The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 248

Chapter 248: Teraflare

 

It was not possible to access the propulsion unit block from the maintenance hatch, but the hatch led up to the rear maintenance area of the block. This space island’s propulsion system was an enormous one. The main area itself covered at least a few hundred metres of distance and was almost the size of a small mountain. Behind it, there was an industrial equipment room. This room contained all the necessary items needed to run the place and it was deep underground. When the block exploded, the area was not blown apart, but it did leave a gigantic crack on the outer barrier.

Hao Ren found himself in a very wide room, and in it were all sorts of weird equipment. They were beyond him. The artificial gravitational field had completely shut down in this area, and as the most powerful thrust had since passed, many of the equipment as well as debris were floating. There was a giant crack on the angled alloy roof of the room. Blinding light shone through the crack, casting a rather eerie and dangerous looking silhouette coupled with all of the floating debris.

The first thing Hao Ren did was to look for something that resembled a control terminal. He knew this was already the inner part of the block and if they could shut the whole thing down from inside, it was without question the best way forward. He may not have known how to operate it but he could transfer the image that he saw to the MDT for it to liaise with the elven specialists. However, that thought quickly went out the window. It was clear that the place was ruined and the charred, broken crystalline control panels were of no use.

A layer of molten shield surrounded Y’zaks as he moved. The demon was already prepared to go head on if the situation called for it. After sensing the flow of energy in the area, he went to one of the corners in the room and blew a hole in the wall. “The place where things went haywire should be ahead.”

Hao Ren took a curious peek and saw nothing but blinding flashes of light. Only after his sight recovered that he could properly see what was in the room. The front part housed the propulsion system’s combustion valve of sorts. From it, a long, tubular pipeway extended all the way outside. At the end of the pipe, beyond the raging flames, one could faintly see the stars. As he squinted his eyes, he could see the silhouette of another island passing by in a flash. There were many auxiliary pipes, which were laid symmetrically along the walls of the main pipeway, and they were the main source of the light. There was roughly a 10 metre buffer zone between the superheated auxiliary pipes and the maintenance area. It was divided by an enormous ring-shaped device. Despite the buffer, Hao Ren could still feel the heat coming at him. Although it could have just been psychological.

Y’zaks tore a bigger hole in the wall and leapt ahead. Standing in the buffer zone with his arms wide open, a crimson cloud of flames, almost molten covered his body, and his size expanded within the demonic cloud rapidly. No sooner, he had transformed into a five-metre-tall great demon.

Hao Ren followed suit as he leapt into the buffer zone. “Haven’t seen you in that form for a good while.”

“Heh, I still feel more comfortable this way,” Y’zaks said as he stretched his arms and legs. Thankfully, they were using telepathy to communicate or else, the great demon would have spouted hot embers the moment he spoke. “I’ll go have a look outside. It’s a bit hard to determine how the whole propulsion unit is doing from here.”

Hao Ren nodded and as he looked around the place, he spotted something in the distance.

He signalled Y’zaks to stop for a moment as he laboriously made his way towards the object. It was just as the MDT said, he could indeed move in space without any outside force. As he moved, Hao Ren saw a series of blurry afterimages behind him. This however, did not mean that he was moving quickly. Rather, it was the effect of location conversion. Using this method to move in space felt like his innards were being torn apart, then reformed again and again along the path. It caused him to feel nauseated, an unpleasent reminder that he was not supposed to move for long periods of time. By the time he reached the object, he finally realised what he saw—an Aerymian elf in a peculiar looking spacesuit. By the looks of it, the person was dead.

Hao Ren supressed the shock and anxiety that started to well within him as he turned the corpse around. Under the transparent helmet was the face of a young, male elf. He did not look like he suffered before his demise. With his eyes closed, he almost looked like he was in deep sleep. Hao Ren could not locate any obvious signs of injury as well and that piqued his curiosity. Only when he spotted a very thin gash on the suit that he realised how the elf died—death by decompression.

It seemed that the elf’s biological make-up was different from humans. When they die in a vacuum, they look like they just went into a deep slumber.

Hao Ren searched the area and realised that the elf had collapsed in front one of the control terminals. His arms were still holding on to the control lever. Hao Ren tried to identify the wordings next to the control panel, and after some effort, he managed to translate the words: Emergency Stop.

Hao Ren then understood what had went on here. It seemed like before the propulsion unit exploded, the maintenance team already detected that something was amiss. The dead elf was probably a crew member on duty and when he found out that the system had gone haywire. Realising that he had lost contact with the surface, he tried to slam the emergency stop lever. But evidently, he failed.

A normal elf who sacrificed himself on the line of duty. Even though he traded his life for the protection of his island, his last effort was unfortunately futile.

“We better move his body somewhere safer.” Y’zaks lowered his gaze towards the elf. “This place is about to blow up.”

Hao Ren nodded again solemnly. After securing the dead elf on his back, he floated all the way back to the corridor and placed the body near the second bulkhead. It was probably the safest of all places at that point of time.

Subsequently, he followed Y’zaks along the gigantic pipeway out of the propulsion system. This was a rather harrowing experience. Hao Ren never thought someone would have the balls of iron to dash out of a pipe thruster under a blazing inferno. He was worried if his Steel Membrane Shield could withstand the extreme heat, but it seemed that Imperial products were just too solid; aside from some major nausea, Hao Ren was pretty much unscatched.

However, his shield had somewhat depleted.

A giant pillar of flame, almost 10 kilometres tall, was blazing in front of them. The scene was almost too nerve-wrecking to bear.

This flame was from the propulsion system. There were three main thrusters, but only one was operational. Of the two non-operational thrusters, one had since died off while another was shredded by the explosion. They were however, not completely destroyed yet. It appeared that there was a miscalculation by the elves on the status of the engines. There were multiple stabilisers by the engines, all located on the underside of the hoop. Spewing blue flames, the stabilisers were frantically trying to stabilise the island, not knowing that they were expediting its demise.

Y’zaks stood beside Hao Ren, his body engulfed in raging flames that even a vacuum could not quench. Without any gravitational pull, the flames formed into an orb around the great demon, making the already imposing figure a miniature sun. He frowned as he looked at the layout of the engines, which were quite beyond him. After comparisons with a few key parts that the elven mage had told him, he said, “It seems like blowing that up will solve the issue. Things can’t get any worse anyway.”

As he finished his sentence, he conjured an enormous fireball with demonic green flames licking about. Hao Ren took the chance to look around and he saw from a distance, the small corvettes that were unable to take out the engines. The elves onboard could only look from afar, puzzled. To them, Hao Ren and Y’zaks were creatures of wonders beyond their understanding.

Hao Ren finally realised how it felt to be seen as a “supernatural” being.

After a while, Y’zaks’ fireball, or more appropriately, Teraflare was at its apex. Hao Ren gawked at the giant fireball in front of him. The Teraflare was spinning rapidly with runic chains forming all over it as it floated above Y’zaks’ hands.

“You sure this will work?”

“I’ve taken everything into consideration.” Y’zaks nodded confidently. He then spun on the spot twice and flung the fireball at the propulsion unit with aplomb!

The gigantic fireball enveloped the propulsion system as it exploded. Its strength… was much smaller than Hao Ren had anticipated. Apparently, Y’zaks had indeed taken everything into account. The Teraflare did not wipe the island off the map.

As the smoke cleared, Hao Ren looked intently at the place where the propulsion system originally stood. Has the crisis… been averted?

Chapter 249: That’s Not Funny at All

 

After the explosion, the propulsion system that lost control finally ended its madness. The main part of its engine was blown up, causing big hole in it. Propulsion vents as well as a long piece of component even fell off the engine, after which they were pushed into the endless space by the force of the explosion. It did not matter if the rest of the engine was still working, it was unlikely to produce any more propulsive force.

As the main engine shut down and the rest of the surrounding devices quieted down, Hao Ren saw flares in the other parts of the floating isle. The remaining normal thrusters were trying to adjust the island’s stance and recover it from the frantic tumbling. The crisis was finally over.

Y’zaks dissipated his demonic power and finally relaxed. “I haven’t been so nervous for a long time. This reminds me of the time I fought in my hometown.”

They flew towards the floating propulsion system. The engine had burst and left behind a deep crack. The place had become unrecognizable. Hao Ren took a long time to find his way back from the twisted metal remnants and the scorching haze. Only half of the maintenance area was left, but fortunately, the power of the explosion stopped there. The maintenance passages and gates were not damaged. Additionally, the remains of the elf, which was placed near the second gate, was not affected. Hao Ren then brought the body back to the surface.

The artificial gravity in the area seemed to have recovered a little. Although things still felt uncomfortable, at least, they could walk normally.

A large group of elves had gathered outside the exits. Except for the sorcerers who were still repairing the deep crack, almost all the elves who were involved in the rescue gathered forward. Hao Ren was startled by the crowd, but he put the body on his shoulder down on the ground first and said, “I found a victim…”

The elves calmed down, and a wounded man with bandages on his arm squeezed through the crowd and sighed. “It’s Ackerton. He was trapped at the bottom of the room when the explosion happened… But luckily, his body has returned intact, thank you.”

Hao Ren did not know how to accept this gratitude. At this time, two elves were rushed through the crowd. They were two female elves who looked slightly different in terms of age. Their wrists as well as their arms were in bandages, and there were blood stains on their faces. Apparently, they were victims of the explosion. The two elves pounced on Ackerton’s body, weeping sadly. Someone explained that they were Ackerton’s wife and daughter. The three of them worked in the same unit, and had just moved into town recently. Their new life had not even begun when it was ended abruptly by the accident.

The older elf recovered faster. She wiped away the tears on her face and looked at Hao Ren gratefully. She then patted her daughter’s back lightly and said, “Mana, later, tell the ration officer that we will take two servings of rationing from now on.”

Hao Ren remembered that there was some kind of joke like this on Earth, but now he thought the joke was not funny at all!

Perhaps the elves had been living such a life for too long, making them used to certain things. They were sad for the passing of their family members, but at the same time, they were still able to think about reducing their rationing quota. It was a habit that formed under thousands of years of high-pressure. It was hard for the human beings who were born on Earth with abundant resources to imagine. Lily and Vivian, who had been outside helping the wounded and cleaning up the collapsed buildings as a result of the explosion, also ran to Hao Ren. They had seen a lot of death, but they still felt sad when they saw the scene before them. The MDT’s voice appeared in Hao Ren’s mind. “If only the priest of the goddess of life was here, or if we had a universal resurrection device, people who have died within hours could still be resurrected.”

Hao Ren was about to say something, but Vivian suddenly said hesitantly, “Maybe I can try?”

“How?” Hao Ren looked at her questioningly.

“The body looks intact,” Vivian said, not quite confidently, “I don’t know if my blood works… I used to save people with my blood but the success rate is only one out of five. I’m different from the other Blood Clan members in my area…”

“Let’s try it first.” Hao Ren quickly pushed Vivian forward while encouraging the not-so-confident vampire. “Anyway, things can’t be worse.”

Vivian politely requested the mother and daughter, who were immersed in grief to step aside. In their puzzled eyes, the vampire girl drew a complex rune on the dead elf’s chest with her Blood Mist. The rune then slowly penetrated into his body. At the same time, Vivian’s nails grew rapidly until they became as sharp as a bayonet. She whispered something after the Blood Mist completely penetrated his body. After that, without hesitation, she stabbed her nails into the heart of the dead elf!

Hao Ren heard her whisper, “Tathagata, Guanyin, Jesus, Virgin Mary, 12345 please bless me. Don’t let me stab the wrong place…”

Immediately, he understood what the one out of five success rate meant: Just a simple act of praying for help from gods took her half an hour to decide which god she needed. This time, she even included the unreliable Raven 12345. It might have been better if she did not include Raven 12345.

However, this time the name of Raven 12345 seemed to have really worked. Shortly after the spell, the elf’s body suddenly trembled and he opened his eyes with an odd sense of stiffness.

The elves were in an uproar while the mother and daughter were totally stunned. Hao Ren quickly dragged Vivian and Lily out of the crowd before the situation became chaotic. He looked back at the chaotic scene with worry and asked, “Did you turn him into a vampire? Why was the process different from what I imagined? I thought you were going to bite—”

“That is the way to transform low-level blood servants.” Vivian waved her hand and explained, “From the viewpoint of the Blood Clan, it’s like food processing, like dipping your food in some sauce when eating. Although simple, the consciousness of the blood servant is fragmentary, and it can only obey the instructions of those from the Blood Clan. I used a more advanced transformation method.”

Lily frowned and asked, “Since he is already a vampire, does he need to suck blood in order to survive from now on? There should be no other vampires who can live like normal people except for you…”

“No, I have tried this before. I don’t know if my blood is special or if there’s something wrong with it. The people I have revived were somewhat afraid of light, but they could live on like ordinary people. Although they would occasionally have blood-sucking impulses, it can easily be controlled. They can survive by eating normal food.” Vivian frowned and said, “I just don’t know why, the success rate of my conversion is always only one out of five, whether it be the living or the dead. However, the success rate of transforming superior descendants of the Blood Clan is 100%. The people I usually transform are simply humans without any special ability.”

Then Hao Ren said, “You should let 12345 examine you. There must be something wrong with your body…”

At that moment, a speeding car suddenly came from the center of the city and stopped in front of them. A familiar elf jumped off the car. It was Hilda’s only son, Vimm. He bowed before Hao Ren and the rest of them, and said, “My mother sent me to pick all of you up. She is waiting for you at the tower in the Royal District.”

Hao Ren then remembered he had to go and meet Hilda. He quickly nodded and said, “Oh, right, I still have to discuss something with Hilda. But, the Mobile Data Terminal over there…”

He looked at the scene where the deep crack was and saw that the MDT was still lying in the middle of the temporary, energy charging equipment pile. The dome above was emitting even, soft rays of light with the help of the MDT. Obviously, it was unable to leave the spot at the moment.

“You go ahead with your work,” the MDT’s voice came from afar. “I’ll go and meet you once these elves don’t need my help anymore… Oh my, just don’t let me die of exhaustion…”

Hao Ren quickly got on the levitating car and left the MDT on the scene.

The levitating car passed over the city. Hao Ren could see the aftermath of the disaster through the windows on both sides of the car.

Although the tumbling floating island was stopped in time, the concussion had caused great damage to the fragile city, where buildings and bridges collapsed. One could also see a huge, deep crack in the ground. Hao Ren could even see the mechanical structure beneath the city and the complex pipes shimmering in some parts of the deep crack: The floating island built by the elves of Aerym was like a living giant. Its interior was covered with an energy transmission network akin to blood vessels. The solid ground was carrying the city, but now the shell of the island was cracked, and the complex structures beneath it were exposed viscerally. It was horrifying.

A lot of levitating cars were leaving the Royal District. There were also lots of people on the ground. They were the civilians in emergency shelters. Now that the biggest crisis was over, they had to immediately return to work, rebuild their homes, restore production, and repair the ground as well as the equipment beneath it. They did not have time to rest. This fragile country had to remain in uninterrupted maintenance and repair mode in order to survive.

The tower in the Royal District finally appeared in front of them.

Chapter 250: The World of Prayers

 

The glorious sun shone on the Dawnbreak Island after the disaster. The crumbled, cracked city would probably take a long time to fix, and the giant engine that had been completely scrapped needed an even longer time to repair. The thrilling tumble from the previous night brought the island an unprecedented short night and a hasty dawn. All the institutions of the city were forced to operate at high power, treating the wounded ones and repairing key, damaged equipment. The only good news now was that the casualties were not as serious as they would have imagined. The areas where collapse and cracking occurred were mostly marginal or too old where resident numbers were limited. Also, the earthquake-resistant design of the city itself made it hold on for a long time at the beginning of the tremors. So, the citizens had ample opportunity to take refuge in the more stable central district of the floating isles.

Clouds of dust and smoke, which had not dispersed overlooked the city from a high altitude. The dome had entered a state of traffic control. Only engineering airships or levitating cars that performed the most urgent tasks were flying in the sky. While in the streets below, the citizens were all in a state of order: they spontaneously rescued all those who needed help, and queued up for supplies that had just been salvaged from the collapsed warehouse. They also voluntarily declared if they had been injured in the disaster, and how much their injury would affect their labor capacity. There was no confusion, no complaining, and not even a little glimpse of gloom on the elves’ faces. They organized themselves in a surprising manner. The disaster was sudden, but everyone in the city appeared to have rehearsed it many times.

Several big shadows were projected on the dome. They were of the large transportation ships sent from the other floating isles. These bulky ships were quickly completed at the time of the Dawnbreak Island explosion. Presently, the ships brought the elves valuable medication and additional air filters, which were essential: the air in the dome relied on purifying equipment buried in the ground and around the hoop. However, the explosion caused some damage to them. Now, the smoke and smog in the city had to be removed as soon as possible. They could only rely on external devices.

Hao Ren and Hilda were standing on an open balcony atop the tower of the Royal District. Hilda was meditating while Hao Ren was peering at everything in the city using his extraordinary eyesight. He expressed admiration for the elves’ reaction to the disaster.

Vimm stood silently behind them.

“My people have gotten used to this kind of thing. Seventy years ago, when the Isle of Serenity disintegrated, they saved the most important resource warehouse on the island with great calmness. About a tenth of the city’s citizens were survivors of that disaster,” Hilda said softly, “and, more and more floating isles are approaching their limits. The Assembly of Technology is trying to repair some of the dead floating isles that have been extinguished, but the progress has been modest.”

Hilda looked exhausted. She had been under the greatest pressure in the last few hours. After a quick meeting with the Assembly of Elders, she began to command refuge and rescue. When the floating isle tumbled and the city began to crack, it was Hilda who allocated evacuation plans for each city. She also came up with the asylum plan at the royal area. After the propulsion unit was completely destroyed, she cooperated in directing the work of stabilizing its floatation: This queen was not just an authority giving orders, she was also an expert in all technical parameters of the floating isles. Now that everything was settled, she did not listen to her bodyguard’s advice to go back to rest. Instead, she brought Hao Ren to the open balcony atop the tower, overlooking the whole city.

“This is our current status.”

Hao Ren was still looking for the best solution for the elves of Aerym. He already had a few ideas, but still needed to wait for the MDT to confirm which one was the most feasible. Before that, he carefully asked Hilda a question, “If I had the power to get you out of this mess, how much would you be willing to pay?”

Hilda turned her back to the edge of the balcony and spread her hands in despair, as if her whole body would melt under the dome’s skylight. She then said, “You can see what we have left. You can take away anything you need. As long as you can help my people live a better life and let them have a real sky like other species have, you can take away everything you see here.”

Hao Ren hurriedly explained, “Come on, please, do not think this way. It is easy to misunderstand—I am not blackmailing you or anything. I am trying to help you as a friend, but to be honest, I cannot do it alone, and my ship is just five hundred or six hundred meters long. So, I may need help, and those helpers will be not free.”

Hilda paused for a moment and said, “I still have the same words for you. We have no other things. There are no resources in this place. What we have in our hands are just like stones in the eyes of higher civilisations. All we have left is our own labor, but that does not seem to be a valuable thing.”

“Forget it. Let us not talk about this first.” Hao Ren was scratching his hair, feeling that the problem was becoming more and more difficult, “Rather, first—”

While he was talking, he saw an elf running out from a small door. The elf then knelt down in front of Hilda and said, “Your Majesty, the results for the rough scanning of the World of Prayers are out. We are unable to find Sir Cardillon.”

While speaking, the elf handed a rolled document to Hilda with both hands. Hilda took the document and quickly skimmed through it. Then, she frowned and said, “Somebody has hacked into the main memory… They infiltrated it so thoroughly. Notify Eccalom, temporarily close the three auxiliary memories of the World of Prayers, and at the same time, strictly review every application for uploading… Temporarily ban the citizens of the Isle of Prismatic Lights from entering the World of Prayers. The extra rations they consume will be covered by the Royal Repository.”

After the elf herald left, Hao Ren asked curiously, “What actually is the World of Prayers?”

Hilda sighed and explained, “Actually, this trouble is not your concern… But, I can let you know. The World of Prayers is a virtual world, established by my predecessor. It has been running for more than 2,000 years, and now it is where we place souls. It is also a special testing ground.”

Hao Ren immediately thought of a lot of things, and he knew his guesses were pretty close.

“At the beginning, it was built for scientific research,” Hilda slowly explained. “You know our supplies are very limited, we cannot afford to waste them. The failure of certain big experiments meant a cold winter for the whole of Aerym society every single time. So another queen, more than 2,000 years ago, supported by the Assembly of Technology, created a virtual environment called the World of Prayers. Running on a giant server, it was designed by the most excellent magic scholars and astrologers. It is our last big, technological achievement. The World of Prayers simulates the stellar system of Aerym: it has a sun, a planet, which totally simulates the homeland we lived in, and it has entered every rule of the world that we know. It is extremely accurate, down to every grain of sand. A lot of restrictions on the microcosm were added during later stages. The world imitates reality as far as possible in order to carry out all kinds of large-scale experiments, without the use of material resources. The Assembly of Technology was hoping to find a viable way to travel to other stellar systems under Aerym’s resource constraints in the World of Prayers. And, they did get some positive results at the beginning: some of the ships we are using now were simulated, tested and verified in this way.”

“However, things were of course not as smooth later on.” Hao Ren was able to guess that there had to be a plot twist in the latter part of the story.

Hilda nodded. “That is right. The World of Prayers imagined everything perfectly, but the technology needed to travel millions of light-years away to other stars was more rigorous than we thought. We had to fully master the truth in order to create a virtual world that was exactly the same as reality, or else, it would just be an imitation no matter how close it was. There are many unknown mysteries in this universe, and it is impossible for us to speculate in this little cradle. Even some scholars speculate that the mathematical structure of the universe is not necessarily contiguous and that the law of Aerym’s stellar system is not necessarily applicable elsewhere. Or perhaps, there is at least a deviation of several decimal points. Also, many other types of technology will be affected by the microcosm when they develop to a certain extent. No matter how precise the World of Prayers is, it is impossible to depict microscopic parts. We can only keep adding patches, and this is not enough. Anyway, after hundreds of years of hard work, the FTL engine made in the World of Prayers created a huge explosion in reality, causing two floating isles to vanish in the explosion. After that, the enthusiasm for the World of Prayers project faded. The bold and talented queen became depressed, and eventually died.”

Hao Ren knew that the story was not over yet.

Chapter 251: Uploading Elves

 

The World of Prayers was still a failure after hundreds of years. The Elf Queen and the Assembly of Elders who built it had to admit to the public that it was a waste. However, the World of Prayers still had some unplanned results during its run those hundreds of years. Not everything needed to be so precise, only the hyperdrive would be affected by microscopic laws plus, many other things could still be tested under virtual conditions. The first batch of scholars who entered the World of Prayers created more advanced space equipment and an eco-dome maintenance device through simulation calculations. They also simulated a large number of projects on social and rationing systems. These results were still playing a huge role, and because of these results, the World of Prayers was not completely shut down instead, it was put to other use.

Although it was not a perfect laboratory, it was at least, a perfect virtual paradise.

The elves realised that the World of Prayers could greatly reduce their general consumption, so some of the less demanding daily studies were still be conducted in the laboratory. At the same time, the virtual world also allowed them to have sweet dreams and temporarily forget their boring reality. More importantly, after entering the World of Prayers, the energy-consuming, cumbersome and useless physical body could be discarded.

“One thousand years ago, we passed ‘The World of Prayers Consciousness Extraction Act’, allowing more elves to apply for permission to upload into the server,” Hilda said slowly. “Have I told you about this? As the dome’s environment was changing faster than the rate in which we could adapt, some floating isles reached a point where the older elves could not survive. A lot of elves had incurable diseases and we could not execute them just because they were sick. In the past, those elves who lost their ability to work due to infection, could only wait for death. But, after the ‘Consciousness Extraction Act’ took effect, they were sent to the World of Prayers. Those who are old, diseased, disabled, or just without social values for various reasons have to be uploaded. Their consciousness is extracted and then, uploaded into the server. After that, their bodies are destroyed and decomposed into natural resources. They are still alive, but they are not consuming anymore. On top of that, they can continue to contribute to Aerym’s society in a healthier form within the World of Prayers, such as doing research. Some of the less demanding projects can still be done in a virtual environment. Now, this is almost the destination of every Aerymian elf. Since we cannot leave a dead body out to consume air, we may as well break it down into parts of nourishment in the dome and elements in the plant.”

Hao Ren did not know what to say at that moment.

The virtual world was no stranger to him, whether he knew it from science fiction or from real examples like the Imperial Data Network. He was familiar with the concept. However, most civilizations created virtual worlds for entertainment, and a few for scientific research or lower energy consumption. But they were not as extreme as the elves of Aerym. Those civilizations would leave the body in a connector. The person would be waiting to wake up and face the real world again, but not the elves of Aerym: they only accessed the World of Prayers after their bodies lose the ability to work in order to abandon the physical body and keep the spirit working.

They did not even want to waste a breath.

“In fact, for many elves, the World of Prayers is actually a paradise,” Hilda said, and she suddenly smiled at Hao Ren strangely. “The sun is bright there, and the sky is wide. You can drive thousands of miles yet, not see any walls. There are also mountains as well as rivers that only exist in legends and movies. Every elf that has been uploaded into the World of Prayers would send back a word of thanks. They finally do not have to endure the exhaustion of reality.”

“Why not just let the whole nation go into the dream? I think this is a great temptation for all of you,” Hao Ren was very straightforward with his question.

“Because, it would mean that there is no hope.” Hilda spread her hands in despair and said, “That is running away from reality. The World of Prayers is not made to escape reality. Someone has to be in the real world. We have an old saying: hold on to the next day. We firmly believe that there is hope as long as we are still alive. That’ is why we managed to hold on until today. We never gave up trying to fly to other stars. The World of Prayers was built on this premise. If everyone is immersed in the sweet dream of rich resources, who will save our reality? The server will eventually crash and the servomechanism will be damaged sooner or later. It is a suicide that is prolonged and drugged by a sweet dream.”

In the end, she added, “Even if our world is going to collapse, I want to be able to watch it crumble, and not lose my home in my sleep.”

Hao Ren pondered and then asked, “But not everyone thinks so, right?”

“Yes, we are mortal after all. The Lotto Group is an extremist organisation that wants people to escape from reality. They want to let everyone into the World of Prayers to spend the rest of their lives there. Their core is a group of technical elites, descendants or apprentices of those scholars who built the World of Prayers. When the plan of the World of Prayers was declared a failure, and the Assembly of Elders discussed how to deal with the virtual world, a group of builders could not withstand the pressure. They released a lot of adverse things, which eventually led to the emergence of the Lotto Group. The group believes that the real world is hopeless, and that entering a dream can at least make everyone happy. They have been dormant for a while, but they were apparently stimulated after the accelerator exploded, and now, they are more active.”

“Can’t they just sneak in? Anyway, they can enter the World of Prayers as long as they lose the ability to work, why did they make it such a big deal?” Hao Ren did not quite understand and continued asking, “If they just wanted to escape reality, they could just sneak in. Instead, they did things in a big way and got themselves caught.”

“Because they do not want to escape from reality just for themselves. They actually want to change the whole Kingdom of Aerym.” Hilda shook her head. “The Lotto Group is not that simple-minded. Perhaps, I admire them from a different standpoint: they are motivated by the hope that all elves will be happy. But, that does not change their blind nature.”

One who has a reason to be hated would also have a reason to be sympathised for. It seemed that this was a group of idealists on the wrong path. In such a situation, one could not judge who was wrong so easily: Everyone held a noble purpose, no one was selfish, however they were in opposition of mainstream society. There was always a situation like this.

“Well, a group of idealists… If the resource problem was solved, they probably won’t continue to make trouble,” Hao Ren muttered. He raised his head and asked, “Do you have a minister who has gotten himself into this trouble?”

“The Lotto Group somehow controls the main memory of the virtual world. They built up their own power in the World of Prayers, and they managed pull some of the data-elves who support them into a place where they cannot be detected. I do not know what they are planning, but it is definitely a big move. The citizens of the World of Prayers are also our citizens, so Cardillon personally led a group of elites into the World of Prayers to investigate the situation there—but he has gone missing.” Hilda sighed. “I understand his actions. After all, he is already a late middle-aged man. His actions and brainpower are not as good as before, and he will soon exceed the value or consumption ratio line. He will be uploaded into the server in a few years time, but this is not the right time for him to go in there.”

Here’s an extra piece of information: The mental workers in the Aerymian society were “retiring” much earlier than the manual workers because their physical value to the society was less than that of their wisdom. Many mental workers, even if they were physically healthy, had to be extracted and uploaded when they were in their late middle ages. The upper class was no exception. Therefore, the elves of Aerym usually formed a family with those in the same field: To avoid this kind of premature parting.

Hao Ren realised that he may have another problem—He could not ignore the elves that had been uploaded into the server, whose bodies had been destroyed.

At this time, a tiny blue light suddenly flew towards them from afar. The MDT almost smashed into Hao Ren’s face. “Yo, I’m back!”

Hao Ren jumped aside and narrowly escaped the attack. He asked, “Done?”

“Yes, the spare energy pool is also full, enough for them to get the main line repaired. Now, the engineering ships are repairing that hole outside the floating isle.” The MDT got into Hao Ren’s pocket skillfully. “Oh my, I’m totally exhausted. I almost died…”

Hao Ren patted his pocket and said goodbye to Hilda. “I have to go back and think about this matter. Don’t worry, just focus on restoring order to your society. I will soon give you an answer.”

Hilda did not speak. She just lowered her head deeply.

Chapter 252: Mind Your Own Business

 

Hao Ren was back at the VIP guest room with the MDT in his hand. Lily and Vivian were sitting on a bench while Y’zaks was standing by the window, staring blankly outside. But when he entered the room, everyone stared. He placed the MDT on the table and said, “We can’t keep staying in this place.”

Lying on the bench, Lily stuck her tongue out. She looked half-dead. When she heard Hao Ren, she looked up and asked in a daze, “Are we switching to new rooms? This place is pretty nice though…”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m talking about the elven floating islands.” Hao Ren flung himself onto a bench. “The way I see it, things may fail anytime. The fate of a billion lives is pawned on old junk that have long passed their expiry date. By luck of the draw, they may be able to prolong it another three to five hundred years, or three to five days if their luck runs out. All in all, this place is damned. Speaking of which, how are you guys doing here?”

Lily lay listlessly on the bench with her sloppy tail falling to the side—a rare sight for the hyperactive husky. “Is your stomach hurting from overeating?” Hao Ren teased.

“I was helping with the disaster relief.” Adjusting her posture, Lily gave her limbs a needed stretch. “I’m dog-tired…”

The girl looked really exhausted, and she was not in her right state of mind.

Despite participating in the relief effort and coming back tired, Vivian was in a much better shape than the husky. She joined Hao Ren in the discussion. “What’s your plan to help the elves?”

“I’ve got to help them one way or another.” Hao Ren nodded, and began to spill his guts. “I was thinking of giving them some technical drawings. Hi-tech drawings are contraband, but hyperdrive engines are so common in the Macroworld, they’re everywhere. Even so, I’m doubtful that they’ll have the time and the ability to build the spacecraft. So, I thought I could raise some materials for them. However, I realised that this isn’t just a poverty relief program for a few mountain villages but a billion elves. I could never raise enough resources.”

“Even if you could raise enough resources, it’s useless,” the MDT said. “How much do you need to give? A hundred-year or a thousand-year supply? Keep in mind that if you’d like to keep them afloat until they’re finally capable of interstellar travel, you’d need to haul an entire planet over.”

“That’s why I think they better move.” Hao Ren smacked his hand on the table. “I was limited by tunnel vision the entire time until this idea popped up: the migration of a civilisation may sound ridiculous, but from the perspective of the Macroworld, it’s no big deal.”

Vivian was astounded. This was obviously beyond her comprehension. She decided it was better for her to just shut up and listen like a dog.

“After all, it doesn’t matter how much material and what technology you provide, it simply won’t tackle the root cause of the problem, which stems from the environment of this godd*mn place. The only thing they need is a resource-rich place where they can migrate to and continue to develop their own civilisation. Not having to beat their brains out, trying to understand other people’s technology will be good for them in the long term too…”

The MDT could not help but twinkle with praise. “Very good. Now you’re able see things from a long-term perspective. The key to preserving the diversity of civilisations is for all potential civilisations to thrive according to their own trajectories; giving them a piece of raw land is much better than spoon-feeding them with things like a hyperdrive. Currently, we only have one question left: where are they going?”

Scratching his head, Hao Ren said, “Certainly, there is a place for them in the vast universe? I would guess so.”

“Take your sweet time to survey.” The MDT flipped mid-air. It liked to do mid-air flips as a way to mock people. “Firstly, it’s got to have suitable temperature and gravity; secondly, it must be in an outcast region of the universe; thirdly, it should have a carbon-based ecosystem in place because the Aerymian elves have no more ability to create a new ecosystem from scratch, at least for the next few hundred years considering their current level of technology; last and also most importantly, there mustn’t be an existing civilisation sharing in the ecosystem of the new planet—not even apes with the slightest sense of literacy. There’s a scanning probe on the Petrachelys, but I’m not sure if you can find a suitable place to scan in the universe.”

Feeling upset, Hao Ren pulled at his hair frantically. “I know. That’s why I came up with a plan first, and then I’ll think about the details later.”

“In that case, put on your thinking cap, quick! I’ve just performed a scan on the island chain; there are at least three isles having hidden energy problems. They have the least population. God knows when they’re going to explode. The elves themselves know though.”

Hao Ren flung himself onto a chair, and started thinking hard and long. Just before his brain burned out, a planet with oceans and forests came to his mind. It was habitable, yet it had no native civilisation.

“Peatopia!”

Vivian and Lily were dumbfounded. “What the heck is Peatopia?”

Hao Ren hemmed. “I’m talking about the planet where I picked Lil Pea up earlier. It’s uninhabited, quite suitable for the elves. Maybe the atmospheric environment is different from the dome, but it shouldn’t be a problem for them to adapt. What do you say?”

The MDT was silent for a moment, then it reminded him, “Do you know that the Space Administration has a very strict set of rules on this? Unless a particular civilisation has developed its own trans-world navigation technology, or its a travel of colonial nature, under no circumstance is a race allowed to migrate en masse to another civilised universe. As an inspector, when you place a race, which has no ability to perform trans-world travel themselves into another universe on your own, it’s a very sensitive issue… bloody sensitive issue.”

Hao Ren was immediately dumbfounded.

The MDT continued, “What I’m saying is that even though under normal ciscumstances, this is under strict control, and sensitive, it doesn’t mean that it has never happened before. After all, Aerymian elves are facing an extinction-level threat to their civilisation. They deserve all the help they can get; the threshold of the regulations would be lowered, and they’d probably have more flexibility in eyes of the law too. For example, after the urgent expansion 10,000 years ago, the Macroworld needed a more flexible management method to operate, thus regulations were laxly enforced. So, you may want to think openly and try to understand the spirit of the law; do you know what’s the core spirit of the law?”

Hao Ren thought about it for a while, then he said, “To not endanger other civilisations? To not help a civilisation at the expense of another—that I remember.”

“That’s right. Under this premise, as long as you follow the procedure and have a reasonable explanation, nobody’s going to raise an eyebrow. It may even be considered a merit if you do it beautifully.”

“Just tell me. Don’t create suspense by beating around the bush.”

The MDT lightly knocked Hao Ren’s forehead. “What’s your job?”

Hao Ren was stupefied. “Me? I’m an inspector.”

“That’s your part time job. What’s your main role?”

Hao Ren took almost half a day to think about it before replying, “Landlord?”

“Then haven’t you understood anything?”

Hao Ren pondered again, cold sweat suddenly trickling down his back. “Wait a minute, How can I? I don’t own the planet…”

“Why not? After Madam Raven created the planet. She left it in the natural universe. Since then, no intelligent being has ever visited the planet; the only beings that passed-by the planet before were the gnomes—the courier guys. But, they never landed. You are the only person who has ever landed on that planet, and conducted surveys for intelligent life. Your survey work has been recorded into the database. Legally, you don’t own the planet. However, before any other intelligent life makes claim with proof that they have occupied the planet before you, you are the preferred explorer. As an explorer, you have the rights to build outposts, bases, and extract resources. Of course, you couldn’t possibly manage everything on your own, so—”

As the penny dropped, Hao Ren’s eyes opened. “So, I need a billion Aerymian tenants to look after the house…”

“What a teachable fool.”

Chapter 253: We Need More Spacecrafts

 

Hao Ren had walked through the whole process in his mind. Although theoritically, there was no problem, he still had cold feet. “Will it really work?”

“Nothing is impossible.” The Mobile Data Terminal, MDT buzzed near his ear. “All processes are within the limits of our regulations. And honestly, the situation of the Aerymian elves almost meets the criteria for civilisation preservation. Since you’re the inspector in-charge of the case, you have a certain qualitative authority. Remember, the laws of the Empire are strict, but at the same time, we’re not machines; we’d be better off finding the core of the matter rather than following the law to the letter. There are no more than three core provisions for the preservation of civilisation: One, guarantee the diversity of a civilisation, thus ensuring overall development is in order; two, preserve the potential civilisation so that new blood and standby forces are constantly available in the Empire; three, prevent meaningless conflict between different civilisations. Let me explain more on the last sentence: the Empire will not intervene in the war between mortal civilisations. However, to protect the first two core provisions, we will intervene in extinction-level wars and meaningless conflict. These provisions form 80% of the core work requirement under the Space Administration. All other regulations exist below the premise of these three core provisions. If any conflict arises during the operation of the law, the three core provisions shall prevail. Of course, the smartest way is to apply the existing provisions to avoid any conflict. This will greatly help your inspector appraisal later. Plus, Madam Raven would be impressed too.”

Hao Ren pondered for a while and said, “I suddenly have this feeling that no matter how high the appraisal is, if it’s from Raven 12345, it’s nothing to shout about…”

The MDT agreed shamelessly. “That’s so true.”

Hao Ren hemmed. “Ehem, ehem, let’s stick to business. That means, it’s okay for Aerymian elves to go to our universe?”

“Yup.” The MDT descended slowly back onto the table. “In fact, we can also find them a new home in this universe, which would be a lot nearer for them. But, we want to make light work of it since there’s already an existing planet in our universe. To evacuate them 8,000 light years away, or to another universe makes no difference to the Empire—to us, distance has been a long forgotten concept. And there’s another advantage: the Empire likes young races like the Aerymian elves, who have great potential. It’s better to relocate them to a region nearer to other civilisations so that they may be able to interact with other races quickly, rather than leaving them in a remote region of the universe. It would be a waste of their youthful dash and intelligence.”

Hao Ren lowered his head, and was deep in thought. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, they had to move; but the question was, who was going to help them?

He had a turtle… The Petrachelys came equipped with an expanding container space. But as big as it could get, the extra space could not possibly fit the entire army of one billion elves and their luggage in one go; multiple trips would probably take all the time in the world to complete the evacuation. Additionally, he still did not have the authority to request help from the Empire’s official colonial fleet. Perhaps, he could report the matter to his superior first but he was not prepared to do that.

Since day one, he had been thinking of looking for civilian help. He turned his head upside down but still could not recall anyone in the Macroworld who could be of help. Then suddenly, something crossed his mind. “Hey, MDT, do you recall the captain of the transport vessel who took us on our first interstellar trip? Do you think you could still contact him?”

“You mean vessel No. 883?” The MDT replied as this suddenly rang a bell. “Of course. He shoved me a heck of a lot of advertisement materials when we first boarded his vessel. These long-distance transporters are very aggressive.”

Hao Ren let the MDT contact the captain immediately. A rough, baritone voice answered, “Hi, Mr. Inspector? What can I do for you? Government mission?”

They had not seen each other since the last time they met. Hao Ren felt a little awkward asking for help from the captain. “Yeah, correct, but not entirely. Is your vessel available?”

“It’s currently in-flight,” said the captain of vessel No. 883. He could still be heard giving instructions onboard his spacecraft. “Enzo, go check out the container warehouse, is the cargo ready? We have two hours before we dock. Oh, Mr. Inspector, I was talking to my subordinate just now. I’m busy right now. But, we’ll be having our downtime after tomorrow. Do you need help? What type of cargo is it?”

“Just call me by my name, Mr. Inspector sounds weird.” Hao Ren felt a little relieved as the timing was just right. “Here’s the thing: I’m now in another universe, and I need to send some refugees back… Isn’t you vessel licensed to carry passengers? So, I need your help. The refugees will pay you with their remaining assets in hand. I’ll get the cross-world flight permit for you.”

The captain of vessel No. 883 laughed heartily. “You’re welcome. Transport fees are negotiable. How many persons?”

“One billion, plus some luggage, scientific research materials, equipment and supplies…”

The transmission suddenly went silent. After a long wait, Hao Ren heard another stranger’s voice at the other end. “Our captain has passed out, you—”

Then, the quivering voice of the 883 captain spoke back. “I’m fine, I’m fine, I just lost my balance. By the way, how many did you just say?”

Hao Ren laughed solemnly. “One billion…”

Silence. Then the captain said, “What wrong have I done to you that—”

“Please, I’m serious.”

“Okay, please tell me you’re not moving the entire civilisation.”

“Yes, I am. The migration of an entire race.” Hao Ren nodded. “I heard there’s a moving company in the Macroworld that specialises in the business of moving entire races. However, I’ve never approached them or found out whether they’re reliable. So, I thought it’d be better to get some opinions from people I know, and I recalled that you specialise in the moving business too—”

“Firstly, you have to tell me the background of these refugees.” The 883 captain interrupted him. “What happened to them?”

Hao Ren briefly related the circumstances the Aerymian elves were facing, and explained why he had to seek civilian help. To the 883 captain, for inspectors—the medium between the Empire and the mortals—to seek help from civilians when they faced problems was not something out of his expectations. It was already a norm rather than an exception; Hao Ren was the one who was being ignorant. The 883 captain lamented. “Born in a stray galaxy? That’s tragic… How are they going to pay for the fare?”

“They will pay with anything.” Hao Ren knew it because Hilda had confirmed this with him. “There is nothing they won’t let go.”

“In that case, what about their floating islands and the components of the eco-dome?”

Hao Ren was dumbfounded. “…I think they’re willing to let that go too. Are you interested in those things?”

“Deal! I’ll take that in lieu of money.” The 883 captain sounded elated. “Dismantle everything they can’t bring along to pay for their fare, and they can travel light to their beautiful, new home. I have them covered.”

“Wait for a second. Is that all you want?” This was totally out of Hao Ren’s expectation. “Those things are mostly scraps. Let me be honest with you, the propulsion drives on the floating islands have all malfunctioned and they could blow up anytime. What use do you have for them?”

“I’ll replace those propulsion drives and redevelop it into a space city. According to what you said, the value of the floating islands and the installations they’re going to scrap would be astronomical. So, you think I can’t even convert at least some cash out of these junk? How much did you expect the fare was going to be?”

Hao Ren was elated; he had been worried about how the poor elves were going to pay for the fare until he learned that trash could be turned into cash. But at the same time, he was still in disbelief as he spoke to those around him. “Things have turned out quite differently from what I’ve expected… I was expecting it to cost the elves a bomb and even if they were allowed to pay in installments, it’d probably take them a thousand years to repay their debt…”

Vivian listened on. She was as surprised as Hao Ren was. She did not expect the problem to be solved just like that. But then, something bothered her as she came to her senses. “Landlord, while you were worrying about the fare, did you ask about rental?”

A light-bulb moment.

“So, deal! Let’s make a date to meet up. Meanwhile, send me your location.” The 883 captain sounded extremely happy as if he had gotten the best deal in his life. Hao Ren had no clue about the Macroworld’s economic condition. However, one thing was sure: the long-haul transporter would not let himself get the short end of the stick while the elves in desperation could not care less if they were shortchanged by the profiteers. As such, he could not care less as well. But still, a question hung over his head. “Don’t tell me that you’re going to do this solo.”

“Of course, not! I’ll find others. They specialise in flying big vessels,” The 883 captain said happily. “You don’t have to worry about the shipping cost, I’ll deal with them myself. Oh ya, please remind the elves to mark any floating isles and installations they’d like to retain; they may want to keep some as memory. I’ll get an energy-field barge to help them haul a few isles, well, free-of-charge.”

“I’m counting on you then. Meanwhile, please hold on while I discuss with the elves. I’ll give you a buzz when they finally agree.”

“Alright then!”

The great Aerymian migration thus began as the rookie inspector and the old, long-haul driver struck a deal.

Chapter 254: Navigating Loopholes

 

A sense of relief filled Hao Ren as a solution had been found for the Aerymian elves. After all, he had just put in little effort; he thought about it and made a decision, that was it. As the saying goes, “somebody’s gotta to do it”—and this was the only thing Hao Ren could do. He was the only one who could accomplish this.

Nonetheless, he was clear that the real work was yet to come. It would take more than just a phone call to accomplish it. Until the elves safely arrive in their new home and are able to adapt to their new environment, his mission was not accomplished. Therefore, he had to get down to work.

Before meeting up with Hilda and informing her about all this, he had to write a report to Raven 12345.

“If I tell Raven 12345 everything, is she going to kill me?” Hao Ren asked the MDT worriedly as he wrote his report. “I’m clearly taking advantage of the loopholes. Just writing this alone would have God strike me with lightning: In order to conduct exploration, mining, scientific research, and build outposts as well as settlements, 1,076,520,000 elves have been recruited as employees and tenants…”

Meanwhile, Lily was squatting on the bench and scratching her face with her foot. As she listened to Hao Ren reading out his report, she said, “Landlord, honestly, it wouldn’t just be a lightning strike…”

“There’s something you lot don’t know about Madam Raven; not only won’t she become ballistic after reading the report, she’ll also feel that you and her are totally in sync with each other temperamentally…”

“What you say has no difference from being struck by lightning.” Hao Ren smacked the MDT back onto the table. “And you say it like you know her very well.”

“My system almost crashed when she meddlled with some of my plug-ins, it was during that life-and-death moment that I got a deep impression about Madam Raven. You must impress her by unleashing your wild imagination because her brain is already unresponsive to normal levels of brain activity.”

After working his fingers to the bone, Hao Ren finally completed the thousand-word report, which was filled with a death wish and open-minded views. He knew he was not good in writing, but the report was important. After he entered everything into the MDT, as usual, he pulled Lily over and said, “Help me with the editing part…”

Not to be misled by the husky’s flaky outlook, she was a literary worker through and through. No doubt, the weirdness she displayed before Hao Ren and Vivian was her true self. She did not have to fake it before the very people she was familiar with. Lily took over the MDT and started correcting the bad grammar, death-wishing sentences and other minutiae. When she was finally done, the report had been reduced to 700 words…

“It’s still not more than 800 words. I couldn’t get 800 words in my high school exam either. It looks like I’m stuck there forever.” Looking at the edited report, which now sounded nicer, Hao Ren shook his head haplessly. He then sent it out, sat in the chair and waited for the lightning to arrive—if there was no lightning strike in five minutes, that meant the MDT’s assessment of the psychopath was right.

Five minutes had passed. Nothing happened. Only a one-sentence reply from Raven 12345 arrived. “Reading, please wait, no comment so far.”

The check-post was passed. As long as the god on duty had no opinion, the migration of Aerymian elves should be clear sailing from now on.

It was time to meet Hilda. But, Hao Ren had another thought: He and Hilda needed a break as much as Battie, Doggie and Y’zaks. Since they arrived from Earth, they had been snowed under with the propulsion system explosion and its aftermath, followed by writing up reports and meeting with the elders. Be it a superhuman or mage of the higher-order, both Hao Ren and Hilda were really exhausted. A day off was an absolute necessity. Not forgetting that the 883 captain was still in his long-haul flight. If he was not in a hurry, there was no point for others to haste.

After keeping quiet for a moment, Lily began mumbling as she lay on the table. She was feeling hungry and bored. To a husky, the latter was fatal. Food was not a problem here. She had enough supplies in Hao Ren’s Dimensional Pocket for her to pig out several rounds. However, when it came to boredom, not much could be done: in Aerym, there were no video games, no entetainment, no places for shopping. The highly restrained society had long discarded activities that were deemed unproductive; their people did not have the privilege for leisure activity and they had not been in the mood for it. The fact that Hilda was in shock when she saw a balloon with a banner in the air was telling. What’s more, the city was experiencing a disasterous aftermath. Lily could not just go scampering outside. Looking at the pitiful maiden mumbling to herself, Hao Ren grabbed the MDT and passed it to her. “What about playing tetris?”

“Damn you! Can’t you use me in a more proper way?”

“No. I have to control myself. People are suffering here, I can’t allow myself to be immersed in pleasure.” Lily suddenly got serious. She was not in the mood. She approached the window, looking out. “They’re clearing the Royal District now. Landlord, could you please pass me the spicy strips. I just finished mine.”

“You should eat a proper meal.” Hao Ren took out a few packs of spicy strips from his Dimensional Pocket. Lily took them and walked into her room. A loud noise came from afar, then a Royal Guard came in hurriedly. “A giant, white monster just jumped off from this level. It’s scaling the wall in front of the shield. Do you know what it is?”

Hao Ren fell off his chair. He now realised why Lily asked for the spicy strips when she saw the street-clearing work in the Royal District beneath them; the fidgety husky felt the need to help and she shapeshifted.

They scurried to the window. At the edge of the Royal District, they saw a three-storey-tall husky scrambling left and right, up and down, trying to get away from a group of halpless elves who were encircling her. Both were in a stalemate. The naive maiden always dived in headfirst—probably due to eating too many spicy strips. She could only bark like a dog in her transformed body. There was no way the guards were going to understand her. Worry filled Vivian’s face. She spread out her wings and attempted to go. “I’m going after her. She may get into even bigger trouble in her shapeshifted form.”

Hao Ren quickly reminded her, “Go to her room and check if she left her clothes. Bring it to her.”

Vivian had taught Lily how to not spoil her clothes during shapeshifting, but Lily had not mastered it. So, Vivian had to follow with her clothes wherever Lily went. During the last few times she shapeshifted, Lily did it in the wasteland behind their house whenever she felt like getting some fresh air during the full moon. As such, she did not cause any trouble to those around. That aside, Hao Ren noticed an interesting thing: the two did not seem to like each other very much, and fought like cats and dogs at times; apart from that, they appeared more like friends than foes, Hao Ren thought.

The elven guard who came in was dumbstruck. Hao Ren tried to explain with a hollow smile. “That’s our friend. She would like to help clear the streets.”

The elven guard left in confusion; the mind of another good lad was destroyed by the arational creature. Hao Ren did not have time to lament because the voice of Raven 12345 came into his head. “Whoa, it seems you’re doing very well over there.”

Hao Ren instantly became nervous. “Thanks to the administration…”

He knew Raven 12345 would eventually call after she saw the report.

“Save it. Where the hell did you learn that from?” Raven 12345 sounded like she was in a good mood though. “I’ve read your report. You’re pretty broad-minded. In fact, I knew you were going to evacuate the entire elven race, but I didn’t expect you to bring them over to my place—and hell, you actually still remember that planet.”

“That’s…”

“Approval granted. It’s not a big deal. Since you can already handle it yourself using help from civilians, I don’t have to send a colonial fleet. And this will be kept as a Category-E operation. As long as the operation doesn’t go against civilisation preservation, everything’s negotiable. Regulations of the Macroworld are a lot more lax now compared to the past. The MDT must have taught you about this, am I correct? Navigating loopholes in the regulations and incident laws is beyond the ability of a rookie.”

Hao Ren glanced at the MDT—it shut ifself off and lay on the table, pretending to be a coaster.

It was the first time Hao Ren felt that the MDT was awesome.

Chapter 255: Get Ready to Move

 

Raven 12345 patiently explained to Hao Ren the issues that needed to be addressed in relation to the migration of a civilisation. These issues were new to rookies like him, and would probably be overlooked by the elves themselves. Hao Ren was surprised: Raven 12345 had always been absent-minded and eccentric. Her earnesty was completely out of character. So, when he implied his curiosity, Raven 12345 laughed. “I’m a free-spirit but when it comes to work and duty, I never mess up—I wouldn’t let the races under my rule die from some silly incident.”

Hao Ren was listening attentively, noting down everything that may give rise to casualty. He knew he was right. He was right to consult Raven 12345 beforehand. Without the heads-up, he would not have realised the many dos and don’ts.

“…Beware of foreign germs that can cause a pandemic. They need to build an inspection and quarantine environment, which they can maintain on their own with their level of technology. You can seek help from other inspectors as well; look out for the halo syndrome. Carbon-based life forms migrating from one star system to another are prone to this disease as they may not adapt to the radiation levels in the new star system. Most find it unbearable even if the difference in atmospheric pressure and stars are minute, so please talk to their scientists on how to best deal with this issue; beware of the chronic illnesses caused by gravitational and magnetic environmental differences as well. They are normally non-fatal but can cause physical degeneration and deformity up to two generations; remind them to develop their own technological progression model to prevent their technological gap from worsening; let them first resume their agricultural activities and ecological co-existence practices, that is the quickest way for them to integrate into their new environment…”

Raven 12345’s words were noted down and all in all, they contained no less than 100 suggestions. Some of the points could be found in the employee handbook while most were non-textbook, real-world experiences she accumulated from observing the mortals throughout the ages. Other than that, Hao Ren had gained something else; he finally saw the non-eccentric side of the goddess—she meant business!

“That’s all I’ve got to say. As for the details, you’ll have to figure it out with the elven experts. ” Then, Raven 12345 suddenly swerved. “Another thing…”

Hao Ren was taken aback. “What is it?”

“The reimbursement claim you just submitted”—Raven 12345 sounded confused—”I totally understand if you’re claiming daily living expenses, but six chairs? Seriously? Was the husky at it again?”

Hao Ren felt a little guilty. He said, “While I wasn’t paying attention, Lil Pea gnawed off the legs of every chair…”

“Okay… but, your cat’s medical expenses? That’s not claimable…”

“Lil Pea beat Rollie up.” Sweat began to trickle down his forehead. “It’s okay if you refuse, I understand; I was just trying my luck.”

“Alright, I’ll approve that too. What about the microwave?”

“Becky chopped it up…” Hao Ren could not bear to continue. He knew all these things were weird and no one would have believed how they could even be claimable. Only he understood what kind of wreckers he had been keeping under his roof. And he had not even mention the two bottles of sunscreen he bought for Vivian’s bats—that alone was crazy enough.

Raven 12345 remained silent for a long time on the other end. Then she said, “Alright, I’ll approve that. Suddenly, I pity you…”

As the call ended, Hao Ren lay on the table and breathed a long sigh of relief; he could not agree more with Raven 12345’s last statement. He then scurried to the window and looked out at the other side of the city. He could see Lily’s silhouette: a three-storey-tall, white husky was a stark contrast to the grey city background; she was on the ground, busily helping the locals in clearing out tonnes of building rubble. She did so by hauling them to a recycling site via a rope tied to her body. She was of great help this time, because after the city had collapsed, heavy machinery such as aerial tractors and gravity pads could not be brought in. Only bare hands and ground machinery were available. Vivian joined the party too—a swarm of bats were carrying rubble in the air.

Hao Ren looked on as Lily was having a whale of a time, pulling the rubble from one place to another. He could not help but lament. “That’s what makes her a husky, she’s a sled dog…”

It would take a while before the elves could actually move. Order had to be restored in Dawnbreak Island as soon as possible. So, Hao Ren did not stop Lily and Vivian from helping out the locals in the relief work. Hao Ren and Y’zaks even joined in the relief effort and squeezed every last drop of energy from their bodies in the process. When they got back, they were out like a light and slept till the afternoon of the following day.

When Hao Ren got up the next day, he heard the voices of Hilda and Vimm in the hall. He quickly put on this clothes and dashed out of his room. Vivian and Y’zaks had risen much earlier. They had been chatting with the mother and son for a while.

“Good morning, I hope you feel at home.” Hilda got to her feet. “Our place is not as good as yours.”

“Oh, thank you, it’s pretty nice actually.” Hao Ren tried to shake off his stupor. He was physically and mentally sluggish after a day of hard labour as well as a 14-hour sleep marathon. “Is Lily up yet?”

Vivian said, “She’s running in circles outside. You just can’t keep that husky in after the sun rises. It’s simply impractical.”

Hao Ren was still in a daze. He looked at Hilda and Vimm, then said, “How big of a meeting would you have to hold if your entire race is migrating?”

Hilda and Vimm were dumbstruck. “What?”

“Haven’t you told them?” Hao Ren stared at Vivian, then knocked himself on the head. “I’m sleep-drunk. Get me some ice.”

With a swing of her arm, Vivian summoned a pile of snowflakes and smacked it into Hao Ren’s face. “Why would you want to wear yourself out yesterday when you could’ve gone to sleep early? You’re not going to beat the epigenetic clock of a Blood Clan member, I tell you. Yeah, I didn’t tell them. It’s better to leave it to you.”

Hao Ren did not expect the mini snowstorm to take effect that fast. His alertness level almost went through the roof. With his eyes wide-opened, he looked at Hilda who was still confused. “I’m awake now. You should call everyone—the elders, the people’s representatives, anyone who’s in-charge of something in Aerym—for a meeting. I’ve talked to my superior and a few others yesterday; I’ve decided to solve your problem of resource depletion once and for all.”

Hilda’s eyes opened wider and wider as her breathing accelerated. “The solution is?

“I need you to tell me: are you willing to do anything for the sake of Aerym’s survival?” Hao Ren raised his finger and continued, “Our side has agreed, but I still need to hear from you and receive your nod, or else everything I’ve done earlier will be for naught.”

Vimm was still cautious towards these strangers. He became anxious after what he heard. “Do anything?”

“Leave everything behind. You can only bring your technology together with some basic equipment and migrate en masse to a new world—a world that’s rich in resources yet raw ecologically. You will have to start from scratch; you may experience technological backwardness for hundreds of years; a part of your population may die because of diseases and environmental changes; you’ll need to pay a high social price to redevelop your industry and supply chain, but you’re going to get what you’ve been dreaming all along—abundant resources, close proximity to Proxima Centauri and its planetary systems, blue sky and open land.”

Y’zaks could not help but to nudge Hao Ren. “Why I do have this feeling that you sound like conmen in my hometown?”

Hao Ren smiled slyly. “Have you ever heard of Anly?”

Y’zaks was speechless.

“If I were to send them to your hometown, no amount of scam-awareness phamplets printed by the church would be enough.”

While Vimm was clueless, Hilda had figured it out. “You mean, you are going to give us—”

“To find a habitable planet with a suitable ecosystem in such a short time is not easy.” Hao Ren smiled as he looked at Hilda. “However, I happen to know the existence of a pretty good planet. Also, I happen to know a long-distance transport guy. He can summon a fleet big enough to move one billion immigrants.”

Hilda and Vimm’s faces were like, O-O!!

Never have they heard of such generousity in their life!