Chapter 1 The Mist

The thick fog shrouded the entire Ancarteaux domain, yet this chaotic mist could not conceal the magnificent, unique buildings. Hao Ren saw one golden building after another, their style completely different from those on Earth, emerging from the fog. These buildings weren't as massive as those he'd seen on other planets, but their style undoubtedly originated from the same place: Tanagoth.

Wayne had never heard of Tanagoth. He was marveling at the fog when he heard Hao Ren and subconsciously asked, "Tanagoth? What does that mean?"

Hao Ren paused, then waved his hand. "Oh, nothing. It's an old place name. The buildings there are all golden, like these."

"Like this Golden Estate?" Wayne muttered doubtfully, but he didn't dwell on the topic for long because the situation before him puzzled him even more. "Speaking of which, what's with this fog..."

"There wasn't fog here before?" Hao Ren asked in surprise. He'd thought the fog was a normal phenomenon in this other dimension.

"Of course not. This much fog is inconvenient," Wayne said, shaking his head. "And I sense something strange in the fog, I can't quite explain it, but it's definitely not natural. Let's go to the Ancarteaux family hall and see what's going on."

As Wayne spoke, he took the lead. Hao Ren and Vivian exchanged glances and followed at a slight distance. They observed the scenery in the fog while discussing in low voices. Hao Ren whispered to Vivian, "It's definitely the Tanagoth architectural style."

"The Golden Estate... I should have realized," Vivian said, pursing her lips. "So the Ancarteaux family are Tanagoth people who ended up on Earth!"

Hao Ren remembered the spirit detective, Pierre, and suddenly realized that when referring to the Ancarteaux family's race, he had mentioned the name "Tara": "Tana... Tara, there's only one letter difference."

Izhaks nodded. "It's possible there was a mistake in the transmission over the years, and the Tanagoth people were mistakenly called the Tara people."

Lilly nodded along. "Yeah, maybe that Pierre's grandpa had a lisp."

Izhaks looked a little dazed. "... That's not what I meant... Forget it, let's just say that's what I meant."

"You really don't have any impression of them at all," Hao Ren looked at Vivian incredulously. "According to the information we found in Tanagoth, the Tanagoth people look somewhat different from Earthlings. You came into contact with the Tanagoth people on Earth back then, but you didn't remember their unique appearance."

"I even forgot their golden houses. What do you expect me to remember?" Vivian pouted. "I can't even remember such a gaudy race. It's no wonder I'm poor. Tsk, tsk."

This bat was quite accepting of reality, facing the natural law that she would be poor her whole life.

After discovering that the Ancarteaux family were Tanagoth people who had ended up on Earth, Hao Ren was very surprised, but he didn't find it unbelievable. The aliens on Earth came from various races in the Dream Plane. Although most of them came from Holleta, some came from other places, such as the sirens. Furthermore, there was a stable rift leading to Earth on Tanagoth, and the Rage Spirits were also mutated Tanagoth people, so the existence of Tanagoth descendants on Earth was both unexpected and logical. But when Hao Ren thought of the Rage Spirits that had appeared on Earth, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration: "Wait, Vivian, you said the 'Rage Spirit' phenomenon was something the aliens couldn't figure out, right? It's like an age-old mystery?"

Vivian nodded. "That's right."

"The Ancarteaux family doesn't know what Rage Spirits are either?!"

Hao Ren's words reminded everyone. Vivian and Izhaks reacted at the same time: since the Ancarteaux family were Tanagoth people who had ended up on Earth, and the Rage Spirits were Tanagoth people who had undergone spiritual and biochemical changes, did that mean the former knew nothing about the latter?

Vivian was stunned, and recalled a strange phenomenon that everyone had discussed before but had not found any answers for: "All aliens lose their memories of their homeworlds after teleporting to Earth. The sirens don't remember that the *Nassaton* is a spaceship, and the werewolves and blood clans don't remember that they came from Holleta, so it's understandable that the Tanagoth people forgot that the Rage Spirits are their compatriots, right?"

"I think this situation is more special," Hao Ren said, stroking his chin, with greater doubts in his mind, "It's understandable that other aliens forgot where their old homes were, but the Ancarteaux family forgot about their own compatriots... In that case, we have to re-examine the scope and intensity of 'collective amnesia after aliens cross over'."

They walked along while discussing in low voices, and unknowingly they had distanced themselves from Wayne and Hesperides, who were in front of them. Wayne turned his head and called out, "Don't stray too far—it's dangerous to get separated here."

Hao Ren and the others stopped their discussion for the time being and quickened their pace to catch up with Wayne.

As they continued to venture deeper into this space, the golden buildings built by the Ancarteaux family gradually emerged from the fog. These exotic buildings still vaguely showed traces of alien high-tech civilization. Vehicle tracks connecting to each other in the high sky and facilities like antenna towers constantly appeared in the field of vision, which were obviously different from the alien creations that were mainly based on magic.

But in ancient times, the two were no different: whether it was the magic masters from Holleta or the advanced technology from Tanagoth, they were all divine to the ancients.

The group strolled through, as if walking in an alien base—in fact, it was an alien base—and Wayne would occasionally introduce the function of a building to Hao Ren. His Hualte family had maintained a friendly relationship with the Ancarteaux family for thousands of years, so the vampire patriarch knew quite a bit about this alien base. He pointed to a discharge tower in the distance that was looming in the fog: "That tower is the very center of the secret realm. Its power maintains the spatial stability of the secret realm."

"There's no damage to any of the buildings, at least not to these outer buildings," Vivian frowned as she looked at the houses beside her. "And more importantly... there's no one, not even corpses."

"The source of this fog is still unclear," Izhaks reached out and waved his hand in the fog. Under the pull of magic, a large area of ​​fog was stirred up like a liquid, but soon new fog filled the uneven parts of the fog around it, restoring everything to chaos. "Look, there are obvious traces of artificial control. This fog may be blocking something, perhaps some kind of defense measure."

Hao Ren thoughtfully looked up at the turbid sky. Due to the fog blocking it, he couldn't see what kind of light source was coming from above, but he was certain that there must be artificial lighting facilities. The surrounding fog greatly diffused the skylight, so the shadows under everyone's feet became blurred.

"Could it be to weaken the power of those shadows?" Little Elizabeth also noticed the changes in the shadows under the influence of the fog. "I feel like everyone's shadows have faded!"

Wayne glanced at Little Elizabeth. He had always wondered what the little girl, who looked like a burden, was doing here. At this time, he was surprised to hear the little girl express her opinion. Hesperides nodded gently: "It's probably as the little girl said. But those shadows must still be there, probably lurking in places that the fog can't reach. The Hualte family's investigators must have encountered them."

The group became more vigilant and continued to move towards the central hinterland of the secret realm: further ahead was the main residential area of ​​the Ancarteaux family, the district where the family hall was located. As they approached that place, Hao Ren noticed that the fog around them was getting thinner and thinner.

If this fog was really meant to fight against the shadows, then this thinning fog was not a good sign.

But this slightly tense atmosphere could not affect the vitality of the little demon girl. Elizabeth hopped along behind the adults, looking around like she was on an outing. She suddenly became a little curious: "Speaking of which, the Ancarteaux family has so much gold, why doesn't anyone else try to rob them?"

Gold was not a valuable commodity on Tanagoth, but it was definitely a precious metal on Earth. But Wayne smiled when he heard the little girl's words: "Gold? Money doesn't mean much to us, because in most cases it's something that's easily obtained. Even in modern times, most alien families don't lack money. We have a strong business presence in human society. Hmm? Why aren't you all talking?"

Wayne suddenly realized that everyone around him had fallen silent, so he asked curiously. As a result, everyone looked at Vivian in unison, and Little Elizabeth was still shaking her head and muttering: "Easily obtained, business power..."

Vivian's face turned red (it was not easy for her vampire body to blush), and she waved her hands in defense: "Don't look at me! I tried to do business back then! I was the first in human history to come up with the idea of ​​international trade, okay..."

Hao Ren counted on his fingers: "And then you bankrupted the entire Egyptian dynasty, and also Mycenae, and also ancient Rome, and also ancient India, and also..."

Vivian put her hands on her hips: "There weren't that many! I ran out of money as soon as I got to the Greek peninsula!"

Wayne muttered in a low voice: "At least there was my family—but fortunately we survived."

This guy also had times when he wasn't kind.