Chapter 1 The Truth Comes Out

When Hao Ren said the words "smell it," he immediately regretted it. He suddenly realized that this earlier version of Lily probably still believed she was a werewolf and knew nothing about her husky-Pekingese mix bloodline. In other words, she was quite proud of her bloodline—a husky girl in this state might not accept being used as a tracking dog. Maybe the next moment she would feel her racial dignity challenged and slam her… oh, there was no table, so she would slap her thigh in anger and stand up.

But to his surprise, instead of the expected wolf howl, Lily just froze for two seconds and then beamed. "Oh, you've really come to the right person. I'm good at finding things—where is it? Let me smell it."

Hao Ren paused, vaguely realizing something: this Lily might not know she was a werewolf. She might not even know werewolves existed in this world.

She only knew she could transform into a half-human, half-wolf state and was very strong. So-called racial dignity probably didn't exist for her yet. Her concept of werewolves likely came from books, movies, and TV shows she encountered after entering human society years later. And her arrogant werewolf dignity back then…

Was just *tm* chuunibyou from watching too much TV!

This silly husky girl in front of him was her most authentic self!

Realizing this, Hao Ren immediately felt relieved. Then he opened his subspace pocket and took out something—although many people probably expected it to be Vivian's original scent of xx or xx or xx, considering Hao Ren wasn't a pervert and Vivian didn't need to change clothes every time she transformed like Lily did, there was no need for Hao Ren to keep her clothes. So, what he took out of the subspace pocket was Vivian's phone.

This thing was probably the closest thing to Vivian’s person besides her underwear, never leaving her side.

"What's this?" Lily was immediately attracted to the exquisite and high-end device. The shiny texture of the phone screen made the husky, who loved collecting shiny stones, light up. "It looks so pretty!"

"This is a magic artifact, used by my friend," Hao Ren said casually. "Smell it and remember the scent… hey, just smell it, no need to lick it… and don't bite it! Hey, be careful, this thing has a plastic case! Never mind what plastic is..."

Lily held the phone and began to sniff it carefully, as if she had found a treasure. Seeing her professional performance, Hao Ren nodded in satisfaction, full of expectations for her results.

Of course, he knew that Vivian had been asleep for many years. Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for a dog to find someone by smelling a scent. However, there were always twists and turns: first of all, Lily wasn't an ordinary dog. She was a super husky spirit reincarnated from the leader of the previous generation of demon hunters. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that if someone within a hundred miles smacked their lips, she could immediately recite their menu from the past three days. As long as Vivian had the slightest aura nearby, the dog girl's chance of finding her was one hundred percent. Secondly, it had been a long time since Vivian fought the Wraith in Siberia. Even if that poor vampire was a heavy sleeper, it was time for her to wake up. Her sleep seal should have loosened or even opened, inevitably leaking some aura for Lily to capture.

Of course, there was also the worst-case scenario: Vivian was sleeping exceptionally soundly this time and still had no intention of waking up. Her sleeping place was still sealed; or she had already woken up and, on a whim, had gone for a walk and run off to the southern hemisphere while Hao Ren was busy looking for her. If it was the former, Hao Ren would have to search the snowfield inch by inch until he dug up Vivian's coffin. If it was the latter…

Hao Ren chose to curse and then obediently search the world for his girl…

While he was thinking about the future, Lily had carefully smelled the phone, inevitably licking it a few times (mainly because the shiny thing was too attractive to her). She reluctantly returned the phone to Hao Ren: "Here, I remember the smell."

"Then when do we leave?" Hao Ren asked impatiently.

"Let's eat first," Lily pointed to the meat porridge already cooked in the big pot and the grilled fish steaming beside it. "Then we'll rest for the night after eating and leave tomorrow. Don't worry, I'm really good at remembering scents. I can remember it even after ten or eight years, let alone one night. There won't be any problems leaving tomorrow."

Hao Ren didn't want to wait because every extra day meant more variables. However, he had to consider the thoughts of this husky spirit he had "just met." This wasn't the familiar dog girl from the real world. She had only met him today and was helping out of enthusiasm and camaraderie. He couldn't ask for too much.

And look outside—he couldn't see any daylight through the door cracks. Obviously, night had fallen. It wasn't wise to move around in the Siberian snowfield at night. The darkness and cold weren't a problem for Hao Ren, but Vivian's power would be strengthened in the darkness, and her sleeping place would be even more hidden by the power of the moonlight. It would be difficult to find Vivian at night.

So he could only suppress his impulse and choose to spend the first night of his "historical backtracking journey" in this hunter's cabin.

Hot and rough meat porridge, fragrant and unique smoked salmon, a hunter's cabin in the cedar forest, the Siberian wind howling outside, and the flickering fire in the hearth. Lily sat opposite the fire, her face with a happy and innocent smile, and her bright eyes seemed as clear as amber in the firelight.

That was Hao Ren's entire impression of the first day.

Oh, and he couldn't forget the wolf howls that never stopped outside the house…

The next day, the wind and snow stopped, and a clear, windless weather seemed to foreshadow good omens.

Lily went out before dawn. First, she uprooted a few cedars to stretch her muscles, then led her pack of wolves in a run around the territory. Finally, she led the pack to the hunting grounds to hunt and rob any creatures passing by, basically turning the entire pine forest upside down. By the time Hao Ren woke up, the husky spirit had already returned with a pack of well-fed wolves and half a wild boar.

"Today is a good day to find people," Lily said indistinctly while gnawing on the greasy roast wild boar meat. "No wind or snow, and the visibility is good. Also, I had the wolf pups scout around. Didn't you say that there would be abnormal celestial phenomena around your friend when she sleeps? I don't know what abnormal celestial phenomena are, but the wolf pups seemed to have heard that something was wrong in one place. We can go there and look for her."

"A strange place?" Hao Ren immediately perked up, not expecting Lily's wolves to have found a clue so quickly. "What's strange about it?"

"There's a small valley through the pine forest, a good place to shelter from the wind and snow in terms of terrain, and there's also a hot spring in the valley. It should be quite lively, right? But in reality, it's bare and empty. It is said that the forest withers when it extends to that side, and animals don't dare to approach it. They say that if you go there, you will get lost and die inexplicably in the valley. How can you get lost in a bare place? So, something must be wrong. A brown bear living nearby even said that a particularly loud noise is heard in the valley every ten days or so, sounding like a mountain collapse…"

The more Hao Ren listened, the more he felt it was right. He nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes! It should be this kind of abnormal phenomenon! Let's eat quickly and set off after eating!"

After quickly finishing breakfast, Hao Ren followed Lily and her pack of wolves on a journey to find that valley. Traveling from the hunter's cabin to the valley required crossing the entire pine forest. This would probably be a time-consuming journey for ordinary human explorers, but it wasn't a problem for Hao Ren at all, let alone for Lily and her wolves.

One was familiar with the local environment, and the other had physical qualities beyond imagination. They crossed the dense forest in a very short time and gradually reached the edge of the "Death Valley" that was extremely frightening to the local wildlife.

As they walked, Hao Ren noticed unnatural changes in the surrounding environment.

The surrounding trees began to thin out, and the plants in sight appeared short and shriveled. Those resilient polar plants seemed to be sick, gradually showing signs of weakness: the bark of the trees was dry and cracked, with black lesions in the cracks, and the shrubs on the ground grew twisted, clinging to the ground like creeping thorns. Among these diseased plants, there were remnants of plants that had completely withered.

The vitality of the pine forest was fighting against an invisible force, and the conflict between life and death formed a battlefield here.

As they continued forward, the distribution of plants became even scarcer, and the surroundings became completely silent: although Siberia was cold, the forest was still a vibrant world. Originally, animal sounds could be heard everywhere, but here, these sounds had disappeared unnoticed.

The wolves began to fear moving forward.

Lily scolded her wolves a few times, and then a few brave gray wolves stepped forward again, but after walking a few steps, their pace slowed down again.

"We can't count on them anymore," Lily knew from the wolves' situation that these ordinary animals had been frightened by the aura coming from ahead. "Let them go back, and we'll go into the valley together."

Hao Ren looked up, and his vision passed over a few sparse, sick pine trees. He could already see the "Death Valley."