Chapter 721 Windfall

Actually, Hao Ren had originally intended to go straight home. That "Origin Relic" he'd brought back from the alternate dimension was driving him crazy with curiosity. The few words Besserimos had let slip had only piqued his interest further. He couldn't wait to get home and study just what the thing was. But Hespera had warmly invited them to stay for another half-day and have a meal before leaving, so he reluctantly agreed to stay.

Well, in fact, only Vivian had been warmly invited. Hespera had only begrudgingly allowed Hao Ren and the others to tag along...

The city was dilapidated and in dire need of repair, and there were still a large number of wounded to deal with. Therefore, this half-day was not a post-war celebration, but rather a somber lesson-summing meeting. Hespera and Jean each reorganized the affairs of their own families, and made arrangements for the emergency repairs and increased defense of the city, before they had time to calm down and think about the future. Now that only two of the city's three major families remained, the remaining small forces had basically no say in the matter. So Hespera and Jean Lucas were the only remaining leaders of this sanctuary. They personally ran around the city, inviting all the ancient ones who had played a decisive role in the city's defense battle. With Vivian's prestige, everyone came this time.

The only ancient one who didn't attend was the guardian ancient tree, Ganglu Dahl. After all, due to its size and mobility, it didn't seem realistic to invite it over. But it sent an avatar to convey its thoughts to listen in on the meeting. This avatar was placed in front of Hespera: a pot of chives.

Hao Ren had to keep an eye on Doudou, who was hopping around in front of him, to prevent the little guy from jumping over and gnawing on the chives... Although the little guy didn't eat green vegetables, she had recently become particularly fond of gnawing on strange things to grind her teeth!

And so, the most powerful and prestigious people in the city gathered in the main hall of the Hespera family's house, and they were divided into two factions regarding the future of the sanctuary.

Some felt that the sanctuary was no longer safe and wanted to abandon it to wander or seek help from other sanctuaries. Others felt that the situation wasn't that bad and wanted to rebuild the order of this place.

The abandonment faction was realistic, but the stay faction also had its own reasons, especially in the current unsafe situation everywhere. There was actually no difference between inside and outside the sanctuary. The main reason why the sanctuary was breached this time was that the Shadow Interlayer had failed. As long as the Shadow Interlayer was rebuilt, the demon hunters would still be helpless against this place. For the past thousands of years, this sanctuary had actually been in front of the demon hunters. They all knew that a large group of aliens gathered here, just as they knew the situation of the other sanctuaries in the world. Therefore, the sanctuary's location being exposed wasn't a big problem. The only problem was defense.

As long as the defense could be rebuilt, the situation could be restored to what it was before.

The main builders of the Shadow Interlayer were shadow demons, but vampires and some other dark creatures also had technology in this area. In addition, the foundation of the Shadow Interlayer had not been damaged, so rebuilding the defense wasn't difficult. In fact, the Shadow Interlayer had already been restarted, but everyone was worried that the shadow demons had left some hidden dangers in the defense system, so they needed to re-examine the system—of course, without abandoning the sanctuary.

Hao Ren knew that he was an outsider here, but he couldn't help but want to get involved when he heard these discussions about the city's fate. He looked at Hespera beside him, "What do you think?"

"Me? I think this sanctuary will probably stay," Hespera didn't seem to think this was a big deal. "Actually, the demon hunters have breached this place several times before—the most recent time was during the witch hunts in Europe. A large group of demon hunters came here. That scene was even more lively than today, but we still held on. Then we had a meeting and everything went back to normal. A few people left, more people stayed, and the demon hunters were also wary of various reasons and didn't continue to attack. This time will probably be the same. After all, after several great battles in the mythological era, and thousands of years of constant warfare, both demon hunters and aliens have suffered considerable losses. It's now difficult to destroy a city at every turn like they used to."

After Hespera finished speaking, she sighed for a long time, "And nowhere is safe. This kind of discussion doesn't have any results. It's just picking a less bad option from a bunch of terrible options. The demon hunters probably won't attack again. They have to consider their own losses, and also consider the possibility that we might drag both the surface and the inner Athens to our graves if they push us too hard. So... ha, don't think too much about it."

Facts proved that Hespera was right.

The result of the discussion was that the sanctuary would continue to exist, and after repairs, would continue to maintain a delicate confrontation with the demon hunters. This kind of crisis wasn't the first time it had happened. The city's residents were used to it. A small number of them would probably leave soon, but more people would stay and continue to run this place. The meeting of the ancient ones also represented the future development direction of the sanctuary. Hespera and Jean Lucas didn't object to this issue.

After the meeting, everyone gathered in small groups to chat. Hespera crept over, tugging at Vivian's sleeve, "Vivian, Vivian, I want to discuss something with you..."

Vivian shook her head subconsciously, "No."

Hespera, "I haven't said anything yet..."

"Oh, I'm used to it. I'll object first," Vivian scratched her cheek. "Then tell me."

Hespera said shamelessly, "Vivian, can I move to your place?"

Vivian hadn't said anything yet, but Hao Ren's ears perked up. However, the first one to shout was Lily, "No, no! There's already a vampire at home! Why do you want to move in?!"

Hespera glared at Lily, "What's it to you? Look how chaotic the city is now, and it's obviously not safe to live here for the time being. I heard that Vivian's place is a pretty safe sanctuary. Let me crash for a few days..."

Hespera just happened to be passing by and gave Hespera a strange look when she heard this, "You're a weathervane, leaning towards whoever's safe? Don't forget that you and Jean are the only leaders left in this city. We old folks don't care about anything."

Hespera proudly puffed out her chest, "How can I be a weathervane! I'm practically a tumbleweed. Not to mention wind, I can crawl on my knees to Vivian's side even without wind. Vivian, you agree, right, right, hehehe..."

As she spoke, she kept rubbing against Vivian, who immediately broke out in goosebumps, "Go away, go away... I've told you to be more reserved so many times!"

Then Vivian looked at Hespera seriously, "It's really not possible this time, because the people here need you. You can't leave at this critical moment. But you can come and play with me for a few days after you've arranged things here..."

Hespera was a little incredulous when she heard this, "Really?"

Vivian glanced at Hao Ren, and after receiving an affirmative answer, she turned around with a smile, "We're happy to take in stray aliens, so of course we wouldn't mind one more. Actually, I didn't care about you before because I really couldn't afford to support you..."

The look of gratitude on Hespera's face had just appeared when Vivian added the second half of her sentence, "Of course, the more important thing is that you're too annoying."

Hao Ren coughed lightly, attracting Hespera's attention, "Also, you can help us a little by staying here—well, it's helping Vivian. Is that okay?"

This trick was unusually effective on Hespera, and the other party immediately nodded her head like it was on vibrate mode.

"Pry something out of Besserimos' mouth," Hao Ren lowered his voice. "We don't have the conditions for interrogation, and I don't have the experience, but you should. Whatever he says, tell me... okay, tell Vivian. Is that okay?"

Hespera looked at Vivian and nodded.

"Also, there's the matter of the Origin Relic," Hao Ren looked at Jean Lucas in the distance without showing any expression. "Besserimos might say something, and there might be records about the Origin Relic in the shadow demon castle. So Jean will definitely know sooner or later that we took this thing, but to be honest... I really need this thing, and it's very dangerous. You really can't study it casually. Just look at my face... okay, look at Vivian's face and suppress this matter."

Hespera also agreed, and Hao Ren couldn't help but sigh, "Alas, it's really tiring to talk to you. I have to bring Vivian along every time... It's not like you don't know, helping me is helping Vivian."

Hespera pouted, her eyes darting back and forth between Hao Ren and Vivian, and then she made a face at Hao Ren and suddenly blurted out, "I'll never call you Dad even if I die!"

Hao Ren, "Huh?"

Hespera had already run away like the wind at this time, leaving Hao Ren and Vivian awkwardly staring at each other. Finally, they said in unison, "That little brat is talking nonsense. Don't pay attention to her!"

Even Hespera's expression became strange, "Your tacit understanding is a bit too high..."

Hao Ren coughed awkwardly and suddenly remembered something when he saw Hespera, "By the way, there's also your matter—do you want to cure your brain damage problem?"