The Record of Unusual Creatures

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hao Ren had nothing more to say.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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