Chapter 187 Baptiste?

When Lily blurted out the name, Baptiste, Hao Ren’s first reaction was to freeze. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t immediately place where he had heard it before. It wasn’t until Lily nudged his arm and whispered the word “Purgatory” that he remembered who this wizard named Baptiste was.

The former Purgatory, now the “World Gate – Surface World Monitoring Center,” this incredible planet that once stuck on the Wall of Reality and was nicknamed “Purgatory” due to the terrifying environment of its upper crust, first came to Hao Ren’s attention because of the activities of a wizard named Baptiste.

This Baptiste was active in the French region during the Middle Ages before mysteriously disappearing for centuries. He used magic to devour a human town, using the power he gained to open a portal to Purgatory. He didn’t hesitate to turn himself into an undead cursed creature, all to find his “mentor,” who was also his lover, who had fallen into Purgatory due to a magical accident years ago.

In an instant, all this information flooded into his mind, and Hao Ren was finally able to connect the mysterious wizard in front of him with the Baptiste he knew from six hundred years later. At the same time, he understood what this wizard, who had been going by the alias “Barn,” was up to and how Lily had guessed the wizard's true identity.

He had to admit that the husky girl’s intuition and occasional flashes of inspiration were really impressive.

Although it wasn’t directly related to the main goal of his time-traveling journey, Hao Ren felt that he had stumbled upon another piece of the puzzle.

No wonder a mere human wizard could master the method of opening an interstellar portal, no wonder he had countless connections with Vivian; the root cause was right here and now.

On the other side, after Lily spoke his real name, the always composed “Barn” couldn’t help but be surprised. He quickly turned his hood towards the husky girl: “You know me?”

“You know him?” This was shouted in unison by Hessiana and Hassu, who was not far away.

Lily thought for a moment, her ears perking up: “Ah ya! Guessed it right?”

Everyone: “……”

“Ahem, heard of this guy,” seeing that the husky girl couldn’t smooth things over herself, Hao Ren awkwardly broke the deadlock. “I see… I see. Baptiste, I didn’t expect you to find the key to opening the Purgatory Gate here.”

The wizard Barn… no, Baptiste, finally gave up his disguise. He threw off his hood, revealing a thin and gloomy face: “Who are you? How do you know I want to open the Purgatory Gate?!”

“Huh? You want to connect to Purgatory?” This time it was Vivian who was surprised, still a little confused from waking up. “You didn’t tell me that!”

Hessiana was a little frantic: “Vivian, you gave him the power crystal without even knowing what this guy was going to do?!”

“He just told me he was looking for someone, and that person happened to be a little lackey of mine who went missing a long time ago, so I helped him out,” Vivian said innocently. “How would I know he was looking for that person in Purgatory! Hey, you over there, Baptiste, right? Let me tell you, if you open a door to Purgatory, then we’ll have to renegotiate. Opening a door to Purgatory isn’t something you can do just by gathering a few wizards and pooling your energy! And even if you do open the door, there’s no telling what might come out from the other side. Don’t go crazy…”

Baptiste never expected that an ancient bloodline like Vivian would have such a talkative attribute. In his estimation, an ancient ruler like the “Crimson Moon Countess” should be the kind of aloof and detached person who wouldn’t care about the lives of ordinary people or the survival of a city or country. Even if he wanted to open the Purgatory Gate, it shouldn’t attract the slightest attention from this great power, but he didn’t expect that as soon as his purpose was revealed, she actually intended to go back on her word!

Baptiste’s brain was running at full speed, simulating countless negotiation plans in his mind. At the same time, he began to consider the possibility of escape, but before he could take any action, a swift black shadow suddenly pounced over, and a long whip wrapped around his arm.

Hessiana looked at the human wizard, who showed a look of annoyance but no fear: “Tsk tsk, sorry, you can’t leave for the time being.”

Hao Ren looked at this unexpected interlude, but the corner of his eye suddenly noticed Vivian, who was curiously looking around.

Vivian was not only looking at him curiously, but also at everyone around her, including the demon hunters.

“What’s going on?” Our countess frowned, her eyebrows looking very nice. “Why are so many irrelevant people popping up in the place where I was sleeping? I wanted to ask just now… Demon hunters? What do you want? The guy standing over there is Hassu, right—when did you guys start coming to me for trouble? And that werewolf girl over there, and the guy carrying two black swords, who are you? I don’t recognize you.”

The first few questions were fine, but as soon as she asked about Hao Ren and Lily, Hessiana’s expression changed.

The little bat immediately stared at Hao Ren with suspicious eyes: “Didn’t you say you were friends with Vivian?!”

“Friends?” Vivian shook her head after hearing this. “I don’t know those two.”

“I can explain this!” Hao Ren quickly raised his hand. “We must have been forgotten by Vivian again! Everyone here knows that Vivian’s memory is a bit of a problem, right…”

Hessiana, while controlling Baptiste’s actions, still wore a suspicious expression. Obviously, although Hao Ren’s explanation was an undeniable possibility, the matter itself had already made her greatly suspicious of Hao Ren and Lily’s identities.

Vivian nodded with a slightly dazed expression: “Oh, that’s possible.”

Hessiana: “Vivian! Don’t give up on your memory so quickly!”

Vivian didn’t care: “But my memory really isn’t very good, that’s an undeniable fact.”

“You two! You better quickly come up with something else to prove your identities! Something that can remind Vivian of you!” Hessiana had no way to deal with Vivian, but she could turn the spearhead to Hao Ren and Lily. “If you can’t come up with anything, then I can only temporarily regard you and this Baptiste as the same kind of liars and schemers! Especially that Hao Ren—where’s the bat in your pocket? Take it out and let Vivian determine if it’s fake!”

What had previously been regarded as “ironclad proof” by the little bat was now being doubted because of Vivian’s words.

Hao Ren helplessly raised his hands: “Okay, okay, I have other evidence, I have something to show Vivian.”

As he spoke, he took something out of his dimensional pocket, but just as he was about to hand it over to Vivian, Hessiana stopped him: “Wait! Let me hand it over—to prevent you from tampering with the keepsake and deceiving Vivian.”

Hao Ren was about to ask, “What about Baptiste if you come over,” when he saw the little bat’s body suddenly sway. Then, a “Hessiana” who looked exactly like her, but with a weaker aura and a slightly dull expression, stood up from her shadow.

This clone created with magic quickly came to Hao Ren and held out her hand: “Give it to me, I’ll hand it over.”

Hao Ren shrugged and handed the thing to Hessiana’s clone.

It was the key medium to awaken Vivian in this false space-time: the door key.

After the magic clone took the key, she didn’t hand it over immediately but curiously examined it for a long time, even using a few small spells to test it. Hessiana’s real body in the distance showed a suspicious expression: “What is this? A small piece of strange metal?”

“You’ll know once you give it to Vivian,” Hao Ren said with a mysterious expression. “Anyway, you can detect it, right? There are no magical fluctuations on this thing, and it’s not a dangerous item.”

“Hmph, I doubt you’d dare.”

The little bat snorted and then had the clone hold the key in front of Vivian.

Vivian took the key and curiously held it up to examine it.

Hao Ren noticed that the collapse of the Moonlight Prairie had gradually stopped at some point.

The writhing dark boundary had stopped hundreds of meters away, and the edges of the earth, which were constantly turning into fragments and flying away, seemed to have been paused, becoming a motionless scene. The moonlight in the sky became even brighter and clearer, and in this world, everything was rapidly being covered in gray-white.

Including the demon hunter squad led by Lockheed.

Including Baptiste, who was being subdued by Hessiana.

Even including Hessiana herself and Hassu standing not far away—they were also covered in gray-white, representing the “fading of the dream,” for a short time.

As for Hessiana’s magic clone, it vanished into thin air the moment the change occurred.

Hao Ren and Lily looked at each other and nodded in unison: Although some unexpected situations occurred, everything still succeeded as planned.

Vivian finally took her eyes off the key. Her eyes quickly became clear and finally focused on the two familiar faces: “Hao Ren… and Big Dog? Why are you here… eh, where did this little brat come from?! Where am I?”

She saw Hessiana standing not far away at the end.

Lily scratched her hair, muttering a little unhappily: “So we have to explain it all over again every time, awooo.”

Hao Ren smiled and didn’t respond to the husky girl’s complaint. Instead, he stepped towards Vivian.

“A lot of things have happened. Let me tell you slowly.”