Chapter 1 Wolf Ears?

Hao Ren froze on the spot. Only after Lily had walked a distance did he rub his eyes vigorously. When he looked again, there was still the same ordinary short-haired girl in front of him.

However, he was absolutely certain that he had just seen a pair of pointed, strange ears! He could even clearly remember what the ears looked like: triangular, growing on top of Lily's head, standing up energetically, covered with beautiful silver-white fluff. There was no mistake! Hao Ren had always been very confident in his eyesight and short-term memory.

But now Lily had nothing on her head, and what he had just seen was really not in line with common sense, so he patted his face and comforted himself, "Why am I so sleepy so early today? I'm having hallucinations."

"Landlord, what did you just say?" Lily suddenly turned her head, her big eyes shining brightly in the night, full of vitality. "What hallucinations?"

Hao Ren thought to himself that this girl's ears were really good. She could hear him muttering so softly. But he didn't show it on his face, just waved his hand casually, "It's nothing, I was seeing things. Let's go quickly, we have to settle you in tonight."

"Oh," Lily carried the huge box in front, chattering non-stop, "By the way, Landlord, are there any places to eat near you? I haven't eaten yet... Can I eat at your place today? I'll pay for the food. Hey, Landlord, why are you walking behind? Lead the way, I don't know the way..."

Hao Ren hurried forward a few steps, feeling that this chattering girl was a bit silly, but she was also quite interesting when she was straightforward. He casually said, "It's okay, I'll take care of the food. It's just me anyway, it's all the same whether I cook a lot or a little."

As soon as he finished speaking, the "whooshing" sound from before suddenly came from above again!

This time he looked up even faster than before, so he really saw a bat-like black shadow, as big as an eagle, streaking across the night sky!

Of course, he didn't think it was really a bat, but just a big bird that had flown in from somewhere looking for food in the residential area: this place wasn't far from the wilderness, and it wasn't uncommon for wild birds to fly into the residential area. But he was worried that Lily would have a bad impression of this place, so he casually reassured her, "Don't worry, it might be a wild bird that flew in. This place is quite close to the wilderness."

Lily's voice suddenly came from very close, sounding a little hurried, "Landlord, why don't you go ahead first? I... I'll catch up later, I have something to do!"

Hao Ren was stunned when he heard this. In addition to being puzzled, he casually said, "How can that be? I have to lead the way for you. The alleys here are winding and winding. Even the people who live here easily get lost... Hey, why are you so close?"

Only then did he notice that Lily's voice was very close just now. When he turned his head, he saw that the latter's face was only a few inches away from him. Those unusually bright eyes were staring straight at him. Although they were beautiful, they were really scary in the dark. Hao Ren jumped back more than half a meter at the time, "I'm telling you! I'm a decent person!"

This was his problem, he would start talking nonsense when he got nervous.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Hao Ren noticed an urgent expression on Lily's face. She looked up at the night sky, and then sniffed hard a few times. "Landlord, go ahead first, I can really catch up with you, I remember your scent... Aiya, why are you so long-winded? I really have my own things to do!"

"No way!" Hao Ren's stubbornness also came up. He didn't even bother to discuss what "remember your scent" meant, just his face stiffened, "What if something happens? It's dark and late, and I leave you here? I can't live with myself – what is it that you can't say?"

As mentioned before, Hao Ren was really a good person – at least a person with a normal sense of responsibility. Lily was brought to this place by him, so he felt he had a responsibility to safely send her to his home. Although she was a girl with great strength, this had nothing to do with whether he was worried or not: if something really happened to this girl, his conscience would be disturbed.

And he also couldn't figure out what important thing a girl who had just come from another place could have to do at this juncture?

Lily's face was already very anxious, and her behavior was obviously strange. She put her big box on the ground, making a loud "thump," and then kept looking around at the surrounding high walls. The small road was lined with old two- and three-story buildings, which were once a symbol of the residents' wealth when this place was still glorious. However, as time passed, the once-bright buildings had become mottled old houses, with only uneven, dark high walls blocking both sides of the small road, leaving only a narrow strip of night sky between the buildings.

And Lily's gaze was moving quickly between these high walls. At the same time, she began to twitch her nose frequently, as if trying to distinguish some smell from the air. She also began to gently move her hands and feet. Seeing this scene, Hao Ren should have realized that something was wrong even if he was slow to react. Although he still felt that this girl was strange in every way, the two strange noises in the sky just now had already made his nerves a little tense, so he had no time to think about other things. Now that he saw Lily's strange behavior, he naturally knew that she had discovered something, "Liu Lily... what's wrong?"

"Just call me Lily," she said subconsciously, then looked at Hao Ren in surprise, "Ya, Landlord, why haven't you left yet?"

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Hao Ren cautiously approached Lily. Although his tone was relaxed, he had already clenched his fists. He couldn't see anything unusual around, but he did feel that the atmosphere here had become strange. A faint smell of blood and a cool breeze that didn't match the season were spreading out from the dark corners in all directions – to be honest, he felt his legs were shaking a little.

Hao Ren thought he was brave, but he couldn't stop the strange situation in front of him.

Until now, Hao Ren didn't know what was going on. He had heard a lot of urban legends and modern versions of ghost stories, including wronged souls in alleys and life-threatening ghosts at crossroads, but he had always regarded them as after-dinner entertainment. But what was this now?

At first, he could explain it away as his own nervousness and being "infected" by Lily's weird behavior, but as time passed, the smell of blood in the air had become so strong that it was almost a sweet, fishy taste in his mouth, and the cool breeze from all directions had made his breath turn into frost. Even if he believed in science and rejected superstition, he knew that he had encountered something abnormal. At this moment, he suddenly remembered Lily urging him to leave in a hurry just now, remembered that this girl had already shown vigilance when "everything around was normal," and remembered that she was ready to defend herself in a calm state... He suddenly understood that this girl, who he had slandered as a "silly girl," completely knew what was going on!

"I'll go, which world line is wrong, how did I encounter this situation..." Hao Ren looked around cautiously, enduring the pungent bloody smell and the ubiquitous cold, feeling that his thinking was slowing down, "Is this still the real world? Where is the promised approach to science and a happy life?"

"Landlord, I'm sorry to drag you into this. This 'thing' might be looking for me," Lily's voice suddenly came from behind Hao Ren, with a hint of hoarseness, "You are a good person, better than the people I've met before, so I will try my best to let you live, I promise!"

"Don't give me a good person card at this time..." Hao Ren's teeth were chattering, but he still turned his head to complain. However, after he saw what Lily looked like, he couldn't say anything anymore:

A nearly unfamiliar girl was standing next to him. She had silver hair down to her waist, a beautiful face, but she had a pair of golden, completely inhuman eyes. Those light golden pupils were even emitting a faint glow in the night, a radiance completely different from normal eye reflection. A pair of silver-white, wolf-like ears stood up energetically on top of her head, shaking from time to time in the cold wind, and sensitively turning to every faint sound source around her.

And behind the girl, a bright silver tail emerged from the seams of her clothes, swinging back and forth in the air.

A wolf-like girl... or, to put it in the current popular way, with beast-ear attributes?

Hao Ren didn't know why he could still complain, but he knew that his life was going to be a lot of fun.

If he still had a life after today.