The relationship between the Other, humans, and demon hunters is far more chaotic than a simple three-way battle. The Other and demon hunters are inherently irreconcilable, but with humans – a populous, complex, and volatile group – involved in this endless struggle, the situation naturally becomes more complicated. You can't expect a race with billions of people to unanimously support either the Other or the demon hunters, nor can you expect them not to have a few non-mainstream groups – those who fear the world isn't chaotic enough, or fear they won't die late enough always exist. Groups worshipping demons, werewolves, or vampires have existed since ancient times and continue to this day. Just as demon hunters have failed to completely eliminate the Other, the orthodox human church has failed to completely eliminate these heretical organizations. The latter, like their masters, have been forced underground but continue to thrive.

Not only do they thrive, but they have even found a new way to survive in this new era – they've reorganized into companies, and many are even publicly listed! What used to be a contract with their dark masters is now a business agreement. What used to be offering sacrifices is now submitting profits. What used to be incantations recited during sacrificial rituals are now annual summary reports to their dark masters. These days, even when a vampire wants to give a pep talk to his human followers, he does it under the guise of an annual corporate culture exchange meeting. Some of the bolder ones even invite local reporters to visit...

Of course, those who tempt death often end up dead. Do you know how many CEOs of large companies disappear at home every year? Heaven knows how many of those are the work of demon hunters. The war between dark forces has never stopped; it's just that those bloody battles are hidden where ordinary people can't see them.

Hao Ren felt a bit conflicted about the existence of these human groups. In ancient times, humans worshipped the Other out of necessity. In that precarious era, the Other roamed the land, and having a few relatively "benevolent" Other who were willing to keep humans like livestock was already a great blessing. Weak and powerless Earthlings could only tremblingly regard their terrifying protectors as gods. But these days, for people to willingly serve the Other could only make one lament that non-mainstream ideas can indeed take root in any era. Of course, he didn't have any prejudice against the Other, nor did he despise those heretical groups. After all, everyone around him was abnormal, and even he himself was, in a way, a protector of the Other. He just felt that it was a bit strange: things he saw in movies were overlapping with reality, but the way they overlapped was a bit odd.

Hesperides scoffed at Hao Ren's sentiments: "What are you sighing about? Aren't you a human wizard yourself?"

"My kind of wizard might not be what you think," Hao Ren could not explain the affairs of the Spatial Administration, so he could only laugh dryly and gloss over it. "Actually, we're under contract..."

"We're also under contract," Hesperides grinned. "We even have our people sign healthy blood supply agreements and year-end welfare guarantee systems."

Hao Ren thought that this topic was getting confusing.

"Speaking of which, what do the human groups you support outside... what do they mainly do?" Lily asked curiously. Hesperides was holding a bloody steak and stuffing it into Vivian's mouth. Hearing this, she turned her head and replied with a proud look: "They do all sorts of things. Society is developing and times are progressing. The Lucas family supports two clothing factories and a software company. I have two that deal with high-end counterfeit brands and one that researches mining equipment. Oh, right, I sent a few cadres to China the other day to explore the market in Shanxi, but I haven't heard back from them yet..."

Hao Ren was stunned: "Could they have been sold to work in the coal mines?"

This time, Hesperides didn't have time to pay attention to Hao Ren. She gave Lily a strange look: "Wait... did I just see ears pop out of your head? What race are you?"

Lily was stuffing a large piece of grilled meat into her mouth. At this moment, she suddenly reacted, and a strange gagging sound came from her throat. She choked, her face flushed, and she gesticulated wildly, asking Hao Ren for help. Hao Ren quickly stepped forward and patted Lily's back to help her clear her throat. Nangong Wuyue and Izhaks also broke out in a cold sweat: Usually, everyone of various races living peacefully under one roof had become a habit. They had completely forgotten that Lily and Vivian were not on good terms. Lily, with her air-headedness, was amazing. She had actually managed to gorge herself under the gaze of over a hundred vampires and hadn't thought of this until now!

"I almost... almost died... I might really die later..." Lily managed to swallow the food in her mouth after a narrow escape and lay on the table panting. Hao Ren felt that this husky should have achieved a feat that no other orthodox werewolf had ever achieved: talking and laughing in a circle of vampires, fighting with vampires for food, and still not getting killed...

"What's wrong with her?" Hesperides looked at Vivian in astonishment. "I just casually asked a question. Why is her reaction so intense?"

Lily shrank her neck and hid behind Hao Ren (this was her instinctive action. In a dog's mind, the creature that could give her food every day was the most powerful, even if she was a Tibetan mastiff – not to mention that she was just a husky): "You promise you won't eat me on the spot first."

Hesperides was full of question marks, while Vivian shrugged: "As you can see, that's all she's good for..."

Hesperides was initially wary of Lily's instincts, but after seeing Vivian's attitude, the atmosphere between the other guests, and most importantly, Lily's actions, she was stunned for a moment, then waved her arms vigorously at the people around her: "What are you looking at! Eat your own food! You didn't hear anything, understand?"

Lily immediately returned to the table cheerfully, continuing to gorge herself as if nothing had happened. This scene stunned Hesperides. Vivian sighed: "In a way, Lily is quite impressive. If I were in the same environment, I wouldn't necessarily have this mindset."

Everyone enjoyed the meal, and it lasted a long time. A vampire's feast could last until dawn – since this city had no sun, they decided to continue until everyone was drunk and passed out. Hesperides' table ended a bit earlier, basically after Lily ate until she fell asleep. Hao Ren half-dragged, half-supported Lily up from the chair. The latter was still mumbling about grilled meat in a daze. To be honest, if her biological clock hadn't interfered, she probably could have eaten until everyone present had passed out. Hesperides looked at this werewolf girl, who could be so calm under the gaze of vampires, with sincere admiration: "This is the first time in my life I've seen a werewolf like this. She has the potential to achieve great things. Not everyone can possess this composure."

Vivian pinched the tail that Lily accidentally revealed after falling asleep: "Composure my ass. Until yesterday, the only true bloodkin she had ever seen in her life was me. She learned about the bloodkin and werewolves from TV, and she has no real concept of the ancient feud between the two races."

Hesperides was stunned: "An orphan? Are there still survivors like this outside? Is she from the north?"

Hao Ren nodded: "Yes, from the northern snowfields. Her ancestors have long monopolized the snowfield transportation industry, and she herself has one-sixteenth royal blood."

Hesperides was stunned.

The group was arranged to live in this magnificent house, which had plenty of empty rooms, and the butler in the house made special arrangements after asking about each person's race. Hao Ren was pleased to find that Hesperides still inherited Vivian's kind side at heart: Although she was cold to him, she ultimately arranged a decent-looking place for him, at least the sleeping place was a bed instead of a coffin...

Hao Ren also specifically asked the butler for an extra-large fish tank. He had to let Doudou (Bean) out to breathe at night. The little guy had actually shown her face when everyone was eating, but she had never seen so many people, and was immediately frightened back, so that Hesperides did not notice that there was an extra half-cooked fish on the table for a moment. Hao Ren decided to introduce the little fish to Hesperides after things calmed down tomorrow.

The first bizarre night spent in the vampire house passed like this, and the next day... well, it was still night. This ghostly place didn't even have a sun. Opening your eyes was considered daytime, right?

As soon as Hao Ren left the room, he saw two vampire maids with blood-red eyes running hurriedly in the corridor. He stopped one and asked, and heard an expected piece of news:

People from the Lucas family were coming, and the person coming was their clan leader.