The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 916

Chapter 916: Explain It All

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Hao Ren tried to describe what he heard in the illusion as far as he could, but he had difficulty to put what he learned through some ‘transcendence’ into words. At the moment when the deicide murdered the Goddess, there was a tremendous amount of information pouring into his mind. He was unaware of anything at the time, but the information began to emerge from the depths of his mind to make him realize the entire process about how the innate hostility came.

He roughly described it as “the evil had distorted and tainted the blood of the Goddess, and the catastrophic power leaked from the blood of the Goddess had also tainted the Wall of Reality, leading to the distortion of the otherworldlings that arrived in the surface world through the Wall of Reality.” As for how this process happened, he could hardly express it in words.

Though the Hasse, Y’zaks, and Vivian were experts, who had vast experience in the mysticism and could see from how difficult Hao Ren was cudgeling his brains for words that what he saw was not merely an illusion. The message of the super experience was almost incommunicable.

“It’s good enough to know the rough idea,” Vivian said and stopped Hao Ren from trying to explain more. “We don’t need to know how it works.”

“Now we know the root cause of the innate hostility,” Y’zaks said, rubbing his bald top. “The biggest question now is whether we can stop the phenomenon completely. If we cleanse the Gilded Disc, will the innate hostility between the otherworldlings in the world end?”

Hao Ren shook his head. “There is no guarantee that it will work. What is certain is that the Gilded Disc is the carrier that brought the innate hostile to this world and this sense of hostility had already spread in the blood of various races 10,000 years ago. We can only purify the Gilded Disc to keep the situation from deteriorating further. Perhaps time will tell if we could eliminate the innate hostility all together.”

“It’s like an infection that has spread,” Vivian said thoughtfully. “What happened to the declining innate hostility between the races in the last two months?” she asked.

“At present, it seems that it has nothing to do with the Gilded Disc, or at least it’s not directly related. Until a month ago, the Gilded Disc was well sealed, and there was no contact with the outside world,” Hao Ren said confidently.

“It’s not because of the Gilded Disc?” Vivian’s brows knit together. “Then it means there’s no fresh lead,” she said.

“Wait a second. If there was no contact between the Gilded Disc and the outside world, why did the seal suddenly fail a month ago?” Y’zaks asked. “Why the Shades of Chaos could break free from the seal exactly after the blood-exchange ritual between the demon hunters and the Ancattero family? I think this is evidence that the Gilded Disc had affected the innate hostility even the disc was still sealed. Once the innate hostility of the races disappeared, the Gilded Disc became active again and spread the negative forces that it was carrying.”

Hao Ren looked back at the Gilded Disc on the altar. The huge artifact still floated silently in midair but had stopped spinning. Like a silent metal mask floated stationary in the air, it remained silent amid the doubts and questions that were thrown at it.

“To explain this problem, we must first understand the detailed factors of the corruption of the Goddess’ blood, and then figure out how this divine artifact works,” Hao Ren said slowly. “Now, besides knowing that it was the deicide that caused the corruption, we know nothing about how it worked.”

What he meant was crystal clear: the Gilded Disc contained an endless list of secrets, but as of now, they did not have enough information to decode everything.

“Anyway, things have been solved. Bring this thing back and study it,” Vivian said. She understood what Hao Ren meant, and nodded. “Whether the innate hostility of the otherworldlings would completely disappear, at least we don’t have to worry that they will come to blows like yesteryears. Things won’t get worse again.”

As the discussion finished, Hasse could not wait but ask, “Can I ask questions now?”

Hao Ren looked at Hasse. “Oh, you’re still here,” he said.

Cold sweat was trickling down Hasse’s back. “Where can I be if not here? Wasn’t you let me listen by the side?” he said.

Hao Ren rubbed his forehead. “I’m sorry, I was too occupied with the divine artifact and confused for a while. Where should I begin now?”

All along, only Hao Ren and a few others knew about the things of Plane of Dreams, and people like Hessiana and a few other teammates had a smattering of it. Meanwhile, things about the Goddess of Creation, the extinction in the Plane of Dreams, and the deicidal war were strictly confidential. According to the confidential rules Hao Ren had to abide by, in fact, the otherworldlings on Earth had the right to know the things about the Plane of Dreams. It was just that he had no idea of how to tell them. Things were too weird to be believable and spanning a thousand years after of time after all. So he had no choice but tread carefully.

Now since things had come to this stage and the senior demon hunter was at the secret where he was retrieving the artifact of the Goddess of Creation, Hao Ren felt that it was the time telling the truth to this special interested party.

Perhaps it was most appropriate to treat the senior demon hunter as the first layer of intelligence interface.

He looked into Hasse’s single eye and asked, “Do you know where the supernatural races on this planet come from?”

There was a flash of light in Hasse’s single eye. He knew the question was straight to the point. “Do you mean the origin of all non-human races including the demon hunters?” he asked back.

Hao Ren nodded silently.

“Though there are many theories of Amatura are considered a myth,” Hasse looked down slightly, “but at least I do agree with one thing: the supernatural races on Earth are not naturally born on this planet. It does not conform to the laws of nature.”

“It’s good that you think so,” Hao Ren said with a sigh of relief. He then continued with a serious tone of voice. “Beyond this universe, next to our real world, there is a place called the Plane of Dreams…”

Under the radiant glow of the Gilded Disc, Hasse sat on the edge of the ancient altar, listening to Hao Ren talking about what happened and was happening in the other world while Vivian and Y’zaks chimed in to give their perspectives occasionally. The MDT also hovered in front of Hasse and showed the special footage in its memory to the senior demon hunter. Hasse saw in the hologram the vast green steppe of Holletta, the beautiful ancient ruins on the Golden Star, the icy gray and white rogue planet, and the blue planet of the sirens.

Hao Ren’s description gave Hasse a rough idea of the existence of the Plane of Dreams, but the more convincing evidence was the footage recorded by the MDT. The lackey, who was bitchy, unpredictable, quirky and seemingly undependable was, in fact, an exceptionally reliable AI assistant that followed Hao Ren in every adventure he took. Even Hao Ren was amazed by the number of logs the PDA had created.

“File number XXXXX, location: Dragonspine Ride, Holletta. The First Born has awakened, the biological threat is extremely high. I will continue to observe…”

“File number XXXXX, location: Tannagost. An ecosystem cleansing has happened on this planet. The inspector has retrieved the local civilization database…”

“File number XXXXX, location: the planet Io, the consciousness of the planet with the code name Eva is sleeping again, the Io’s siren civilization is registered as…”

“File number XXXXX, location: the Ark in exile, the extinction of the original civilization on the planet is confirmed, the executor was an out-of-control First Born. Officially registered as an extinct civilization, the inspector has extracted the civilization database, the expected file number is…”

The MDT showed the unclassified and narrated in a machine voice. It was showing all these for no other but one purpose:

It wanted Hasse to know how the original homeland of the otherworldlings on Earth looked.

The senior demon hunter understood every word that Hao Ren said, but it seemed that he needed time to digest all these things. As the MDT finished showing the last image of a planet Hasse could not help but turn to Hao. “Who are you?” he asked.

“I can only say that I travel the worlds for a living. I observe and bring back information of various civilizations, but our organization and the truth outside the world are confidential,” Hao Ren said. “As you can see, I have been to many places.”

Hao Ren had told Hasse many things, but he knew he did not violate the confidentiality agreement. There was only one core clause in the confidentiality agreement, that was unless it was necessary, he must not interfere with the development process of any civilization, and the subclause was that civilization must only know what was within their scope of existence. In other words, the Earthlings would just know about the things of the Earth, the interstellar race could only understand the things of their universe, and the otherworldlings were unique in that they were involved in both worlds, so they had the right to know about both the universe of their hometown and the universe that they currently lived.

At least they had the right to know how their place of origin looked.

All other information beyond these, such as the Space Administration and the whole macro-world system, were classified. He must not disclose beyond the mere mention of their names.

Therefore, without breaking the confidentiality agreement, Hao Ren had let Hasse know the ins and outs of these otherworldlings on Earth, and also the truth of the deicidal war.

Hasse finally could put two and two together about what Hao Ren had told him. He was stunned. “That is to say, we the demon hunters and otherworldlings have been killing each other for 10,000 years is the result of someone who has nothing to do with us has killed their creator?” he asked.

Vivian sighed. “Yeah, they are the cause of everything.”

---

Chapter 917: The Troubles Have Only Just Begun

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Probably no one had ever been in a position as bad as the otherworldlings on Earth. They were caught in the crossfire. Whether it was the ecological extinction in their place of origin or the 10,000-year battle on Earth, for most the otherworldlings, they were the innocent victims of circumstances. Hasse especially thought so after learning the truth. Nevertheless, who was the culprit of the disaster? Was it the guardian that executed extinction order, or the out-of-control Goddess’ blood?

They were the victims. The ultimate blame was on the heads of the deicidal blasphemers.

“Why did they kill their creator?” Hasse was confused. “Had the Goddess done anything wrong to them?”

“As far as I know, none,” Hao Ren said, shaking his head. “The Goddess of Creation had never restricted the free will of her creations. She was obsessed with studying the mysteries of the universe and even had rarely interacted with her creations. From the ruins of civilizations that we have found, we could establish the behavior of the Goddess of Creation. The actions of the deicides were completely unilateral: they just wanted to kill the Goddess and take her place.”

“That’s detestable.” Hasse’s brows knit together and then shook his head. “Are all these true?” he asked.

Hao Ren spread out his hand. “How do you want me to prove it to you? If necessary, I can take you to the Plane of Dreams, but you must first sign a confidentiality agreement, and then you have to follow my arrangement. Many things in the other universe are still classified,” he said.

Hasse forced a smile and waved his hand. “No, it’s not that I don’t believe it, it’s just that… well, you know, I’m a stubborn person who doesn’t take things at face value. I will try to understand them. If what you said is true, then what are you going to do next?”

This time, Vivian spoke. “We have always wanted to solve the hostility among the various races on the earth. The weakening sense of hostility of the various races has given us hope. Now since you know that all the fighting between the races was just misunderstanding, don’t you think you should end this nonsense?”

Hasse slowly got to his feet and looked at the calm and silent Gilded Disc. His one-eyed was glimmering with light. “Even if there is no innate hostility, do you think that this war could still end peacefully?”

The innate hostility might be the beginning of the otherworldling war, but it was by no means the driving force behind the 10,000-year war. War was a train that slid into the abyss. Once it started, the hatred and hostility that accumulated in the chaos would become the fuel of this train of death. When it lasted long enough, both sides of the war would not even care about why they were fighting in the first place. When killing and hostility became a habit, race and factionalism became the only reason for the war, and when it came to that, the influence of the innate hostility became unimportant.

Even if the innate hostility disappeared, the conflict would continue. The generations of hatred and extreme distrust would fuel the confrontation. It was not something that could be reversed by simple negotiations and the revelation of the truth.

Hasse was not the only one who had thought of this, but Hao Ren and Vivian had known it in the very early stage. When they tried to find out the truth of the innate hostile, they knew that this ten-thousand-year war would not stop just because of their actions. Vivian nodded empathically. “Everyone knows that people will die in the fighting, but they have never stopped. I know your concerns.”

“Isn’t the situation improving?” Hao Ren asked. He still had confidence. “Could you believe there was a heretic like Amatura among the demon hunters a few thousand years ago? Could you believe that there was a pureblood demon hunter like White Flame with no killing instinct at all a few hundred years ago? Could you believe that you would work together with Vivian the ancient otherworldling a few decades ago?” he asked.

Hasse thought for a while. “I can’t say for sure of others but the last one. The Countess has always been moody since ancient times. She always acts at whim and doesn’t care who you are. Who knows she would blow up the whole city again for just four potatoes?” he said.

Hao Ren glared at Hasse. “Be serious; I mean you should have understood it now.”

“What would happen if the truth is revealed to everyone?” Y’zaks suddenly said. Blunt and straightforward were in his demon blood.

Hasse and Vivian said in unison, “Not good!”

Hasse explained, “People’s mind is unpredictable. It’s difficult to predict what would happen and it could trigger bigger chaos before the current war subsides. The believers and the unbelievers will be at loggerheads with each other. The proponents of various schools of thought will fight again, and most people will think that this is a conspiracy of the enemy, and on the demon hunters’ side, I am afraid that someone will be crucified on the firewood for the first time since a long time ago.”

“Crucified on the firewood? I’m not afraid of that anyway,” Y’zaks whispered.

Hasse, who rarely had any emotion on his face, heard him and laughed. “I didn’t know that demon is also so humorous. Well, what you said makes sense. The situation is getting better. Even people as stubborn as me is working with you guys. I will report what I know today to the Council of Elders. I believe they will not be persuaded so easily, but at least we have sowed a seed,” he said.

Hao Ren was a little worried. “Will they treat you as a heretic and burn you on the stick if you tell them this?”

Hasse could not care less. “Don’t worry. I’m the elder, and I have the authority. Even Amatura studying the taboo theories for thousands of years was not prosecuted,” he said.

Vivian reminded him, “It’s good to have self-confidence, but I think it’s unpropitious to use Amatura as an example.”

“Whatever! Let’s settle this stuff first,” Hao Ren said. As the divine contract had completely cleansed the black contaminant on the Gilded Disc, he went up to the altar. “Hasse, do you and other demon hunters have any objection if I take this thing away?” he asked.

Hasse quickly waved. “The farther, the better! Who would want this thing anyway?”

“Your council of elders will be interested. Those old fags will think that it’s valuable research material, and even blame you for failing to safeguard the interests of the demon hunters,” Vivian said, ridiculing Hasse’ superiors and watching as Hao Ren put the Gilded Discs into a huge storage container and keep in his dimensional pocket. “It will be a good thing if you take this thing back, so I can wait for your elders to die before I go and clean up the mess. Everything will be solved after those stubborn guys die.”

Hasse could only force a smile in the face of these bad jokes. He did not want to argue with the ancestor-level figure.

After the Gilded Disc was stored inside the dimensional pocket, all the magic settings in the hall instantly lost their power supply. Hao Ren heard a strange sound coming from the sculptures in the hall before he felt the strong magic energy in the space suddenly dissipated.

He found the runes on the altar that could reopen the maze gate according to the method that Vogus had described. As Y’zaks injected his magic power into the runes, the altar immediately lit up, and a group of magic lines on the edge of the pedestal slowly came off the stone platform and floated into the air to form a door. The first thing Hao Ren saw was Lily wagging her big furry tail shaking at the door.

He stepped out of the door and grabbed and pinched Lily’s tail. “Hey, I’m back. Ouch, don’t bite me!”

Grabbed by the tail from behind, Lily turned and bit Hao Ren, but it was his Steel Membrane Shield. Sparks began to fly all around. She let off her bite when she realized it was Hao Ren. “Mr. Landlord, are you nut? Didn’t you know it’s a no-no to grab people’s tail from behind?”

The exit of the maze was still in the underground freezer. Hao Ren did not see the Tannaeans, who they had rescued by the hundreds there, only the demon hunters, Hesperides, and the Ancattero chief Vogus were waiting there. White Flame came up to greet Hasse, and then Hesperides to Vivian. “Is everything over?”

“It’s over,” Hao Ren said with a smile. “The Shade of Chaos is history. It is the most thorough seal. It will never go wrong again.”

Hesperides first looked at Vivian. There was only one person who could do this, and that was this ancient one, she thought. Vivian just smiled. “It’s Hao Ren,” she said.

Hao Ren rubbed his hand and tried too hard being polite. “I couldn’t have done it without the training and support from the organization.”

Lily stared at Hao Ren and had goosebumps all over her tail. “Mr. Landlord, you look fake. You should be proud of the achievement, but you behave like an enemy spy.”

The patriarch of the Ancattero family finally came up to him. “It seems that this disaster is finally over. On behalf of the Ancattero family members who have survived the ordeal, thank you.”

Hao Ren turned and looked at Vogus, his mind was filled with thoughts, but all that turned into a sigh. “You remind me something; the real troubles have only just begun.”

“What?” Vogus was baffled.

---

Chapter 918: Hao Ren’s Blunder

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

They were back to the surface after solving the problems in the Calamity Cloister. Since many of the above-ground facilities were severely damaged in the incident a month ago, the Tannaean survivors rescued from the freezer were placed in a nearby power plant. The once thriving Ancattero family was almost wiped out overnight in the disaster, the family of thousands had now been reduced to just a few hundred.

These frightened survivors were resting near the reactor and relied on the heat pipes of the factory to regain their strength. Wayne took a small team of demon hunters, found a nearby warehouse, and salvaged some well-preserved refrigerated food. The survivors were silent and depressed. Some people were quietly eating. Some people just stared at the reactor cooling tower, while others lied down but could not sleep. Few people were talking, only an occasional short conversation. When they knew everyone was safe and sound, they fell into silence again.

This depressed atmosphere had Lily quieted down. She knelt in front of a Tannaean child, trying to use her precious stone collection to divert the child’s attention. Hao Ren rarely saw this other side of the maiden, and she was so gentle now although the Tannaean child seemed not interested in the stones.

“I’m deeply sorry for what you all have gone through,” Hasse stood with Vogus and said quietly to the survivors, “though I’m a demon hunter.”

“It will get better, we have had worse,” Vogus said slowly. There was no obvious emotion on his pale-golden face. “The Ancattero family has never bowed to any difficulties. From the day we signed up to guard the seal, we were ready to face anything,” Vogus said.

Then he turned to look at Hao Ren. “What did you want to tell me just now?”

Hao Ren had been standing with Vogus for a while, but his mind was in another world. He was entangled in his cobweb, a dilemma. It was kind of like he was a forensic doctor who had announced the death of a person and even issued the death certificate, but this ‘dead’ person suddenly came back alive again.

He could not seriously think to shoot that guy so that the guy would die for real.

The Tannagost civilization had been registered as a lost civilization in the database. Hao Ren was the one who concluded the report two years ago. He had also extracted a database from the planet Tannagost, but at that time, he did not know there were Tannaean survivors. These Tannaeans did not turn into vengeful spirits, nor were they wiped out by the demon hunters and the other otherworldlings. That was his dilemma. The Tannagost civilization may have to change. Of course, changing the state of civilization was not the biggest problem; the biggest problem was…

He had conveniently sublet the planet Tannagost to others. Zorm, Muru and the 1.6 billion aliens were building their homes on the planet. Now he found out that the original owner was still alive and he had a problem explaining his blunder.

Hao Ren was at his wits’ end. He felt like burying his head in the sand. But upon hearing Vogus asking him, and thinking of his position as the highest religious head on the planet, he could only bite the bullet. “I want to tell you something. Do you know where your family came from?”

“What do you mean?” Vogus sounded a little hesitant. ‘Where you come from’ was an eternal philosophical question, especially in this case, the questioner would not expect to hear an answer like “I came from Hebei Province.” The senior patriarch had vaguely realized that the question was referring to 10,000 years ago. “The origin?” he asked back.

“Let’s be frank.” Hao Ren nodded. “Do you know that you lot were once called the Tannaeans? The name comes from your hometown. You guys used to live in a place called Tannagost.”

All the while poker face, Vogus the alien finally had some animation on his face. He was wide-eyed, “How do you know that?”

Y’lisabet was standing not far from them. Looking up at Hao Ren and then Vogus, she said, “Uncle Ren, you don’t have to tell him. No one is going to know if you keep mum.”

“I feel like I have to do that.” Hao Ren waved his hand. “I am a pope after all. It’s a positive role. I have to be worthy of the character! Vogus, how much do you know about Tannagost?”

The old patriarch had a million thoughts in his mind. The attitude of Hao Ren when he mentioned the name and what the little demon said had triggered his memory. “I… in fact, we can only learn from the records of our ancestors, and we have never told any outsiders about it. We do know that our hometown is a place called Tannagost, where something catastrophic had happened, and our ancestors had to live in exile on this planet. As for the disaster, the ancient information disk mentions that it was an ecological disaster.”

“Well, I knew it. You guys are better than other otherworldlings, at least you know you came from another place,” Hao Ren said. His had guessed it right; the Gilded Disc that was tainted with the deicidal sin had a different level of effect on different races, even though they were the creations of the same Goddess. The otherworldlings from Holletta had almost completely lost their memory of their hometown, but the Tannaeans still retained a vague knowledge of where they come from, only that they did not know how they came. “Do you know where Tannagost is?” Hao Ren asked.

“For thousands of years, the biggest wish of the Ancattero family is to find its home.” Vogus shook his head slightly. “But we couldn’t do anything. This planet is not suitable for us to survive. We have modified our genes as much as possible to adapt to the water and air here, but there is no way to rebuild most of the industries and technologies. The underground hibernation facility you saw before was the last attempt by the patriarch 2,000 years ago: we wanted to build a large spaceship and find our home in the universe. The plan was put on hold because there were too many problems. We had to give up.”

Hao Ren had guessed it right that the frozen hibernation cabin in the underground was part of a spaceship. He only got it half right though. He also thought that it was the same as the city of the sirens where the Tannaeans came with the spaceship. It was not true. Instead, the Tannaeans built it on Earth. “Two thousand years ago? You guys were planning to go into space? This plan sounds much grander than other otherworldling families. But how were you going to find Tannagost when you don’t even know its coordinates?”

“At the time when the Mythological era was in the midst of collapse, and people had lost hope for the future, we felt that there was nothing worthy to hold on to this planet. Some scholars at the time thought that there might be clues of our home on Mars or its satellites, so our ancestors built the spacecraft,” Vogus explained. “Of course, the plan did not see the light of day.”

It was a good thing that the powerful Tannaeans had given up the idea; Hao Ren thought because their home was not a place where they could reach in a spaceship. Instead, if they looked back, they might be able to find a small door back in Siberia that would lead them back home.

However, in reality, there was no ‘what if’; the Ancattero family had built half of the spaceship, but still did not realize that the secret path to home was on this planet.

Hao Ren sighed. “I have been to your home. It has been abandoned for a very long time. Nature has reclaimed the place…”

He slowly told the senior patriarch about the things about Tannagost and the insignificant things of his work. Seeing this from afar, Lily grabbed the Vivian and asked, “What is Mr. Landlord doing?”

Vivian thought for a moment. “The housing agent has accidentally rented out the wrong house to some migrant workers. Now he is trying to explain that to the owner of the house.”

Lily had been drawing circles on the ground for a long while. At last, she looked up. “Arf?”

Like the little demon said, Hao Ren was tempted to go with the easy way; he could keep quiet, pretend nothing had happened and swept the matter under the carpet, Vogus and other Tannaean survivors had no chance to find their home anyway. If that did not work, he could come out with a lie to cover up his blunder. For example, he could tell them that the planet had exploded, which would completely ruin the idea of the Tannaeans to go home.

These were not Hao Ren’s styles though.

He might look lackadaisical, but he would call a spade a spade especially when it was the right thing to do. He also knew full well that favoritism would not go down well with Raven 12345. The eccentric goddess might be hairy at the heel sometimes, but she was a dyed-in-the-wool law enforcer when it came to business. Making things straight would be the smartest thing to do, which was also in line with Hao Ren’s style.

Since things had come to this, fretting was unnecessary. Such was Hao Ren’s style.

---

Chapter 919: Ranger of the Universes

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Two years was long enough for him to learn a lot of things. Especially when he was under various trying situations, he would gain even faster. Without those two years of sophisticated experience, he would have freaked out when facing the patriarch. Now, he could calmly tell Vogus about Tannagost, and he had total confidence in controlling the narrative.

He did not reveal everything but only the necessary; those things that Vogus as the descendant of the Tannaean had the right to know. He talked about the ecological disaster and its cause in the Plane of Dreams and projected himself as a professional in handling such events. When talking about the current state of Tannagost, he told the patriarch briefly, “The ecological environment of the planet has been completely rebuilt. Though it was your home ten thousand years ago, you would find it as hard to survive as when your ancestors arrived on Earth for the first time.”

“There is a new intelligent race living there?” Vogus asked, his voice was much calmer than what Hao Ren had expected.

Hao Ren had just told Vogus about the migration of Zorm civilization. Vogus nodded. “According to the certification rules, your civilization has been classified as extinct, and your planet is also marked as a deserted planet. Though I feel sorry, the place had been inhabited for ten thousand years, and the Zormians, who are also victims of ecological disaster, were in desperate need of a place to stay. Without a new planet to accept them, their civilization will be extinct too,” Hao Ren explained.

Vogus was silent for a long moment before he whispered, “It sounds like the best option.”

“It was also the only option at the time. If you like, I can show you the Zormian civilization. You have to know that what has happened in the Plane of Dreams is more terrible than any disaster you could imagine. All the myths and legends told on Earth are just the small fragments of the great extinction in the Plane of Dreams, so I could only safe one at a time. Your planet now has a new master. I have to make it clear that it’s impossible for them to vacate it,” he said.

Vogus looked at Hao Ren’s eyes. “Firstly, I have to get confirmation of what you said is true. What you told me is a bit too unbelievable.”

“Do I have to lie to you?” Hao Ren spread out his hand. “Do I get any benefit from lying to you? Of course, you still don’t believe it, I will show you my spaceship, and I can take you into space, to any corners of the universe, then you will know that I can go to various places, including the Plane of Dreams.”

At this time, Hasse interjected. “You can trust him. I have seen some evidence just now.”

Vogus was silent, and his throat was groaning with resonating sound, which was probably a habit of the Tannaean. Then he looked at Hao Ren curiously. “Who the hell are you?” he asked.

“I am the spokesperson of a powerful force. You can think of this force as a god. That’s all I can say.” Hao Ren shrugged. “My mission is to observe and report, and a certain degree of executive authority. I patrol many worlds, every civilization is my observation target. Apart from events like the end of the world, I hardly interfere with any of them. It is the content of my duty.”

“The universal ranger?” Vogus said cautiously. “No wonder you are special.”

For the first time, Hao Ren found out that the policing work could have such a lofty title to it.

Vogus then pondered for a few seconds before breaking the silence. “I understand everything you say, but that planet is our home, after all, we have to go back, and this is beyond doubt,” he said.

Hao Ren curiously asked, “You have been living on this planet for ten thousand years, still thinking about going back?”

“You are right, we have indeed lived here for ten thousand years, and we could even treat here as a homestead,” Vogus said slowly. “I’ve seen our people at home dying, but we still want to go back and take a look. After all, that’s from where we come. Meanwhile, Earth… Do you think we could thrive openly on this planet? As you’ve already seen, we have no future here. Hiding in the refuge is not a ‘progress.’ Unless the ownership of the planet changes hand, otherwise we will never have a chance leaving the refuge.”

Hao Ren knew what the patriarch was thinking. He had also realized that the current generation of Tannaeans’ yearn for their hometown might not be as strong as their ancestors, but for the sake of getting more space of development of their civilization, they would choose to leave. So he nodded. “I have a few questions. First of all, what do you think of those Zormians? Let me be clear; their rights of existence in the planet Tannagost are protected. Meanwhile, your civilization has been cut off, and the planet has been in dereliction for ten thousand years. Therefore, I can only express my sympathy for what you have gone through in my capacity.”

With ears stood erect listening to their conversation, Lily poked Vivian’s arm and said, “Mr. Landlord is getting more slippery.”

“Shhh! Keep your voice down,” Vivian said and pushed Lily away, excited. “It’s so funny listening to how people bluff.”

The two maidens had unwittingly immersed themselves in the gossip.

Vogus had heard Vivian and Lily, but he could not care less. “It bound to be problems in any relations, especially between two races. They don’t necessarily welcome us even though we were the master of the planet. But I hope to live in peace with those people. After all, we have a common experience. I believe that after experiencing such things, personal interests and racial differences will take a back seat and the survival of races will take center stage. As you can see now, the Ancattero family has only a few hundred people left. Do you think what other ideas I could still have?”

Vogus was very forthright, but it was still unclear how Zormians and Tannaeans would get along. However, before that, there was already the precedence of Helcrown resettling in the elven kingdom of Aerym. Hao Ren felt that perhaps they might be able to coexist.

Of course, he could not discount the possibility that the two races would fail to get along and fight.

However, whether it was a peaceful development or warm, both ways were typical during the evolution of any civilization. War was also an approach to integration. As an inspector, he could only observe and report. When it came to the frictions between two civilizations, he could not care less.

He stopped chasing the rabbits and erected a second finger. “The second question is you have to wait.”

“Wait?” Vogus was perplexed.

“Currently, there’s blockade between the Plane of Dreams and this universe to protect the fragile wall. Before we could find a way to repair the wall, the traffic between the two worlds is highly restricted, especially forbidding the otherworldlings on Earth to return to their home in large quantities,” Hao Ren said in a serious tone of voice. “Since you have the will of peaceful coexistence with the Zormians, I will liaise with them. There shouldn’t be a problem, because I’m their ‘Lord.’ You’d better be prepared mentally as to when you could return to your home planet. As of now, the sirens are still on the waiting list. The sirens are populous, and they have gone through a lot worse ordeal than you in the mass extinction event,” he said.

“To tell the truth, most of the things you said are beyond my understanding,” Vogus said, frankly. “So just tell me, how long will we have to wait?” he asked.

Hao Ren thought for a moment. “It could be a few years, a few hundred years, or probably longer. You can’t expect me to know how the law of the universe will work out. Even if I know how it works, I still can’t tell you,” Hao Ren said.

Vogus did not know what to say now.

At this time, Y’zaks reminded, “Though he sounds a bit bitchy, he isn’t arrogant with you.”

Hao Ren blinked. “I have said it as euphemistic as I could.”

It was not known whether it was due to Hao Ren’s ‘universal ranger’ identity that forced Vogus to give in or he had another plan, Vogus accepted Hao Ren’s arrangement calmly. The senior patriarch nodded and said, “We will wait. We have already waited for ten thousand years after all.”

“You’re not the only one waiting,” Hao Ren said as he looked at Hasse. “There are too many otherworldlings on this planet. You know, whenever I think about the mess, I’d have a headache.”

Hasse thought about the problems that Hao Ren might have to deal with, and could not help but smile. “Looks like there are many troubles ahead for you.”

After the disaster, Vogus had a lot of things to deal with. He needed to organize the survivors to complete the reconstruction of the territory, at least rebuilding to the point where they could survive. He also required to weigh this decision whether to break the news about their homeland to the rest of his family members. Hao Ren suggested that he should tell the survivors the story of their hometown through limited and appropriately rhetorical methods, which could inspire the Tannaeans and let them sail through the most challenging time. At the same time, Hao Ren also reminded him not to reveal too much truth about their hometown to prevent the situation from getting out of control.

As the head of a big family, Vogus could certainly handle these things by himself, so Hao Ren did not need to say more than that.

Hasse and Hesperides would be very busy when they returned to their respective people. The Shades of Chaos in the territory of Ancattero had disappeared together with the sealing of the Gilded Disc. However, there might be still many Shades of Chaos out in the wild. The follow-up works would keep the demon hunters and the otherworldlings busy for a while.

In the other hand, the things that Hao Ren needed to deal with were by no means less. Aside from dealing with the surviving Tannaeans, he had to study Gilded Disc and the many things he saw in the illusion as soon as he could.

After the exchange of words, the alliance of convenience was parting and leaving.

---

Chapter 920: The Possibility of White Knuckles

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

What happened in the territory of Ancattero would be a potential turning point to the otherworldlings on Earth. Though it was still difficult to tell how things would develop at this stage, as Hasse said, the seed had been sown, and it would take root.

When Hasse brought back the news about the Plane of Dreams and the Sin of the Divine Blood to the council of elders, the demon hunters’ position in the eternal war would be shaken. Vogus broke the news of what he knew to other otherworldling families and the heads of sanctuaries, the ancient demon hunters who had lived since the Mythological era should be able to make sensible choices in the face of the new situation.

They would not immediately make known the truth of the Sin of the Divine Blood to every otherworldling, but as Hao Ren and Hasse had discussed, only to the heads of various forces. These high-level leaders must make the corresponding response.

No matter what kind of reaction there would be, the deadlock of the past 10,000 years would undoubtedly begin to ease.

Other than the long-term covenants, they had come to some interim agreements before Hao Ren left. The demon hunters, led by Hasse, would guarantee the safety of the Ancattero territory and the demon hunters would stay away from this area. Hesperides, on behalf of the Athens’ sanctuary, promised Vogus to provide support to the Tannaeans to help them rebuild the mysterious realm. Vogus vowed to share information with Hao Ren, that if and when he found more information about the Gilded Disc in the family records, he would contact Hao Ren.

At the same time, Hasse and Hesperides also recognized Hao Ren’ status as a neutral observer. Especially Hasse, after witnessing the Gilded Disc and the Sin of the Divine Blood, the stubborn senior demon hunter had finally changed his tone. He was willing to cooperate with Hao Ren and share a certain degree of intelligence. For Hao Ren, this was the most significant progress he had made.

Hao Ren had finally opened a communication channel with the demon hunter groups, at least with some of them. Hasse was very influential among the demon hunter groups. That was why Hao Ren believed that this old demon hunter would be a valuable medium.

All covenants and verbal commitments were made in the presence of Hao Ren and Vivian. Although no one had expressly said it, Hasse and Hesperides regarded Hao Ren as a special ‘force’ that sided with neither the demon hunters nor the otherworldlings. He was neutral and playing a witness’ role. This ‘authority’ was attributed to Vivian’s own ‘ancestral majesty aura’ and Hao Ren’s Divine Blessing and his interpretation of the Sin of the Divine Blood.

After leaving the Ancattero territory, tacitly, the demon hunters and otherworldlings did not say goodbye to each other. Instead, they went in different directions and quickly disappeared from each other’s sight. Nevertheless, incredible cooperation should have left an impact on their hearts.

Vivian had declined Hesperides’ invitation to visit the Athens’ sanctuary. Outside the town, Hao Ren and his team watched as Hesperides and Wayne hustled away in a taxi to the airport. Wayne paid for the ride because Hesperides had only found out that she had lost her wallet after talking to Vivian for a while. Unfortunately, this historic event wrapped up with the ending scene of the superheroes departing unceremoniously, which you do not get to see in other places.

“I didn’t expect Hasse could be easygoing.” Vivian looked up. A bus, coming out from the other side the town, had a logo of a travel agency pasted on its body. The demon hunter group was traveling under the disguise of tourists of South American low-cost travel packages. “I thought he was the most stubborn one,” Vivian said.

“He is indeed stubborn, but the Sin of the Divine Blood and the Gilded Disc has affected him greatly,” Y’zaks said with emotion. “If you could see when that forces struck, you’d know I saw an infinite abyss illusion. So when going against these forces, I don’t think it matters anymore who I work with. I think Hasse also thinks so,” he said.

Vivian pouted. “Unfortunately, I still don’t feel a thing no matter how hard you try to describe it to me, nor can I understand why Hasse has made such a big change,” she said.

“Why did Battie not respond to the Sin of the Divine Blood?” Lily asked curiously. After hearing about their encounters in the Calamity Cloister, the husky regretted that she had not been able to join the fun and even more lamented that Hao Ren did not bring back a brick from the maze for her as a souvenir. She was now very curious as to what had happened in the maze.

Hao Ren stroked Lily’s hair and said, “Needless to say, Vivian and the blood on the disc are relatives.”

Lily and Vivian’s faces looked like “Really?”

“The Goddess used blood to create Vivian. She is special. And I guess, yeah, the Goddess used her blood. The subject of sin is also the blood of the Goddess. So don’t you think they are relatives? In terms of seniority, Vivian is the elder sister as she was born two or three days before the sin was. Once figuring out this logic, I’m not surprised anymore by Vivian’s reaction in the maze.”

Lily suddenly looked at Vivian with a strange expression. “Battie… get away from me!” she said.

Vivian’s eyebrows arched. “The problem is with the blood on the disc; I’m not tainted!”

“Not necessarily,” Lily said. She was the most clever when it came to squabble. “Have you forgotten that you would go crazy now and then? Every time you went hibernating, you’d punch the nursing home and kick the kindergarten. Are you sure the original sin hasn’t tainted you?”

Hao Ren was listening in amusement initially. Now, what Lily said had stunned everyone.

Everyone was silent and solemn, but Lily seemed not to know what was happening. “What’s wrong? Am I not right?”

“Vivian, I need to check your blood sample against the blood stain on the Gilded Disc when we’re back at home,” Hao Ren said, his face serious. “Besides, I need to consult Raven 12345 about it.”

Vivian became very nervous. She nodded hard. “Okay.”

“Is Battie contaminated by the original sin?” Lily scratched her hair. “I was only joking. You see, she had a bodily form and been separated from the divine blood.”

Hao Ren said nothing, but a horrifying thought was lingering in his mind.

Vivian was conscious divine blood, but apart from her consciousness, she and the blood stain on the Gilded Disc were not substantially different. Even if the Goddess used some other means to create Vivian, at least the two were homologous: they were the same ‘blood’ coming from the Goddess.

Now the blood on the Gilded Disc had been tainted to become the original sin carrier. The cause of corruption was the deicidal process. This process was an occult symbolism of behavior, which was the source of corruption. Could Vivian avoid this corruption because she had come to Earth beforehand?

Recalling her occasional moments of hibernation, loss of control, mania and killing power, Hao Ren had a white-knuckle thought: Could Vivian be the original living sin?

This scary thought had him realizing that he should not linger here anymore. He immediately returned home, let Lily, Y’zaks, and Y’lisabet stay back home, and then brought Vivian to meet Raven 12345 in her mansion.

Hao Ren took Vivian and the Gilded Disc corrupted by the divine blood to the ‘heavenly kingdom.’ The place had returned to normal, the Greek temple building that was extracted from the original memory of the evil spirit had gone. What he saw was the familiar garden, the fountain, the small square, and the beautiful blue-roofed mansion. It was as if he had an illusion again, this mansion was somewhat new and seemed to have been rebuilt just a couple of days ago.

As usual, Raven’s arcane servant appeared out of nowhere and without saying a word, the servant brought Hao Ren and Vivian into the mansion. The one waiting inside was not the neurotic boss that Hao Ren was familiar with.

A dignified and graceful silver-haired woman was receiving Hao Ren and Vivian in the reception hall. Though she looked identical to Raven 12345, her temperament and attitude were not something that the neurotic could pretend. Hao Ren immediately knew that this was some new Goddess before him, that his boss must have shift-swapped with someone. So he tried to say hello, “Raven 23333? 12580? 10086?”

The graceful Goddess returned with a gentle smile. “No. 12345 is my senior. She has business to attend to in the divine realm. I am Raven 15433516836. What can I do for you?”

Hao Ren was speechless.