The Record of Unusual Creatures

Hao Ren had no idea how nymphs normally came into being. He suspected that they would have to probably undergo a process of reshaping their worldview and developing new habits. Anyway, Dumb Cat was a case in point: everyone was trying to help the cat build a new worldview, but nothing worked.     

The cat girl was still bigoted as usual. Her bad behaviors included but were not limited to rolling on the cushions in the living room, wearing shoes on the sofa, squatting on the coffee table, and nagging everyone for dried fish.     

Later, when the others had returned home, they joined the "educating Rollie" bandwagon. As a result, the cat ran up to the roof to find some serenity.     

Without making any headway after a whole day, Hao Ren was physically and mentally drained by the cat girl. It was only until dinner time that he stopped.     

Vivian had prepared a table full of food. The strange family—except Big Beardy who was grilling wild rabbit outside—sat around the table to start the most pleasant and enjoyable moment of the day: dinner. Y'lisabet held a bowl that was larger than her head, devouring food in a way that mimicked her dad. At the same time, she shared her fun experience of wandering outside earlier that day. No one could observe the temperament of a "Demon Princess" in her.     

The little girl and Y'zaks had become celebrities in the Southern Suburbs. Firstly, Y'zaks' face was a well-known landmark in their part of the town. Several police officers from the local police station had checked the list of criminals before confirming that this big guy was harmless. Hence, the surrounding residents slowly warmed up to his demonic look. In contrast, Y'lisabet, who looked like a little angel was always seen followoning Y'zaks and collecting discarded old home appliances on the street. You could imagine how viral the topic had become in the area.     

The angel and demon combo had become an instant hit as a street performing act, even when they were not. The fact that they always roamed around town was not helping either.     

The Southern Suburbs was originally a quiet, tiny town. The folks were always hungry for topics of interest to quench their boring life. So when Y'zaks and Y'lisabet appeared for the first time, they caused a sensation. Hao Ren did not witness it, but from what he had heard, it was quite lively: the Anti-Kidnapping Aquad had come thrice, and the city's Public Security Bureau had come twice. There was once when the two of them came to an old street intersection, five Liberation Army veterans tailed them, but pretended to be mooching around—all of them had walkie-talkies...     

Fortunately, the fake IDs Raven 12345 gave them were convincing enough.     

In fact, there was no need for Y'zaks to find a job to support his family; let us not mention the whole demonic city that was more than willing to support the demon king, even the unconditional reimbursement Raven 12345 gave to Hao Ren for the unusual creatures' expenses could have easily supported everyone in the family. Collecting old appliances was entirely for his daughter's interest. And the latter had actually built something out of that hobby. Y'lisabet claimed to have mastered the skill of repairing old washing machines. She was now taking up the challenge to repair refrigerators and air conditioners. Her next goal was to rent a store in the Southern Suburbs to open an appliance repair shop. She felt that this was the happiest career she could have on Earth. After a few years, she intended to start learning aomething more professional like imperialism...     

It was not known how she linked these two subjects together. It was probably the demon princess' special logic.     

Anyway, the little girl's plan was dismissed by her dad from the very beginning: minors were not allowed to register for business permits. Even if she was given an adult identity, the little girl was only a little more than 1.3 m—and that was while she was standing on her toes...     

While listening to the bragging demon princess, Hao Ren Ren looked sideways: a girl with cat ears and a cat tail was squatting next to his feet. Sh was holding a cat bowl and gobbling food down her neck. In the eyes of the unsuspecting, it would have looked like some crazy domestic abuse. But there was a chair, she just did not want to use it!     

"Can't you just sit on the chair and eat?" Hao Ren patted her on the head. "And can't you use the normal rice bowl? Didn't I prepare a bowl and a pair of chopsticks for you?"     

"Sitting is uncomfortable," said the cat girl without lifting her head. "And there's a familiar odor coming from the rice bowl. I don't like to change it. Once it's changed, the food becomes less tasty."     

Lily held her rice bowl and nodded repeatedly. "Well, for the second point, I feel the same way. I used to have my own bowl, because it had my scent. But I've changed. My old rice bowl became a piece of art and it was sold to a Sichuan guy, who dealt with collections from the Republic of China Era for thousands of yuan."     

"Look at you." Vivian sneered at the must-have-own-rice-bowl habit. "This is animal instincts. Looks like you haven't completely transformed. It was just a rice bowl from the Republic of China Era—have you ever used a bronze tripod for cooking?"     

That was the reason why Hao Ren had always found it hard to chime in on their conversations.     

However, Hao Ren was not the only one who found it hard to join in. Nangong Sanba had a hard time interposing as well. He was now staying temporarily in Hao Ren's house as the personal instructor of the demon hunting fish. At present, he was still trying to adapt to the group's way of life, not knowing whose conversation he should butt in to. So, he preferred giving Lil Pea an impromptu lesson. He pulled out a rune card and pointed to it with a chopstick, teaching Lil Pea to read the runes. "These are Letta runes which every demon hunter must learn. This symbol means 'fire'…"     

Lil Pea slapped her tail happily. When she reached forward and took a large bite out of the rune card, Nangong Sanba was startled.     

"I suggest you don't teach her using rune cards. If you have to teach her the runes, you should change your props." Nangong Wuyue looked up and said. "It's not like you don't know that she likes to eat wood fiber. Oh, by the way, she's biting into your chopsticks now."     

When Nangong Sanba came to his senses, the chopstick in his hand had been gnawed in half.     

After the dinner, everyone went to tend to their own business. Rollie had taken the sofa as her territory and began to flip the channels, looking for her favorite pet show. This time, she was doing it in front of everyone. Hao Ren went up and poke the cat on the head. "You can sleep in Wuyue's room tonight. Tomorrow, I'll clean up the room in the westernmost corner of the first floor for you."     

The cat girl was confused. "Why?"     

Hao Ren was even more confused by her question this time. "It's going to be your room obviously. You can sleep there. Aren't you without your own room now?"     

The cat girl pointed her tail to a shadow at the corner of the stairs. "Bed."     

Hao Ren looked up and saw a basket covered with velvet blankets. It was the cat bed Rollie used to sleep in. He forced a smile and said, "That's for a cat. Can you still fit in that bed?"     

The cat girl hurried over and tried to lay in the cat bed, but she almost broke the basket. She came back up with a crying face. "Oh, I can't fit in it anymore. I'll sleep on the blanket tonight. Make me a new bed!"     

"No! You have to sleep in bed from now on!" Hao Ren eyeballed her. "Sleep in bed, learn to wear pyjamas, wash your face in the basin, and don't roll on the mat. You have to learn all this!"     

The cat girl began to lose patience as she listened. She yawned lazily, wriggled and climbed up to the cushion next to the stairs before curling up and dozing off.     

Hao Ren's attempt at teaching the cat had failed again.     

Lily suddenly came up to Hao Ren out of nowhere and patted him on the shoulder. "Relax and take it easy. She'll eventually learn about human life. Don't you see that I'm very dignified and elegant when I'm in front of outsiders?"     

Hao Ren eyeballed Lily and said, "Could you please not add yourself to non-existent settings?"     

"I only go bananas in front of acquaintances." With her arms across her chest, Lily rolled her eyes before ambling out. "As a senior, I have to share my experience with her."     

Well, after Rollie became a humanoid, she lost her deterrent powers against Lily. Now, the husky could act like a boss.     

Hao Ren was not interested in the cat and dog affair, so he went to the basement to look for Vivian. He wanted Vivian's help to look at the lifeblood samples. The latter certainly had not hit the sack yet.     

As he came to the basement, he found Vivian sitting on the edge of the bed. She was holding a finely crafted wooden box in a daze.     

"What are you doing?" Hao Ren casually asked.     

"This is the box that Pavel gave me," Vivian said, lifting the wooden box. "According to him, I gave it to him in a very solemn manner. The box must be very important, but I can't recall anything about it... I don't know what's going on, but I constantly feel like there's something in there."