The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 829

Chapter 829: Leaving Inferno

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

After Raven 12345 explained the Scarred Nebula to Hao Ren, they remained in space, gazing at the magnificent “scar” in the nebula for some time. If he had not seen it in person, Hao Ren would never have been able to imagine what kind of phenomenon the Wall of Reality’s collapse would produce. All his previous discussions with the MDT about the Wall of Reality were mostly postulations that visualized doomsdays scenarios like heaven and earth collapsing, the sky turning upside down, and things like that. In reality, the destruction from the collision of two universes was far from simple.

A galaxy, the size of the Milky Way, had been deleted as if wiping data on a hard drive, becoming background radiation in the universe and leaving a 7.7-lightyear-wide twisted nebula behind.

It was the so-called ‘mathematical rate of disaster.’ In the face of such a disaster, even the ‘disaster’ itself will be wiped off.

“Why are you telling me this all of a sudden?” Hao Ren looked at Raven 12345 curiously. He had the feeling that there was something more than meets the eye; Raven 12345 must have some other reason to do so.

The light from the distant stars refracted in Raven 12345’s eyes. She smiled. “Because you have become more mature, it is time to let you know about the truth of the universe. For most mortal races, the world is a stable and reliable place, and the law of physics is the truth set in stone by God. They have never thought that the universe would collapse one day, but for us, the world is far from stable because its balance could easily be disrupted.

As you can see, the eternal galaxy as seen in the eyes of the mortals has been deleted in the blink of an eye; similar dangers abound in the universe. The universe is not as safe as you think. Do you understand?”

Hao Ren felt a little overwhelmed. “That sound pretty heavy,” he said.

“Then get used to it,” Raven 12345 said and nodded slightly. “Inspector is an intermediary between God and humanity. You are born from the ordinary race, but ultimately you need to see the universe from our perspective, be aware of the threats that loomed in the universe, recognize the fragility of it and be prepared to do what you can to deal with them.”

Hao Ren felt as if he could only barely understand it, but he knew that one day he would be able to fully comprehend in what kind of world Raven 12345 was living. He gazed at the Scarred Nebula in the distance, visualizing the devastation it caused back then when the cosmic scar formed with destructive energy no mortal race could ever fight. He sighed softly. “Ignorance is bliss. On Earth, the biggest crisis for me in life was when I had no money to pay internet bill.”

“Ignorance is the greatest gift that mortals receive,” Raven 12345 patted Hao Ren on his shoulder, “but no one should keep being ignorant forever.”

After saying this, she faded into a ray of light, blended with the distant stars, and disappeared.

“I didn’t know you have such a serious side to you,” Hao Ren could not help muttering, looking at the direction where the Goddess had gone. He suddenly realized that he was floating in space. Freaking out, he shouted, “Hey, shouldn’t you at least send me back first? Where the heck am I now?”

Just when he was about to ask the MDT to send him back, a space crack opened next to him, and then a leg was hanging out from it. Hao Ren heard the voice of the Goddess echoing in his mind. “There you go!”

Something that defied the laws of physics happened to him as a few minutes later, Nolan picked Hao Ren down from the antenna tower of the Petrachelys. Everybody surrounded him, asking questions about what had happened. At last, Lily summed it up. “So the Goddess sent you back with the kick of her leg?”

Hao Ren was not injured, but he rubbed his back and sounded mad. “She’s a psychopath!”

There was no lightning and no divine wrath. The cosmic consciousness had recognized that Raven 12345 was a psychopath.

Nangong Sanba patted Hao Ren on his shoulder. “Take it easy, mate. After all, she is the Prime Force. Do you remember how she put Inferno into orbit? You should be grateful that you got the same privilege.”

Hao Ren had nothing more to say.

He shoved Nangong Sanba aside and came up to the console, checking the situation of the planet Inferno. The beautiful white planet was now circling a new star; no matter how ridiculous the Prime Force looked, it worked. However, letting the planet circle the sun was only the first step, it still had a long way to go before the planet could fully recover. Hao Ren knocked the MDT softly, which did not want to let go its place on the console. “When will the work start?”

“All right, let me explain. First of all, we must gain control over the First Born because the ecosystem of this planet depends on it to adapt to the new environment and stay alive. We can leave behind engineering robots and production plants in the inner crust of the planet. The drawings and software of the control facilities are ready. We will call in Fairy Mining Conglomerate after we have complete control over the First Born. I have made initial contact with their agent; they are very interested in this business. They said they could meet all of our requirements, and provide a complementary ‘pest cleanup’ service, which is to clear the surface of those twisted monsters.”

To the chagrin of Hao Ren, he said, “Those profiteers! How nice they make it sounds as though it is not part of their contractual obligation.”

“Yup. They’d better do it as they promise.” The MDT snorted. “Chief Raven has left a layer of divine protection on this planet. It will protect the planet until we get control of the First Born, but we don’t have to wait here; the control facility will take about half a month to complete. In the meantime, we can go home and take a break.”

Before Hao Ren could say anything, Lily came up, grabbed his sleeve, and exclaimed suddenly, “Spare ribs!”

She then went back to her seat and continued to play her favorite game. Hessiana and her sidekicks, who had no clue of what that meant, looked on and was dumbfounded. Hao Ren had to translate it. “It means she wants to eat spare ribs when home.”

Vivian curled her finger a couple of times, stretched out three of her fingers and wave at Lily.

“It means that Lily can have the stewed pork ribs provided she washes dishes for three days.” Hao Ren explained.

Lily saw Vivian’s gesture in her peripheral vision. She flicked her ears a couple of times, stuck out her tail, waved and pointed to Nangong Wuyue.

Hao Ren continued to translate. “Lily said that she heard it. It’s okay to wash dishes, but Nangong Wuyue could do a better job, and washing dishes requires the use of detergent. She hopes Vivian could talk it over with Nangong Wuyue that she is not lazy; she doesn’t like to move too much. She also asked to put some vegetables and corn kernels when stewing the ribs.”

Cold sweat trickled down Hessiana’s forehead; Hao Ren’s translations were so superb that it was almost a metaphysics. She wondered how Hao Ren could translate so many details out of a few simple hand gestures. He must possess a telepathic ability, Hessiana thought.

There were no such creatures as ‘cat slaves and dog slaves’ in the Athens’ sanctuary.

The Petrachelys returned to the lower crust to lay the groundwork the first phase of the construction project.

Just as it had done to the planet Tannagost, the Petrachelys only needed to set up a few necessary workstations and leave behind a couple of autonomous robots, which could quickly complete self-multiplication and expansion work.

Hao Ren hovered the spacecraft over Dorasil. When the ejection hatch on the spacecraft opened, four silver metal cubes of around ten meters wide on each side came out and flew towards the four corners of the city.

These mini-factories were designed on the back of the experience in Tannagost; they were more efficient and integrated. Each construction unit came with an autonomous robot and a set of material conversion plant that was capable of creating everything required in the blueprint and replicating itself with high efficiency. The experience in setting up bases in the Plane of Dreams had let Hao Ren foresee the many construction works would take place in his career—at least recently, so he had kept a few construction units onboard the spaceship.

Hao Ren had figured that four construction units would be enough. He watched as the cubes landed on the prairie and expanded slowly. Now all he had to do now was to wait.

Soon, Vivian had contacted the indigenous tribes through the radio.

After knowing that all the messengers had arrived at their respective destination and that things were going as planned, the Petrachelys left Inferno.

In half a month time, this place would have a new life.

Chapter 830: Lil Pea is Growing Up

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Hessiana and her sidekicks could never imagine that they would set off from Earth to Inferno by teleporting and then return in a spaceship. Life is indeed like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get.

Later in the day, Hao Ren and his entourage arrived at their home in Southern Suburb.

Y’zaks was sunbathing with his daughter just outside the doorway when Hao Ren arrived with a handful of grocery, which was mainly Lily’s favorite pork ribs. Y’lisabet ran up to Hao Ren and greeted him with a bright smile on her face. Hao Ren shoved the stuff in his hands to Lily and patted Y’lisabet on her head. Though the trip to Inferno was not as dangerous as the previous trips, he was mentally drained. The feeling quickly went away when he arrived home.

He knew why he had this feeling; a lot of things had happened during the trip, and most importantly, it concerned Vivian. Dealing with the demon-god Vivian was exhaustive. He would have suffered mental trauma if not for him having the nerves of steel.

Others felt the same. As soon as they reached home, Nangong Sanba and Nangong Wuyue quickly breathed a sigh of relief. Even Vivian appeared to be more relaxed. The only oddball here was Lily, who did not display any emotional changes. As always, the husky ran to the door with bags of pork ribs in her hands cheerfully. Her happy-go-lucky attitude was almost at God’s level.

Probably, Y’lisabet was the only person who could rival Lily’s light-heartedness. The training her papa gave her had toughened her; blowing her up several hundred meters in the air was just a child’s play, for which she would happily say, “Whoa, that’s fun!”

Vivian smiled and whispered to herself, “Home sweet home.”

Hao Ren heard her whisper and smiled at her. “Yeah, we’ve been through many things. Let’s take a rest. I will ask Raven about your problem later.”

Hessiana’s brows knit together. She looked at Vivian and then Hao Ren, her face sad. “It’s finished. Vivian has regarded this place as her home now! She’s not going to care about me!”

Kassandra came up, let out a sigh and comforted her. “Master, take it easy! After all, Vivian has never cared about you.”

The rumor that people had wanted this vampire dead was probably true. She was a jerkette, who would probably die at the hand of Hessiana someday.

Everything was as usual in the house. With the Nangong couples taking care of the house, Hao Ren no longer had to worry about going to sleep in a pile of dust every time he returned from a business trip. The TV was on when he stepped into the house. There was a pair of pointed, white-haired cat ears sticking out above the sofa’s back and a long tail hanging at the side when looking from behind.

“Rollie!” he called out the heartless cat. “Oh, come on! Don’t glue to the idiot box all day long. We’re back!”

Dumb Cat peeked from the sofa, stretched out her hand that was in the shape of a ball and wave at Hao Ren with a meow. She then pointed her tail to the cat-food commercial on the TV. “Big Boss Cat, I want this! Buy me!”

“What a heartless fella! Don’t you know that I have just arrived home?” Hao Ren retorted.

“Meow.” The cat maiden shook her head as if she had figured something out. She jumped off the sofa without making a sound, sneaked over and rubbed her head against Hao Ren’s leg. “You want to play with my tail? It is fun! You have five minutes.”

Hao Ren did not know what more to say but groaned inwardly.

Y’zaks looked on, grinning. “She is not heartless; she is just getting along with you in her way.”

Hao Ren forced a smile, and petted and coaxed Rollie back to the sofa before going into the bathroom to look for Lil Pea. Soaking in the basin filled with water, Lil Pea seemed to have sensed the coming of Hao Ren. She got up eagerly and waited. As soon as Hao Ren appeared, the little mermaid spouted water all over his face. Hao Ren swept Lil Pea up in his hand and was slightly surprised by how much she weighed in his hand. “You have grown longer again, eh?”

“I have grown longer!” Lil Pea patted Hao Ren on his arm with her tail. “And shed scales too!”

“Shed scales?” Only then, Hao Ren noticed some small illuminants, which were the fine scales came off the mermaid’s tail, in the basin. It was slighter lighter in tone on some parts of her tail. It looked like new scales. “When did it begin?”

Lil Pea counted with her fingers and then replied loudly, “Three days! Not including today.”

Hao Ren carried her to the living room and asked Nangong Wuyue, “She’s shedding scales. You know that?”

“How on earth am I supposed to know?” Nangong Wuyue shot him a scornful look. “I was following you on all this while. Have you forgotten?”

Hao Ren had been confused. He smacked his forehead. At this time, Ayesha came out of the kitchen and heard their conversation. “It’s normal to lose scale. She is growing up, and the pattern on the tail is changing. Probably scale shedding is common during the transition from childhood to adolescence. I have been keeping an eye on her; the little one is as fit as a fiddle, and her new scales are completely different from the original ones, which are of two different physiological stages. It’s normal.”

Hearing a veteran deep-sea creature saying so, Hao Ren breathed a sigh of relief. He held Lil Pea up and examined her for a long while, discovering that she was as energetic as before and that the shedding parts had regrown. It was a normal physiological phenomenon, he thought.

Seeing Hao Ren’s anxious look, Lily could not help but mutter, “Isn’t it normal? I, too, shed my hair twice a year and you have never been worried.”

“Come on! I have seen Mr. Zhao’s brown dog shedding hair for dozens of time since, but it’s my first time seeing mermaid shedding scales.” Hao Ren shot Lily a sideways glance. “Mermaid is different from fish, but growing back scales is new to me.”

Squirming on the sofa with her arms crossed, Lily recollected. “I thought my hair was a lifelong thing too. It scared the wit out of me when I had my first shedding. I thought I was going to die, and wanting to stick the hair back with glue. Childhood is memorable.”

Hao Ren looked at her with a strange look. “Have you not seen dogs shedding their hair before? Or did you live in a place where dogs didn’t exist?”

Still with her arms crossed, Lily said smugly, “I thought I was a werewolf at the time! And I thought after transcending; I wouldn’t have to shed hair again.”

Everyone was speechless.

Hessiana sat down on the sofa cautiously and listened to the weirdoes in the family talking about the senseless things. It was an atmosphere that had never existed in the Athens’ sanctuary. It lacked discipline, vigilance, stability, and controllability, but she felt an inexplicable feeling of longing for such feelings.

Vivian sat down beside her and asked casually, “You still have family business to attend to back home. So when are you going to leave?”

Hessiana was startled. She realized that she was not liked here, particularly by Vivian. She lowered her head slightly. “Yeah, I have to go… I will leave tomorrow. Can I stay for one more night?”

Vivian looked at Hao Ren and scratched her hair. “It’s okay. I want to say that it’s fine if you want to stay for a couple of days, but you have your family business needs you; after all, the Athens’ sanctuary isn’t that safe, and the demon hunters have been keeping an eye on you lot. You have to go back.”

Hessiana was stunned again. She could not believe her ears; Vivian invited her to stay! Even though this invitation was only as good as a cold shoulder, it was a pleasant surprise. She had never experienced it for the last thousands of years. “Ma’am Vivian, don’t you find me annoying?”

“I do, if you cause trouble,” Vivian said immediately. “But I’ve found that you are now more mature than and not as clingy as before. Mr. Landlord also wants me to care more about you. If you must thank, thank him.”

Hessiana’s expression became weirder this time. She looked at Hao Ren. There was a complicated feeling in her that no one could understand. She sniffled and said in a wounded-pride tone of voice. “Thanks to you, pop.”

Hao Ren immediately hid under the coffee table with the fish in his arms.

---

Chapter 831: The Return of Pattianne?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Hao Ren did not know why Hessiana was so bitter towards him. He wondered when he would unknowingly rub her the wrong way. There was a reason for it except that Hessiana had a psychotic disorder as a left-behind child. For a thousand years, Vivian left Hessiana behind in Athens. It was only fortunate that Hessiana was tough mentally and just got a bit neurotic as a result of the neglect.

A long awkward moment ensued when Hessiana called Hao Ren pop.

However, Hessiana could not care less; she was pleased with herself. For the first time in a thousand years, she saw improvement in her relationship with her beloved Ma’am Vivian. She was on cloud nine. Hao Ren could not care less about this neurotic bat-demon either so long as she did not create trouble. He passed the buck for disciplining the kid to Vivian and went back to his work.

The new ecosystem of Tannagost-Zorm was booming, the drone cluster had multiplied itself and increased its range, the construction units on the planet Inferno had erected the first electric-discharging needle-tower later yesterday, and Becky had sent a letter of greetings to everyone. Everything came in at once, but Hao Ren had no difficulty handling them. He had gotten it down to a fine art.

Y’zaks did not go out with his daughter to scavenge for electrical waste today but read the People’s Daily on the sofa, killing his time. When Hao Ren came out of his room, Y’zaks put up a big grin on his face and asked, “Done with your work?”

“Yeah.” Hao Ren patted Y’zaks on the shoulder and then flung himself in the sofa, edging Dumb Cbat off the armrest. “Did I not tell you not to squat on the armrest?” Hao Ren chided.

Rollie tumbled to the ground with a meow, but she flipped around and bounced up quickly before swinging her paw, which was in the shape of a ball, at Hao Ren’s face. The action was all at one fell swoop. Hao Ren took that unhurriedly while chatting with Y’zaks about how-was-your-day stuff. He learned about the situation in Helcrown and Y’lisabet’s learning progress while Y’zaks was more interested in things about the planet Inferno; he regretted that he did not follow Hao Ren to Inferno.

Although retired, Y’zaks was an explorer at heart; his curiosity and adventurous spirit had not died down.

Y’zaks suddenly became silent and looked past Hao Ren.

“What’s wrong?” Hao Ren asked. He turned his head around and almost sprained his neck. “What the hell?”

A familiar blonde girl with a faint glow on her body, face emotionless, with shoulder-length hair, and skinny was standing behind him. She was the corpse girl that the MDT ‘borrowed’ in the Ark of Dreams in Zorm.

“Hi!” The blonde girl waved at them. The expression on her face turned from stiff to animated quickly. “Buddy, how is my reproduction skill?”

Hao Ren finally realized that it was the MDT, but he was startled a bit because he did not expect to see ‘her’ here in the real world. “Why are you doing this?” he asked.

The blonde girl pointed happily to herself. “Because I am a girl at heart.”

Suddenly, the door opened. Lily returned from the outside. The husky maiden was stunned seeing a strange and foreign girl in the house. “Who is she, Mr. Landlord?”

“It’s the freaking brick!” Hao Ren had a headache; as if the imaginative husky was not playful enough, the MDT was even more coltish. He reached to grab the arm of the brick. “Girl at heart my foot! Did you download some apps again? Oh, wait a minute!”

His hand went through the girl’s body, and the girl flickered, and half her body had sunk into the floor like a ghost. The blonde girl took a step back and yelled, “Don’t touch me! I’ve yet stabilized it!”

“Is this a holographic projection?” Hao Ren had figured it out now and was speechless. “Having this trouble just to give yourself a new theme?”

The blonde girl’s arms akimbo—in the hologram, of course. “I have decided. I’m going to compete with Nolan for the post of the battleship host. Did she not want to pull me out of the console last time? Well, I have thought it through. Since we both are AIs, what gives her the special rights over me? Is it all because she has a human look? This is the only difference between us.”

While saying, the blonde girl spun one round and said, “I, the cerebral-thrombosis corpse maiden Pattianne must make the bitch give up the console slot!”

Hao Ren looked at the neurotic, dumbstruck. He did not know what to say. He was undecided whether to rail at the MDT for taking ‘cerebral thrombosis’ as his name, or inveigh against the power struggle between two AIs over a host slot.

Y’zaks looked on, equally dumbstruck. He scratched his jaw and nodded thoughtfully. “Interesting… I remember in my hometown; there was a kind of creature called mirage demon, which was a type of large insect that could project an ultra-realistic image using the crystal on its back to disguise itself as something attractive to trap its prey. It was a fascinating guy.”

Hao Ren smiled wryly. “I don’t care if it’s interesting. I want to remind this fella that it has sunk into the floor again.”

The MDT quickly lifted the holographic image like a ghost with no movement on the limbs. It raised it too high, two centimeters above the floor, which made it like a ghost hovering in the air. ‘She’ had to make several adjustments before finally making it right. “Phew! It’s not easy at all. My altitude sensor isn’t suited for this purpose.”

Lily curiously went up to check out the virtual body. She reached inside the blonde girl and fumbled a little with her hand. “It doesn’t look fake from the outside, except that it appeared a little shiny. Wait a second! I think I’ve touched something,” she said.

While saying, she shook the thing in her hand. The blonde girl swung back and forth. “Stop! That’s me. You’re grabbing my body!” the MDT pleaded.

The protest did not work. Instead, it aroused Lily’s playfulness. The husky maiden lifted the body of the MDT in the air, which visually it was the blonde girl, with her hand still stuck inside the blonde girl’s stomach as if it was a scene in an age-restricted horror movie minus the blood. Rollie, who sprawled on the sofa watching, bounced up with a meow, stepped over Hao Ren’s head and the sofa’s back, and scrambled to the other end of the living hall.

Hao Ren watched on but not letting Lily do it overboard. He suddenly heard a noise in the kitchen. Then Y’lisabet ran out nervously. “Uncle Ren! Something is not good! Lil Pea looks—”

The little demon paused, looked up and saw Lily swinging the body of a person in the air, her jaw dropped. “That’s fun!”

Hao Ren waved his hand in front of Y’lisabet. “Don’t bother with them. What did you say about Lil Pea?”

Y’lisabet took her eyes off what Lily was doing. “I don’t know what happened! Lil Pea suddenly said that her stomach didn’t feel right and then she kept swimming in a circle.”

Hao Ren became nervous and ran into the washroom.

In the washroom, Lil Pea was in the big water basin where she was swimming in a circle with a weird posture and kicking up water with her tail occasionally. The little mermaid jumped out of the water when she saw Hao Ren, looking very spirited. “Hi, Dad-dee! Swimming?”

She looked just fine.

---

Chapter 832: Growing Up

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Lil Pea swam in circles in the basin and spouted water at Hao Ren naughtily. She looked normal. Though feeling a little less worried, Hao Ren still found something amiss about her. She swam with her body leaning to aside, and her movement was not as agile as before.

Hao Ren had been keeping Lil Pea for two years now and accumulated a ton of strange knowledge about the mermaid. Normal parents would not keep checking if their daughter’s tail was okay, but Hao Ren did. He began to think that he would be a fishery expert in two years.

“Do you feel any discomfort?” Hao Ren poked at the small arm of Lil Pea. The little mermaid might look active, but considering that she was hyperactive and naive at her age, it was difficult to say whether she could tell if she knew what was wrong with herself.

Lil Pea ran around Hao Ren’s finger before she clung to his thumb. “I felt bloated, but I’m okay now,” she said.

Hao Ren turned his head around and asked Y’lisabet, “What did she eat this morning?”

Y’lisabet scratched her horn and tried to recall by tilting her head. “Papa’s newspaper, Vivian’s comb, and gnawing at your desk too, just the usual stuff she would eat any other days.”

Anyone fed on this diet should be in the ICU by now. Hao Ren thought for a while and found that the little mermaid’s food was healthy today. At least, she did not gnaw at the lamp holder; the lamp holder was made of bakelite, which the mermaid would not be able to digest.

At this time, Nangong Wuyue came over, learning about Lil Pea’s condition, she swept the mermaid out of the water with her hand and placed her under the sunlight and scrutinized her. Using a water-made magnifying glass, she studied the scales on the mermaid’s tail. Hao Ren looked on nervously. After a long while, he could not wait to ask, “How is she? Bad stomach or gastroenteritis?”

Nangong Wuyue put the little guy back in the water, face serious. “To tell the truth, I don’t know. Mermaid and cutlassfish aren’t quite the same. My experience in treating fish is of no help here.”

Lil Pea lay her head on the edge of the water basin and looked up. She could not make head or tail of what the adults were saying. Soon, her patience ran out. She began beating the water trying to attract Hao Ren’s attention. “I’m bored! I’m bored! I’m bored!” she yelled.

Hao Ren petted Lil Pea on her head with his finger. “Still feeling bloated?”

The little mermaid nodded.

Hao Ren turned his head and called out the MDT in the living hall, “MDT! Go and prepare the medical pod. I need to give Lil Pea a CT scan.”

The MDT answered with an “okay” before remotely activating the equipment in the basement and then ran into the washroom. “Let me see what’s wrong with her!”

Lil Pea saw the stranger blonde, bewildered. “Who are you?” she asked.

Hao Ren smiled wryly. “It’s your lantern; it just changed a new shell.”

Lil Pea heard this and was delighted. She jumped out of the basin and lunged towards the MDT. The MDT, who was in girl form, opened her arms ready to catch Lil Pea. While Lil Pea was halfway towards it in the air, the MDT suddenly realized something. “Hold on! I’m just a holographic—”

Hao Ren caught Lil Pea with his hand and then shot the MDT a glare. “Change back! Wait until you get onboard the spacecraft, you can vent your girl’s feeling at Nolan as much as you want but not here at home.”

When he was about to take Lil Pea down to the basement, Lil Pea wriggled in his hands and grabbed his sleeve. “Dad-dee, belly not bloated anymore,” the mermaid said.

“Oh yeah, you’re okay now?”

Lil Pea twisted and put up a weird face. “Yup, suddenly not bloated anymore and…”

“And what?”

Lil Pea fumbled around and then handed a peanut-sized white ball to Hao Ren. “I have laid an egg.”

Hao Ren was flabbergasted.

Everyone suddenly became as quiet as a church mouse, and it remained for a good half a minute before Lil Pea pulled Hao Ren’s sleeve again. “Dad-dee, I’ve laid an egg.”

“Ahh, okay.” Hao Ren blinked at her and did not know what to make of it. Dumbstruck, he turned to look at Nangong Wuyue. “Hey, do you know what’s going on?”

“How the hell do I know?” Nangong Wuyue glared at him. “Hurry her to the medical pod first. Then we’ll figure out the rest.”

Hao Ren ran down to the basement with Lil Pea in his hands while the others were right at his heels. The check-up result soon came out but found no anomalies in Lil Pea’s body; she was full of beans. The only odd thing was she had laid an egg.

Hao Ren brought Lil Pea back to the living room and put her on the table, where the peanut-sized white ball was on a dip bowl next to her. Lil Pea and they stared at each other for a long while, no one talked. Hao Ren reached to touch the little ‘fish egg’ and was very careful not to break it, as the thing that was no more than one centimeter in diameter looked very fragile.

Lily looked at Lil Pea, and then Hao Ren before said in a whisper, “Mr. Landlord, do you think this is normal?”

“Laying egg should be pretty normal. After all, Lil Pea was hatched from an egg.” Hao Ren scratched his hair. “But it’s still too early for her to lay an egg. She is only a year old!”

“I’m more concerned about the egg,” Vivian said with her brows knit together. “I remember the mermaid egg that Mr. Landlord brought back was as big as a fist and was as hard as a stone, but the one we’re looking at here is so tiny that even shrimp would find it too small to hatch.”

Lily squinted at Vivian. “Look at Lil Pea’s size; you need to compare things in perspective.”

“The main problem is that Lil Pea is unique in the world. We have no way to find another mermaid to make a comparison.” Nangong Sanba scratched his hair. “Only God knows if this is normal. By the way, TV has always reported that hormones intake in children will cause precocious puberty. Is this what happened to Lil Pea?”

“Nonsense. Lil Pea eats only wood. There’s no hormone in the wood.” Nangong Wuyue sneered. She then said thoughtfully. “As she likes to eat books, could it be that the problem lies with the ink?”

While the others joined the discussion hammer and tongs, Hao Ren stared blankly at the egg. After a long while, he looked up and asked Nangong Wuyue, “Do you know anything about postpartum care?”

Nangong Wuyue’s expression became very weird. “Why should I know this?”

“Are you not a siren?”

“A siren is not a mermaid, and I don’t lay eggs!”

“But I do remember that when you were born, it was also a ball?”

Nangong Wuyue’s face turned red. “Who told you that if it were born a ball, it was oviparous? The truth was that I didn’t know how I was supposed to look like when I was born; it was a random selection, mind you. I was born a meatball; was it oviparous or viviparous?”

Hao Ren buried his face in his hand and his head on the table. “Too complicated. What are we looking at now?”

Lil Pea looked confused. She could not make sense of what the adults were discussing. After laying the egg, the mermaid was full of vigor. She scampered about on the table before jumping up to Hao Ren. “Dad-dee, I am hungry!” She grabbed Hao Ren’s hair while saying.

She was the least worried one.

Y’zaks suddenly broke the silence. “Why don’t you ask the Goddess?”

Everyone quieted down before they made an “oh” sound almost in unison. Hao Ren smacked himself on the head. “Darn! Why didn’t I think of this before? MDT, make the call!”

By now, the MDT had changed back to the PDA form. It flew up to him. Just when it was about to make the call, Raven 12345 called in instead. “Hey, Hao Ren?”

“I was about to call you!” Hao Ren edged closer. “My daughter has laid an egg!”

It seemed Raven 12345 had something to tell Hao Ren, but after hearing what Hao Ren said, she suddenly choked back her words. After a few seconds, she muttered with a strange tone of voice, “Hey, you seem to have a lot of things going on there, eh? I need to see you. Come over with your daughter. And Vivian too.”

---

Chapter 833: Lots of them

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Hao Ren’s heart skipped a beat when Raven 12345 told him to bring Vivian along. He could instinctively sense that Raven 12345 had something to say to him. He immediately tucked Lil Pea in his pocket and got ready to bring Vivian to “Heaven”.

“Don’t forget the egg,” the MDT reminded him as it opened the portal. “Be careful. Don’t break it!”

Hao Ren held the mermaid egg in his hand. He wanted to put it into his pocket but was afraid that he would accidentally crush it. He thought better of it and carried it in his hand instead. “Let’s go. We’ll use the portal.”

The two of them arrived in “Heaven” with the fish. For the first time in history, Raven 12345 was standing at the door waiting for them. Hao Ren brought Vivian up to Raven 12345 and showed her the mermaid egg. “Lil Pea just laid it a while ago.”

Raven 12345 took the tiny egg from Hao Ren’s hand and examined it with interest. The egg was delicate and exquisite like a piece of art but very fragile. After reviewing it for a while, the Goddess raised her head and said, “It won’t hatch.”

“I know.” Hao Ren nodded. “Mermaid isn’t parthenogenetic. I want to know if this is normal. Or is Lil Pea precocious?”

“I need to check.” Raven 12345 turned and walked towards the door. “This mermaid is not on my creation list, but it won’t take long to check.”

Hao Ren and Vivian followed Raven into the mansion. After passing through a few corners in the long corridor, they finally came to a smaller lounge. Raven 12345 waved her hand, summoning up a silver plate out of thin air and then motioned Hao Ren to put the little mermaid on the plate.

The plate seemed to possess a kind of unique characteristics, as when Lil Pea lay on it her body temperature and hardness changed. The little guy stretched out her tail and lay still comfortably. Hao Ren looked at the plate and felt that it was a bit strange in shape, but he could not tell why he had that kind of feeling.

Raven 12345 stared at Lil Pea for a while, as if she had thought of something, she suddenly took out a few pieces of cilantro and shallots and lay them around the little guy. When she finished putting the leaves in a circle, it became evident to Hao Ren that what it was. “Is it a fish plate?”

“Oops! I am just too used to it!” Raven 12345 quickly removed that cilantro and shallots while hemming a couple of time. “Just hold on a moment, I’m checking her,” she said embarrassedly.

While saying that, her eyes emanated a mysterious silver-white halo, which caught the eyes of Lil Pea immediately. As Lil Pea looked at the corona, she slowly fell into a trance. Not to disturb the Goddess’ work, Hao Ren and Vivian stepped back instinctively.

“Mr. Landlord.” Vivian nudged Hao Ren’s arm. “Do you know why the Goddess asks for me?”

Hao Ren replied in a quiet voice, “I guess it’s about your split, and also the Goddess of Creation.”

Hearing that, Vivian lowered her head and did not say a word, as if she was in thought.

Before long, the glow in Raven 12345’s eyes faded as she finished examining Lil Pea. Lil Pea returned to her usual activeness. Hao Ren came up and asked nervously, “How is she?”

“She is fine.” Raven 12345 nodded. “It’s a normal growth process. Because of the harsh living environment and disturbances during the incubation period, this type of mermaids often suffer from congenital disabilities. After the larval stage, they will run a self-test on their physiological functions to find if there’s any problem, and if there is, the fries will stop growing, and in their native environment, it means they will die very quickly. In this way, they could leave enough resources for healthy individuals to survive. There was no such problem with Lil Pea because she has you guys to take care of her. The little guy is very healthy. She was doing a ‘self-check, that’s it.”

“I didn’t know there is such a thing.” Hao Ren was wide-eyed and once again lamenting about the complexity of life and the environment of each world. “So will she still lay eggs in the future?”

“She won’t be until adulthood,” Raven 12345 said while shaking her head. “It will be years before that day comes. Now she has completed all the checks on her bodily functions and will grow up healthily and rapidly.”

“What do we do with this?” Hao Ren pointed to the mermaid egg beside Lil Pea. The little guy seemed to be unaware of what this meant for her. She just stared at the small ball curiously, poking it with her finger occasionally. At least, she knew that thing was very brittle.

“The egg will quickly lose its vitality. After all, it’s just a test, and probably, it will only last for a few hours. The egg means a lot to Lil Pea though. I should do something.”

Raven 12345 thought for a while and then clapped her hands, picked the mermaid egg up and began to inject magic into it. A silvery-white glow floated at her fingertip, and the air around the mermaid egg quickly condensed and formed into a crystal-like substance. When the white radiance gradually dissipated, Raven 12345 had a small and cute pendant in her hand. It was a teardrop gemstone with a light blue luster, inlaid with the mermaid egg like a work of art.

Raven 12345 made a rope and hung the pendant on Lil Pea’s neck solemnly. “Treat it as a talisman.”

Hao Ren was like really?

Vivian said in a quiet voice, “I think I should say something, but I don’t know what to say.”

Lil Pea fiddled with the pendant curiously. It looked a little big for her size, but she was happy. She clapped with her tail and thanked Raven 12345 politely.

She thought the teardrop pendant was beautiful though she did not know what it could do.

“You taught her well.” Raven 12345 nodded complimentarily.

“She could easily lose it.” Hao Ren had another thought. “She swims in the water all day long, and she could drop it unknowingly.”

“No worry. I have given the pendant a positioning capability; it could fly back to its owner if it dropped. It is the main feature of the pendant.” Raven 12345 said while smiling. “Of course, even then it is still a divine artifact. After all, I made it myself.”

Hao Ren was speechless as he felt that the most useless divine artifact in the world was finally born; hand-made by the Goddess, a real celestial object of which its only function was GPS-capability. What a shame!

“We’re done with Lil Pea, let’s talk about something more serious.” Raven 12345 handed the little mermaid to Hao Ren, and her eyes finally fell on Vivian. “Come with me; I want to show you something,” she said.

Vivian and Hao Ren exchanged a look involuntarily and nodded at each other spontaneously.

Raven 12345 brought them to a ‘warehouse.’

The warehouse was located in a unique dimension that was inaccessible on foot. Raven 12345 clicked her, and a light flashed across Hao Ren and Vivian’s eyes. When they finally came to their senses, they found themselves standing in an unusually wide indoor space.

Rows of neatly arranged pillars stretched out in front of their eyes. Asides from the mysterious ornamentation on the pillars and the vague magic patterns on the ground, the place looked more like an empty underground parking lot. Hao Ren had no idea why the Goddess brought them here, but soon he would know the answer.

Raven 12345 opened a part of the ‘storage’ as the air between two rows of pillars closest to Hao Ren and Vivian began to ripple like water surface. Twenty crystal containers in two rows emerged.

The crystal containers looked like unique hibernation pods and were translucent. Hao Ren stepped forward and took a gander of the inside. “This is…”

A red-haired Vivian was lying in every crystal container.

Vivian almost could not believe what she saw. When she saw her split-body for the first time earlier, she suspected that more such splits existed around the world, but she had never expected to see one, and it was more than one. It was a shock to her as there were more than twenty split bodies laid in front of her eyes as if it was some dark scientific experiment or strange ritual. Seeing the identical splits sleeping soundly in the containers; a creepy feeling began rose within her.

“I’m not sure, but most of them are here.” Raven 12345’s words jolted Hao Ren and Vivian out of their stun.

Chapter 834: What Are You?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Hao Ren was not listening to what Raven 12345 was saying; he was obsessed with the hibernation pods. Seeing dozens of red-haired Vivian, it reminded him about being a harbinger of bad luck.

He had just thought about Kaku-San-Sei Million Vivian for the last two days, and now he was looking at them.

“You’ve been collecting my splits?” Vivian’s voice was a little quivery. She stared at Raven 12345. “You said that they’re all here. Have you been tracking and collecting them?”

Hao Ren could not help but imagine Raven 12345 a stalking maniac. He looked at the Goddess with a strange look.

“Don’t stare at me like that.” Raven 12345 compressed her lips. “I have spent a long time collecting.”

“These are the split bodies of Vivian? Is it the same as the red-haired evil spirit that we have killed last time?” Hao Ren asked in disbelief. “Also, the one we saw on the planet Inferno. Is it the same?”

“No, that one is slightly different.” Raven 12345 shook her head slightly. “The split in Inferno is the primary one and the beginning of the entire process of splitting. The ones here are the secondary splits; they are the so-called production versions. The ‘evil spirit’ that you summoned from the magic book was one of the production versions. She used to be here.”

While saying, Raven 12345 pointed at an empty crystal container.

Hao Ren could not wait to ask, “What is this all about? Why are you collecting these splits?”

“Easy, man. I have something to tell you,” Raven 12345 said with a calm voice, which worked like magic in calming down Hao Ren. She then turned to look at Vivian. “How much do you know about yourself?”

“Mr. Landlord has already told me,” Vivian replied honestly. “I might have something to do with the ‘Goddess’ of the Plane of Dreams, but I don’t know what exactly it is.”

Raven 12345 nodded gently. “Well, to be honest, I haven’t figured out your relationship with the Goddess of Creation. When I started to notice you, the event of the Plane of Dreams was already over. The aftermath of the Goddess of Creation incident left little clues, and I couldn’t involve too much into that world. I’ve indirectly done some investigations, and I found out that you are the ‘key element’ that the Goddess of Creation projected onto the surface world when she began to realize that she was in crisis.

“The fall of the Goddess of Creation did not happen in instantly. According to Hao Ren’s investigation, she had at fought a brutal war with the treacherous son for some time before she was killed; she had time to do preparation; you are her preparation.

“The damage on the Wall of Reality must have something to do with the Goddess of Creation before her death, and the mass crossing of otherworldlings into the surface world coincided with your arrival, at least shortly after her fall.

“So why do you think the Goddess of Creation put Vivian in this universe?”

At last, Raven 12345 passed the buck back to Hao Ren and Vivian. The two of them thought for a while, and then Hao Ren said, “A tool for her resurrection when she realized that she was dying.”

“A resurrection container, reincarnation carrier, or some incomplete replica; it’s easy to think in that way, but Vivian is not divine, which makes things even more complicated.” Raven 12345 shook her head. “A true Goddess would be unlikely to choose to resurrect herself this way; it’s inefficient, and success is not guaranteed, and it would become uncontrollable when the ‘resurrection container’ becomes self-aware. There are many more sophisticated ways to resurrection.”

Hao Ren was a bit confused. “You mean…”

Raven 12345 raised a seemingly irrelevant question suddenly. “After the Goddess of Creation fell, it was said that her kingdom had also disappeared.”

“Oh, the Star of Creation.” Hao Ren nodded immediately. “It is said that the big bang at the final moment of the deicidal war had sent the star into exile in a place called the Umbral Realm. The surviving guardians thought that the Umbral Realm was a closed dimension, but my drone cluster did not find it. You think Vivian has something to do with that dimension?”

“That Goddess of Creation might be a half-baked deity, but she knew her universe well. When the war of deicide broke out, she could foresee the outcomes of the war; she knew the kingdom of the Goddess would fall. She was a creator of life, and life required a corresponding database and control terminal to function. Her guardians were only responsible for maintaining the peripheral system; the real control terminal must be inside her kingdom. The database of creation is vital to her.”

Hao Ren had sorted out what Raven 12345 said. “She knew that her database was in danger, so she created a mirror database. And that mirror is Vivian. Isn’t it?”

“True Goddess does not need a container to resurrect, then the ‘key element’ that she put into this universe before her death was only to repair her database.” Raven 12345 nodded. “It could be a mirror image, a key to restart the database or a microsystem. Of course, I’m just guessing, but considering the huge amount of information that Vivian carries, it’s highly possible.”

Vivian listened on as Hao Ren and Raven 12345 discussed herself. She did not know what to say; it was too far ahead of her time, too abstract, too difficult to understand. Vivian did not know how all these things would affect her and how to deal with it. Nevertheless, she was the ancient one who had 10,000 years of experience under her belt. Even though Vivian was confused, she could remain calm. “How would these things affect me?” she asked.

Raven 12345 glanced at her. “Is the amulet that I gave you still with you?”

Vivian immediately nodded. “Yes.”

“Good! You are at least half-safe. As for those things that lingered inside you, it is the safest if they are just information. Data is just that—a lifeless data, no matter how much it is. What you should be worried about is the consciousness that the Goddess of Creation had put inside you. A soul that is self-aware is the biggest variable, and the Goddess makes this soul. If this soul exists, taking her out would be a headache.”

It is like a computer; no matter how large your data is, all you need is just a large hard drive, but it would be a disaster if the problem is with the operating software.

Hao Ren could understand this point, and cold sweat started to trickle down his forehead. “Wait a second. Does anther soul exist in Vivian and is ever ready to wrestle control of her?”

Vivian felt goosebumps on her skin. She rubbed herself on the arms and said, “You are scaring the hell out of me. I’m already physically divisive. I think I’d better die if I get schizophrenia.”

“No such sign yet so far.” Raven 12345 waved her hand and then pointed to the crystal containers. “These things are the hidden dangers though.”

Hao Ren turned his attention back to the splits in front of him. Their conversation finally came full circle and back to the most suspicious thing. His brows pulled together. “How did these splits come about?”

“You all know that Vivian will hibernate every once in a while.” Raven 12345 raised a finger. “A split will happen every time she hibernates. Of course, I’m talking about the regular phenomenon. In some special cases, she will also split, such as the first split of ten thousand years ago.”

Vivian and Hao Ren looked at each other and asked in unison, “How does that happen?”

“Who knows, perhaps the combination of soul and body is not stable enough that leads to frequent divisions, and amnesia by the way. I think the first split ten thousand years ago had triggered a domino effect. When the first domino fell, it caused a chain reaction. As for these split individuals here, they don’t seem to possess intelligence, but it is hard to say when they come together as one.”

Something came to Hao Ren’s mind suddenly. “Oh gosh! Vivian has eaten her split in inferno. Will she be fine?”

---

Chapter 835: Conjecture about Splitting

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

“To tell you the truth, I’m a little surprised that she managed to come up with this wild idea of eating her splits.” Raven 12345 peered at Vivian and sounded as if she was in awe. “But, don’t worry, split bodies are just that—split bodies; they aren’t as stable as the noumenon, and they’ll lose their self-awareness after some time. The fragmented soul will not interfere with Vivian’s mind. Of course, a little extra memory may have a short-term impact on her life.”

Vivian nodded immediately. “A bit. I was having this dream about my life for the first few days on the planet Inferno. It was the memory of ten thousand years ago. Sometimes, when I woke up, I had to beat my brains out trying to figure whether I should cook or go out there maintaining the world peace.”

Hao Ren tensed up. “What about now?”

“I’m fine now.” Vivian shook her head. “The confusion lasted only a few days.”

Hao Ren let out a sigh of relief, and then scratched his jaw staring at Vivian’s splits with a thoughtful expression. He knew that these were irrational evil spirits and madder than the ‘ancestor of evil spirits’ in the planet Inferno. If released, they would bite indiscriminately, just like the red-haired Vivian from the magic book. Hao Ren wondered why Raven 12345 was keeping the evil spirits here.

“You don’t collect these splits for fun, do you?” Hao Ren slid a glance at Raven 12345. “Are they of any uses? Or you are planning to put them together and make a chimera-version of Vivian?”

Vivian forced a smile. “Now I feel incredible of myself.”

“I have been studying what these splits mean,” Raven 12345 said, pointing at the crystal containers. “Though I still couldn’t figure out what kind of existence these guys are, by categorizing their power I’ve found that each split represents a negative attribute. You can take a look at them; each of them has a tag.”

Hao Ren came up to the crystal containers and took a walk around curiously. Sure enough, he saw a tag in front of every crystal container and word every tag. He read it from left to right, “Rage. **. Fear. Rot. Plague. I suppose the empty one is the first evil spirit that we killed last time? She represents ‘death’?”

“Yup.” Raven 12345 crossed his hands over her chest. “Rage and fear are usually negative mental forces; rot and plague could cause great damage to living things. ** is a fascinating ability. I didn’t find any obvious manifestation when I tested it, and I thought it was a harmless individual at first, but soon I found that she could drain your energy by dozens or even hundreds of times when you use your power. It doesn’t affect me though it could be fatal to others. Then there is ‘death’ with which you are familiar. Vivian, you should have already mastered this skill though not as powerful as the original.”

“These negative forces came from me?” Vivian was wide-eyed. “I don’t remember that I have had these powers. I didn’t have so many evil skills even when I was at my peak.”

Raven 12345 made a snap and said, “Let’s change your way of thinking. Once these negative energies emerge in your body, some protection mechanisms will start and discard these negative energies as ‘splits.’ The root cause of your split may be due to an unstable soul, which could produce some impurities, and these impurities eventually form the evil spirits. Whoa! What a perfect chain theory.”

“Continuously generating negative forces, and then rejecting these negative forces as splits. I feel weird that it happens to me.” Vivian stuck out her tongue. “That being said, my every split represents an attribute? Then what is my attribute?”

Hao Ren and Raven 12345 said in unison, “Probably ‘poor.’”

Vivian could not help rolling her eyes.

“This is not important,” Hao Ren hemmed and steered away from the topic. He then looked at Raven. “The problem is that even if your theory is correct, you still can’t explain where the negative forces of Vivian come on. She couldn’t possibly produce them out of thin air. How could a sunshine vampire divide so many eerie splits out of herself?”

Hao Ren seemed to have mentioned the key unwittingly. Raven 12345 was silent after for a while before she said, “The answer may lie deep within her, in the deepest part of all her memories, when she first came to the surface world, or even earlier than that, before her first split, there should be the root of her negative forces. But external forces are difficult to intervene. I have designed several programs, but none are safe.”

Hao Ren always thought that Raven 12345 was omnipotent, but hearing what she said, he was curious. “Unsafe? Why?”

“Because I couldn’t determine the attribute of the ‘root.’ Vivian’s soul is akin to a complicated black box; you don’t know what’s in there before you activate it. If the ‘core’ that produces negative forces is out of control, can you imagine the consequences?” Raven 12345 pouted at the crystal containers. “She may become one of them, or devoid of rationality and constantly releasing the evil spirits.”

In the all-year-round spring weather of the heaven, Hao Ren felt a chill suddenly ran up his spine. Vivian also felt the same, but she was calmer than Hao Ren was. “At least now it seems fine,” she said.

“You have been through this for ten thousand years, isn’t it?” Raven 12345 let out a subtle smile, which was having a magical effect at letting Vivian and Hao Ren feel at ease. “Since the evil spirits that you split up are all negative, it means that you must have some ‘detox’ mechanism in your body. This mechanism could ensure your safety. Before you split the next time, I can find you a safe solution. Don’t underestimate my research ability. It’s just that sometimes it’s not time yet, not that I have no ideas.”

Hao Ren and Vivian breathed a sigh of relief. The mood swings had them catching their breath. Then something came to Hao Ren’s mind. “Is the lifeblood I collected from the planet Inferno still here?”

After killing the evil spirit from the magic book, it became the pool of dead lifeblood, and Hao Ren gave the thing to Raven 12345 as a sample. When the super-giant Vivian of Inferno died and turned into a pile of blood-colored crystals, the evil spirit in the center of the seal was completely absorbed without leaving a trace. Wondering what specimen he should collect, he merely took back some crystal stones that came off the demon-god Vivian and the lifeblood near the giant organ. He had handed the specimens to Raven 12345 a few days ago, but he did not see the crystal container that corresponded to the demon-god Vivian.

“Those specimens are just ordinary blood,” Raven 12345 shook his head. “The primary split in Inferno appeared to be special; she left no residue of herself behind. She must be either purely a spiritual body, or a complete hybrid body of the First Born and her that formed in the span of ten thousand years. Anyway, I already have more than twenty specimens here, having one less if of no difference.”

“Where did you collect all these splits from?” Hao Ren asked curiously. “When you first parachuted into your position in this universe, Vivian should already have split for several times. Did you go and pick them out one by one?”

“Yup, from all over the world.” Raven 12345 rolled her eyes. “It took me a while and some elbow grease, as many of them were sealed in some far corners of the world. There was once I found the wrong grave and dug up Vivian who was soundly asleep in the grave. I was like oh gosh and quickly buried her back. Of course, Vivian, you had no idea; I was cautious.”

Raven 12345 was not always as serious as she was today. But at last, it turned out that her seriousness was short-lived when the conversation quickly turned comical. Cold sweat started to trickle down their forehead, and the expression on Vivian’s face was like a kaleidoscope.