The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 316

Chapter 316: Upgrading Hardware

 

Hesperides imagined the sanctuary Vivian had referred to as “a peaceful and safe heaven” in the eastern continent to be all kinds of things. However, she now found out thay her imagination was totally different from reality. When she thought she would see a magical secret zone like the City of Shadows in Athens, what she saw along the way were old Chinese curtilages; when she thought she would see wild mountain ridges, what she saw was an ordinary house; when she finally accepted reality and thought she would see an ordinary basement full of clutter, Hao Ren showed her a row of coffins…

Strictly speaking, they were coffins glittering with silvery-white lustre and blue streams of light as though they were taken out from a sci-fi movie.

“You call it magic… props?” Hesperides watched Hao Ren as he adjusted the strange, silvery-white metal boxes. She then asked with a bellyful of doubts, “I’ve read a lot of books and seen the Library of Alexandria being built with my own eyes. You don’t fool me.”

“This stuff isn’t exactly the magic you think it is, and I’m different from the kind of wizard you’re used to. But, there are so many mysteries in the world, why do you have to figure it all out?” Hao Ren was connecting the MDT with a dormant chamber. After setting the initial reading of the system, he turned to Hesperides, winked at her and said, “Actually, these things are highly confidential. If an ordinary person sees this, he’d be killed for sure, but for unusual creatures such as yourelf, it’s not necessary to keep it a secret; you have more secrets than me. Come on, let’s get you a check. Just lie inside.”

Hao Ren was familiar with the confidentiality agreements. He had a thorough understanding of Raven 12345’s upper and lower limits through his contact with her. So, he now knew which grey zones he could and could not step into. In short, the Administration’s rules and regulations revolved around the core of the “Non-Interference of Civilisation Act”. Therefore, the existence of the Space Administration itself needed to be kept secret, but allowing a few unusual creatures to see some of the surreal stuff when necessary did not cause much trouble. As long as he could handle the possible problems himself, there was no issue for him to allow someone like Hesperides to lie in the “coffin”.

Of course, if you did not want to cause social unrest, it was best not to let ordinary humans see the stuff in the basement. After the rise of atheism in recent years, ordinary people now had a much weaker acceptance towards unusual things.

Hesperides looked at the coffin next to Hao Ren with hesitation. It was dazzling, dreadful and daunting. Although there were two very high-tech, holographic panels floating on both sides of the chamber, this did not stop its main body from looking like a coffin. Nonetheless, she had been through great storms so, this should be bearable. Although there was no reason for him to harm her, the evening goddess finally gritted her teeth and stamped her foot as she asked, “Do I need to change clothes?”

Before Hao Ren could answer, Lily immediately perked up her ears and stared at them vigilantly. Hao Ren quickly waved his hand and said, “No need, no need, just lie down.”

Hesperides lay in the coffin and the metal hatch slowly closed. She soon went into a state of deep sleep under the device’s operation. The Data Terminal then began to read the parameters of her body.

It did not just cover the wound on her forehead. The first thing it read was the full set of her physiological indicators.

“The body structure is basically similar to a human being’s, but the respiratory organs are strange. They can deal with extremely rich oxygen, extreme hypoxia, high vulcanisation and three kinds of atmospheres. She has two sets of blood circulation organs, which do not comprise the heart. However, the organs do have a structure similar to the vascular pump of the whole body. They have high cell strength and they can withstand high temperatures as well as high electromagnetic environments. She has a hollow skeleton with some kind of unknown liquid inside, high bone strength, material close to metal… The growth rate of newborn babies in this species must be slow.” The MDT was analysing while recording the data in a certain archive. “Brain activity remains high in the sleeping state, which should be used to control the magic part… Mental activity is probably a born ability in this species. Based on comprehensive assessment, all indicators show that she is far beyond a human. Even if we’re judging only from physical strength, she’s 20 to 30 times stronger than humans. The above parameters do not include her magical power.”

Hao Ren nodded as he listened to the MDT. Lily found it kind of creepy. She tucked her tail between her legs, pulled on Hao Ren’s sleeve and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Building a database,” Hao Ren said. He noticed that Lily found it creepy. He touched her head as he laughed and explained, “There are too many unusual creatures on Earth. And they have mutated over so many generations, so it’s hard to match them to their old ancestors in The Plane of Dreams. I think we should set up a similar species archive and count them. Then, we can compare the unusual creatures in The Plane of Dreams with those on Earth, and probably trace back their genes or something like that. I may find the traces of these species over the past 10,000 years.”

Lily looked at Hao Ren in amazement and said, “Ah, I suddenly find that you’re very smart!”

Hao Ren scratched his face awkwardly and said, “I just thought of it two days ago. I have to do something so that I can become their permanent employee. And at the moment, I’m really curious about unusual creatures. I want to investigate it with my own ability—then I can at least be more confident when I ask for a bonus from Raven.”

Lily stuck her tongue out and said, “It sounds good. Feels like Frankenstein on TV… There’s an evil feeling.”

Hao Ren really admired Lily’s wild imagination. “Ahem… I’m doing this for Science! And haven’t you realise that I’m pure in my motives and actions?”

“Well…” said Lily, scratching her hair. Suddenly, she shook her ears and thought of something. “Hey, so this means that you’re also going to collect information on werewolves, vampires, etc? Don’t bother, I’m here! When are you going to scan me?”

Hao Ren hesitated and said, “Umm… Next time.”

“Oh!” Lily said, not giving it much thought. However, Hao Ren was breaking out in a cold sweat: he almost told her the truth! He did not plan to collect information on werewolves from Lily. God knows if a werehusky was considered a werewolf! Hao Ren felt that Lily did not possess any characterisics of a werewolf at all. She probably belonged to a new class of creature.

At least before he found a second werehusky, he would never put Lily into his database. Not for anything else, but for the preciseness of Science!

While the devise scanned Hesperides, Hao Ren and Lily began to prepare another set of improvised equipment in the basement.

He and Lily found some plastic sheets, iron pipes and steel frames from the small warehouse next door. They were now preparing to make a small cubicle the size of a bathroom in the corner of the basement. Luckily, the basement was quite large. Inside it, there were areas for Vivian to sleep and put those dormant chambers. There was still an unoccupied space the size of a living room, so the cubicle would not occupy too much of the basement. He then removed some of the desktop-sized discs from his Dimensional Pocket as well as some pre-fabricated parts, and placed them in the centre of the unoccupied space. The disc-shaped objects were made of silvery-white metal. They were exquisite and looked high-tech; their surface shimmered with blue lines, much like the style of equipment on the Petrachelys.

Lily looked at these objects in a strange manner and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Creating a teleportation portal.” Hao Ren released something from his Dimensional Pocket as he spoke.

This time, it was a fierce-looking robotic squid!

This was the self-regulating robot that Hao Ren brought from the Petrachelys. Hao Ren had been keeping this in his Dimensional Pocket in case he needed it, and now, it finally came in handy. The scary-looking creature made a series of jabbers. It started assembling the equipment on the ground under Hao Ren’s instructions, quickly turning it into a teleportation platform about two metres in diameter. Then, it began waving its tentacles around the platform, tapping it here and there to adjust it. Finally, it started the programming of the teleportation device and disappeared in front of Hao Ren as well as Lily.

After a few seconds, the teleportation platform was lit again and the robotic squid was teleported back from somewhere. It waved its tentacles up and down at Hao Ren, jabbering about the success of the teleportation.

“This thing can lead to the ecological area in the Petrachelys.” Hao Ren pointed to the teleportation platform and explained, “I got clearance from the authorities two days ago. We can enter our spaceship via this platform. In case I’m not at home and you’re all in an emergency, you can escape the house using this platform.”

Hao Ren was basically upgrading the hardware for his “base camp”. Lily jumped up happily and said, “Hey hey! This feels like a secret base. It’s so exciting!”

“Calm down.” Hao Ren pushed Lily’s head down to stop her from jumping and then, he said, “Let’s cover it first. This stuff will keep glowing when it’s on standby. It’ll disturb Vivian’s sleep.”

Lily immediately rolled up her sleeves and began to bend the steel pipe from the warehouse into proper parts. The MDT had completed its scanning of Hesperides’ data and it finally began to check her wounds. Shortly after, it found something unexpected. “Ah, Hao Ren, come and have a look, there’s something stuck in her head…”

Chapter 317: Is That How You Perform the Operation?

 

Hao Ren heard the call of the MDT and ran towards it. The MDT projected a set of holographic projections in the air, which showed scanned images of Hesperides’ wound. They could see a very clear silvery-white, triangular object in the depths of the horrifying, piercing wound. Hao Ren was stunned for a moment before realising what it was. “…The heck, the arrow from thousands of years ago is still stuck inside?”

“It’s impossible to heal the wound directly with the dormant chamber. We must perform a small operation,” The MDT opened the dormant chamber to wake Hesperides up as he spoke to Hao Ren. “The self-regulating machine can handle a simple task like this, I just don’t know if Hesperides is aware that there’s something stuck inside her head.”

At this point, the alloy hatch of the dormant chamber was completely opened. Hesperides took a deep breath and slowly awoke. She sat up and rubbed her forehead, feeling a little muddled. She then asked, “Done? Is there any way to heal the wound?”

“Do you know there’s something stuck in your head?” Hao Ren looked at the goddess, who came from almost the same era as Vivian in a bizarre manner. He found that the things he faced were getting more and more extreme by the day. “We found an arrowhead… I wonder how you survived!”

Hesperides was not surprised. She already knew about it a long time ago. “Oh, you mean this, I thought you were going to tell me something serious… I’ve known about it. It’s the one-eyed man’s arrow. With the power of exorcism, this thing’s been coated with my tissue and it’s become part of the wound. It can’t be taken out. If it wasn’t stuck in the wound, the wound would have healed.”

Stunned, Hao Ren asked, “You have a grudge against Darwin, eh?”

“No, I had a good relationship with Darwin. He’s an interesting human being. The year he died, we still contacted each other through letters.” Hesperides looked at Hao Ren with a strange expression and asked, “And what does the vitality of the otherworldlings have to do with the theory of evolution?”

“…”

Hao Ren realised that it was not wise to make such jokes in front of an unusual creature. He had learned his lesson from Vivian.

“Ehem, it’s like this, I’m going to take that arrowhead out.” Hao Ren coughed and waved to the self-regulating machine to come over. It was bored and had begun to its tentacles into a bow. “You see, I have professional equipment here…”

Hesperides was shocked when she saw the self-regulating machine, and asked, “What is this?!”

Hao Ren kept a straight face and said, “My assistant.”

Hesperides turned her head and looked around the basement, then she looked back at Hao Ren with a “you’re teasing me” look as she asked, “You made it in this place? In the Mythological Age, it took at least one factory to make such a fine magical puppet, and Hephaestus’ studio was at least 20 times bigger than yours—plus, I reckon he couldn’t make such a complicated thing either. Are you an elder as well?”

Hao Ren spread his hands and said, “Since there were also magical puppets in the Mythological Age, it’s easier for you to grasp the concept. Anyway, you can try understanding it in your way. There are a lot of things that’s hard for me to explain to you. And one more thing, do you want an operation?”

Hesperides touched her wound and looked at the robotic squid with a weird expression. Although the squid’s tentacles looked very flexible, the equipment at the tip of tentacles looked very fine, and the various devices in the basement looked amazing… it did not stop her from feeling unconvinced! She looked at Hao Ren and said solemnly, “If you think you can heal my wound simply by pulling the arrowhead out, you’re wrong. If it was that easy, I can even grab a human doctor to do the surgery; my own vitality will guarantee a 100% success rate for any operation. But this arrowhead is special, and taking it out will only cause more trouble.”

After Hesperides explained the special condition of her wound, Hao Ren finally understood some of the more formidable abilities of the senior demon hunter: The arrowhead had an “Endless Pursuit” attribute. It was going to be very hard to take it out.

The arrowhead had merged into the tissues around the wound. Not to mention, the mystical powers of exorcism on the arrowhead had also infected and altered the physical form of her tissue through a gradual transition of alienation. The arrowhead was now almost part of Hesperides’ body so, first and foremost, cutting it down would be a problem. Second, even if you removed the arrowhead, it would try to return to its original position—and they could not find a solution for that.

“When you take it out, it will fly back in again,” Hesperides pointed to her forehead and told him the horrifying story indifferently, “and it can possibly be stuck a little bit deeper at a different angle when it flies back in—it could kill me. Many years ago I tried to pull it out by myself, and I almost lost my life.”

“Such a crazy ability…” Hao Ren’s mouth was agape and he was tongue-tied. “They’re born to kill people, right?”

“Unless you can remove the mark on my body, don’t touch the arrowhead. Taking it out will only bring me more damage.” Hesperides sighed. “In fact, I didn’t hold much hope in the first place. It’s just that you were so highly praised by Vivian, and I thought you knew some secret skills that only wizards would know… Look like it’s just surgery. Then, I’ll tell you frankly that surgery doesn’t work.”

At this juncture, the MDT suddenly said, “It’s not really difficult to remove an exorcism mark.”

Hao Ren and Hesperides immediately stared at the MDT. The Mobile Data Terminal deliberately paused for a little while and then, it slowly explained, “The power of God can dispel any magical effect that is inferior to it. Just find a thing with the mark of a true god and let Hesperides hold it. The mark of the demon hunter on her will then fade away. Of course, this dispelling effect works all round. Hesperides’ magical abilities will also be temporarily sealed for a while, but this is a small problem.”

Hao Ren stomped impatiently and yelled, “You don’t say! Where am I going to find an artifact? Don’t tell me you want Raven 12345 to come and help us?”

The MDT hit Hao Ren twice and said, “Stupid, go and take your labour contract.”

“Huh?”

“Madam Raven’s signature is on it!”

Hao Ren looked dazed when he took out a few pieces of poor quality paper from his Dimensional Pocket. This was the labour contract he had signed with the Space Administration, and he kept it well. He unfolded the paper, looked at the crooked handwriting of the “real god” amusingly and said, “Stop joking. This thing…”

“What’s wrong with it? There’s a god’s name on it! And it’s written by the goddess herself—do you think lowly of her blessings?” The MDT was feeling much disdain at Hao Ren’s rigid thinking. “Who told you the artifact had to be cool and polished? How about those gods who have problems in their aesthetic view, those who have bad handwriting, and live a sloppy life? Do they have to learn fine arts for three years, carving for four years, iron forging for five years and practice signing for two months before they become gods?”

Hao Ren was confused by the MDT’s bombardment of words. In the end, he had no choice but to hand over the contract to Hesperides. He said, “Umm… How about you try holding it?”

Hesperides looked at Hao Ren sceptically as she took the low quality pieces of papers from him and said, “You want me to hold these papers and believe that they can erase the demon hunter’s mark that’s been entrenched in me for thousands of years? Then you’ll just cut my skull open and take out the arrowhead?”

Hao Ren sighed and said, “Forget it, I don’t believe it too. A long time ago, there used to be an unrestrained surgeon like this and he ended up killed by Cao Cao¹.”

“Of course… Wait, I believe it!” Hesperides was about to pass the papers back to Hao Ren when she suddenly had a look of surprise on her face. She took off her lace headband and the silver glow was fading. The wound that had never healed for thousands of years was fading! “I don’t care what it is… it works! I can feel the power of the demon hunter subsiding!”

“It really works?!” Hao Ren and Lily looked at each other as they said in unison.

“Of course. When have I ever lied to you?” The MDT hit Hao Ren on the head and said, “Remember, a god’s name is a god’s name. It doesn’t matter how weird he or she is, the power of God itself will not change! What are you waiting for? Go and perform the surgery!”

At this point, Raven 12345’s signature had begun to release a light blue glow. Even as an outsider who did not know magic and divine power, Hao Ren could feel the atmosphere in the air changing rapidly. Some kind of heart-throbbing divine pressure, together with the aura of Raven 12345 were gradually filling the basement. Although it was a pity that this powerful aura was coming from a few pieces of A4 printing paper rather than some sort of scripture, no doubt that the goddess’ name had come into effect!

Hao Ren and Lily quickly helped Hesperides, who became powerless due to the effect. They got her into the dormant chamber and left the rest to the robotic squid. Both of them observed the operation from afar.

After the robotic squid and dormant chamber were connected, Hesperides’ physiological structure and endurance were confirmed, and the surgical plan was quickly developed. The robotic squid said something and two of its tentacles flashed. Then, poof! It entered the dormant chamber.

The basement was immediately filled with splashing gold sparks and noises of the electric saw as well as electric drill. The place sounded like a furniture factory rushing to get work done.

Hao Ren and Lily were speechless.

“The f*ck, this doesn’t sound right!” Hao Ren’s face turned pale. It did not sound like an operation, but more like opening a hole in a steel plate. Nonetheless, the MDT still comforted him and said, “Don’t worry, the thunder giant’s body structure is not the same as that of a human being’s—you can’t open her titanium alloy skull without using the air hammer and electric drill…”

Lily tucked her tail and hid behind Hao Ren as she asked, “Landlord, why do I find it quite scary?”

Hao Ren drew his neck back and said, “Shhh, it’s for the sake of Science…”

Chapter 318: Some Wounds Can Be Mended, Some Can’t.

 

A friendly reminder, unless you’re sure that you’re a real superhuman, you can never trust a quack doctor who is trying to give you a craniotomy with an electric drill and electric saw—of course, theoretically, such quack doctors would get themselves killed whenever they step out their house.

Anyway, Lily did not think her landlord was a good doctor. He had nothing to do with a doctor at all. What happened in front of them did not look like ‘treating’ a patient but more like a machine was repairing another machine. Look at the slashing sparks and you know that this has zero relation with medical science. As a veteran vet, Lily thought she could still consider herself as a medical practitioner, so she decided that she would never discuss saving people with Hao Ren in the future …

She would not talk about saving the dogs with him as well.

“It’s a very sophisticated, safe and very scientific process,” the MDT explained. “The dormant chamber provides a powerful anesthetic and life-sustaining environment, which can be utilised even when the chamber is open. Additionally, the precision in which the robotic squid can operate is down to the microscopic level. Hesperides’ physical strength denotes that she can withstand such degree of surgery easily, so the whole process is in a safe and controlled state. The reason why you don’t find it right is because the Storm Colossi bloodline has brought us a patient whose skeleton is just too strong—but thanks to that skeleton, her head didn’t explode when she was shot by the demon hunter. Now, let’s move on to the next step. We’ll use a small range, directional explosion to clean up the necrotic tissue… Hey, why are the both of you so quiet?”

Hao Ren proceeded to lower his head and numbly pluck the fur on Lily’s tail. He then said, “Don’t speak, I need to calm down.”

Lily pulled her tail back and said, “Don’t touch it! I want to keep it so that I can pluck it when I’m bored!”

Hao Ren replied, “…I was just kidding around… But, hasn’t your tail always been your treasure? How can you pluck its fur?”

Lily put on a long face and hugged her tail, petting the charred hair that was about a third burnt. “It’s burnt in this part anyway. Clean it up so there’s room for new fur.”

While they were talking, the “operation” finally stopped. The robotic squid jabbered happily and drifted aside. The MDT flew over to take a look, and then it deliberately declared in a rigid voice, “The operation has been successfully completed. The patient’s physiological characteristics are stable and her emotional state is steady. Who’s going to clean up?”

Hao Ren and Lily quickly ran to the chamber to check on Hesperides’ situation. It turned out that the situation was much better than expected. Plus, there was not even a lot of blood in the dormant chamber. It appeared that the robotic squid had use certain methods to achieve a perfect hemostasis. While Hesperides rested and breathed steadily in the coffin, the wound on her forehead began to gradually heal. When the forced dormancy effect was turned off, Hesperides took a deep breath, opened her eyes slowly, rolled her eyeballs and sat up straight. “Done?”

Hao Ren pointed to her forehead and said, “Confirm it for yourself.”

Hesperides touched the hole on her head and dug into it carelessly. Her action frightened Hao Ren and Lily, and gave them goosebumps. But, she did not seem to feel anything. When she touched her wound and found that it was healing fast, she dug deeper and found no arrowhead inside. She was pleasantly surprised and breathed a sigh of relief. “Unexpectedly… it’s healing!”

Then, she jumped out of the chamber and looked at the equipment as well as the robotic squid that was wiping its tentacles. She was in a state of disbelief, and said, “What should I say… The situation here is messy, but it actually solved the problem!”

Hao Ren laughed and nodded. To be honest, he also found the whole process incredible. But in the end, he could only attribute it to two factors: the insanely strong body of Hesperides and the power of the goddess, Raven 12345 who never played by the rules. Anyway, things relevant to these two points never developed normally. And this time, these two points collided, so it was gratifying to see that nothing bad happened.

“This is the arrowhead taken out from your head.” Hao Ren beckoned the robotic squid to come over and took a long, narrow, triangular piece of metal from it. The arrowhead was only an inch long and it was shimmering with a slight silvery glow. He handed it to Hesperides and asked, “You still need it? I’ll keep it for research if you don’t need it anymore.”

Hesperides looked at it with a weird expression and said, “It’s been with me for thousands of years…”

Hao Ren was quite shocked and said, “Don’t tell me you have feelings for this stuff?! I can cure the physical wound but there’s nothing I can do for the psychological wound!”

“You can keep it,” Hesperides said and smiled. Hao Ren noticed a slight change in her temperament. The gloomy feeling had subsided a lot and it was replaced with a peaceful, slightly energetic feeling. It was as if the arrowhead in her brain had affected the evening goddess under normal circumstances. She pushed the arrow back to Hao Ren, then solemnly bowed and thanked him, “Thank you, wizard. Although I always find you very suspicious from head to toe, you’re actually the first trustworthy person I’ve met since the end of the Mythological Age. In this terrible age, there are not many people like you who are willing to help others sincerely.”

Hao Ren did not know how to answer her, so he just smiled and carefully put the arrowhead into his Dimensional Pocket. He would study it when he was free.

The three of them then left the basement. At this time, Vivian had just cleaned the furniture in the living room. She looked at Hao Ren curiously and asked, “What were you doing down there? Why did it sound like a construction site?”

“…”

Hesperides pointed to her forehead and said, “He was treating me, you see.”

“Treating you? Using an electric saw?” Vivian mumbled as she twisted the rag in her hand. But when she saw Hesperides’ forehead, she was surprised, and asked, “Hold on… The hole has been filled?”

“It’s an engineering marvel.” Hao Ren put his hands on his back, pretending to be very knowledgeable. He nodded his head as he spoke inscrutably, “Although, it’s difficult to ascribe it to Medical Science.”

“What kind of weird things were you doing?” Vivian looked at Hao Ren doubtfully, then waved her hand and said, “Forget it, you always do something surprising. Anyway, Hesperides, you can be happy now since this trip wasn’t wasted. Let me make a few specialty dishes for you to celebrate.”

Hesperides looked pleasantly surprised by Vivian’s offer. As her friend for many years (although they only met each other about once or twice every century), she knew that this weird vampire was a good cook. At the same time, she also knew how precious it was for Vivian to treat her—after all, most of the time, Vivian could not even afford to buy vegetables. This was big news to Hesperides and she thought of spreading it after she got back.

But Hao Ren looked outside and realised that the sun was setting. It was now evening and a lot of places in his big house were still waiting to be cleaned. He was worried that Vivian would not be able to handle the workload, so he said, “How about tomorrow? I’m worried that you’ll be worn out.”

Vivian smiled, pointed towards the direction of the bathroom and said, “Don’t worry, Nangong Wuyue just developed a new function. She can handle some of the cleaning tasks from now on.”

Just as Vivian finished talking, Hao Ren noticed the bathroom door being pushed open. Nangong Wuyue, who was still in the shape of a sea serpent crawled out in a slithering motion. Her three or four-metre-long was wrapped in a damp cloth at every half metre. The siren maiden then slid in an S-shaped motion from the bathroom to the living room, and the places where she passed became spotless.

On top of that, she dried the floor and released oxygen-enriched ions at the same time

Lil Pea also followed her and had fun. The little kid tied a handkerchief on her tail, trying to keep up with Nangong Wuyue’s pace. She left her tailprints on the floor instead.

Hao Ren turned his head to looked at Hesperides, who was touching the little scar on her forehead, and he thought: Well, the wound on this sister’s head is healed, but what can I do to mend the hole in the brain of these weirdos in the house?

Shortly after, Rollie, who had been wandering outside for several days finally came home. First, Rollie had to greet Lil Pea, then Lily had to greet Rollie. The strange landlord and strange tenants in this big house were finally gathered together. They chatted until long into the night before they all went back to their rooms.

The next morning, Hao Ren began writing the report for his operation. He felt that he had to let Raven 12345 know about what was going on in the Athens sanctuary.

Chapter 319: Your New Car

 

Hao Ren had compiled a report of what he saw and heard in Athens, especially about the Sacred Relic of Origins and the Day of Return. After doing so, he sent it to Raven 12345. He was now idle at home. But, he was planning to study the stuff he had brought out from the sanctuary once the research facility was ready.

The research lab was not on Earth though.

The Sacred Relic of Origins he had brought back from the ruins was huge and his house was too small for it to fit. Besides, there were other samples waiting to be analysed. He needed a dedicated research facility that was hidden and could even stand natural disasters. He had thought of many options; an underground factory, a coal mine—places like that, but they were all unreliable. Drawing from the mistake of the sorcerers who were blown to the high heavens by explosives in their sleep, he made up his mind; he was going to place his lab as far away as possible, for example, aboard his spacecraft on the Kuiper Belt.

Living on Earth, but conducting research on the Kuiper Belt; Hao Ren felt this was something he could brag about: look, my house is big, isn’t it? Everytime I wake up in the morning, I have to use the gateway to travel from my bedroom to the lab; the rocket is way too slow…

The night before, he had fixed a teleportation device in his basement. He felt that he was becoming more familiar and experienced in the job. He had to travel frequently—sometimes with his tenants—to his spacecraft. The MDT was not a good choice. It was an uncomfortable experience and its physical presence was needed to do the teleportation; with these limitations, he finally decided to install a dedicated gateway in his own house. Once the gateway was up and running, he sent everything including the Sacred Relic of Origins, which was in the Dimensional Pocket to the garage on the Petrachelys. The autonomous robots had already set up a scientific lab on the spacecraft, so everything was ready. The robotic squids would conduct a preliminary analysis on the Sacred Relic of Origin, and the onboard factory would make the necessary tools for research. Meanwhile, all Hao Ren had to do was wait—wait for the the lab report.

Hesperides had completely recovered from the “millennial hole” in her head as the demon hunter’s spell was removed. The only problem: she was weak as a baby. God’s name had not only dispelled the demon hunter’s spell, it had also cancelled out Hesperides’ magical strength. She probably needed a couple of days before she could regain her strength. Meanwhile, Vivian was hoping this old friend of hers would stay a few more days so that they could catch up on the old days. Hence, Hesperides really had no choice but to stay.

Of course, Hao Ren had no problem with that since it would be on the Space Administration’s expense. Furthermore, he could not wait for his house to achieve 100% occupancy rate.

Just as long as she did not cause any trouble.

It was nine something in the morning. Lily was out on house call. Y’zaks had gone for job interviews and was probably scaring the hell of out the pretty receptionists now. Becky and Nangong Wuyue too, had gone out early in the morning, God knows where they were at this point. The house had a rare moment of serenity when those creatures were not home—a perfect time for Hao Ren to do what he needed to do as a dad: educate Lil Pea.

It had been some time since Lil Pea was hatched. Hao Ren had basically figured out the little mermaid’s habits and characteristics; aside from an occasional defiance, she was just like any other kid. Sure, in terms of cognition, she was out of the ordinary—she understood words not long after birth and her intelligence was clearly a few notches higher than that of normal human kids.

So, Hao Ren had a busy day educating Lil Pea. He held her in his hand as he stared at her big eyes with a retarded smile on his face. “Say Dad-dee.”

Lil Pea’s braininess was obvious. She was a quick learner too. She wagged her tail and Hao Ren got two free slaps on the face. She then said in a crisp voice, “Say Dad-dee!”

Something must be wrong with my method, he thought. He awkwardly put the little one down and pointed at himself. “Dad-dee!”

“Oh.”

Hao Ren was speechless.

Both of them were engaged in this word-wrestling for like half an hour. Now you see, raising children is hard labour, especially when the kid is clearly smarter than you. No one knew where the small fry learned her wittiness from!

But, Hao Ren enjoyed it. In fact, he loved it. He liked playing the giddy goat with the little mermaid, enjoying the process as he taught her. However, Lil Pea got bored very quickly. She suddenly spotted something. She jumped down from the tea table and scurried over to the TV cabinet, biting the power strip underneath. Hao Ren was totally overwhelmed by her cuteness, his heart blooming with joy. “Hey… look at you. But that thing isn’t edible, you know!”

He had to pluck Lil Pea down from the power strip and he was shocked to discover the internal copper wire exposed.

“You should have taught her some life skills so that she won’t be so defiant,” Vivian said, coming up with an intarsia box in her hand. “Didn’t the goddess say when the going gets tough, the tough gets the mermaid going? Lil Pea may still have her teeth grinding habit; I saw her biting on the cooking gas cylinder this morning only to find that it was too hard to gnaw.”

Hao Ren had cold sweat flowing down his forehead. He asked, “This kid was that brutal?”

Vivian nodded before taking out a tape measure to measure Lil Pea. The little one laughed and flinched from the itch. Vivian threw Hao Ren a look and said, “Please keep her still.”

Hao Ren held her still, but asked, “What are you planning to do?”

“I’m going to make her a couple of new dresses.” She measured her chest and the length of her body. “Haven’t you noticed that she’s grown a little?”

Speaking of which, he indeed realised that Lil Pea felt a little weightier than before. He asked, “Do mermaids grow taller or longer?”

Vivian looked down at Lil Pea, exhanging looks with her before saying, “…Longer, I guess.”

Blinking and staring at the adults, Lil Pea flapped her tail a few times as if to tell them, yes, she had grown longer.

A sudden jingle came from the back door and a flash of white light shone through the narrow window next to it.

While Hao Ren was still wondering what had happened, the MDT called out happily, “Hey, hey, it’s your payday. Quick, check it out. Your new ride has arrived!”

Hao Ren’s face lit up. He had earlier asked for a car, which he needed for local missions. But, he put the matter on the back burner after he made the request; he figured if Raven 12345’s style was anything to go by, it would be months before anything concrete would be done. However, it was surprisingly quick this time.

With Lil Pea still in his arms, he dashed out of the back door. His new car was already waiting on the vacant spot just at the back of his house.

Hao Ren was at a lost for words.

“This is good stuff.” The MDT followed him to the back of the house, talking like a shrewd businessman. “An inspector is supposedly not entitled to a car, but Madam Raven asked one of her friends to design one for you. It’s a special privilege. The car has a strong shield, much stronger than what you have on your body. The entire car structure is built using aerospace-grade alloy; light-weight, yet strong. Its power source is a military-grade psionic reactor, you won’t have to worry about refueling until the end of the world. It’s got bold lines and looks graceful too; it’s also got a panaromic-view cockpit, CVT transmission, smart satnav, climate control, space expansion device and most important of all, it looks perfectly earthly so you don’t have to worry about attracting unwanted attention…”

Hao Ren was still silent. When the MDT finished, Hao Ren flung it out with a snap. “Please tell me what the heck is with this design?”

Still on its way out, the MDT replied, “What’s under the hood is more important!”

“Hood my foot! This thing can’t even go on to the Third Ring Road!” Hao Ren was mad. “Don’t you know that tricycles are banned from entering the city?”

Chapter 320: Deficiency in Aesthetic Perception

 

The specifications and features the MDT described may have been true. Hao Ren believed that as far as the immortals in the Space Administration were concerned, a faster-than-light tricycle car was entirely normal. Nothing was impossible when A4 paper could be used as a holy covenant. But even then, he still could not accept the fact that the Space Administration had given him a three-wheeler…

He looked at the car that the Space Administration granted him—it had a sparkling silver, boxy body with an arcuate front. Although it only had three wheels, it looked really stable. He peeked inside through the glass window and saw the brand new handlebar with its accelerator as well as the superluminal drive control panel. The MDT did not lie. This thing did have bold lines and all-around panoramic windows with excellent visibility—because, it was a tricycle car.

But he would receive a 50 $ fine if he drove this thing anywhere near the Third Ring Road in the city.

“Actually, this thing looks pretty good.” The MDT knocked the window of the tricycle and the shield was triggered instantly as waves of riddled across the agitated glass. “Madam Raven has admired human-made vehicles like this for a long time…”

Hao Ren slammed his hand on the tricycle. “So, she’s one of the immortals there who’s got a problem in aesthetic perception, eh? No, I’m not going to accept this thing. The Petrachelys was at least okay with its look and I could bear with it. But this thing… I mean, are you asking me to save the world riding in this tricycle? Perhaps only the world outside the Third Ring Road huh.”

Still in Hao Ren’s arms, Lil Pea poked her head out, curious about everything that was going on. She spotted the sparkling vehicle and became interested. She jumped down and made two rounds around the front wheel before she began to nibble it. But, two bites on the wheel and she was already crying; she almost broke her teeth.

Hao Ren quickly took Lil Pea back in his arms, comforting her before passing her over to Vivian. “Keep her inside the house. It’s freaking cold outside.”

“You don’t like the look?” the MDT asked haplessly. Nonetheless, Hao Ren was adamant. He said, “Why don’t I get you a Pleasant Goat¹ cover then?”

The MDT was not amused. “Well, let’s see who’s going to be embarrassed, since you’re the user.”

“…”

“It’s okay if don’t like it.” The MDT sighed like a human. “I knew it. Madam Raven’s enthusiasm always falls short at the end. Nevertheless, this car is reconfigurable. Just place your hand on the front windshield.”

Hao Ren did as he was told. Ripples were instantly tiggered across the windshield and a flashing screen emerged. The MDT explained, “It’s a mind control thing. Just browse for the reconfiguration or mimetic function, then choose whatever designs you like.”

“You should’ve told me earlier,” Hao Ren complained, but eagerly browsed through the images. However, the more he saw, the more dumbfounded he became. “Tractor, excavator, infantry fighting vehicle, hovercraft, Type 59 tank, flatbed truck… and a wheelchair?! Seriously? That goddess… Which designer did she use?”

“No idea. Probably she did it herself but someone else manufactured it.” The MDT smiled wryly. “Just scroll till the end, you may just find one that you like.”

Hao Ren scrolled till the end and found one image. This one looked barely acceptable. He told himself that it was at least better than a tricycle.

Then the magic happened: the tricycle began to transform. It looked like it wasmelting into a pool of liquid, except more mushy. Upon closer inspection, what looked like liquid was not actually liquid, but fine powder. The powder was moving like a liquid under the influence of magnetic energy. The silvery-white, “metal powder solution” began to rise from its centre and quickly reshaped itself. The process was complete with details and colours.

But all it took to complete the transformation was a few seconds. And, presto! It was done.

Hao Ren’s jaw almost dropped to the ground. He let out a long sigh and said, “Northstar is at least cooler than a tricycle…”

“Oh, here’s the warning for users: during the morphing stage, make sure no living thing or expensive object is left inside the car,” The MDT said in realisation. “If you really want to store anything, use the cargo holds under the driver’s seat and at the back of the rear passenger seat. They can fit hundreds of cubic metres of stuff.”

Hao Ren asked, “What happens if things are left outside the cargo hold?”

“They’ll be broken down and discharged into the void,” The MDT replied. “Of course, the car has a safety function. It can detect large life form in the cabin and sound the alarm. But, many rare and unusual life forms may not be detected at all. The OS of this thing is chosen by Madam Raven, so expect it to be a little buggy. In spite of that, you can rest assured that she won’t make major mistakes.”

Hao Ren became nervous. “It’s that dangerous? What do I do if it suddenly changes shape while I’m driving?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Only you can initiate its mimicry function. It’s foolproof.”

Feeling relieved, Hao Ren looked at his new car happily. Compared to the three-wheeler, he was pretty happy with the Northstar even though it looked clumsy and boxy. It came complete with a licence plate and vehicle inspection sticker. He did not have to worry about that now and he was just thinking about taking the car for a spin.

He also wanted to give Vivian a ride, letting the poor vampire experience what it was like being chauffeured in a car even though it was just a Northstar.

But something unexpectedly came up; as he was walking around admiring his new ride, a report came in from the Petrachelys: the science lab was up and ready to run analysis on the Sacred Relic of Origins.

Hao Ren hurried back into the house, looking for Vivian. Laughing and talking with Hesperides, she was holding a basin full of water in her hands. She was giving Lil Pea a bath. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“The research lab is ready.” Hao Ren glanced at Hesperides, figuring he better not say anything about the spacecraft. “I’m going to the lab. Are you free? I may need your help.”

“Yeah, why not?” Vivian answered, still cleaning Lil Pea up. She turned and looked at Hesperides as though she just thought of something. She asked Hao Ren, “Can I bring her along? She could be of help too you know. She might remember something I don’t.”

Hesperides stared at them cluelessly. “What are you talking about? Is this some kind of secret or what? I can excuse myself if you want.”

Hao Ren pondered about it. Since Hesperides had already seen the hibernation chamber and autonomous robots, it made no difference now to let her her see more as long as it did not expose the Space Administration. So, he waved to Hesperides and said, “It’s classified. But, there’s no harm in you knowing. We’re studying something about demon hunters. You’re welcome to join us if you’re free. We might need you.”

Hesperides got on her feet, smiling. “Oh, it’s my pleasure. Just consider it as me returning the favour.”

Hao Ren nodded. As he was about to go down to the basement, Vivian stopped him and pointed at Lil Pea, saying, “Take her with you.”

Hao Ren noticed that Lil Pea was staring and drooling over the power socket in the corner of the wall. His blood froze. He made up his mind to take Lil Pea with him. Vivian had left a note on the table, telling Lily and the rest where the both of them were going.

The three of them—and the fish, went down to the basement. Vivian looked at the teleportation gateway, the steel pipe cubicle and particle boards, erected just metres away from her bed. She could not help asking, “I wanted to ask yesterday; who designed this?”

Hao Ren answered cluelessly, “Lily built it by hand. I designed it. I was afraid that the light emitted from the gateway might disrupt your sleep.”

Vivian sighed then said, “That’s so kind of you, but don’t you realise that the thing looks like a loo?”

“…”

He suddenly came to a realisation that he may just have the same deficiency in aesthetic perception as Raven 12345, because the gateway indeed looked like a damn loo!