The Record of Unusual Creatures

“Lead us to the witches and wizards.”

Hao Ren ignored Gray Rat’s horrified expression and pleading.

“I… No… No, no. Sir, I can do whatever you want, but please do not let me do such a thing.” Gray Rat’s terrified expression was real. “Madam Marie will kill me! She will find out that I’ve betrayed them.”

“Madam Marie? Is that the witch who hired you?” Hao Ren arched his eyebrows. “Listen; if you take us to her, you’ll die after you see her. If you refuse to take us there, you’ll die now. Life is precious, you should count every second carefully.”

It was not that Hao Ren had suddenly developed a penchant for intimidating others; he knew that it was pointless to approach the sneaky minions with anything other than terror. The only language the minions understood was money and violence. More often than not, violence was a more powerful language than money.

The right amount of intimidation worked. Color had drained from Gray Rat’s face. The minion realized that the smiling man was not as friendly as he seemed. The man was also a ruthless predator in the dark world. Pleading and delaying would not work with the guy.

“Sir, I will do whatever you say.” Gray Rat was quaking in his boots. “I am just a rat in the gutter. The witches ordered me to keep an eye on the town to look out for any witch hunters and residents of other dark worlds. They gave me some Owl Potion and ointments but they did not reveal any secrets to me. I do not even know where they hold their gathering. All this time, the only thing I have seen is their puppet, which the witches have created using witchcraft. I report whatever I see to the puppet and get my ointment in return. I have only seen the witches once. I really cannot be of much help.”

Hao Ren could not help but frown. The Dark Ages had indeed superseded the Mythological Era. Even the witches and wizards who used to be servants of the otherworldlings were so cautious in their movement—a far cry from the Mythological War where even the demon hunters would not bother to include such inferior characters in their hunting list. Nonetheless, their cautiousness was understandable; a character like Gray Rat was enough reason for them to be wary. The rats of the gutter had no sense of loyalty. They could serve either the demon hunters, vampires, or both at the same time.

Hao Ren gestured to Lily with his eyes. She immediately increased the force in her hands, and Gray Rat could now hear his neck cracking. He had a feeling that his captor was going to snap his neck in the next second.

“Then take us to Madam Marie’s contact.” Hao Ren looked Gray Rat in the eye. “Take us to the contact point. I’ll figure out the rest.”

“Yes… Yes, sir.” Gray Rat was never a brave man, so his mental defense had begun to break down. “I will take you there, I will take you there. Cough, please let go…”

Hao Ren gestured to Lily and said, “Set him free.”

“I was wondering how close-mouthed he would be.” Lily threw the thin man on the ground. “Is that all you’ve got after being in the business for so long? Pierre’s more principled than this guy.”

“Pierre is a spirit detective; this guy’s a rat in the spiritual world. They’re not the same.” Hao Ren shot the husky a look. “They are in a similar world though.”

Lily thought for a moment and agreed.

Time passed, and when Hao Ren and Lily finished interrogating Gray Rat, the night had gotten even darker than before as the moon hid behind the clouds. Lily’s ears flicked. She heard the tingling of buckles coming from the other end of the streets.

“Someone’s coming.” Lily looked at Hao Ren. “A few hundred meters away…”

“They are soldiers on night patrol.” The maiden’s sharp hearing did not surprise Gray Rat. Instead, he was nervous. “We must leave now. Otherwise, we will alert the church.”

Hao Ren nodded and motioned for Gray Rat to lead the way while he and Lily followed from behind.

The three of them navigated through the complex, dark streets and alleys of the Middle Ages.

In the silence of the night, a gust of wind suddenly blew. The clouds in the sky drifted fast, and the bright moon behind them peeked through the gaps, casting ghostly shadows on the earth. In that age where entertainment was lacking, the inhabitants of the town had already fallen asleep by then. There were not enough street lights or illumination leaking from the houses. With the moon behind the clouds, the narrowest and remotest alleys looked like black holes, which caused people to shrink back upon first sight. But Gray Rat picked such dark alleys to traverse in. Like a rat in the gutter, Gray Rat took to the stinking alleys like a duck to water.

Gray Rat had thought of escaping when they entered the first dark alley. But he quickly controlled his impulse and thought better of his crazy idea. Gray Rat still vividly remembered that the girl in the long skirt could move like the wind. It was at a speed beyond any human being could ever achieve. With the Owl Potion, his eyes still could not keep up with the girl’s movements, let alone help him get away.

At that moment, Gray Rat only wanted to know what the two “dark-world residents”, who popped up out of nowhere, wanted and whether they were friends or foes of the witch. It seemed to him they were more likely enemies. If he could figure that out, he would at least know how to please them.

However, the two mysterious figures were nowhere similar to all his previous masters. They seemed to have clear goals and were not interested in any power struggles. Except for interrogating him about the witches, they seemed to want nothing.

It was not good news for minions who relied on selling intelligence and acting as eyes.

Despite that, he still wanted to try to change things as they were.

“Sir, Lady…” Gray Rat gathered his courage as he approached the contact point. “I think I need to know who I’m working for now.”

Hao Ren scanned their surroundings as they slowed down. It was clear that they were close to dirtier and more backward areas of the city. At first, he thought that the dirty streets he saw earlier were only part of a small town, but now they had traveled so far that he understood it was a relatively large city. Medieval cities were generally lacking in planning and cleanliness, so they looked particularly backward. The surrounding streets were more run-down than before, and the houses were crumbling. From time to time, they could see beggars curled up in the shadows on the sides of the street where sewage water flowed. The curfew meant nothing to the poor and homeless people. The slums they were hiding in were places where the patrol soldiers would not want to come.

The run-down street was a backwater of the already wild and backward Middle Ages. Its existence seemed to make the other places looked more civilized.

Hao Ren looked back at Gray Rat when he heard what he said. “Do you think we are demon hunters?”

“Demon hunters” seemed like haunted words; cold sweat formed on Gray Rat’s forehead. If I’ve brought two demon hunters to the witch’s contact point, I will not live to see the sunrise tomorrow , he thought.

Hao Ren smiled, and his hand touched the silver dagger by his waist. He did not reveal it but gently nudged Lily who was next to him.

Lily seemed to have taken the hint. “Are you hungry, Mr. Landlord? I’m hungry too.”

Communicating with the husky was a hit-and-miss affair.

Hao Ren gritted his teeth. “I meant your ears and fangs!”

Lily came to her senses. She looked at Gray Rat, a pair of pointed ears popped out from the back of her head and a couple of fangs glinting with cold light sprouted from her mouth.

“Werewolf!” Gray Rat’s heart skipped a beat. He suddenly realized that he had just cheated death. Werewolves were the most notorious when it came to their moodiness among all his masters. “I understand. Please tuck your fangs away. I will lead the way.”

After Lily put her fangs away, Gray Rat breathed a sigh of relief. She was not a demon hunter, at least. There should not be any grudges between witches and werewolves.

Gray Rat knew little about the innate hostility between the dark races. But as far as he could tell, the half-human, half-monster creatures like the witches and wizards were less hostile to other dark races, especially the werewolves. Bringing the two “werewolves” to meet the wizards would be less risky if he could smooth-talk Madam Marie into sparing his life.

What Gray Rat did not know was that the close relationship between the wizards and werewolves traced back to Mythological Era. During that period, werewolves kept and raised more wizards than the Blood Clan did. Werewolves had a long history of shadowmancy. Their spells were simpler and suitable for humans to learn.

Meanwhile, the Blood Clan’s magic was incomprehensible to humans. Instead of teaching the dumb humans magic skills, they preferred to use a more efficient method: transforming humans into Bloodthralls who had unparalleled loyalty.

People like Gray Rat had no way of knowing the secrets of the Mythological Era.