Chapter 1 A Trip to the North

Regarding the news Heissiana brought, Hao Ren felt it necessary to assemble a team and explore Scandinavia.

The "Evil Spirit Vivian" incident from two months ago was still fresh in his memory. Although Raven 12345 hadn't provided any further instructions, Hao Ren wanted to investigate further himself. Now that it was confirmed that the author of that magic book had left behind more than one relic, he felt he had to figure things out no matter what.

"The place we're going to is desolate, far from human settlements, and to avoid attracting attention, it's best not to take regular transportation routes," Heissiana seemed to have anticipated Hao Ren's decision to go, and she already had a plan in place. "I'll arrange this trip for you."

As she spoke, she kept glancing at Hao Ren, making him feel uneasy. He could only awkwardly touch his nose. "Ahem, you don't have to be so obvious about your opinion of me—if you don't want to buy my ticket, I can go myself. I've been on more business trips than you."

Vivian哼(heng, a humph of displeasure)ed unhappily, and Heissiana could only roll her eyes. "Tch, I'm not so petty as all that."

Hao Ren thought to himself that he didn't really need Heissiana's arrangements. Having the Data Terminal teleport them over was a "whoosh" and they'd be there. Aside from not being able to find their way around after arriving, everything else was smoother than taking a plane. But since she was the guide this time, and it was a "small-scale activity" on Earth, he wouldn't bother worrying about it himself. Anyway, she was Vivian's alternate identity, so there was no need to waste Heissiana's manpower…

Vivian was also particularly concerned about the matters involving the magic book. She not only cared about what was going on with her red-haired version, but she was also a bit concerned about the "Purgatory" space, so she asked somewhat impatiently, "When is a good time for us to set off?"

As soon as Heissiana saw Vivian take the initiative to talk to her, the expression on her face became as sweet as if it had been photoshopped. "Vivian-daren, there's no need to rush. Anyway, the ruins are there and won't run away. I'll stay here for a couple of days and we can discuss this properly…"

Vivian quickly moved away. "Don't. It's best to leave as soon as possible—I feel uneasy under the same roof as you, and there's not enough room in this house."

Heissiana pointed at Duncan and Cassandra. "It's okay, those two can hang from the old poplar tree in front of the door. I can stay with you…"

Vivian glared fiercely at her, and Heissiana could only raise her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, we can leave anytime. I've arranged everything. We can set off anytime within this week. But it's still necessary to make some preparations. The place we're going to is quite desolate, and it used to be where the gates of Purgatory opened… Who knows what might be there."

Lily blinked. "What do we need to prepare? This is my first time going to hell."

"It's Purgatory, not hell," Heissiana glanced sideways at Lily. "And we're only going to the old site of the Purgatory gate. That gate closed hundreds of years ago. We don't need to go in, and we can't get in anyway. You'd better prepare some things to break curses and dissolve magical effects. Wizards always leave a lot of troublesome traps in their lairs, mostly specifically for the other races."

Hao Ren turned to look at his teammates. He couldn't find anyone who looked like a magic expert—Vivian was knowledgeable but always forgot things every now and then, and the rest were either from another world or just amateurs. So he could only clap his hands. "Prepare a couple of thicker coats. It's cold in Scandinavia."

Heissiana thought that the "Shelter Leader" would say something insightful, and was waiting for him to continue, but after waiting for a long time, nothing happened. She could only stare blankly at Hao Ren. "...That's it?"

Hao Ren nodded seriously. "That's it."

"Damn it, how did you bunch of weirdos survive until now?" Heissiana covered her forehead. "Are the demon hunters in this area all idiots?"

Hao Ren was too embarrassed to tell this girl that the local demon hunters had already been recruited by his organization…

Two days later, Hao Ren led Vivian, Lily, and the Nangong siblings to the international airport. Apart from Heissiana's trio, these were all the people he brought along this time.

Izhaks and his daughter didn't come along. Firstly, because an Earth relic wasn't a big deal to Hao Ren anymore, and secondly, because both father and daughter were from another world: they knew nothing about Earth witchcraft and the Purgatory space. If they really came along, they would probably be a burden if they encountered anything other than combat, so they simply stayed at home to look after the house and the children. As for Nangong's parents, they were now running their little restaurant in peace, so they didn't come along either.

Although the Nangong siblings were only average in terms of combat strength, the former had some theoretical knowledge of witchcraft, and the latter was at least the only healer in the team, so Hao Ren brought them along.

When operating on Earth, high combat power wasn't necessary. The Nangong siblings sometimes seemed more reliable.

After departing from the Capital International Airport, the group headed to Finland. There was nothing to say about this route. Heissiana had arranged passports and tickets for everyone. She had obviously used her family's power to get everything done in two days—Hao Ren thought of the saying "Every existing alien family has a shadow force in the human world," so he didn't delve into the matter.

After arriving in Finland, the group didn't stay in Helsinki. The vehicle arranged by Heissiana took everyone to a small airport located north of the city, where a private plane was waiting.

It was a twin-engine, small propeller plane. The plane was marked with the name of a foreign company in Russian. Hao Ren saw the same markings on many of the airport's facilities, but the scale of the airport and the type of aircraft parked there obviously didn't belong to a dedicated airline: everything here obviously belonged to a large enterprise for private use. Lily stared wide-eyed, curiously looking at the scenery. She seemed to recognize the company from the Russian words: "Solanko Company… I remember that seems to be a Russian foreign trade company… I saw it online once, I have a slight impression."

"They are all supported by the Heissiana family. The industries here are all mine," Heissiana stretched in the cold wind, a pleasant expression on her face. "I told you, alien families that have survived to this day basically support their own human forces. This is an example. Many of my arms are also obtained through these human hands—although they are weak, their work ability is first-class."

Hao Ren blinked, looking around with a hint of novelty. In front of the hangar in the distance, he could see two tractors slowly driving out, and several tall Europeans in work clothes were busily working in front of the hangar. They were undoubtedly human: all the staff at this airport were human.

But did these workers know that their behind-the-scenes boss was a group of vampires?

He casually asked the question, and Heissiana laughed after hearing it. "Ahaha, it's true that workers often call Boris a vampire—Boris is my human servant, but being called a vampire certainly has nothing to do with his bloodline. These ordinary human employees have no idea who their real boss is. They just need to get paid by the company. Only the top ten or so people in the company know who they're working for, and they've all been placed under a blood curse. After all, this era is not peaceful, and I can't spread my secrets everywhere."

Lily "Oh"ed in a drawn-out tone. She suddenly felt that Heissiana was very powerful, and after she finished oh-ing, everyone unanimously focused their gaze on Vivian.

Vivian felt awkward. "Why are you looking at me?"

"...In a sense, you should be considered very wealthy," Lily pointed at Heissiana. "Don't you feel ashamed standing next to your small account?"

"Didn't you see the Heissiana family's wealth when you were at the Athens Sanctuary? What's so surprising now?" Vivian turned her face away awkwardly. "Anyway, I'm not getting involved in this girl's affairs, otherwise her company won't last long."

To be honest, Vivian's statement was a bit pessimistic and a bit idealistic, but considering that this was an experience accumulated over ten thousand years, the result of countless experiments, Hao Ren couldn't think of anything to comfort her. In the end, he could only choke out a sentence: "Just don't buy stocks, and make some contributions to the world economy."

The facts proved that this guy really didn't know how to comfort people: Vivian's face turned as green as the stock market when she heard this…