Anomalous Creatures

Whether Weilili's talisman worked or not was still unknown, but Kevin didn't have any more nightmares for the next three nights. However, he didn't think it had anything to do with that eight-trigram plate.

One reason was that he knew the eight-trigram plate was not originally used for warding off evil. It was more suitable for feng shui,orientation-checking, and searching for spiritual treasures. Using it to calm souls and drive away evil spirits was out of its expertise. The second reason was that he found a line of small text in the corner of the eight-trigram plate, which bore the name of a woodenware craftsmanship factory in Sichuan… There was really nothing to say about that.

He decided not to tell Weilili the truth.

Regardless, not having any more nightmares was a good sign. Although the wolf hair brought from the dream world to the real world still made him uneasy, Kevin could almost be sure that he was being targeted by something extraordinary again. But he was quite good at comforting himself. Even if the sky fell down, as long as Yao Ming was still alive, he could happily go on living. As for the nightmares, he would ask Raven 12345 when he saw her.

Speaking of Raven 12345, Kevin went to see her a couple of days ago. After all, they had left in a hurry last time and many things hadn't been clarified. Kevin had also accumulated many questions at home. But when he went to look for her last time, he didn't see that strange "goddess".

Kevin used the same method as last time. He took a car to that exasperating place called "Wangba Tuozi" and found the streetlight pole with the old Chinese medicine advertisement, successfully being transported to that upside-down mansion that might be located in another dimension. This proved that his previous experience was not a dream. However, there was no sign of Raven 12345 in the mansion. Kevin only saw a few blue mist people patrolling in the garden and the big house. They should be Raven 12345's servants. They seemed to possess high intelligence, but couldn't speak human language. Kevin felt that he couldn't communicate with them at all.

A blue mist person handed Kevin a note. Raven 12345 wrote on the note that she had important business to attend to in Centaurus and would be back in about three to five days. If she went wild, she might not return for three to five years.

Then Kevin was holding this unreliable note and was kicked out by the blue servants.

"This is really unreliable..." Kevin was blowing air conditioning and reading a magazine in the living room. Thinking about his experience a couple of days ago at the "Temporal and Spatial Administration Office in Wangba Tuozi" (the full name was important!) made him feel a little annoyed. He didn't know when that Raven 12345 would come back to answer his questions. Now Kevin felt like he was surrounded by a fog of confusion. There were things everywhere that he couldn't understand or figure out. He didn't even know where to start asking questions. And the only one who might tell him everything was a "goddess" as unreliable as a lunatic.

If he wasn't easygoing, he felt that just the obsessive-compulsive disorder alone would be enough to drive him crazy.

Of course, over the past few days, Kevin tried to seek information about the "otherkin" from Weilili and Lily. Well... he did gain some insights, at least he now had a real understanding of werewolves and vampires, and a vague impression of that "world" that existed outside human society.

"Otherkin" was Kevin's subconscious label for Lily and Weilili, which was actually also how many humans referred to those non-human beings. Even Lily and Weilili called themselves that, and they didn't seem to have any objections to it.

The origin of the otherkin was already unknown. It seemed that they had existed since the beginning of human historical records. From the bizarre mythical monsters of ancient times, to the Church's vigorous campaign against demons and the Chinese extermination of evil spirits during the Middle Ages, to the occasionally circulating horror stories in modern times, half-true and half-false legends about the otherkin could be found everywhere. Vampires, werewolves, demons, and necromancers—such otherkin are now considered mere stories meant to scare people by many. But in the era when these ancient stories were first taking shape, they were solid "eyewitness accounts."

Most otherkin posed a threat to humans. The initial conflicts were now unverifiable, but it was certain that frictions between the otherkin and humans had existed long before historical records began. Yet, amidst these frictions, there were also cases of close contact and even coexistence between some otherkin and humans. In the era of human cave dwellings, the otherkin were the original gods or ferocious beasts in those ancient stories. Many ancient books that have been passed down mention "divine beings" and "strange people" with animal characteristics or six arms, or bizarrely appearance monsters that in any case did not conform to the theory of evolution. Some of these accounts were the imaginations and exaggerations of ancients, some were actually deformed children born of inbreeding and diseases in ancient times, and the rest were basically the otherkin that truly existed.

They, along with the humans of that time, jointly wove the early volumes of Earth's civilization and played the role of "gods and monsters" in the records of civilization.

Weilili had experienced that era. Although her memories were somehow chaotic for some reason (perhaps because she had lived too long?), she could still introduce the basics. The most shocking piece of information Kevin heard from her was... Zeus actually existed. He was a thunder giant with a flawed mind...

It was obvious that in the early days of contact between the otherkin and humans, the former occupied an overwhelming advantage: The otherkin usually possessed special abilities far beyond human understanding, had long lives, strong vitality, and were much smarter than early humans. They held an absolute dominant position over humans. On a whim, they could become fierce gods and beasts that harmed mankind or become primitive deities that protected a region. But as time passed, this situation changed. Weilili's memories were not very reliable, so she was unsure how the otherkin suddenly declined. In summary, there were three certain reasons: First, humans gradually became civilized. When the otherkin let their guard down, humans gradually learned to unite and create more sophisticated tools to fight against the tyrannical gods and monsters, while the latter remained relatively loose and independent small groups, making lone individuals easy targets to be defeated one by one. Second, the otherkin clans inexplicably declined (the reason was unknown). Third, demon hunters emerged.

The third point was also the most important one.

Demon hunters are strange beings with half-human blood. No one knows for sure how they came into existence; they seemed to appear out of thin air and immediately began hunting "otherkin" all over the world. The original name for demon hunters was not like this; they did not have a fixed title at first and were called by various names. It was not until the European Church popularized the term "demon hunter" during the Middle Ages that this designation gained widespread acceptance. At that time, Europe was the last place where otherkin rampaged (the otherkin in other regions had basically been wiped out by the locals in conjunction with demon hunters). Therefore, the European Church's classification, titles, and definitions of various otherkin and demon hunters became the "final version" and have been continued to this day.

It's hard to say whether this is fortunate or unfortunate for the European region...

In any case, the activity of demon hunters has caused the "otherkin" to gradually withdraw from the main stage of Earth's civilization, transforming from rulers to marginalized beings. Although the otherkin still possess immense power (compared to ordinary humans), they can basically no longer cause much trouble.

This is what Kevin heard from Weilili, an incredible other side hidden behind the seemingly calm real world that he had believed in for over twenty years... Well, his worldview has already been rebuilt after the "disaster," so let it collapse if it must.

As for the two superwomen at home, Kevin also took the trouble to learn more about them.

Lily is a "young werewolf" with only a few decades of life experience and is quite ditzy, so she doesn't have much information to provide. On the other hand, Weilili is said to be a high-ranking vampire who has lived for many years. Kevin was shocked by the girl's qualifications when he first heard about her: she had been active in this world since before humans invented currency, making her older than the history of human civilization in many regions! But strangely enough, Weilili's knowledge is quite limited. Her memories of the past few thousand years are somewhat hazy, and it is said that she mostly sleeps in various places. Until modern times, human society was quite boring and dull for Weilili. This eccentric senior vampire is not as enthusiastic as her fellow vampires in troubling humans or "enhancing their taste." Most of her time is spent dealing with her bad luck... Anyway, she has muddled through life for so many years, and Kevin thinks she is definitely a disgrace to vampires.

But for humans, she is a good girl.

It's also unclear how she formed this worldview.