On the steppe where space and time stood still, the gray moonlight shone on the broken earth, which was only a few hundred meters across. The surrounding darkness stagnated, making the small parcel of land look like a lonely island floating in the sea of chaos. Vivian was now fully awake, sitting with her legs crossed on the grass. Her face appeared calm.

“I had a long, long dream,” Vivian said. “I dreamed of being super wealthy, living in a super large castle with gorgeous decorations. I had many treasures, rooms filled with gold and silver. There were two beautiful gardens, in which the number of sculptures could fill the Louvre several times over. Sigh.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that’s right. You were indeed dreaming.”

Vivian sighed again. “So, the outside world is already in a mess?”

Vivian learned about the sequence of events from Hao Ren and knew about his efforts to save the situation. She even knew that Hao Ren had successfully awakened her once. After waking up in the Siberian snow land, Vivian had entered into the deepest part of the distorted space and time. Right then, at that point in time, she did not have her memories from Siberia.

“A mess is an understatement.” Hao Ren shrugged. “I have no idea how long the sandbox can hold up, so I have to find you in various times of history. So far, I’ve only gone back 600 years in the past. It’s a small step when compared with your entire 10,000-year history.”

“I believe that you can do it.” Vivian just smiled at Hao Ren and nodded affirmatively.

There was no overly polite gratefulness, unnecessary words of encouragement nor emotional expression. Vivian just believed that Hao Ren could pull it off and told what was in her mind.

Vivian then looked at Lily again. “Doggie, I am pleasantly surprised that you have come to help.”

“Bah, I have overeaten. This is a good opportunity for me to burn some calories.” The husky maiden looked away while wagging her tail. “It looks like age has finally caught up with you. Look at you, you almost buried yourself in your dream. You owe me a favor for saving your life. I’m telling you, you may not be able to repay me even if you cook me braised pork ribs for the rest of your life.”

“I got it. Braised pork ribs. I’ll let you eat until you drop.” Vivian laughed. She then got to her feet with light motion and came up to Hessiana, who had frozen in gray. Her eyes moved from Hessiana to Hasse, and finally Baptiste, whose expression was frozen in time. “The little girl and the Hasse of 600 years ago—I suddenly miss them. If I’m not mistaken, the two of them will enter this space and time after I’m gone, right?”

“Not entirely true, but it is their consciousness that will enter their bodies in history.” Hao Ren shrugged. “Those guys are playing mahjong and watching TV on the outside. I’d feel sorry for Raven 12345 for providing them the free mahjong if I don’t make them work like donkeys here.”

“Maybe you should also be worried about how to explain to Hasse about the bumps on his head,” said Vivian with a wry smile before looking at Baptiste.

“This human wizard… I am surprised to see this fellow at this point in time. But I have no impression of him at all.”

Hao Ren could not help but curiously asked, “I have just wanted to ask, how did Baptiste wake you up and lead you here? Were you not supposed to be hibernating in the cemetery? How come it was a Malevolence that slept in here?”

“Baptiste must have come for the sole purpose of waking me up,” Vivian said. “As for why I was not in the cemetery but a Malevolence was in my place instead…”

Hao Ren was all the more curious when Vivian paused and appeared embarrassed. “What happened?” He asked.

“I must have been sleepwalking most likely.”

Hao Ren and Lily were stupefied.

“I knew that you all would have this reaction.” Vivian blushed. “I was only sleepwalking. It was no big deal!”

“But you must be the first person in the world who could sleepwalk inside your own dream.” Hao Ren was in disbelief. “Next time I must find you in the real world and am not going to go into your shadowy realm. The world you created in your sleep was almost as weird as the ancient mysterious realms.”

Had it not been for the Malevolence’s sudden appearance, Hao Ren would not have entered the shadowy realm and fought with her Soulless Guards. Instead, he would have blown the place up just as he had done in Siberia.

“Do not worry, you are not going to face trouble like this most of the time. I did not usually set up hibernation places like this for most of my 10,000-year history.” Vivian’s smile was a little awkward. She then changed the topic abruptly. Then again, I cannot recall this farce 600 years ago, especially regarding Baptiste and the Malevolence. My memory’s drawing a blank.”

“You must have forgotten all about it,” Lily said with her arms crossed and squinting at the most ancient vampire. “With the demon hunters having to deal with your Malevolence and Baptiste your TaskRabbit, I could not believe that you have forgotten everything about them. It seems like old age has affected your memory, eh?”

“Shut up, Doggie!” Vivian shot the husky maiden a look.

Vivian then sighed. “But you are not entirely wrong. I have indeed forgotten. My mind is usually a muddle after waking up. I could not really recall what happened during that period.”

Hao Ren was curious. “I wonder what the original history was like had I and Lily not interfere with it.”

“Then you can only find your answer from Hessiana and Hasse.” Vivian laughed. “After all, you know, my memory fails me.”

Vivian’s body gradually faded.

“Ahh, it is time for me to leave.” Vivian looked down at her translucent hands. “It looks like we can only have this much time. The sandbox must be very unstable.”

“We will meet again in the next era.” Hao Ren’s eyes met Vivian’s.

“Surely.” Vivian smiled and waved at Hao Ren and Lily. “Then see you next time.”

Vivian had vanished entirely in the air as soon as her voice trailed off.

“There she has gone.” Lily scratched her head. “What shall we do next, Mr. Landlord?”

“If your past experience is anything to go by, the two fellows should be—”

Before Hao Ren could finish, he already heard Hasse saying, “Hey, you guys really hit me, eh?”

Hessiana’s voice followed. “Apparently, someone has been a good trickster. I could not believe that I was so easily conned six hundred years ago.”

Everything went just as expected. Hasse and Hessiana had entered the game.

Hao Ren looked back and saw Hasse grousing while walking towards them. The bumps on his head were particularly eye-catching. Before this when Hasse still treated Hao Ren as an enemy, he pretended not to be bothered by the injuries. But now, he did not have to feign it anymore. Hasse carefully touched his head as he came up to them. “Look at what the two of you have done to me! Did you really have to wallop me?”

Hao Ren quickly explained, “Look! I admit that I trapped you. But it was Lily who hit you. I just hit you once, and you didn’t pass out.”

Lily was furious. “Mr. Landlord, didn’t you ask me to knock him out?”

Hasse was indignant. “How could you still have the nerve to admit it? You would have preferred to knock me out completely! At least I would have felt better that way instead of staying in torment within your Dimensional Pocket. I survived by relying on the demon hunters’ method of meditation. It really hurts!”

“Who knew you had such a thick skull? Plus, I’ve already held back my strength,” Lily said.

Hessiana had come over and looked at Hasse. “Stop whining. It is not like you do not know the situation at that time. Hao Ren and Lily did not really have a choice. You were a madman six hundred years ago. You hated everyone except the demon hunters. How could they rope you in other than using ‘kinetic anesthesia’?”

“You call that kinematic anesthesia?” Hasse was stupefied.

Hessiana sighed. “I have a complaint too. Hao Ren, why couldn’t you wait a little longer—I almost won the mahjong game!”

Hao Ren was struck dumb. “Holy moly! You guys are still plying mahjong outside?”

“The days have been so boring,” Hessiana said with her arms akimbo. “The entire earth is frozen, and we cannot even go home. Raven 12345’s house is big, but there were too many things in the house that we could not understand. Moreover, nine out of ten doors had divine servants guarding there, we could only play mahjong to pass the time. Fortunately, the time flows faster inside here than the outside; a month in here is equivalent to just three days on the outside. Otherwise, we would have been bored to death.”

“I am here to save the world and your Lady Vivian. Can you please stop complaining?” Hao Ren snorted.

“So am I not here to help now?” Hessiana spread out her hand.

Hao Ren’s mouth was agape as he suddenly realized how silly he was to argue with this impish kid. “Okay, let us not discuss this but get down to more important things. I am curious, had Lily and I not interfering in the real history, how did you two fix this farce six hundred years ago?”

Hao Ren asked out of pure curiosity. No matter how he looked at it, the incident had been a significant event. With the involvement of a wicked Malevolence, the Hunter Group led by the elder, the quick-witted little bat, a cunning wizard, and a group of clueless witches, it would be a miracle had they not cause a tumult.

“Six hundred years ago, ahh…” Hessiana’s face twitched. “Had I not been back in time, I would have forgotten that I almost died in the hands of the demon hunters.”

“But she still got away at the crucial moment,” Hasse said. “Indeed, I was the one leading the charge at that time. But when we were about to finish off the unknown vampire like Hessiana, who popped up out of nowhere, Vivian’s seal suddenly exploded, and her Malevolence broke out.”

Hessiana’s mouth twitched. “The demon hunters had to deal with the Malevolence, and that gave me the time to escape.”

“We did not even know that it was only a Malevolence until the end.” Hasse forced a smile. “My Hunter Group suffered heavy losses. At last, we did not defeat the Malevolence, but it was the Malevolence who had lost interest in us and went away. That saved our lives.”

“As for the witches and Baptiste, they barely met me,” Hessiana said. “After all, in the original version of history, the two did not have strong foreign allies like you and Lily, and so they were relatively less active. But one thing is sure is that Baptiste has been competent. He must have contacted Vivian by some other means. Otherwise, we could not explain how he later opened the door to Inferno. Perhaps he had also played a hand in letting the Malevolence break prematurely. I admire this guy. As a human wizard, he had daringly done something big.”

“He overlooked everything just to look for his mentor cum lover, even if he would get himself involved in the horrible struggle between the demon hunters and the ancient vampire.”

Hao Ren muttered to himself, looking at the wizard who stood like a gray statue not far away.

Somehow, Hao Ren could feel how the wizard felt in his journey back in time to save Vivian.

But I am not going to follow your path , Hao Ren said in his mind.