Chapter 1 I'm Full

“I’m full,” Vivian said, wiping her mouth after the last piece of barbecue was swallowed. She nodded politely to Hao Ren and Lily, “Thank you for the treat.”

Lily stared blankly at the empty barbecue rack. After a long while, she muttered, "Wow—this appetite is on par with mine... Are you going to be a great eating performance artist too?"

Hao Ren had similar thoughts to Lily: When did Vivian have such a huge appetite? Could it be that she had been starving herself at home usually?

Vivian's face flushed slightly after hearing Lily's muttering, and she explained awkwardly, "I was asleep for a long time… and I probably hadn't eaten before I fell asleep, so… so I need to eat more to replenish my strength…"

"Oh, I understand, I understand," Hao Ren quickly smoothed things over. "Your appetite isn't actually that big—you've only eaten this one meal in decades. On average, you probably eat less than dew…"

Vivian was even more embarrassed to hear this…

The three had already introduced themselves to each other while eating. The dog-man-woman trio, who were usually very familiar with each other, had to act like three strangers in this chaotic space-time. As the only one who knew the truth, Hao Ren felt the awkward atmosphere was particularly uncomfortable. Therefore, less than two seconds after the silence, he actively tried to find a topic: "Speaking of Vivian, what are your plans next?"

Vivian glanced at Hao Ren. She still didn't know where these two people came from, but the goodwill they had gained from the meal was still substantial. She thought that someone who was so generous as to treat her to a meal would at least not be an enemy—after all, the cost was too high, so she didn't hide anything: "I'm a little confused now. I can't remember many things from the past. I don't even know what era it is now, or what the outside world is like… So I plan to find a human settlement first to gather some information, and then consider how to live. Hao… Ren, since you are my friend, you should know about my past, right? Did I have any arrangements before I fell asleep?"

Hao Ren knew that this was both an inquiry and a test, and he had already prepared the answer: "You didn't have any arrangements. When was the last time you prepared well before going to sleep? I only know that you were fighting with someone in Siberia before you fell asleep this time. I don't know the specifics."

"Oh… I see," Vivian pondered, then looked up. "What about you two? What are your plans?"

"I'm going south to find a big human city!" Lily jumped up impatiently. "There's a lot of good food in big human cities! After I go, I'm going to be a…"

Before she could finish, Hao Ren pressed her down: There was no need to emphasize the husky girl's great dream again.

Vivian frowned imperceptibly after seeing Lily's naive and simple behavior: "You're so careless… Do you know what the human world is like? There are many hidden dangers there."

"Hao Ren told me!" Lily puffed out her chest proudly. "He also said that there are other alien races hidden in the human world, and there's also a kind of guy called a demon hunter who will come looking for trouble, but I'm not afraid. I've been living with humans since I was little. I know how to pretend to be human!"

She actually dared to say that, this careless fellow who would rush out of the forest to fight with people while wearing beast ears and a tail!

"Demon hunters? Are those lunatics still active?" A trace of gloom appeared on Vivian's face. "They're really a lingering presence in every era. Little werewolf, you'd better not be so confident. Those demon hunters have noses that are more sensitive than yours. The scent on you is as conspicuous as the moon in the night sky to them. If you really run into those guys, you won't be able to hide no matter how well you disguise yourself."

Lily nodded happily: "Oh, I got it!"

Vivian was momentarily speechless and turned her head to look at Hao Ren in confusion: "...Does your new friend have some… developmental… problems?"

She pointed to her head with a very subtle gesture.

Hao Ren's mouth twitched: "Don't mind her, she's always like this. Speaking of which, you really can't recognize me?"

Several hours had passed since he first contacted Vivian, but the other party still showed no signs of regaining her memory. This made Hao Ren feel anxious. In the entire rewind process, he could consider and anticipate every link, but the key step of "awakening Vivian" was something that no one knew how to do. He didn't know, and even the "all-knowing" Raven 12345 outside didn't know. How exactly could Vivian be awakened from her memory slumber? Looking at Vivian, who completely regarded him as a stranger, Hao Ren felt more and more uncertain.

Vivian showed a hint of doubt after hearing his words. She looked at the man in front of her more seriously: "To be honest… it's a little familiar. I always feel like I've been with you for a long time, and it's a very trusting relationship… but I really can't remember."

The look of expectation on Hao Ren's face quickly faded. He knew that the first half of Vivian's words was not polite, but that she really retained some impressions, but these impressions were too superficial to fully awaken her memory.

It seemed that the conditions needed to awaken her memory were far more than just "mutual contact." It might require a crucial medium.

Thinking of this, Hao Ren made up his mind: "Since you just woke up and your mind isn't very clear, you need to rest for a few days to recover your spirits. We have a place to stay in the forest. Come with us—uh, Lily, do you mind?"

Hao Ren remembered that the hunter's cabin in the forest was still the territory of the husky spirit, so he quickly asked. He had always regarded Lily as the tenant and himself as the landlord, but now that their identities were reversed, he really felt a little unaccustomed to it.

"I don't mind, woof," Lily certainly wouldn't care about such details. She had already been completely bought over by Hao Ren's fighting skills and a bag of spicy sticks, and she was still thinking about making him her big brother, so naturally she wouldn't raise any objections. "Anyway, I'm not in a hurry to leave. I have to plan carefully if I want to go south. I plan to prepare food these few days. Why don't you all stay at my place?"

Vivian looked at the enthusiastic two people in front of her and hesitated, especially when facing Hao Ren: "You… you should know that it's easy to have bad luck when you're with me, right? Are you sure you want to take me in?"

She was still afraid that her "old friend" had forgotten her jinxed constitution, so she reminded him.

"Don't worry, don't worry, I'm prepared," Hao Ren patted his chest. "I'm not even afraid of treating you to a meal, what am I afraid of? Besides, in this godforsaken Siberia, there isn't a single person for hundreds of miles around, and there's no economic system, so how much worse can things get? At most, it'll be harder to hunt—but Lily has an entire wolf pack."

Vivian was greatly moved by Hao Ren's words and nodded seriously with a serious expression: "You and I must have been friends who went through thick and thin!"

Lily was confused by what she heard. She didn't know how risky it was to be friends with Vivian, and she looked at them blankly: "What are you talking about?"

Hao Ren waved his hand: "It's nothing!"

Soon, the three returned to the hunter's cabin deep in the forest.

The good weather of the day seemed to be over, and gusts of cold wind were blowing through the pine forest, stirring up whistling sounds outside the hunter's cabin.

Lily cleaned up the fireplace to prepare a fire, while Hao Ren noticed that Vivian had been fiddling with a small metal object since she settled down, and he couldn't help but be curious: "What is that?"

"I don't know," Vivian handed the metal object to Hao Ren. "It seems to be a strangely shaped key. This thing was on me when I woke up, so I guess this thing should be important, but I can't remember what it is."

Hao Ren took the thing and glanced at it, his eyes suddenly narrowing.

Just as Vivian said, it was indeed a key—but it was not a key that could be seen in this era.

It was only a few centimeters long, and thin. The years had eroded its metallic texture. Even if its owner subconsciously protected it in every possible way, this distorted space-time still caused the key to appear severely weathered. Its surface was covered with rust and black mold, and some parts had been worn down to the point where they were unrecognizable. The key itself also had slight signs of bending, but Hao Ren still felt a strong sense of familiarity with it.

He vigorously wiped the surface of the key, and finally he could vaguely see the trademark and text under the rust.

This was the key to his home, the key to the front door!

Outside the hunter's cabin, the wind was getting stronger and stronger, and the swirling snow was falling again. The wolf pack guarding nearby began to howl uneasily.

"Do you know what this is?" Vivian looked curiously at Hao Ren's actions. From the other party's actions, she could see that this man was indeed very familiar with this "key", and even probably had special feelings for it.

"This is indeed a key… it's the key to 'our' home…"

"The key to 'our' home?" Vivian's brow furrowed. "Am I living with you?"

Hao Ren didn't speak. He finally vaguely guessed what the "medium" needed to awaken the other party was.

He opened his dimensional pocket, took out an identical key, and handed the two keys to Vivian.

Vivian was still wondering what Hao Ren's words meant just now, and she felt a vague sense of vigilance, but when she saw the two keys, her expression suddenly froze.

Although one of the keys had been weathered and worn beyond recognition, she could still recognize at a glance that they were originally the same.

At least Hao Ren couldn't have "forged" such a similar imitation before meeting her.

The wind and snow outside the cabin was about to turn into a storm. The pine forest was rustling, and even the entire world was making a low whimper in the wind and snow. The sound of the wolf pack had completely subsided at some point, drowned out by the roaring wind and snow, but inside the cabin, the sound of the wind and snow outside seemed to be isolated by a heavy curtain, almost inaudible.

Vivian finally looked up.

"How am I here? What happened?"