The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 626

Chapter 626: A Colleague ##

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Saint Sur IV was a planet that had not yet entered the interstellar age despite being in the center of space exploration. Hence, Hao Ren’s group needed to keep a low profile of their visit there. Hao Ren parked his spacecraft in the orbit, and they teleported directly to the planet. The inspector stationed in the area had given him the coordinates, but when they arrived, Hao Ren found that they were not in a town—it was far from anything that looked like a residential district. It was a mountainous area, barren and primitive. It looked remote and uninhabitable.

It was bare with high, dangerous mountains and lofty hills surrounding it. They could not estimate how large the mountainous area was. There were rare plants between the gray and white rocks, while some trees, like pine and cypress, were gathered below the hillside. The degree of desolation in the whole area was surprising. Lily climbed up a big stone on top the mountain and looked into the distance. She then shouted, “There’s no one! Landlord, have we come to the wrong place?”

“This is the exact address given to me by the inspector.” Hao Ren was stunned too. This wilderness did not look like a suitable place to live. Could that inspector be a hermit?

But just as he was about to contact his colleague, Lily suddenly jumped down from the rock and exclaimed, “Hey, something big’s coming! It’s flying out from the back of the mountain!”

“What…” He was stunned when he saw a surprising group of creatures flying over the hills from afar.

A few giant dragons were flying over the mountain!

The giant creatures in the large group were more than 10 m long. They were covered in thick scales that were either dark or pale blue. It made them look like a group of heavy forts flying in the air. They had wings that were as huge as the ones possessed by the Western dragons, and they had a sort of primitive, savage deterrent force to them. As the dragons flew towards his side, Hao Ren saw plenty of terrified wild animals running out of the mountains below. This was probably the powerful, legendary force of dragons.

“There really are dragons in the world…” Hao Ren was surprised, but apart from feeling surprised, he did not have any other feelings. He just did not expect to see real “giant dragons”, which only appeared in myths and legends to appear in this world. However, he had seen many strange creatures during his adventures in other worlds, and some of them were even more ferocious or powerful than dragons—the tough guy who studied human society by reading the People’s Daily at home every day was one of them. So, Hao Ren did not feel much when he saw the dragons flying towards them, just a sense of surprise that “he finally saw something rare”.

However, the rest of them were quite timid: Lily tucked her tail and hid behind Hao Ren, Nangong Wuyue coiled into a ball, and Rollie ran everywhere like crazy. But when she could not find a place to hide, she simply threw her face into Lily’s tail, pretending that she was already well hidden. Only Nangong Sanba took out his crossbow and went on high alert. “Let’s try not to clash with these guys… Legend has it that the dragons are very hard to deal with and unreasonable,” he said.

Hao Ren looked at the four people he brought along, and suddenly realized a sad thing: He brought the three most useless ones in the family with him, and the only one who was brave enough to fight was just an amateur.

Nonetheless, he did not really care about it. The purpose of this trip was to visit the inspector there, and he did not plan to have any dealings with the native life of Saint Sur IV. He would just try to avoid them.

However, as he was thinking about avoiding them, the situation went the other way round—because, those fierce-looking dragons were actually flying straight at them. As those dragons exchanged short glances with each other, it was obvious that they were there for them.

“What?! They’re targeting us.” It gave Hao Ren a headache, but there was nothing he could do now. He had no idea why these dragons were coming for them, so he just stood there and waited. At the same time, he tried to calm Nangong Sanba down, “Don’t be so nervous. Although the dragons have a strange temper, it’s not like they can’t communicate. And do you think the little firepower you have is sufficient to fight the dragons?”

Nangong Sanba kept his crossbow and said, “Oh, I was just trying to look tough.”

While they were talking to each other, the dragons had appeared in front of them. The shadows they cast were so huge that it looked as if the sky was falling. With a gale that almost swept them away, the dragons descended on the rocks nearby. A dragon covered in pale green scales turned its head to Hao Ren. He looked at them from top to bottom and said, “…Strange clothes, unfamiliar faces, outsiders. Looks like these are the ones. Please come with us.”

Hao Ren was clueless.

The wild, inaccessible mountain range was regarded as the top in the list of four forbidden lands in Saint Sur IV. The Withered Skull Desert and Banefog Lake in the northern continent as well as Thunder Peak nearby could even compare with “the Dragon’s Lair”. In the world of sword and magic, humans had successfully explored three of the four forbidden lands. Even though there were only a few survivors, at least someone had managed to get in and out of those places, except for this place.

Because the Dragon’s Lair was the place where the world’s most powerful overlord was settled in. The kingdom of dragons was hidden in the barren, lofty mountains and high ranges.

The Pyroxene Peak in the hinterland of the Dragon’s Lair was a huge hidden fortress hidden. This magnificent mountain had been completely transformed by the power of magic. The dragons spent thousands of years emptying and consolidating the entire mountain, and even put part of the mountain into a different dimension to make their kingdom more impregnable. Now beneath its heavy rocky crust was a huge cavern and countless magnificent and ancient palaces and castles were hidden inside it. Those rugged buildings were more sacred and grandeur than any city that had been built by human kingdoms in the world.

If someone flew over the Pyroxene Peak, he would see that there was a huge funnel-shaped entrance at the top of the gleaming mountain. That was the only access to the Kingdom of Dragons.

But in this world, no one dared to ‘fly’ to this place, except for the dragons.

Galazur, the Queen of Dragons, was the ruler of this kingdom. She was the most powerful and wise dragon of all time and was famous throughout the world by taking the lead in fair trade with the human kingdom. Before that, if the dragon clan wanted human jewels, they would just rob it. Galazur had ruled the dragon kingdom for 2000 years, but everyone firmly believed that her rule was just beginning. For the next 2000 years or more, she would be the most powerful monarch in the world.

Because of her identity, the ruler became the most mysterious existence in the world. In the ballads of the human bards, Galazur was as dazzling as a star and settled in on the throne of the heart of the Pyroxene Peak. Her every breath made the whole mountain rumble, her scales were studded with the oldest and most expensive jewelry in the world. Galazur never slept and watched over her kingdom and every mortal who entered the Dragon’s Lair could not escape her eyes. Bards loved to make up tales of warriors killing dragons, but they dared not mention a single name of Galazur in these stories.

These legends were somewhat true, such as Galazur was indeed a splendid golden dragon, and her throne was located in the heart of the Pyroxene Peak, and—she did snore when she slept.

The Dragon Queen was waiting for her guests in her throne today. She was the only one in the vast and magnificent palace. This mountain range was rich in pyroxene (not the one on Earth, but a kind of magical minerals that glow), of which the purest raw cores were consecrated to the Dragon Queen and inlaid in the hall in front of the Queen, making the place bright as day.

A young giant dragon flew into the hall and turned into a human in front of Galazur. He bowed and said, “My lord, the people in your prophecy have appeared.”

Galazur nodded and said, “Let them in.” Her voice was as loud as thunder.

Several dragons flew into the hall, bringing Hao Ren and other people. These young dragons seemed unwilling to do it: because ‘humans’ rode on their backs.

“All of you may leave the hall now,” Galazur ordered majestically. “Choverey, you, too.”

The dragons had some questions, but no one dared to ask, so they left the hall with a puzzled expression.

Hao Ren looked up at the golden dragon of more than 10-meter-high, feeling surprised. “You didn’t tell me you’re a dragon before I come.”

Galazur glanced at the closed stone door, confirmed that no one would come in and immediately slouched, stretched her body and then trotted down from the throne. “It’s so uncomfortable to maintain this posture all day… You also didn’t tell me you’re a human before you came here.”

Hao Ren was almost blown over by the “dragon roar”. “I thought the inspectors were all human-like races… Can you tilt your head when you talk? The wind is too strong!”

The dragon queen tilted her head and looked at the people in front of her with a huge dark yellow eye. “Let’s not talk about anything else… Did you bring this dish called ‘Pork Shoulder in Brown Sauce’? I’ve heard that your world has it. I haven’t had a good meal in a long time!”

Everyone was stunned, except for Hao Ren.

Chapter 627: Galazur ##

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

The Dragon’s Court entrance within Pyroxene Peak was closed as Galazur had ordered the closure of all the palace gates and forbade any dragon from disturbing her. However, not many dragons found this peculiar because they knew the odd dragon queen often shut herself inside the palace, sometimes for a week and even half a month. The dragons were already accustomed to it. Anyway, these little quirks did not affect Galazur as a great ruler.

Galazur was now sitting in the palace hall enjoying her food. For her guests’ benefit, she turned into a humanoid, who was neither ugly nor pretty, but unusually tall. There was nothing special about her except for the crown on her head. The dragons on that planet did not care about their appearance. They shapeshifted into humanoids only for the purpose of socializing with other races. Even Galazur herself did not care about her own demeanor: she was having mouthfuls of “Earth’s specialties”, which Hao Ren had brought for her. “I’m telling you, my dietitians are really annoying. Their heads are full of weeds, and sometimes mixed with stones—do you believe that nutritional imbalance shortens a dragon’s lifespan? Even the goddess has given me her blessing… but those idiots just simply don’t get it. They won’t let me eat as I like. By the way, this ‘Spicy Stick’ tastes really good, although it’s not meat…”

Cold sweat trickled down Hao Ren’s forehead. He felt lucky for the dragon was now in humanoid form, otherwise, the dozen-pound snacks he brought for her would not have been enough.

Lily was squatting beside Hao Ren, staring at the tall woman in front of her. “Ga-Galazur, right? I’ve never seen a dragon before in my life! You looked great!”

“When you’re on the throne, ‘image’ is important. How else are you going to rule over the kingdom?” said Galazur, waving her hand. “But, it’s actually boring here. The Kingdom of Dragons is a boring place; there’s nothing much to do except sit on the throne every day. I like my job now as an inspector; I can go places. The world outside is a lot more interesting than this tiny place.”

Hao Ren cast his eyes on Galazur, sizing her up. “I hope you don’t mind me asking: how did you become an inspector?”

Galazur began to recall. “It happened thousands of years ago. While I was patrolling my territory, lightning suddenly struck out of nowhere and nearly killed me. I heard a faint voice saying, ‘Damn, I missed.’ When I woke up, I saw a goddess standing in front of me. She told me that would grant me a wish…”

Hao Ren immediately knew. It sounded all too familiar—Raven 12345. Cold sweat trickled down his forehead. He asked, “Then, what did you wish for? To go places, or attain power?”

“None of them. Back then, I was more boring than I am now. I felt she that had offended the dignity of dragons, and that she was a liar—so I bit her.” Galazur sighed. “Before I knew it, a second lightning struck me; I was half-dead… After that, I learned it was called ‘God’s punishment’.”

Lily rubbed her mouth and muttered, “The lesson is to not simply bite people. Case in point, my broken teeth from biting Mr. Landlord.”

“Then, I became aware that there was a god in this universe—previously, the dragon race saw the ‘gods’ that humans worshipped as mere natural phenomena.” Galazur smiled. “When I told her that I wished to go places, she told me she needed a helper to monitor this area, hence I became her inspector. What about you? I heard that you’re new, but your ass-kicking stories have been making their rounds among many seniors, especially the story of you helping an entire civilization to migrate from one world to another by circumventing the loophole. It was a hot topic on the Local Universe Channel for more than two weeks.”

Hao Ren scratched his chin, feeling a bit embarrassed. “In the beginning, I was just as confused as you were. In fact, I was just looking for a job…”

He recalled how he took up the job and chatted with his counterpart. Although Galazur’s stature as a queen was hard to ignore, the atmosphere was closer to employees gossiping in the office. Hao Ren began to get a deeper understanding of the existence of this unique community known as the “inspectors” in the universe, or even in the multiverse.

It was a “borderless” group in a true sense. Whoever that was selected and deemed suitable by the Xi Ling Celestials could become an inspector, irrespective of race, origin, occupation, or identity. Religious beliefs and all secular distinctions were meaningless as far as inspectors were concerned. The moment you signed the labor contract, “inspector” was your only identity.

“You’ll meet more interesting guys in the future,” said Galazur as she licked her fingers. “The inspectors in Weimaer Civilization Sphere are elemental creatures who look like soft masses of air. When I was on missions in other universes, I saw even more weird people. The Xi Ling Celestials are a lot bigger than you think. There’s endless knowledge, and space waiting for you to explore, and the speed at which space is expanding is faster than you could ever travel.”

Hao Ren nodded in approval. He looked up at the magnificent palace around him. “Looks like your place is much more glamorous—I only stay in an old, for-rent house.”

“Aren’t you also the governor and Sun King of New Aerym?” reminded Galazur as she looked up with a wry smile.

Blinking, Hao Ren said, “Oh yes, that’s true. I always forget about that identity as it feels surreal.”

“That’s normal. After becoming an inspector, secular status, position and reputation always feel unreal, because they’re… not worth mentioning,” said the dragon queen, looking around at her palace. “But, I still have to take good care of my kingdom and that’s another feeling.”

Listening to the conversation between the two inspectors, Nangong Wuyue did not have a chance to chime in. She finally could not help but remind them, “When are we going to see the vengeful spirit?”

“Oh, no rush. It’s being suppressed in the core area of Thunder Peak; it won’t be able to escape,” said Galazur. She motioned with her hand and a blue light swept across the hall—it was an MDT. “Let me check the monitoring cameras in Thunder Peak… Well, everything looks to be very good.”

Hao Ren’s MDT became excited. It slipped out of his pocket and gave a greeting, “Hi, how are you?”

The MDT in Galazur’s hand was startled for a moment before it responded slowly. It was a soft, neutral voice, and completely composed. “Hello, my friend.”

“I have never seen my compatriots since they left the production line,” said Hao Ren’s MDT, flying around excitedly. “Which production line are you from? What model are you? The pattern on your case is so nice… I wish I had the same one.”

“EV-355V-15BC, General X-16, pattern status is unknown,” Galazur’s MDT replied slowly, and aptly.

“Would you like to chat when they get busy? I’m telling you, my master is so boring—”

“Request rejected. Unworthy behavior.”

“Oh, so you’re more like an introvert? That’s okay, I’m talkative. You can just listen…”

“Request denied. Unworthy behavior. It is recommended that you check your logic database. Your personality does not meet standard MDT behavior.”

Hao Ren’s MDT flew around the other MDT several times, but all it got in return was “Request denied. Unworthy behavior”, and repeated questions about its logic database. Hao Ren looked on before burying his face in his hand. Galazur’s eyebrows twisted a little in curiosity. “Why is your MDT so talkative?”

“It’s been like that since day one. Something seems to be wrong with its brain,” Hao Ren said. “I suspect that the goddess has broken it. Despite that, it’s pretty steady when it comes to work… most of the time.”

Galazur’s brows were knitted together. “An MDT with brain damage? I’ve never seen it before… and I haven’t heard of any kind of failure that would lead to changes in personality.”

At this time, Rollie who was wandering about on all fours had seemingly discovered something. She raised her head and meowed several times at Galazur’s throne. Hao Ren looked at her curiously before he saw something behind the throne. A yellow cat that looked like a tiger was meowing back at Rollie.

“This is my cat,” Galazur said with a smile, beckoning the big yellow cat. “I picked it up while I was on a mission in… Oh yes, near the Kerbal Civilization Sphere.”

The yellow cat trod over and darted around Galazur’s arms. It then lowered its head to grab the snacks on the ground.

Lily quickly came up to Hao Ren.

“What’s its name?” Nangong Wuyue looked at the yellow cat with bright eyes.

“It’s called ‘Cat’,” Galazur said.

Everyone was at a lost for words.

Nangong Sanba looked at Hao Ren wryly. “Are all inspectors the same?”

Hao Ren was left speechless.

========================================================================

Chapter 628: Thunder Peak ##

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Rollie meowed a few times before she reached out curiously and grabbed the cat by its neck. She held it up and asked, “Which street did you come from? What breed are you? The pattern on your head looks so cool. I wish I had it too.”

She learned this from the MDT.

It was obvious that the yellow cat was not blessed by a golden apple. It looked at Rollie in confusion. She had a pair of ears like the ones it had, but she was very different in other aspects. Soon, it recognized the silly cat’s smell and language, realizing that they were of the same race; it began to show her respect—well, it was not necessarily because of her smell and language. Not like one could figure out the worldview of these cats. Even Hao Ren had yet to figure out how the strays in the Southern Suburbs got along so well with Lily.

“Doesn’t this cat fear you?” Nangong Wuyue reached down to scratch the yellow cat’s chin as she looked up at Galazur. “Where is your sense of authority? Ordinary animals should have jumped out of their skins in front of a dragon.”

“I don’t know why.” Galazur shook her head. “From the day it was adopted, it has never been afraid of any dragon. It even ran around my palace and snatched food from the dragon guards, so it’s famous around here. Dragons think it’s an interesting creature and come to feed it.”

Hao Ren also began to wonder if inspectors had some commonalities, that they would invariably encounter bizarre things. The big yellow cat was even more talented than a pre-transcendent Rollie. He patted the yellow cat on the head. “Does it have any special ability?”

The cat girl immediately lowered her head and meowed at the big yellow cat. She then looked back up. “It has no special ability. It’s just too stupid to feel fear.”

Everyone was speechless.

Galazur looked up at a golden disc that was hung at the top of the hall. “Well, let’s end this for now; it’s time to go out for a stretch. I’ll take you to Thunder Peak—that place is quite a distance from here. I’ll fly you there, and before that, I’ll give you a tour of my kingdom.”

With a twinkling, majestic sound, Galazur turned into a golden dragon and the palace’s heavy stone doors swung open. The dragon soldiers who were on guard outside the palace immediately bowed their head as the dragon queen emerged.

“I’m going out with these strangers,” said Galazur in a majestic voice. Her voice reverberated throughout the mountains. No one would have thought that she just had a mouthful of pork knuckles and stewed pork trotter a while ago. “Guard the palace; do not let anyone in before I return.”

A dragon guard saw the people behind the dragon queen: Hao Ren and the others were busily climbing up onto Galazur’s back. The young dragon was shocked. “My Lady, these creatures… ”

Galazur shot the guards a stern look. “They come from above and we have known each other for a long time. Ask no more about them. That is an order.”

The dragon guard immediately lowered his head in awe, before carefully retreating.

Galazur used her tail to help Hao Ren and the others up on her back. She then leaped up from the massive square in front of the palace and hovered over the air.

Lily lay on the dragon’s scale, looking down from the back of the dragon’s shoulder. She saw row upon row of palace buildings, all of which were not of human scale. Galazur’s palace was the most magical: like an oval-shaped nest floating inside a large cave, it was suspended by a dense mist of light with only a few thin air bridges connecting it to the distant cliffs. Underneath the palace was a sea of clouds.

Galazur told them about the place, that the lower part of Pyroxene Peak was linked to a different dimension. No human wisdom was able to pierce its secrets. Bards liked to write about the place, describing how all the treasure that the dragons’ family had collected over thousands of years lay underneath the clouds. It was a vast treasure house with enough to cover the entire land of the human kingdom in half a meter thick of gold. Bards: they were always neurotic.

“Actually, it’s a place to store and hatch dragon eggs.” In order to let her guests get a better view of her kingdom, Galazur deliberately circled it a few more times. “Dragon will not put gold jewels in places like the treasure house. We would never let those precious stones out of sight; we made beds out of them, or had them inlaid in our bodies.”

“You still do that?” Hao Ren laughed as though he had remembered something.

“Of course we don’t do that anymore,” said Galazur, shaking her head. “In my fourth year as an inspector, my worldview was totally shattered; I bumped into a planet entirely made of diamonds during a mission. From that day onwards, my worldview became upside down. Now, I no longer collect jewelry, instead I collect food. I don’t believe that there’s a planet of sauced beef and barbecue cheese in the universe!”

“How did the bards find out about the Kingdom of Dragons?” Lily was being logical. “Didn’t you say humans were forbidden in this place?”

“It was the dragons who spread news of it,” said Galazur, looking a bit helpless. “The young dragons were unable to resist the temptation. They often turned into humans and went out to play… or you may call it experiencing the world. They were the ones responsible for leaking news about the dragon kingdom. They loved to look like bards because they thought it was romantic and…”

“And it feels better in the first-person perspective.” Hao Ren shrugged. “I feel you; I also know one who has the same problem.”

Galazur emitted a dull sound as if she was laughing. She then turned around and flew upwards, flying out of the exit at the top of Pyroxene Peak into the sky.

She rose higher and higher until she was above the clouds before she flew in a fixed direction. Lily nervously held on to a rugged bone on the dragon’s shoulder, looking scared. Nangong Wuyue marveled at Galazur’s flying skills. “Are you relying solely on your wings to fly? The speed… and the surrounding air flow are very strange.”

“It’s the power of magic, a dragon’s inborn skill,” the dragon rumbled from the front. “With special training, we can even fly in a vacuum. The dragons are the only race on this planet who have the ability to enter space. Unfortunately, we cannot stand the cosmic radiation. That’s why Saint Sur IV is still blank in terms of its aerospace capability. Anyway, we take it slowly; after all, this planet is still young.”

Galazur flew at a very high altitude, using the clouds as a cover to avoid causing panic on the ground. After all, a dragon queen flying overhead was no small matter for the races in that world. It was easy for a few nervous magicians to stun her with their fireballs, which were not very pleasant.

Soon, Hao Ren saw the scenery before him change.

A large group of dark clouds, like pillars of smoke, appeared on the horizon. The clouds were circling and swirling around an axis with some occasional lightning. The whole thing looked strange but magnificent.

Needless to say, that was what Galazur referred to as Thunder Peak.

“It took me a while to catch that vengeful spirit. It took shape in the space between Saint Sur IV and the Suharr Satellite Base. I don’t know why it was attracted to the gravitational equilibrium there, but when I noticed someone in space was interfering with the signal between Saint Sur IV and the satellite station, I went to check it out before capturing this thing.” Galazur slowly descended and headed towards Thunder peak. “That thing was nasty. A few pieces of my scales were burned when I tried to capture it. I finally got it using a strong magnetic field.”

The dragon flew through a thick cloud before a magnificent black “peak” appeared before their eyes.

The peak was about several thousand meters high and it was formed by a series of cylindrical columns. Several rings of rock, which emitted blue light were circling the mountainside. There were bursts of intense lightning between the rings and the black pillars of Thunder Peak. Hao Ren stared at it for a long time, yet he still could not help but ask, “Is this thing a mountain?”

“Humans and dwarves in Saint Sur IV call it Thunder Peak because they couldn’t think of any other name,” said Galazur, smiling sulkily. “But it is certainly not a mountain. It was left behind by the first civilization. It’s a massive fusion reactor, which has been operating for nearly 20,000 years and counting. This thing used to provide energy for the entire planet. Now it’s just a pile of huge rocks constantly generating thunder and lightning.

Chapter 629: Another Vengeful Spirit ##

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Thunder and lightning filled Thunder Peak as endless thunderstorms continuously raged across the mountain. The closer they got to the massive cylinders of black stone, the more they could feel the massive pressure brought on by the huge, ancient equipment.

Galazur swooped past the floating rings of rock, while Lily poked her head out and saw some houses as well as spires on one of the rings of rock. The houses and spires looked like a mini town protected from the thunderstorms outside by a thin layer of hemispherical shields. She curiously asked, “Is there someone living there?”

“That’s the base belonging to the magicians of Quilcidora. Quilcidora is the magic city on this continent. Most of the people in the city are magicians. They are the only mortal race who have successfully explored the periphery of Thunder Peak and built a base here,” replied Galazur in a loud voice. “But they can only establish their base on the first magnetic ring; the environment is much worse farther inside, where only dragons can enter.”

“What are they doing in this place?” Nangong Sanba was a bit puzzled.

“To study magic. The first magnetic ring is an endless treasure house for electromancers. They built their magic towers here to collect lightning and analyze the elemental powers of Thunder Peak. They are all very adventurous and that deserves our respect. People are dying here every year, but the magicians just keep coming.”

Hao Ren asked loudly, “You wanna say hello to them?”

“Say hello? Many people would have sleepless nights if a dragon queen were to visit them unsolicited,” said Galazur, shaking her head. “They already see us, but it’s nota problem since we’re flying far away. Everyone, please hold on tightly, we’re going to pass through the space between the second magnetic ring and the cooling tower!”

The golden dragon roared as a layer of translucent film, which looked like a magic shield was triggered on her body. She then headed directly into the forest of thunder and lightning. There were a few beams of light flashing in the Quilcidora base on the first ring of rocks. It was a gesture of tribute by the magicians. A few old wizards with white hair were measuring lightning readings from Thunder Peak on the platform at the top of the magic tower. They looked in astonishment as the golden dragon, possibly the most powerful creature in the world, bolted into the thunderstorm. “The dragon queen is here again?”

“I remember her coming a few days ago—is she building a nest in Thunder Peak?”

“I hope not… by the way, I just saw a few people on her back…”

“Oh, your eye drops are on the rack. Get it yourself.”

Meanwhile, Hao Ren and the others had already entered the inner layer of Thunder Peak. Amid the ubiquitous thunderstorms, the golden dragon maneuvered along the gaps between the black pillars. Lily looked at the spectacular scenery and could not help but exclaim in awe.

Hao Ren reached to touch Lily’s tail. Her beautiful silver-white tail had completely puffed up. “There’s a lot of static in this place.”

“Don’t touch my tail, it’s ticklish.” Lily wagged her tail as the bright lightning was reflected in her eyes. “Is this giant generator even safe?”

“I’m sure it’s not. So the first thing I did when I became an inspector a few thousand years ago was to secretly engage the Fairy Void Consortium. I got them to send their engineers to modify the core of the reactor in Thunder Peak, eliminating the hidden dangers while ensuring the mountain’s safety. Otherwise, this relic of the previous civilization may have blown up and destroyed half of the continent,” Galazur’s voice sounded a bit depressed. “Those cunning businessmen… charged an exorbitant price for merely repairing a reactor core.”

Hao Ren nodded sympathetically. From her words, he could feel his colleague.

Rollie looked at the lightning and thunder in awe and fear. She involuntarily snuggled up to Lily. The two long-haired creatures appeared even lovelier now as the static made their fur puffier than usual. Of course, Lily was the most eye-catching as the static caused her tail to puff up to the size of a person.

They were now inside the giant reactor. This was a forbidden place where no one in the world except a few dragons could enter. High-voltage power was only an insignificant risk factor there; there were many more deadly things. This fusion reactor was unlike any facilities designed by humans on Earth; it was magic-driven, and it broke down mineral rocks in its base during operation. This led to highly toxic gases accumulating internally; at the same time, the unique electromagnetic environment also caused almost all magic to backfire. This phenomenon was also known as Mage Purgatory. If lucky warriors could only withstand the environment for a few moments, then the mages’ only reward would be instant death. The reactor’s strong electromagnetic environment would instantly ignite the magical energy in their body and explode.

“Interestingly, the operating principle of a famous forbidden curse by a human mage called Laven’s Forbidden Magic Field, is very similar to this reactor,” Galazur told her new friends about various things in the world. Perhaps the dragon was bored; when she found someone to chat with she became particularly talkative. “Using a strong magnetic field to trigger a wide range of magical backlash is very different from using usual human or elven magic. So, I suspect there was once a lucky magician who managed to circle the inside of Thunder Peak… Of course, it’s just a guess. Oh, we’ve arrived.”

The golden dragon flew them into a brightly lit hall. Well, it was not a hall per se; they were at the bottom of a huge hollow tube, surrounded by a circle of walls with closed ends at the top. The walls were lined with neat pipes and metal rails, while in the center, a light beam ran through the entire pipe. The floor of the hall was made of a kind of transparent material, which was inlaid with a complex structure of metal lines. Those metal lines were obviously not just for decoration. They were probably magic symbols of some sort.

Lily looked down and saw a large number of giant discs spinning slowly. She also saw a fireball that looked like the sun below the transparent floor. She pondered for a moment, and her legs shivered. She then decided to crawl instead of walk…

There was no thunder, or lightning in there. Electrical energy was transmitted from the side tubes to the guide rails, leaving the core area very calm and quiet.

“The temperature below reaches millions of degrees, but we won’t be able to feel it. The insulation consists only of two layers of crystalline material, which are a few millimeters thick,” said Galazur, who looked emotional. “This planet once had a very advanced civilization. Unfortunately, it ended prematurely. Life is hard… Okay, let’s not talk about that. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the vengeful spirit.”

Galazur pointed her chin at the center of the hall. Next to the gigantic light beam, there were several magic stones suspended in the air. Those magic stones took energy from the light beam to form a strong magnetic field. On the inside of the magnetic field, there was a restrained, raging being.

The MDT immediately flew back and forth, checking. “…Well, it’s very energetic. It looks better than the one we caught.”

“Better?” That caught Hao Ren’s attention. It was definitely the best news he had heard. “That means it’s easier to read it?”

“In theory, yes. It depends on the data.” The MDT shook a little. “But it should be easier to deal with than the one we caught. You know, your daughter almost shattered it with her hum. But this one here is clearly still intact.”

“Have you tried to analyze it?” Hao Ren looked up at Galazur.

The dragon queen transformed back into her humanoid form before she came up and entered some signals using the dragon runes next to the magic stones. “I tried a few times, but with little success. My MDT isn’t very good at decoding… Is it true that you’ve invented an instrument that can communicate with the vengeful spirit?”

Hao Ren did not say a word. The MDT immediately rose up proudly. “I was the one who came up with the ingenious design…”

Hao Ren flicked it aside. “Go and play with your friend—Oh, I do have the special equipment here, but it’s on my spaceship. Let me take it out.”

The MDT was upset, but went up to Galazur’s MDT, albeit unwillingly. “You see, he’s really boring… You wanna talk?”

“Request denied. Unworthy behavior. It is recommended that you check your logic database.”

“Damn, you’re not that smart either.”

Chapter 630: Sorting

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

While the two MDTs were “happily” exchanging their feelings, Hao Ren was beginning to bust his buns.

Originally, the Petrachelys only had one instrument to analyze the vengeful spirit, but immediately after learning about Saint Sur IV, he immediately ordered the onboard factory to work overtime to roll out a new instrument. It did not take the shipboard plant long to manufacture it as he had the blueprint. Hao Ren took the new instrument out of his Dimensional Pocket, installed the energy core and calibrated it. The device gave off a soft buzzing sound, and the bowl-shaped groove in the center of the instrument began to shimmer.

“Now place the vengeful spirit in here. You’ll then be able to read its data.” Hao Ren pointed to the instrument. “But as per our last tests, the data reading will be very confusing. It will include not only the memory of the vengeful spirit, but also its own ‘existing information’. It’s like a messy hard drive, where all stored data and system files have been scrambled into garbled characters. It won’t make sense when you read them.”

Galazur looked with great interest at the instrument Hao Ren took out. “This thing looks sophisticated… No harm trying.”

She controlled the magic stones, and the strong magnetic field dragged the vengeful spirit towards the analyzer like an invisible container. With great caution, the irascible light was transferred into the groove without much hassle.

The instrument’s analysis module immediately went online and began to read the information from the vengeful spirit with a buzz.

Nangong Wuyue watched anxiously. Anything related to the vengeful spirit invariably reminded her of her missing parents, so she was particularly nervous in that moment. The people around her had long known about her issues; they all stepped back from her instinctively, lest they were caught by her tail…

Rollie roamed around unsteadily on one leg, staring at the lights on the instrument. The electrostatic environment made her feel nervous and restrained. Hao Ren had noticed the cat’s reaction; he reached out and held her head. “Don’t move.”

Thanks to the previous vengeful-spirit decoding program, the instrument was now working a lot smoother. Besides, the vengeful spirit sample Galazur provided was better than the one caught by Hao Ren in terms of “health”. Soon enough, some information was extracted. The hologram on the analyzer began to display some bizarre images and characters, which flashed by quickly, giving off a high-tech feeling. But as always, it was all useless.

“I knew it would turn out like this.” Hao Ren shrugged. “The same happened when it read the other vengeful spirit. It’s all garbled codes.”

Galazur looked at the garbled symbols thoughtfully and suddenly said, “Wait a second, these may not be garbled codes.”

Hao Ren immediately looked up at her.

“Although I don’t have as much experience as you have in dealing with the vengeful spirit, I have more experience in other aspects,” said Galazur, pointing at the garbled symbols. “Look at these symbols… Although they appear messy, there are repetitive points just like markers. Look at these chaotic images. They’re sequential, meaning that they should be able to form a video clip.”

Hao Ren scratched his chin. “Well, I had the same thought too, but it doesn’t make sense to label and connect these continuous, repetitive images. It’s still a mess. At most, it changes from a static mosaic to an animated mosaic. What’s the difference?”

Galazur shook her head. “At least it proves that the information is not meaningless. The existence of a pattern means there’s information. The problem isn’t in the data, but how we interpret it.”

Hao Ren quietly waited for her next sentence as Galazur closed her eyes and meditated. The dragon had been an inspector for thousands of years, seen enough worlds and races. Her extensive knowledge was the most valuable asset. After a moment of recollection, the dragon queen opened her eyes and continued, “I’m reminded of a strange race I encountered previously. They were infected with a very special condition called ‘non-linear memory’.”

Lily ears stood on end. “Non-linear?”

As she was straight-minded herself, she was particularly sensitive when she heard the word “non-linear”.

“Yes, non-linear.” Galazur nodded. “It’s also known as ‘disorderly memory’, where memory is in no particular order, and there’s no concept of time. The patient’s memory is just like a plane, and all information is stored on the same plane. Yesterday’s memory is mixed with today’s; things from childhood are mixed with things from adulthood. When the condition is mild, you can still identify the memory in terms of the year. However, when it gets worse, it’s a complete mess, with the memory of one second mixing with the next, byte by byte. Do you know the consequences of this?”

Hao Ren tried to imagine, and cold sweat started to trickle down his forehead. “They can’t think at all.”

“Yes, the essence of this disease is the lost of the ability to organize memory. Hence, the patient will feel that everything is happening at the same time. From their first fall when they were young to every detail in their adulthood, they will all be piled together. Patients in the late-stage will end up bedridden like a turnip. Their brains will be stuffed with memories, but because of the lack of an index, they can’t do anything, not even knowing what they’re thinking themselves.”

Hao Ren thought of the files on a computer’s hard disk: files, which were originally arranged by the date of creation suddenly losing all their timestamps, and the whole folder becoming a mess. He knew what Galazur was trying to convey. “You’re saying that vengeful spirit’s memory is non-linear?”

“I suspect it, but I’m not sure,” said Galazur, frowning. “The race I mentioned had this illness that produced non-linear memory. If this is congenital, how do they live? I can’t imagine how they think with a non-linear memory.”

“Don’t forget that they’re ‘vengeful spirits’,” Hao Ren said. “They’re actually dead. The First Born has destroyed the conscience as well as the sorting mechanism of these spiritual creatures, leading to the disorderly accumulation of all their information. We should first think of ways to create an index table for them, then we can reorganize the useful information instead of crack the code.”

“How do we go about it?” Galazur looked at Hao Ren. “Restructuring this information without an index is as difficult as reconstructing a city from yellow sand.”

Hao Ren had no idea what to do. His knowledge was not as good as that of Galazur’s in the field. The MDT suddenly came up to them. “It’s not necessary to use the timetable for indexing. I can try some other algorithms—at least it’s something for now.”

Hao Ren stepped back from the console. “Well, you can try it.”

The MDT inserted itself into the analyzer’s console. It flickered in a blue light as data and images quickly flashed past in its holographic projections. Then something came up; some symbols were extracted, and a brand new entry was created. Hao Ren did not understand what it was trying to do, but he knew that the MDT was trying to compile a directory for the memory of the vengeful spirit.

This list did not necessarily have to be arranged chronologically. It could have been sorted based on size, or similarity between the data packages. For a creature that had died more than 10,000 years ago, the timestamp of each event it went through was not important, but rather the events themselves were.

“Looks like it works,” said Nangong Sanba, looking serious.

Hao Ren looked at the holographic projection, wide-eyed. “How do you know?”

“I don’t. I was just guessing. Yeah, I’m toffee-nosed.”

He was met with silence.

However, Nangong Sanba had guessed right; the new algorithm worked.

The blue light from the MDT was switched off as it popped out of the slot. It was elated. “It’s done. I’ve reset the search method. Our previous idea of decoding is problematic. What it needs is not decoding at all.”

Hao Ren looked at the analyzer in surprise. “Can you read it now?”

“Reading it… As the algorithm isn’t perfect yet, reading speed and accuracy won’t be great, but it’s better than nothing,” said the MDT happily and proudly. “Now we can start with the first sample.”