The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 339

Chapter 339: Want to Go Home? Keep Dreaming!

The four ascetics and Hao Ren decided to stay in the eco-zone at Kuiper Station for a few days. After all, they had nothing to do back home. However, the space station was a quiet place. Although the material supply was adequate, it was monotonous. Nonetheless, this was not a problem. They were going to be there just for a short while, and the thrill as well as the excitement of living in space were enough to keep the country bumpkins busy and not complain about food. Lily for one was pretty satisfied. She would bother Lulu from time to time, and sometimes hang around the tourist corridor, staring at the spaceships.

The four ascetics had been calm in all the different situations they faced. In fact, Hao Ren had not seen the four weird individuals since he let Lulu arrange the accommodation. They constantly hid themselves in their room, meditating or studying mysterious and ancient stuff. They would only briefly appear and take what looked like a minimum ration of food and water. Then, they would go back to their cave—so to speak—and continued doing what they were doing. It was unclear what was so interesting about their monotonous way of life, but the four monks seemed to enjoy it very much. Hao Ren felt he could really connect with them, so he let them be.

They were actually waiting for the large teleportation gateway to arrive in Kuiper Station. The gateway was custom-made under the order of Raven 12345. It was unsuitable for Earth and could only be placed in Kuiper Station; transportation was handled by a chartered civilian company.

During the two days of waiting, Hao Ren had basically spent all his time with Lil Pea. Since the hiccup incident a couple of days ago, Lil Pea did not have any other signs of unusual behaviour. She hiccuped no more, and there were no more involuntary teleportations. But, they were still worried, so Hao Ren and Nangong Wuyue had been keeping an eye on the little mermaid. The little mermaid seemed to have forgotten what had happened to her days ago. The MDT was right; the experiment did not have any side effects, it just gave the little mermaid more vitality.

Hao Ren knew he did not know how to train Lil Pea in mastering her telekinetic ability. He could only do his best to educate her and let her know that she had some amazing, but still uncontrollable ability. For now, he could only prep her mentally for more abilities, so perhaps she understood what he was saying.

On the third day, a huge, red cargo spaceship docked at Connection Port One. The cargo ship had a strange, flamboyant heraldry, from which the engineering team and several imperial autonomous robots emerged. They were escorting the integrated cabins to the station, deliverying them to the inspector. The equipment had arrived.

Hao Ren, his team and the little green people hustled to the connection port. A young chap with black hair, dressed in a foreign military outfit had been waiting in front of the cargo ship. Hao Ren immediately knew this young chap and his men were no ordinary civilian transporters. Even though they came in a commercial ship, their pressed military outfits and their mannerisms were telling that they were special. As he had expected, the young chap gave a standard military salute when he saw them, but Hao Ren was unsure which civilisation sphere the he came from. The young man’s voice was loud. “Sergeant Param of Fairy Void Consortium, deliverying cargo to the Xi Ling outpost. Kindly check before accepting.”

Lily said something, which sounded like an “okay”. She looked excited. “It’s a soldier! The soldiers are delivering the cargo! That’s so cool!”

Hao Ren glanced at the young chap. “I’ve heard of the Fairy Void Consortium. But, why is it military?”

The young chap’s face relaxed and he began to smile very politely. “Fairy Void Consortium is a state consortium set up by our head of state. It’s partly owned by the military, so all large cargos are handled by us. Basically, only we have the ability to handle escort missions of Category A and above in the Xi Ling Empire.”

“I see.” Pretending to know everything, Hao Ren nodded, but in his mind he wondered about the diversity of the multiverse. He looked up at the huge equipment requested by the MDt and commissioned by Raven 12345: it was a 3m x 3m x 3m cube of silver and it looked very much like a regular capsule room, instead it was glimmering with light. There were 10 of them lined up on the cargo platform. The MDT then proceeded to explain, “We only need three actually. The rest are back-ups. It’s modular and it has auto sync, so there’s no need for calibration. It has hibernation pods in there too. I guess you already know how to use it, right? Simply put, the operation of the device has been simplified for ease of use, and enhancements have been made for a more stable connectivity with The Plane of Dreams. There are other equipment being manufactured right now as we speak. They are ready to be sent here on request. Madam Raven ordered for a new building to be built to store these gateways in the Kuiper Station.”

Suddenly, Hao Ren had a weird feeling and he furrowed his eyebrows. “Why do I feel like Raven 12345 has something big coming up?”

The MDT smiled dryly. “God knows. Since you can’t do anything about it, why not close your eyes and enjoy it. If you can’t really enjoy it, at least let yourself die as a martyr. I will request to resurrect you after that.”

“…”

By now, the young sergeant from Fairy Void Consortium had finished the handover procedures. He took out a glowing tab and approached Hao Ren. “I know you’re busy, so let’s make this quick. Just place your hand here for a palm scan, then you’re good to go.”

Hao Ren was a little stunned. “What’s this? We have never been required to do this before.”

“All large consignments need the recipient’s personal acknowledgement for record purposes.” The young sergeant smiled. “Void Courier? No Worries. Fairy Void, the brand with 10,000 years of reputation and dedication.”

“…”

The cubes were temporarily moved to storage in the space station, and the relevant tasks were completed. Hao Ren got the four ascetics invited out of their rooms. Together with the little green people, Hao Ren saw a large crowd beginning to assemble in front of the silver cubes and he was riddled with emotion. It was his first time bringing so many people into The Plane of Dreams. The feeling was like leading an army for battle. All the salvaging equipment, including the Sacred Relic of Origins were temporarily stored in his Dimensional Pocket—only he could carry large items into The Plane of Dreams. Other people could bring small things on their bodies at most.

The bearded monk of course, would not let Hao Ren keep the Orb of the Holy Synod. He cuddled it in his arms.

A sense of purpose filled Hao Ren as the crowd gathered before him. “Today, we are going to take a small step into the Otherworld—”

Before he could finish, Lily howled and scurried towards a silver cube, exclaiming, “Let’s have fun in the Otherworld!”

Hao Ren murmured, “…This maiden has never been cooperative!”

Vivian patted him on the shoulder and said, “Okay, you’re done. Such much for your two hours of hardwork, preparing the script yesterday. Save it. We need to go now.”

Hao Ren shrugged. Then, he motioned the little green people and the ascetics. “Let me explain how the hibernation pod works…”

…

The Otherworld, the sun was setting by the Blood Lake.

The Beinz Blood Lake was as serene today as any other day. It was so quiet that the air felt almost stagnant. The last glimmer of sunlight was peeking out from the back of the mountain and it managed to sprinkle some glow on the lake. It produced a layer of faint red halo over the water. In this deserted part of the lakeside, the space in the air suddenly warped.

Shadows appeared in a dream-like manner in mid-air.

Becky’s voice was the first to break the serene atmosphere. “Phew… At last, I’m home. Look like I’ll have to keep dreaming from now on!”

Chapter 340: Different Opinions

According to the law of teleportation in The Plane of Dreams, the point of exit during your previous visit would become the point of entry for the next one. So, Hao Ren as the “tour guide”—so to speak, was able to bring everyone back to where he had left off the last time. Just like Earth, The Plane of Dreams was a rotating planet. Its “location memory” was not an absolute coordinate in a space, but a relative one. However, Hao Ren did not have a clue how these things actually worked. He only knew about the teleportation law and made use of it in the simplest way: every time he left The Plane of Dreams, he would choose a place that was rarely accessible, spacious and safe.

The daze from the teleportation quickly subsided. Hao Ren opened his eyes and immediately scanned his surroundings, making sure that it was where he exited before. When they did not spot any passersby,they breathed a sigh of relief. The Blood Lake was still as dead as before. The Gnarled Grove nearby was still shrouded in an atmosphere of gloominess and creepiness. It was twilight, so the atmosphere felt depressing. Lily hid her neck, saying, “I really don’t like this place.”

Hao Ren did not say a word. He just smiled. The MDT said, “The area is clear. Let Kabala and his men out.”

The MDT activated the hibernation pods in the Surface World remotely. The surrounding air warped again and the shadows of those little green men began to emerge. Hao Ren wanted the teleportation to be divided into two batches, because he was worried that they would be spotted upon arrival in The Plane of Dreams. If he was spotted, he could still explain it away, saying that he was just an inexperiened wizard. It would be hard to explain if the little green people appeared. They would be treated like some kind of monster—as you know, this dreamy world was not actually fond of aliens yet…

The little green men awoke from their daze, and were immediately amazed by their surroundings. Almost half of them were staring at the sapphire-red Blood Lake. Kabala and Tamula shouted in excitement, “Whoa! It’s a new world. The kind of world where we would never be able to go with our spaceships!”

“Yeah, this day must be remembered. I have to leave something behind…”

“Get me my flags!”

The little green people began to yank something out from their pockets. They were little golden sticks, which when deployed, turned into flags of different commonwealths. The flags came in different colours and shapes. Before Hao Ren could stop them, the little aliens had already darted towards the pebble beach to plant their flags. Hao Ren almost went bananas as he yelled at them, “Come back! Come back! Keep those things to yourselves! This place is owned…”

Noticing the nervousness on Hao Ren’s face, Lily’s canine nature was triggered. She woofed and ran over to the pebble beach, herding the little green men back up. “Stop running around. Those who don’t listen are going to be kicked out!”

Nangong Wuyue was amazed. “A husky’s a sheepdog too?”

The four ascetics had been standing next to Hao Ren for a while. They carefully scanned their surroundings, and then they lowered their head. It looked as if they were communicating with some higher beings through telepathy, before they finally acknowledged that they had indeed returned to The Plane of Dreams. Big Beardy came up to Hao Ren and performed a religious ritual in all sincerity. He then said, “This is truly our hometown. My friend, what you said is true. You’ve brought us back.”

Hao Ren was a little surprised. “What? You mean you didn’t believe what I said earlier?”

Big Beardy nodded. “Just half of it.”

Big Beardy’s frankness left Hao Ren speechless. But then again, it was normal, he thought. The ascetics were not children; they would not be intimidated that easily. They did not fully trust in Hao Ren even after they saw the experiment of the Sacred Relic of Origins and the Orb of the Holy Synod. As people shouldered with great responsibility, they should always be suspicious. It was no wonder they had been guarding the Orb so closely. They did not allow anyone to even touch it and people were only allowed to look at it from afar during the experiment. Hao Ren could not help but nod in comprehension.

“We need to return the Orb to where it’s supposed to be.” Big Beardy pointed at the sack hanging around his waist. “Besides, you need to return the Sacred Relic of Origins to us. I know we’re kind of insistant, but it belongs to the goddess. The people of the goddess should inherit it.”

Big Beardy knew his demand would quite possiblly offend other, but Hao Ren was not offended. The Sacred Relic of Origins had already been replicated, and he had a few of them lying in his spaceship. He nodded happily. “That’s okay. A promise is a promise. But before that, I need to solve the problem for the little green people first. We’re going to Leyton in a short while.”

Big Beardy understood, nodding back. Hao Ren walked up to the little green men and he could easily spot Kabala among the sea of green heads, as his head was a little faded in colour. “Your spacecraft is right at the bottom of this lake. The siren will bring us to the bottom and we have to bring the wreckage up without disturbing the structure at the bottom of the lake. I guess you know the situation down there. So, are your salvaging equipment good enough?”

Kabala swung his head proudly. “Don’t worry. The Kabala Commonwealth’s technology is flexible and reliable…”

Big Beardy came up to him. “You are going to dive to the bottom, am I right?”

Hao Ren understood that the ascetics were concerned about the operation. He nodded at Big Beardy and as if to assure him, he said, “Yes, but we have great respect for your faith. We won’t disturb the geological environment of the Blood Lake. Besides, you don’t really want a metal-pimple stuck in your holy place, do you? Let me help you get rid of it.”

This was exactly what Hao Ren had told Big Beardy, the monk before. He knew that the land had a significant meaning to the believers—it was their holy land. So, the most effective way to convince them was to look at it from their religious point of view. He did not talk about humanity, laws and stuff like that. If members of the Disciples of Glory knew that there was a sunken “foreign object” at the bottom of the holy lake, they would want it removed. Hence, with this understanding, things would be easier.

Big Beardy was silent for a while. Gazing at the Blood Lake, he said, “I know, you’ve mentioned it before. But, I still have to warn you: keep it discreet. Do not alert the other guards, because they’re not going to listen to you.”

As Big Beardy finished talking, he withdrew back to his company. The four ascetics were not going with the group as it was considered taboo to them.

Hao Ren slid a glance at the four weird fellows and his gut told him that something was not quite right with those four. The weird feeling only became stronger with time: how could the four ascetics, fanatic followers of their goddess allow the salvage operation to go on? Especially when it was blasphemous, no matter how one looked at it from the perspective of their faith.

Hao Ren was putting himself in their shoes. He did not think that any normal believers of the religion would allow pagans to send dredging equipment into their holy land.

“Something wrong?” Vivian had snuck up to Hao Ren without him realising. She knew what he was thinking. “As ascetics, they’re being too compromising.”

“Just watch your back.” Hao Ren shook his head. “They must have something else in mind. But, all we need to do is focus on our mission for now. MDT, please keep an eye on the lake bottom. If things go wrong, cut off the dream connection immediately.”

“Roger that.”

Nangong Wuyue had already shapeshifted into a siren. She entered the water, and was followed by the nervous little green men, leaving the four ascetics on the shore. Soon, the lakeside returned to its usual quietness.

They came to The Plane of Dreams using high-powered conversion equipment, so there was no more worry about being out-of-range. Even if Hao Ren, the tour guide had gone a far distance, the four ascetics on the shore would not have to worry about being kicked out of The Plane of Dreams.

The four monks waited quietly. Their faces were deadpanned and void of movement—like statues.

No one knew what was in their minds.

A long while had past when one of the monks asked, “Letting them into the holy lake, are you sure that’s okay?”

“You know it yourseld. The true holy place is not at the Blood Lake,” Big Beardy said. His eyes were still closed as if he was looking for something in the dark. “They’re pagans, but the power of the goddess has accepted them. We should not have any objections. And furthermore, the key to openthe Sacred Cave may lie with these outsiders.”

“…Then we shall wait and see.”

Chapter 341: Back to Where You Came From

The Blood Lake was calm, so calm that the surface of the ruby-red lake only had a few indiscernable ripples. However, beneath the surface, the body of water was quickly experiencing some disturbance. Nangong Wuyue had shapeshifted into a siren and she swished her tail as she led the expedition to the bottom. Behind her was a large group of little green people, Hao Ren and the rest of her buddies.

“It looks like the bottom hasn’t changed.” Hao Ren kept his eyes on the lake bottom as they descended quickly. The place appeared the same since the last time they were there. Two months had already past since then, but the search for the Orb of the Holy Synod had yet to expand to the bottom of the lake. “Wuyue, is your magic sphere still there?”

Nangong Wuyue’s long tail was swishing back and forth in front of him. She slowed down a little and said, “Yup, it’s till there. No one touched it.”

Shortly after, a soft sound was heard coming from behind them; it was Lil Pea. She rolled and swam around, overtaking Hao Ren as well as circling the team like a loach gone mad. She still remembered the last time she was there and she was happy to be back again. Nangong Wuyue looked at the little mermaid and smiled. “Mermaids belong to the water. And, she looks like she’s grown one size up again, hasn’t she? The pot’s probably a little small by now?”

Hao Ren twitched his lips. “I’ve gotten her a big aquarium, but she doesn’t seem to like it very much.”

The whole incident involving the experiment two days ago had turned Lil Pea into a focal point. No one knew when her other new abilities would manifest and throw her into danger. So, Hao Ren could not let Lil Pea out of his sight. He had to bring her along into The Plane of Dreams; the Dimensional Pocket was a great device, in which he could stuff Lil Pea and the big aquarium together.

However, the little one was so much like a wild horse, especially in the water—she would outrun everyone. In the water, no one could tame her except Nangong Wuyue.

They quickly reached the centre of the lake, where the underwater beach strewn with pebbles lay. Following the signs Nangong Wuyue left behind previously, they were able to find the site of the wreckage. A large shadow began to materialise before them and Kabala as well as the little green men sped towards it. Someone began to shout, “This is the one! This is the spaceship!”

Hao Ren came close to the wreckage and checked the surrounding area before he took things out from his Dimensional Pocket. “Let’s get to work!”

The lake bottom began to be filled with a large number of strange machinery and without wasting any time, Kabala’s salvage crew slipped into the machines. Large machines with robotic arms then began digging around the wreckage. The first step was to dislodge the spaceship from the ground; the second step would be to paste the marker beacons at key parts on the spaceship. They had been rehearsing this operation for the past two days, so the little green men were quick in their actions. It looked like the spaceship would be out of the bottom in no time.

The spaceship’s salvage operation under the lake’s complex environment was an incredible feat for the natives of The Plane of Dreams. But to Kerbalians, their technology was obviously more than enough to handle the job. Their salvaging machinery had big but snappy multi-sectional robotic arms. They had no difficulties in performing their work even under the huge water pressure. However, the movement of the machines caused quite a strong turbulence around the area and unsettled the surrounding body of water. Nangong Wuyue had anticipated this. She spread her hands out, fused with the water within the radius of several kilometres to calm the turbulence. She prevented the activity at the bottom of the lake from causing ripples on the surface.

Lily, on the other hand was paddling around the wreckage site like a pompous site supervisor. Spinning her tail like a propeller was her own original creation. Vivian could not help but scoff at her. “Can’t you just sit still? It’s alright if you can’t help, but please don’t cause trouble.”

“I’m not causing trouble!” Lily’s tail spun as she came up. She wiggled her nose and said, “I smell a weird stench nearby.”

“A weird stench?” Vivian furrowed her eyebrows. “Could it be a fuel leakage? Didn’t that already happen the last time we were here?”

Lily stretched her neck, trying to trace the source of the smell. “Nope, it’s not just that fuel smell… something else is in the water.”

Hao Ren noticed the seriousness on Lily’s face and he became instantly nervous: the husky may not have shone in other areas, but when it came to her nose, she had never messed up before. He quickly threw Nangong Wuyue a glance and said to her, “Does Lily’s nose work in the water? How sensitive is it?”

“With the help of my magic sphere, she’s as good as when she’s on dry land.” But, Nangong Wuyue shook her head and said, “However, I haven’t detected any harmful elements in the water.”

“No matter what, just be careful,” Y’zaks spoke in a soft, calm voice. “Our understanding of the lake is too little. The lake is known as a holy lake and I’m sure there’s a reason for the name. Keep an eye on your daughter; she’s defiant. But as long as she doesn’t wander off, we will have one less thing to worry about.”

A feeling of embarrassment hit Hao Ren. He quickly grabbed the little mermaid as she swam playfully around him. Catching the little mermaid under water was not as easy because it was slippery. He was thinking of bringing along a fish net next time…

Lil Pea turned her head to look at Hao Ren, curious at what was happening. She then tried to get away, but failed. Hao Ren got wise this time and he grabbed her by her upper body where it wasn’t as slippery.

Meanwhile, salvaging work was progressing pretty quickly. The little green men had not only brought their insanely powerful machines, but also a resonant dislodging device. The rocks around the spaceship had been dug out, and the sight of the spaceship rocking in the water was pretty scary. Nonetheless, the powerful digging machines used a large amount of cables to keep the wreckage from rolling down the top of the rock formation.

Once the body of the spaceship was out of the rocky bottom, another team of Kerbalian engineers rode in their mini, oval-shaped machines, ready to proceed with the second step of their salvage operation. They began to affix a metal devices, which glowed with a silver light on different parts of the spaceship’s body. The metal devices had the stylings of the Xi Ling Empire. Their silver, metal surface had a moving blue light and it looked especially beautiful yet strange in the blood-red lake water. These little devices were the key to bringing the whole spaceship out of The Plane of Dreams.

The little green people did not need to haul the spaceship out of the water. They just needed to place enough markers on the wreckage. These marker beacons were specially made for this operation. They were auxillary devices that came together with the silver cubes and they possessed the function of transferring large-sized cargo from The Plane of Dreams. It was so much easier to bring stuff out than send stuff into The Plane of Dreams. That was why Hao Ren was not worried about leaving Big Beardy and company on the shore. The whole salvage operation would not take a very long time.

“Watch out, be careful… Keep an eye on the cable. Maintain the tension… Pull it up a little…” The engineering head was issuing his final instructions. Knowing that the salvage operation was almost done, Kabala swam up to Hao Ren and said, “It’s about time to begin the teleportation.”

Hao Ren nodded in acknowledgement. “We’re not going out with you. The crew in Kuiper Station will assist you once you’re back out. The wreckage will be sent directly to the main maintenance dock in the space station. Lulu will lead you over there.”

“Thank you very much for your help.” Kabala rocked his head as he said, “By the way, could we stay a little while longer so that we can sightsee a little? We’ll just linger near the orbit.”

Hao Ren rolled his eyes. “Just leave!”

The wreckage was finally beacon-marked. The beacons flashed in unison for 10 seconds before the wreckage and the little green people slowly vanished into the darkness.

In a flash accompanied by a spatial warp, the alien spaceship, which had been laying at the bottom of the Beinz Blood Lake for months was gone before Hao Ren’s eyes. A large underwater crater was the only thing left.

Lake water collapsed back onto into the void left behind by the vanishing wreckage. Hence, there was immense water pressure on the rocky bottom. For a moment, a muffled, thunderous sound filled the whole area, resonating in and out of the water as well as in the nearby forest.

Big Beardy and his friends looked at each other, feeling clueless and hapless.

Chapter 342: Abandoned Outpost

The void left behind by the vanishing spaceship had caused a massive implosion. Hundreds of metres down at the bottom of the lake, the implosion was so great that it almost created large scale tremors, which could even be felt up on the surface. But, the little green people and the spaceship were gone, so there was nothing Hao Ren had to worry about. He was at most adding another mystery to the many mysteries already surrounding in the Blood Lake.

Nangong Wuyue was in front, using herself as a shield against the impact of the implosion. Because of that, she was now swimming like a crab. Hao Ren felt a little sorry seeing the siren maiden who was swimming upside down. It was almost as if she was about to meet her maker soon. “Are you okay?”

Nangong Wuyue’s body was appearing oblique, but she still continued leading the group. She acted tough. “I’m alright! Just a little dizzy! Don’t underestimate a siren’s survivability under water…”

Vivian looked at her, also feeling sorry. “…But, you’re upside down…”

Nangong Wuyue tried to correct her posture, but failed. She swayed her head a bit and said, “Sometimes you just get to look at things from a different angle…”

Lil Pea was tailing Nangong Wuyue happily, imitating her upside down posture. Hao Ren quickly grabbed her by the tail, pulling her back as he said, “Behave yourself! That posture is bad luck!”

Nangong Wuyue had to maintain her siren form to keep herself balanced after the implosion—not that she could really balance herself. Suddenly, she turned her head around and looked at her tail, beginning to wonder again. “…Do you think I have fish bones?”

Cold sweat flowed down Hao Ren’s back even though he was in water. “How long are you going to harp on this question?”

The four ascetics, who had been waiting on the shore approached them as they emerged from the water. They still looked as sombre as ever. Hao Ren thought they would still look the same even if the world was coming to an end, as long as the end of the world was not a notion by their goddess. Big Beardy came up to him and said, “Have the green creatures left?”

“Don’t call them green creatures, they’re people too. They’re Kerbalians. We’re just a lump of meat in the eyes of aliens without any physical form,” Hao Ren said, sounding like an activist of equal rights. He forgot that he had been calling Kabala, “the little green man”. “The spaceship is gone but it’s created quite a noise. Things got a little out of control, but don’t worry, there wasn’t any other problem aside from the noise.”

One of the female ascetics asked, “Did you see any visions at the bottom of the lake?”

“None that I can recall,” Lily said thoughtlessly. She was playing with a couple of black stones in her hands, which she had taken from the bottom of the lake. “What visions were we supposed to see, by the way?”

The four ascetics shook their heads in unison, almost to say that everything was just fine. Hao Ren looked up, realising that the sky was already completely dark. Based on his memory, Hao Ren could tell the direction of the outpost from the shore. He went in that direction, telling them, “We’ve got to go now. The noise may have alerted the holy army and we’ll have helluva time explaining ourselves if we’re spotted hanging around here.”

So, they moved toward the outpost. On the way, Vivian slid the silent ascetics a glance. She said, “Masters, we know our circumstances. We don’t belong to this world, but we’re not here to cause trouble. If somehow we end up being interrogated, especially by the church, I hope you can put in a few good words for us. And, also act as our witness in matters of the Orb of the Holy Synod.”

Big Beardy paced as he spoke in his cold voice, “Don’t worry. As clerics, we’ll keep our promise. As far as the holy orb is concerned, although we shouldn’t lie, we know what to say depending on the situation. After all, we’ve gained your favour during our stay in the Surface World. It’s now time to return the favour.”

Despite always looking sombre, Big Beardy and company were pretty easy to deal with. They had an almost astounding degree of flexibility in their moral compass under the premise of things being a “mission”. In order to guard and bring back the Orb, they could surrender, become prisoners, kill, do everything, which was beneath a clergy, collude with unbelievers, and even resort to deceit and lies. It was safe to say that they would do anything except surrender the sacred object of the goddess. Such was the special ascetics of the Disciples of Glory; they were determined and specific in their actions. Their “sacred mission” was their sole purpose in life.

Amiable people, but extremely paranoid.

Having spent three days with Big Beardy and company, Hao Ren was too afraid to say that he had figured out eccentric weirdoes, who were constantly meditating. But, he had more or less learned about their modus operandi and knew how to deal with them. So, he and Vivian had no problems with the four ascetics being their guarantors; it did not go against their code of ethics anyway.

Becky looked up, gazing at the starry sky. Her heart was heavy. She was finally home, but it was a little bit different from what she used to imagine. The happy-go-lucky mercenary was having her down moment. But, she quickly shoved the depressing thought behind her and became a happy bunny again. “Oh yeah, I’ve got to claim my reward back home! Master Big Beardy, I’ll tag along when you return the Orb. I’ll be an elite when they see me. I wonder who’ll be presenting the reward. I hope it’s Marshal Ophra. That is if she hasn’t left the west already… hahaha…”

There were goosebumps on her skin when Vivian heard they way Becky laughed. She hugged herself and scurried towards Hao Ren. “Why am I so sensitive to such laughter?”

Hao Ren rolled his eyes. “Hessiana—”

Those goosebump-inducing moments suddenly flashed across her mind. Vivian turned and glared at Becky. “Don’t laugh like that. I have an allergy!”

“Even if you’re made a knight and given a manor, what use would they have?” Nangong Wuyue gave Becky a glance. “You can only stay for 15 days tops. The big mansion practically belongs to your servants, not you.”

“You don’t have to remind me about that!” Becky almost jumped. It was like someone had stepped on her tail. “I only need to enjoy it while it lasts.”

Anyway, they were no ordinary people; they did not slow down their pace one bit despite constantly talking. Soon, they arrived at the lakeside outpost. Just as the silhoutte of the outpost was in sight, Y’zaks suddenly exclaimed in a soft voice, “Halt! Something’s wrong!”

Hao Ren looked ahead, and noticed the problem too: the outpost looked dark from afar. There was not one bit of light; natural light from the stars as well as the two moons shone on the outpost and it seemed empty. Upon careful observation, Hao Ren noticed that much of the structure on the outpost had been damaged. He had a particularly deep impression of the few pointed towers at the corner of the outpost, but now, only a few columns were left standing.

Becky could not exactly see the condition of the outpost. She was surprised that it was dark. “It looks empty. Isn’t the lakeside outpost supposed to have guards?”

Lily sniffed around. Her ears stood upright and her tail puffed up. “I smell blood, but it’s almost gone. It should be from a few days ago.”

“The outpost was attacked?” Big Beardy and company were finally feeling unsettled. They lunged towards the structure. “Hurry up, let’s check it out!”

Hao Ren followed suit and went up to the higher ground on the side of the lake. More details were in sight: the wooden wall of the outpost had basically collapsed, the magic barrier outside the wall was also gone, almost two-thirds of the outer wall was crushed into pieces as if some giant creature had stepped on it and debris was strewn all over the place. He followed Big Beardy inside and it was the same level of destruction within the structure: broken walls and fragments of solid wood were everywhere. Some of the debris were buried in the ground as if they had been stomped.

It looked like the outpost had been ransacked by a giant.

Hao Ren immediately thought of the rock monsters he once battled. Was the line of defense in Leyton breached after they left two months ago? Did the rock monsters penetrate the inner line of the sacred lake?

However, the situation at the sacred lake seemed normal. The little isle in the centre of the lake was still brightly lit—he was dead sure about it because he had let Lil Pea swim over and take a peek.

Big Beardy walked around the outpost, after which he said in a sombre voice, “What happened? Have the pagans attacked the sacred grounds?”