Anomalous Creatures

Clutching his ringing mobile phone, Kevin's heart was pounding with excitement. His heart was trembling, his thoughts were trembling, and he even felt his hands trembling - the vibration of his Nokia was indeed extraordinary. Kevin believed that if he threw his old phone onto the ground with the vibration mode on, it could at least roll twenty miles per hour...

Of course, normal incoming calls wouldn't be like this. Only when Raven 12345 called did it seem like that quirky guy used some special power to make a mobile phone make a racket akin to a tractor, ensuring that Kevin wouldn't miss her call - Lily should have heard the noise from across the street.

"Hello?" Kevin answered the phone, cautiously uttering a greeting, fearing that Raven 12345 might come up with another way to startle him.

"Hey, Kevin, still alive? Taken good care of your new guest?" Raven 12345's carefree voice came through the receiver, still as energetic as a few days ago. "Hey, I made a mistake in my investigation last time. Your house doesn't just have a werewolf; there should also be a vampire... Is she with you? Doing well? No abnormalities these two days? I was on a business trip for a while. Let me tell you about the scenery of the Blue Horn Galaxy..."

Kevin was bombarded by Raven 12345's rapid-fire words, almost overwhelmed, but fortunately, he snapped out of it in time and interrupted the slightly eccentric woman: "Wait, wait! I need to talk to you!"

"Need to talk? About what?" Raven 12345 was puzzled. "Salary? Wait a minute, I haven't figured out how to pay you yet. Oh, you mean this month's benefits? It's not the end of the month yet..."

"Can you let me speak first!" Kevin couldn't help shouting, but as soon as he roared, he quickly hunched his shoulders, thinking that it was bad - the "goddess"'s personality was obviously a bit abnormal, and if he dared to shout at her like this, maybe the thunderbolt would strike him in a few seconds.

However, after Kevin hunched his shoulders and waited for a few seconds, no thunder struck outside. Raven was silent for a few seconds before reluctantly speaking: "Oh, go ahead, go ahead. I'm a bit excited after coming back from my business trip, hehehe..."

Kevin wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, surprised that the other party was actually so reasonable. He then organized his language: "The thing is, you left in such a rush that I have a lot of things I don't understand, and a couple of days ago, I encountered a strange thing - I had a bizarre dream..."

At that moment, Kevin briefly recounted the nightmare from a couple of days ago where fantasy invaded reality. Raven was unusually quiet this time, and only after Kevin finished speaking did a suspicious slurping sound come from her side: "Oh... Slurp... You had a bizarre dream? Slurp... That situation might indeed be a bit complicated... Slurp, come over here later, slurp..."

Kevin felt that the voice on the other end was a bit strange and couldn't help asking, "What are you doing over there?"

"Eating instant noodles," Raven continued with slurping sounds, "I forgot to eat breakfast early this morning and just remembered."

So she was quietly listening to Kevin while preparing her noodles! And it seems like she usually eats instant noodles too?

Kevin wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, confirmed that Raven 12345 was still waiting for him at the usual place, and then got dressed to leave. Wei Lili was preparing snacks for "Gun", and when she looked up and saw Kevin's movements, she casually asked, "Going out? To her place?"

Kevin nodded and suddenly remembered something to tell her: "Oh yeah, I might not be back for lunch. If Lily comes home, you guys can eat out or order takeout. The phone number is written on the calendar; it's the only restaurant that delivers here."

As soon as Wei Lili heard the word "Lily", she couldn't help but sniffle unhappily, but before she could speak, Kevin cut her off: "Don't complain. It's actually Lily who pays for your meals. Don't be so whiny when you're this poor."

Wei Lili had nothing to say. This vampire, who had an impressive resume, had been around since the cave-dwelling era of humans, and had even fought with Achilles, didn't know how she had developed such a good temper now. Kevin had completely figured out Wei Lili's personality, so now when he talked to her, he didn't feel as cautious and nervous as he did at the beginning.

After taking care of the matters at home and instructing Wei Lili not to forget to feed the cat at noon, Kevin left the house and took the bus to his workplace, which was like a godsend: the Wangbatuo Sub-office of the Temporal and Spatial Administration Bureau.

The white mansion hanging upside down in the sky was still the same as when he saw it a few days ago. The blue servants in the mansion maintained the cleanliness of the residence when the owner was not home. Kevin ran all the way here from the southern suburbs under the blazing sun. As soon as he was teleported to the fountain square in front of the mansion, he couldn't help but sigh with relief: Although Raven 12345 wasn't very reliable, she did have some strange abilities. Her mansion was located in a wonderful space, neither too cold nor too hot, with fresh air. Kevin even felt like staying here forever.

"Hey, you're here?" Raven 12345's voice suddenly came from behind. Kevin quickly turned around and saw the strange silver-haired woman carrying a huge and oddly shaped machete slowly walking out of the botanical garden in front of the mansion. Judging from the grass clippings and mud on her body, it seemed like she had just finished tidying up her garden.

"I was trimming the landscape trees," Raven 12345 lifted the two-meter-long silver machete on her shoulder. She noticed that Kevin's gaze was drawn to the machete and smiled proudly, "Isn't it awesome? It has sentimental value - no other Ravens have it, it's unique to me. Alright, let's talk about what happened to you. Let's go inside."

Kevin grunted and followed Raven 12345 into the mansion. It was the same office and the same furniture as when they last met, but the pancake and fried fruit that used to be on the shelf behind the desk had been replaced by an empty instant noodle cup. Kevin's gaze couldn't help but fall on the colorful noodle cup, and he wondered if he should continue to believe in Raven 12345's self-proclaimed identity: Never mind about being a deity or not, but for a grassroots official supposedly sent down from the highest ruling authority of the multiverse, is it appropriate to eat this kind of thing on a daily basis?

Raven noticed Kevin's gaze and shrugged indifferently, "I finished eating. There's really nothing left. They don't provide meals here."

Kevin: "..."

Sighing, Kevin sat down opposite Raven 12345 and carefully took out a small chewing gum box from his pocket, then fished out a tuft of dark wolf hair from inside, "This is what I was telling you about. After I woke up from that nightmare, this stuff was in my hand. Lily sniffed it and confirmed that the smell definitely wasn't from a human city."

Raven 12345 reached out to take the tuft of wolf hair, snapped her fingers lightly, and countless sparkling blue-white lines appeared out of thin air, assembling into a three-dimensional array at a dazzling speed. The black hair suspended among these lines, slowly evaporating into puffs of light gray mist.

Kevin watched this magical scene in amazement: It seemed that Raven 12345 wasn't just a babbler after all. Regardless of other things, this skill was definitely stronger than Wei Lili's unreliable blood magic. Look how straight those lines she drew in the air were...

"Has it seeped through from that world..." Raven 12345 murmured to herself as she watched the tuft of wolf hair "evaporate" into just a bit of residue.

Kevin was startled, "Seep through from where?"

"The Dream Plane, but it has nothing to do with you - at least not now. You're not at a level to handle this kind of problem," Raven 12345 shook her head, rarely showing a serious expression, "I'll report this situation to Shadow City Headquarters. This world is a notoriously difficult area, and the guys at the Administration Bureau have been waiting for new news for years."

Seeing the confused look on Kevin's face, Raven 12345 casually took out a small silver-white hexagonal gadget and threw it at him, "You obviously lack common sense. Here, this is for you. A personal data terminal, the inspector's special version. I just applied for it for you. You can query all sorts of things on it, including the employee code of conduct, as well as the timetable for Spatiotemporal node routes and your permission allocations... Well, you're still in the probation period, so most of it won't be useful to you, but it's always good to get familiar with it in advance."

Kevin only saw a silver light coming towards his face. Fortunately, he reacted in time and barely caught it. Then he heard Raven 12345's words and immediately got excited: Finally, some work benefits!