The Record of Unusual Creatures

Hao Ren could not help with her name, for the name was just too special–so special that he always miss-pronounced it. He and Vivian were surprised to see White Flame at this place and time. “Rumor has it that the demon hunters have been active in the territory of Ancattero. Are they you?”

“Strictly speaking, it was ‘we,'” White Flame said as she came out of a silvery white flame. Although she was holding a short silver sword in her hand, she was not hostile. The young demon hunter had no congenital hostility towards the otherworldlings and had not the time to cultivate hatred of otherworldlings in the long battle. After working together with Hao Ren and Vivian for a few times, she was not hostile towards them. “I and my mentor, and several senior demon hunters. Oh, don’t be nervous, I’m alone, they are in the town right now.”

Pierre was lost for words as he watched the woman emerging from the flame seemed to be an acquaintance of the two ‘vampires.’ He had seen more otherworldlings today than in the past few years. He felt like he had no regret even if he were to die now. Hao Ren looked at Pierre and then White Flame. “How long have you been listening?” Hao Ren asked White Flame.

“When you first started talking about the golden disc, I could have kept hiding if I wanted to, but then I thought that since I was here already, I might as well come out to say hello,” White Flame said, smiling. She swung her silver sword in a beautiful arc in the air before tucking it under her clothes. “Looks like we’re investigating the same case.”

Vivian was a little speechless. “Should I say you have self-confidence or are naive? Jumping out to say hello to otherworldlings; as a demon hunter, you’re too close to us. Your mentor would be scared to death if he found out.”

“Are you not the same likes do?” White Flame said with a relaxed smile. “We have been expecting the otherworldlings to come to investigate, but it seemed that it had taken them a long while and you’re the one coming. Even the most ancient one, Vivian Ancestor, is here.”

Vivian shook her head helplessly: “They are just wrangling in the sanctuary, none wants to come out. I have no choice but clean up the mess myself. I think you didn’t come out to say hello, do you? Let me guess; it’s about the Ancattero family.”

There was a gleam in the eyes of White Flame as she nodded her head subtly, she was here to exchange information. Then she glanced at Pierre who was nearby. “Humans shouldn’t hear what we’re going to discuss.”

Pierre looked at the demon hunter, his face, and cold sweat trickled down his forehead. Seeing his reaction, Hao Ren, Vivian and White Flame said spontaneously, “We didn’t mean to kill you.”

Pierre gasped for breath with his hand on the chest. He almost had another heart attack.

“Here’s my sincere advice: go home,” Hao Ren said, putting his hand on Pierre’s shoulder. “The thing we’re dealing with is out of your league; it’s unlike anything that you’ve seen. What you did all this while was like collecting scrap metals in the residential neighborhood, but now you have entered a military base stealing nukes, which is a different concept at all.”

Pierre was like a scavenger on the beach, living on the edge of the dark world picking up debris that was washed ashore from the dark abyss. The little mystery that he had managed to peek into was enough to keep him excited and yet safe. This time around, it a Cthulhu-level kind of thing that floated out of the sea. He had his one foot stuck in the dark and horrible quagmire without realizing it. Hao Ren did not want to see the spirit detective, who had given so much intelligence, caught up and killed in the conflict between the otherworldlings and the demon hunters.

The spiritual detective was hesitant; he did smell danger, but the thirst for knowledge had him reluctant to give up. He muttered, “I’m not after anything but just wanting to take a look at the legendary Solar Roulette, even if just seeing the pattern on it, it will be the highest level of mystery that I can reach as a human, and I will have no regret as far as my ancestors are concerned.”

“Do you know who will be coming in two days?” Vivian shot Pierre an indifferent glance.

“Who?”

“Those gods that once vie for the Solar Roulette as you mentioned,” Vivian said with a slightly threatening undertone. “They and their descendants are now ready to fight again in this place. Are you planning to take a look at them while they’re fighting?”

Experience counts; Hao Ren’s persuasion was nowhere near as useful as Vivian’s little threat. Learning the news of the impending clash of the mystical gods, Pierre was stunned. After a much mental struggle, the spirit detective finally sighed, realizing that this was not something that he could afford to get involved, he packed up and left.

“Well, now the human has left,” Vivian said, nodded to the White Flame. “What happened to the Ancattero family?” she asked.

“What makes you think we the demon-hunters know?” White Flame asked back. “You’re supposed to know more than we do.”

“The otherworldlings suspect that it was the demon hunter,” Hao Ren said very frankly. After all, he had no fear nor favor in the matter. “The Ancattero family has lost contact with the outside world for a month, and you just happened to appear here a month ago. The family was responsible for guarding the ancient seal, and now the monsters have escaped from the seal and caused trouble around. All evidence isn’t in your favor.”

“Demon hunters were here a month ago?” White Flame had a serious look on her face. “That was not us. My mentor and I only came to this place three days ago.” And we are here to investigate the three ‘elders’ and sixteen ‘masters’ who went missing here a month ago, and a large number of senior demon hunters who have disappeared with them.”

Hao Ren had no idea about the concept of the “elders” and “masters” among the demon hunters not did he know how big the team that White Flame was talking about was. Vivian was wide-eyed. “What did you say? So many hunters disappeared in one go?”

White Flame looked somber. “Yes. It is said that this is the first time since the end of the Mythological era that we’ve lost so many elite demon hunters at the same time. Do you suspect that we attacked the Ancattero family? Almost all of us think that Ancattero has caught our elders and masters.”

Hao Ren finally realized that things were far more severe than he expected. He was wide-eyed. “Then do you know about the Shade of Chaos?”

“Of course we know,” White Flame replied, nodding her head. “The demon hunter organization is not as ignorant as you think. We keep more historical data than the otherworldlings do. We know the legend of the Shade of Chaos, and the threat of those shadows pose. We also know that the Ancattero family is guarding the seal. It is because of this that the demon hunters have tried not to get in conflict with Ancattero. They’re peaceful hermits and have never conflicted with us. If not for the influence of the innate hostility, the demon hunter would not have enmity with these people. We are not crazy.”

“Oh, this is a bit like the situation of the sirens,” Hao Ren said, nodding suddenly. “Nevertheless, your attitude has raised the suspicion that the Ancattero family is colluding with the demon hunters.”

“I am afraid that this is not entirely wrong,” White Flame said, laughing as she spread her hand. “Though there is no formal covenant, after all these years of mutual restraint, both sides do have a tacit understanding. The incident is bizarre this time.”

“Why did so many demon hunters came to the Ancattero territory suddenly a month ago? Since demon hunters and the Ancattero family have no hostility, they didn’t come looking for a fight, did they?” Hao Ren asked.

“As I said earlier, the Ancattero family has been maintaining minimal contact with the demon hunters, so there was bound to be occasional contact. Something strange happened a month,” White Fire said calmly, and what she revealed was nothing short of shocking. “A group of demon hunters led by the Elder Amtura suddenly gathered in the territory of the Ancattero family, but they did not inform the Council of Elders. Their actions shocked everyone, and then they disappeared. We found the letter left by Amtura at the meeting place of this battle group. The letter mentioned that three elders had suddenly received a revelation from the bloodline, that they had discovered the major secret behind the innate hostility, and this secret was hidden in the Ancattero family. They also mentioned that they received an invitation from the Ancattero family patriarch, who also got the same ‘revelation.’ So the three elders came to this place with a whole battle group without informing the Council of Elders, and then the rest is history. We were ordered to find Amtura, but instead, we saw some strange power had blocked Ancattero territory. It looks like you haven’t seen the path to the secret realm.”

After hearing what White Flame said, Hao Ren could only think of one thing:

It looks like this was another significant incident again.