Chapter 1 Bringing Dou Dou

Bringing Dou Dou along had been quite a feat. After all, a living, breathing little mermaid didn't exactly look like she could pass through airport security. Hao Ren had initially planned to leave her at home as before, assigning someone to take care of her. But after her previous experience of being left alone and bored, Dou Dou had learned her lesson. The moment she sensed everyone was planning a trip, she latched onto Hao Ren and wouldn't let go. She clung to him for half a day, finally forcing him to reluctantly agree to bring her along. The little one was happy, but she caused the adults a lot of trouble. In the end, Hao Ren had no choice but to stuff the little one into his personal dimension…

In theory, a personal dimension wasn't suitable for living creatures. It was a desolate, dark place, devoid of sound, light, and gravity, so vast and cold that any living thing would quickly go insane inside. The user manual for the personal dimension even included a special note: "Unless you have a blood feud, do not attempt to use this space to transport living creatures. This Administration will not be responsible for any subsequent mental treatment." However, Hao Ren might not have many strengths, but his mind was open like no one else's. Before departing, he went to the aquatic market and bought a huge aquarium. He then returned to the Giant Tortoise Rock Terrace and grabbed a small artificial gravity device. Finally, he set up the aquarium with some scenic lighting, fake rocks, and a bubbler—the last one purely for Dou Dou to play with bubbles. When they set off, he also threw the data terminal into the personal dimension. This way, Dou Dou wouldn't feel bored at all inside. She had lights if she wanted lights, bubbles if she wanted bubbles, and if she got really bored, she could somersault around like a revolving lantern. At least she got through the dozen or so hours on the plane like this…

Hao Ren went to the suite's private bathroom, filled the bathtub halfway with water, and then released Dou Dou from the personal dimension. The little one had been cooped up inside for a whole day and night, and she was beyond restless. She jumped into the tub and swam around like crazy for several laps before raising her head and spraying water all over Hao Ren's face: this was her protest.

The data terminal floated over to Hao Ren's head, shaking off the water droplets: "Your daughter is going to be a big deal in the future. This machine was about to be driven crazy by her antics. Spinning around like a top for a whole day…"

"In the end, we brought this kid after all…" Izhaks followed to watch the fun. Seeing Dou Dou swimming in circles in the tub, he felt a bit of a headache. "The problem is we have business to take care of. Are we just going to carry her around the whole time?"

"We can only carry her," Hao Ren shrugged helplessly. "If it really doesn't work, we'll stuff her into the personal dimension and let her out to breathe in places where no one is around. Thinking about it, the Dream Plane is still better. We can carry a water bottle and pretend it's an alchemical tool. The gossip level of Earthlings just doesn't allow for that."

Dou Dou tilted her head, listening to the adults talk. Realizing that no one was paying attention to her, she harrumphed angrily, turned around, dove underwater, sucked in a bellyful of water, and then came up again to keep spitting water on Hao Ren's face…

Becky and Nangong Wuyue strolled idly through the foreign streets of Athens until after eleven o'clock at night before returning. When they came back, they were carrying a bunch of inexplicably large packages, filled with everything from local food to handicrafts—enough to fill almost a whole table. Needless to say, the items Becky purchased made up the majority. And even after such a long walk, the two girls showed no signs of fatigue, discussing their experiences along the way in the living room with great enthusiasm. Hao Ren suspected that these two had been swindled from beginning to end by local black market tour guides: it was rare to see freelancing tourists with the flair of a guided tour, Becky's shopping ability must be very popular among travel agencies.

Becky grabbed a handful of beaded necklaces, putting one around Nangong Wuyue's neck while muttering, "Anyway, someone is reimbursing you, so what do you care? I heard that your work is directly paid for by the gods. With a backer this big, why aren't you spending like crazy? I've already made plans. As long as I have time these next few days, I'm going to buy things like crazy, and then stuff them all into your personal dimension. After we get back, we'll sell them. With one round trip, we can earn at least two or three hundred Taip5s…"

Because the first Earth item Hao Ren gave Becky was a Taip5, this girl had an exceptionally deep impression of it, and then treated it as a unit of currency that only she could understand. Outsiders couldn't understand the conversion method.

Nangong Wuyue casually asked, "How are you going to sell them when you get back? You don't even have a channel."

"No need to worry about that. I met a lot of people when I was filming the show, and I've got at least one or two hundred phone numbers. And I talked to them at the time, and I feel like they would like this kind of thing—can't afford it, but grit their teeth and buy a bunch of foreign goods and then take pictures and post them on Weibo. Although I don't understand this way of thinking for you Earthlings, I admire this spirit."

Everyone was immediately amazed by this girl's economic sense and attention to detail. Of course, what was even more amazing was that she had learned so much about the locals she had met in such a short period of time. This observation ability really hadn't wasted her mercenary profession.

Anyway, Hao Ren was deeply impressed after listening to Becky's wishful thinking, realizing that the opportunity to get rich was presented to everyone, but most people lacked the ability to seize it—look at this room full of kind and gentle people, who among them thought the same thing as Becky?

Vivian sighed beside him: "I really envy you, making money whenever you want… Actually, I used to do international business a long time ago…"

The whole place immediately quieted down, Hao Ren was startled by this unexpected news: "Are you kidding me? You, doing international business?"

"No matter what, I've lived for so many years. I was watching from the side when you humans first used sheepskins to trade for grain. What makes you think there's anything I haven't tried?" Vivian glanced at Hao Ren quietly. "Thousands of years ago, I realized the huge profits in international trade, and poured the last of my money into transporting spices and lapis lazuli between Egypt and Rome, trying to turn my luck around—although it's not recorded in the history books, I'm definitely among the earliest business people on Earth to open my eyes…"

Hao Ren heard another of Vivian's great achievements, becoming very interested: "And then what happened?"

"Then I almost had to beg all the way back from Rome," Vivian sighed. "I don't know what happened, but I lost money on everything I did. Later, I didn't have any capital, so I dragged a few younger bloodkin to work together on business, and as a result, I bankrupted them too. Then I tricked a few Egyptian priests who worshipped me into putting up money, but then Alexander wiped out the Thirty-first Dynasty. I struggled one last time—but then Octavian decisively killed Cleopatra and simply turned Egypt into a province of Rome. I struggled for two thousand years without being able to make international business work, and finally realized that maybe I just wasn't cut out for it. And after that, even if I wanted to, I couldn't find anyone who dared to invest in me."

Hao Ren: "... I feel like every time I talk to you about history, there's a sense of surprise. How many epic events have you done that you haven't told us about?"

Vivian thought about it: "Definitely a lot, but who knows when I'll be able to remember them. If there's a chance, if there's a chance, I'll tell you about the Trojan War… Or maybe we'll have a chance to visit the ancient city and maybe even dig up the things I lost back then from underground."

Hao Ren and the others were just chatting about Vivian and the messy and interesting things between human history in a hotel suite somewhere in the ancient city of Athens, while the night outside the window was deep. This city, the oldest in human history and containing the most secrets, was gradually sinking into silence under the night.

After the humans living in the light fell soundly asleep, the creatures in the darkness gradually awakened.

Some swift black phantoms that couldn't be detected by the human eye were flying through the deep night sky, conveying certain news to the residents living on the other side of this city. Hidden in the oldest part of Athens were dark secrets that were incomprehensible to ordinary people. The power of shadow cut the city into two parts, one that could be touched, and the other that was imperceptible to ordinary people's eyes. As one of the world's major "nests," Athens had already established a secret, bizarre, and elusive special fortress in the thousands of years of operation of the dark races. Even the best demon hunters found it difficult to penetrate the city's intricate shadow paths.

In these ancient streets that shouldn't exist in terms of spatial structure, a message was circulating:

The oldest vampire in the world, the alien among aliens, one of the strange primordial beings—the Countess who summons the Red Moon has arrived in this city, and this Countess seems to want to take some unprecedented positive action.

While Hao Ren and the others were busy discussing whether Vivian should have kicked Achilles into the moat or not, countless "people" were discussing whether the Countess would interfere in the Day of Return.