Chapter 85 A Rare Exception

Hao Ren and Vivian used various subtle questions to inquire with Becky and the mercenaries present whether this world had deep-sea races similar to sirens, even if only in legends. They finally reached an unbelievable conclusion: there were no sirens.

Raven 12345 had clearly stated that the otherworldly creatures on Earth came from the Dream Plane, so Hao Ren naturally assumed that everyone in his household could openly declare their race in the Dream Plane. But he didn't expect Nangong Wuyue to be an exception.

Vivian was learning the details of the mountain path from the mercenaries, while Hao Ren pulled Nangong Wuyue aside to mutter, "It looks like there really aren't any sirens here. So where did the sirens on Earth come from?"

"How would I know?" Nangong Wuyue's face showed some displeasure. "I thought I'd finally found my hometown."

Hao Ren noticed that the siren girl seemed to be in a bad mood and understood her feelings. Here, Vivian and Lily could enjoy the freedom of openly revealing their race without worrying about being gawked at. Nangong Wuyue had originally been as happy as they were, thinking that she had also ushered in a paradise for sirens, but the current situation made her feel isolated, and disappointment was inevitable.

"Don't take it too hard," Hao Ren was never good at comforting people. At this moment, he didn't know how to comfort her, so he tried to divert Nangong Wuyue's attention. "Look at Izaak; he has to hide his identity here too. Demons in this world are asked questions only after they've collapsed…"

Izaak was standing not far away. Hearing this, he turned his head, gesturing helplessly with his hands. Nangong Wuyue sighed, "Landlord, you're really not suited for comforting people. Hasn't Vivian told you that before?"

Hao Ren: "Uh…"

"I'm fine," Nangong Wuyue revealed an indifferent smile. "It's just a little upsetting. I thought I could see a lot of my kind in this world, but it seems… I guess there's still a chance to find compatriots on Earth."

The severely injured mercenaries had now fully recovered and had basically regained their strength after resting for a while, though they still swayed when they walked, and their bloodstained appearances were quite frightening. Several bedraggled mercenary warriors supported each other as they came to Hao Ren. The middle-aged captain took the lead: "We're going back, but we really feel bad about just leaving like this. Is there anything we can help with? That Miss Vivian said you were the captain, so I came to ask you."

"No need, really no need," Hao Ren waved his hand. He didn't think about asking for any reward at all. The main thing was that he couldn't think of anything these people could help him with—the only thing he wanted to do now was to go to the Beinz Blood Lake, but he already had Becky as a guide, and the fewer other unrelated people, the better. "If you really want to say something… have you ever seen a tall, thin woman in white?"

Hao Ren explained the situation of the mysterious "visitor from another world" he was pursuing. The mercenary captain frowned. "Speaking of which, I do have some impression. I ran into a group of mercenaries returning from Beinz Blood Lake. They mentioned meeting a strange woman on the mountain road. The woman was young but traveling alone to the Blood Lake, so she left a deep impression. Oh, that was two days ago."

"Then she should be in Leyton Town by now," Becky said from the side.

"Is she an acquaintance of yours?" the mercenary captain asked curiously, then pondered, "She should be stopped outside the outpost. The Beinz area is under strict control now. Only registered mercenary groups and knight orders can enter and exit. Lone adventurers can't get in."

Hao Ren nodded perfunctorily, but he felt that the woman would definitely find a way to overcome this difficulty. Although he knew nothing about the otherworldly visitor, he had this intuition.

A person who wants to go home is hard to stop.

The mercenaries that Hao Ren saved didn't plan to continue to the Blood Lake. Although their injuries had healed, they were quite exhausted, their equipment was badly damaged, and their morale was almost zero, so they planned to return to the kingdom's interior by the same route. The mercenary captain also advised Hao Ren and his group not to continue on this dangerous mountain road and to at least find a safer route if they insisted on going to the Blood Lake, but Hao Ren politely declined.

The mysterious woman was becoming more and more concerning, and the Beinz Blood Lake also gave off a very uneasy feeling. Hao Ren was worried that detouring would delay him and cause him to miss something important. Compared to that, the rock giants on the mountain road were dangerous, but not impossible to deal with. Based on today's battle, Hao Ren felt that their threat to his group wasn't too great.

Seeing Hao Ren's resolute attitude, the mercenary captain didn't insist. He organized his men to embark on the road home. Before leaving, he forcibly stuffed a metal pendant from his waist into Hao Ren's hand: "In any case, we owe you fourteen lives. We are the 'Iron Thorns' mercenary团 (tuan - group/regiment) operating near the royal city of Stuim. I am the captain, Constantine. Take this as a token. If you or your friends encounter trouble in the royal city in the future, just come and find us."

Although mercenaries were often seen as a group of people who only knew how to pursue profit, there were many among them who valued loyalty and knew how to repay kindness. At this point, it would seem impolite to refuse, so Hao Ren had no choice but to accept the pendant. Then he heard the other party ask, "Also, may I know the names of our benefactors? Are you also a mercenary团 (tuan - group/regiment)? What's your name? It would be good to know for future business."

Before Hao Ren could say anything, Lily rushed up eagerly: "The good names are all taken by dogs mercenary团 (tuan - group/regiment)! I'm the deputy团 (tuan - group/regiment) leader, Lily! This is the团 (tuan - group/regiment) leader, Hao… Mmph…"

Hao Ren used all his strength to hold Lily down, but he couldn't stop the girl from blurting out the earth-shattering name. Constantine's expression was exceptionally wonderful. After holding back for a long time, he could only nod with a dry laugh: "Ah ha, a very resounding name…"

Hao Ren was covered in sweat: How could the name not be resounding? Fortunately, this world wasn't like a game where you had an ID over your head when you went out, otherwise, going out with such a team name would get you killed by your peers as soon as you hit the street!

Constantine and his subordinates embarked on the road down the mountain, while Hao Ren and his group prepared to continue forward. Becky looked at the mountain road ahead with some worry: "You're sure you don't want to detour, right?"

"Detouring will waste time," Hao Ren nodded. "It's okay, anyway, our combat power is guaranteed. You've seen it. We have a complete set of classes, warrior, mage, priest, rogue, nothing can go wrong."

"That's what I wanted to say," Becky couldn't suppress her doubts. Her gaze swept over the people around her. "You still say you're mages at this time?"

Lily hadn't put away her two claw blades yet. She pawed at the ground with her claws, muttering, "Would you believe me if I said this was usually used for digging holes?"

Unless Becky's intelligence was lower than a table, she couldn't believe this nonsense. Just look at the team under Hao Ren: Hao Ren himself was a taunting tank holding a shield and shouting at people all over the battlefield, Lily was a backstabbing assassin who climbed on enemies and tried to cut the back of their necks, Izaak was a berserker with full melee skill points, Nangong Wuyue was a healer who couldn't even cast a water ball spell, and Vivian was the only one who could somewhat cast a lightning bolt and frost ring spell, but in the end, she still used brute force to deal with her opponents. And these people had the nerve to say that they had been studying teleportation technology for years—to be honest, even Hao Ren himself didn't dare to believe it.

Lily also realized that she wasn't very convincing with just the two claws in her hand, so she reluctantly put away her weapons, drooped her ears, and hid behind Hao Ren: "Landlord, quickly make up a lie, a convincing one."

Becky: "…"

"Our situation is indeed a bit special. It's impossible to classify us according to ordinary professions," Hao Ren sighed. "If you believe me, then I'll tell you: we're not bad people. It's not that I don't want to tell you a lot of things, but I don't even know how to say it so that you can understand… You can also treat this as the last cooperation. We'll go our separate ways after we come back."

Becky did have some doubts, because years of social experience had taught her that there were many secrets that could get people killed. Therefore, even if she took on some dangerous missions for money, she would try to stay away from those core secrets as much as possible. The feeling that these unknown people gave her was the same as those dangerous secrets, but Hao Ren's words actually reassured her a little.

"Whatever, at least I have to be worthy of the music box you gave me," Becky smiled, turned her head, and walked forward. "I won't ask too much about your affairs. Everyone has secrets in this world."