Chapter 1 A Place on No Map

In the north, where the borders of Finland and Russia meet, lies a place unlisted on any map. It is far from human settlements and traffic routes, a reclusive hermit hidden in the desolate wilderness near the Arctic Circle. Though mankind continues to expand its domain, some places on this planet remain beyond their reach—like the siren cities in the deep sea, or a cursed land once connected to purgatory.

These places are protected from prying eyes by supernatural forces, making them unreachable by ordinary means. But compared to the heavily guarded siren city of Nathatun, the "Purgatory Entrance" that everyone was heading to was evidently a lesser challenge. Heissiana had somehow managed to discover the location of this "secret realm" nestled between Finland and Russia, and now she was personally leading everyone to their destination.

The team first flew from Helsinki to a secret airfield at the end of the Kemi River on Heissiana's family plane. This was disguised as an internal inspection by senior executives of the Solanne Corporation to evade any lurking demon hunter sentinels. Afterward, they would drive north along the Kemi River until they reached the entrance to the secret realm. Fortunately, this entrance wasn't too far from the Heissiana family's secret airfield, and they could reach it in less than half a day. By the time they landed, it was just noon, so Vivian decided to depart immediately.

The Arctic Circle wind was biting, and to avoid drawing unnecessary attention, Hao Ren and the others had all changed into long, thick overcoats. The group now stood beside the small airfield, looking like secret agents about to blow up an airport, each wrapped up tightly in their coats. Heissiana, meanwhile, was talking to one of her human servants—she rarely left the Athens Sanctuary in person, so she had some matters regarding her family's business to discuss.

Standing before Heissiana was a portly, balding old man with a conspicuous red nose. His neck seemed too short, completely hidden by his collar. He wore an exquisite, high-end suit and gleaming leather shoes, as if he had just attended a high-society banquet. This man was named Boris, the chairman of the Solanne Corporation and the legal and nominal owner of the Solanne business—however, few knew that this man had lived for over a century and a half by pledging allegiance to vampires. He was simply managing a backyard garden for a vampire family in the Athens Sanctuary.

Boris reported on the recent situation to Heissiana with utmost respect. After learning that his mistress might personally visit this place, he had been waiting at this cold, remote small airfield for three days, just waiting for the opportunity to report: the power of the blood curse made it impossible for him to resist the heartfelt desire to be loyal. Lilly watched this scene from the side, exhaling white vapor as she asked Vivian, "Honestly, you really don't plan to live with Heissiana—even if you don't live with her, you could spend her money. I can't even imagine how rich this little bat is."

Hearing Lilly's words, Boris looked at the group of strangers with some awe. He didn't recognize them, but anyone who could be with his mistress was certainly no ordinary character, so he paid special attention to their appearances, perhaps this caution would come in handy in the future.

Vivian, however, turned her head awkwardly after hearing Lilly's words: "I don't like the atmosphere of the Sanctuary, and I don't like Heissiana's current lifestyle. But she's grown up, and I can't forcibly interfere, so it's better not to get involved."

"Of course, the main reason is that you're afraid of ruining her," Nangong Sanba tightened his clothes and looked at Heissiana with slight doubt. "Seriously, is your bad luck really that powerful? Looking at the foundation of the Heissiana family... even if you squander it, it wouldn't be enough to let you ruin it as soon as you get involved, right?"

"A thick foundation? Was the Kingdom of Troy's foundation thick or not? Was Cleopatra's foundation thick or not? Was the Roman Empire's foundation thick or not?" Vivian scoffed at this optimistic idea. "They didn't last more than ten years after I started getting involved..."

Heissiana listened to her subordinate's report while also paying attention to Vivian and the others' conversation beside her. At this point, she couldn't help but interrupt Boris, waving her hand to stop him, and pointing at Vivian to introduce, "Boris, take good care of this great one. She is the progenitor of the Heissiana family. Everything the Heissiana family has is hers."

After saying that, she gave Vivian a provocative look, as if she was quite pleased with her decisiveness. Vivian didn't react for a moment, she just stood there dumbfounded with her mouth open, while Boris, after a moment of shock, quickly bowed to "the mistress's mistress," this action immediately flustered Vivian: "Hey, hey, get up, get up, what are you joining in for—Heissiana, don't mess around, I told you I don't need your..."

Before she could finish speaking, she heard Boris's phone suddenly ring. The latter quickly excused himself and ran to the side to answer the phone. She only heard him speak quickly in Russian to the person on the phone, then came to Heissiana with a look of tension: "Mistress! We have problems at two factories in North America..."

Hao Ren was immediately stunned, and the next second he jumped up and shouted at Heissiana, "Quickly take back what you just said!"

Heissiana: "..."

A dozen minutes later, the group left the small airfield in two off-road vehicles suitable for driving in cold regions. Hao Ren, Vivian, and Heissiana happened to be in the same car. Heissiana was still recovering from the blow she had just suffered, and she stared at the car roof all the way, muttering, "...how could it be so accurate, how could it be so accurate..."

Hao Ren glanced at this bat spirit: "You've known Vivian for so long, don't you know about her god of misfortune powers?"

"This must be a coincidence!" Heissiana didn't hear what Hao Ren was saying at all. She suddenly raised her head, her eyes shining, "Even if Vivian is really possessed by the god of misfortune, it's impossible to be so precise, right, so this must be a coincidence! Vivian, would you like to try challenging fate with me?"

Vivian hugged her knees and curled up in the back seat, still in a state of loss: "Don't mess around, the first time I challenged fate, Americans were still living in trees—don't talk to me about this topic."

Heissiana clicked her tongue, then suddenly glared at Hao Ren, who was baffled by this unexpected disaster: "What did I do to you again?"

"Why haven't you gone bankrupt!" Heissiana almost gritted her teeth. "I saw that you've been with Vivian until now and you're still doing well, and I thought Vivian's luck had finally turned positive! Why haven't you gone bankrupt!?"

Hao Ren touched his nose: "Maybe my background is a bit strong... but speaking of this, I really remember, Vivian, when you rented my house, weren't you afraid of implicating the innocent and ruining me?"

Vivian looked at Hao Ren: "So after I first moved into your house, I kept trying to save money to pay the rent, and when I couldn't pay it, I also offered to do housework to offset it—I was just worried about taking advantage of something that didn't belong to me and dragging you down. But later I found that you didn't go bankrupt after eating my food... so I guessed that you were immune to me."

Hao Ren thought for a while, and somehow suddenly thought of his magic immunity constitution—although he felt that he could resist Vivian's aura of misfortune mainly because his background god was stronger, he couldn't help but think of his special ability: "How does it feel like I was born to support you, am I the only person on this planet who can feed you..."

Heissiana's eyes immediately shot fire at Hao Ren: "Shut up! When I was picking wild fruits for Vivian hundreds of years ago, your ancestors were still liquid!"

Hao Ren "uh"ed and couldn't help but cover his face with his hand: "Sounds so sad..."

At this time, Duncan, who was driving in the front, couldn't help but interject: "Everyone, is it really okay for you to seriously discuss this unreliable metaphysics? Luck sounds unscientific no matter how you listen to it..."

Heissiana was in a bad mood, and she slammed an elbow on Duncan's head: "Roll! You're a fantasy creature actually trying to persuade us to believe in science!"

She completely forgot how she used technology to arm her berserk commando team.

At this moment, the off-road vehicle suddenly shook, as if the tires slipped and swerved to the side. Hao Ren quickly grabbed Heissiana: "Stop messing around, let the driver drive safely."

"It's not the driver's fault," Heissiana pointed to the outside of the car window, "We're here."

(Internet cut off today, great news =.=)