Chapter 169 Signs

Hao Ren spent the better part of the day with Raven 12345, and by the time he returned, it was nearly evening. As he rounded the corner of the street, he saw Lily standing on her tiptoes at the doorway, peering anxiously towards the intersection—looking just like a little dog left at home to guard the house, a scene he was getting used to.

Lily saw Hao Ren and rushed to greet him excitedly: "Landlord, landlord, you're back! What's for dinner tonight?"

"Could you occasionally consider your dignity as a werewolf?" Hao Ren sighed as he handed her the mesh bag. "Your favorite pork ribs. We'll stew them tonight and have rib noodles for lunch tomorrow."

After interacting with Lily for more than two weeks, Hao Ren had completely grasped her personality. This werewolf girl's preferences were simple: as long as she had delicious food, everything was fine. And she liked two things the most: Vivian's stewed ribs and Hao Ren's noodles. Ribs, well, that was understandable; at least it was meat. But what was with her losing control at the sight of noodles? Was a werewolf supposed to eat that?

Anyway, no one could figure out how Lily had transformed from a werewolf into an omnivore, but either way, it was a good thing. Omnivorous animals were easy to keep alive. If Lily were like a normal werewolf, eating ten kilograms of fresh meat every day, even if Hao Ren could afford it, the butcher might not be able to handle it mentally…

Lily happily carried the ribs into the house to find Vivian. Only at times like this would she say a few kind words to the latter. To get some good food, she could even lower her head to her nemesis. Where was the dignity of a werewolf?

Hao Ren watched silently as Lily scurried into the kitchen. He went inside, locked the front door, and then looked up to see a hulking figure sitting in the middle of the living room. Y'zaks' eye-catching presence was simply unmatched. At two meters and fifteen centimeters tall, he was a landmark no matter where he was placed. Adding to that his antisocial, fierce-looking face, taking him out was a problem. A couple of days ago, Hao Ren took Y'zaks to the market to buy groceries, and as soon as they reached East Third Street, an old lady called the Public Security Bureau… What was with that!

Y'zaks didn't seem to notice Hao Ren's return. He was huddled on the sofa, engrossed in studying a Chinese dictionary. The dictionary looked like a small booklet in his hands, and he could only pinch it with a few fingers. Seeing such a serious expression on that fierce face, Hao Ren really wanted to laugh. How could such a good-natured big guy have such a face?

"Still studying Chinese pronunciation?" Hao Ren curiously approached and discovered that Y'zaks had even drawn many crooked symbols in the dictionary, resembling demonic writing. He was immediately moved by the great demon's diligence and also felt a little ashamed. This dictionary had been lying at home for more than four years, and as an Earthling, he probably hadn't put in as much effort as Y'zaks had in these past two days…

"Oh, you're back," Y'zaks looked up and saw Hao Ren, speaking in a muffled voice. The demonic language sounded like a tape played in reverse, with strange pronunciation and ambiguous tones, making it second only to Japanese-style English in terms of difficulty. Vivian and Lily hadn't learned a single word in the past two days, so Hao Ren had become the only one at home who could communicate normally with Y'zaks. The great demon was well aware of this, so he looked very happy to see Hao Ren return home. "Finally, someone to talk to. Did things go smoothly?"

"Pretty smoothly. That Raven 12345 pointed me in the right direction, so I'm kind of enlightened. By the way, what have you learned from studying Chinese these past two days?"

"This stuff is really hard to learn," Y'zaks dejectedly threw the dictionary aside. The dignified great demon seemed a little overwhelmed by this task. "I think it's even harder to deal with than Elvish. I haven't figured out four words in the past two days: *keng*, *dong*, *kulong*, *yanr* (pit, hole, cavity, eye) - how did you guys manage to straighten out this language back then?"

Sweat dripped down Hao Ren's forehead. "Those four words are enough to deter eighty percent of international students in China - don't bother with them. I'm here to tell you that Raven 12345 has applied for something new from above that can help you solve the language problem. In a couple of days, I'll take you to her place and bring Vivian and Lily along. You can all have a 'minor surgery' and then you'll have built-in translators."

As Hao Ren spoke, he observed Y'zaks' expression, wanting to see how the great demon would react to "minor surgery." After all, in his memory, not many big bosses would be willing to let others operate on them. But to his disappointment, Y'zaks showed no expression on his face. He simply nodded knowingly: "Oh, okay. I should say hello to the goddess here anyway."

"Then you have to be mentally prepared," Hao Ren kindly reminded him. "If she asks you to lie down in something strange, don't get angry…"

"I know what you mean," Y'zaks grinned, revealing a frightening smile. "Those things that look like coffins, right? Most worlds' coffins look the same, and most of the equipment made by the Celestial System looks like coffins. I've experienced it before…"

Hao Ren: "..."

"Dinner's ready!"

Just as Hao Ren and Y'zaks were discussing whose inspiration the Celestial Empire's coffin equipment came from, Vivian's voice suddenly came from the kitchen, pulling the two big men out of their pointless chat.

Vivian came to the living room carrying the rice cooker, followed by Lily, wagging her tail wildly, and then by the high-spirited "G滚 (Get Out)." The trio came with great momentum. Hao Ren and Y'zaks had just approached the table and hadn't even sat down when Vivian pointed in the direction of the kitchen and shouted: "Go wash your hands first!"

Y'zaks didn't understand what Vivian was saying, but he knew what was going on from her gestures and the direction she was pointing. So the great demon rose abruptly - and then obediently ran to the washroom to wash his hands, leaving Hao Ren watching in amazement.

Vivian, having just finished housework, carried an aura of authority, daring to yell at even the great demon. Hao Ren thought that this vampire was probably awakening her attributes as a housewife. Well, that was a good thing.

The dinner was light: rice porridge, steamed buns, and two vegetarian dishes were enough, except the portions were very large, enough to satisfy Lily and Y'zaks' gluttonous stomachs. There was no need to question Vivian's cooking skills. As an ancient being who had wandered around for tens of thousands of years, she was familiar with every cooking method that had appeared on this planet, even including how to roast saber-toothed tigers—if the ingredients hadn't gone extinct, Hao Ren believed his dining table could definitely be unprecedentedly abundant every day.

Lily used chopsticks to skewer two steamed buns like candied haws, quickly gnawing on them, while sniffing towards the kitchen: "I want to eat ribs…"

"They're still cooking," Vivian probably hadn't recovered from her housewife state, and her tone was still gentle when speaking to Lily. "They need to stew for at least three hours before they're ready. I have principles when stewing ribs."

Hao Ren rolled his eyes: Can you use your principles in more normal places?

While everyone was busy eating, and Hao Ren was about to find the remote to turn on the TV, a crisp "crack" suddenly broke the peace in the living room.

It turned out that Lily had been holding a small plate to grab some vegetables from across the table, but now the small plate had been crushed into pieces in her hand, ceramic shards scattered all over the table.

Hao Ren was still stunned when Vivian shouted: "Big Dog, can't you have some patience? Is it worth getting this angry just because you have to wait until tomorrow to eat meat? This bowl is the landlord's!"

"No… I didn't mean to!" Lily seemed startled as well. She hurriedly cleaned up the broken plate on the table, glancing at Hao Ren anxiously. "Landlord, I didn't mean to, I don't know what happened, I suddenly couldn't control my strength…"

"Crack!"

Before Lily could finish speaking, there was another crisp sound: she had crushed another bowl.

Vivian was about to get angry when Hao Ren suddenly realized that Lily's state was strange and quickly waved his hand: "Something's not right, look at Lily's eyes."

Lily was in her werewolf form. Although she usually kept her human form at home, she had been maintaining her werewolf form tonight for some reason, and now her golden eyes seemed brighter than ever before, even to the point of emitting a faint glow!

"Lily… your hands seem to be trembling." Hao Ren's gaze finally landed on Lily's hands, and he realized that things were probably going to get bad.