Chapter 1 A Somewhat Easy but Not So Easy Journey

Although Hao Ren felt that this regression would be easier and more pleasant than the previous ones, he knew that there was no truly easy and pleasant journey in this twisted and misplaced spacetime.

There would always be troubles waiting for them, whether expected or unexpected.

In the Amazon rainforest, they immediately encountered Vivian wandering in the dense forest, but before they could speak, Vivian entered a violent state before falling asleep, almost wiping out the entire team.

On the Mongolian grasslands, Vivian's tomb was right in front of them, but hundreds of demon hunters and even more werewolf remnants suddenly appeared from nowhere. After inexplicably getting caught up in a melee, Hao Ren forcibly awakened Vivian with a shield, almost losing half his life.

And in this ancient Rome, dwelling in the last twilight of the age of myths, who knew what awaited them.

After changing into era-appropriate clothing, Hao Ren and his group walked through the ancient Roman city more than two thousand years ago, gathering information while wandering around.

This ancient city with a resounding reputation gave Hao Ren a great sense of surprise – compared to the barbaric American tribal settlements and the rotten and dark European Middle Ages, the order and grandeur of Rome were like a miracle in ancient times. From a municipal point of view, it was even more beautiful and livable than the medieval European cities more than a thousand years later. At least here, one could not smell the rotten stench that permeated the city. The tall buildings along the roadside, the exquisite stone carvings everywhere, and the decorative pillars that showed the power of Rome, these things together formed the prototype of a powerful country – although at this moment Rome was still the Roman Republic rather than the Empire, it had already demonstrated some of the characteristics of an empire. These characteristics were in the grandeur of the city's architecture, and also in the faces of every resident, full of pride and confidence.

Oh, proud Romans.

Although Hao Ren knew very well that the productivity of mankind on Earth at this moment was far from comparable to later generations, he still gave this city a high evaluation.

"That's why history develops in a spiral, always regressing slightly at inexplicable times," Hesperides said with emotion as she looked at the city where she was "born and raised." "Even in the Republican era, Rome had complete urban planning, and professional personnel managed the drainage system and pollutant treatment mechanism, but these advanced things were ultimately smashed to pieces by the barbarians from Germanic lands. Savagery destroys civilization... Until the fifteenth century, Paris in France did not even reproduce the sewer technology of the Roman era. Tsk, tsk."

Obviously, the little bat was full of praise for this city: after all, it was her childhood hometown, and she had deep feelings for it.

Lily stretched her neck and looked around: "Can we just run into Vivian back then by wandering around the city?"

"No, but so far, wandering around is the most effective way," Hesperides glanced at Lily. "First of all, I can't remember what happened when I was a child. That was two thousand years ago. Even now, I still get lost in Rome. Secondly, Vivian and I didn't have a fixed place to live back then. We said we lived in Rome, but in fact we wandered around within a radius of a hundred *li* (approximately 50 kilometers) centered on Rome. Who knows where we might settle down."

Lily's eyes widened immediately: "I'll go... a hundred *li*?! Then when will we ever find anything by blindly bumping around like this?"

"That's why we need to look for clues," Hesperides looked like she couldn't communicate with this silly dog. "This is the tail end of the age of myths. The gods haven't completely died out yet – so many of the activities that Vivian and I did back then were very public. As long as we walk around the city more, we'll definitely notice something."

The tail end of the age of myths – Hesperides' description of this historical period was quite apt.

Hao Ren showed a thoughtful look: "Are the gods on Mount Olympus still around at this time? Hasson, tell me about the situation at this time, regarding the 'gods'."

Hasson still had that poker face: "This is the era when the age of myths is about to end. All the foreign 'gods' on this planet are on the decline. The main reason is that the demon hunters are constantly eroding their 'divine kingdoms.' Another reason is that the ruling order they implement is not sustainable. At this time, Odin in the north is still seizing the time to send the Valkyries to collect heroic warriors to prepare for Ragnarok, but the Zeus lineage on Mount Olympus is already in constant retreat. If I remember correctly, before Caesar became active, the demon hunter elder Ammtura led a holy army to break through the spatial barrier of Mount Olympus. Our army and the guards led by Ares fought fiercely at the foot of Mount Olympus for decades. By the time of Caesar, I led the second battle group to attack Apollo's position from the southern foot of Olympus, and fought all the way to Zeus' throne – you know what happened later. We destroyed Olympus' energy furnace and control center, and the scene when the entire otherworld collapsed was even clearly visible in the human world."

Of course, Hao Ren knew about this earth-shattering event. He also knew that when Mount Olympus fell, a group of sirens were catching it on the sea. Those bizarre item collectors took advantage of the slag falling from Mount Olympus to pick up a lot of junk, including Vivian's statue...

"When did that happen?" Hao Ren glanced at Hasson. "Is Rome a Republic or an Empire? Has Caesar been assassinated?"

"I don't know about that," Hasson shrugged. "We don't care about the human world, at least not at that time. To us, the change of emperors and social changes in a human country are no different from a monkey group changing its leader."

Hao Ren: "..."

Lily had been curiously looking around after hearing Hasson's words. At this time, she suddenly said, "So, the people on Mount Olympus might be fighting the demon hunters right now?"

Hasson nodded: "Not only are they fighting, but even the 'me' in history might be on the battlefield at this time."

"It's really impossible to tell. The world of the gods is about to collapse, but human society in Rome is still completely silent. Look, there's a group of monks walking and laughing over there!"

"That's often the case. Wars in the 'divine realm' are always distant to humans, because aliens use advanced technology or magic to open up various otherworlds – they use this to show their strength and try to avoid living with the 'inferior and ignorant' humans, but this ultimately protects the human world in the wars of the gods, because the main battlefields are all in their otherworld 'divine realms.' Of course, the wars of the gods still have an impact on humans, and that's often at the end of the war. The 'divine kingdom' of the aliens collapses, and the fragments will fall into the human world, leaving countless legends, just like the Ragnarok of Northern Europe. Isn't that how it's been passed down in the form of myths and legends?"

Lily and Hasson were discussing the affairs of gods fighting, but Hao Ren suddenly thought of other things.

He suddenly realized that he could have other ways to understand Vivian's movements at this moment.

"The gods on Olympus haven't all died yet, right?"

Hasson glanced at Hao Ren: "It's hard to say, but judging from the atmosphere in the city now, humans haven't witnessed the collapse of Olympus yet. The Olympian gods shouldn't be completely finished."

"Then it's simple," Hao Ren clapped his hands. "Let's find a temple!"

Lily didn't react for a moment: "What are we going to do at a temple?"

"Ask those so-called 'gods' for information!"

In the city of Rome, there are definitely many buildings like temples.

Although it can't be called a scene of temples everywhere, as a country with strong inclusiveness and acceptance, Rome has never rejected the entry of foreign religions – as long as they don't shake the foundation of the country and negate the values of the Romans themselves, then a foreign religion can easily find a foothold in this city (of course, this requires paying a lot of money) and recruit believers, and this open policy directly led to the prosperity of religious activities and the large number of church buildings in the city of Rome.

In this process of religious integration, the ancient Greek gods originating from the Greek peninsula became dominant. This alien family, which was the most prosperous in the Middle Ages, spread its influence to the entire Mediterranean region, the ancient Greek peninsula, the ancient Italian peninsula, and the vast regions around them. Many of the gods enshrined are actually more than half of the Olympian gods in essence – or their incarnations and variants in the human world.

There is an inaccurate saying that the Roman gods are the Greek gods – although this statement lacks professionalism and rigor in archeology and mythology, in fact, behind the many gods worshipped in Rome there are indeed shadows of Greek gods. As the greatest inheritor of ancient Greek civilization, the Romans almost packed up and moved a large part of the Greek gods into their own mythology, and merged the gods together. Even if the names and duties of these "gods" have changed, in essence, the offerings in their temples will eventually be sent to the same place – Mount Olympus.

Hao Ren had learned from Vivian about the way the ancient "gods" ruled the human world. They lived in "divine kingdoms" isolated from humans, but in order to receive offerings and show their majesty, they must leave a channel for communication with mortals. This channel was the large and small temples built under their instruction. In addition to those small temples and small religions of unknown origin, there will be professional priests in large temples (or registered temples). These people are considered to have the power to "communicate with the gods," and in fact they do.

At least before the gods died, those human spokespersons they chose were able to contact their masters.

After getting lost for thirty minutes, Hao Ren found a place that looked very suitable: the Temple of Apollo.