The Record of Unusual Creatures

Chapter 43: Circadian Cycles in Disharmony
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The stocky bloke on TV looked about forty to fifty odd, Hao Ren guessed. He was a proprietor of a small inn, living on the edge of Brewshire. The local, named Angus, had encountered supernatural happenings in the ruins and had spread the news to attract visitors. His decent and honest guise was a perfect cover, seeing that he was a business-minded man.

Hao Ren was so engrossed with the interview that he did not noticed Lily who was scratching him with her claws. The werewolf couldn’t understand a single word and was close to throwing a tantrum.

“….I was clearing the room on the second floor that night,” Mr Angus’ face was flushed as red as a tomato on camera. His excitement was apparent as he narrated his supernatural encounters. The popularity of his inn has grown following the supernatural ruckus. To him, this is nothing but good news. “My inn is just on the edge of the town, ‘Angus’ Lodge’ is the first building you’ll see if you are coming in from the highway. There are windows at the back of the inn directly facing the castle ruins. It is still a mighty distance away, so you can’t really see the rocks. But that night, I saw a pillar of flame in the general direction of the ruins. There’s nothing there, no trees nor houses, just a pile of rocks. Since I did not know what was it that actually caught fire, I gave 999 a dial…”

“Did many saw the pillar of flame?” The interviewer interrupted to refocus on the topic at hand. The man was very eager to stay on camera and would have gone on had she not stopped him.

“Oh yes, yes. The part of the town facing the ruins was lit up.” Mr Angus nodded. “I even checked with the others around when it happened again the day after. It lit up for a good ten minutes or so and before vanishing, as though it was never there. The Fire Service had went through the area and found only barren rocks in that vicinity. I’m very sure I did not make a prank call. I’m an honest business man you see, ‘Angus’ Lodge’ is a long and proud product of honest…”

“I heard that you drove up to check the place out?” The lady interviewer interjected.

“Yes, I sure did, many times, even during the nights.” Fear crept on his face. “During which I ran into some ghastly incidents. There was once this soldier in full steel armour marched in front of my car, screaming in a very strange voice. Other times the engine died for no reason, the radio played some very strange noise… They’re the most horrifying encounters.”

The interviewer turned back towards the camera with her microphone. “The supernatural tales of Brewshire had since spread far and wide, attracting many adventurers and supernatural enthusiasts to this town even catching the attention and interest of a few electromagnetic and geological researchers…”

Hao Ren’s interest in the show had faded by then. It’s pretty much a show that exhort the curiosity of science and one that myth of the supernatural realm. He switched off the TV and sat in a stupor.

Lily had pretty much lost her patience and was throwing a tantrum. She jumped onto the sofa and violently nudged Hao Ren’s shoulders. “Mr Landlord, Mr Landlord, what was she talking about!?”

“… I’m afraid our ‘new friend’… is probably a ghost” Hao Ren said heavily. “Remember the disturbance in a castle ruins that Mr Nangong was talking about? It was the same as the one on the television show. If this is not something the locals cooked up to bring in tourists, it’s definitely something connected to the ‘new guy’ Raven12345 talked about. My god, why does it have to be someone so troublesome..”

Vivian did not understand what’s being said on TV, but she caught glimpses of what was on the screen and surmised. “Wait a minute…, that means that the Yorkford castle ruins will be swarming with people, most of which are looking for ghosts?”

“Yeap, that just complicates things…” Hao Ren sighed. “If I could help it I would love to do without the unnecessary attention. Who knows if this new guy will play nice, like the both of you. Good grieves… if this guy turns out to be a bloody brat, it will surely get messy.”

Lily was squatting on the sofa for a good while now and with a loud clap, declared “I’m sleepy. Gonna go take a nap now.”

With that, she casually strolled towards her room as Hao Ren and Vivian looked on in disbelief. They only snapped back to their senses after hearing the door slammed behind her. Lily, that idiot, had still not gotten over her jetlag. It’s bright daylight out there, but her biological clock was screaming “BEDTIME!”

“I’m pretty sleepy myself” Hao Ren yawned as he was finally overwhelmed by the long travel. It was partly due to seeing Lily go to bed. “I’m gonna catch a short nap too, you’re not sleepy?”

“I’m fine, my routine is not the same as the both of you.” Vivian shrugged. “Sides’, my biological clock is totally out of whack trying to match both your routines in these past few day. Anyway, I’m not sleepy at the moment.”

“Fine then. I’m gonna catch a snooze. Wake me up if I’m not up by night-time. We’ll go out for dinner. As for Lily, I think she’ll be dead asleep. We’ll have to bring something back for her.” said Hao Ren as he dragged himself into his bedroom.

Vivian was the only person left in the lounge. She forlornly stared at the room that Lily had went into. She, a noble vampire will have to share the bed with that shaggy dog, Lily for the night.

Hao Ren slept all the way till it was almost nine at night. Vivian said she was hesitant to wake him up, seeing that he was sleeping so soundly. Lily, much the same, was about as dead as a log. She don’t seem to have any intentions of getting over the jetlag. Lily didn’t even move, not even when Vivian was pacing around in circles around her.

As they have things to attend to early in the morning, Hao Ren and Vivian went down to the hotel’s dining hall to have a quick meal. Lily was still drooling in her sleep when they got back to the room. She was probably not feeling hungry at all. Hao Ren then left the food that he had gotten for her on the table and went back to his room for more rest. He wanted to get over the jetlag by sleeping as much as possible that night.

Vivian, being a vampire, had a rather different routine compared to humans and werewolves. She even got it messed up when staying at Hao Ren’s place. Over here in England, she only started feeling sleepy close to midnight. By now, the smarter ones among you might have guessed it. Yep. Lily was awake.

A human with normal physiology, a werewolf who didn’t seem to have the slightest intentions of dealing with her jet lags, and a disorganized vampire who had fixed her biological clock, this trio’s circadian cycles were in utter disharmony in a foreign land with an eight hours’ time difference from China. When Hao Ren and Vivian were awake, Lily was asleep. When Vivian was sleepy, Lily was hopping about like a bunny. When Hao Ren was two-thirds into his sleep cycle, Vivian was awake and fresh. So when both Vivian and Lily were awake, Hao Ren was still asleep. Don’t even bother trying to determine the times that all three of them are awake as all three of them were equally confused! Technically, only two thirds of the team were awake most of the time, when one was asleep, there will be one scurrying about the room like a ghost…

Early the next morning, Hao Ren woke up with a crow’s nest of a hair on his head. He ran into Vivian by the door way, whose eyes were bloodshot. She immediately protested when she saw him. “Hao Ren! I will not sleep in the same room with that big dog anymore! She woke up in the wee hours complaining of being hungry and spent the next two hours scurrying about in the dark in front of my bed!”

Hao Ren guessed that he was probably the only one who got the most out of his sleep, at least ten hours by his estimation. As he groggily looked at Vivian, he said, “The room was unusually cold last night. Did you feel it? I tried turning off the air-con, it didn’t help much. Have any idea what’s going on?”

Vivian said with a blush, “Erm… I couldn’t sleep before midnight, so I was doing some aerobic exercises in the lounge. Didn’t notice anything strange though…”

Hao Ren was suddenly stricken by a chill down his spine. He gave a thought to Vivian’s recollection and found it unnerving: A vampire quietly doing aerobics in the hall, and a werewolf stalking by the bed in the dark.

The only component lacking here is a filming crew and this would be the perfect ghost story!