The Record of Unusual Creatures

Hao Ren’s backup plans stemmed from his boundless imagination. But first, he had to understand more of the planet Zorm’s conditions. He knew he could not be away for too long, lest Nolan and the other mercenaries got suspicious of him. Thus, he decided to return to the Plane of Dreams in the afternoon.

His inability to locate the correct location of the planet Zorm in the Plane of Dreams meant that he could not use the “stable door” of the Tannagost crack. So, he decided to use the hibernation pod in the basement. This time, he wanted to bring a few helpers so that they could spread out to gather intelligence separately. After all, he would not be able to collect much information by staying in the mercenary base.

“Sanba, Wang, and Vivian follow me.” Hao Ren selected them because Nangong Sanba was an experienced demon hunter, Y’zaks was cool-headed as well as a good fighter, while Vivian had tens of thousands of years of wisdom and alertness. The natives of planet Zorm were unfamiliar with supernatural powers, and the three of them would be able to handle any situation even without their psychic abilities. In case of an emergency, they could cut off their connection with the Plane of Dreams and return safely to Earth. After all, they were only entering spiritually.

As the hibernation pods opened slowly, Hao Ren smiled. “I have never expected this… I thought since we’ve found the Tannagost crack I don’t have to use this coffin again.”

The MDT did the setting on the hibernation pods and then stayed on Hao Ren’s shoulder. “I have issued instructions to the drones. After we arrive at Zorm and plant the beacon, the drones will capture our position from the outside. If we still couldn’t find navigation signals, then we use your backup plans.”

Vivian could not wait to be the first to lie down in the coffin. Y’zaks and Nangong Sanba were next. Hao Ren sat in the hibernation pod and left Lily some instructions. “When we are away a few days, half a month at most. We probably won’t awaken during this time. You and Wuyue, please look after the house and don’t create trouble. Got it?”

Lily patted her chest and said, “You got it, Mr. Landlord! Wuyue’s parents are watching me; I’m not going to create trouble.”

Hao Ren was not sure whether he should compliment Lily, but it seemed the husky was proud of it.

Rollie was lying beside the hibernation pod staring at Hao Ren and meowed occasionally. Meanwhile, Y’lisabet was talking to her papa who was in the other hibernation pod. The strange atmosphere gave Hao Ren goosebumps. He quickly waved them off. “Get out of here now; this is not the final journey as in the funeral. Wuyue, don’t forget to clean up the basement! At least wipe the dust off the coffins…”

Nangong Wuyue patted Hao Ren’s ‘coffin’ with her tail. “Okay, quickly lie down. Don’t say anything if you don’t know what to say.”

As the cover of the hibernation pod slowly closed, he felt a sense of darkness and the familiar phenomenon of spirit escaping the body. When all these faded away, a strong foul smell hit his nostrils. He opened his eyes and found himself standing in the corner of the slums of Black Street. The air in Black Street was so unbearable that he almost wanted to come back out.

“This is hell,” Hao Ren said, pursing his nose. He then continued without looking back. “Look, this is the place. We’re going to split up. You know this side. Eh? Where are they?”

Hao Ren turned his head and was stunned to find that Vivian and others who should have followed him were not there. He was alone on the little space.

He froze for a moment before quickly calling the MDT in his mind. “MDT, something’s wrong. Transmission error. Vivian and the others have not come in…”

Halfway through the call, he heard Vivian’s voice on another channel in his mind. “Mr. Landlord, has our transmission gone wrong?”

He combined the calls into one channel and said, “Vivian? What about to the others? Are they with you? Where are you now?”

“Holletta, on the wasteland near the royal city,” Vivian’s voice sounded slightly distorted but was clear enough. “It’s the default coordinates of the mind. Big Guy and Sanba are with me. We are now in Holletta.”

Hao Ren froze for a moment, and then checked the surroundings as he came out from the corner. “MDT, check the parameters of the equipment, was it that their hibernation pod settings not changed?”

“The equipment parameters are fine; their three hibernation pods have the same spiritual path as you do. But for some unknown reason, the parameters became invalid during the mental dive. They have gone to Holletta following the previous default coordinate.”

It was an unexpected situation. Hao Ren immediately asked the three of them to return to the surface world, and then let the MDT remotely perform another teleportation with the hibernation pods. But the result remained unchanged: Vivian and the others had gone to Holletta again.

“Try again?” Vivian asked over the comm. “Perhaps the Wall of Reality is steady today?”

Hao Ren thought for a while and said, “Don’t try again. I’m afraid there’s a deeper problem than that. It looks like other than me and the MDT; no one could come in.”

“Are you still want to proceed with the investigation?” Vivian said, her voice sounded concerned. “Would there be problems at your side?”

“Everything is fine here,” Hao Ren replied, trying to make her feel at ease. “You three can go home and help me look after the house. Hell, it looks like the Goddess is not giving me a break yet. I’ll have to get done all by myself.”

Hearing him self-deprecating, Vivian knew that Hao Ren would be okay. She said with a smile, “Don’t complain. Now the Goddess is your boss. Be careful over there. We are going home now.”

Hao Ren exhaled after the communication ended, thinking he had to go it all alone again in this world for the next few days. But then again, he had been alone here before — no big deal. Still, the situation puzzled him. “MDT, what do you think has happened?”

“You’re the only person who could reach the planet through mental projection, and I can tag along as a ‘mental attachment’ albeit in an incomplete state. Other than that, no one else could do it.”

“What’s the key reason? Why is this happening?” Hao Ren frowned, looking up at the grey sky above. “Is there any filtering or recognition mechanism for this planet, those do not meet the conditions will be blocked out?”

“I’ve no enough information, and I can’t tell. We first guessed that there was a problem with planet Zorm, but now it seems that the problem is with you,” the MDT said, sounding happy and completely ignoring that Hao Ren’s face had turned sullen. “Think positive. Maybe it is just something wrong with your head? By the way, when are you going to let me out of your dimensional pocket?”

“Dimensional pocket?” Hao Ren froze for a moment, before realizing that the MDT had been talking to him in spiritual connection. The piece of brick had failed to come through in one piece again. He quickly checked his dimensional pocket and was surprised to find the MDT was lying in the form of a corpse inside.

“The body was indeed gone when I was in the surface world,” Hao Ren said. “But when I come to Zorm, the body appears inexplicably. The dimensional pocket is God-encrypted; no worldly power should affect its content. So how exactly this body…”

“When exactly are you going to let me out?” the MDT groaned. “I’m dying in here!”

“Stop yelling!” Hao Ren yelled back in his mind. “All your senses in the corpse have stopped working, mind you? What can you still feel?”

“Oh, maybe that’s all in my mind. You can keep exploring. Let me share with you the story of Alibaba and the forty dwarfs…”

Hao Ren shut the noisy gadget inside, leaving only an emergency channel open. Serenity finally returned to his world.

The dirty streets of the slums stretched out in front of his eyes. He knew many wary eyes were peering at him behind windows and doors. He weaved uncomfortably through the terrible streets as his mind still remembered the location of Grey Fox mercenary base. But for the time being, he was not going back there.

He wanted to explore this messy neighborhood and learned more about it.