Chapter 165

Actually, Hao Ren had anticipated this situation even before Athena asked the question. After all, it was an obvious point of doubt: the mountains and plains outside were full of demon hunters. Even a mosquito that flew over and sucked the blood of Olympus would be shot down and dismembered. In this insane level of blockade, three seemingly unimpressive (?) people actually swaggered all the way from the human world to the innermost circle of the encirclement, and even spent a long time dismantling the wall behind the temple. Without an explanation, this would simply be a fantasy problem...

Although a group of guys living in a mythological era were pretty fantastical to begin with.

For Hao Ren, answering this question wasn't difficult—just make something up. Anyway, the people in front of him were all about to die (and had already died in history), so he didn't have to worry about them investigating anything later...

"We came through the Underworld," Hao Ren started with the truth, but the rest was half true and half false. "Demon hunters are no longer interested in places they've already swept, so there were no enemies on the road from the Underworld to Hades' temple. Also, we opened the seal of Chronos in the Underworld, trying to lure Chronos into the demon hunters' camp—this caused great chaos. In addition, we have some special abilities that can influence the demon hunters' perception to a certain extent, which allowed us to pass through the entire battlefield in the confusion..."

"Chronos..." Poseidon's face changed when he heard this name, obviously remembering a terrible incident from many years ago. "No wonder, no wonder the demon hunters acted so strangely... cough cough..."

Hao Ren looked strangely at this "God of the Sea and Storms" who looked very mighty but whose face was as yellow as paper. "Are you okay? You don't look too good?"

Poseidon almost spat out a mouthful of old blood when he heard this question, but he was forced by both pride and circumstances to hold back for a long time. Finally, Athena prompted Hao Ren slightly: "The temple's defense system is connected to Poseidon..."

The smile on Hao Ren's face froze, and Lily belatedly realized what was going on, quietly poking the former's arm. "Landlord, Landlord, is this our fault?"

Hao Ren gritted his teeth. "Don't mind the details—just pretend you don't know anything."

"In any case, we were lucky to get in thanks to favorable timing and location," Hesperide, seeing that the atmosphere was a bit stiff, quickly smoothed things over. "We managed to find a loophole, but the loophole can't last long. Chronos can't hold back the demon hunters indefinitely."

"You said just now that you have the ability to interfere with the demon hunters' perception," Zeus, who was lying on the sickbed, suddenly propped up half his body, as if in a final burst of energy. "To what extent can you do that?"

As Zeus spoke, Hesperide keenly sensed magical fluctuations. Then, a transparent barrier that could isolate sound appeared in the center of the hall, isolating the lower gods outside.

Hao Ren looked around at the giants present and the large group of "demigods" and degraded "gods," and said carefully, "We can't take everyone away, especially those of you who are too big... The demon hunters aren't blind. You'd be too obvious on the battlefield."

Hesperide cooperated by continuing, "We're mainly here to pick up Vivian, but we can also help you cover the evacuation of a small group of people. You can discuss it now. I must remind you that this is a war of extermination. It's impossible to escape unscathed. You have to make the necessary sacrifices. It's already a blessing if a few sparks can escape."

Hao Ren nodded slightly, but muttered in his heart that he wasn't really here to save people. He was just here to find Vivian. If he didn't have to wait to meet with Hasson before he could awaken Vivian's memory, he would have taken out the house key and revived Vivian right now.

Since the current space-time fragment would immediately collapse after Vivian woke up, and only a small area around her could be preserved, while outside this area, in the "information collapse zone," everything would be forcibly cleared out of this sandbox world. Therefore, every time Hao Ren woke up Vivian, he had to make sure that everyone in the team was present. Otherwise, people who were too far away would be forcibly ejected from this dream because they left it. This was discovered when everyone went back to the Aztec civilization in South America. At that time, Hesperide failed to return in time because she went to seal an out-of-control undead crypt, and almost got ejected by this strange mechanism—fortunately, Raven 12345 had been monitoring the sandbox system and gave a warning at the crucial moment, otherwise the little bat spirit would have been cursing in the outside world by now.

It was because of this mechanism that Hao Ren had to continue to deal with the Olympus gods at this time, in order to win a "reasonable opportunity" to leave with Vivian and meet with Hasson outside the temple.

He would have a headache later about how to communicate with Vivian, because the latter was also in a daze at the moment, and it was hard to say whether she recognized people or not...

After hearing Hesperide's words, Poseidon and the others did not seem to be too disappointed or frustrated. They seemed to have been aware of their fate for a long time. From this point of view, these guys who called themselves "gods" still had some backbone.

"This was also our initial plan," Athena said. "We have prepared ourselves to die here, but the bloodline of Olympus must continue. We originally planned to have Ansesstata lead a group of people to break through, but she suddenly fell into a daze, making the plan impossible to carry out. But now that you are here, this may be our only chance..."

"You can choose any of the treasures in this temple," Poseidon sighed. "Don't rush to refuse. I know you're not here for the reward, and you may not even like our treasures, but we need this transaction so that... we can rest assured when we hold the line."

Hao Ren was silent for a moment, then nodded. It was easy to understand what the other party meant. It was nothing more than seeking psychological comfort.

"Perhaps you should tell Ansesstata," Zeus waved weakly, removing the shielding magic from the field. "Although she may not listen to anything..."

Vivian was still immersed in a daze. After Hao Ren walked up to her and stood there for a full half a minute, she belatedly looked up.

After a few seconds of愣, she said blankly, "Who are you?"

"Uh..." Hao Ren was also encountering Vivian in this state of mind for the first time. Before, he had either encountered Vivian when she was awake, completely crazy, or sound asleep. This confused intermediate state was really a bit difficult to adapt to. After thinking for a long time, he decided to throw out the same old story, "I'm Hao Ren—we've known each other for many years. You asked me to come here..."

"Ah?" Vivian opened her mouth in confusion, and then her thoughts seemed to stop abruptly, interrupting her words and mumbling to herself, "...there's no rice at home...there's no firewood...should I go...kill...can't kill...buy vegetables...fight..."

Hao Ren stood there awkwardly, suddenly realizing that any verbal communication seemed useless in this situation. Vivian now had her own set of winding circuits in her head. It was difficult to guarantee that what you said could really be transmitted to her mind.

However, at this moment, Vivian's thoughts seemed to jump to another channel. She suddenly looked up in Hesperide's direction, stared at her for a long time, and then frowned, "Are you...Hesperide?"

The little bat spirit never expected that Vivian would recognize her at a glance in this state, and she immediately became excited. "Viv..."

As a result, before she could finish speaking, Vivian exclaimed, "How did you get so big?!"

Hesperide: "I..."

"Wait, I clearly remember that you were only this tall..." Vivian gestured in front of herself, then turned her head and grabbed an Olympus god standing next to her. "How long have I been here?! Has it been hundreds of years!"

Hao Ren was startled by the sudden change of topic and quickly grabbed Vivian. "Wait, wait! It's not what you think! This Hesperide isn't the one you left in Rome... well, she is the one you left in Rome, but she's not the one you think..."

Vivian let go of the unlucky guy she had grabbed and looked at Hao Ren blankly. "Who are you?"

Hao Ren: "..."

He felt like he had just heard this question!

"I'm Hao Ren. I'm your friend. I'm here specifically to pick you up and leave," Hao Ren sighed, then reached into his pocket. "Forget it, you probably can't understand anything in your current state. Although it's a bit different from the plan, at least I still have the little girl with me. Come on, say hello to your mom."

The little bat spirit, bored from being in her pocket, had already begun to doze off. After Hao Ren took her out, she blindly burrowed around for a while, then suddenly realized what was happening. She "popped" and instantly transformed into a little girl, throwing herself on Vivian. "Mommy!"

"Hesperide?" As expected, this little girl was the one Vivian's mind was most familiar with at this moment. The latter finally recognized her. "Aren't you supposed to be staying in Rome?"

"Brother Hao Ren brought me here!" Little Hesperide jumped up and down happily. "And this is Hesperide, she's also a little bat Mommy threw away~"

"Hesper...ide?" Vivian blinked and looked at Hesperide. "When did I throw away another little bat?"

Hesperide stood there with a complex expression, looking at the "mother" who was so close yet so far away. She wanted to say something, but suddenly Vivian leaned over and gently patted the little bat spirit's head. "Seems like my little bat... I'm sorry I lost you."

Hesperide burst into tears. "Wah—"

"Hey, why are you crying..." Seeing this, Hao Ren quickly took out a tissue from his personal space and handed it over. "Is it that shocking?"

"The first time I met her..." Hesperide sniffed hard. "That's what she said to me..."

Hao Ren suddenly felt a toothache. "Oh, what a sin..."

Vivian looked Hao Ren up and down, who was wiping Hesperide's tears, with a blank expression. "Who are you?"

Hao Ren: "..."

This time, even the Olympus people standing by and watching couldn't hold back. Even at this sad and bleak moment, some people couldn't help but laugh.

Lily, on the other side, shook her head while hugging her alloy mega mega mega sword. "Tch, luckily I'm smart and didn't go up to introduce myself. Otherwise, it would have been awkward."

A female voice came from the side, "Yeah, I agree. She hasn't recognized anyone these past two days she's been confused. She doesn't even respond when I say hello."

Lily turned her head in response and saw a tall woman standing next to her. She was immediately surprised. "Hesperia?!"

"You know me?" Hesperia, who had not yet had her head blown off by Hasson's arrow at this moment, was still a calm and gentle "goddess." She pointed to her nose and asked in surprise.

"Uh, kind of," Lily scratched her nose. "You better wear a helmet when you break through later... Oh, never mind, the guy who's going to make a hole in your head should be flying around Mount Olympus at Mach 3.5 right now."

Hesperia: "Huh?"