Many things cannot be judged by their appearance alone.

Vivian's image in Hao Ren's house was simply that of a nanny and cook—she was good-tempered, had excellent culinary skills, knew how to manage a household, and was gentle and considerate, disliking conflict (except when fighting with Lily). But these qualities did not diminish her insight as an Elder. As an ancient being who had lived for ten thousand years and witnessed all the changes on this planet, Vivian, even with her occasional amnesia, still possessed remarkable acuity and wisdom. Just by observing the situation in the square, she could surmise that behind this seemingly simple public disturbance, there were actually multiple forces at play, pushing things along.

Moreover, these instigators were not even the emerging families who were so outwardly keen on "breaking out of the sanctuary." Rather, they were certain old fogies within the council hall—certain... old fogies who had lived to a ripe old age for nothing.

Well, that last sentence was purely a traditional saying and had nothing to do with Lily, who truly had lived six thousand years like a dog.

Therefore, after casually dealing with those most obstructive and troublesome individuals in front of the council hall's main entrance, Vivian directly pushed open the doors.

Without asking for permission or wasting time at the registration desk, Hao Ren and his group directly barged into the innermost conference room of the building. The large room appeared to be in the midst of a meeting, with representatives of the city's highest authority seated around a circular table: including leaders of various major families and a handful of Elders.

There were also some family representatives present who did not belong to the Athens Sanctuary; they had traveled from other sanctuaries. Because the Athens Sanctuary was one of the largest anomalous strongholds in the European region, the major families chose to use it as a place to discuss important matters collectively.

Speaking of Elders, Hao Ren noticed that not all the ancestral figures were present. At least several of the living fossils he had met here last time were absent. It seemed that the Elders had not all attended—for those senior figures who had lived for too long, they no longer paid much attention to the world's disputes and changes, like Hesperides, who preferred to spend a day wiping tables in her little antique shop to escape the peace and quiet, rather than come here and mess with a bunch of immature brats playing power games. The few Elders who appeared in the hall at this moment were mostly dragged here by some major family or simply came to freeload tea.

Arriving early was not as good as arriving at the right time. Hao Ren and his group had coincidentally arrived at the scene of the sanctuary's gathering and disturbance and caught up with the town administrators' meeting to discuss future affairs. As Vivian pushed open the conference room door, Jean Lucas, the patriarch of the Lucas family, was standing up to speak. The loud bang of the door interrupted the meeting, and everyone around the round table immediately turned their gaze towards the entrance.

Hao Ren and Vivian were leading a group of people in a boisterous entrance.

Heather Ann, who had been dozing off at the round table, immediately jumped up: "Ah! Vivi..."

Before the little brat could finish speaking, Vivian took out a small bat and threw it over, smashing Heather Ann's next words and her impending pounce back in their place with a thud: "Still goofing off! The troublemakers outside are already using you as a typical example, you know?"

Heather Ann, while peeling the little bat off her face, giggled: "I know—who told me to be a representative of the emerging families but also firmly oppose opening the sanctuary gates? Those idiots outside probably hate me. I guess they originally thought I was on their side..."

As Heather Ann spoke, she subtly edged closer to Vivian. Seeing that the latter didn't react, she finally shamelessly pounced on her: "Vivian, I've missed you so much..."

"Thud!"

Vivian smashed Heather Ann back with another small bat, but she didn't continue to lecture her. She knew that Heather Ann, besides being a little brat, was also a mature family head. The troublemakers outside in the square were nothing to her; this little bat spirit probably had her own plans and didn't need anyone else to worry about it.

After successfully suppressing Heather Ann, Vivian grabbed the little brat by the collar and came to the round table. The table was indeed large enough, embodying the ancient aliens' luxurious style of "exaggerating first, regardless of whether it's useful or not." Even though those qualified to participate in the meeting had basically taken their seats, there were still at least a third of the seats around the table empty, so Hao Ren and his group simply found their own seats. Their bold intrusion into the meeting could be said to be quite disrespectful, but the people around the conference table looked at each other and no one stood up to comment—because the events that had occurred in the square outside had been reported in. The attendees knew that the Countess seemed to be in a bad mood today. They rummaged through their respective family trees and discovered that at least one of their ancestors had been beaten by the Countess, so they simply decided not to jump out...

And those Elders sitting across the round table, sipping tea and appearing to be passing the time, had even less opinion on Vivian's intrusion. They even nodded respectfully in greeting. These people's fathers hadn't been beaten by Vivian—they themselves had been beaten...

Seeing that the atmosphere was rather stiff, Hao Ren felt that he should break the silence first, so he chuckled twice: "It's quite lively in the square outside."

"You know what's going on," Jean Lucas shrugged, with no expression on his face, as if what was happening in the square outside was just a farce, "The demon hunters have disappeared, and their strongholds have become empty cities. Now the sanctuary is divided into two factions: the conservatives believe that we should act cautiously and maintain the status quo for the time being, while the radicals believe that this is a great opportunity to retake the world, advocating for first sending elites to destroy all the demon hunter strongholds, and then regaining control of the world."

"We've known this for a long time," Vivian waved her hand. "Which faction are you in?"

"I think we should act cautiously," Jean Lucas thought for a moment, carefully choosing his words, "Those who are here are basically of this mindset. However, we can't just keep waiting like this. The disappearance of the demon hunters is a turning point no matter what, the situation has changed, and we should take some action. Hiding in the sanctuary is not a long-term solution, it has no future, we should strive for some benefits..."

Vivian blinked: "Oh, so it seems that you're one of the backers behind the group in the square."

Jean's expression immediately changed slightly: "This..."

"Isn't it boring?" Vivian didn't give the other party a chance to finish speaking, her attitude extremely assertive, "How old are you all? How many dynastic changes have you experienced? And yet you're using these little tricks to scheme against each other at this time? And these petty schemes are not even as clever as those used by humans, I can see through them at a glance. The demon hunters have worn away your courage, and you've worn away your sense of honor in the sanctuary, haven't you?"

Hao Ren felt a chill on his arm. He turned his head and saw Nangong Wuyue poking his wrist with the tip of her tail. The siren girl was a little worried: "Why do I feel like Vivian is acting strange?"

"No way—she has this aura when she talks to 'juniors'. Of course, not when she's at home."

Although he said that, Hao Ren actually knew what Vivian was preparing.

She was building up momentum, trying to overwhelm all the family leaders here, at least for the short time that the momentum was in effect, she wanted no one to object to her opinion.

Then Hao Ren could roughly reveal the situation inside the demon hunters—by then, the dominance of the topic would be entirely on Vivian and Hao Ren's side.

After all, the two had been together for more than two years, they had this much understanding.

Vivian's assertive performance did make the people at the scene a little at a loss. They all knew more or less about the temperament of this "Red Moon Countess." They knew that this great figure, except when she was about to fall asleep and became extremely violent and unfeeling, was usually a very gentle senior. So when they saw that Vivian was in a bad mood, they were all particularly nervous. After all, the most terrifying thing was when a nice person lost their temper...

And they were also very worried that Vivian was "getting sleepy" again. If this great figure ushered in a sleep cycle in this place, it was estimated that not many in the entire sanctuary would survive...

Of course, there were also people among the attendees who felt annoyed by the current situation. They believed that Hao Ren and his group's presumptuous intrusion and their act of pointing fingers were extremely rude. Although they also knew the prestige of Vivian Anesstta, and also knew that the "Heather Ann Family's power" in the sanctuary could actually be counted under Vivian's name, these people who suddenly broke in were actually qualified to participate in the meeting, but they were still somewhat dissatisfied with the interruption of the meeting.

However, just as these family leaders with dissatisfied faces were preparing to stand up, Hao Ren stood up first: "Alright, Vivian has finished her piece, let me add a few words—we just came from the demon hunters' headquarters."

There was a sudden sound of chairs scraping against the floor in the room. At least two-thirds of the attendees looked over in shock, and even two vampire representatives poured tea into their necks. Clearly, they had no idea about this beforehand.

But Hao Ren also noticed that the expressions on the faces of the Elders sitting across the round table were very calm, they were just watching with interest. Hesperides even went over and gave two of the Elders a high-five. Hao Ren could faintly hear them murmuring something:

"See, they were really taken aback."

"Nonsense, weren't you also taken aback when you first heard the news?"

When Vivian set off for the Arctic Fortress, she told Hesperides her plan, asking Hesperides to lead the Elders in the Athens Sanctuary to maintain the situation. And now it seemed that this news had only been maintained and passed between a few Elders in the end. The ordinary family leaders in the sanctuary had no idea what Hao Ren and his group had been doing for the past half a month.