Not long after Kevin and his companions returned home, "Gun" followed the noise and came looking for them.
No one knew how this little black cat, only a foot long, managed to be so well-informed. Kevin had just sat down in the living room when he heard a series of flapping sounds coming from the window facing the street. Looking up, he saw "Gun" outside, slapping the window frame with its tail. Meanwhile, Y'zaks was hunched over on the sofa, awkwardly studying the Earthling TV remote. He looked up at the kitten and a hint of surprise crossed his face. "Is this your cat?"
Kevin stood up to open the window for "Gun," agreeing without looking back, "Ah, his name is 'Gun'. Don't worry about how it came about; it's just what it is."
Evidently, having been left running around unattended for several days, "Gun" looked even fatter than before. It was unknown how this amazing creature had managed to thrive in the treacherous streets of the southern suburbs, where cats and dogs were rampant. It hopped lightly onto Kevin's shoulder, its plump body nestled against his neck. Then, noticing the stranger in the living room, a look of surprise crossed its face, quite human-like.
It wasn't that it had never seen new residents before; it had never seen a creature standing 2.15 meters tall, walking upright. Everyone has seen dogs, but if you see a Spitz the size of a Charlie, the expression on its face is sure to be as clear as "Get lost." Y'zaks, unsure of what to recall, a faint look of nostalgia crossed his face. "A pet? I used to have a cat."
Kevin choked on his saliva. "You have a cat?!"
A brutal image of a five-meter-tall fire demon cradling a kitten suddenly surfaced in his mind. That cat was familiar...
Y'zaks smiled. "There are no cats in the Demonic Abyss, but I call it Cat. It was a demon hound, twice as tall as you when it lay on the ground. But it died. It could have come here with me, but it refused to leave."
Kevin chuckled, thinking to himself that someone actually named their dog Cat...
By then, Lily had swiftly packed her belongings and scurried out like a lively little bunny. Spotting the black cat perched on Kevin's shoulder, she immediately stopped and respectfully greeted "Roll." Then, she enthusiastically introduced them to Y'zaks: "Hey, big guy, let me introduce you. This is Roll, the second-in-command here. I'm third, you're fourth, the TV in the living room is fifth, and the bat is sixth..."
Lily's words were full of nonsense. Clearly, having finally returned to her home after traveling eight time zones, the canine was incredibly excited. She was running around like a puppy, even daring to joke with Y'zaks (who was originally quite wary of the great demon). Unfortunately, Y'zaks didn't understand a word she said. He turned to Kevin: "What did she say?" "Don't pay her any attention. She's a real crowd pleaser," Kevin chuckled dryly. "I still have to go see Raven 12345 tomorrow and ask her to help you with this language problem. By the way, are you hungry? Want something to eat first?"
Yzaks shook his head. "No, just tell me where the room is. I'm going to get some sleep. When I wake up, I'll figure out how I can help you."
Yzaks once said he'd spent most of the last half month on Earth sleeping. Now he needed to sleep again. Kevin, a tortured older man, suddenly thought he had figured it out. "Oh, I get it. Traveling from another world to here must have taken a lot of mental energy. You need to rely on sleep to recover to peak condition, right?"
Yzaks gave Kevin a strange look. "Why do you always overthink so much? I'm just jet-lagged..."
Kevin: "...Come with me. There's a room upstairs." Y'zaks agreed and followed Kevin upstairs when Vivian suddenly ran out from the kitchen. "Landlord, are you looking for a room for Big Guy? I have something I need to discuss with you."
Kevin looked at Vivian curiously and noticed a hint of embarrassment on her face. "What's wrong?"
"Let Big Guy have my room." Vivian seemed to feel that her sudden request was a bit of an inconvenience, but she said it anyway. "I want to move to the basement."
Kevin opened his mouth, but immediately misunderstood. With a concerned expression on his face, he tried to comfort Vivian. "Is Lily trying to get you to pay the rent again? Don't bother her. I don't care. Why should you care? I can't just kick you out to the basement just because you don't pay..."
Vivian quickly waved her hand. "That's not what I meant. I really want to live in the basement." The vampire girl raised her hand as she spoke, gesturing outside at the blazing sun. "I'm feeling lethargic during the day, so I need to find a shady spot to rest. While high-ranking vampires aren't afraid of the sun, it's best to stay out of it. I know you're being kind by letting me live in a sunny house, but if I keep living like this, I'm afraid I'll get sunburned, not to mention endocrine disorders!"
At first, Kevin thought Vivian was making this up, but after she brought up the vampire race's characteristics, and seeing the seriousness on her face, he knew she truly meant it, so he stopped talking. He was a bit troubled, though. "The basement is quite large, and it was once rented out, so it has plumbing and electricity, and everything. It's just a mess, and it's going to be a hassle to clean up."
"It's okay, I'm a quick worker!" Vivian said with pride. "I'm good at finding a place to sleep in any situation. I'm quite adept at it!" Seeing the eager look on the vampire girl's face, Kevin felt a pang of pity for her: What kind of life had this unfortunate girl led before?
Vivian swiftly rushed up and down the stairs to pack, Kevin following behind diligently, and soon the room swap was resolved. Y'zaks had absolutely no luggage; the great demon had managed everything with magic; his belongings seemed to have been conjured from some other dimension, so all he needed was an empty room. Vivian's living requirements were even simpler: shade was all that was needed, and even dry, ventilated areas weren't necessary (vampires have their own air conditioning), making it easier to accommodate.
The mansion had a large basement, fitting its size, which had once been rented out. During Kevin's "glorious" two years, he had, on a whim, renovated it, dividing it into two rooms: one dedicated to storage, the other like a small suite, complete with tiled flooring, wallpaper, furniture, and appliances. Aside from the lack of windows, it was practically identical to the upstairs room, perhaps even more spacious. The basement had been unoccupied for the past two years, and the "outhouse" that had been used as a rental had accumulated some clutter. Fortunately, it was easy to clean up, and soon Kevin had gathered all the clutter and prepared to throw it all into the small storage room next door. Vivian was moving her few belongings into her new room when she saw Kevin squatting on the floor fiddling with a wooden box. Curious, she approached, "Landlord, are you sending these things to the warehouse next door?"
"Yeah, we'll move them there later. Honestly, I don't need them anymore, but it would be a shame to throw them away. They're all from my childhood," Kevin said, looking at the contents of the wooden box, a nostalgic look on his face. "Look at these. They were all brand new back then. I even fought with the neighborhood kids over them. Now they look so tattered."
Vivian scratched her head. "To me, they're all brand new."
Kevin's sigh died down in his throat: He shouldn't be discussing life memories with an old hag who carries six pounds of antiques around as amulets. It's so damaging to her ego.
Vivian noticed Kevin's momentary embarrassment and quickly changed the subject, pointing to the contents of the box and asking Kevin to show her. "This is the lunch box I used in junior high. This is the game console I used as a kid. Back then, game consoles used these kinds of cartridges. I'd often remove the outer shells and just plug the circuit board inside into the machine. It felt so high-end. This is my neighbor's winter break homework... Why the hell is this thing here? Oh, and there's half a dollar bill here. When I found it, I looked forward to finding the other half every day..." Kevin listed each item like a treasure, occasionally offering a surprise. Vivian listened with great interest. The two, with at least hundreds of generations between them, just delved into a pile of junk. Finally, Kevin dug out a diamond-shaped piece of metal from the back of the box. Vivian's eyes suddenly changed.
"I don't know where this came from," Kevin said, completely unaware of Vivian's change of expression. He just tossed the palm-length piece of metal around in his hands. "It looks like a handicraft from somewhere. No one recognizes these crooked symbols on it..."