The Record of Unusual Creatures

After he saw the reliefs within the city ruins, Hao Ren knew that the civilization on the planet had a massive self-preservation mission going on during their final moments. They had launched a massive spaceship to send the “embers” into space, and while the reliefs did not record what happened afterward, it at least presented a possibility: some of the denizens of the planet probably managed to escape.

Therefore, his suspicion was not without merit: the aircraft he saw during the day was probably not from the planet itself.

“I think Mr. Landlord’s right,” Lily, as the resident creative graduate puppy was the first to voice her support. “The surface of the planet is the First Born itself, and fighting the First Born on the surface is pretty much a lost cause. So rather than a land-based resistance army, I think it’s more probable that they were the living descendants of those who went into space.”

“To be fair, the refugee ark… may not have even survived the escape,” Nangong Sanba quipped. “The First Born is well equipped with space-borne warfare capabilities, and the spaceship’s structure would’ve definitely been much weaker than the fortresses on the ground. It’s totally possible that those who went into space did not even make it into orbit and those on the ground may have very well found the rhythm to the First Born’s activities and created a sanctuary in response.”

“Both are possible, and we need to investigate further before we can reach a conclusion.” Hao Ren shook his head. “That said, the presence of survivors is certain now, and they’ve been trying to defeat the tentacles on the surface of the planet until today… Nolan, do you have any more probes?”

“The exploratory probes will be more than enough, I brought along plenty of those thingamajigs, but only the atmospheric models are left. The generic aerial probes container was destroyed during the jump, I need to fix the manufacturing module first before I can produce a new batch.”

“Atmospheric… That’ll do. Deploy them in a wide radius. I hope you can complete the scan of the planet’s surface and ten kilometers into the crust within two days. If you happen to find any survivor base, get me the info as well.”

“Understood.”

“That aside, are the engineering modules within the lab functional?”

Nolan went silent for two seconds as if to confirm the condition of the facility before answering, “The lab is in good shape, but energy supply is slightly insufficient. Nonetheless, running an engineering module is still within acceptable parameters.”

“In that case, I need you to convert a few of the droids into combat droids. I’ll bring them along tomorrow to the edge of the jungle.”

Vivian blinked before she realized what Hao Ren was up to. “You plan to go to where the aircraft crashed?”

Hao Ren nodded gently. “We may find important information there. If we can recover the aircraft’s data core then our investigation will take a great leap forward.”

“That’s rather close to the tentacles… Even if they were wounded by the bombing run earlier, that sort of damage is almost negligible for the First Born. By the time you get there, they’ll probably be fully recovered,” Vivian said with a frown. “They were just recently attacked, and they’re probably on very high alert. Don’t you think you’re taking a big risk here? We can wait a while for the tentacles to lower their guard. The wreckage isn’t going to go anywhere, no?”

Hao Ren had other considerations. “If we drag this out, the deterioration of the clues will worsen. Before we find any surviving units, those wreckages are our best hope for any information. As for the tentacles… they’re not as sensitive as you think. I’ve checked with Zorm before, and due to the fact that a First Born’s size is so massive that most ‘little creatures’ would not be able to harm it, an adult First Born’s senses are more attuned to large targets and high energy signatures. As for those tiny parasites, their nervous systems won’t be able to detect everything even if they mean to. A few people standing on a First Born would be like a speck of dust on a human body. Under most circumstances, it wouldn’t even mind, unless you fire upon the tentacles of course.”

“So when we head over there we just need to be a little more careful. As long as we don’t go ‘Meteor Storm!’, ‘Chain Lightning!’, ‘Fusion Blast!’, and the like, we’ll be able to find it. The tentacles will probably treat us as little animals from the jungle,” Lily wagged her tail as she added.

The werehusky had already added her name to the party without even asking. She really just could not sit still, could she?

After considering Hao Ren and Lily’s opinions, Vivian felt that it could be feasible, and she nodded in agreement.

“Then that’s settled.” Hao Ren clapped. “Now that Nolan is still immobile, we will use her as our base of operations and the center of our activities. I’ll bring Lily, Vivian, and Wuyue out tomorrow. The rest can use the ship as a base and move about within a five-kilometer radius, looking for clues as well as any environmental data. Sanba, stay on the bridge and monitor the comms and radar. Also, help me look after Lil Pea.”

“I wanna go with daddeee!” The little mermaid bounced up from her tank.

“Be a good girl. It’s dangerous outside and it’s safer in the ship.” Hao Ren patted the little one’s head. “Plus, it’s nothing but mountains out there, so there’s no place for you to swim.”

The little rascal was rather obedient this time around. “Oh.”

And so, the plan for the second day was set. Nighttime finally came.

After the ambush in space and the following crash landing, plus a day-long search on a foreign planet, even someone with extraordinary physique would feel mentally exhausted. That night, Hao Ren slept particularly soundly, and by the time he woke up, the light of dawn had already basked the land.

Nolan had no need for rest, and while everyone was fast asleep, she quietly worked, trying to get as many shield generators online and rebuilding the psionic amplification module of the propulsion reactor. She had also completed Hao Ren’s request to arm some of the droids and deploy more probes into the planet’s atmosphere.

By the second day, she had run a rough scan of the continent. Due to the mainframe being damaged, the data processing and droid control area were limited, leading to the drop in efficiency.

That planet had more than one continent, and Nolan had only completed the scan of just one. But just on this continent alone, she managed to locate thousands of ruins and remains that were significant in size. Most of these ruins, which were already half-devoured by nature, showed signs of being heavily damaged by the First Born. All around the ruins were the tentacles of the First Born, including those that were still active and dormant. Nolan noticed that the First Born on this planet was very unusual. It was in a… half-dead state of “lethargy”, which had never been seen on other planets before.

Aside from the ancient ruins and traces of the First Born, Nolan had also found more clues related to the “survivors”. Many “fresh” bomb craters and energy signatures within the burning jungle were detected around the tentacles. The data showed that more bombings had recently occurred in addition to the bombing Hao Ren and the rest encountered. The most recent one was just a few hours ago.

It seemed like the planet’s survivors were still active, and they would launch an assault on the tentacles within the continent every now and then. But the odd thing was the First Born’s reaction to those attacks. Based on Hao Ren’s observation, the tentacles would violently fend off any attackers, but that was the extent of it. There were no earth-shattering rampages or any Blood Tides after the fact, or any attempts at pursuit.

Regardless, Nolan could not understand why the First Born on the planet was acting like that. It was clear that it had already destroyed the planet’s civilization once.

As for the survivor’s base of operations… Nolan did not find anything on the continent. There were also no images of any attacks by the survivors at night. Perhaps the army was from other continents, or perhaps they were just as Hao Ren had guessed… They were from outer space.

With all that said, the information gathered by the probes was limited. Further understanding of the situation was still dependent on Hao Ren and his troupe’s activity that day.

Vivian had found some ingredients in the ship to make a simple yet tasty meal (thank goodness the living quarters were well protected during that incident; the kitchen and supply storage included). After breakfast, the pair, alongside their pet dog and siren, went on a journey to search for the aircraft wreckage.

This time around, they did not need to gather any data or search any ruins. With a clear objective, they moved quickly across the thick jungle into a clearing.

“Based on Nolan’s navigation guide, the wreckage should be in this area.” Hao Ren was at the front as he widened his eyes to check their surroundings. “Stay alert, we are within the First Born’s zone of activity.”

“A third of the plants here are probably the derivative of the First Born.” The MDT floated by Hao Ren’s side as it checked on the energy and magnetic field readings of the plants around them. “They’re formed from the capillaries at the end of the tentacles, and I can sense nervous signals being transmitted between the leaves… The trees have ‘seen’ us, but the main body is still not reacting.”

Hao Ren nodded. “So I was right then. As long as we don’t do anything stupid, these tentacles won’t even bother dealing with a few specks of dust passing by.”

Nangong Wuyue turned to Hao Ren before she looked at Lily, who had been overexcited since they stepped out, before she mumbled to herself, “I feel like going out with you guys is a pretty stupid thing to do. Since when have you guys ever not blow up a hole somewhere?”

Hao Ren had no reply.

At the same time, Lily’s nose tingled and the husky pointed in a direction. “Mr. Landlord, Mr. Landlord, there’s a burning smell coming from there!”