The Record of Unusual Creatures

Hessiana and her sidekicks could never have imagined that they would set off from Earth to Inferno by teleportation and return by spaceship. Life is indeed like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get.     

Later in the day, Hao Ren and his entourage arrived at their home in the Southern Suburbs.     

Y'zaks was sunbathing with his daughter just outside the doorway when Hao Ren arrived with a handful of groceries. They consisted mainly of Lily's favorite pork ribs. Y'lisabet ran up to Hao Ren and greeted him with a bright smile on her face. Hao Ren shoved the stuff in his hands to Lily and patted Y'lisabet on her head. Although the trip to Inferno was not as dangerous as the previous trips, he was mentally drained. The feeling quickly went away when he arrived home.     

He knew why he had such a feeling; a lot of things had happened during the trip, and most importantly, they concerned Vivian. Dealing with the demon-god, Vivian was exhausting. He would have suffered mental trauma if he did not have nerves of steel.     

Others felt the same. As soon as they reached home, Nangong Sanba and Nangong Wuyue quickly breathed a sigh of relief. Even Vivian appeared to be more relaxed. The only oddball was Lily, who did not display any emotional changes. As always, the husky ran cheerfully to the door with bags of pork ribs in her hands. Her happy-go-lucky attitude was almost on a godly level.     

Y'lisabet was probably the only person who could rival Lily's lightheartedness. The training her papa gave her had toughened her; blowing her up several hundred meters in the air was just child's play. She would happily say, "Whoa, that's fun!"     

Vivian smiled and whispered to herself, "Home sweet home."     

Hao Ren heard her whisper and smiled at her. "Yeah, we've been through many things. Let's take a rest. I'll ask Raven about your problem later."     

Hessiana knitted her brows together. She looked at Vivian and then at Hao Ren, her face looking sad. "It's over. Vivian's regarded this place as her home now! She's not going to care about me!"     

Kassandra sighed as she went up to Hessiana and comforted her, "Mistress, take it easy! After all, Vivian has never cared about you anyway."     

Rumors of people wanting this vampire dead were probably true. She was a jerkette who would probably die at Hessiana's hand someday.     

Everything was as usual in the house. With the Nangong couple taking care of the house, Hao Ren no longer had to worry about going to sleep in a pile of dust every time he returned from a business trip. The TV was on when he stepped into the house. There was a pair of white, pointed cat ears sticking out the top of the sofa and a long tail dangling on the side when he looked at the sofa from behind.     

"Rollie!" he called out to the heartless cat. "Oh, come on! Don't glue yourself to the idiot box all day long. We're back!"     

The dumb cat took a peek from the sofa and stretched out her hand in the shape of a ball. She meowed and waved at Hao before she pointed at the cat-food commercial on TV with her tail. "Big Boss Cat, I want this! Buy it for me!"     

"What a heartless fella! Don't you know that I just got home?" Hao Ren retorted.     

"Meow." The cat maiden shook her head as if she just figured something out. She jumped off the sofa without a sound, sneaked over, and rubbed her head against Hao Ren's leg. "You want to play with my tail? It's fun! You have five minutes."     

Hao Ren did not know what more to say. He could just groan inwardly.     

Y'zaks looked on, grinning. "She's not heartless; she's just getting along with you in her own way."     

Hao Ren forced a smile. He petted and coaxed Rollie back to the sofa, then went into the bathroom to look for Lil Pea. Soaking in a basin filled with water, Lil Pea seemed to have sensed Hao Ren's arrival. She got up eagerly and waited. As soon as Hao Ren appeared, the little mermaid spouted water all over his face. Hao Ren swept Lil Pea up and was slightly surprised by how much she weighed in his hand. "You've grown longer again, eh?"     

"I've grown longer"—with her tail, Lil Pea patted Hao Ren on the arm—"and shed my scales too!"     

"Shed your scales?" Only then did Hao Ren notice some small illuminants in the basin. They were the fine scales that came off the mermaid's tail. Some parts of her tail appeared slightly lighter. It looked like there was the formation of new scales. "How long has it started?"     

Lil Pea counted with her fingers and loudly replied, "Three days! Not including today."     

Hao Ren carried her into the living room and asked Nangong Wuyue, "She's shedding her scales. Did you know?"     

"How on earth am I supposed to know?" Nangong Wuyue shot him a scornful look. "I've been following you on all this time. Have you forgotten?"     

Hao Ren had been confused. He smacked himself on the forehead. At this time, Ayesha came out from the kitchen and heard their conversation. "It's normal to lose scales. She's growing up, and the pattern on her tail is changing. Scale shedding is probably common during the transition from childhood to adolescence. I've been keeping an eye on her; the little one is as fit as a fiddle, and her new scales are completely different from the original ones. They're of two different physiological stages, which is normal."     

Hearing a veteran deep-sea creature saying that, Hao Ren breathed a sigh of relief. He held Lil Pea up and examined her for a long while. He discovered that she was as energetic as before, and the parts she shed had regrown. It was a normal physiological phenomenon, he thought.     

Seeing Hao Ren's anxious look, Lily could not help but mutter, "Isn't it normal? I shed my fur twice a year and you've never been worried."     

"Come on! I've seen Mr. Zhao's brown dog shedding its fur dozens of times since, but it's my first time seeing a mermaid shedding scales." Hao Ren shot Lily a sideways glance. "Mermaids are different from fish, but growing back scales is new to me."     

Squirming on the sofa with her arms crossed, Lily recollected, "I thought my fur was a lifelong thing too. It scared the wits out of me when I had my first shedding. I thought I was going to die, and I wanted to stick my fur back with glue. My childhood was so memorable."     

Hao Ren gave her a strange look. "Haven't you seen dogs shed their hair before? Or did you live in a place where dogs didn't exist?"     

Still with her arms crossed, Lily smugly said, "I thought I was a werewolf at the time! And I thought after I transcended, I wouldn't have to shed fur again."     

Everyone was speechless.     

Hessiana sat down on the sofa cautiously and listened to the weirdoes in the family talk about senseless things. It was an atmosphere that never existed in the Athens Sanctuary. It lacked discipline, vigilance, stability, and control, but she felt an inexplicable longing for such feelings.     

Vivian sat down next to her and casually asked, "You still have family business to attend to back home, so when are you going to leave?"     

Hessiana was startled. She realized that she was not liked there, particularly by Vivian. She lowered her head slightly. "Yeah, I have to go... I'll leave tomorrow. Can I stay one more night?"     

Vivian looked at Hao Ren and scratched her hair. "It's okay. I want to let you know that it's fine if you want to stay for a couple of days, but your family needs you. After all, the Athens Sanctuary isn't that safe, and the demon hunters have been keeping an eye on you lot. You have to go back."     

Hessiana was stunned again. She could not believe her ears; Vivian invited her to stay! Even though the invitation was only as good as a cold shoulder, it was a pleasant surprise. She had never experienced it for the past thousands of years. "Lady Vivian, don't you find me annoying?"     

"I do when you cause trouble," Vivian said immediately. "But, I've found that you're now more mature and not as clingy as before. Mr. Landlord also wants me to care more about you. If you must thank anyone, thank him."     

Hessiana's expression turned a little more peculiar. She looked at Hao Ren. There was a complicated feeling in her that no one could understand. She sniffled, and in the tone of someone with wounded pride, she said, "Thanks to you, pops."     

Hao Ren immediately hid under the coffee table with the fish in his arms.