The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 271

Chapter 271: Is Everything Okay at Home?

 

After the Petrachelys left the new planet of Aerym, it headed southwest at top speed. Of course, it did not matter if the direction they were heading in was actually southwest of space. It just sounds cooler saying it this way.

Hao Ren and Lily were bored. They were leaning against the bridge control board, studying the flickering data and the ship’s structure. Hao Ren studied them because he had taught himself extremely well, to the point where he could actually operate the spacecraft. On the other hand, Lily studied them because she thought it was cool.

The spacecraft had flown for a very long distance and they were about to arrive at Kuiper Station in approximately 10 minutes. Just then, someone remembered something. Y’zaks touched his chin and asked, “Why do I feel like we’ve forgotten something?”

Hao Ren looked around and said, “Everyone’s here, we didn’t even lose Lily. What else could we have left behind?”

Even the husky, a creature that would never listen to its owners was sitting quietly next to Hao Ren. He thought whatever and whoever that should be on the spaceship were already there.

Y’zaks pondered about it for quite a long time. Then, he slapped his forehead and said, “Hey, are there still… remains lying in our medical chamber?”

Hao Ren and Vivian looked at each other immediately and shouted, “Sh*t!”

“This…” Cold sweat oozed from Hao Ren’s forehead. “Why didn’t Hilda remind us… Should we send it back now?”

Vivian quickly made a decision and said, “Let’s call them first!”

Hao Ren remembered that he left a self-disciplined droid to function as an assistant, communicator, bodyguard and construction worker for Hilda. He immediately connected to the device to find Hilda. A moment later, the figures of Hilda and Vimm were projected via the bridge’s transmitter. Both of them seemed to be inspecting a facility. Behind them were braced frames and an intricate array of devices, which had been built halfway. There were also a group of elves working around the area. Both of them were quite surprised by Hao Ren’s sudden contact. Hao Ren did not waste any time and went straight to the point. “Hilda, your body is still with me!”

The surprised look on Hilda’s face immediately faded. She smiled and said, “Oh, I know. I was just wondering if I should send you a message…”

Hao Ren did not think the owner of the body would be so calm. “Umm… I think that it’s very important. Don’t you want it?”

Hilda tilted her head slightly and said, “Just leave it at your place first. It will be troublesome for you to turn back just for that. Oh, if you find that the body is occupying the dormant chamber, you can find a place to bury it. I do not feel like I need it anymore.”

“…I feel that we’re discussing this crazy issue in a serious manner. This is weird,” said Hao Ren.

Hilda agreed and looked at Vimm oddly. Vivian then suggested, “Next time, if you have a chance to go to Earth, you can take her back… It is an object after all. After some grooming and dressing up, it could be placed in the house to protect it or ward off evil.”

This miraculous vampire would never forget about warding off evil—but, how did she think that a half-dead body could ward off evil?

Hilda nodded and accepted the suggestion, after which they hung up. Hao Ren pinched his chin while he pondered. “I feel that ever since I started this unfortunate journey, the things that I go through have been getting more and more peculiar. I’m even a corpse collector now—and, it’s the deceased, who entrusted me to keep it, agreeing to come and take it back someday.”

Lily tilted her head and contemplated the issue for a moment, as a husky would. Who knows what was in her head. She suddenly blushed and pinched Hao Ren’s arm. She said, “Landlord, you have to control yourself! Although the body is still warm, you can’t do anything…”

As a good man with a healthy mind, of course, Hao Ren was able to get it within seconds. He immediately jumped up. He poked at Lily’s temple continuosly and said, “Listen to what you’ve just said! Next time, can you please read stuff that’s purer and more positive?!”

While Hao Ren stomped his foot in fury and scolded Lily, she just laughed in a high pitch. The Petrachelys returned to the solar system, which they had parted with for a long time; more than half a month. After they completed the ship-hosting formalities at Kuiper Station, they went back to Earth. Hao Ren was delighted to be home, but at the same time, there was an inexplicable feeling inside of him. He remembered the grey earth in the dome city, the old, unyielding shield of the floating island, the Aerym civilisation that fought hard to survive until today, as well as the elves who fell into a stupor after seeing the sky for the first time. He could not help but whisper to himself, “Now, I finally realise how precious these ordinary things are. People really should cherish everything. Even if you’ve already tire of these things, they could disappear some day.”

Vivian also sighed and said, “Yes, I really can understand that feeling. The money in my hand is always gone before I get tired of watching it.”

Hao Ren lifted his brow and said, “I’m talking about life, can’t you be serious?”

Vivian smiled. She poked Hao Ren’s arm and said, “We’re back, can’t you be a little happy?”

After saying that, the vampire girl trotted towards the door not far away, leaving Hao Ren to stand there in a daze. She could make fun of her own poor life, which meant that she was really enjoying her life despite poverty, right?

After opening the door, Lily was the first one to run into the house. She ran into the living room and quickly circled it, sniffing around to make sure that no other dog had encroached on her territory while she was away. She then stood contentedly in the middle of the living room and shouted, “I’m back!”

Lily waited for quite some time, but no one answered. Only Rollie heard it and ran from the kitchen into the living room. When it saw its owner, whom it did not see for days, it quickly ran around Hao Ren like crazy. Rollie later walked slowly towards Lily and slightly nodded to welcome her home. That gave Lily a shiver, and then, Rollie slipped away.

This cat was definitely the supreme creature in the house.

“Wuyue and Becky aren’t at home?” Hao Ren went up to the second floor to look for them. Shortly after, he walked down and asked curiously, “Didn’t we send them a message saying that we’d be here by noon?”

Vivian went to the kitchen as soon as she came home. Like a skilled housewife, the first thing she did when she got home was prepare lunch for the family. She muttering as she walked, “Maybe they suddenly have something to do. Eh, Landlord, what’s for lunch?”

“Don’t bother, just noodle soup will do. As he spoke, Hao Ren sat on the sofa in the centre of the living room and suddenly, he found a note on the table. He picked it up to see, and found that it was a message left by Nangong Wuyue. It was written in a beautiful font, which read, ” Landlord, Becky and I are going to participate in some activities. We’ll be back at around 1 pm. Lunch is ready. You just need to heat it. The food is in the big steamer on the left, and Lil Pea is in the rice cooker on the right. Don’t heat the wrong one.”

Hao Ren held the note and shouted, “They really went out! They’ll come back soon… Oh my, Vivian, Lil Pea is in the rice cooker!”

He rushed to the kitchen, but suddenly remembered that Lil Pea was not afraid of hot water, so he relaxed. When he reached the kitchen, he saw Vivian holding the rice cooker, looking at it up and down. The vampire maiden found it weird and asked, “Why is Lil Pea inside the rice cooker? What about her pot?”

“Who knows, you can ask Nangong Wuyue when she comes back. She does a good job in taking care of this child, much better than I do.” Hao Ren had no idea what new phenomenon Nangong Wuyue had discovered over the past two weeks. Anyway, he was sure that the siren treated the little mermaid like a treasure, and there had to be a reason for putting the little mermaid in the rice cooker. He stepped forward and took the rice cooker from Vivian’s hands. He watched the little mermaid, who was curled into a ball and sleeping soundly. She was so lovely and adorable that Hao Ren could not help but want to take her out and kiss her. Seeing his “daughter” after so long, Hao Ren’s heart immediately melted as if his whole body and mind were healed. However, he did not take Lil Pea out of the water for fear of waking the little child. He just held the rice cooker carefully, ready to go into the living room. He wanted to give her a surprise when she woke up. However, just as he was about to turn and walk away, he found a strange piece of paper sticking out of the cupboard. He leaned closer and looked at its contents. It baffled him.

“Heat for 10 minutes on low heat in the morning. Add sweet balm.

“Heat for five minutes on medium heat at noon. Sprinkle with small amounts of radix isatidis granules.

“Heat for seven minutes on low heat at night. Do not add anything. After heating, allow it to cool off naturally. Lil Pea may jump out, pay attention to that and promptly put her back in to prevent her from catching a cold.

“Prevent her from bullying cats.

“The playing cards are not easy to digest, although she likes them very much. It’s best not to let her eat more, and if she really wants to eat it, dip it in vinegar.

“Don’t let her play with snow.”

Hao Ren was speechless.

He had a feeling that his daughter probably did something amazing… What exactly did Nangong Wuyue figure out?

Chapter 272: Seems Like a Lot Happened in the Past Two Weeks

 

Hao Ren and Vivian were confused about the contents of the paper. The only certainty was that the written notes were related to Lil Pea, including the heating on low heat part. At this point, they roughly understood why Lil Pea was placed in the rice cooker: Because, it could be timed, and its temperature was stable…

If there had been another species inside the pot, Hao Ren would have probably gotten very excited about it. His mind would have been filled with all sorts of hardcore scenes that were unsuitable for kids—like killing and cooking the body. But now, it was the little mermaid who was lying in the pot, and he could not think this way. She loved swimming in warm water. However, he was just curious about what had actually happened in the house during the past two weeks that he was not around. What happened and what the hell were sweet balm and radix isatidis…

While Hao Ren was thinking, he heard a sound coming from the pot. He looked down at the pot and found that Lil Pea was done with her nap (although this nap was a little early). The little kid was stretching her tail and slowly waking up. As soon as she looked up, she saw Hao Ren’s big face and she was fully awake instantly. Her upper body was visible above the water and she screamed in a low yet, very excited tone. Lil Pea then pounced on Hao Ren’s face, and rolled down along his collar…

You could just imagine; it was winter and snowing on Earth, there was no heating in the kitchen, and Lil Pea was covered with water…

Hao Ren immediately felt a chill straight down to his navel. It was so cold that he could not handle it. He was still holding the rice cooker, so he did not have a free hand to stop the little mermaid, who was getting a little too excited. By the time he put the pot down and pulled Lil Pea out of his clothes, the little kid was already crawling between his chest and abdomen. She was fine. She was all wet when she jumped in and was all dry when she got out. She was not even exposed to the cold wind.

Hao Ren carried the little kid and ran into the living room. He put her on the sofa and let Lily look after her. He then ran back into his room to change his clothes. When he came out, he saw that Lily was chatting with Lil Pea. Although language-wise they could not communicate, they seemed to be chatting away happily. Hao Ren stepped forward to pick Lil Pea up and rubbed her against his face. He finally had the chance to say hello to his “daughter”. Lil Pea slapped Hao Ren’s face and said something. But, it was not clear and Hao Ren could not understand what it meant. Anyway, she seemed to be very happy. Her face suddenly turned red and then, she sneezed.

“Have you caught a cold?” Surprised, Hao Ren looked at the little mermaid who was rubbing her nose. He never thought that a fish could also catch a cold. The little mermaid heard it and slapped her tail as she pointed her hand to her throat. She then sneezed again to prove that she really did catch a cold.

Hao Ren was a little dumbfounded. He looked at Lily instinctively and asked, “How do I treat a fish with a cold?”

“Fishes can catch a cold and there’s a special medication for them,” Lily said while she took a cotton swab from somewhere and wiped the snot off Lil Pea’s nose, “but you have to think carefully, this kid in your hand is not a real fish. Have you ever seen an actual fish eating wood?”

As they were talking, Lil Pea’s stomach rumbled. She got rid of Hao Ren’s hand and jumped to the edge of the table and screamed at the kitchen. At the very next moment, a black-and-white figure came out. There were a few pieces of cards in Rollie’s mouth. It jumped on the table and placed the cards in front of Lil Pea, after which it meowed in a respectful and submissive manner. Rollie then stepped back and left the table in quick short steps. Lil Pea grabbed the cards and chewed them, slapping her tail approvingly: it was the little kid’s mealtime.

Hao Ren was speechless.

What happened in the past two weeks?!

Apparently, ever since Rollie was beaten badly by the little mermaid, its whole view of the world had changed dramatically. This unruly, bastard cat was eventually tamed by Lil Pea. It actually turned into a fish’s servant. I really wonder how it would ever be able to mingle with other stray cats in the Southern Suburbs if they knew about this. Vivian was also stunned. She looked at Lil Pea and Rollie, finally dropping her sight on Lily. She said, “The ecological chain in our house is getting stranger. This will pull down the street cred of cats and dogs.”

At this moment, somebody opened the door. Nangong Wuyue and Becky were finally back.

Nangong Wuyue immediately saw Hao Ren sitting on the sofa the moment she stepped into the house. She greeted him happily, “Ah, you guys are home! Did you see the note in the kitchen?”

“I saw it,” Hao Ren said and pointed at Lil Pea. “I’m still wondering why the little kid’s in the rice cooker. Why did you have to heat her in the morning, at noon and at night? Did Lil Pea catch a cold?”

Nangong Wuyue took off her coat and hung it on the coat rack next to the door, explaining, “Yes, because of the cold. It’s the treatment plan provided by the goddess. It’s quite effective, Lil Pea’s almost recovered. She just sneezes occasionally.”

Hao Ren quickly asked her for more details. After listening to Nangong Wuyue, he then understood what had happened: It was snowing two days ago. Lil Pea broke the window and jumped out to play in the snow when Nangong Wuyue and Becky went out to buy vegetables. And you probably already know what happens next: She was a warm-climate fish, she became frozen after jumping around in the snow for a few seconds…

Nangong Wuyue made great effort to unfreeze her, but the little kid still caught a cold in the end.

Despite being a siren, Nangong Wuyue had never been ill so, she had no idea how to treat the mermaid’s cold. She could only ask Raven 12345 for help (Raven 12345 had left a mental imprint on each of the tenants in Hao Ren’s house for emergency purposes). With super great effort, the goddess created the treatment regiment listed on the note in the kitchen; although, Hao Ren had a feeling it was just a made-up prescription. It probably appeared in the psychopath’s head out of nowhere when she was cooking noodles, but it still worked.

And, of course, it could have also been because this strong little kid just recovered easily from any illness. Anyway, she was the only survivor of her species and there was no one to compare with. Hence, if Raven 12345 said her method worked, so be it.

Nangong Wuyue still felt sorry for not taking good care of Lil Pea and said, “Sorry, I should have been more careful…”

Hao Ren was a sensible man. He waved his hand and said, “It’s not your fault, it’s not the first time she’s looked for trouble. She’s so active, who knows what’s going to happen to her. You did a good job of taking care of her, better than I would have. If I was the one who took care of her, perhaps something worse than this would have happened. Besides, she even smashed the windows, who could’ve expected that?”

Nangong Wuyue nodded and said, “The window’s been repaired. And this time, I covered all the windows in the house with my water mist enchantment, so we don’t have to worry about her running around even if no one’s at home.”

Hao Ren then understood why there were thin layers of mist on all the windows when he stepped into the house. It was a magical effect left by Nangong Wuyue.

He looked down and glanced at the little mermaid, who was tearing into the last piece of card. Hao Ren found the mischievous kid to be a really torturous creature from the bottom of his heart, especially when she had such physical characteristics beyond the human imagination: Luckily, there was another fish in the house who knew how to take care of her…

Nangong Wuyue looked up at the clock on the wall. She then reached for Lil Pea and said, “It’s time. I need to heat Lil Pea up for a while. She should fully recover after two days.”

The fish baby waved her arm to say goodbye to Hao Ren and jumped into Nangong Wuyue’s hand obediently. The way they cooperated so well made them look like mother and daughter.

But, it was hard to describe what they were going to do in the kitchen…

When Nangong Wuyue proceeded to heat the little mermaid in the kitchen, a beautiful girl wearing a red, wool coat finally had the opportunity to jump out and greet them. “Yo! Everybody! It’s been a long time—How do I look?”

Hao Ren had already noticed Becky walking around them earlier, but he was too focused on his daughter that he did not have the time to talk to her. He finally raised his head and looked at Becky. To be honest, he could barely recognise her.

Becky was not wearing Nangong Wuyue’s old clothes, but a brand new wool coat. It was a new, slim winter coat, styled with black tights and small leather boots. It made Becky look stylish and beautiful. She also had on some light makeup on her face and her hair was carefully combed; nothing too over the top. She looked just perfect. It only took half a month for the mercenary girl, who used to dress rather shabbily to completely integrated into life on Earth. She looked almost like a regular human on Earth.

It was largely due to an occupational factor: Becky’s ability to adapt to unfamiliar environments was very strong.

Chapter 273: You Two Had a Good Time

 

Hao Ren still vividly remembered what Becky was like the first time she came: she wore a dusty, leather armour, with a dagger and a long sword on her waist, a faded old wind scarf around her neck, and simply pulled her hair up into a ponytail because she had no time to manage it. Going through the rigors of living in the wilderness made her look as if she just came back from a backpacking trip in Tibet. At that time, although Becky was a pretty girl, she looked a little countrified. The rough side of being a mercenary was impossible to conceal.

Now, Becky looked almost completely different. If she was walking down the street, no one could tell that she was from a different world if she did not reveal it…

“Pretty good, huh?” Becky noticed that it was not only Hao Ren, but the rest around her were also extremely surprised. She immediately opened her arms and turned around proudly as she said, “I picked out the outfit. This world is great. Beautiful clothes and delicious food are everywhere. Although I don’t really feel safe about the ‘technology’ in this world, other aspects are really good. It’s more comfortable here than my hometown.”

“It seems like you’ve adapted to life here very quickly,” Hao Ren said and nodded with relief. THao Ren was worried the most about this mercenary maiden, whom he brought into this world by accident. However, now that Becky seemed to be enjoying her life here, he was relieved. “But… where did you get the money for your clothes? Did Nangong Wuyue give it to you?”

“It was a prize.” Becky hit her chest proudly and explained, “I signed up with Wuyue to join a… umm, I don’t really know what kind of activity it is. Anyway, it’s a bunch of people competing with each other for something. You’ll get the prize if you win a few rounds. It’s interesting. People in this world are really fascinating, they like watching a gang of people throwing knives or singing songs. After that, they’ll give them money, how frivolous…”

Hao Ren was confused by what Becky just said. Just as he was about to ask her what was going, he saw Nangong Wuyue coming out from the kitchen. She was holding a large towel, rubbing the little mermaid while walking cautiously. Lil Pea stuck her tiny head out of the gap in the towel and kept turning her head around.

Nangong Wuyue finished the routine heating according to Raven 12345’s cold treatment method.

“She dragged me into it.” Nangong Wuyue had heard their conversation, and also did not know whether to laugh or cwary. “Becky is really active… The Goddess gave her the ability to understand the language here, so she found out how to make a living in just a few days. In fact, she doesn’t need anyone to take care of her. She saw a TV station in our city that ran a variety show, so she wanted me to join it with her no matter what. I was worried that she might get into trouble, but we ended up entering the variety show.”

Nangong Wuyue came up to the coffee table as she spoke. Lil Pea had been waiting in the towel. She calculated the distance and then leapt from the towel, falling into Hao Ren’s arms. The little kid’s tail was slippery, nobody could catch her or stop her from going anywhere.

Lil Pea was basically dangling from Hao Ren’s clothes. He picked her up, smelled her and said, “Ah, smells like radix isatidis…”

The rest of them also held Lil Pea and passed her around, nodding as well commenting, “That’s the smell of radix isatidis, alright.”

“It’s radix isatidis.”

“And a little smell of sweet balm…”

The smell of sweet powder emanated from Lil Pea after being “boiled” in the radix isatidis. It was uncertain if the treatment could really cure her cold, but at least, Hao Ren felt that the chances of them getting a cold had been reduced by a lot. At this moment, Vivian curiously asked Nangong for more details about their escapades over the past two weeks, and she finally understood how colorful their life was. She did not expect that they already appeared on TV! And they were some sort of local celebrities…

In fact, Hao Ren knew that the city’s TV station often held some variety shows. Although he did not really pay attention to such things, he also heard that the TV station specialised in this, and one of the most prestigious programmes they had on was “The People’s Talent”. This program accepted registration from all people, as long as they were currently living in the city. The content of the program was not fixed, and the main theme was to show one’s personal talent, regardless of whether you could break a stone on your chest or hit virtually any target within a hundred steps, sing or dance. It was a stage that allowed people to show off their talents. The contest would be held weekly, and the winners would get a prize. It was a talent show that did not have much of a distinguishing feature. It was highly popular locally because of its low enrolment and the variety of talent.

Hao Ren never expected that Becky, a mercenary girl from the Otherworld would actually go to the TV station and enter such a contest… Would it be apt for him to say that a mercenary could quickly adapt to any environment?

“Nangong Wuyue can sing well, so I understand…” As Hao Ren listened to Becky talking about how funny the show was in excitement, he really could not help but ask curiously, “Do you have any special talent?”

“Of course. I can crush granite and reinforced concrete slabs on my chest.”

Hao Ren was speechless.

She actually performed this on the stage! But, dear super lady, don’t you think that this may have a negative influence on your personal image?

Becky was proud of it and said, “I almost scared the judges to death. I put such a thick slab of granite on my body, and then smashed it with an excavator’s shovel bucket. Sometimes. I had to smash for a few minutes to break the granite. If the old man hadn’t faint, I could have entered the finals with this skill… Unfortunately, the TV station later said that although this talent was exciting, it was too violent. I had to change it to a less cool one.”

“Actually, I was the one who forced her to change it.” Nangong Wuyue twitched her mouth and said, “She didn’t consider the physical limitations of a human body on Earth at all, fighting the excavator with her stone-like skin. I was worried that it would attract the Chinese Academy of Science if it got really famous.”

Becky lowered her head in dismay and said, “Later on, I performed blindfolded and carved a tofu with a sword…”

Hao Ren wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

That’s enough.

“Wuyue, needless to say, you must be singing,” Vivian said as she looked at the siren girl with admiration. “With your beautiful voice, even if you don’t remember the lyrics, you can simply hum a tune and it’ll get you into the finals. I really envy you. It looks easy, making money this way. But, too bad I don’t have any special talents. Besides magic and flying, I can only cook.”

Lily thought about it and said, “You can perform magic! Cover your hand with a piece of red cloth, then take it off and lot of bats would fly out…”

“But that trick usually uses pigeons! I only have bats!”

“In that case, you can also perform that crushing rock thingy on your chest. Your body can’t be weaker than Becky’s. She’s just a human. Her ‘stone’ skin isn’t necessarily stronger than your skin. Then, we can team up. You take the rock, and I’ll be responsible for smashing.”

Vivian looked at Lily with a weird expression and said, “I bet you’ll be swinging your arm with all your might and smashing me down. Your goal is to bash me deep into the ground until you can’t dig me out, right?”

Watching the two superwomen discussing the topic seriously, Hao Ren quickly switched their attention and said, “Enough about that, you two can just stay at home. Singing is Nangong Wuyue’s profession, and she surely performs better than the both of you on stage, so just stop thinking about it.”

He still had something to say: It was not about Nangong Wuyue’s good voice, but about Vivian’s irreversible bad luck when it came to fortune. Even if she actually won $100,000 on the TV show, she might not have been able to make it to the bank safely…

He knew that if he mentioned it, he would not have dinner that night. Hence, he just kept it to himself.

“You girls really had fun the past two weeks,” Hao Ren said. He looked at Becky and Nangong Wuyue with a smile on his face. “But, I want to confirm: you girls didn’t get into any trouble, right? You know we are special and different. We have to be cautious in public.”

“Hey, no need to be so careful,” said Becky as she waved her hand in a relaxed manner. “We aren’t thieves, why so secretive? Besides, Wuyue’s been making a living out of singing, and she’s still fine.”

Nangong Wuyue smiled bashfully and said, “We’ve just been fooling around at home, but how about you? You seem to have done something big? I heard about it from the goddess. She said that you’re starting to think from a wider perspective.”

Hao Ren told them what had happened in the past two weeks. It surprised and impressed both Becky and Nangong Wuyue. Although they may not necessarily understand what life was like under the dome just from listening, the epic events of the elves’ experience and the great migration were quite enough to touch their hearts.

“You really are a good person.” Becky was moved by the story. She looked at Hao Ren and said, “You’re usually quiet. I didn’t expect you to be so capable… By the way, I’ve had a pretty good time here. When will you send me home?”

Hao Ren was stunned.

Chapter 274: The Problem with Becky

 

Hearing what Becky said, Hao Ren felt a stream of cold sweat starting to roll down his back. But she was happy-go-lucky as usual and did not detect that anything was amiss. She continued to mumble, “It’s been a month since I left home, I still have two unfinished jobs back there. I’ll become part of the missing person statistics if I still don’t show my face, you know—that’s the reality of being a mercenary; they’ll just assume that you’re KIA and close the case if you don’t report back after a while.”

Hao Ren looked at Becky very cautiously. “Aren’t you happy being here?”

“It’s pretty good here,” said Becky, absent-mindedly. “It’s just that, I feel Iike I can’t keep playing out there all the time. It’s time to go home; after all, this is not my place.”

All of a sudden, reality started to sink in. Becky asked, “Wait a minute… has something gone wrong and I can’t go home? Come on, this is all your organisation’s fault. I was brought here unwillingly!”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” Hao Ren waved his hand subconsciously. “I’ve already promised to take you home so, I’ll definitely take you home. But, it will take a while, because…” Hao Ren poked the MDT on the sofa handle, urging it telepathically, “Say something, pacify her!”

The MDT got up and projected a pile of data as well as images via a hologram. “Because the asymmetrical nature of the ectopic information has resulted in a different conversion mechanism for bi-directional and uni-directional teleportation, thus prolonging the waiting time for the crossing of each entity. The crossing process also involves information destruction of the third, sixth and seventh law, so additional calculation is needed. Additionally, the equipment to send you home is currently being cooled down so you may not be able to go home for a while—got it?”

Becky was none the wiser. “What?”

Noticing the blank expression on Becky’s face, Hao Ren let out a long sigh, feeling guilty. “There’s a few procedures to be completed before I can send you home. It won’t be long.”

Becky did not think much about it. She took “it won’t be long” at face value and nodded. “No problem, as long as I’m not stuck here for good. I’ll stick around for a little longer and I’ll pay for my room—I have money now!”

He quietly wiped away his sweat and smiled. It was a close call. But, he knew he could not drag it any further. While Becky and Lily were glued to the idiot box, Hao Ren shot Nangong Wuyue a stare and they both sneaked into the kitchen, bringing along the MDT. He could not alarm Lily either; the husky was known for spilling the beans. If you told her the nuclear launch code, she would not think twice about announcing it to the world. It was wise to keep her in the dark while she was still unaware of it. Allowing her to be occupied with the prawn snack commercial was the right thing to do.

“What are you two doing in here?” asked Vivian, who was cooking in the kitchen. She gave them a what-the-heck glance. “Don’t disturb me.”

“We have a problem. It’s about Becky.” Hao Ren closed the door behind him, then sighed. “How are we going to tell her that her body in The Plane of Dreams has been destroyed by the cosmic will?”

Vivian listened and the problem began to come to light.

The relationship between The Plane of Dreams and the real world was asymmetrical, and The Plane of Dreams in itself, was vulnerable. So, when Becky travelled from her home to Earth, it was partially unidirectional. This meant that she could cross over to Earth in person but not back. She would have to lie in a hibernation pod and go back home in her dream. In other words, she could not enter back into The Plane of Dreams physically. Her body had to stay back, and at the same time, she would not be able to stay for a very long period of time in The Plane of Dreams. She would have to leave once her dream was over, just like Hao Ren and the other earthlings. Such limitations were not a problem for Hao Ren, who only went in for business, but it would be a hopeless frustration for those were originally from The Plane of Dreams. Why could one not go home at will? Why could one only go home in a dream—a dream that ended?

It was like paying to stay in your own house and having to show your temporary residence permit from time to time. And, you would be required to get the f*ck out of your house every half a month or so and stay in a hotel. Who would have liked that?

“Didn’t you say that you were going to solve this technical issue?” Hao Ren jabbed the MDT. “Where’s your solution?”

“I’ve checked. Strictly speaking, it’s not a matter of whether we could, it’s about whether we should.” The MDT sighed. “I’m going to be honest with you; if you really want to send Becky back, you just have to request for Madam Raven’s intervention, or get authorisation for special teleportation to bring people back in there, disregarding the travel limitation of The Plane of Dreams. For the Empire, this is just a peace of cake; but the consequences are: you risk puncturing a hole in the real world by violating the rules of teleportation. The Plane of Dreams is unstable, leaking and having problems all the time; starting from the point of teleportation, the whole planet if not half of the galaxy, could be vaporised. Would you shoulder the responsibility?”

Hao Ren’s face instantly turned grim. Even the simple-minded Lily would not agree, much less him.

He understood what the MDT was trying to say; sending Becky back was impossible without taking high risks and consequences, it was a destructive action. It may have worked if the reality wall of The Plane of Dreams was still in good shape but now, even the almighty goddess, Raven 12345 was scratching her head, trying to patch the shaky wall. Sending people back in by boring a hole at this point of time was just asking for trouble.

“You can’t make an omelette without breaking the eggs,” said Vivian as she left the kitchen with a rice pot.

Amazed by her philosophical remark, Hao Ren tried to laugh. But the problem was he did not even have the “eggs”—the universe belonged to the goddess; she would not put the world at risk for the sake of one girl.

Nangong Wuyue frowned as she fell into deep though. Then, she said, “It may or may not happen. The Wall of Reality is fragile, but that doesn’t mean it would certainly crumble. We may be able to send Becky through without shaking it too much.”

The MDT wobbled and said, “Right. It’s all about probability. However, even if sending Becky back poses one-tenth of a chance of puncturing the wall, would you risk it?”

Hao Ren was on a sticky wicket; nine out ten: things would turn out to be all right, one out of ten: human extinction.

“There’s something I don’t understand: while we can bring things in and leave them behind, why can’t we do the same with people?” Hao Ren recalled Y’zaks selling his demon sword in The Plane of Dreams. The sword was not expelled when they woke up from their dreams, it instead became physical in The Plane of Dreams.

“Because intelligent beings affect information,” the MDT explained. “People think, observe, interact and process information. At the same time, people themselves also generate and cause information to multiply by way of memory. A peson is not just a lump of carbohydate, but also an entanglement point of complex information; everything a human touches, records, observes, and is curious about would connect in the realm of information. An individual possesses a limited amount of information, but the volume of information he comes into contact with is astounding. As long as the individual lives and observes the world, he would be more and more involved in the surrounding information. Remember this: information is everything, and everything is information. An observer’s involvement in the real world is deep and endless. Especially the Wall of Reality between The Plane of Dreams and the Surface World; it’s in an ambigous state where it’s easily affected by its observers. Non-living things are different. They have little impact. After all, their information is finite. The cosmic will easily digest them even if they’re very polluting as long as their impact is finite.

“Metaphorically speaking, a bullet isn’t as damaging as a single virus droplet simply because the former is limited in the damage it could cause while the latter could spread and its threat is endless.”

As Hao Ren came to grips with the truth, he spread out his hands, feeling dejected. “Probably, it would help if we whack Becky into a vegetable…”

The MDT jabbed his stomach lightly. “It’s good to be creative but being senseless about it is retarded.”

“Do we really have no choice?” asked Nangong Wuyue, still retaining a last glimmer of hope. “I think there has to be some way.”

The MDT thought for a moment and said, “If you insist… there’s another way.”

Hao Ren and Nangong Wuyue eyeballed the MDT immediately.

“Find an existing loophole,” the MDT said. “An open loophole is the safest.”

Chapter 275: Becky’s Rustic, Mercenary-Style Cuisine

 

“Existing loophole?” Hao Ren and Nangong Wuyue repeated in unison.

“That’s right. An existing loophole,” the MDT confirmed. “The Plane of Dreams and Surface World have their fair share of traffic. Unusual creatures have come from The Plane the Dreams to Earth, and vice versa. Various information indicated that the Wall of Reality has had bigger loopholes, and if my guess is right, some of them still exist today. According to information obtained from the Local Universe Database, brief scans conducted on The Plane of Dreams for the past several hundred years showed traces of evidence that materials from the Surface World have been brought into The Plane of Dreams. Although no one knows where the exact path is, a two-way hole certainly exists.”

Sending Becky home by digging a fresh hole was clearly too risky. But if the Wall of Reality already had a loophole and the Surface World did not collapse because of it, that loophole was safe—at least, it was not an immediate danger. The only problem was, where to find it.

The universe was a big place. If the connection of Peatopia a.k.a Aerym to The Plane of Dreams in the past was anything to go by, it was almost certain that The Plane of Dreams enveloped the entire universe. Loopholes on the Wall of Reality could be anywhere in the universe. Perhaps, there was hint to follow: the loopholes would only occur more in high mass and high density regions of the universe, meaning various celestial bodies where information was abundant. Planets with intelligent beings would be hotspots. Maybe Earth had such an opening; even the door through which the unusual creatures migrated en masse to Earth could still be usable.

Hao Ren’s mind was running at a high speed; it was probably the result of six months of practice. He could now put two and two together pretty quick. He could foresee some key problems as he frowned. “Wait… that means the most feasible option could very well be the opening used by the unusual creatures in the past?”

“Yeah… that opening may still exist. But to be honest, finding one would be next to impossible.” The MDT pondered. “With such a large door, its existence may be non-physical, or it could’ve been transformed and blended in with the space of the Surface World. If the unusual creatures haven’t been able to find it after so long, we won’t either.”

Hao Ren raised his eyebrow and said, “Could the Day of Return be a lead?”

“The Day of Return could mean finding the door, but it may just be speculation.” The MDT shook its body. “But, don’t forget, the sirens came to the surface more than a hundred years ago. And after a hundred years, these unusal creatures have not been able to find it and figure out what form the door exists in. So, don’t give it too much hope. Meanwhile, how long do you think you can keep patronising Becky? Days or months? She’ll definitely ask again.”

Hao Ren had been in a stew thinking about the matter. He waved his hands wearily as he said, “Let’s take a multi-pronged approach; you can keep your eyes on anything about the Day of Return and look for information on The Plane of Dreams in the local database; as for me, I’ll read through the myths about Earth and talk to inspectors of other planets to see if I can find something about the hole in the Wall of Reality.”

Despite that, Hao Ren knew that there was a possibility it would not work. He might not be able to find something out before Becky could be patronised no more. He looked at Nangong Wuyue. “Wuyue, you’ve got an important mission…”

The siren’s mind went blank. “What?”

“Keep Becky busy,” said Hao Ren, looking serious. “Drown her in the depravity and ectasy of all the fun things on Earth, to the point that she forgets her own name. Perhaps, she’ll even forget about going home…”

There was a reluctant look on Nangong Wuyue’s face. “Really? Is it okay for people to do drugs?”

Hao Ren jumped to his feet. “You people must have too much imagination! Can’t you bring her to some other TV programmes? If she gets bored with the talent show, let her go to Walk of Fame; if she can’t make it to Walk of Fame, then challenge Guiness; if she fails to get nominated, let her challenge the Taekwondo school, as long as her attention is diverted. But bear in mind, don’t ever let talent scouts ping her. Judging from her temperament, she may just end up slaughtering the entire filming crew due to the excessive hidden rules in the entertainment industry…”

Nangong Wuyue nodded as she came round. “No problem. Recently, she’s been obsessed with TV. I can do that, I’ll play along.”

Hao Ren nodded back. Suddenly the door was yanked open and Vivian poked her head inside. “Are you two done yet? Come and eat. I’m not going to reheat the food!”

Hao Ren quickly nodded and moved himself out of the kitchen into the living room. Everyone was already at the dining table as Hao Ren and Nangong Wuyue walked in. Lil Pea was wielding a half-eaten chopstick, waving at him. He walked over and dragged the little mermaid into the pot. He let her soak in it before he gazed at the food on the table, lamenting. “It’s been a long while. I miss home-cooked meals like this… Has Lil Pea been gnawing at the table again?”

He saw a series of bite marks at the edge of the table. He gave the little mermaid a stare but she had no guilt whatsoever. She popped out of the pot and proudly showed off her grating, sharp teeth.

The little one was probably entering an explosive growth stage, judging from her big appetite; she had just finished a few paper cards earlier and now, she was chewing on a piece of chopstick again.

“My cooking may not be as good as Vivian’s but it’s still better than street food.” Nangong Wuyue filled everyone’s bowl with rice before pointing to a rustic-looking barbecue dish. “Becky cooked it to welcome you guys home. She was very secretive with the process, probably it’s her secret recipe.”

“There’s nothing special about it. They’re just ordinary smoked barbecue slices, which mercenaries used to eat. It’s made using ingredients from Earth.” Becky scratched her head, feeling embarrassed. “I’d feel bad if I didn’t reciprocate your hospitality. Let’s take a bite and see how it tastes.”

Hao Ren picked up a slice of the barbecue meat with his chopsticks and tasted it. “It’s lamb, with a bit of fish taste to it. Did you simmer it with fish broth?”

“It’s supposed to be cooked with fish broth but if I had done that, your daughter would have been terrified,” said Becky as she pointed to Lil Pea. “She was scared out of her wits when she saw the Cornish dish, ‘Stargazy Pie’ on TV. So, I did not use fish broth.”

“Then, this is…” Hao Ren curiously took a gander at the meat slices on the plate as Becky revealed her secret recipe. “Before grilling, the lamb was simmered together with shallots and ginger for five minutes. Then Lil Pea was placed into the pot. As she swam and stirred the broth, it prevented the bottom from burning. Lastly, as the lamb was taken out and drained, Lil Pea was fished out then showered…”

Hao Ren was speechless.

Sensing the fishy atmosphere, Becky quickly explained, “I didn’t abuse your daughter. The goddess confirmed it: because Lil Pea is afraid of the cold, taking a quick swim in hot water helps boost her immune system. After that, I was thinking that the soup shouldn’t go to waste, so I added some seasoning, and it turned out the soup tasted almost like fish broth—but, overly watered-down like it hadn’t been cooked thoroughly.”

“You have got to be kidding. How could you have Lil Pea cooked? She’s not cookable!” As the first person on Earth who cooked and licked Lil Pea, Lily’s words carried weight. “This feels weird… For the first time in my life, I don’t feel like eating meat.”

Lily was not alone. Everyone at the scene now looked at the “fish-flavoured barbecue”, feeling weird. The little mermaid was still waving her fists like she was saying hello to Hao Ren. He could not help but hold her up in his hand, carefully examining her—his understanding of the world had been continuously shattered ever since he signed that godd*mn employment agreement.

Anyway, it was just a little episode. Aside from Becky’s gross recipe, other dishes were pretty good. In fact, the barbecue was not bad, just that its making was a bit raw. Hence, it was not the most popular dish on the table. All that aside, Hao Ren finally had his long-missed, home-cooked meal.

The days went by pretty calmly without a single incident.

But their peace ended on the third day as Vivian suddenly remembered something—her bats, which she had sent out before her last trip.