The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 751

Chapter 751: The Clock Is Ticking

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Hao Ren did not know how to react when he heard what Nolan said. “The world is going up in flames?”

Nolan paused as though she was reorganizing her thoughts. There were faint noises and sounds of explosions in the background. After a few seconds, Nolan continued, “I don’t know how to describe it… Everything ignites spontaneously, including the water and stones. I just saw a building suddenly going up in flames like cotton. People are seeking refuge in the steers. Human beings are the only ones that don’t ignite spontaneously.”

“Spontaneous combustion? Water and stones?” Hao Ren’s heart sank. At the same time, the earth around him began to quake again. A gust of heated air blew through the tunnel. Despite with the Steel Membrane Shield, he could still feel the heat, so hot that it was enough to melt gold and iron. When he began to link what was happening in the virtual world to the situation here, he got the answer. “Perhaps the real-world disaster is affecting the virtual space…”

Yet another sound of rock collapsing reverberated in the tunnel. Lily grabbed Hao Ren’s arm, harder this time, and hurried him. “Get out of here, Mr. Landlord. It’s not safe here!”

As Hao Ren ran, he asked Nolan, “How is the situation there? Is the fire spreading?”

“The spontaneous combustion seems to have stop temporarily. The fire is still a distance away from me. I’m fine,” Nolan said. She sounded nervous. “But I can see the fire is inextinguishable. Are you in the real world? Now I believe you, absolutely. What happened on the outside?”

To tell the truth, Nolan did not even know how to verify that Hao Ren indeed came from the real world, but the question seemed irrelevant now considering the situation at hand. The world as she knew it was undergoing mind-blowing changes that had never happened before in the previous rounds of resetting. The scripts of the world were used to be ‘reasonable’ compared to the omnipresent, spontaneous combustion, a phenomenon that defied all laws of nature; it was more like a nightmare. The scene of Hao Ren’s suddenly disappearance and the words he said were still reverberating in Nolan’s mind. The ‘real world’ was her last ray of hope.

“The outside world is also burning… the planet is slowly falling towards the sun. I’m afraid it is affecting the virtual world.” Hao Ren told her as summarily as he could. He then realised the comm had a projector function. “Open the lid at the bottom of the comm. There is a blue button. Click it. I’m sending you images.”

A moment later, Hao Ren had sent images of the falling planet and the underground bunker.

“As you can see, this is how the real world looks like. The world was destroyed about a few thousand years ago or even earlier. The planet started to heat up two or three thousand years ago. We have found no traces of human civilisation on the surface. But a huge refuge was underground. We are lucky to have found the entrance; we’re now trying to enter to the heart of the refuge.”

Nolan looked at the horrifying image of the burning sea of fire. She was lost for words. It seemed for a moment that the knowledge and experience she had accumulated through countless rounds of resetting suddenly became a joke. Those things she learned appeared useless in the real world.

Nolan was rooted to the spot for a long while. She needed time to digest all of these. But, time was what she lacked now. She could only force herself to accept the reality and think of ways to do something. At least, her long experience in the battlefield had more or less hardened her. She patted her cheek trying to calm herself. “What can I do here?” she asked.

“Keep me posted about the situation in the virtual world. Perhaps my PDA … I mean Pattie could figure out the location of the server based on these signals. Be safe. Perhaps this is really the last round. If you die… this dream could your last.”

Nolan nodded silently. But she still could not help asking, “What’s your plan?”

“Find the server that runs the virtual world. Humans should be stored inside. I have a spacecraft here; I can move the server,” Hao Ren said, trying to sound as calm as possible, as if everything was in place and would go as planned. “Don’t worry. I have done relocation operation bigger than this one. Moving you won’t be any harder than moving a large computer room.”

Nolan had calmed down somewhat. She took a few breaths. “I trust you… there’s not much choice now isn’t it? I wish you good luck.”

“I wish you safe. And, keep away from the fire.”

As Nolan signed off, the voice of the MDT suddenly popped in. “You didn’t tell her that this planet can only last for 40 hours?”

“Be positive. We still have more than 40 hours to clean up this mess,” Hao Ren exhaled. “Provided we can find the server before it burns…”

“Also provided you really know how to get the server out. Considering the size of the refuge and the complexities underground, you may need machinery to get this done, and you need to have even longer—”

“Well, let’s talk about that later when we find the server,” Hao Ren cut in. “Now give me more precise guidance, and the likely location of the server. You have been scanning for so long, haven’t you got something?”

The MDT paused for a few seconds as if it was in the midst of gathering data. “Maintain your current direction. You are on the right track. I have detected current signals that were distributed in and around the refuge. That should be the server’s power supply system. A major node is just a few kilometres ahead. You will be on the edge of the system when you get there.”

To find a virtual world server in the interior of a disintegrating planet, luck and impulse alone were not enough. They were moving along according to the guidance of the spacecraft’s radar as the MDT analysed the energy response of the server signal. Though the guidance was not very accurate, they were generally moving in the right direction.

As the tunnel became wider with more common equipment and rooms, they knew they were very close.

The tunnel ahead had suffered considerable damage. There were cracks on the super alloy walls on both sides, and dark red rocks that looked like solidified resin had pushed through the cracks into the tunnel. Lily cut a small piece of the rock with her claw and kept it in her pocket. “How long have we been here?” she asked.

Vivian took out her cell phone and checked the time. “Not including the time on the surface, we have spent three hours underground. According to the cycle of the planet’s rotation, it was already halfway through the night.”

Hao Ren picked up his comm and called the MDT. “How is the situation on the outsides?”

“The good news is that you will enjoy the calmest time of the night for next two or three hours, as the geological activity is at its lowest. The bad news is that the sun will rise in three hours, the rock formation above your head will be heated up and everything will be alive again; it will be very exciting to stay underground. You’d better find the server, or get out of there before that,” the MDT reported. Suddenly, its voice went up one pith higher. “There’s another bad news; the probe I released earlier has capture the image of a massive volcano eruption on the sunny side. A piece of crust, equivalent to the size of South America, was blown into space. You will experience an earthquake on your side in ten minutes.”

“Earthquake? Earthquake around here is already as frequent as lamp posts on the streets,” Hao Ren said, looking at the clods of rock that had fallen from above his head, he sighed with a forced smile. “The real bad news is that the planet is about to reach the tipping point. The sun’s gravity is ripping the planet’s surface apart. When it crosses the critical moment, things will fall like dominoes.

“My calculations would not be wrong. The planet would hold up until the fourth sunrise. But whether the refuge down there can hold on so long is hard to tell.”

“Then I hope you’re wrong,” Hao Ren said and hung up.

They kept going down the seemingly endless, downward sloping tunnel and shafts. They sped up; sometimes almost fell into the cracks that suddenly appeared. The path ahead was getting wider. There were massive cave and structure that look like abandoned settlement along the way. The cave could be the place where the last people of Zorm lived. Unfortunately, the place was so long abandoned that they did not find anything that was still connecting to the virtual world.

As they entered yet another large cavern, Lily, who was running around and scouting, suddenly called out, “Come and see this!”

They came up to Lily and saw a large, seemingly root of some tree growing through the rock formation lying on the ground.

“If I’m not mistaken…” Hao Ren swallowed. “This is the First Born’s tentacle.”

---

Chapter 752: The Server

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

A giant tentacle, almost two meters in diameter had grown through the rock formations into the cave. It lay in a deep gully and its black skin was covered with dry, cracked lines. The giant tentacle looked like a strange train, but Hao Ren immediately recognized it; it was an unmissable part of the First Born.

“Sure enough… the worldview of the virtual world is based on reality. The real Zorm lies on the remnants of the goddess’ creation.” Hao Ren jumped into the ditch and carefully touched the seemingly dead tentacle. “It’s dead, but I don’t know if there will be any other living organisms deep in the ground.”

Vivian looked around, feeling uneasy. “This is the refuge Zorm’s people, and the tentacle of the First Born invaded this place…”

“But it seems that the people of Zorm had survived—at least in the virtual world,” Hao Ren said while brushing his hands. He got to his feet and jumped back up. He carefully observed the cave that was connected to the man-made super-alloy tunnels. It appeared like a natural cave but reinforced with alloy grid and beams on the roof, and composite materials in the surrounding rock formations. Even when the planet was gradually disintegrating, the reinforcement had allowed the cave to hold up until this day.

They had seen more than one such cave during their journey down the tunnel. Some were natural and some were man-made. Some of the caves had been transformed into what looked like living quarters, while others storage of cargo and equipment. Just like this cave where empty platforms and metal shelves suggested it was once a storage, the cargo had gone, probably had rotten away.

It was not known how long the people of Zorm took to build this refuge. From the look of it, the virtual world was not on their plan initially. The large number of underground settlements suggested that people were living here. Something must have happened afterwards that they decided to escape deeper into the safety of the virtual world.

“Probably the invasion of the First Born had forced them to give up their worldly body completely.” Hao Ren said. He was basing his conclusion on the facts in hand.

Lily did not say a word; she just came up to the tentacle and examined it curiously. It appeared as if the tentacle invaded the cavern through a purposely-built passage. A metal conduit that looked like a sewer opening was on the wall, through which the tentacle got in and lay in a gully in the cavern. She scratched her chin. “I’ve got the feeling that someone deliberately let the tentacle in here.”

“Why would they want to do that?” Hao Ren asked, and then he saw the instruments in the surroundings. “They wanted to study it?”

They looked at each other; no one seemed to know the answer. Suddenly, the quake came again from deep within the interior of the planet. The shaking and loud noises jolted and woke them up to the critical situation of the planet. The First Born would have to wait; they needed to keep going with the guidance of the navigation map the MDT had provided them.

They saw more tentacles in the other tunnels, halls, and caverns. The tentacles became increasingly weirder; they did not know what to make of them.

Hao Ren’s eyes were on stalks as he again came to a huge man-made cavern. “Oh man! This is…”

The underground bunker was well structured and so vast that it was equivalent to several football fields in size. The dome on the ceiling was one hundred metres above the ground. Luminescent minerals inlaid on the ceiling was providing a faint illumination, they could barely see the situation here. Hao Ren found a number of neatly arranged, dark metal cylinders that looked like building blocks in the centre of the cave. There were metal lines and service hatches on the cylinders while cables and pipes ran around them. These cables and pipes were so strangely thick and solid that they looked like a cobweb in the air. It reminded Hao Ren of the circuitry in some computer lab.

They thought they had found the ‘server’.

But, the ‘server’ was entangled in, or rather, living in symbiosis with a mesh of tentacles.

The dark tentacles hung from the ceiling to a height of more than ten metres from the ground. They were like standardised products from the factory—neat and almost identical, and each of them connected to a cable. The standard, unified connection was by no means accidental. Hao Ren tossed a flashlight into the air and saw how the connections looked like. There was a metal coupling on each connection; one end connected to the cable, the other end was embedded in the tentacle.

“It doesn’t look like an invasion…” Lily murmured as she looked up.

She saw neat rows of metal hoop on the ceiling with a tentacle hanging down in each metal hoop. It was obvious even to the husky’s level of intelligence that this was man-made.

Y’lisabet ran to a metal cylinder on the other side. Earthquake seemed to have damaged the cylinder as its casing had cracked. The little demon peeped curiously into the cylinder through the crack. “Something is inside!” she screamed.

They darted over and found that the metal cylinder was not a server like the one they had imagined; there was no hard disk nor CPU inside but only a broken, large glass container. It seemed the container used to contain liquid but had now dried up. A dead tentacle of the First Born was hanging out from inside.

Lily came before a metal cylinder that seemed to be still in good condition, and carefully cut a hole in the shell with her claw. Like the damaged cylinder, this one also contained a glass container that was still intact. It was filled with a pale red fluid with a black tentacle immersed in it. No one knew if the tentacle was still alive.

Hao Ren could not believe what he saw. “The machine has integrated with the First Born,” he muttered.

“What is this place?” Vivian frowned. “A bio-research lab of the First Born?”

“This facility could never held the First Born,” Hao Ren said as he looked curiously at the ancient equipment. He could not figure out how these things worked but he could roughly know their level of technology. “The First Born allowed it. It was a collaboration.”

Then he pointed to those tentacles hanging from the ceiling. “Look at those tentacles. Have you ever seen this kind of structure on the other ‘natural’ First Born? They obviously had adapted themselves to the machine. And, also look at the equipment around here; they were tailored made to suit the First Born. They were not working against but with each other—seamlessly. I know it sounds ridiculous but I’m afraid this is the only logical explanation.”

Lily came out from behind a metal cylinder, her face serious. “And, this facility is still running—at least part of it is still running.”

Hao Ren arched his eyebrow. “How do you know?” he asked.

Lily turned around and showed her smoky, dark tail. “There is electricity!”

Everyone: “…”

Vivian closed her eyes, trying to feel the signs of life in the surroundings. “Not only the facility is running, but the tentacles are showing a faint sign of life—they are still alive.”

A question popped in Hao Ren’s head. “Is this what we’re supposed to look for?”

Suddenly, there was another quake. Dust fell from the ceiling. The MDT had called in. “Hey, buddy! Half an hour to sunrise! What is the situation down there now?”

“I… I have found something here,” said Hao Ren hesitatingly. He then planted a series of sensors on the nearby cables and metal cylinders. He needed to find out what these cables and cylinders were for; the smart sensors might help. “I’m sending you data. It is from the cable system in the refuge. Analyse it.”

A moment later, the MDT came back with a happy voice. “Oh oh, looks like a server’s data stream. Go to a key node and trace along a main cable, you should be able to find the memory storage—”

“But there is a problem,” Hao Ren cut in. “The storage is not a bunch of hard drives but the First Born. Strictly speaking, the server itself is the First Born. The people of Zorm are in the dreams of the First Born.”

---

Chapter 753: It Is the Protector

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

The MDT was silent for a long moment. It was also shocked despite only being a PDA.

It was not until 10 seconds later that the MDT spoke into the comm. “What did you just say?”

“I’m sending you images,” Hao Ren said as he shared his vision with the MDT. “See that? These tentacles and the instruments connected with the cables; the signals were taken from these cables. The First Born is the server. It’s impossible to get it out.”

“It seems like our bad luck hasn’t gone away!” The MDT snorted. “Try the other lines. Maybe the signal comes from another instrument.”

“I’ve tried that. All cables are connected to the tentacles, and the signal isn’t coming from the machines; it’s from the tentacles.”

While he spoke, Hao Ren mounted more sensors on the metal cylinders and cables. Using a handgun, he fired test probes at the tentacles hanging down from the ceiling. The test probes had picked up more signals; the MDT was speechless.

Vivian looked up at the hybrid creature of tentacles and cables, the transformation as seamless. Not only the Zormese had designed the machine and equipment, but also the First Born had precisely controlled the growth of its body to adapt to the human-made facility. Had the First Born not been cooperative, the mortals would not be able to accomplish the bio-machine union. It was incredible but the fact was hard to ignore; the First Born co-existed with the mortals harmoniously like a pair of strange bedfellows.

“Could the Zormese have found a way to control the First Born? Well, maybe that’s too far-fetched,” said Lily, cautiously touching an alloy cylinder with a pensive look on her face. “So the conclusion is the First Born is the central figure of the refuge, things are obviously man-made, and Zormese were not imprisoned but voluntarily entering into the virtual world. Enough to blow you mind, eh?”

“The sober guardian…” Hao Ren said as he suddenly remembered what the guardian giant had said. “Oh yeah! Before the goddess died, she instructed some guardians to protect the mortals. The First Born here could be one of them!”

“The sober guardians during the final moment?” Y’zaks felt surprised. “Weren’t the guardian giants the only ones getting the instructions? I thought the First Borns had all gone insane?”

“That was what the guardian giant said. But the situation was so confusing at that time that information could be inaccurate,” Hao Ren said, waving his hand. “Maybe the Goddess managed to stop some of the First Borns from going insane, and She might have chosen some other people to inherit her legacy. There are so many possibilities. Let’s not worry about that now; we have a more urgent problem to deal with. We need to think of way to save the billions of people in the virtual world!”

“How?” Vivian asked, forcing a smile as she pointed at tentacles. “Only if there is a real server or some hard disk array we can remove them easily. But this is a First Born deeply entrenched in the planet. It would take time even if you decide to get it out.”

“We’ve done it before. Remember Holletta?” Hao Ren said. His mind was racing as he said to the MDT, “Scan the deeper part of the planet and see how far the First Born’s tentacles have reached. If it’s just a young body…”

“I have detected a surge in signal over the entire planet during the last movement of the planet’s crust. It could be a nerve impulse of the First Born,” the MDT said; its reply was depressing. “As much hope as I would like project, I’m afraid that the First Born on Planet Zorm is a mature one; its tentacles have spread all over the globe. Unless we can push the planet away from the sun, nothing would stop the planet from burning.”

Vivian shook her head. “Have you forgot how barely we did it the last time in Holletta? We used the Aerymian engineering fleet, their technology might not be work here; this planet is too close to the sun.”

Hao Ren fell into silence. He knew the MDT and Vivian were right. And, he knew that these were not the only difficulties. Even if the Aerymian technology would work here, he simply did not have enough time to mobilise them, and he could not guarantee that the safety of First Born and the stability of the virtual world during the entire process. The last time the First Born was the enemy, he needed to worry about its safety, and he just needed to excavate. But here… he must make sure the First Born would stay alive.

At this time, something suddenly crossed Lily’s mind. Her eyes widened. “Oh yeah, the brain! The First Born’s brain should be able to detach from its body and survive in vitro. All memory and thoughts are stored in the brain. How big is that thing?”

Suddenly, it seemed there was a ray of hope. It reminded Hao Ren of the red sphere he had brought out of Helcrown; the core of the First Born’s mind, only a few metres in size. If he could detach it from the body, then it might work!”

“Okay, let’s go deeper and see where the First Born’s brain is,” said Y’zaks, his voice was so confidence inspiring. “Do you know how to get to it, Mr. Landlord?”

“It’s fairly easy. Follow the nerve signals,” Hao Ren said as he pointed to the sensors he had just planted on the tentacles. “The sensors would trace the nerve signals and lead us directly to the brain.”

The outcome of the research in CARS came in handy. Hao Ren had analysed the two samples from Holletta, he had gained a certain level of knowledge about the First Born’s physiology. He knew how to track the First Born’s nerve signals and identify its tissues and organs. He believed that the brain was buried deep in the ground, but not so deep: If it were too close to the core of the planet, the high temperature environment would affect the brain’s stability.

Hao Ren summoned all the autonomous robots out from his dimensional pocket. Together with his teammates, they began to install sensors on the tentacles. The palm-sized sensors could quickly mould and fit themselves snugly to the rough surface of the tentacles. The MDT was using the idle processing power of the on-board computer to analyse the massive incoming signals from the sensors. Biological nerve pulses were detected. Suddenly, everyone became hopeful.

Lily cut the shells of those alloy cylinders open with her claws and planted sensors on the outside of the container where the tentacles were stored but without affecting the equipment. A strong tremor shook her off the alloy cylinder all of a sudden.

Boom— bang—

The tremor seemed to have come from above, and it got worse each time it happened. The underground bunker was shaking so violently as if the planet was about to fall apart now. Lily yelled. “Whoa! There it comes, Mr. Landlord!”

“Buddies! Sunrise, Sunrise!” the voice of the MDT sounded in all comms at once. “The sun is rising. The earth above you is heating up and you have to get out now!”

Hao Ren planted his feet firmly on the ground to balance himself and waited out the violent tremor. He looked up at the ceiling, it was all fine and he did not think he needed evacuation yet. “Wait a second, the place is fine.”

“You serious?”

“I know what I’m doing, okay?” Hao Ren explained. “We’re in the deeper strata where it’s more stable. The crust disintegrates from the outside. It will probably hold up until the second or even third sunrise. And, this refuge looks pretty solid too. Give me more time, maybe the brain is just right beneath us.”

The MDT was quiet for a few seconds as if it was contemplating Hao Ren’s words. Then it sighed as if it was a human. “Maybe it will hold up. But be careful. Get out immediately if you things start to fall. If the disaster avoidance system could not react in time, you will be crushed by the hundreds of millions of tons of earth.”

Hao Ren just hummed without stopping what he was doing.

A giant tentacle was lying in front of him. He suspected this particular tentacle was the main signal line. The tentacle had its upper part planted with electrodes and tubes for nutrient solution. Hao Ren ran his hand across the rough surface of the tentacle, though it used to be his number one foe, a strange feeling began to change how he looked at things.

“I don’t know if you can hear…” Hao Ren patted the tentacle. “But we’re working out a solution. Just hang on there.”

---

Chapter 754: The End of Nightmare

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Hao Ren did not know if the master of this tentacle could hear his voice, but he sincerely hoped the First Born would hold on. The time for the planet crossing the tipping point was getting closer as the sun’s gravity and uneven heating on the planet was tearing its crust apart. Even with the strength of the First Born, resistance was futile. The Petrachelys and Hao Ren’s team could not reverse the planet’s path. The clock was ticking in the virtual world too. There was no one but the First Born that could keep the virtual world running.

Tremors had been occuring non-stop from an hour ago. It felt scary, as if they mwere standing in a big drum as someone hitting and pounding from the outside. All signs was pointing to the imminent disintegration of the planet; the tremor was just a reminder that they were all falling with the five-quintillion-tonne rock towards the sun. But, in the underground bunkers, they had no time to worry about that, they were racing against time finding the brain by tracing the nerve signals of the tentacles.

The team had left the place that housed the alloy cylinders and was now traversing through a cobweb-like underground structure. There were corridors crisscrossing and caverns of various sizes everywhere. The entire underground world was an endless maze. Without the navigation guide, they would be lost in the forked passages. The complexity of this place had perplexed Hao Ren at first; it was not suitable for human living. But, he soon understood the logic behind the design of the refuge; the tunnels and the caves were tailored built for the tentacles of the First Born.

There were tentacles in all tunnels. The tentacles extended along the grooves in the ground or wall like skeletons of the tunnels. There were specially designed brackets and protection measures around. Cables and pipes were connected to the tentacles at some intervals; obviously, the First Born allowed it.

The entire underground refuge was a cave system built for the First Born. This explained the shape of the previous huge caverns.

The First Born played a role to in the creation of the caverns. Geologically, the planet would not have formed so many caves underground. These caverns were man-made.

As Hao Ren moved deeper into the refuge, he was confused. All this while, he associated the First Born to ecological destruction. Though he knew that this powerful creature was the shaper of the ecosystem and the original gardener, the image of destruction was still bothering him.

The situation here was completely different though. The First Born had co-existed with the mortals. All evidences pointed to the fact that Zormese had lived with the First Born from the very beginning. They designed the refuge in a very clever way to accommodate the First Born with the right equipment. This collaboration might have taken years of tacit understanding and communication to realise.

It reminded Hao Ren of what he learned in the hometown of Y’zaks where the First Born were living in harmony with the mortals, and its temperament was mild.

What he learned back then knocked his socks off. But, seeing the real thing was truly astounding.

They passed through a tunnel with four large tentacles and came into a nearly circular cavern. This cavern was similar to the sacred cavern in Holletta; there was a sunken ground in the centre where a lump of unknown living tissue was laying quietly. There were also a large number of holes lined the circumference of the cavern with tentacles extending out and connecting to the living tissue in the centre. At this time, the tremor had eased slightly and Hao Ren could hear a loud ‘lub-dub’ sound reverberating in the cave like the sound of of the beating of the heart.

“Here is a large ganglion and a set of pumping organ maintaining the circulation of its body fluid,” Hao Ren said as he recognised the functions of these organisms from the earlier research report. “We are very close to the brain. I will plant some more sensors here and we would be able to receive signals from the virtual world.”

Lily led a group of autonomous robots to plant sensors on the huge, unknown meatball. It gave her the heebie-jeebies the last time when she first did this kind of job, but she was now a dab hand at doing it.

Hao Ren began to observe other things in the cavern. Other than the organ of the First Born, there were equipment lying around the cavern. His eyes landed on a black machine near the large ganglion. There was a small cable connecting the machine to a tentacle, like an artificial small tentacle.

The machine was something novel to him. It did not look the same as the one used to support the life of the First Born. Hao Ren examined it curiously, and was surprised to find the machine still worked and there was a monitor on it.

That was a miracle, he thought.

“Just like a computer… maybe there’s something in there,” Hao Ren fiddled with it for a while. He was amazed how similar this machine was to the computer in Nolan’s world.

Vivian came over, asking curiously, “What have you found?”

“Some records of the refuge’s construction, and sporadic information about the plan for the virtual world. The database is seriously corrupted, can’t get much information out of it.” Hao Ren still browsing through the logs. “The record says that they were building the refuge to survive a disaster, the Zormese and the ‘Root of Origin’ built the strong fortress in the ground to resist the end of the world. I supposed the ‘Root of Origin’ here refers to the First Born.”

While saying, he pointed out with his finger the main points to Vivian. This old instrument was not very reliable; sometimes were garbled characters. “These are the coding records of the virtual world. It seems that their scientists and the First Born designed this simulation mechanism, which was to ensure humans would survive in a common dream for a long, long time until…”

“Until what?” asked Vivian.

“Until they return to the real world,” Hao Ren’s voice suddenly sounded serious. “It mentions a plan to return to the reality! They wanted to wait out the disaster on the outside before returning to the real world. They also have plan to restore the ecosystem and their physical bodies…”

Vivian exhaled and said, “Obviously that didn’t work out. This planet now seems like a bad place to rebuild their ecosystem. What else does it mention about the disaster? Is it the falling of the planet?”

“No. Had they known the planet was going to fall into the sun, they wouldn’t have planned to return to reality,” Hao Ren shook his head. “The planet only started falling about three thousand years ago but the refuge already existed seven thousand years before that. So the fall of the planet must be an accident that thwarted their original plan.”

He looked up at the large ganglion in the centre of the cavern. “Perhaps this accident also caused the virtual world beginning to go into a downward spiral—the end-of-day script. If so, then it would match perfectly with the timeline in Nolan’s memory. Her memory of end of the world also happened about the same time.”

Vivian looked confused. “You mean…”

“The First Born is having a nightmare,” Hao Ren lifted his fingers pointing to the unknown living tissue. “So nightmare has swallowed the whole world.”

Vivian’s eyes widened. Suddenly, Nolan’s voice came through the comm. “Hao Ren! Hao Ren! There’s a situation here!”

Hao Ren quickly answered, “What? The fire burns again?”

“No — I think I’ve heard the voice of the ‘fabricator’!”

Fabricator was a name Nolan used to call the controller behind the virtual world. Now Hao Ren knew the so-called ‘Fabricator’ should be the consciousness of the First Born. Nolan seemed to possess a special talent; she could occasionally hear the somniloquy of the First Born. But, humans could not make sense of the way the First Born thought, so the somniloquy were often time, vague.

But, this time, it was different.

“What did you hear?” Hao Ren asked as if he could not wait. He sensed something in Nolan’s voice.

“I don’t know if there is a problem with my understanding, but I heard that the world is going to carry out euthanasia…” Nolan’s voice was filled with fears. “The voice says it is going to block off all the pain, before the collapse of some sort and let the world die painlessly.”

Hao Ren took a deep breath.

The First Born could not hold on any longer.

---

Chapter 755: The Truth of Nolan

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Hao Ren felt a little helpless when he heard the news; the First Born, which was the server, could no longer hold up at this critical moment. He glanced at the large ganglion. The giant living tissue was still emitting a faint red light, pulsing. But, there was a noise in the pulsation; the ancient creature was moaning in pain as the star toasted the planet.

Hao Ren stunned for a moment before he came to his senses and quickly said to Nolan, “Ask it to hold on!”

“Ask who?” Nolan could not make head or tail of what Hao Ren meant.

“It doesn’t matter. If you can hear its voices, it should be able to hear yours too. Try to communicate with it; don’t give up no matter what, even if it is just for a few hours! We are about to find the organ that stores the memory.”

He did not know if Nolan understood these abstract and chaotic things, but the determination of the girl came through the comm. “I have no clue what you meant but I will try my best!”

Hearing the conversation, Y’zaks came over and asked, “What happened?”

“The First Born is about to give up,” Hao Ren replied. “It is going to end the nightmare.”

“That is to say…”

“The soul of more than a billion people of Zorm will perish in the wake of the dream. Now I can only let Nolan try to cheer up the First Born, hopefully, it would hang on for a little longer. I’m not sure if the First Born could really hear Nolan’s voice and I haven’t figured out what kind of person Nolan is, but I can hope for the best. Oh, by the way, have you found the location of the brain?”

But, it was Lily answering. “Not yet. The nerve signal became more chaotic the nearer it gets to a ganglion. The MDT says this is because of the mutation of the First Born. The connection between its brain and the ganglia has changed in order to become a server.”

Hao Ren looked at the huge organ in the centre of the cave. The strange piece of meat intertwining with vines was weakening rapidly. The faint red light in the organ was dimmer and dimmer. The throbs of the heart was slowing down as it began to lose vitality even before the sea of fire reached into the interior. This confirmed the sound that Nolan heard in the virtual world: The First Born had lost its will; it was giving up after enduring the roasting from the sun for over two thousand years. I had been doing its best protecting the human soul in its body, but now it realised everything was coming to an end, it hoped to give the people of Zorm a painless death before the eventual collapse set in.

Perhaps it did not know there was a group of people trying to save its brain. The sun had burned its sensory organs, and the underground part was used to maintain the virtual world, it had no spare ability to know what Hao Ren and his team was up to.

“Nolan may have failed,” Y’zaks’ eyebrows twisted together. “I can feel this ancient creature is killing itself.”

Hao Ren ran silently up to the ganglion, and placed his hand on the greyish white tissue as he tried hard to activate his ability that allowed him to connect with the will of other guardians. He kept repeating the calls in his mind. “Can you hear me? We are trying to help in the real world. We have a spaceship parked above you; we have the ability to transfer your brain out of here. As long as you stay awake before we start the removal procedure. It’s not the time to giving up…”

He repeated the call several times, but there was no response. The First Born was still weakening. A voice sounded through the comm, it was the horrified and desperate voice of Nolan. “The sky has turned dark… the stars are disappearing, people on the streets suddenly fell asleep… they have strange smiles on their faces…”

The Petrachelys above Zorm slowly climbed. The MDT hoped to get a better angle to perform a comprehensive scan of the planet. Just as the spacecraft climbed higher, a terror image showed up on the monitor.

The sunny side of Planet Zorm was rapidly turning into a sea of fire under the extreme heat of the sun. Torrents of magma spurted and flew on the surface and the planet’s crust bulged under the pull of the sun’s gravity. Suddenly, it crossed the tipping point; a fissure the size of the Himalayas cracked open on the surface of the planet and quickly spread along the sun’s path.

The extreme temperature had weakened the rock formation, which had become a fatal breakpoint.

The strong gravity of the sun ripped one third of the surface of the planet away instantaneously as tens of millions of rock fragments were pulled out into space towards the sun, tearing the huge chasm into an ugly scar the size of a moon.

Those people on the flight deck watched in shock. The MDT screamed into the comm. “Buddies! The sun has reached its peak!”

While the earth-shattering quake was ripping across the planet, Hao Ren suddenly became cool, calm, and collected as an inexplicable thought crossed his mind. He asked Nolan a strange question, “Haven’t you slept?”

The virtual world was ushering in its last dream as it slowly entered into the darkness and human beings will be euthanised in their dreams. At this time, Nolan was probably the only person in the world who was still awake. But, Hao Ren’s question stunned her. She realised something was wrong. “I… I am still awake! I don’t know what happened, I seem to be fine.”

Hao Ren hung up on the comm and ran quickly to the black equipment that he had fiddled with before. This equipment held the information about the construction of the virtual world and the transformation of the First Born. As this bunker was really strong and was protected by the First Born, the equipment still worked.

Hao Ren called up the search function and keyed in ‘Nolan’ with no hesitation.

The searched returned a result. Hao Ren looked at it, he had to do a double take, as he could not believe his eyes. “This is…”

Vivian and Lily darted over to check out what Hao Ren had seen. They were all rooted to the spot. Then Hao Ren sighed slowly. “No wonder, I knew there have been something so unusual about her, I’ve been wondering about her true identity, but I just didn’t expect…”

Lily cut in. “She is the only NPC—non-player character in the world.”

“Saying that she is a NPC is not quite correct; more accurately, she is another part of the virtual world that corresponds to the First Born,” Hao Ren said, as he weighted plans quickly in his mind, and sent the information the Imperial Admiral, MDT, I need some technical support.”

“Technical support? How many TNT?”

“I mean real technical support,” Hao Ren snapped. “Tell me, is the information useful?”

The MDT realised it had mistaken his meaning. It quickly checked the information again and quickly came out with a solution before the real identity of Nolan could surprise it. “According to the information, Nolan is the consciousness representative of the mechanical part of the ‘server’?”

“Saying that she’s a representative of consciousness isn’t that accurate; she doesn’t know it. She is just a monitoring program of the virtual system. Her own will is nothing to do with this task. Her job is only to live in the virtual world so that the machine outside could judge the system stability,” Hao Ren explained. “Now she has no influence over the system. In fact, she did not have influence from the beginning… After all, she was just a set of monitoring code.”

“That’s not important. The most important thing is she has a place in the system registry. A line inside her connects her directly to the consciousness of the First Born. Even if she doesn’t aware about, this connection is still useful,” said the MDT, expounding its own thought. “I can establish a translation program where you can talk to Nolan while I will find out the connection rules of Nolan and the system, and then uses her as a springboard to connect your mind directly to the First Born’s. You could not only keep the First Born awake, but also get the location of the brain this way. Then the rest be very simple.”

Hao Ren was elated. “All right, let’s give it a shot.”

“Are you sure? The mental strength of the First Born is simply too strong. You will probably go insane by just hearing its whisper.”

Hao Ren smiled and said, “But this one is a good boy, isn’t it? Let’s cut the cackle and tell me how to go about it.”