Anomalous Creatures

The chubby, middle-aged uncle on TV, estimated to be in his forties or fifties, was indeed a local as Kevin had guessed. He lived on the outskirts of Brushall Town and was the owner of a small inn named "Angus's Cabin." This fat uncle, who seemed honest yet somewhat shrewd as a businessman, was the one who first discovered the haunted castle and spread the news.

The interview continued, and Kevin's full attention had been drawn to this news. He didn't even notice Lily scratching him beside him: the werewolf girl couldn't understand a word and was gradually becoming agitated.

"...That night, I was tidying up the rooms on the second floor," Angus looked ruddy in front of the camera. Despite telling a ghost story, he seemed unusually excited. The recent ghostly events had made his little inn famous, which was actually a good thing for him. "My inn is at the edge of the town, 'Angus's Cabin.' You'll definitely see it first when you come from the highway. A row of windows on its back face the direction of the ancient castle, but it's very far away, and you can't see those stones clearly with the naked eye usually. But that night, I saw flames shooting up in the direction of the castle from behind the window! There are no forests or houses there, just a pile of stones. I didn't know what was on fire, but I still called 999..."

"Did many people see the flames at that time?" The female host asked beside him, trying to prevent Mr. Angus from digressing too far. The latter obviously wanted to stay in front of the camera for a while longer, and his nonsense seemed endless.

"Yes, many people. I saw many windows facing the direction of the castle light up in the town," Angus nodded. "And it was confirmed the next day that many people had seen the flames. But it only 'burned' for about ten minutes, and then everything disappeared suddenly, like it vanished. The forest fire brigade arrived to find nothing but a pile of dry, cold stones. But I'm sure I didn't make a false report. I'm an honest businessman. 'Angus's Cabin' has been running for so many years on honesty..."

"I heard you later drove here personally to check the situation, is that right?" The female host quickly brought the topic back.

"Yes, I came here many times after that, especially at night," Angus finally showed a hint of fear on his face at this moment. "Then I encountered those strange things. Soldiers in full armor walked boldly in front of my headlights, and there were loud, strange shouts. My car stalled for no reason, and I heard very strange accents on the car radio... It was terrifying."

The female host took back the microphone and faced the camera: "The 'ghost stories' of Brushall are now spreading more and more, and more and more paranormal enthusiasts and adventurers are gathering in this town. Even professional scholars studying electromagnetism, geology, and other fields have become interested in it..."

Kevin had lost interest in what was being said later. It was basically just a bunch of nonsense about urging everyone to believe in science while talking about haunted events with great enthusiasm. Kevin casually turned off the TV and started staring off into space with his fist under his chin, like a thinker.

Lily finally went completely berserk and jumped onto the sofa, scratching Kevin's shoulder hard. "Landlord, landlord, what did the TV just say?"

"Our 'new friend'..." Kevin said with a heavy tone. "Nine times out of ten, it's a ghost. Remember the haunted castle incident that Mr. Nangong mentioned? That's what the TV was talking about just now. If it's not the locals ganging up to deceive foreign tourists, then it must be related to the 'newbie' arranged by Raven 12345. Ugh, why does it have to be such a troublesome guy right away?"

Wei Lili didn't understand what was being said on TV either, but she could see the hustle and bustle. "Wait, if that's the case... There should be a lot of people near Yorkfold Castle now! And everyone is looking for ghosts in that area?!"

"Yeah, big trouble," Kevin sighed. "What I'm most afraid of is drawing attention. God knows if the newcomer will be as easy to deal with as you guys... I mean, understanding the bigger picture. If it's a headstrong fool who doesn't care about anything, then it's going to be a real circus."

Lily squatted on the sofa and tilted her head, thinking for a while before suddenly slapping her paw. "I'm sleepy. I want to sleep."

After saying that, the werewolf girl walked towards her room with great swagger, leaving Kevin and Wei Lili staring in astonishment. It wasn't until she slammed the door shut that they realized: This idiot still hadn't adjusted her jet lag. It was bright outside, but it was already her bedtime.

"I'm kind of sleepy too," the sleepiness was contagious. Seeing Lily go back to sleep, the fatigue Kevin had accumulated from his journey began to spread. "I'm going to sleep for a while first. Aren't you sleepy?"

"My schedule has never been the same as yours," Wei Lili shrugged. "And those days at your place, in order to match your schedule, my biological clock was all messed up. Anyway, I'm not sleepy now."

"Alright then, I'm going to sleep. If I'm not awake by tonight, wake me up. We'll go down to eat. Lily probably won't wake up. She sleeps like a log. Bring her some food up here." Saying that, Kevin stretched and walked towards his room. Finally, Wei Lili was left alone in the living room, staring blankly. The vampire girl looked at Lily's door and felt extremely sad: It's not easy to be away from home. Tonight, she, the noble vampire, would have to sleep in the same nest as a big dog...

Kevin slept straight through until ** o'clock in the evening local time before waking up. Wei Lili said she didn't want to disturb him because he was sleeping so soundly. And Lily, just as Kevin had predicted, was sleeping soundly without any intention of adjusting her jet lag. Even Wei Lili walking around her didn't elicit a response.

Since Kevin and Wei Lili had things to do early the next morning, they grabbed a quick bite at the downstairs restaurant and headed back to their rooms. Lily was still sleeping soundly, seemingly not even planning to eat. Kevin placed a few convenience foods he had brought up for her on the low table beside her bed and went back to his own room to rest. He vowed to adjust his jet lag by sleeping like crazy within a day. Wei Lili, as a vampire, had a sleep schedule that was quite different from humans to begin with, and she had further messed up her biological clock at Kevin's place. So, it wasn't until midnight that she felt sleepy. Alright, by now, smart people must have guessed what happened in the middle of the night. Yes, Lily woke up...

A normal person physiologically, a werewolf who didn't even bother to adjust her jet lag, and a vampire who had messed up her biological clock more than ever—such a magical trio finally encountered intense clashes in their sleep schedules in a foreign land eight time zones away. When Kevin and Wei Lili were awake, Lily was sleeping. When Wei Lili finally felt sleepy, Lily became alert. Meanwhile, during two-thirds of Kevin's sleep time, Wei Lili was wide awake. When Wei Lili and Lily were both awake, Kevin was still asleep. Don't try to figure out the correspondence between their waking times by drawing timetables and connecting diagrams, because it was so chaotic that they couldn't even figure it out themselves! Their sleep times were nested and corresponded in fractions like two-thirds and three-quarters. Basically, whenever one of the trio was sleeping, at least one of them was wandering around the room like a wandering soul...

Early the next morning, Kevin came out of his room looking sluggish with messy hair sticking up, and met Wei Lili, whose eyes were bloodshot. The vampire girl immediately complained to Kevin: "Kevin! I'm never sleeping in the same room with that big dog again! She jumped up in the middle of the night, shouting about wanting breakfast and wandered around my bedside for two hours in the dark!"

Kevin was probably the one with the best sleep quality among the three. He had slept for nearly ten hours in bits and pieces, and was almost in a coma by the end. He looked at Wei Lili with sleepy eyes and said, "Uh... I felt really cold in the room last night. It didn't matter even after I turned off the air conditioning. Do you know what happened?"

Wei Lili blushed and said, "Uh, I couldn't sleep in the first half of the night, so I did two sets of workout routines in the living room. Maybe I didn't pay attention."

Kevin was suddenly creeped out, thinking about how terrifying the previous night had been: a vampire silently doing fitness exercises in the living room in the first half of the night, and a werewolf patrolling the room across the hall for two hours in the dark in the second half!

What happened in this room last night was just one film crew away from being a Liaozhai (a classic Chinese horror anthology)!