Amulet
Amulet
He dreamed of the wonderful prehistoric times which he read about in Vivian's manuscript. He dreamed of the primordial humans who survived the Ice Age, and began hunting as well as planting on a warmer Earth. He dreamed of an unknown change, which opened up the barriers that separated two worlds, sending exiled otherworldlings to this little, blue planet. He also dreamed of deity-like otherworldlings causing great changes in this world, and the frightened ancient people kneeling in front of these miracles. He dreamed of the rise of demon hunters, the collapse of the shrines of ancient deities, the growth of human cities, and the demise of the demon hunters; heavy buildings constructed with rocks and mudstone replaced the light tower of magic, the power of steel and flame drove the world forward; people fought, assimilated, created and destroyed; machines ran and furnaces burned, hot weapons replaced a knight's sword and eliminated the last remnants of the otherworldlings. This blue planet was ruled by powerful creatures from the other world for 10,000 years, but was eventually returned into the hands of the aborigines.
In each picture, there was a woman who was always alone, like an unconcerned spectator witnessing from the background. She flitted through the fire on the Great Wall, the gates of Troy, the coronation ceremony of Alexander the Great, and the London fire of 1666 aimlessly, watching the rapidly changing world and marvelling at it. In the process, she was trapped in an endless, uncontrollable cycle of sleep and awakening, like a chaotic, eternal incarnation.
Hao Ren was so disturbed by these chaotic dreams that he awoke early in the morning, gazing at the ceiling in a daze.
"What are these dreams about?" Hao Ren rubbed his eyes and squirmed as he tried to sit up. A sudden gust of wind blew from the side while he was halfway sitting up. He managed to turn his head, and saw a figure as agile as a cat pouncing on him. He fell back on his bed. A maiden sat on his chest, then jumped up and down excitedly before she smacked Hao Ren's face with her paw. She then lowered her head, bit his nose, pulled his hair and licked his ear…
Hao Ren was startled. It took him a few seconds before he came to his senses and scoffed, "Roll away!"
He forgot that these words would only be counterproductive. As always, the maiden became even more excited.
She thought that Hao Ren was calling out her name.
Hao Ren began to wrestle with his cat as he tried to push her away. It used to be a common scene where Rollie habitually woke her master up using her paws and weight. But now, the circumstances had obviously changed: the cat had transcended, and with the help of the golden apple, her combat strength had gotten a big boost. She was no longer a namby-pamby, whom Hao Ren could easily push away. He was having a hard time now as the cat-maiden thought that Hao Ren was playing with her. The more he resisted the more excited she became, and all hell broke loose in the room. Lil Pea who was sleeping in the pot on a small table nearby heard the noise and poked her head out from the pot. She watched the drama in excitement, and cheered Hao Ren on.
The noise in the room caught the attention of the others. Lily pushed the door open. "Mr. Landlord, what's all this noise about…"
Seeing Rollie lying on top of Hao Ren, Lily was startled. "Wow, not even a cat can escape your lascivious grab!"
As we have mentioned many times before, this innocent-looking husky was actually quite dirty-minded.
Hao Ren blushed. He pushed Rollie off the bed with all his might. "It's not what you think, okay? She was the one pinning me on the bed early in the morning."
Lily look even more amazed. "Oh, Mr. Landlord, you're the victim!"
Thanks to Lily, everyone in the house was almost alerted by her voice in the quiet early morning. To Lil Pea, the drama was more fun than a barrel of monkeys as she splashed and screamed in her pot. Hao Ren managed to stop the chaos brought on by the cat and the dog. He took them into the living room and hauled them over the coals.
As naive as Lily was, she was mentally matured—whether she was an adult werewolf or not was debatable. But Rollie was different. Even though she wore the skin and intelligence of a human, she was still a cat deep inside. She did not know why Hao Ren was angry. She just felt that the teasing was very interesting, so she decided to do it again the next day. At the moment, she just really wanted to have dried fish.
To the cat, Hao Ren's reprimand had fallen on deaf ears.
"You can't just jump on me like that in the future, you know?" Hao Ren squeezed Rollie's ear, trying to get her to behave. "Can you not play with your tail? You have to learn to be a human..."
Rollie lowered her head and rubbed against Hao Ren's leg. She placed her tail in Hao Ren's hand as she knew that Hao Ren liked to pinch it. "I'll let you pinch it, so you'll be happy."
Hao Ren was speechless.
"Was she not in your room last night?" Hao Ren looked up at Nangong Wuyue. "How did she manage to slip into my room?"
"Do you think anyone can really guard this cat?" Nangong Wuyue rolled her eyes. "Just making sure that she stayed in bed for the first half of the night was difficult enough. How did you not realize that she slipped into your room?"
Hao Ren felt that Nangong Wuyue was somehow right. He was speechless.
"In terms of teaching the cat, there's still a long way to go." Vivian watched the farce with a smile. She seemed very calm.
As Hao Ren had stopped preaching, Rollie gave her body a little stretch before she went away to find a place to nap.
Hao Ren let the cat be. He glanced at Vivian and said, "I've already reported your situation to Raven 12345. She should be replying in—"
Before he finished, a strange sound was suddenly heard in the living room.
A blue light flashed out of thin air, and condensed into a tall humanoid. Everyone was astonished. Rollie turned around under the stairs and looked nervously at the light. Her back was curled and her tail straightened. If she was still in cat form, the hair on her back would have stood on end by now. However, when she discovered that the blue light looked familiar, she quickly calmed down and continued wriggling around on the mat.
"Big Bluey?" Hao Ren looked at the uninvited guest in surprise. "Why are you here?"
It was Raven 12345's arcane servant. The weird energy creature handed a small silvery-white pendant to Hao Ren and released a series of groans that no one could understand. "The Lady ordered me to hand it over to you. This is a talisman capable of suppressing the mental disorder symptom. It's a universal model."
Hao Ren instinctively looked at Vivian, and took the feathery talisman. Raven 12345's voice sounded in his head as soon as he touched the talisman. "Hey, Hao Ren. I've read your report regarding the bat-maiden. I'm giving you a talisman to calm her brain activity and prevent narcolepsy. It's pretty effective. Although it's a universal model, it will work on the bat. Of course, this is just a stopgap measure. I'll leave it to you to find a safer, permanent solution to her problem. After all, she's your tenant and you're responsible for her. Oh, by the way, this time it's free postage."
Hao Ren remained silent.
"This thing... is for treating my amnesia?" Vivian took the amulet in curiosity. "It feels warm."
"It won't cure amnesia," said Hao Ren. "But, it looks like it's able to prevent you from falling into another uncontrollable sleeping state. So, you can avoid more memory loss. It should also suppress your temper before you sleep, probably."
Vivian hesitated a while before she put the amulet around her neck. "I believe in the goddess. Her strength has always been more reliable than yours and mine."