Chapter 355 Truth From the Past

Vivian gently massaged her temples, remaining silent for a long time. Hasse, curious, looked at Hao Ren and then at Vivian, "Can either of you explain to me what's going on?"

"It's Vivian's memory and her confusion problem…" Hao Ren wasn't sure if he could tell Hasse everything, so he gave a rough explanation. "She sometimes falls into a state of mental instability, and she has no memory of what happens then."

Vivian suddenly looked up at Hao Ren, "Where's my manuscript?"

Since Hao Ren had a convenient and reliable personal space, he was responsible for keeping some important but infrequently used items at home, including the ancient manuscript that recorded Vivian's experiences over ten thousand years. Hao Ren found the piece of white cloth covered with dense symbols from his personal space, unfolded it on a nearby flat boulder, and Vivian immediately leaned over to examine it carefully.

The others, at this point, didn't bother discussing going back to their respective homes. Seeing something interesting to join in on, they all crowded around.

"...Early Middle East during the Olympus period...Europe after the Olympus era...1426 in Egypt...The times and locations all match, and the same goes for every battle," Vivian's fingers moved quickly between the symbols and drawings, matching each time and place with Hasse's descriptions. "These are the things that happen before each time I fall asleep…"

Lily looked at Vivian worriedly, "Bat, are you going to have an episode?"

"No, I'm just figuring out what kind of episode I've been having," Vivian suddenly looked up at Hao Ren. "Are all of these just…hallucinations? Or is my mind being controlled by something else?"

The most inexplicable part of Vivian's sleep cycle was her "battle records." According to the records in the manuscript, she would engage in fierce battles with a group of twisted alien creatures before each sleep. Although Vivian herself had no memory of this, the records in the manuscript were remarkably realistic. Originally, Hao Ren had always thought that this was just a problem with the person's memory, but now there was a shocking twist in the situation.

If Hasse was telling the truth, then Vivian was actually fighting demon hunters and other kinds of aliens each time – oh, and rats.

This fact was just too damn confusing.

Hao Ren rubbed his chin, "No one can say for sure what's happening to you…Hasse, you're a witness. When Vivian was on her rampage back then, did she show any abnormalities?"

Hasse still had a stern face, but if his muscles weren't so stiff, his expression would definitely be one of wry amusement. "Abnormalities? When she burned down an entire plain with a lightning storm, who would bother studying her expressions? I only know that whenever young people questioned whether the Countess of the Crimson Moon lived up to her name, elders would always use these historical records to educate those greenhorns. Of course, not including the rats."

Hao Ren and Vivian looked at Hasse seriously, and the latter frowned and thought for a long time before nodding. "Of course, those who have crossed paths with the Countess a few times would definitely feel that something was wrong. She's a pacifist – though occasionally temperamental, she's very gentle most of the time and hardly ever gets into conflicts with anyone. So, every time she went on a rampage, people would find it unbelievable, but we all thought that someone had angered her. After all, even the kindest person can get angry. But now it seems…there's another truth?"

"Of course, there's another truth," Hao Ren shook his head and sighed. "Do you think a sane high-level bloodkin would focus all their attention on fighting a bunch of rats? And lose in the end, at that!"

Vivian looked into Hasse's eyes. "I'm sorry; it seems that your eye is indeed my responsibility. If there's a chance in the future, I'll help you heal it – if you're willing to let an alien help you."

This time, not only Hasse but even the taciturn Tutan and Bai Huo, who was trying to pretend to be background noise, were dumbfounded. Hasse opened his mouth in disbelief. "You…apologized to me?"

"What are you so surprised about? I'm more surprised by your magnanimity," Hao Ren pointed at Hasse's one eye with a strange expression. "You had someone poison one of your eyes, and you didn't even mention it after meeting your enemy? Unless the topic came up, you were just going to pretend it never happened?"

Hasse shrugged and said nothing. No one could know what he was thinking. These creatures with long lifespans had very different worldviews from humans. Their views on hatred and memory were incomprehensible to ordinary people, so Hao Ren always didn't know how to discuss these topics with them.

After discussing some things from the past, Hasse led the other two demon hunters to say goodbye and leave. Vivian then touched her forehead. "Landlord, what do you think was wrong with me back then?"

Hao Ren frowned. "Before each sleep, you would obviously lose your judgment, and the situation was very serious. Ordinary people and animals would turn into monsters in your eyes. In that case, every battle mentioned in the manuscript was probably like that. You don't know how many times you wrecked other people's businesses…"

Lily raised her hand to remind, "And the rats!"

Vivian covered her face. "Can we not mention the rats?! At least I won when I fought with others besides the rats!"

Hao Ren waved his hand. "Alright, alright, we won't mention the rats. Anyway, now I finally understand how you got your great reputation, Vivian…I originally thought it was just because you were high in seniority."

Vivian looked bitter. "I never even considered this before. I also thought that so many families were afraid of me just because I was higher in seniority than them…Who knew that I had beaten them up back then? I feel so bad now…"

Izhaks seemed to have understood the whole story. He asked in a muffled voice, "To be honest, in all these years, has no one ever pointed this out to you? Don't you have some friends?"

"I have friends, but we don't interact much, and I don't contact other people much at all," Vivian shook her head. "And more importantly, aliens are constantly fighting each other. Forming temporary alliances and turning against each other is almost the norm. In such a chaotic situation, someone suddenly flipping the table on others would hardly cause much of a stir – even if the one flipping the table was a Most Ancient. Of course, it's also possible that someone mentioned it to me, but I forgot…"

Hao Ren slapped his forehead. He felt that this last sentence was the truth.

He put away the manuscript, looked at the setting sun, and sighed slightly, "Let's go back first. There are no more clues to this matter. Continuing to pursue it will only increase our worries. We already have enough things to worry about now."

The next step was to go to the Dream Plane to find the location of the siren homeworld, Aio, but before that, they had to prepare. Considering that a Mind Flayer had already come to this world through a space crack, Hao Ren suspected that there were more of those monsters gathered on Aio – perhaps they had already gathered an army near the crack, just waiting for the compatriots who successfully crossed over a hundred years ago to open the door to invade the surface world. He had to prepare for this in advance.

If there really was an army there, then it might not just be one vortex that needed to be blown up. This might even require applying for higher-level armed support to deal with.

After returning home, Hao Ren immediately wrote a report on the events in Nasaton and submitted it to Raven 12345, then checked the armament of the Petrified Battleship. At the same time, he also sent the Data Terminal to New Erim: to replenish his conventional arsenal.

Because there were three more sirens hitching a ride, the already cramped rooms at home immediately became insufficient. After barely letting the sirens huddle together with Nangong Wuyue for one night, Hao Ren took everyone to the Andre Castle.

But this time, he left the stupid cat to guard the house.

"Big cat, are you really not taking me to play?" The cat girl squatted in front of the teleporter, looking at Hao Ren pitifully, her tail and ears drooping listlessly. "I was very obedient last time."

Hao Ren did believe this. The cat girl had performed very well the last time she went to Nasaton. She was obedient, brave in battle, and didn't do anything like trying to taste the saltiness of the mermaid after seeing one (in fact, this was what Hao Ren was most worried about at the time), but this time, he had no intention of taking this cat to Aio no matter what – the reason was simple, compared to Nasaton, which only had one city and where the situation was somewhat controllable, Aio was a more dangerous and unpredictable place.

This cat was far from being able to handle such an event.

Not only was the stupid cat being left behind, but Dou Dou also had to stay in the safe house, and in order to take care of these two who would almost certainly cause trouble, Elizabeth also had to stay: although the little demon was still just a child, she had also commanded a city when Izhaks was not around, and she was sometimes more reliable than other adults.

"You stay here to guard the house and take care of Dou Dou," Nangong Wuyue bent down and patted "Roll's" head. "As long as you listen to Elizabeth, we'll take you out to play often in the future."

Hao Ren also stepped forward and rubbed the cat girl's ears. "Haven't you already learned how to make your own food? This time, try to learn how to wash dishes and wipe tables with Elizabeth. When we come back, I'll check your results with Elizabeth. If you learn well, I'll let you eat grilled fish for a whole week."

The little demon girl next to her immediately patted her chest to guarantee, "Don't worry, Uncle Ren, I'm reliable! Remember to bring me back some interesting machine parts from Aio~~"

The cat girl looked at Hao Ren's face and found that her master's attitude was firm, so she could only nod dejectedly, then turned to Nangong Wuyue and made one last request: "Then turn into a fish tail and let me lick it, after I lick it, I'll stay at home obediently."

Wuyue: "…"

Hao Ren turned his face away. "Let her lick it."

Wuyue sighed to the sky: "What kind of family is this!"