The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 538

Chapter 538: Research Progress

 

In the spacious spacecraft laboratory, a series of biological cultivation devices were operating quietly. Each of the large, silver integrated test benches had a big, transparent canister. There was a small amount of red, bloody viscous liquid in the transparent canisters. They were flowing slowly at the bottom as if they were alive and trying to climb up the canister walls. Above the fluid were many biological tissues, which looked like blood vessels and tendons supporting some strange organs.

That was the results of the cultivation device’s work over the past few days. It used the protocells from the Divine Sarcophagus to create strange life.

The MDT connected itself to the analytical host computer in the laboratory and reported the progress. “The culture will not continue after this step. These biological tissues will stop growing and they will no longer be functionally differentiated. Their genetic structure is weird and they store information far beyond what they’re supposed to in their current form. However, some factors prevent their genetic information from being revealed. It may be related to the supernatural power of the goddess. Besides, the organs produced by each culture tank are slightly different and may be related to the original location of the extracted protocells. I remember that the protocells were originally harvested from seven different locations of the Progenitors of Life.”

“These are the organs of the Seed of Origin?” Lily peeked at the nearest test bench curiously, staring at the weird “meat” in the culture tank. They looked somewhat similar to an animal’s flesh tissue, but the colors as well as texture looked a bit like plant fiber. From the surface, they appeared flexible and well-put-together. “Looks slightly…”

“Disgusting, isn’t it?” Nangong Wuyue said, sticking out her tongue. “Like something from a horror movie.”

Lily licked her lips and said, “Not really. It’s actually appetizing. This is meat!”

Everyone was speechless.

“Pull her back, don’t let her be in contact with the samples.” Cold sweat trickled down Hao Ren’s forehead. He had to let Vivian keep an eye on the husky. “She must be craving for grilled meat so badly!”

Lily was still trying to lunge to the front while being dragged to the back by Vivian. “That’s meat! That really looks like meat! Just let me take a bite!”

“Let’s us get down to business,” Hao Ren wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, then turned to look at the MDT. “Do you think the cultivation results are correct? Is this really part of the Seed of Origin?”

“I’m not sure,” the MDT admitted that this experiment was not so perfect. “The protocells have many incomprehensible self-selection and mutation during the growth process, and finally turned into this. I am not sure these things are the Seed of Origin—it would seem impossible to use the Seed of Origin’s cells to reverse-engineer to its original form. Without the supernatural power of the Goddess, these things are only defective products.”

Hao Ren’s brow pulled together. “At least there should be something else? At least there’s some understanding about the Seed of Origin.”

The MDT wobbled up and down. “At least we’ve got something. The cells used in the cultivation are from the necrotic ganglion of the Seed of Origin, so these mutated tissues that are now cultivated are also related to neural activity. If they haven’t mutated into this state… they should be part of the brain tissue of the Seed of Origin, or the brain of the seed. These organs have a complex neurotransmission infrastructure and an antenna-like transceiving structure—but something is wrong with the transceiving structure, it’s not functioning. I’ve activated a sample and its antenna receives only clutter.”

“The part of the brain?” Hao Ren looked at the samples in the canister with interest. “Do they have the ability to think if reasonable stimulation is applied?”

“There is a complex reflection mechanism but no sign of intelligence,” replied the MDT, and then spoke about a strange phenomenon suddenly. “There is another discovery. Take a look at the Culture Tank Number One.”

As soon as the voice of the MDT trailed off, the top of the culture tank on the Test Bench No. 1 suddenly opened before a green plant was thrown inside. The biological tissue and the red liquid in in the canister sensed the object immediately as they twisted and moved. The green plant was soon swallowed by the red liquid, but after a few moments, the red liquid receded to aside. The plant was intact and even looked healthier than before.

“This is a living sample,” said the MDT. “Now, look at the dead sample again.”

The green plant was removed, and then a bunch of withered grass was thrown inside.

Once again the red liquid wrapped around the ‘foreign object’ and within seconds, the grass was digested completely.

“This is…” Y’zaks looked in wonder at what was going on in the canister. “Eating?”

Y’lisabet, holding a small screwdriver, tried to get close but she was pulled back by her dad. The little girl protested. “I’m not going to break it! I know this thing is important, I just want to take a look…”

No one gave a shit about what the little girl said; she might know that this thing was too important to be messed with, but who could guarantee its safety when it came to a child?

“It keeps away from living things?” Hao Ren had figured out something. “It’s a scavenger.”

“It’s a scavenger. And taking into consideration that it’s the Seed of Origin’s ganglion, the First Born’s early ‘console’, I suspect that the Seed of Origin, and even the First Born that had hatched subsequently, were all based on this ganglion’s judgment mechanism to survive, that is ‘scavenging’,” the MDT analysed. “which can be used to determine the patterns of action of the Seed of Origin after its ‘landing’ and the original form of the First Born: they created lives, evolved the ecological circles, and took the last spot of the food chain, recycling the necrotic organisms and nutrients in the soil to fuel the entire cycle. They were responsible for providing the initial creation and the ultimate recovery of the ecosystem, and the evolution process in between was the job of the Second Borns. That constituted a complete ‘work’.”

The MDT added, “Besides, it could be fed with silicon minerals, water, sulphides and carbon, which prove that the First Born could adapt to a variety of nutrient environments and create organic matter by itself without the existence of any organic matters.”

“Scavenger. It sounds very gentle,” Vivian said thoughtfully.

“It’s indeed a gentle diet, but it has little to do with its ‘character,’” the MDT explained. “The analysis host computer suspects that this scavenging behaviour was only to ensure that there was no problem during creation, it was to prevent the blood tide from mistakenly consuming its own creation. If it were to grow a complex filtering mechanism to choose which organisms to eat, how much to eat per meal, then it would certainly exhaust too many nerve cells, so the creator of the seed simply set the rule and made it a scavenger, which only fed on the dead, and completely skipped living things. This had protected the ecosystem. The ganglionic suppression of the First Born activity probably started a similar mechanism.”

“But the First Born’s scavenging behaviour has obviously gone out of control. It ate everything.” Hao Ren raised his eyebrows. “Or to put it more directly, it deliberately went out of control. It wanted to destroy the ecosystem.”

“The First Born’s initial offensive ability must be coming from its ‘feeding’ mechanism, but later on in order to destroy the Second Borns, it began to develop various kinds of weapons, such as seed cannons capable of performing space operations. This is obviously completely out of control.” The MDT lamented. “Look how perfect it was its initial safety mechanism. Unfortunately, the system had collapsed. This shows that centralized network is not as reliable as distributed network, when the server goes under all the clients are basically useless.”

A surprisingly lament of a PDA.

“Although there is no way to analyse the causes of the loss of control of the First Born and the whereabouts of the Goddess from these organs, we do have something else.” The MDT sighed as it directed an autonomous robot to carry two boxes to Hao Ren. “They’re fresh from the oven.”

The box was opened; one of which contained a silver-white ball with a neat blue pattern on the surface, the other box was filled with transparent containers of pale red liquid.

“What’s this egg for?” Lily leaned forward from behind. “It reminds me of Lil Pea.”

“This is a suppressing signal transmitter.” The voice of the MDT sounded helpless. “It can perfectly simulate the signal of the progenitor, and keep the First Born in its sleep. We can put this on the First Born of Holletta, then it wouldn’t care even if we detonate a nuclear bomb on it.”

“What about the other one?”

“An Interfering pheromones, made with those cell samples and lifeblood,” the MDT apparently cared more about these substances. “Suppressing signal emitters is a very problematic thing. Once the signal is interrupted, the First Born will wake up. So interference pheromones can be used as a backup safety measure: it can wake up the First Born’s ‘scavenging mechanism’ in short a time, leaving it impossible to swallow living things.”

Chapter 539: Decoding the Vengeful Spirit

 

Interference pheromone was based on the synthesis of lifeblood and progenitor cells. The MDT indicated that the substance could influence the judgment of the First Born in a short time and wake up the original feeding mechanism of the violent creature to avoid living organisms. Obviously this was a very useful thing, especially in the event the suppression signal was interrupted—such as the transmitter is shielded, signal interference, interference pheromone could be used as an emergency tranquilizer to calm down the First Born.

The eradication of the First Born was only a last resort. Hao Ren’s greatest goal was to solve the secret of the Goddess of creation by studying the First Born. Therefore, as long as there were things that could keep the First Born under control, the more the better.

“How effective are these pheromones?” Hao Ren picked up a test-tube-like container with metal caps at both ends and looked at the thin red liquid inside. “How long it lasts?”

“According to calculation, after diluting one thousand times, it still could effectively interfere with the judgment of the First Born’s tentacles and blood tide until it is completely volatilized. The specific volatilization time depends on the surrounding environment. If it is injected directly into the ganglion of the First Born at the highest concentration, the First Born can be instantly paralyzed for at least twenty-four hours,” said the MDT, then reminding him. “Of course, this is theoretical value deduced from the First Born samples we have collected before. We haven’t conducted experiment on the living First Born.”

Vivian took out a test tube and looked closely under the light. “With this thing … and the transmitter, you have full control of the First Born. Mr. Landlord, what are you going to do in Holletta?”

Hao Ren put the test tube back. “I need a living sample of the First Born. It’s better to be complete, so I’m going to move the two First Borns altogether—dig them out of the planet, move to outer space, and then build a laboratory to study them.”

Everyone was shocked by what Hao Ren had just said. All of them did not expect the guy who had been idle several days at home could come out with such a plan. Y’zaks stared at Hao Ren in amazement. “Whoa, looks like I’ve underestimated you; what a might big idea. If I had a military strategist like you back then…”

Hao Ren waved his hand hurriedly. “Don’t flatter me. Lanina would kill me for usurping her goose that lays the golden eggs.”

“How are you going to dig that thing out of the planet?” Lily asked quickly. “It’s no joke that the things have their tentacles implanted underground almost like a parasite on the planet.”

“Of course not if it was a fully-grown First Born, like the one in Tannagost that had already spread over the entire planet. But the two remaining First Borns of Holletta obviously haven’t grown yet,” Hao Ren smiled wryly. “I’ve let the MDT scan the area around Volcano of Dusk; the First Born beneath the volcano had curled itself up into a ball before falling asleep. The size is also about 100 kilometres across around the volcano. It is said that the First Born under the giant tree of life is even smaller.”

Lily grinned and said, “I don’t think you can simply dig it out of the earth judging from its size. I’m good at digging holes, but there’s no way to dig a hole as enormous as that.”

Everyone looked at the husky with a weird expression. Cold sweat trickled down Hao Ren’s forehead as he said, “No worry, I’m not asking you to dig. Let me check if there is such a large-scale construction machinery in Aerym.”

Vivian immediately nodded. “Oh yeah, any of their floating islands is bigger than Holletta’s First Borns.”

“But before we do, we have to get the space facilities ready first. The facility must at least be larger than the two First Borns,” said Nangong Wuyue. “Or else there will be no place to plant the First Borns.”

Hao Ren scratched his chin. “Plant? Why did you say so?”

“What difference they’ve got?” said the siren girl, wagging her tail—like Lily, she liked to let her tail out to get some fresh air as long as there was no outsider present. “Isn’t it essentially a hyper-large-scale transplant? The First Born is still somewhat like an animal while it’s awake, but since you are all determined to give it a potion electrotherapy, it’s going to be more like a vegetation.”

The biggest strength of this bunch of creatures was they were wittier in thinking.

“Let me give you all a friendly reminder,” the MDT chimed in. “All construction costs are reimbursable, but there is one restriction: under no circumstances the First Born is allowed to be brought to the Surface World. That thing is dangerous if it’s out of control. What’s more, the entangled information it carries is enough to undermine the stability of the Wall of Reality.”

“The base should be in The Plane of Dreams,” said Hao Ren, still scratching his chin. He already had some ideas in mind. “The probable location is there, and the ‘transplantation’ process is also there. Should I also learn the base design skill or what, shouldn’t I?”

Hao Ren was a little taken aback when he thought of the study materials. He already hated it when was told to study a few spacecraft driving manuals earlier. Now thinking of building a space station made his flesh crawl.

Fortunately, the MDT shot him a blue ray of contempt (please don’t ask how to tell the blue light means contempt). “Don’t worry about designing the research base, there are experts who would handle that. Like the research system on the Petrachelys, it would be a fool-proofed operation from top to bottom. Your only task is to hang your name on the door of various buildings to ward off the evil spirits.”

Hao Ren began to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard that. “Good. Let me think about it and write a report to Raven. By the way, I’ll have to go to New Aerym in two days and check out Helcrown.”

Little girl Y’lisabet was elated. She jumped to her feet and asked to go back and showed off her T repair skill to Lanina. Hao Ren did not know whether to laugh or to cry looking at the child’s behaviour: every demon princess in movies and anime looked majestic and elegant, even if they were still minors, they could rely on BGM to bring out the royal demeanour. Why this demon princess always held a screwdriver and strolled around was beyond him. She appeared much stronger when she was commanding the entire army on his dad’s behalf back then.

The MDT suddenly chimed in and diverted the attention of Hao Ren away from the demon princess. “There’s another progress made: the equipment used to analyse the vengeful spirit is ready, just that it’s not yet certain that it can be used.”

As soon as the voice of the MDT trailed off, the excited Nangong siblings spoke in unison. “Really?!”

“Really, but don’t hold your breath,” said the MDT with a flat, indifferent voice. “Theoretically, everything is feasible. The performance of the tester may not necessarily be reliable, and we don’t even know what format the memory of the vengeful spirit is stored, and I don’t know if it has a memory deletion mechanism—so don’t get your hopes up too high.”

In saying so, Hao Ren was trying to make it clear to Nangong Wuyue beforehand. “Calm down. Now we have just created a prototype. Since we have a vengeful spirit sample with us, we will be able to make a new decoding device if this one fails. So you let your tail off your brother, he is already suffocating.”

Nangong Wuyue came to her senses and let off her brother. Nangong Sanba staggered on his feet, half-dead. “Thanks for saving my life…” said Nangong Sanba.

The MDT led everyone to a large device at the other end of the room and said, “Here it is.”

The massive equipment was obviously newly manufactured, a prototype designed for a single project. It had a silver-white smooth shell without any model plate or logo, was two meters high and five to six meters wide, semi-circular overall and divided into two parts with a central axis. The two parts of the body were recessed in the central axis and formed a semi-bowl shape with tens of centimetres in diameter. Inside the semi-bowl structure were many bright, detector-like stuff, which clearly was the central command.

“The prototype didn’t go through the aesthetic design process, so it doesn’t look pretty.” The MDT hovered over the new device. “We originally wanted to give it the most beautiful coffin-type design, but for the sake of efficiency, we just created an inner liner.”

Hao Ren pulled the MDT to a side and said, “Fortunately, you’ve only created the liner! As if the coffins in the basement at home isn’t scary enough. How to operate this device?”

The MDT flew back and pointed with a beam of light at the recess on the equipment. “See the recess? Pour the vengeful spirit into it.”

Hao Ren: “Pour…into it?”

That sounded whimsical!

Chapter 540: A Cat’s Gratitude

 

Hao Ren started up the quirky machine as prompted by the MDT. A sound similar to a wind chime reverberated within the device. The blue lines and light on the surface lit up one by one, making the device glow like a half moon slowly awakening from its slumber: this was not a cold, dead machine machine. In order to communicate with the vengeful spirit, it was inbuilt with many near-supernatural powers. These functions made it look unlike any other technological gadgets.

But Hao Ren was most gratified that the thing at least did not look like a coffin…

He took the small box which was used to seal the vengeful spirit from his Dimensional Pocket. When the box’s opening was faced towards the recess on the equipment, he saw a faint light coming out from the box and disappearing into the bowl-shaped recess.

“That’s all?” Lily was excited, jumping around Hao Ren. Her ears were twitching. “Then what?”

“Looks like there’s movement.” Hao Ren pointed at recess the where the luminescent “spots” were changing in a certain pattern. With each change, the light in the recess—which was the processing core—became more condensed. In the beginning, there was only a thin, hallucinatory white mist, but soon the white mist became a ball of light. It was almost as substantial as it appeared and it floated in the air like a jellyfish.

“This is the captured vengeful spirit.” The MDT floated above the device, pointing at the “luminescent jellyfish” with a light beam. “First, we’ve got to charge it. This guy’s been sealed for some time, it’s too weak now. If we don’t charge it up, we won’t be able to read it.”

Vivian became worried. “Will it escape?”

As the first person to have fought with the vengeful spirit, she knew how difficult the monster was.

“No, it’ll be tied up in the energy field safely.” The MDT rested on Hao Ren’s shoulder. “Unless, the equipment is disconnected—but that’s impossible.”

The vengeful spirit was strengthened, or awakened to a certain extent as they spoke. It quickly became active again after being supplied with external energy. However, due to the powerful energy field’s restriction, it was confined in a hemispherical space of only tens of centimeters in size. As a result, it became even more solid like a lump of jelly. The vengeful spirit seemed to have realized that it was trapped, and it began to emit a low, weird whistling sound. Then, there was a fierce turbulence in the fetter. But this was useless. The decoding device could not read a thing.

“Let’s take a look at the thing’s information structure…” the MDT muttered while it inserted itself into a small console next to the device. There was a small crack just enough to allow the MDT to snap into it. “Look at its frequency and wavelength…”

Hao Ren scratched his chin as he looked at the MDT with interest. “You always find a suitable slot for yourself, eh?” said Hao Ren.

“Of course! I’m the most adaptable model. If there’s a hole, I can plug myself in it,” the MDT sounded cocky. “Now stop messing around, I’m going to perform a data analysis!”

Hao Ren suddenly became serious and allowed the MDT to show off its capabilities. However, in just a matter of seconds, he heard the laboratory’s analysis host computer prompting, “The second analyzer has begun calculation.”

Hao Ren looked at the MDT suspiciously. “Are you sure you’re doing the analysis?”

“…I’m just giving the command!”

Everyone was speechless.

Regardless, the equipment was working well. Its surface was glowing and the sweet chiming sound completely suppressed the meaningless whir of the vengeful spirit. A beam of light flew in the processing core, decoding the information from the vengeful spirit. The data stored in the electromagnetic waves, which were constantly changing in shape began to gradually reveal its secrets. The reading process was long and random: sometimes, the device would suddenly extract several meaningful bytes, but the analysis host would discard them, because subsequent data did not match their format. The existence of the vengeful spirit was so wonderful that both their memory and informational expressions were very different from common linguistic structures as well as thinking structures. The analysis host had to establish a set of expression formulas from scratch.

“There are superficial, emotion-like reactions such as anger and impatience, as well as resistance and adaptability. Nevertheless, these reactions are more of a result of instinct rather than thinking,” the MDT reported frankly. “It really doesn’t have the ability to think. It only displayed the activities of a living being under the guidance of a bunch of strange calculation rules. It looks like the Tannaeans wanted to save their thoughts through coding eternally, but the First Born deleted their thinking part. Except, these coding rules are still running.”

Hao Ren thought for a moment and pretended to have understood. “So, what about the vengeful spirit’s memory?”

“There are some fragments. The analysis host is trying to reorganize them.” The MDT emitted a bunch of projections. “Look at this one; it’s distorted beyond recognition. This is what the world looks like from the perspective of the vengeful spirit. It’s unlike the perspective of ordinary living things. Without prior interpretation, I’m afraid nobody can read it.”

Nangong Wuyue asked nervously. “Can you interpret it? Can you find news of my parents?”

The MDT knew how to say a word of comfort. “Don’t worry, the ontology of the information won’t be destroyed. If a translation fails, you can still try again. As long as the vengeful spirit has been in touch with your parents, and doesn’t possess a memory deletion mechanism, they’ll definitely be found. Theoretically, unless there’s external disturbance, a group of electromagnetic waves won’t automatically erase its memories—so, you can put your brother down now.”

Nangong Wuyue came to her senses again and quickly let go off her brother. Hao Ren stepped forward and held Nangong Sanba up. “It’s not easy for you, eh?”

Nangong Sanba was grateful, again. “Thanks, bro…”

Hao Ren suddenly had a feeling that the half-baked demon hunter was scurrying all over the world not just to find his parents and make a living, but also to hide from his sister’s tail…. The siren’s habit of coiling people up with her tail was simply terrible!

Of course, one might ask, what would happen if there was no one around, or if she could not get her hands on a victim at all? Simple—she would roll herself up into a serpentine ball. How else did she manage to turn into the usual serpent ball?

The equipment completed scanning the surface information of the vengeful spirit. This strange creature’s incredible information storage method had the analysis host confused as the system sounded in the lab, “Initial scan has ended. No available interpretation rules were found. The host needs to reorganize the calculations to complete the follow-up work.”

Hao Ren asked, “How long will it probably take?”

The analysis host was silent before replying, “…Unknown.”

“Relax, it won’t take too long. The analysis host computer’s logic isn’t that flexible. It can’t tell you a probable reply, but I think it should take two or three days.” The MDT detached itself from the equipment slot and flew back to Hao Ren’s shoulder. “You can go back and feed the fish, play with the cat, walk the dog, and in two days, the results should be available. You can also go and discuss your big plan with the Aerymian elves…”

Hao Ren turned around and looked at the Nangong siblings. The two were obviously a little disappointed. But after learning that there was still a light at the end of the tunnel, they became less nervous and anxious. Nangong Wuyue nodded and said, “Well, in that case, we’ll wait.”

Before leaving, Hao Ren issued new instructions to the Petrachelys; the first was to keep studying the vengeful spirit, and then, to start mass production of the interference pheromone for the First Born—he was preparing for his next big project.

Hence, they arrived home after that. The first thing Hao Ren did was rush to check on Rollie: the cat girl had just become a human and she was still ignorant of the human world. He was afraid that she would run out without Big Beardy’s knowledge. As it turned out, the dumb cat was obedient this time. Hao Ren went up to the second floor and found the maiden playing with something in the corner of her room.

“I’m back,” said Hao Ren as he stepped forward and said hello to his cat. “What are you doing?”

The cat girl turned her head and snorted lazily before coming up to him with a grin. “Big Boss Cat, you’re good to me, aren’t you?”

Hao Ren did not know what she was doing. He just nodded, feeling perplexed. “Yeah… What’s behind you? What are you hiding?”

The cat girl smiled happily and said, “Ta-da! It’s a mouse. For you.”

Hao Ren could only say, “What the heck?”

Chapter 541: An Accidental Clue

 

Hao Ren had read about how cats repay kindness from the stories long time back, the traditional version and the cat girl version. The former involves catching rats for the owner while the latter becomes a cute girl who treats her master like a king. He never thought that his cat was the third kind: she had turned into a cute girl, but she still insisted on catching rats…

It was obvious that she was a mishmash of the two orthodox versions, but Hao Ren felt something was off…

But Rollie wouldn’t know what her master was actually thinking, and she actually thought that she had did something commendable. Happily, she ruffled against Hao Ren’s leg. “Boss Cat, Boss Cat! A rat for you to eat! It’s still moving!”

The dumb cat raised her hand to gloat before Hao Ren, in her hands was a big fat rat. The latter was obviously not fully dead, and still let out a faint whisper. Goosebumps immediately ran all over Hao Ren as he recoiled backwards. “Stand there, and don’t move!”

The cat girl gave Hao Ren a puzzled look. “You’re not happy nya?”

“Where did you get that from?” Hao Ren kept his distance. “Throw it out now!”

“I caught it on the plains back home. Beardy Cat said I cannot go to town.” the dumb cat swung the rat like a pendulum, her face looked rather dejected. “Why don’t you want it? Are you nyangry?”

Hao Ren had thoughts to disciplined the dumb cat, but looking at her innocent face, any anger inside him was immediately extinguished. He knew that the cat girl was still a cat to the bone, and a few days as a human was not enough to teach her all she needs to act like one, and her clumsy actions was all to make him happy. Sighing resignedly, he said, “I’m not angry, but… humans don’t eat rats.”

The cat girl lifted the rat and looked at it. Seeing so Hao Ren quickly added. “You’re not eating it either.”

“I’m not eating that.” The cat girl shook her head. “It’s not as tasty as biscuits and fish jerky.”

Hao Ren glared at her. “Then what do you mean by feeding me that?!”

“It’s because you don’t know how to catch a rat!” The cat girl’s had that ‘Duh’ tone to it. “So it’s up to me to catch them for you.”

Hao Ren was speechless as he tried to reconcile the fact that he was seen as a weakling in the eyes of a cat…

At the very least, Rollie had threw the rat away and as per her usual habit of following behind Hao Ren around the house – like she was inspecting her own castle. After a circle she reached the hall and went for her cushion by the staircase to snooze. Hao Ren sighed again as he saw it. “Do you really have to sleep here? Didn’t I prepare a room for you?”

Rollie simply just gave him a lazy stretch before curling into a smaller ball.. Her tail wagging at Hao Ren with as she meowed at him.

That meant, ‘Your royal highness is sleepy and wants her royal nap, so make yourself scarce’.

Hao Ren sighed again, as he went upstairs to contact Raven12345.

For once, the Goddess was actually not skipping work and the line connected immediately. Hao Ren briefed her on the progress of the research on the First Born and also brought up the matter of creating a space station in the Plane of Dreams for long term research of the First Born.

Raven12345’s voice was chirpy as always. “You’re getting good at this, kiddo. You’re really thinking outside the box now. Guess my choice was right on the money….Go ahead with your plan.

Hao Ren then carefully posed a few questions than worried him the most. “Will this large migration affect the balance between the Surface World and the Plane of Dreams? Using only a dimensional rift, is it possible to build such a big space station? Can I claim expense for that?

Truth be told, he was most worried about the third question, and if he did not balance it out with the first two serious question first, the crazy Goddess would probably blessed him with a dimensional thunder strike…

“Hmmm… Your space laboratory is indeed a pretty bold idea… but since you have already found a stable pathway, as long as you ensure all material and personnel goes through that rift, there won’t be any issues. Your Goddess here too will help you strengthen the connection stability of the areas around earth…. If anything goes wrong, I’ll back you up.” Raven12345 was dependable when it comes to work. “As for the size of the rift that is not a cause of concern. What to you take the Empire for? The Xiling Celestials are the best there is when it comes to dimensional tech. When the time comes, we’ll just compress everything into a small construction cube for you to activate.”

Hao Ren had yet to forget the most pertinent of questions. “So… all of this are borne by the Administration right?”

Raven12345 sniggered. “You sure have a way of asking thing. Reminds me of me in my younger days. Don’t worry, Xiling’s industry and wealth is not just for show. We won’t expect a staff to dig into his own pockets for just a space station. No matter how big the expenses incurred for this endeavour, the Administration will bear the cost. You just need to sign it off.

Hao Ren was relieved hearing that. “That’s good to hear… and actually, the paint of the wall at my place had chipped and I plan to repaint….”

“You f*cking stand there and don’t move. A blessing is coming your way!”

Hao Ren quickly terminated the call and heaved a sigh of relief after things were settled. He then made his way to the living room, looking for old Y’zaks to discuss the matter of visiting New Aerym and his people. But as he stepped into the room neither the demon or his daughter was there. Vivian and Lily on the other hand were huddled together, as if they were studying something.

“What are you two up to?” Hao Ren was surprised. It was rare sight to see this two bickering duo together peacefully.

Lily looked up at Hao Ren and let out an excited howl, her tail wagging in excitement. “We are doing science!”

“You? Doing science?” Hao Ren was amused by that very notion and walked over to see what the pair was up to. He noticed a few pentagonal crystal plates on the tea table. The plates let out a gentle glow, it was mysterious yet intricate and the MDT was by the side of the plates, as if it was helping to analyse the item. “This is…”

“The storage items we could from the planetarium at Tannagost.” Lily pushed the crystal plates before Hao Ren. “The MDT said this is still readable… but you were busy with bigger things so this were left collecting dust.”

Hao Ren only remembered the matter when Lily brought it up. The group was chased by the vengeful spirits from Alamanda to an abandoned planetarium. Wuyue and the rest then found this data slates. It was there too that Hao Ren managed to make contact with the collective conciousness of the Tannaeans, and uncovered the mystery behind the vengeful spirits.

The ancient data slates were indeed valuable research objects but the group soon found an even more valuable object, the Tannagost Data Value, the living sample of the Seed of Origin, the Lifeblood, a living First Born, each and everyone of them an item of extreme interest, and that left the data slates from the planetarium looking a wee bit insignificant.

Of course, Hao Ren did not totally forgot about it, and he actually had the data slate restored when he brought it back to the Petrachelys and had extracted the data from within. But he soon realised that all of the data entailed reading of the stars and did not seem to have anything to do with the First Born, thus he just left the thing sitting there. That was the last time he touched the thing, and it soon became part of Lily’s treasure.

Perhaps boredom got the better of the husky as she took the data slate out to study it. This was probably inspired by the research done in the Petrachely’s lab.

“So what you found?” Hao Ren asked casually.

Lily’s face was however serious. “According to Battie and my professional analysis. Of course mainly me, we think that the last diary entry was just before the First Born’s apocalypse…

Hao Ren had just turned away before he heard that. “Diary? What diary?”

“Astronomical diary entry. Penned by one of the staff at the planetarium.” The MDT said as it floated. “As it looked like a normal diary entry, it was not given much attention. I only just remembered it earlier and got Lily to take out the data slate for reanalysis. Well, their professional analysis not withstanding, these two here are merely part of the crowd.”

Lily and Vivian was speechless.

Chapter 542: The Mysterious Star

 

Lily and Vivian glared at the MDT but the latter was unfazed. It had a ‘Come bite my impenetrable casing’ look to it. Hao Ren on the other hand did not believe for a second that they two was capable of doing science. He knocked on the table to stop Lily’s gnashing and took the pentagonal crystal plate. “What have you found?”

The MDT activated it’s holographic display. “No different than a usual diary, it’s by someone working at the planetarium. I’ve translated the logs, see for yourself.”

Hao Ren read the diary displayed before him and found that it was a report of the movement of stars in diary form. The initial part was about equipment maintenance, weather reports, constellation reports, but towards the end of the report, something caught Hao Ren’s attention:

“….The nineth night, the sky is clear. The atmosphere stability is excellent. We had discovered an amazing celestial phenomenon. The Arkana I had let out a bright flash. The countour of the star expanded to that of a sun, and the crimson glow radiated one fourth of the skyline. Our scanners had recorded this incredible scene, and the masters think that this is a supernova. He theorised that this could prove that Arkana I is indeed a very ancient star despite its various perimeters do not match your usual stars… Most regrettable is that we were unable to obtain the planet’s data before it went supernova, but perhaps we should be glad that it did explode, so now we could study the planet from it’s radiation….”

This particular line was highlighted by the MDT. Hao Ren turned to the device and asked. “Do you think that this Arkana Supernova has anything to do with the First Born Apocalypse that befell Tannagost?”

“Remember the data vault from Alamanda? That contained every information about the Tannaeans. Based on the records, the first appearance of the First Born’s tendrils was after the third day of the Arkana Supernova.” the MDT shut up the holographic display. “Regardless, the supernova was the last major unusual phenomona before the coming of the First Born Apocalypse. Whether they are connected or not, we should pay attention to this celestial event.”

Hao Ren’s face stiffened, as he feel into a deep thought beside Lily. He suddenly asked. “Have the data vault been connected into the Imperial Data Network?”

“All done, ages ago and it is fully translated and categorised. Connecting to theThird Repository. You can use your authority to activate the data vault of any dead civilisation’s but you can only edit the ones that are under your name.”

“Link me up to the Tannaeans data vault, look for details about Arkana I….hmmm… and any celestial data before the night of the First Born Apocalypse.”

The supernova records in the repository reminded Hao Ren of something. He realised that the First Born or the Goddess of Creation, both came from space. If the apocalypse long ago had some sort of forewarning, it will probably appear as some sort of celestial phenomenon, and it was something he needed to pay attention to.

The Third Repository was nicknamed ‘the Graveyard of Civilisations’ and The ‘Tomb of the Species’. It was a storage device of limitless capacity and specialised in storing the samples and specimens of fallen civilisations within the Xiling Empire’s borders, and most of the samples and specimens came from the inspectors. In their cross-world faring, it was inevitable that they meet many civilisations who had fell, and collecting, documenting the relics and remnants of these civilisations is part and parcel of an Inspector’s job.

Due to the special nature of the Third Repository, every visitor will need to go through a maximum security mental connection. Hao Ren felt that his spirit was being split into two, just like last time back then at the Dragonspine Ridge where part of his spirit returned to the Surface World. While he could clearly see his living room, a part of his vision was being brought to a very surreal place. Part of his psyche was going through a very vast area, and silhouettes of many figures went past him: They were Inspectors from other universes and they too were visiting the Third Repository. The Inspectors sensed a newcomer had visited the place and some of them turned back to give a friendly greeting. Hao Ren responded in kind. And it wasn’t long before the information he requested was being displayed before him.

Arkana I, was an ancient star on Tannagost’s ecliptic plane and it was a star that confounded the Tannaean astrologers for milleanias.

The Tannaean astrologers had called the first star on their ecliptic plane, Arkana. The word meant ‘red arrow’ in their tongue, and Arkana I was the point of the stars that made the arrowhead. It was crimson all year long and was the brightest star of them all. The Tannaean astrologians had noticed that the crimson hue would wax and wane since astrology was a thing and it lasted until the coming of the First Born. The waxing and waning of the crimson hue differed from your usual stars, and it was the first of many mysteries of the star.

The second mystery was that the Tannaeans wasn’t event sure till the end of their civilisation if Arkana I was even a star.

Based on your typical astronomy, aside from the planets within the system, every star that glittered at night should be a star, as plantes do not glow and cannot be seen by the eye under normal circumstances. The Tannaean astrologers had investigated this for over a thousand years, but yet they still could not ascertain what sort of star Arkana I was. Each and every of it perimeters and characteristics was closer to that of a planet. Its temperature was mild, and radiation levels was low, and it did not have any spectral features that a star would have. It was undoubtedly showing characteristics of a solid state planet and there were no trace of light distortion around it. That proved that Arkana I was small, much smaller than your standard star.

Yet there it lies above Tannagost’s skies and could easily be seen on a clear night.

The Tannaeans had an almost encylopedic record just specifically for Arkana I, and there was this one remark: This crimson star should not exsit by all accounts. A low density, low temperature star should have been well hidden in the darkness of space, but it was now the brightest star in the sky. This was against everything we know of the stars….

The last of the mystery was at the end: Unable to determine the distance.

Arkana I stood majestically in the sky, but the Tannaean astrologers could not determine the exact distance from Tannagost. The data gotten from the most common ways of calculation: Triangular Parallax, Spectral Parallax, and Cepheid Parallax resulted in vastly varying data, resulting in the astrologers not being able to pinpoint the distance. It was like a shadow before the eye, you can see it but you will never find it in the real world.

And it is because of these mysteries, the argument of Arkana I between the astrologers never stopped. The various schools of thought regarding Arkana I were so closely contested, whether it was a star or a planet, or was it just a mirage?

And this supernatural star went supernova ten thounsand yearas ago, only to have the First Born’s tendrils to breakthrough the surface on the third day.

Hao Ren rubbed his eyes as he left the Third Repository. Lily perked as she wagged her tail excitedly, “How was it? How was it?!”

“A very complex, weird star.” Hao Ren pressed Lily’s ears, like how he treats a pet dog to get the lass to calm down. He then explained briefly to the rest on what he saw in the repository. “All in all, it did not fit into any natural law, I suspect it really have something to do with the First Born…”

As Hao Ren and the rest was talking about Arkana I, a voice suddenly came from the back. “Oh, a discussion I see?”

Hao Ren looked up and saw Big Beardy opening the door as he held a roasted rabbit in the other hand. The sky was dark by then. Time indeed flew by without them noticing. Big Beardy was outside all day long and after finishing his ascetic meditation he made his way back. Vivian slapped her forehead. “Eh, I didn’t see the time… I’ll go make dinner!”

Lily was salivating as she looked at the roasted rabbit in Big Beardy’s hands. Her tail slapping against the sofa armrest like a wardrum. “Mr Landlord, Mr Landlord, are you hungry? I’m sure you want some roasted rabbit right? But you cannot finish it alone right? So….”

Hao Ren buried his face in his hands. “Oh stop it, you’re just making a fool of yourself. Beardy bro, mind sharing some with her?”

Big Beardy laughed heartily as he passed a piece of the roasted rabbit meat to Lily. “What were you guys on about?”

“The matter of Tannagost.” Hao Ren told Big Beardy about the weird star that went supernova. “Ten thousand years ago, the skyline of Tannagost was lit up…”

Big Beardy had just asked for fun, but after hearing Hao Ren’s description he frowned. “Wait a minute… I may be overthinking this… but the ancient tomes of the Disciples of Glory had something like this too.”

“Huh?!” Hao Ren exclaimed.