Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Once out in the wilderness, the humans of the city were no longer a threat.

However, for Hao Ren and Lily, the ancient armed forces in the city were not a threat. Without the two of them, the group of witches with their limited mana and mortal bodies could face grave danger.

After they left the city, Witch Helen summoned a couple of Shadow Horses. The gloomy weather had done the witches a big favor; the shadowmancy spells worked like a charm even during the day, allowing them to leave the city’s area of influence and get away from the exorcists’ peering eyes. After traveling half a day by horse, they returned to the stronghold of the witches in the foggy cemetery at sunset.

The permanent fog seemed to be an unusual phenomenon. Without the witches’ guidance force ordinary people could never get close to the border of the fog. So before the demon hunters found it, the cemetery was a safe place.

Madam Marie decided to stay for the night in the cemetery—everyone needed to regain their strength and replenish their casting props.

No one except Hao Ren realized that they had screwed up. Hessiana had been restraining herself the entire time despite flipping out earlier. She found a spot and sat by herself, waiting to lash out at whoever that came up to her.

“Are you okay?” Hao Ren immediately went up to Lily first instead of Hessiana. “Did the musket hit you?”

There were several small holes and blood stains on Lily’s long skirt. Other than that, she was full of spirit. The husky maiden swung her arms to prove that she was all right. “Aha, there’s no problem at all! Muskets aren’t modern guns. I’m not afraid!”

Lily wrinkled her nose. “But it still hurts. Mr. Landlord, you’re right; my combat strength is weak in this body. Even the musket’s fire could hurt me. Plus, I’m feeling pain in my arms after wielding the light city gate for a while.”

Hao Ren was dumbstruck.

This is considered a frighteningly strong physique already, Hao Ren thought to himself.

Lily checked her clothes and made sure that there were no wardrobe malfunctions. She then looked in Hessiana’s direction and pulled Hao Ren’s sleeve. “Mr. Landlord, Little Bat doesn’t seem very happy.”

“Don’t go and talk to her now; she’s smoldering with anger.” Hao Ren twitched his mouth.

Just before Hao Ren’s voice trailed off, Madam Marie went up to Little Bat, unaware of the gloomy expression on Hessiana’s face. Perhaps Madam Marie thought that it was a look that bigwigs from a large fraternity would have. “In the name of black magic, it is my greatest honor to meet the messenger from the City of Shadows. I am—”

“An idiot.”

Madam Marie was shocked.

“You are all a bunch of idiots!” Hessiana raised her voice. “Do you know what you have done?”

“Honorable One, I don’t get what you mean.” The witches were flabbergasted, and Madam Marie was even more clueless. “We saved you—”

Hessiana took a deep breath and lashed out. “Who told you that I needed you to save me? Who told you that I was caught? I do not know you at all! You came out of nowhere and stormed into the square! Could you not have chosen a better time even if you wanted to butter me up? I was winking at you all in the square, did you not see it? All of you must have brain damage from consuming too much potion!”

Now, even Hao Ren was in shock. The Little Bat he knew was a matriarch with dignity. She was somewhat of an oddball among the vampires but she still behaved like a lady. In contrast, the Hessiana of this era was totally hideous and a shrew. Hao Ren could not help but be reminded of how the lack of motherly love had caused the impish kid’s personality distortion.

“Take it easy. You will succumb to pneumonia if you carry on this way.” Hao Ren had no choice but to intervene when Hessiana became relentless. “They did it out of kindness and saved your life although they unwittingly ruined your plan. Could you not show at least a little appreciation?”

“But they destroyed my plan!” Hessiana glared at him but quickly toned down her voice. “Well, I appreciate it. No matter what their motive is, they did put themselves at risk. The City of Shadows will not forget it.”

Those were the words Madam Marie had been waiting for. The witches were pleased. The unwarranted accusations were just a small price to pay to get shelter.

“Then, can you now tell us what was going on?” Hao Ren looked at Hessiana. “I know the humans could not have possibly captured you.”

The other witches looked on. They finally realized that they screwed up and were confounded by the actions of the messenger from the City of Shadows.

Even the quiet wizard, Bain, had come close.

“Firstly, you have to tell me who you are.” Hessiana looked at Hao Ren unyieldingly. “How did you come to know Vivian? What is your relationship with her? How do you know my nickname?”

“I am a friend of hers, a very close friend,” Hao Ren said while he thought of a way to earn Little Bat’s trust. It would be better if he could establish a sense of authority, which would have probably been impossible if it were 600 years later. But at that moment, Hao Ren had the information advantage. Moreover, Little Bat had yet to establish a stubbornly-bad impression of him, thus that gave him a lot more room for maneuvering. “I am here to find her. If I am not wrong, she could still be asleep, or she could have just woken up. Seeing you was most unexpected.”

“Is that so?” Hessiana looked at Hao Ren suspiciously. It seemed that it was not so easy for her to trust a stranger. “How can you prove that you are close to Lady Vivian? Even I am unaware that she has a friend like you.”

“How many times do you see Vivian in a century?” Hao Ren said bluntly. “Has she not been hiding from you for the past hundreds of years?”

The truth hit home. Hessiana was agape, and there was a sense of aggrievement in her eyes.

Hessiana was an adult, but mentally, she was not as mature as she was 600 years later.

“Don’t be like that, I am just saying,” Hao Ren said quickly. “I sometimes tell her not to evade you because those not in the know would think that you two have a quarrel.”

“Lady Vivian indeed does not like me.” Hessiana pouted.

“Not really.” Hao Ren knew that it was something Little Bat could not overcome and still felt the same about hundreds of years later. So he put in a few good words for Vivian. “She is mainly worried that she will curse you. That is why she wants you to stay away from her.”

Hessiana frowned as she sized Hao Ren up. The guy may have a good relationship with Vivian, but Hessiana could not trust him entirely just yet. “What you’ve said may be unknown to the public, but it is not impossible to find out. You must produce better evidence to prove that you are a friend of Vivian’s.”

Hao Ren thought for a moment and found that it was indeed difficult to prove himself.

The Vivian Hao Ren knew was of 600 years in the future, and all the things he knew about her were limited to that period. He could name plenty of Vivian’s characteristics and habits, but they would prove nothing. If he made up a story and said he had been known Vivian centuries ago, there was a great chance that Hessiana might find out his lie. There were some of Vivian’s belongings, such as the mobile phone, that had her scent in his Dimensional Pocket, but Hessiana had no clue what a mobile phone was. It was enough trouble trying to explain the origin of things beyond that time. Hessiana was not as dumb as Lily.

While Hao Ren beat his brains out to find a solution, something crossed his mind.

He had one thing that contained Vivian’s scent, and he did not have to worry about its date of origin.

It was a small bat in his Dimensional Pocket.

Hao Ren had utterly forgotten about the existence of the little bat. Had he not been in that situation, he would have probably let the little bat sleep in his Dimensional Pocket forever. Vivian had created the little bat and asked him to keep it safe for her while they were on a mission. The bat was to be a coordinate or foundation of rebirth for Vivian. But the mission ended safely, and they never had a chance to use the bat, which was then forgotten.

The bat may have even quietly cultivated itself into Hessiana 2.0 had Hao Ren not discovered it.

“This thing here will prove what I’ve told you.” Hao Ren rummaged through his Dimensional Pocket and found the little bat, which was asleep. “Vivian gave this to me. She mentioned being forgetful, and sometimes even forgetting her friends’ names. So, she left this with me.”

The little bat squirmed in Hao Ren’s hand and finally woke up. Then it hugged Hao Ren’s finger and stopped moving.

Since Vivian was hibernating, as an avatar, the little bat had minimal activity.

Hessiana’s jaw dropped to the ground as she stared at the little bat. This time, she finally believed in the strange man.