Chapter 2: An Unexpectedly Odd Encounter
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Looking at the address, Hao Ren was stupefied—the all too familiar address was none other than his home!
"Why is it that you are looking for this place?" Hao Ren had no idea as to why the stranger was having his address. He was a little flurried because of her, but was also pretty sure that he would never get lucky with women, except that time during his primary year three when he was seated next to a female classmate. He stared at her, feeling a little perplexed.
He began to size her up; she had a pretty face and a slender body to complement it. Though her height was quite a letdown, her cheerful personality pretty much made up for that.
"I'm looking for a place to stay!" said the girl. "I have been searching high and low for it the entire day. Despite that no one could tell me where it is."
Hao Ren felt the girl was overwhelmingly amiable but there was one particular thing that caught his attention: I'm looking for a place to stay! He finally came out of his drowsiness: "Oh, I almost forget that I am a landlord myself. The classified ad for my apartment I placed in a local newspaper two days ago—was that the reason this girl is here?"
It appeared that he finally found his tenant!
Hao Ren folded the paper and gave it back to the girl, "Of course I know where it is. Follow me." he said.
The girl was elated. She shoved the paper back into her bag and said, "Thank you so much! It has been a long day..."
Hao Ren got up and did a little stretch. Just as he was about to leave, he sensed something was off. "Wait a minute! Did you just say that you were looking for this address in town the whole day?!"
"Yep, I was! It was a pretty hard to find place." She said candidly as she nodded her head.
"No wonder!" Hao Ren thought she was either fooling around or just plainly dumb, "Can't you see the address' 'southern suburb'? And yet you were here looking in the downtown area?"
"But it also clearly states 'Whitestone Building' there." said the girl as she was pointing to the direction of the downtown, "Isn't Whitestone Building in the town?" Hao Ren knew immediately what she meant.
He was dumbfounded. "No! It's not Whitestone Building but Whitestone Road!"
As he was about to point out that she did not read the address properly; she overlooked the word 'Road' after Whitestone and assumed it was 'Building'...
"Aaah!" She quickly realized her mistake, "My bad. I am always a little absentminded. So do you know where Whitestone Road is? Get me there."
Hao Ren sensed that something was amiss about the girl. But being a landlord for the last couple of years, he had gotten used to being apathetic to his tenants, so he did not give it another thought. He pointed to the park entrance, "We need to take the bus. Our destination is in the southern suburb so it would be nightfall by the time we get there. Oh, and by the way, about the address, it's actually my house. I am your landlord."
The girl was startled. She looked at him wide-eyed, "Ah, is that so?"
Before Hao Ren could nod his head, the girl was jumping with joy, "Ahh! What a coincidence! Could it be destiny?!"
Hao Ren had felt that the girl was tripping over words from the moment they met. He could no longer mince his words, "What if I am bad guy? Aren't you afraid of being kidnapped?"
That was his best effort to politely tell her that she was naive, really naive! How could she trust a stranger and follow him to the middle of nowhere? Girls nowadays had no sense of danger whatsoever. It must have been a miracle that she had not fall into the hands of human traffickers all these years.
As he was thinking of that, the simple girl (quite appropriately) looked at him suspiciously, "Human trafficker? Are you going to kidnap me?"
"Of course not!" but he felt he should now keep a distance from her; if not for sake of the rent, he wouldn't have talked to her for so long!
She was relieved, "Okay then. Let's go!"
Hao Ren sighed. As he was about to leave the park, he felt his steps became heavy all of a sudden.
They boarded a bus from the downtown which was heading for the countryside; it was an ear-bending journey; Hao Ren had discovered that not only was this new tenant amiable, tripping over words and naive, but also extremely chatty. She was too enthusiastic, babbling on about everything from B-list celebrity gossip—domestic or foreign—to house prices in second-tier cities. Hao Ren could not recall when she started rambling nor did he know when she would stop, the girl would just ramble on as long as he nodded his head occasionally pretending as if he was listening. That was not a problem for him as he took it as an oppotunity to learn more about his new tenant, to gauge her character.
The naive girl was Liu, Lily Liu. She told Hao Ren to call her by her first name, Lily. She claimed to be a wanderer, veterinarian and a casual prose writer (though she was not really sure what a prose writer's job was) who had just arrived from another city and planned to settle down here. Also she did not mind what kind of a place she will be staying in as long as there was a roof over her head—her works were quite flexible anyway.
Based on the information, Hao Ren concluded that his new tenant was spirited, had no stable job currently but would not give him any trouble. He was happy with it. In fact, such a little girl would not cause much trouble at all. Although she seemed a little naive... but that was also her personal problem, he just had to play his part as the landlord, he thought.
Just as he predicted, the sun had set by the time they arrived at the bus stop in the southern suburb.
Hao Ren disembarked, with Lily following closely behind. Before Hao Ren could catch his breath, Lily yelled, "Is this Whitestone Road?"
"It's Southern Suburb Stop according to the road sign! Whitestone Road is an old street, we have to walk through the alley to get there. Have you ever seen a bus travelling through an alley?"
"Oops! Haha. Do excuse my ignorance," she tittered and continued maundering. "It is quiet here." She frowned as she was examining the surrounding.
The rickety bus stop was sitting on the shoulder of a disrepair road which was covered in potholes. The nearby buildings were old and run-down, with most of the shops closed. The 5-storey apartments behind the shops were equally ramshackle. This desolate place was the 'downtown' of the southern suburb. Sometimes, Hao Ren wondered whether this place was a castaway and forgotten by the modern society. But he would always remind and comfort himself at the end of every month that this place was not forgotten but very much remembered—by the water company, the electric utility, the gas supplier, and even the telephone and insurance companies.
"Hurry up," said Hao Ren, "though this place is pretty safe, you don't want to bump into some drunkards at night. Let's head back to my place. And don't be wandering around outside at night, I am not about to get into trouble because of you. Just a reminder."
By right, as a landlord, he shouldn't be that blunt lest the tenants were scared away. But Hao Ren was just trying to be frank; he despised dishonesty and took no advantage of others. This was the reason behind his failure to get keep tenants sticking around his apartment lately because prospective tenants were literally scared away.
However, Lily was totally at ease, "No worries, Mr. Landlord, I have learned a thing or two about fighting."
Hao Ren felt as if he was talking to a weird fellow, "I am not saying that... Let me make myself clear: Aren't you afraid of nasty fellers?"
He had only met her for less than a day, he knew he should not be a busybody. But she was the weirdest girl—who was gullible and yet amiable to the point of being naive—he had ever met. So he was prepared to go the extra mile.
Lily was unfeigned, "Landlord, you are such a good man! But I am not afraid at all. I think I am strong enough. I had fought bad guys off on my own before."
"You surely have met bad guys before, but lowering your guard just because you have fought them off before is just…" Hao Ren murmured.
Lily did not respond. She looked at Hao Ren with a smile while lugging the massive suitcase behind her. Suddenly they heard two clunking noise—the luggage wheels had come off and rolled away.
"Hahaha, maybe the suitcase is too heavy." Lily scratched her head in embarrassment.
"No, it was the potholes..." Hao Ren looked at the pothole-filled road and took a long sigh. As a man, he felt he needed play the gentleman, "Let me take your luggage...I'm wondering what's in there."
He grabbed the luggage from Lily. But immediately he felt like he was hauling a concrete block—the suitcase was so heavy that he could barely lift it off the ground.
Lily did not notice Hao Ren's weird expression. She chuckled as she lifted the suitcase with one hand onto her shoulder as if it was empty.
Hao Ren was left slack-jawed as Lily carried the suitcase on her shoulder and went ahead. He froze as he couldn't believe what he just encountered. Then he heard Lily yelled at him to hurry up. She murmured "That's ok. I am just born with strong arms. You do see such thing on TV shows sometimes..."
As Lily kept rambling on while Hao Ren's head was packed with unanswered questions, they veered off the main road into a pitch-dark alley. At the end of the alley was Whitestone Road where Hao Ren's house was situated.
Along the alley were two street lamps, one already went out. The dilapidated old houses nearby amplified the spooky ambience. Hao Ren would have freaked out if not for the faint moonlight illuminating the road ahead, enhancing the visibility of the alley. He looked at Lily, who was following him closely. She appeared to be in a pleasant mood.
It was a dark night; not a soul could be seen on the road; a foreign place; and stranger—any one of these factors would have caused one to be more cautious. But Lily was not at all nervous. Was she just oblivious or was she really that capable of keeping herself safe?
"Flop, flop, flop…"
As Hao Ren was still worried for the girl, he heard the creepy sound of flapping wings right above them.
He was startled. Immediately, he looked up and vaguely saw a shadow gliding across the night sky above the high walls of the alley.
The shadow looked like a bat, but its size wasn't so.
"Whoa, what was that thing?" Hao Ren shouted, trying to keep his composure as he did not want to lose face, especially in front of Lily. He turned around, expecting Lily to be as scared as a soaked monkey, but...
What he saw was a pair of ears like those of a wolf, popping up from her head!
Chapter 3: Wolf
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Hao Ren froze. As Lily walked past him, he rubbed his eyes trying to clear his vision. He took a second look at her, but she was completely normal.
He was certain of what he just saw—a pair of triangular ears which were covered in beautiful silver hair! He was very certain of his eyesight and short-term memory, but he definitely couldn’t explain what he had just seen,
He slapped himself and muttered, "Maybe I was hallucinating. I am just too tired today."
"Landlord, what did you just say?" Lily turned her head around, her big beautiful eyes were glowing in the dark. "Hallucinating about what?"
She heard his murmur. Hao Ren was awed by her sharp hearing ability. With a flick of his hand, he dismissed it while saying, "It’s nothing! I am alright. Let’s hurry up so that we can settle in for the night."
"Okay!" Lily carried the massive suitcase on her shoulder and kept rambling, "Landlord, I’m starving! Is there any place close to your house where I can grab a bite? Or can I eat at your house? I will pay for it. Hey, why are you walking behind me? Please lead the way, I am not familiar with the place..."
Hao Ren sped up and took the lead. Though Lily was loquacious and naive, Hao Ren was impressed by her forthrightness. "No problem, I’ll be the host tonight. I am alone anyway."
Just as he finished talking, the ‘floop’ sound occurred again!
Hao Ren’s reflexes were faster this time. He looked up immediately and caught sight of the silhouette of a bat the size of an eagle swooping across the night sky!
Naturally, it did not actually occur to him that it was a bat, but rather, a large bird foraging at night. Outside the town was a vast piece of wasteland. For there to be wild birds in the skies of the town was not something uncommon. Instead, he was more worried about Lily as he did not want her to get a bad first impression of his place, so he made up a story. "Don’t worry! That might just be a wild bird from the nearby wasteland."
Suddenly, Lily approached him, puffing. "Mr. Landlord, I have something I need to do here. I suggest you keep going, I... I’ll catch up later"
Hao Ren was perplexed. "No, I’m not going to leave you here. It is like a maze in this alley, even locals would get lost at times... Why are you standing so close?"
As Hao Ren turned around, their eyes met — Lily was just inches from him—she stared straight at him. Hao Ren was taken aback and stepped back half a meter from her, "Look! I am a gentleman!"
He would turn abrasive when he was nervous.
Hao Ren was not sure if it was an illusion—he noticed there was a sense of hurriedness in her. Lily looked up the night sky and sniffed. "Landlord, please go. I can catch up later as I can remember your smell... So stop being shilly-shallied. I really have something on!" pleaded Lily.
"No!" Hao Ren was agitated. He did not seem to be bothered by her ‘remember your smell’ remark and replied with a straight face, "What if something happens to you? I just can’t bear to leave you here alone. What is it with you being so secretive?"
As mentioned before, Hao Ren was a good man; despite the fact that she was strong, he felt that he had a duty to ensure her safety.
Besides, he could not also think of any reason why a girl from another city had any business here at this time of night.
Lily became even more nervous; she dropped her suitcase and continuously scanned her surroundings. On both sides of the alley were dilapidated three-storey houses which were once a symbol of wealth for the local residents during the town’s glorious days. As good times waned, they were left in disrepair with the walls of unequal height at both sides of the alley covered in thick moss. The sky was the only thing visible between the walls.
Lily’s eyes were busy monitoring the gaps between the walls while she sniffed as if searching for traces of smell in the air. Upon seeing this, Hao Ren realised something was amiss. Since moment ago, Lily had been reacting strangely to the creepy flapping sounds above. She might have discovered something, so he asked, "What’s going on, Lily Liew?"
"Call me Lily," she quipped and turned to Hao Ren. "Why are you still here?"
"Didn’t you hear what I said?" replied Hao Ren as he stuck close to Lily. His voice was calm but he was clenched his fists tightly. There was nothing unsual in the surroundings, but the atmosphere was creepy as he smelled a hint of blood in the air carried by the chilly wind. This smell was not supposed to be prevalent during this time of the year, when the wind blew in every direction. His legs started trembling.
Hao Ren was brave—that was what he thought of himself—but he was visibly terrified by the events unfolding around him.
He was clueless about what was happening. He had heard many creepy urban legends and ghost stories, including tales of innocent souls of the dead in the alley and haunting road junctions, but he had brushed them off as mere gossip.
He dismissed his initial spontaeneous reactions as being overly nervous and influenced by Lily’s strange behaviors. But the air reeked of blood and it was only growing stronger and stronger, to the point where he could almost taste it in his mouth. He could not explain this phenomena logic. He suddenly recalled when Lily was hurriedly asking him to leave a moment ago; she was aware of her surroundings when things were still normal and was not as dumb as he thought her to be. She knew what was coming!
"Damn it! How on earth did I get dragged into this?" Hao Ren carefully scanned his surroudings. His thoughts were bogged down because of the foul blood odor, and the creepy, frosty wind.
"Mr. Landlord, I’m sorry for dragging you into this. The ‘thing’ is likely to be after me," Lily said with a coarse voice, "You are a good man, better than everyone else I’ve ever met. I’ll promise you this, I’ll get you out of this alive!"
"C’mon, stop playing nice..." Hao Ren scoffed at her while his teeth were chattering. When he turned around to face Lily, his jaw dropped.
Hao Ren could not recognize the girl close by at all. She was extremely beautiful with her silver waist-length hair. Her eyes were out of this world—the retinas were gold in color and glowed in the dark. She had a pair of wolf-like ears protruding, flapping under the wind, and tilting in different directions listening to the surroundings.
A silver tail could be seen emerging from behind, wagging under her clothes.
She was a werewolf... or a kemonomimi1 in today’s popular culture!
Hao Ren could not fathom why he found this amusing but he knew that his life would never be the same again... if he could keep his life today.
Translator Notes:
1 kemonomimi (獣耳) is the combination of two words of Japanese origin, kemono and mimi. Kemono refers to human-like beasts (also known as furries), which are animal characters in human-like settings. They dress, feast, and move around like humans do. On the other hand, kemonomimi refers to characters that are predominantly human, but with an animal’s ears and/or tail. Mimi means ear in Japanese.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
10 Power
stone You may also Like
Paragraph comment