Chapter 1 The Scrolls of Bai Huo

The number of scrolls Bai Huo brought wasn’t large, and with the aid of translation plugins and data terminals, the information recorded on them was quickly interpreted. Through interpreting this data, Hao Ren confirmed several things:

First, after the Olympus “God System” was destroyed back then, some important information did indeed flow out, information that even Hesperides didn’t know about.

Second, the artifact carried by the fleeing attendant back then was 100% related to Vivian, because the Zeus family of the past simply didn’t have any blood or plague-related magic, and the only bloodkin connected to them was Vivian.

Finally, there was at least an 80% chance that the information the fleeing attendant took away was what Hao Ren was looking for.

“This attendant is now considered ‘presumed killed’,” Bai Huo shook his head gently, “His last appearance was in Europe, in the region of modern-day England and France, but that was many centuries ago. After a large-scale witch-demon war, he and twelve demon hunters responsible for the pursuit disappeared together in a magical explosion. No one survived at the time, and there were no witnesses, so the clerical officer responsible for recording the incident tentatively determined that the target was dead after confirming the scene. However, in the following centuries, there were occasional rumors of the ‘artifact scepter’ appearing, and suspected evidence that the attendant was still alive was also discovered, so this matter is now essentially an unsolved case.”

Demon hunters were excellent hunters, but even experienced veteran hunters could lose track of their prey. Now it seemed that the information the demon hunters possessed had been cut off.

“Only knowing that he last appeared in Europe, such information is too little,” Vivian shook her head gently, “You said that in the last encirclement, twelve demon hunters ‘perished together’ with that attendant? What level were those twelve demon hunters, approximately?”

“Two demon hunter masters, ten elite hunters,” Bai Huo knew what Vivian wanted to say, “Not the ‘strongest lineup’. Twenty elite hunters and three demon hunter masters failed to capture the target in the first place, so I also think that the last hunt back then was actually a trick of shedding the cicada’s shell, and that attendant is probably still alive.”

Lily looked at Bai Huo with a grin: “A small attendant under Zeus has given you a headache for so long, this must be a dark history within your Order.”

At this time, she didn’t remember her identity as the “former emperor.”

“It is indeed a dark history. This information was originally sealed up, and several old seniors were quite embarrassed when they mentioned this matter,” Bai Huo wasn’t pretentious, and admitted it generously, “There are actually similar incidents… After all, a history of ten thousand years is here, and there should always be some less glorious records over such a long time.”

Hao Ren discussed a few words with Vivian in a low voice, and raised his head: “Although your side’s clues have been cut off, the alien side might be able to pick up the thread. Most of the surviving aliens will have their names registered in the directories of various shelters. I can ask the Shadow Council to help investigate.”

“Then that’s your business,” Bai Huo nodded, “I still need to take these scrolls back, but you can copy the information inside. These things are no longer confidential.”

Hao Ren had the data terminal record the things written in the scrolls, and then sent them directly to the Shadow Council headquarters in Athens, while also explaining the situation. Mimir and Hesperides quickly sent back replies, saying that they would do their best to cooperate with this investigation.

After bidding farewell to Bai Huo, Hao Ren began to wait for the Shadow Council to send back the investigation progress. In fact, he didn’t have much hope for the Shadow Council at first, after all, it was a bit difficult for a hastily established organization to spare manpower to deal with such a task, and for a long time in the past, the various alien shelters on Earth could be said to be isolated from each other, and information exchange was almost zero. Under these conditions, finding the whereabouts of a fugitive was no different from finding a needle in a haystack—Hao Ren felt that he would probably have to wait a long time before he could gain something.

During this time, he could even try teaching the little evil spirit how to open the refrigerator and find food for itself…

However, to his surprise, Hesperides sent back a reply the next day, saying that she had already found a clue.

“In northern France, in a forest, there used to be an isolated small village, a place that had been forgotten, but the ‘prey’ that the demon hunters lost track of once lived there in seclusion.”

Hao Ren and Vivian decided to set off immediately to check the situation. Hesperides said that she would also go there, and in this incident related to the Olympus family, she felt that she had an obligation to provide necessary assistance.

Of course, Lily, this husky spirit who always loved to join in the fun, was definitely going to follow along.

It was just that Hao Ren didn’t know whether or not to bring a new “member.”

The little evil thought entity was running around in the living room while shouting, venting her excess energy and destructive desires in anger and frenzy. She wasn’t annoyed even when she was kicked away, she would roll over and get up to continue making trouble with even greater vigor. Hao Ren looked at this scene with some difficulty: “Are we really going to bring this…unidentified creature along?”

“Didn’t the goddess say to let her stay with me,” the expression on Vivian’s face wasn’t exactly pleasant either. She also regarded her little doppelganger as a huge trouble, but she still decided to bring this little troublemaker along, “Leaving her at home would only add to the chaos, and if she slipped out and caused trouble, the fun would be even greater. To be honest…it’s more reassuring to keep such an unstable factor within our sight.”

Hao Ren could only sigh: “Oh…then let’s bring her along. Can someone help me get her cage?”

On the other side, the little evil spirit had no idea what was happening. In fact, her muddled brain couldn’t think about anything at all. She ran to Bean, brandishing her claws in a demonstration: “Hiss-ha—”

And then she was slapped away again.

A day later, according to the address provided by Hesperides, Hao Ren, Vivian, and Lily arrived in a dense forest located on the French border.

This time, the trip didn’t go through conventional channels. Using the data terminal’s spatial transfer function to quickly reach the destination had now become Hao Ren’s habit, and Lily and Vivian had long since developed a good immunity to the symptoms of spatial transfer sickness, and no longer vomited like they used to.

However, there was a little fellow in the team who was using spatial transfer for the first time, and her condition wasn’t so good.

The little evil thought entity was lying half-dead on a large rock by the roadside, shivering and making all kinds of strange humming noises, obviously this simple and crude spatial transfer had caused her great stress…

“I never thought that an evil thought entity like this would actually be afraid of this,” Lily squatted beside the rock, curiously poking the little evil spirit’s head with her paw, “Wow, she doesn’t even have the energy to hiss and ha at me!”

The little evil thought entity curled up into a ball, shivering, and dodged Lily’s fingers in great fear, completely unable to see the energetic appearance she usually had.

“She has ‘fear’ emotions, and she will calm down if the environment undergoes drastic changes,” Hao Ren glanced at Lily, and then looked around, “If I’m not mistaken…Hesperides should be waiting nearby.”

It was midsummer, and the plants and trees in the northern hemisphere were flourishing. The location where Hao Ren and the others were was a small clearing deep in the forest. Looking around, all that could be seen were lush bushes, vines, and towering ancient trees that almost blocked out the sky. The humid and warm air unique to the forest, mixed with the smell of soil, constantly blew from the forest, making people feel a little irritable. After Lily finished poking the shivering little one, she stood up and stretched. This dense jungle made the artistic cells in her bones sprout: “It is difficult to know the way ahead in the deep forest, and the sound of leaves does not distinguish the accent of home… Hey, Bat, why don’t you create some cold air? This damn place is so stuffy and hot.”

Vivian conveniently conjured a large area of base storms wrapped in ice slag to create a bit of a hometown feeling for Lily, then tiptoed and looked into the depths of the dense forest: “Hesperides might not have arrived yet, after all, we came a bit early… Speaking of which, I can feel some weak magical power, there really is something in the depths of this forest.”

As soon as Vivian finished speaking, she heard a familiar voice ringing out not far away: “I’ve already arrived.”

Hao Ren looked up and saw Hesperides, dressed in casual clothes, walking out of the forest.

After greeting each other, Hao Ren asked curiously: “Speaking of which, how did you know about this place?”

“Coincidence, the Zeus attendant mentioned in the demon hunter records is one of the old guys I knew back then,” Hesperides smiled, “I just didn’t expect that guy to have such ‘glorious achievements.’”

“What truly impressive ‘achievements’,” Vivian raised an eyebrow, “He probably took away the most powerful weapon on Mount Olympus, and the demon hunters lost almost as many troops on him as they did chasing Horus back then.”

“I don’t know about that,” Hesperides shrugged, “After Mount Olympus collapsed, the survivors hid in the east and west, and our contact was intermittent. People were often found and killed by demon hunters, and sometimes people were missing for centuries. Under these circumstances, it’s already quite difficult for me to know that there are a few people still alive.”

“Let’s go to the place you mentioned first,” Hao Ren looked up at the depths of the dense forest, “We can talk about the specific situation on the way.”