Cough... They discovered that the signal of the Origin Relic had disappeared, so of course they retreated. After all, they came for the relic."

"They came for the Origin Relic?" Hao Ren raised his eyebrows. He hadn't really thought about that before. "You told the demon hunters about the relic? You'd rather tell them than tell the others in the city? Are you crazy?"

Bessemon's eyes were bloodshot, but he just snorted coldly without saying much. However, Hao Ren had already figured out what this seemingly harmless but actually crazy old guy had been planning from the beginning: he never intended to share the secret of the Origin Relic with anyone. Both the demon hunters and his fellow "compatriots" were just tools he used to consume each other. He leaked the news to the demon hunters, agreeing with them to open the door to the sanctuary at a certain moment, all in order to create chaos in the city after snatching the door keys from the hands of the two vampire families, leaving Hespera and the Lucas family with no time to care for anything else. He even intended to set the city on fire to buy time – because he never intended to stay here from the beginning.

Bessemon planned to use the Origin Relic to return to the Dream Plane. By then, it wouldn't matter to him if the earth was flooded.

To be honest, if you changed the script, a guy as cunning and meticulous as him would definitely have succeeded, but who told reality to never follow the script? Who knew that ancient artifacts also needed instructions! And Bessemon had confused the functions of the Origin Relic...

But thinking of this, Hao Ren suddenly stroked his chin and muttered: "Perhaps there really is an 'Origin Relic' that can open the door. The aliens from over ten thousand years ago were sent here by that thing... Bessemon was just unlucky and recognized the wrong one."

Lily's ears perked up: "Landlord, what did you say?"

Hao Ren pinched Lily's pointed ears: "I said your ears are a disgrace to your bloodline!"

Leaving these words behind, he ignored Lily's protests and stepped forward, leaving Lily behind, her face flushed as she touched her ears and shouted loudly: "I just wasn't paying attention! Landlord, what exactly did you say just now! What exactly did you say just now..."

Although the demon hunters had retreated, the ancient sanctuary was already riddled with holes. Castles and palaces with hundreds or even thousands of years of history were creaking and groaning, billowing smoke. The blood clans' magnificent houses were blown into piles of rubble. Sculptures and statues on both sides of the street were crookedly lying on the ground. Potholes could be seen everywhere in the city streets. Uncured blood accumulated in these potholes, and some areas were even difficult to walk through. These blood stains were blackish-red, even mixed with strange hues of other colors. They came from various races: vampires, werewolves, half-demons, and of course, demon hunters – strange pools of blood, a rich and nauseating stench of blood, and the tragic scene of the city collapsing and corpses scattered everywhere. These things were intertwined, turning this place into a bizarre hellscape.

Perhaps this is the cycle of cause and effect. Whether it's retribution or irony, everything is in a cycle. Thousands of years ago, humans lived in their cities in fear, only to face a catastrophic disaster because of the whim of some alien "god." And thousands of years later, these alien "gods" lived in sanctuaries in the shadows in fear, also encountering everything they face today because of an ambition of some crazy old man. The Ancient Ones guarding the city looked at everything broken before their eyes. Did this nearly destroyed sanctuary and the corpses scattered everywhere remind them of those human city-states burning in the same way thousands of years ago?

No one could say for sure, and no one was willing to say for sure.

Hao Ren felt a bit emotional. He was now increasingly able to understand the deep meaning of some of the words that Raven 12345 had told him: as an inspector, you must have the standpoint of an inspector. You can have your own ideas in certain personal actions, and stand with certain forces or certain races, but in the face of the big picture, inspectors must be detached from any force. You cannot let yourself get deeply involved in one side, because the deeper you get, the more awkward your situation will be.

The nature of the inspector's mission determines that they must always take a broad view, and pay attention to everything, past and present, of a race. And in the long history, from the perspective of an observer, most races are not always lovable, nor are they always hateful.

Hao Ren shook his head and continued walking towards the Hespera family's residence. Along the way, the group garnered many surprised stares, mainly because there was a five- or six-meter-tall lava demon following in small steps at the back of the group. Izhaks' mighty figure was a sight to behold even in the city of aliens. What was even more of a sight was that he was carrying a half-dead old man in his armpit…

Hao Ren turned his head and glanced at Izhaks, and saw with a wry smile that the giant demon was tiptoeing and trying hard to shuffle his feet behind the team, his big feet stomping on the ground like drumbeats: "Aren't you tired from walking like this?"

Izhaks smiled, his voice rumbling: "I'm afraid of stepping on you if I take big steps, and I'm afraid I won't be able to control this guy if I turn back into human form – don't look at him as if he's honest on the surface, he's actually making a lot of noise."

Bessemon was shocked: "How did you know I was exerting my strength?!"

Izhaks chuckled: "I've crushed sixteen heroes and twenty-eight pure-blooded demons bigger than you in my armpits! I know which rib you're using when you breathe, I advise you to be honest, or I'll give you another lesson..."

Hao Ren's forehead dripped with sweat. It was the first time he knew that Izhaks had a bad habit of crushing people to death with his armpits in battle. How suffocated must those who died in his hands be?

Nangong Wuyue had already changed back to human form early on, because she was very unwilling to let the scales on her beautiful belly rub against the blood and filth flowing on the streets. Many of the corpses on the streets had been taken away by their respective families, but the bloodstains still remained. The siren girl frowned and couldn't help but mutter to herself: "So miserable..."

Hespera also frowned, sniffed hard, and then smacked her lips: "Such a waste..."

Hao Ren: "…?"

"There's so much…" Hespera saw that no one was paying attention to her, so she spoke again to attract Vivian's attention. She also inconspicuously rubbed her small steps towards a pool of blood next to her, "What a waste, what a waste…"

Vivian glared at her: "No! At least at this time, be a little reserved for me!"

Hespera said with a mournful face: "Then… Can I use a straw?"

Vivian slapped her on the head: "I told you to be a little reserved!"

Hespera lowered her head: "I'm just curious what demon hunter blood tastes like…"

Hao Ren finally understood what was going on. He looked at Hespera with a shocked expression. Vivian smiled helplessly at him when she saw this: "Understand now? This is cultural difference."

Hao Ren nodded vigorously!