The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 616

Chapter 616: Goodnight, Eva

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Hao Ren was completely immersed in the spiritual world. His consciousness continued to sink into the chaotic power. The siren’s most ancient historical memory emerged from the chaos, and it became clearer as well as more personal.

He saw that the intelligent creatures living in the deep sea had opened their minds. They were surprised and awed as they studied the ferrous meteorite, which occasionally fell from the dark, learning how the solid stones formed. They excavated silt and weaved seagrass; they built their homes in the dark water world where algae shimmered, and they were fully curious about everything. In the 5,000th year of the Meteoric Iron Age, they finally learned how to separate metals from the deep-sea rocks that they had dug out. In a place where fire did not exist, they used the power of water and chemistry.

Using water to crush the ore, and elemental methods to refine metals as well as produce alloy that did not rust, the sirens freed themselves from the limitation of the celestial rock. They invented new metal tools with their own hands, built up the oldest dynasty, and wrote the first page of their history on the alloys that lasted.

While this young civilization learned to walk in the deep sea, their nurturer—the endless ocean of Io—covered the kingdom. The sirens held the endless dark water above in awe, but they were also full of curiosity. It was an inevitable stage that all intelligent races experienced: They were eager to know what lay beyond the darkness.

When the first siren became interested and stepped out to explore, a thousand years had passed since the establishment of the first dynasty.

However, the shallow water was dangerous. The deep-sea environment was very different; the water pressure was huge there—a particularly comfortable environment for the sirens. But that was not the case in shallow water. Ancient admonition of the sirens had warned young adventurers that only “nothingness” was beyond the endless dark sea. The closer one got to the “edge of the world”, the less dense matter would become until everything came apart. This applied to the sirens as well. The brave ones who attempted to send the ferrous iron back to the “edge of the world”, but never came back during the Tribal Era. No siren had ever made it to the other side of the mysterious dark waters.

Nevertheless, the passion of exploration would keep burning once ignited. The young scholars continued to study ways to get to the edge of the world. They continued to improve their elemental magic, using it to change their physique, and adapting themselves to the low water pressure. They continued to send batch after batch of explorers, and resolutely crossed the darkness, which hung over their head.

Adventurers who made it back alive brought with them incredible things: animals and plants living in the upper waters. This allowed scholars to believe that there was a viable, prosperous world beyond the dark seabed.

Two thousand years after the establishment of the first dynasty, a young siren led her little expedition team to challenge this limit. They had spent a hundred years transforming their physique, and three full days applying various protective magic onto themselves before they marched into the dark sea. They swam the farthest distance, crossed waters that no one had ever set foot in before, leaving those wonderful animals and plants of the shallow waters behind. As they continued to rise, they felt the water element, which made up their bodies become increasingly unstable. However, an even more incredible phenomenon appeared overhead.

Beyond the dark sea, there was light.

They realized that the “light” phenomenon was not unique to the deep sea.

They were excited for their new discovery. They headed towards the surface, completely ignoring the changes to the water element in their bodies. They swam with all their might towards the bright world that they had never seen before, and finally crossed the “material boundary”. At that time, they were still unaware that the boundary was the “water’s surface.”

An immensely vast, bright, and restless world appeared before the explorers’ eyes.

However, they managed to catch a glimpse of it before their bodies vaporized into the air due to immense internal pressure.

Elemental creatures had no conventional physical body, and they were not able to maintain their high-pressure state in the air without mastering the proper control techniques.

It was hundreds of years later when the sirens finally mastered the way to live in the world of air.

Hao Ren’s mind was in a state of wonder. He was walking through the entire history of the sirens. However, he hardly felt time flowing as if this memory of thousands of years was laid bare before him. Everything was clear in a glance. He saw the sirens finally coming to the world above sea level, and carefully exploring the world of air they once deemed “empty, vast, and unstable”. He could feel Eva’s thoughts; he understood what the siren was thinking.

The sirens once again spent thousands of years to build a stable channel and various observation platforms, which could reach the ocean’s surface. As ocean covered the entire planet, they had to put in 10 times more effort than other races before they could see the sky. They had extraordinary patience, which no other race could imagine in adapting to the storms and lightning on the surface. They even modified their own life forms. The most outstanding observer of them, Iwenna had waited on the platform for 700 years before she saw the first clear sky. When the vast “starry sky” appeared before them, everyone was shocked beyond words.

But it was not until 1,700 years later that they finally knew not only was there sky behind the clouds, there was also a sun: it was the second time the sky was clear.

It was even much later that they finally figured out the concept of “day and night”.

In everything that they did, the sirens spent more effort than other races. The unique natural environment of the planet made it impossible for them to understand what they should study and what they were studying. Lightning, ocean, waves, and the volatile atmosphere made it even more difficult for any primitive race to rise above sea level. They needed to devote more energy to adjusting their physique as their form of deep sea elemental creatures became a restriction. They consumed more energy in modifying their physiques than observing the world.

However, that did not stop them from exploring. Their actions had no higher purpose and meaning. They did not even have the concept of space.

They just wanted to go out there and see if other places had the same ocean as their homeworld.

The sirens only created the first flying craft that could traverse Io’s storm 4,000 years after Iwenna observed the sky—in an environment where it was impossible for fire to exist, lightning and storm were a constant, and even aerodynamic study was impossible, it was not easy to make a flying craft. Of course, one may say that they were of lower intelligence, but who cared?

As long as they could see the stars, they were very happy about it.

Hao Ren felt his consciousness beginning to float up. He had seen the sirens’ space age and the effort of these magical creatures to launch a probe to explore the ocean on other planets. He also saw them building observation stations in the orbit of their home planet to peek into the wider universe, then…

A group of unknown battleships suddenly landed on Io. The inexplicable, chaotic war caused the siren kingdom to fall apart, and an energy storm weapon like an EMP swept across the planet, destroying the siren civilization.

The destruction was inexplicable.

The storm on the ocean of Io intensified. Lightning struck down from the sky, and the ice-carrying sea raged. Shaqira and the three other sirens kept a small area of water under their control. She looked into the water and said, “Is Hao Ren done yet? I don’t feel Eva calming down at all!”

Nangong Wuyue quickly dived into water, checking. She re-emerged after a while. “He’s still connected! I’ve seen him connecting with the brain monster a few times. I know how it looks like… It’s going well!”

Sorma muttered, “I don’t think it’s going well.”

After another wave of turmoil, a mountainous tsunami came in their direction. The siren queen lifted both hands and stopped the tsunami in its course. Just as she was about to check on Hao Ren, he suddenly came up from the water.

As Hao Ren opened his eyes, he saw violent storms and towering waves; he froze. It was not until Nangong Wuyue swam up to him that he murmured, “She’s crying.”

“What?” Nangong Wuyue did not hear him clearly.

“She’s crying,” Hao Ren looked up at the arms that were reaching into space. “Eva, she’s crying. She’s only a child.”

The sound of the storm whistled in their ears, and angry roars filled the air. Endless anger, annoyance, and hatred filled the storm as if they were physically there to destroy anyone in it. This tim however, Hao Ren felt something else amid the violent air: Eva’s cry.

Looking from the perspective of a civilization, Eva was only a child. She was helpless and was unprepared for the world. She had just begun to learn about the vastness of the world when everything ended so unreasonably and abruptly.

It took her so long to climb out of the cradle; she had such an extraordinary patience that no other race could have possessed. It took a long time to see the world above. She had to spend 10 times the effort to achieve what she wanted although she may not have been aware of it. Despite that, she overcame the ocean, which was dozens of kilometers deep, the ever-turbulent atmosphere, and the permanent clouds that were thousands of years old. However, everything suddenly stopped without any explanation.

Before Eva could find out what happened, she died in her cradle.

She refused to accept this reality. Her immortal soul allowed her to survive the destruction, and lived in the form of “reverberation” on the planet. Like a kid whose toy was taken away, she was confused and she cried as she displayed her tantrum.

“I never thought the consciousness of a race could become like this…” Hao Ren had no words for what he saw and felt. He shook his head as he looked at Shaqira and others. “The premature end of a civilization actually happens everywhere, but there are very few individuals like Eva. She’s feeling helpless and very sad for her own destruction. She’s just venting out her dissatisfaction… and maybe this could be the last time.”

“Then, what should we do?” The siren queen looked blankly at Hao Ren. “Is there anything I can do to help her?”

At this time, the voice of the MDT suddenly sounded over the radio, “Are you done yet? Things aren’t going good here!”

Hao Ren looked at the siren queen, and then at Nangong Wuyue. He nodded heavily. “Give me a few more minutes. Both of you, I need your help.”

“How can we help?” the two said in unison.

“Just stay by my side.” Hao Ren reached for the siren queen and Nangong Wuyue’s hand. “Let our minds connect together so that Eva can sense your presence.”

Having said this, and ignoring the puzzled look of the two sirens, Hao Ren once again established a connection with Eva.

The sense of chaos hit again, and this time Hao Ren sensed Eva’s consciousness more clearly. It was a quasi-realistic feeling, almost impossible to differentiate between a consciousness, or just a memory with a tendency. However, Hao Ren was willing to believe that it was a consciousness. Amid the chaos, he could barely feel Nangong Wuyue and the siren queen, which was the only problem now: the two sirens did not possess the ability to make direct spiritual connection. Could Eva who was in a frenzy sense their presence?

“Eva!” Hao Ren focused his mind and called out to her telepathically. However, he soon realized that the sirens were the ones who came up with the name “Eva”. The siren spirit herself probably did not even know what the name meant: She did not manage to give herself a name.

Miraculously, the chaotic spiritual force seemed to react to the name. Hao Ren felt something watching him.

Perhaps the legend of Eva had existed before the sirens fled Io, so she, as a collective spirit of the sirens, knew that her name was “Eva”.

Once again, Hao Ren focused his mind. “Eva, I know you can hear me… Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to help. I know what you’ve gone through. I sympathize with you. Many civilizations have succumbed to the same fate and died, but you haven’t…”

A violent thought suddenly struck. There was uneasiness in the chaotic thought.

“Okay, okay, let’s not talk about this…” Hao Ren quickly rephrased. “Eva, Eva, quiet down. I just want to show you something. In fact, you didn’t fail in a sense; you’ve lived on and gone further than anyone else. Eva, through me, you should be able to sense the presence of your two compatriots…”

Hao Ren stopped talking and minimized his own sense of presence so that Eva could feel the existence of the other two sirens. Because of the turmoil, Eva had lost the ability to feel the presence of other sirens, so Hao Ren had to allow himself to become Eva’s intermediary.

He felt that this would work.

Eva gradually calmed down and curiously watched them.

“An ark had successfully fled from Io and reached another world,” said Hao Ren silently to Eva. “I’m an ambassador of that world. My duty is to supervise and evaluate the development of civilizations. I want to tell you that the siren civilization is still there. You’ve lived on in another world. Have you noticed a very unique siren beside me? She is of the siren pedigree, but she has a special aura in her—she was born in that world, which proves that you have taken root in another world…”

The MDT called in over the radio. “Boss, the situation’s getting better! The water is slowly receding!”

Hao Ren did not respond, but continued to talk with Eva. “Eva, don’t be sad. Don’t cry. The worst is over and everything will be better.”

A light appeared in the darkness of chaos. A vague figure emerged. Hao Ren looked at the mirage in astonishment as he heard a voice ringing in his ears. “…Is an ocean present over there?”

“Yes, it’s big, it’s beautiful. We also have land there—rocks and soil that stand out on the sea. The sirens would occasionally go up to play on land, but they spend most of their time in the ocean.”

“Are they happy?”

“They are peaceful and carefree. There have been some minor problems recently, but I’ve solved that. You see, I’ve brought them back to see you.”

An eternity later, the light slowly disappeared followed by a sigh. “Thank you, I can finally sleep…”

All the illusions went away like a receding tidal wave. Hao Ren opened his eyes and saw that the storm had stopped and the sky was clear. Io had finally ushered in a rare clear, blue sky.

Staring at the stars in the sky, one could not help but think of Iwenna, the siren who stood on the ancient observation platform and watched the sky in amazement.

These stars must have frightened her.

A trillion ton of seawater began to pour back down to Io as Eva used up her last drop of strength. The scene looked astounding in space. Hao Ren could not see it from the surface of the planet, but he could still imagine it.

A water arc slowly descended before Hao Ren and the sirens. Shaqira then pointed at it in surprise. “Look! There are living creatures!”

A pale golden fish jumped out of the water arc, flinging its tail mid-air before returning to the ocean.

It had miraculously survived the terrible space excursion and finally returned home safely.

Hao Ren exhaled and looked down at the calm sea below his feet.

“Good night, Eva.”

She was showing him the history of the siren race.

Hao Ren was happy to be right in the center of this ancient memory.

---

Chapter 617: Dawn in Io

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Io’s ocean finally descended back to the surface of the planet. The arms that reached into space retracted slowly as if a baby was crouching into its mother’s arms.

The drastic change had completely renewed the atmosphere and ocean conditions of the planet. Even the inclination of the planet’s axis had changed slightly. The constant storms and rain had stopped and clear sky appeared. Under the starlight, the planet shone like a magnificent jewel in space.

There would be no more storms. There would be no more clouds that only disappear once every several thousand years. According to the calculation of the spacecraft’s on-board host computer, Io had rebuilt the balance. It would usher in a real, long lasting clear sky. Perhaps occasionally there would be some wind and rain, but it would be a mild one, which was the last gift Eva had given to this planet.

The Petrachelys flew slowly over the calm and sparkling ocean of Io. It crossed over the horizon that divided the day and night. The stars flew past them as sun rose slowly from the other side of the ocean. Capillary waves gently moved on the ocean below the spacecraft. From time to time, some surviving marine creatures would jump out from the waves, seemingly to mark the beginning of a new world. Hao Ren stood on the observation platform at the front of the Petrachelys and looked at the vast expanse of ocean. He remembered the arms that stretched out into space—having a spiritual connection with Eva, he seemed to think more like a siren. He began to have a completely different and new understanding of those water arms.

The truth was simple. Everything had happened for a simple reason: A child was stretching his hands out of the cradle.

“Less than 10% of living things survive, including microbes,” Lily walked up from behind the observation platform. “As the MDT said, the planet’s ecosystem needs a revamp. What are you looking at, Mr. Landlord?”

“A new world,” Hao Ren smiled. “Only ten percent survive? Then we should be grateful that that ten percent have made it through the disaster. The planet doesn’t have to start from zero. It will rebuild itself, and possibly even new intelligent creatures will emerge.”

Lily greeted the ocean breeze with a giggle. “That might take another ten thousand years.”

“It has been a scary moment,” said Hao Ren, recalling the thrilling scenes, he was emotional. “We shouldn’t underestimate any races; even the warm-hearted siren is able to destroy a planet.”

Lily spat out her tongue. “I was almost scared to death at that time. There was no place to run…”

Hao Ren looked at her in surprise. “So you finally admit that you was scared?”

Lily held her head up high. “I’m always brave! Fright was just a strategy!”

Hao Ren twitched his lips and looked down at the ocean below. The problem of Io had been solved. The planet was anew, its biosphere would reshape itself, and new life would emerge from the calm ocean. As for Eva, she was asleep, but as a collective consciousness, she would wake up one day. As long as the sirens thrived, Eva would always in the souls of the sirens. When peace finally came to The Plane of Dreams, and the sirens returned to the ocean, then perhaps a new Eva inheriting the will of the old days would be born.

Meanwhile, outside of Planet Io, another problem crept up.

Hao Ren led Lily back to the flight deck and assembled everyone to discuss their next course of action.

“I had seen from Eva the process of the destruction of the siren civilisation. To tell the truth, there are many unexplained questions. It’s more complicated than we’ve thought. “Hao Ren flung himself into his captain’s chair. He felt just like a veteran cadre in a meeting, except that he did not have an enamel teacup in his hand. “Let me start from the beginning. Firstly, the origin of the species on this planet is unlike any other, it has nothing to do with the First Born.”

Everyone looked at each other. Nangong Wuyue gaped and asked, “…The siren was born naturally?”

“Yes, they were originally unique elemental creatures, which had most of the characteristics of ordinary creatures. Sirens were born from the power of the deep sea and had nothing to do with the ‘sowing’ of the First Born. Therefore, there is no Seed of Origin on this planet. The destruction of the world was not the doing of the First Born,” Hao Ren nodded and turned on the holographic projection beside him. The visual was taken in the deep sea earlier. The visual showed a black unidentified battleship. “The siren civilisation was destroyed by this type of battleship more than ten thousand years ago. It was a EMP-like, but very powerful weapon of global destruction. I saw a thunderstorm sweeping across the planet; the ecological destruction was comparable to what happened today. The immortality of the siren isn’t indestructible, you will die under the attack by the souls, but last longer than the ordinary race. This was why Eva survived after the entire race was wiped out.”

Lily gaped as she looked at the hologram. “…Mr. Landlord, there’s something more than that, isn’t it?”

The husky was observant, staring into Hao Ren’s eyes.

“Yes, this is the crux of the problem: According to what I have seen, Planet Io was not the target of the black battleships in the first place!”

Everyone went quiet like a church mouse.

Hao Ren recalled what he saw in Eva’s memory: “At first, the black battleships flew past Io. I’m sure they had noticed the existence of the siren civilisation, but they just didn’t bother. After a while, the black battleship group suddenly returned and hovered in the solar system where Io was located and behaved abnormally for half a month. The sirens tried to communicate with these battleships but there had been no response. So there is no way to know what had happened inside these black battleships. At last these battleships began to fight among themselves. They opened fire at each other. After a long while of fighting, they seemed to have suddenly reached an agreement and stopped attacking one another. Instead, they turned around and destroyed the siren civilisation. That was happened back then.”

Everyone was shocked beyond words. Nangong Sanba thought for a long while but still could not wrap his brain around. “I think they had gone crazy.”

“Perhaps infighting?” Lily began to reason with her writer’s logic. “Perhaps the black battleships had no intention of destroying Io initially, but they changed their mind. The ‘destruction’ faction and the ‘passer-by’ faction fought before they reached an agreement. That’s probably the case.”

“But you cannot explain why they went in circle in the solar system for half a month. You also cannot explain the chaos infighting: They were not divided into two factions; they were firing indiscriminately among themselves. Everyone seemed to dislike each other so much. However, things took a sudden change when they suddenly seemed to become united. I just don’t understand what sort of factional dispute could cause this chaos. This chaotic multi-cornered relationship could only happen in Korean drama.”

“Hovering for a half month might be that a negotiation was going on. All the spaceships were firing at each other might be that there were further divisions,” said Lily, snapping her fingers. “Anyway, if needed, I can make you a dozen scripts to make it sound matter-of-course. What’s more, the reality is always much more bizarre than fiction. We only need to know that they had fought but we don’t need to know why.”

Shaqira had probably understood what was happening as she let out a long sigh. “Who have we offended?”

“Ahem, the key is to find out where these black ships come from,” said Nangong Sanba, who hemmed and sat up and tried to make himself look like an expert. “By the way, Mr. Landlord, is this kind of thing under your responsibility?”

Hao Ren spread out his hand and said, “Civilisation extinction is a major issue. At least I have to ascertain the truth and make a record of it. However, those black battleships provide little leads. The sample was blown up. The wreckage of those battleships at the bottom of the deep sea might have been ripped into pieces by Eva’s tantrum earlier. It was difficult to find out the truth now. I still couldn’t figure out how the brain monster was related to this incident. The brain monster on earth…”

Before Hao Ren could finish his sentence, suddenly he heard the MDT called out on the console. “Hey! I’ve found something cool in the orbit. Interested to take a look?”

Y’zaks was sitting near to it. He turned his head around and asked, “What is it?”

“A piece of wreckage; must be the remnant of the black battleship,” the MDT said excitedly. “That sample was not completely destroyed; some of the more solid sections survived the explosion. According to the battleship manufacturing standard, this section of the cabin is either a power reactor or a core database, or … a storage of escape pods!”

Hao Ren jumped to his feet and said, “Let’s check it out!”

Chapter 618: The Giants

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The Petrachelys quickly left the ocean and arrived near Io’s synchronized orbit.

A large number of ice and rock brought up from the bottom of the sea, as well as building debris floated in space in the aftermath. Eva had not been able to pull everything back down into the ocean. What remained in space was an eternal commemoration of her destruction. According to the MDT’s deduction, the ice, rocks, and metal fragments would float in space for tens of thousands of years, and eventually form a ring around Io. If new intelligent life were to evolve on Io someday, they would certainly be curious about how the ring formed around their home planet.

Hao Ren allowed the MDT to pilot the spacecraft and it maneuvered agilely around the debris, zooming past the large black crystals. These crystals were fragments from the black battleship, which had exploded earlier.

“This is it.” The MDT stopped the spacecraft in front of the large wreckage. “The largest piece of the wreckage with a completely-intact frame structure. Radar scans show that there’s an enclosed space inside. That’s a surprise.”

The Petrachelys slowly went around examining the wreckage, which was about two to three kilometers long. It seemed to be a rear section of the black battleship and it had neatly-broken-out sections on both ends. This showed that the special cabin section had joint sections designed to break in case of emergency. This section of the wreckage was originally fitted with some black, sail-like crystal panels. But after the explosion, only several broken brackets remained.

“Looks like there’s an entrance.” Y’zaks pointed to a raised section at the upper part of the wreckage. “Look at the exposed pipes.”

Hao Ren nodded. “Let’s send an autonomous robot to check it out. If it leads to the interior, we’ll go in from there.”

An ejection window on the side of the Petrachelys opened, and a small mechanical squid flew out towards the wreckage. It then went into the wreckage from the opening. Soon, the autonomous robot reported that the inside was safe and the passage was unobstructed. From the visual, the interior was very large.

“Lily, Wang, you two come in with me,” Hao Ren turned around and said.

Lily jumped out of her chair in excitement. “Yahoo! But, I’m curious as to why you’re finally letting me tag along this time, Mr. Landlord?”

Hao Ren shrugged and said, “Because I may need your help—you can dig a lot faster.”

Lily saw this as a compliment. She nodded gleefully and followed them out.

The three of them entered through the route the autonomous robot had taken earlier, and soon caught up with the mechanical squid inside. The body of autonomous mechanical tentacles reported to Hao Ren before it illuminated the surroundings with its light.

Their surroundings were cluttered and old, full of traces of corrosion. It appeared that the battleship had suffered serious leakage when it sank to the bottom of the ocean. The interior was not as black as it looked, and most of its walls or interior were gray and white with a plastic, glossy finish. The space where the trio were in was large. One side of the bulkhead (Hao Ren thought it was a ceiling) had exposed broken pipes and cables.

Lily raised her Flamejoy and tapped on the bulkhead near her. “Looks like we’re inside a duct, but this place is huge.”

“Not only is the place huge, everything in it seems kinda outrageously oversized,” said Hao Ren slyly. Looking around and drifting to the nearest bulkhead, he touched a weird disc with a belted shaft, which was a few meters in diameter. “This looks like a valve…”

“Are you sure?” Y’zaks gaped. “A valve this big? I can’t even hold it in my hand!”

Hao Ren shrugged. “At least the shape says that it is.”

The trio explored a little, and quickly discovered that everything there was strange—there was a valve of a few meters across, a joystick over two meters long, and a button larger than the Xinhua Dictionary. All these things were odd for their sizes. As for the other gadgets of which their functions were unknown, they were equally oversized.

Lily grabbed a joystick that was taller than she was and pried, “Did this spacecraft belong to giants?”

“With things in these sizes, I can’t even really get used to them even if I transform back into my original form.” Y’zaks ran his hand over a console where there was a row of huge buttons. “My fingers will definitely be cramped. You’ll have to swing your arms around in order to type on the keyboard.”

Hao Ren was surprised. “You’ve learned how to type as well?”

The question startled Y’zaks. “…Are you chasing rabbits?”

After fiddling with the joystick for a long while, Lily suddenly triggered something. The oversized metal stick stumbled to the side and the wall behind it became ajar.

Lily lifted her head and looked at the wall, her tail wagging gently. “Oh, gosh… Could this be a door?”

“A dozen-meters-tall door…” Hao Ren was stunned. “Lily, dig!”

The husky maiden began to dig the alloy door. Sparks and ice flew as she dug. Soon, the gap on the heavy alloy gates became large enough for even Y’zaks to pass through. Lily was the first one to sneak past the gap and the next second, Hao Ren heard the husky squeak over the radio, “My god—”

Hao Ren and Y’zaks hurried in; what they saw had them rooted to the spot.

Behind the door was what looked like a flight deck. A huge console and four giant seats were in the center of the cabin, while the four dead bodies of the crew were floating mid-air.

When Lily got in, she actually ran into one of the dead bodies, hitting herself on the head. The giant’s head was bigger than her!

The husky struggled for a while before she regained control of her body and fled back up to Hao Ren. “It’s really a giant! It scared the hell of out me!”

Hao Ren patted the husky on her head before he flew close to the bodies of the giants, looking at them in awe. The four crew members were wearing some kind of black leather uniform and they were hugging their heads tightly as if they had an extreme headache before they died. Apart from their body size, their faces closely resembled that of humans. Their skin was dark red—however, it was unknown if this was their original skin color.

Hao Ren could roughly figure that the aliens were at least 16 m in height. They were truly a giant race!

“No signs of decay, no traces of dehydration or swelling. They look like they died not too long ago,” said Y’zaks, flipping one of the bodies around. “Unbelievable… Mortals rarely have such a strong body, but these bodies have lasted for so long; it’s immortal like Buddha in a sense.”

Hao Ren was shocked once again. “You’ve even studied Buddhism?”

Y’zaks could not help but say, “You can’t be serious?”

As Hao Ren and Y’zaks busily examined the bodies, Lily plucked up her courage and came up to help. She went around one of the bodies for a long while before suddenly summoning her Ice and Fire Claws. She began to cut the dead giant’s hair, and Hao Ren asked dumbfoundedly, “What are you doing? Shaving their hair?”

“Shaving my foot!” Lily scoffed, exposing her teeth. “See this? This could be the cause of death!”

Hao Ren went up to look. He found that the back of the giant’s skull was bulging abnormally, and there was a strange bump on the scalp. He reached out and touched it. “It feels like… the skull is pushed out. Certainly, this was not the case when they were healthy. The skin here is stretched abnormally.”

“Could it be a brain disease?” Y’zaks scratched his chin. “That’s why they behaved so weirdly on Io? Could a brain disease cause them to open fire at each other and destroy Io?”

Lily seemed to be smarter this time. “Could it be that the brain monster was controlling them? That’s why they attacked the sirens?”

“It’s unclear at this point. The bodies must be sent back for examination.” Hao Ren shook his head, and picked up the radio. “MDT, we’ve found something…”

Chapter 619: Mutation

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

The Petrachelys, Laboratory Section.

Four dead bodies were safely brought back to the spacecraft’s on-board laboratory and immediately transferred to the sealed containers, which were equipped with scanning capabilities. These giant humanoids like the ones found in mythology were suspended mid-air in the anti-gravity field as a light blue halo swept across their bodies—an instrument was scanning the structure of their bodies.

“We found them, the pilots of the black battleship, a giant race.” Hao Ren pointed to one of the containers. “Aside from their skin color and body size, they’re basically no different from humans. However, their bodies are definitely not ordinary. They’ve been soaking at the bottom of the ocean in Io for more than 10,000 years, yet there are no signs of decay and they look like they’ve just died.”

Nangong Sanba raised his head. “Hey… these guys are really big. No wonder their spacecraft was made in a huge, exaggerated size.”

“That leads me to think of the ‘bomb’ that we picked up on the Zalazarn.” Vivian suddenly gave Hao Ren’s arm a nudge. “At first, we thought it was a shell, but judging from the size of these giants now, I’m afraid that it could actually be a bullet, grenade or something else.”

Hao Ren thought for a moment. “Could it also be a bomblet of cluster bomb?”

Lily poked them both on their arms. “What’s the purpose of knowing this?”

The MDT flew around the containers a few times and projected a hologram. “They have two sets of each important organ in their bodies; their bones are rich in metal elements; the bone plates in their abdominal and chest cavity are semi-closed like an armor; somatic cells are extremely strong, and almost at the limit of natural evolution. To be honest, I suspect that their off-the-charts physique aren’t the result of evolution.”

“Why did they want to destroy Io?” Shaqira looked up at the giants with red skin. The scales below her cheeks shimmerws and her tail swished in the air in agitation. “Who have we offended again?”

“I guess it’s about the brain monster.” Hao Ren shrugged. “MDT, check if they’ve been influenced by the brain monster. If so, there must be some signs of damage in their brains…”

“About that…” the MDT sounded wry. “I have a different thought.”

Everyone was all ears as the MDT displayed a new set of holograms in the air. “Let’s be mentally prepared. The visuals and the corresponding associative effects may be disturbing.”

The hologram showed the images of the giants’ heads and their brain structures very clearly.

“Don’t they look familiar?” The MDT hovered in front of Hao Ren.

Lily was wide-eyed and exclaimed in shock, “Their brains…”

“Those are obviously lesions. The brain’s expanded so much that it almost pushed the skull open, and there is a clear separation between the brain tissue and the surrounding flesh. There are some abnormal structures appearing in the lower part of the brain, which should only be the intermediate phase of the lesion process, not the final form,” said the MDT while it started a simulation of the evolutionary process. The giant’s skull, hair, skin and other structures were peeled off layer-by-layer in the hologram, showing the state of the brain. Subsequently, the brain slowly morphed. “If this lesion continues, then some of their brain structures will swallow, extract, and distort the organs in their chest. There will also be some unpredictable conditions. I can only simulate so much, but that’s the outcome…”

As the simulation ended, the visual of an irregular mass of meat appeared. It had the appearance of a brain, and on its lower part, there were many bizarre tentacles.

“The brain monster…” Hao Ren mumbled to himself. “…Vivian, you don’t have to cook me dinner tonight.”

Nangong Sanba held his chest and said, “Me too.”

Lily’s ears stood up straight. “Awesome! Could you give their portions to me, Battie?”

Everyone stared at the amazing husky. She was not self-conscious at all. “Why are you people staring at me like that? Whatever it is, eating is the most important of all. Who knows if we might come across something even more disgusting? By then, are you people going to starve yourself to death simply because things are gross? Look how short-sighted you people are.”

Vivian smacked herself on the head. “The husky always become so wise on such bizarre things.”

Y’zaks was also a little stunned, looking at the brain monster simulation. As a great demon, he had seen and experienced enough. However, never in his life had he seen such an amazing “evolutionary phenomenon”. He scratched his head and said, “Could it be that the brain monsters are the result of the mutation of the giants’ brains?”

“Probably… It could be a mutation, or it could also be a lesion, or something else. Let’s say, the brains themselves are a parasite that reside in the giants. After the death of the physical body, they try to come out and survive on their own.” The MDT swung from side to side in the air. “Don’t be surprised; there’s a creature called the ‘X-Blood’. They exist in a liquid form, living as parasites in other organisms as blood. They are the main inhabitants of the Wycathe Civilization Sphere. How wonderful is the world!”

Y’zaks’ mind went blank for a long while before he muttered to himself, “That’s a masterpiece of Mother Nature…”

Lily blinked. “That is to say, the giants have no brains and thoughts; they’re actually the ‘vessel’ of the brain?”

“You’re a real novelist, very quick-witted. However, what I said is just hypothetical; the possibility is remote.” The MDT shook. “I’ve just examined the genetic factors of the brain and other tissues; they have a high consistency, so I’ve ruled out the possibility of parasitism. The brain’s breakaway to change into a brain monster should be the result of some kind of mutation. In the eyes of most intelligent beings in the world, this is a horrifying mutation and not of natural evolution. Anyway, this is the biggest brain hole I’ve ever seen in my life…”

“Judging from the brain’s condition, the mutation happened before they attacked Io,” Nangong Sanba guessed. “That is, the giants were still themselves when they happened to pass by Io. However, when their brains got out of control, they turned back to Io and launched the attack. After the destruction of Io, some of the surviving giants became brain monsters—the one on Earth is one of them.

Hao Ren immediately came to his senses. “If the brain monsters came from the giants, then the brain monster in Holletta must have come from the same source!”

“That means, all members of this giant race mutated into the big brains?” Vivian finally figured out what Hao Ren meant. These giants in front of them had passed by Io in their spacecrafts, a few billion light years away from Holletta. The brain monsters, which mutated in the spacecrafts should theoretically not have appeared in Holletta. So, there was only one possibility: the same terrible thing had happened to giant races elsewhere in the universe, hence the reason the brain monsters appeared in Holletta!

Even the siren queen was not bothered to study why these giants wanted to destroy Io; she was very stunned by the creepy mutation. “What happened to the giants?”

Hao Ren grabbed the MDT. “I’m going over to the lab next door to check on them!”

The MDT protested, “Hey, be more gentle! Can you be more professional while using an instrument of precision like me? You’re holding me upside down! Damn you, you’ve hit my left corner on the door frame!”

After Hao Ren rushed out with the MDT, Lily looked at Vivian and said, “I feel that the PDA’s illness is getting worse.”

“It wouldn’t be so bad if hadn’t used it to watch too many Korean dramas.”

“You’re blaming me?”

Since the giants were an accidental discovery, they did not manage to create enough space for the samples in the main laboratory. Therefore, they had to place the samples in a spare lab. It was separated by a wall from the main laboratory, where the brain monsters were being kept. Hao Ren brought the MDT next door, and activated the container tube in the center of the room. The container’s silver protective alloy shield slowly descended. The giant brain was still floating in the container.

“Hey, Big Head!” Hao Ren did not connect with it telepathically; there was no need for that this time. “I’m about to show you something!”

As he spoke, he began to project the holograms from the MDT and zoomed in on the images of the giants for the giant brain to see.

“Look at these people. Don’t you know them?”

Hao Ren thought that the giant brain would surely have some kind of reaction this time, unlike the uncooperative attitude it had towards the violent and non-violent stimulations used previously. However, the giant brain did not budge.

“What’s going on?” Hao Ren stepped forward and tapped the cylinder. “Is it dead?”

The MDT started the instrument to examine the brain. All of a sudden, it whistled. “It’s gone!”

Chapter 620: Leaving Io ##

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Hao Ren was shocked to hear the MDT’s screams. “Gone? Isn’t it here?”

“Its consciousness is gone!” The MDT hit the container’s shell with its sharp corner. “Only the vessel is left, its consciousness has disappeared! There’s nothing left in it, and its now nothing but a lump of pork belly!”

Hao Ren grabbed the MDT. “Can you please not be so disgusting at this moment? Can you trace where it went?”

“No, we didn’t even expect it was capable of this,” the MDT connected itself to the lab host and instantly retrieved all the monitoring logs. “…I didn’t see it coming; the brain monster’s mind capability has reached an apex. They don’t necessarily need another body in order to transfer their consciousness. This guy must have uploaded his soul through some kind of wireless connection… We thought the protective crystal was perfectly secure, but it could only stop the brain monster from invading the body of others but couldn’t stop its consciousness from slipping out.”

“Must the seal, it wasn’t tight enough…” Hao Ren frowned, and he was surprised at the incredible way of escape. However, with his vast experience, he had quickly accepted the fact and begun to reason with logic. “Wait a minute. If it could escape from this place by uploading its consciousness, then why would it want to wait until now? Wasn’t when we went to The Plane of Dreams the best time to escape?”

Light flickered on the MDT as a large amount of data flashed on the hologram. “It must be waiting for the perfect opportunity because the monitoring in the lab was very strict, any unauthorized information flow could easily be monitored… Oh yeah, it was when Eva went crazy!”

Suddenly everything made sense to Hao Ren.

When Eva went berserk, the Petrachelys transferred almost all the energy from its power reactor to power the shield and the engine. At that time, the facilities in other parts of the spacecraft were running in minimum power. Most of the instruments in the laboratory here were shut down, leaving only the necessary security procedures to monitor the instruments here. The brain monster must have escaped during that moment.

“We need to improve our assessment of the perception ability of the brain monster. It has the ability to perceive the slackening of these monitoring instruments.” Hao Ren clutched her hair, looking depressed. “We can no longer use this conventional laboratory to hold the brain monsters. They must be locked in sealed containers like CARS.”

The MDT shook its body. “Let’s wait until you catch another brain.”

“I hope Ophra’s side is fine,” Hao Ren shrugged helplessly. “Dang! When it rains it pours—so many thing to settle. I have many reports to write… I feel that these brain monsters are harder to deal with than the First Borns.”

At this time, the lab door slid open silently. Lily tiptoed in. When she found no one was driving her out, she immediately came up to Hao Ren. “I want to join the party… err… I mean I want to help. What reaction the brain monster has got?”

Vivian also strode in behind Lily. She rolled her eyes at the husky helplessly; apparently, she was brought here rather unwillingly.

Hao Ren spread out his hand and said, “No response. It’s gone.”

He told them about the situation so that the two maiden might also be surprised. Lily’s ears drooped. “I thought I can join the fun here. Then what should we do? This brain is useless now?”

Vivian thoughtfully touched the container and looked at the brain monster as she nodded. “Actually, I want to say I can make brain custard…”

While Hao Ren was in dismay about his recent job performance, Vivian’s words almost had Hao Ren tumbling on the floor. “Vivi… Vivian! I’ve said I’m not having dinner tonight, what’s more you want?”

Lily glanced at Battie and then the brain monster. “This … even if it is too challenging for me.”

Vivian shrugged. “I was just joking. I’m not a pervert. I don’t even eat people, less so the giant’s brain.”

Hao Ren breathed a sigh of relief. He then turned to look at the brain monster’s corpse. “This brain had mutated so much that if not for the simulation no one would believe it was once a humanoid.”

After much contemplation, Hao Ren decided to put the brain monster into containment box and tuck away inside the dimensional pocket. He decided to take this to Raven 12345—at least it was something.

Then he announced that the mission in Io was accomplished and they ready to go home.

As per protocol, he had left behind a portal in Io. The planet was landless; the remains of a few on-sea platforms were also destroyed when Eva went amok. Therefore, the portal was laid in the deep sea and a metal protective cabin shrouded it from the outside, which was expandable if necessary.

The Petrachelys left Io’s orbit. They watched the sparkling water planet slowly fell behind them and turned into a crystal blue sphere before the spacecraft went into hyperspace state. The siren queen, Shaqira, and Sorma stayed on the observation platform at the back of the spacecraft even though their home planet had gone out of their sights into the darkness. Hao Ren and Nangong came to look for them on the platform as the trio stared into the distance space.

Hao Ren casually asked, “What happened? Wanna stay back?”

“A bit,” said the siren queen, sighing. “When I was in the ocean of Io, I felt a wonderful sense of peace, which was not felt on earth—not even in the aqua dome of Nasaton. Looks like siren is a race that remembers the scent of its hometown… After all we are from that planet.”

Nangong Wuyue swayed its tail gently and then wrapped it around Hao Ren’s arm. “I feel the same too, but not as strong as the queen does.”

Shaqira looked at Hao Ren expectantly. “Can we stay? Or we go back and inform the sirens in Nasaton and bring back whoever are willing to return home, they can rebuild their home in Io, the planet need to be rebuilt.”

“I understand your feelings, but this is not what I can decide,” Hao Ren spread out his hand. “The surface world and The Plane of Dreams are in a fragile equilibrium, every time were cross the Wall of Reality, and strict monitoring must be in place. Of course, theoretically it is safe to enter The Plane of Dreams from the crack in Alamanda, but I cannot guarantee the same level of safety when hundreds of thousands of immigrants crossing over. What’s more, there is a hidden danger: the situation in The Plane of Dreams isn’t that stable.”

Seeing the disappointment on the faces of Shaqira and Sorma, Hao Ren sighed. “You think that the brain monster that Nasaton encountered was an enough big crisis? I tell you the truth; there are things that are more dangerous than the brain monster here, and their hatred for all creatures is stronger than the brain monsters. Now, I haven’t figured out the limits of their capability and the pattern of behaviours. Therefore, I don’t rule out the possibility of them invading Io. Of course, they might not be able to find Io, but for the sake of safety, I still don’t recommend that you to come back.”

There was something Hao Ren did not mention: he did not want to cause more trouble as he had had enough trouble. The First Born starting to have its eyes on the migrated sirens was undoubtedly the biggest problem of all. He had so many things to do and so little time, having to work like a dog, he felt like he was going to drop dead anytime.

Nevertheless, he really understood the feeling of these mermaid beauties and snakes. If he The Plane of Dreams became peaceful in the future, he would be happy to help these girls move back. He had moved a billion people before after all…

After listening to what Hao Ren said, the siren queen nodded. “I’m sorry to trouble you.”

No one spoke a word until arriving at Alamanda Transit Station. Aster tucking away the Petrachelys, they returned to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean through Andre Castle.

The emergency state in Nasaton had been lifted and the city of the deep sea was undergoing intense refurbishment and restoration. The chaos and the fierce battles of the past had ravaged the many facilities in the city. It was not so much of the collapse of the imperial palace but the equipment that had not been maintained according to regulations for a hundred years was the most terrible. Almost the entire city needed to be thoroughly overhauled. Anyway, bad time was over, and things would soon become better here.

“The first thing to do is to restart the great protective wall,” the siren queen looked at the ocean above, spitting a bunch of bubbles briskly, and finally coming out from her longing for Io. “I don’t particularly feel it safe to letting the city be exposed like this… Siren is a cautious race.”

Nangong Sanba nodded. “Well, I know, you’re scared.”

Instantly, his sister flung him away.

“Seriously, are you not going to stay here for a few more days?” Shaqira looked at Hao Ren. “If we are not accustomed to living underwater, we can create a dry area for you. Everyone in Nasaton hopes to see you here, some even like to apologize or thank you—both the soldiers that were controlled and people who were rescued.

Hao Ren laughed and looked up. Maybe next time… I have a lot more work to do. Oh, yes, this is for you.”

Hao Ren handed a shiny silver-white metal plate to the siren queen.

“What is this?”

“Your history and writings,” Hao Ren nodded. “Part of it was drawn from Eva’s memory. Part of it was from the translation dictionary. I think you definitely need this. It’s simple to use, all you need is a mental connection. It has a holographic projection function.”

The siren queen solemnly thanked him by placing the data plate on her chest. “Thank you. From now on, in every generation, you will be remembered as the best friends of the siren race.”