Liu Sheng and Zhao Xi were the earliest members of the demon hunters that Hao Ren got to know. The grudge between them had long since dissipated, and Hao Ren now saw them as acquaintances. Not exactly friends, but at least acquaintances.
During the chaos of Coldpath more than a month ago, Liu Sheng and Zhao Xi, like the other demon hunters, were summoned back to the North Pole to participate in the counterattack against the Council of Elders. Since then, there was no news of them. They may have been superhumans among the ordinary people, but in the grand battle of Coldpath, demon hunters like them were just one of the countless soldiers fighting on the frontline. Without special luck, their lives were not any safer than the others.
During the Coldpath war, Hao Ren had his hands full, and after the war, he had to sort out a lot of prehistoric materials and disputes with the otherworldlings. It was only now that he suddenly remembered about Liu Sheng and Zhao Xi. Now that the civil war had ended more than half a month ago, the new council and the demon hunters stationed in the North Pole were busy rebuilding Coldpath, and the field hunters from all over the world had returned to their original stations. The demon hunters could not just abandon their millennium-old foundation. They had to rebuild their power network in the modern world, and even if they could not, they had to ensure that they could keep abreast of what was going on around the world.
So if Liu Sheng and Zhao Xi were still alive, they had most likely returned to the city.
Hao Ren took the MDT to the middle floor of the mall. With his good memory — which was actually the MDT's navigation — he found the place where Zhao Xi used to work, the small mobile phone store. A short, plump girl stood in front of the counter, and a freckled girl that Hao Ren vaguely remembered was busy working in the store. Hao Ren went up to ask about Zhao Xi.
"Zhao Xi? She hasn't come to work for two months. "The freckled girl looked at Hao Ren strangely. She frowned and thought for a few seconds before she suddenly realized something." Oh, you've been here once before. No wonder you look so familiar … Who are you to Zhao Xi? Are you her boyfriend? "
The short plump girl beside her answered without hesitation, "That can't be, how could someone as cold as Zhao Xi have a boyfriend …"
"Uh, I'm not." Hao Ren waved his hand awkwardly, then a little worried. "Zhao Xi isn't back yet? Don't you have any news? "
The pudgy girl shook her head vigorously. "No, she's very mysterious. We don't even know where she lives. When I called her last month, I found that even her cell phone had been turned off."
Hao Ren frowned, wondering if he should look for Hasse or White Flame to confirm the list of surviving demon hunters. At the same time, he asked about the whereabouts of another person. "What about Liu Sheng? Did he come to work? "
The freckled girl nodded when she heard Liu Sheng's name, but before she could speak, Hao Ren heard a vaguely familiar voice behind him. "Eh? Why are you here? "
Hao Ren turned his head and found Liu Sheng standing behind him. The veteran demon hunter was still dressed as usual, in a half-new suit, a pair of decorative plain glasses, and a pair of cheap leather shoes. He looked like the director of a paper mill in the rural-urban fringe, someone who would blend into the crowd if he turned his face away from the crowd in the bustling mall. He looked at Hao Ren, a little surprised, then suddenly laughed. "I haven't seen you for half a month."
Hao Ren hurried over and whispered, "I haven't seen you for two months."
"That's normal. The last time we met, you were leading a hundred thousand demons to attack the temple, and I was lying on a stretcher watching you fight. I can see you, but you can't see me." Liu Sheng smiled and rolled up his sleeves to reveal his wrist. There was a dark red circumcision wound on his wrist. "And there's a souvenir — this hand just grew back ten days ago. Fortunately, it was only a cut. If it had been cursed, I'm afraid it wouldn't have grown back, and I wouldn't have been able to work. "
Hao Ren looked at his former 'enemy', his heart filled with all sorts of emotions. In the end, he just smiled. "It's good that you're alive. What about Zhao Xi? "
"Zhao Xi? She … "Liu Sheng suddenly paused, then continued." She's also alive. "
"Can I go see her?"
Liu Sheng thought for a moment, then nodded. "Come with me, I can get off work early today."
Liu Sheng and Zhao Xi did not live far from each other, and contrary to what Hao Ren had expected, the two demon hunters' hideout was not some mysterious, gloomy corner, nor did it have much of an eerie atmosphere. They lived in a residential area not far from the mall. Both of them lived on the top floor, and were neighbors facing each other.
They were hidden in the city, and no one would be able to tell that the place they lived in was a demon hunter's residence.
"It's quieter on the top floor." Liu Sheng led Hao Ren to his rented place. He first threw his things into his room, then took out another set of keys from his pocket to unlock Zhao Xi's door. "The elevator here is always broken. Climbing the stairs isn't tiring, but it's quite annoying."
"You two bought a house in the city?" Hao Ren suddenly asked.
"How could we? Housing is so expensive now," Liu Sheng replied casually. "We're renting this house."
Hao Ren was stunned. "You demon hunters need money?"
Liu Sheng looked at him strangely. "Do demon hunters have to be rich?"
"Err … I mean, you're considered to have a long life. You've lived for hundreds or thousands of years. Even if you sold sweet potatoes, you'd be at the peak of your life." Hao Ren found it hard to believe. He felt that demon hunters, as the biggest winners after the Mythological Era, should not be doing so poorly. Although there was no reason for it, it was what he thought. "At least you shouldn't have a problem buying a house."
Liu Sheng chuckled. "Then why are you renting all the houses over there?"
Hao Ren thought for a moment and was speechless …
However, he still found it unbelievable that a demon hunter like Liu Sheng, who was in charge of a district, would need to rent a house. After thinking about it carefully, he felt that it could be attributed to Vivian. The Countess of Poverty was a force to be reckoned with. Even though she had abdicated from her position as one of the Fourteen Sages six thousand years ago, her lingering influence still spread throughout the entire demon hunter organization. At least from Liu Sheng's situation, the basic officers of the demon hunter organization were not doing so well …
Liu Sheng had found the key and opened the door. He called out, "Zhao Xi, we have a guest."
There was no response, so Liu Sheng invited Hao Ren into the living room. "Come in. She can't entertain you."
Hao Ren walked into the house curiously. It was a very simple house with one bedroom and one living room. There were only a few basic pieces of furniture in the living room, and Zhao Xi was sitting on the faded sofa. She did not react to anyone entering the house.
Hao Ren immediately sensed that something was wrong. He walked up to her and saw that Zhao Xi was staring at the wall across the living room. Her eyes were half-closed, blinking occasionally, but there was no focus in her pupils. He waved his hand in front of Zhao Xi's eyes, and she seemed to respond. She tilted her head slightly, but other than that, she did not do anything else.
"This is … soul-detachment syndrome?" Hao Ren remembered the symptoms of many demon hunters after the Battle of Coldpath. Those who were trapped in the Netherrealm Clock Tower and the surviving soldiers of the Council of Elders all had the same symptoms, but Zhao Xi's condition was obviously more serious. So much time had passed, and she was still in a vegetative state!
"She was captured in the Netherrealm Clock Tower. It was not for long, but she became like this after she came out." Liu Sheng sighed. "Sigh, she's too weak. I don't know when she'll recover."
The extent of the effects of soul detachment depended on the mental strength of the victim. A powerful demon hunter like Hasse would only need about a week to recover from the state of soul detachment. The weaker the demon hunter, the more severe the effects of the soul detachment. Zhao Xi was, without a doubt, a weak demon hunter. She was not even a veteran, just a regular demon hunter.
So Liu Sheng thought that Zhao Xi's current condition was the result of the malignant soul-detachment syndrome.
That was what Hao Ren thought at first, but just as he was about to leave, the MDT suddenly came out of his pocket. "Wait a minute! She doesn't seem to have soul-detachment syndrome! "
Hao Ren was stunned, and then he realized something. His troublemaking ability seemed to be working again?
By then, the MDT had already circled around Zhao Xi's head a few times, and after a quick scan, it flew back. "There's something in her soul, something very powerful!"
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