The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 811

Chapter 811: Illusion in the Blood-Red Crystal

 

After returning from the temple, they gathered in Bonia’s yurt as they digested the newly acquired information and discussed their next exploration plan. Hessiana stood by Vivian’s side in boredom, toying with a small blood sphere in her hand. The ending of Baptiste’s incident was a total surprise, which had rendered a sense of powerlessness in her. She could think of nothing now but wait for Vivian’s further instruction.

Vivian had been fiddling with that blood-red crystal since the beginning, beating her brains out trying to make sense of it was all about. The crystal floating in her hand did not respond to her magic power nor blood sprinkling. As if a cold, ordinary, beautiful stone, it guarded the secrets tightly within itself.

“Still unable to recall who Beatrice was?” Hao Ren peered at Vivian. “No impression about this crystal?”

“You know how good my memory is, don’t you?” Vivian smiled and shook her head. “I forgot about Pavel for three hundred years. It looks like I have forgotten about Beatrice even more thoroughly. Though I know her name, I still don’t have a clue.”

“Maybe this is not her real name. Maybe Beatrice was just a nickname or something,” Kassandra said suddenly. “Witches and wizards often give themselves some ambiguous code names. They use code names to avoid devils from seeking revenge or avoiding demons from tracing them, but I heard that this method did not always work as the more powerful creatures from hell could find out their real identities.”

“Unfortunately, Beatrice is dead. Even if Y’zaks were here now, I’m afraid we would still be not able to find out the real name of the witch.” Hao Ren shook his head, knowing that Vivian did not help. If he could find out the real name of Beatrice, it might help Vivian recall the connection between the crystal and the witch. For now, he could only hope for the best.

“Sorry,” Vivian said as she looked at the others apologetically and then rubbed her forehead in embarrassment. “I have tried my best,” she said.

Lily, who was rarely sympathetic with Vivian, looked on. She patted on Vivian’s shoulder and said in a comforting voice. “It’s not your fault. After all, age has caught up with you.”

Vivian shot her a sideways look. “Get lost!”

Baring her fangs, Lily squatted and moved away as she muttered something in her mouth, “Oh heck! No good deed goes unpunished.”

“Another key question is what exactly the crystal is,” Nangong Sanba said as he fixed his eyes on the red crystal floating on Vivian’s palm. “You put a similar crystal with your manuscript and gave it to your servant before you hibernated. It shows the thing is significant, as important as your memory. Did you leave any clues behind?”

“I’ve even forgotten if I have left behind any clue. Even if there is, I wouldn’t know what.” Vivian let out a long sigh. “When you forgot what you forgot, what could you do? I can only sense that the energy in this crystal is much weaker than the one that Pavel kept. Perhaps it weakened after Beatrice drew magic power from it. I didn’t even recognize this was my crystallized blood at first.”

Lily looked up at Vivian, and whispered, “That’s why we should show more love for old, virgin bat…”

“No one would take you as a dumb if you keep your mouth shut!” Vivian snapped.

“Anyway, this crystal is the only clue to the summoning of the King of Blood,” Hao Ren said as he knocked on the table. “Baptiste was just an apprentice wizard when Beatrice disappeared. He couldn’t possibly study the summoning ritual of the King of Blood all by himself. It was even less probable to contain such a powerful evil spirit in his magic book. He must have inherited the skills from Beatrice. All his magic, ancient knowledge, and items relating to Vivian came from Beatrice. This crystal—”

Lily suddenly raised her hand. “If I were you, I would swallow it.”

“Do you think everyone is a husky? Taste it in the mouth?” Hao Ren squinted at the husky maiden whose brain was always ‘off-track.’ “Do you know what this crystal is?”

“Of course, I do,” said Lily, sounding unexpectedly serious. “You think I’m kidding? This crystal is made from Battie’s blood. Since it came from Battie; would it be a problem if she swallows it?”

Hao Ren was startled. Lily did have a point; only that he could not fathom why she must use the mouth. Did she think that eating was the panacea for all problems?

If was not known what was in Vivian’s mind but she suddenly put the crystal on her lips. “Maybe I should try.”

“Wait a second!” Hao Ren quickly stopped her. “Are you serious? You can’t be as crazy as Lily!”

“Well, it was my blood anyway,” said Vivian as she licked her lips. “Maybe by reabsorbing it, I could find out something, the memory about the making of the crystal. Don’t forget that the blood of Blood Clan stores information.”

Hessiana also nodded to confirm what Vivian had said. Hao Ren relented. As Vivian put the thin crystal into her mouth, he watched nervously. He could not help but ask, “Do you need some garlic?”

“This is a freaking blood crystal, not tofu!” Hessiana’s arm akimbo and glared at Hao Ren. She then turned to Vivian. “Anything?”

“Just a moment,” Vivian waved, gesturing her to be patient. “I am in the midst of absorbing it.”

She broke down the blood crystal back into its original form, absorbed it, and perceived the information contained wherein. Her facial expression kept changing between confusion and enlightenment. The formation of this blood crystal was much earlier than she expected. Fragment of memory from an era she had never expected rushed into her mind.

She saw her own life on the planet from a third party perspective. The vision flashed across her eyes, but she was able to recall more memories than the images she saw.

Vivian opened her eyes; a bloody glow flashed across her eyes and disappeared. Her energy broke out uncontrollably in a thousandth of a second. Hao Ren felt the power was coming after him as if he were prey. The illusion disappeared quickly, and Vivian came out from her trance. The first thing she did was look at Gezer. “What is beneath Dorasil?”

The survivors on the planet built the ancient city of Dorasil, known as the City of Rituals, after the end of the Sun Dynasty but before heaven closed. It was never inhabited, and only serving as a symbol in this world. Vivian’s question confused Gezer. “The sacred city? Something underground?”

“There is something — another city. Just beneath Dorasil,” Vivian said as she got to her feet. “Hurry up! We should get there quickly.”

“Wait a minute,” Hao Ren stopped Gezer, who was about to carry out the order. He looked at Vivian. “Must you go now? Could you wait until tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” Vivian was puzzled. “In that case…”

Hao Ren raised his finger and pointed at the sky outside the yurt. “It’s getting late now, and you need a rest, just as others do.”

Vivian calmed down from her stirred emotions. She now saw not only Lily was dozing off, but Nangong Wuyue had also curled up like a mosquito coil and slept. Nangong Sanba and Hessiana were not that serious, but they were all not in their best state.

“You are right. Let’s depart tomorrow. Sorry, I was just too excited,” said Vivian. As she calmed down, she let out a faint smile. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. The residual memory in the blood crystal stirred my emotion.”

Hao Ren nodded. He did not ask what she saw in the illusion. “Well, we will stay in Fire tribe for the night. Tomorrow, we will head straight to Wind tribe,” he said.

Vivian nodded subtly.

Chapter 812: Returning to Dorasil

 

It was another morning in the underground world. The microbes lit up the white clouds in the same order as they dimmed them during nightfall, and shone the light on the prairie. The natives of this world had a unique understanding of the cycles of day and night, as well as wind and rain there. They believed that a huge monster was breathing smoke at the edge of the world, thus forming the clouds. A huge flamingo called Cudra flew out of the nose of this monster every morning and lit up the clouds so that the world below would receive light.

The team came to a slope near the ancient city of Dorasil. Vivian and Hao Ren were standing at the highest point overlooking the city. Several small bats were hovering over the city, using ultrasonic frequency to scan the megalithic ruins. Vivian was looking for the part of the town she had seen in her illusion.

They had brought Gezer and Bonia too. Bonia was praying to the clouds with her eyes closed. She chanted some obscure words that seemed at odds with her age. Meanwhile, Hessiana was bored to death. She asked Gezer, “What is Bonia doing?”

Gezer explained, “The saintess is thanking Cudra, the flamingo for lighting up the sky and bringing light to the world, and praying that Cudra would remember to return to the nest on time when the dusk falls to avoid the world from falling into the legendary ‘Light Burial.’”

“Light Burial?”

“If the flamingo forgets to return to the nest, daylight will linger on as the clouds light up for a dozen days and nights. The temperature of the world will rise, and light will burn the plants—myth has records of several of these events.” Gezer explained the myth of this world to Hessiana. “If this happens, saintesses, elders, and warriors of all tribes will go to their respective Pillar of Eternity and knock on the outer shell of the pillar to remind Cudra to return to the nest. When Cudra returns, the daylight will end.”

The phenomenon Gezer mentioned was the occasional imbalances of the fragile ecology of this world. As everything existed here relied on the shell of the cradle that the First Born created, the slightest fluctuation of this system would cause unimaginable turbulence to the world. The so-called ‘knocking the shell of the Pillar of Eternity’ should work, because this was the only means the surface creatures could communicate with the First Born in the underground. The Pillar of Eternity was connected to the nerves of the First Born. But these things had been given a mythological origin. Hessiana could only pout when listening to the story. “That’s interesting, very interesting.”

Vivian directed her bats to focus on the largest pyramid on the fringe of Dorasil. “There is a large hollow space inside the pyramid; the hollow space should be the passage to the underground. A few pyramids in the surroundings have tunnels connected to it. Bonia, do you know about the legend of these pyramids?”

Bonia had just finished her prayers to the clouds. She trotted up the side of Vivian. “The Great Pyramid is your throne, and the pyramids in the surroundings represent the three kingdoms, three countries and three dominions of the Sun Dynasty.”

“Have you ever checked what is beneath the city?”

Bonia thought for a moment and shook her head hard. “Nope! Because the city is sacred, the foundation of the city is the foundation of the world. It is in the neck of the giant, Toka. If we tamper with the city, Toka will get angry and fling the world off his back into the chaos. Of course, that shouldn’t be a problem if you want to do that. Isn’t it?”

The little saintess still retained her curiosity and rashness of her age. She believed the mythical stories were true while at the same time she needed the Goddess’ confirmation. Vivian was startled a little. “Oh, Toka… In your mythology, I was said to have built the world on the back of this stooped old man. That’s imaginative. How did you people come up with this?”

Bonia blinked. “Is it not true?”

“If you think it’s true, it’s true.” Vivian smiled and patted the little saintess on the head before pointing at the Great Pyramid. “Let’s go there.”

The Great Pyramid of Dorasil was just for decorative purposes. Built with white stones, it occupied one-tenth of the city land mass. The side of the pyramid facing the wilderness was smooth and without a staircase. The side facing the city had an unusually wide staircase, stretching from the bottom of the pyramid right to the flat top. On both sides of the stairs, mysterious reliefs covered the entire surfaces. The reliefs depicted the flora, fauna, and social life that existed during the Sun Dynasty; it looked almost as if a history engraved on the stone. They had not the time to look at the reliefs when they came to the city earlier. When they looked at it now, they were awed.

Vivian stood at the bottom of the staircase and pointed at the reliefs that stretched up to the top of the pyramid. “The correct way to view the reliefs is from the bottom up. It is about the history during the final period of the Sun Dynasty. At the bottom are reliefs of animals and plants. Further up is social life. Nearer to the top are reliefs of people taking refuge in the highlands and wilderness. If I’m not mistaken, the abstract image at the top of the pyramid describes the final stage of the world: the closure of the heaven.”

Hao Ren stroked the old, weathered stones with his hand and asked casually, “Is the thing we are looking for underground?”

“Yeah. The entrance is here, but I have to find a way to open this thing,” Vivian said while looking at the small pyramids around the main one. “I remember what I saw in the blood-crystal illusion; these pyramids are light-activated and connected. The stones have sealed the entrance; we need to activate the mechanisms.”

The MDT vibrated on Hao Ren’s shoulder. “That’s easy. All you need is the support of a large engineering team.”

Hao Ren swept the MDT off his shoulder. “Get lost! Don’t you know this is a cultural heritage? Are you telling me that you intend to blow up the temple of the natives here?”

Vivian could care less about their bickering. She walked back and forth in front of the reliefs, trying to recall the memory in her mind. It was difficult to remember something that initially did not belong in her memory. Since the real thing was in front of her now, it became a little easier. At last, she came before one of the reliefs on the base of the pyramid. At the center of the reliefs was a pattern of the sun shining on the earth; this was what she was after.

Vivian’s ran her fingers across the rough radiant lines of the sun relief. “Sunshine, the symbol of the old world. In this world, the ‘sun’ is the synonym of ‘ancient secrets.’ So you need to open it here…”

She knocked the relief three times and shouted in the language of this world, “Praise to the sun!”

Hessiana smacked on the forehead. “That’s weird! The ancestor of the Blood Clan is praising the sun!”

Vivian shot her a glare. “This is a password!”

“Looks like your password doesn’t work.” Hao Ren pointed to the relief.

Yes, nothing had ever happened when Vivian chanted ‘praised the sun.’ The relief did not light up; the pyramid did not move. Things became quiet as before. Vivian’s brows pulled together and then she knocked again. “Probably bad connection… Praise to the sun!”

“Praise to the moon?”

“Praise to Mars?”

“Praise to Saturn?”

“Praise to the Titan II? Praise to Arcturus? Praise to Pollux?”

The MDT suddenly swooped over to stop Vivian from shooting in the dark. It emitted a laser beam, cut the relief, and produced a hell lot of sparks. “You have to know; this thing has been here for ten thousand years! Do you think that the voice-control switches here are as durable as the Empire’s?”

The MDT dialed up the power of the laser beam, and the slab just came off like a piece of cheese before others could stop it. But the MDT had been cautious; it scanned the structure behind the slates while it cut. Two slabs came off along a strange line and fell on the ground, revealing the perfectly intact internal.

Complex runes and beautiful crystals were inlaid on a metal-cast substrate. Things looked mysterious and primitive.

The MDT emitted a blue light as it scanned the ancient magic symbols, trying to figure out their meanings while it released some tiny electric sparks to stimulate the crystals. “I should be able to initiate the mechanism… if the buried part is durable.”

The electric sparks hit the ancient symbols. Seeing this, Turcan whispered to Kassandra, “Those secret agents in spy movies use this spark trick to steal vehicles.” “I think the trick will work on motorcycles too.”

Hessiana could not help but mutter after listening to their conversation, “I can’t understand how that would work when it comes to hacking a freaking ancient ruin.”

While the three of them discussing among themselves, the ‘car booting trick’ the MDT used had worked.

The ancient runes lit up, and grinding sound came out from inside the pyramid. As the noise increased, the ground began to shake!

Chapter 813: Underground City

 

The secret of this world was hidden under their nose.

The rumbling came from inside the pyramid as if a ton of stones were rolling inside. Dust and debris began to fall from above when the pyramid finally opened.

The old mechanism was pushing a series of huge stones out from the side of the pyramid, which had no doors or windows. Each stone weighed more than ten tonnes, had mysterious runes at the bottom that glowed in blue and red, and floated in the air in defiance of gravity. Instruments that looked like lenses began to emerge from the holes left behind by the floating stones.

More vibrations came from other places. The nine small pyramids around the main one were moving too. Instead of opening from the sides, their top popped open. The opening looked like a missile silo, it dilated open like an iris, and heavy crystal lens rose from below.

Praise to the sun and let the light dance.

The lenses began to align their orientations. Then light from one of the small pyramids started to pass along other pyramids and form a grid. At first, Hao Ren was watching in awe at this ancient technical wonder, but soon, he quickly noticed the strangeness of the light network. With one and a half years of experience as spacecraft captain under his belt, he swore that this stuff had something to do with the stars.

His experience came in handy.

He quickly asked the MDT to record the light activity while the lenses adjusted their angles to construct a new refraction path and form several simple geometric patterns. A few minutes later, the light show stopped after completing a cycle. It restarted and did it all over again. There was more to these lenses than meets the eye. If the lenses functioned only to open the hidden mechanisms, their refraction patterns needed not to be complicated.

“It’s the coordinates of the starry sky. The first light diagram is the route from a reference star to the parent star. The following patterns are the major star systems viewed from the perspective of the parent star.” The MDT analyzed. “These patterns can also be used to correct the deviations caused by star motion, so these coordinates still make sense until today.”

“These pyramids contain the record of the old coordinates of the planet Inferno in the Plane of Dreams?” Lily was amazed. “Wow, they already had such an advanced knowledge during the ancient times?”

“Either it was the ancient people who invented this, or the Goddess taught them this,” Hao Ren said as he looked up at the ever-changing geometric patterns. “MDT, please send the coordinates to the drone cluster. It is their next task.”

Bonia and Gezer had no idea what these light patterns meant, but judging from the expressions on Hao Ren and Vivian’s faces, maybe the lights had some sacred meaning. So they bowed their heads and began to pray.

A louder rumble came from the main pyramid. This time, the real passage finally opened.

The great pyramid split into half from the middle, and the reliefs on the base began to fall off. It amazed Hao Ren that the whole pyramid was floating in the air!

The gap between the base and the ground was just over an inch high with blue and red magic glows in the gap. There was a powerful anti-gravity mechanism at work, keeping the massive ancient structure hovering in the air.

When the rumble stopped, the pyramid had split in half. A dozen-meter appeared. Hao Ren saw lights gradually lit up in a downward-slanting ramp.

The lenses on the pyramids did not stop working, however. The lenses re-adjusted the angles and repeated the star coordinates light show.

Vivian rolled up a gust of wind to blow away the dust before Hao Ren went into the gap. On both sides of the divide, he saw the internal structure. There were heavy moving shafts, gears and hinges, and the magic-light emitting, self-winding mechanism, the hammer, working hard underneath the slates, driving the lenses in coordination with the other pyramids. The massive and clumsy machine and ancient magic worked together in a dazzlingly beautiful way.

He walked into the down ramp, the other followed.

“You two wait outside,” Vivian stopped Bonia and Gezer. “It could be dangerous down there.”

Gezer was recalcitrant. He clenched his holy blade and held his head high. “I’m a warrior. I have to fight, even if it means death!”

Bonia, the little saintess stepped forward and said, “I will go too. The grandma saintesses of the past will blame me if I don’t go.”

The little girl had no clue why they wanted to go into the pyramid, but she just felt obligated to follow the ‘Goddess.’

Hao Ren glanced at them. “I have seen Gezer’s combat skill; it’s one and half times better than Nangong Sanba’s. But this little girl… could she fight at all?”

Bonia wrinkled her nose. “I know magic; the kind of higher magic that only saintess knows. Gezer mightn’t be as good as me.”

Vivian shot Hao Ren a glance as if she was blaming him. “Are you going to let them follow?”

“Whether we allow them or not, they would sneak down the pyramid by themselves anyway. We couldn’t tie the guys up or shut the entrance behind us. Could we?” Hao Ren shook his head. “It’s better to let them come with us; at least we could keep an eye on them.”

He smiled and continued. “Fortunately, the other tribal warriors are staying back in the village; otherwise it would be like a parade down there. We can’t afford to bring so many people in this expedition.”

They headed down the ramp into the underground. Nangong Sanba was walking behind the pack, mumbling, “When was I reduced to be just a measurement of combat skill?”

The ramp to the underground was unusually spacious, and the walls along the way had a large number of glowing runes, which acted as the tunnel’s lighting. Some murals depicted life in the ancient kingdom, ships, and vehicles that flew above the city, and citizens in robes in the streets. Other than murals, there were also beautiful statues lined on both sides of the tunnel. Human sculptures were only part of these statues as most of them were of animals and plants.

There were signs of damage of varying degrees on the statues and murals despite the underground had the protection of magic power. The condition of these magnificent ancient treasures was in a sorry state.

Vivian walked next to Hao Ren. She had a complicated expression on her face when she looked at the murals and sculptures. Her sense of curiosity was mixed with a subtle, nostalgic memory. This nostalgic feeling was not hers but of the blood crystal that she had absorbed into her body last night.

As they continued downwards, they lost sight of the entrance behind them. There was still light in front, and the air was not turbid. It seemed the lighting and ventilation systems in the underground worked pretty well although the mechanism just started a while ago.

After a long while, they arrived at an open platform.

A vast and magnificent underground ‘city’ appeared below them.

At the bottom of the massive underground cave, there were countless house-like boulders lined up in rows. These boulders had no doors or windows. They were not real houses but a model city. Dark blue and red lights filled the space and carried a wonderful sense of floating. A circle of colossal stone columns was in the middle of the city with blindingly bright electric light dancing in between the stone columns in a loud sizzling sound.

The underground facility contained tremendous energy.

Hao Ren saw a vast hollow space in the center of the ‘underground city.’ He found something familiar around the area; it was the tentacles of the First Born.

The tentacles, still twitching slightly, spread out from the hollow space and wrapped around the megaliths that were shrouded in electric light.

Chapter 814: The First Born’s Condition

 

Some of this world’s ancient legends were lost despite the elders of the tribes’ best efforts to keep a record of their history and culture. Just as people forgot the truth about the Dorasilian pyramids, the world above the zenith, and the real reason for the end of the Sun Dynasty, they also forgot everything about Dorasil, the end-day city.

Below is the myth that was lost in history:

Buried under Dorasil, the city of the King of the Sun is a dark-faced city. This city is a mirror image of Dorasil in hell, called Silador. Layers of rock and steel, and a thick protective shield shroud the city in the shadow. Blood and spirits of the ancient sages permeate the shield, keeping everything that sleeps in Silador, the end-day city, forever in sleep. In this sacred place, hidden from the world, huge buildings without doors and windows are everywhere. The huge stones were extracted from the darkest and hottest underground world, containing the war power of the Goddess, surrounded by the powerful, never-ending lightning that continuously recharges the end-day city. The primordial cave called the Throat of Toka is right in the center of the city.

Toka, the king of giants, is a stooped old man who carries the world on his back, according to the legends of the locals. He was ordered to look after the garden of the Goddess, but his bad temper had destroyed the garden. As a punishment, the Goddess ordered Toka to carry the newly created world on his back, never allowed him to lie down and rest, nor get the world off his back. But Toka’s temper was untamable. He only agreed to carry the world on his back because he feared the Goddess, but this terrible king of the giants had been looking for opportunities to get rid of the burden on his back. The goddess knew it. She ordered the ancient human sages to build a city deep underground, named it Silador, and planted seventy-seven god nails made of Thunderstone in Silador to suppress the nerves of Toka so that this bad-tempered king of the giants would remain sleep and the world could enjoy peace and stability.

Now they were standing in the end-day city of Silador. The giant stone columns shrouded with powerful electric light were the legendary ‘seventy-seven god nails,’ and the big hollow in the center of the city was the Throat of Toka. The tentacles that extended out from the hollow were the nerves of the King of the Giants mentioned in the mythology. Sadly, no one knew about this legend.

Only if Hao Ren and his team could learn the legend, they might be able to deduce more information out of it. Unfortunately, this ancient story was lost following a plague in the tribe thousands of years ago. No one knew the myth of the underground city now. Noe, these explorers here could only stare at this majestic place, wide-eyed, wondering at the electro-optical show.

The sighting of the tentacles did not surprise Hao Ren. He even breathed a sigh of relief. He had long known that the First Born was the foundation of this world; the sighting of the tentacles only meant that he had gotten some progress. He looked around and saw a ramp that could lead down to the weird city below.

He led the team down the ramp. Gezer clenched his sword and followed closely from behind. Before catching up with the team, Bonia looked back at the hollow surrounded by lightning and tentacles. A chill ran up her spine. She swallowed hard and whispered a prayer before darting up behind Vivian. At least, she felt secure when Vivian was around.

The MDT was floating in the air and analyzing the energy response of the megaliths. “The stones resonate with each other. These things work together. The whole city is like a computer, and the energy seems to come from the tentacles.”

Hao Ren thought for a moment. “The First Born provides energy to the city, and the city uses electric shock to irritate the tentacles?”

“It’s not an irritation, it’s a lullaby,” a holographic projection appeared above the MDT. The hologram showed a three-dimensional model of the city where circles of blue waves were around the hollow. The waves presented the electric lightning that the seventy-seven megaliths discharged. The blue, dancing lightning suppressed the electrical signals in the tentacles. “These things suppress the activity of the First Born,” the MDT said.

“With these stones alone?” Hao Ren’s jaw dropped. He knew the size of the First Born on this planet; this was an adult. The three little tentacle-monsters on the planet Holletta seemed like child’s play in comparison. “Were the ancient people capable of this?”

“There must be something else. At a glance, these tentacles seem to be suppressed and cooperating actively.” The MDT pointed at the huge stone columns. “These things alone wouldn’t be able to keep the big guy in place.”

The team came down to the city near to the stone column where powerful lightning was dancing around. The buzzing current was producing a creepy atmosphere, as the smell of ionized air filled the space. However, Hao Ren noticed that something was regulating the current as it hopped at the height of more than ten meters above ground, there was worry that it would strike down low suddenly.

Nangong Wuyue form-shifted into a water snake form, and created a sizeable semi-circular shield to divert any possible stray current to the ground. Just in case. She looked up at the dark stone columns in the surroundings. “I don’t know why; I feel someone is watching us.”

“Me too,” Hao Ren said with a frown. “Like there are eyes everywhere.”

Lily kept her eyes open. She wanted to try her psychic eyes if she could see ghosts. But she could see none. Those were not ordinary ghosts as she knew it. She wagged her tail and said, “There’s nothing… but I don’t like this place either. Static is everywhere. See how my tail looks now?”

Hao Ren took a glance at her tail; it had swelled twice its original size. The fault of the ionized air.

They walked past a large slate, which blocked the path into the hollow in the center. The slate had ancient engraved text on it that read: The Throat of Toka.

“It should be related to the giant who carries the world,” Gezer said. “But everything about this city is lost. I have never heard a story about them.”

Bonia stared at the bright arcs, wide-eyed. The beautiful sights captured her curiosity. She seemed to see shadows flying in the air amid the dancing electric lights. The little saintess looked with great interest, and her ears flickered slightly. “Goddess, they are singing ~~.”

Vivian was startled. “Singing? Who?”

Bonia pointed with a finger. “Everywhere, people are singing into the hollow.”

Hao Ren did not take the little girl’s words lightly, but could not find the ‘people’ that Bonia saw. He found the situation here as similar to the ghost town of Domir. “I am afraid she is the only one who could see the things.”

“Take note of what they are singing and saying,” Vivian told Bonia, “but don’t follow them. They should be ancient souls. They are not necessarily malicious, but you shouldn’t go to the place they are going.”

Bonia seemed to understand as she was nodding. “All right.”

They came to the edge of the Throat of Toka, where tentacles almost completely covered the ground. Those root-like tentacles, which reached out to the lightning stone columns, had also electric light flowing on the skin. Hao Ren carefully came to the edge of the hollow and peered down; all he saw were little red spots in the endless darkness. He figured it could be lava or organs of the First Born.

The MDT analyzed it. The tentacles remained active, yet no nervous signals of the First Born. The stone columns had suppressed everything down here, and the tentacles were sleeping as if they were dead.

Hao Ren dropped a few probes into the hollow as he would usually do. He then waited.

The probes sent back some data. After running its analysis, the MDT whistled. “Hey, mate! I think I can answer your question now. I know where the ecosystem of this planet gets energy from.”

It immediately had Hao Ren’s attention. “From where?”

“The First Born is consuming the planet.”

Chapter 815: The Souls

 

The probes had sent back disturbing images of the planet’s underground.

The images revealed the hollow internal structure of the planet and its original rock formations were gone. After thousands and thousands of years of an exhaustive existence, the planet was no longer a real celestial body, but a large creature. Dark tentacles and hollow spaces were everywhere. The probes had not been able to find any soil or rock formations.

One of the probes flew quickly in the underground, maneuvering past the tentacles that looked like a thorn forest. Red was the only light that filled the underground space. This light was the glow that the ganglia and pump-like organs emitted. There were also ubiquitous, thin clouds of microbes released by the tentacles. Their composition was the same as that of the bacteria in clouds in the atmosphere of the planet. Some heterogenized fragments of crust and mantle in the form of dark, metallic deposits remained in between the tentacles.

The probe seemed to be flying forward in an endless labyrinth tunnel. No matter which direction it headed, there were only hollows and red. The environmental readings that the probe sent back indicated that the surrounding temperature was rising. It was near to the location of the First Born’s core organ, where strata had mostly disappeared. The MDT switched on the mic of the probe, and instantly it picked up something sounding wonderful to the ear.

A throbbing sound was in the wind; it was low and slow, like the heartbeat of this planet.

“It’s estimated that eighty-percent of the planet has been consumed and used to build a more efficient energy system.” The MDT analyzed using the available information. “The First Born is the only one who could extend the life of the ecosystem without the sun. It swallows the planet into its stomach and converts energy to maintain the cyclic processes. The First Born is very efficient in converting the energy. The probe has also found the ‘factory’ that produces the microbiota. It is a sporangia-like tissue connected to the tract, which in turn to Heaven’s Pillar, where the cloud is made.”

The First Born’s transformation of the planet and control of energy was akin to a planned economy; it worked best in a resource shortage situation like this.

Hao Ren’s brows knit together as he tried to make sense of this incredible biological system. “Looks like it doesn’t work anymore.”

The MDT said, “Since the clouds have been working normally, the cloud-making organ has gone into dormancy–not disappeared. So I think the maintenance of the clouds is not regular. The organ would wake up and replenish the atmosphere with clouds, which it discharges through the special part of Heaven’s Pillars.”

A thought suddenly crossed Hao Ren’s mind. “Would this process affect the ‘ecological warehouse’ between the two crusts?”

“Possibly,” the MDT replied. “The microbial population needs to be replenished, and they are also related to each other. When the cloud-producing organ re-starts, it will inevitably affect the bright clouds.”

Hao Ren and Vivian glanced at each other. “The legendary ‘light burial’ phenomenon,” they said in unison.

“How is the First Born doing?” Vivian sounded a little worried. “Is it normal?”

“There’s something special about this First Born. It is different from what we have seen before.” The MDT activated a holographic display and called up the image of the First Born. The image was only showing what it had detected so far. Many tentacles were in gray; gray meant inactive. “The gray ones represent the nerve tissues that are responsible for thinking and exercising. As you can see, they are offline. The First Born is working unconsciously now, as its main consciousness is inactive. The transformation of the planet and the production cycles rely on its reflection. We are now standing on one of its most important nerves. This nerve tissue seems to e controlled.”

“So where these nerves connect to?” Hao Ren asked.

“They connect to connective tissue. If I am not mistaken, it is where the brain nucleus located. The probes have not found the entrance though. Maybe we can drill into it as long as we don’t irritate it.”

Hao Ren was weighing the option whether to disturb this sleeping behemoth further. Suddenly, a buzzing echo came into his ears. “The fragment of the goddess is asleep there,” a voice said.

“Who is it?” Hao Ren looked at the direction where the sound came from and was stunned to see a translucent figure appeared out of nowhere behind them.

It was a stooped, old man judging from the blurry figure. The old man, dressed in a kind of robe that Hao Ren had never seen before, was standing with hands on his back a dozen meters away. As the old man swayed like a blue candle flame, Hao Ren could not help but think that he had seen a ghost.

“I am the king of Sun Dynasty, Gragon. Perhaps people have forgotten about the name,” said the old soul, who slowly came up to Vivian and bowed devoutly. “Lord, as per your order, the lullaby has never stopped. Now you can retrieve the thing,” the soul said.

Although Vivian had been playing god in front of Gezer and his compatriots for the past days, she was still stunned by the ancient soul who called her ‘lord.’ She pulled her brows together and said, “Are you sure I am your Goddess? You must know what is hidden underground.”

“We know, we all know,” the ancient soul, who self-proclaimed to be the king of Sun Dynasty, said slowly in a rhythm that sounded like he was singing. “You are beyond reason, and your existence is a miracle. Your presence, no matter where, when and in what form, is the benefactor of this world…”

As Gragon chanted, mysterious halos appeared on the stone columns. More figures started to emerge from the electric light. They all dressed in the costumes of the Sun Dynasty. Just like Gragon, these souls were translucent, faces were blurry, and had a calm and serene aura. These ancient souls quietly gathered before Vivian. Rows after rows, one after another, they formed into a square formation as if they were coming on a pilgrimage.

The souls did not utter a single word as they came before Vivian.

Seeing these souls, Nangong Wuyue almost jumped out of her skin. She curled herself up and hid behind the team. The scene gave Hessiana the heebie-jeebies as she took a couple of steps back instinctively. Meanwhile, Bonia was standing beside Vivian. She smiled, reached out to the souls and greeted her ancestors happily. “Hello, I am Bonia!” she said.

The little girl was only about ten years old, but she did not turn a hair. She felt the goodwill and kindness of these souls and treated them as her kind.

Hao Ren had noticed the seriousness on Vivian’s face from the beginning. He knew she had known something from the blood crystal. Perhaps she had seen these wraiths in the illusion earlier. “It seems you know something.”

“I only know that they are the builders of this ancient city,” Vivian said in a low voice. “Looks like these souls have been performing certain rituals to suppress the First Born since ten thousand years ago. The blood crystal contains only fragmented memories. I’m here to find the missing part.”

Hao Ren could not help but look up at the colossal stone columns, which continued to give out an electric discharge to suppress the tentacles. Since the appearance of these souls, the electrical discharge had weakened.

The spirits of the late king of the Sun Dynasty who built the city had never vanished. They became part of the city, powering a lullaby uninterruptedly for thousands of years. They were the ‘programs’ stored in the stone columns, where human souls were the software that ran this complex system.

However, there was an unresolved mystery. Even if these ancient people had made such sacrifices, their strength was not enough to exert control over the First Born. Something stronger must be helping them build this facility and complete the first ritual that forced the First Born to surrender itself.

It was apparent who the transcendent power was.

Hao Ren looked at Vivian. “What’s underground?”

“Another me,” Vivian said with a smile.