The Record of Unusual Creature

He stared dumbstruck, eyes wide opened (this seemed to happen quite a lot lately) upon hearing a statement that would make anybody choke on hearing it. At that moment, he could barely believe what that big-eyed chief just said, “What… was that… you said?”

“Space Administration,” the silver-haired lady smirked as she repeated. She had a frosty demeanour about her when she was silent; but as she opened up to speak, while pulling a smirk off, all the icy coldness melted away and she actually seemed quite amiable.

Hao Ren asked impetuously, “No, not that. I mean, the latter part?”

“Oh, the Bastard Barrio Branch Office,” the silver-haired lady happily nodded her head, delighted to acknowledge that fact.

Hao Ren really wanted to slam his head against something, anything… but he figured he should do it outside. Everything on display here seemed so posh and pricey that if broken he probably wouldn’t be able to pay for the compensation, but surely he definitely wanted to bang his head on something! How could “Space Administration” and “Bastard Barrio Branch Office”, two terms which were already out of this world, be placed in the same sentence? And judging by the way this white-haired lady phrased it, she didn’t seem , in the slightest way, disturbed by that peculiarity, her expression was as though this was how it had always been. Hao Ren’s bewilderment upon hearing those words were comparable to that upon hearing these: Old man Wang has three sons. The eldest is called Da Ming, the second is called Er Ming, the third is called Eisenbuliq William Haniba…

But what the silver-haired lady spoke of somehow made sense that Hao Ren was left with no rebuttal: This really was a bastardly barrio.

“He… hehe,” with his face hardened, Hao Ren snickered and slightly readjusted his body on the cotton seat to a more stable position. He was worried that if he hears any more gobsmacking statements, he would fall off onto the ground. “Space Administration you say… Oh and what was that you called yourself just now?”

He just recalled that the person to whom he was talking had also introduced herself a moment ago, but he didn’t catch her name as he was busy calming his nerves.

The silver-haired lady didn’t seem to be bothered. She was far more good-tempered than he had expected, “I am Raven 12345. You have to remember that. It’s important.”

“Including the numbers?”

“Including the numbers. Actually the numbers are the important ones,” said the woman who called herself Raven 12345 as she firmly nodded. “To prevent confusion with other Ravens. Any more questions?”

Immediately Hao Ren’s mind was filled with fantastical settings of man-made humans, clones, dark forces, evil armies, and the likes, plotting world domination, along with a two-hundred-thousand-words script and a web of love-hate relationships and romantic feuds among dozens of characters—not implying that he had a wild imaginative mind, but rather confirming that he had watched tonnes of movies. He was clever to not ask about the whereabouts of the other Ravens (experience tells him that this is a taboo, and in later days he would come to find out how explicably wrong he was), so he rubbed his chin and said, “Raven 12345. Quite a creative name, hehe. So, what do you want from me?”

The silver-haired lady smiled, “You took in a strange creature into your home, am I right? If calculations are correct it was a werewolf.”

Hearing that, Hao Ren became nervous, every muscle on his body couldn’t help but twitched. All along, he thought he had managed to keep Lily’s identity a secret, it was the only way for him to be able to keep is familiar everyday life. Who would have known that the lady before him had discovered everything! Quickly he calmed himself down as he knew this lady was another ‘strange being’, it wasn’t in his control that she knew some things. It was clear how little he knew about a certain mystical realm, so he shouldn’t act too surprised as doing so would only put him at a disadvantage.

Raven 12345 did not mention Vivian, which to him meant her intel was a little incomplete, and so naturally he should not actively pursue that.

“True,” he nodded, “but surely this is not against any taboo, right? Your Space… Administration, is it in charge of stuff like this too? ”

“No, it’s not a taboo. I just want to remind you that from now onwards you’ll play host to many more strange creatures. This is going to be your job,” Raven 12345 glossed over that startling statement she just made. “The organisation graciously wishes you…”

“Hold up!” Hao Ren couldn’t bear it anymore and blurted out, “This was your arrangement!?”

“Of course not, but after today it is,” Raven 12345 shrugged. “You had gotten in touch with that werewolf called Lily anyway, and it just so happens that I require a helper. You’re quite suitable for the job.”

“What kind of business is it that you guys are running here?” Hao Ren frowned. He felt that Raven 12345 was quite incoherent with her words, always muttering the strangest things at the strangest moments as she kept beating around the bush… You should just come clean and explain what the hell it is that the Space Administration really does!

“‘You guys’? You mean ‘we’? Well, ‘we’ are quite a large group,” Raven 12345 touched her nose. “The Empire of Xi Ling spans a vast territory, ruling over countless universes, owning numerous departments. Division of Labor? Complicated. You could generally refer to us as Gods. This would make it easier to explain—by the way I should tell you that it is only recently that we made the overall transition to become Gods. The organization is still young, but youth brings with it opportunities. As for the Space Administration, it’s a department under the Empire tasked to manage each and every universe, take charge of communications, direct and control the flow of cross-overs between universes, increase worldwide cohesion… all that good stuff. At least that’s what was stated in the superior’s most recent documents anyway. We’ll see if there will be any changes. I am in the Junior Committee of the Space Administration, and here I take charge of all affairs in this universe—like preventing particular races from committing world annihilation, or planning the evolution of the celestial bodies… things of that sort. Technically this isn’t my job, but due to special circumstances, I’m taking over for now. As for you, you’re here because I need a helper—I have to manage everything on the surface of this universe, and some areas require an agent, so I leave those to you. Don’t you feel lucky?”

Hao Ren’s head was spinning as he listened to that elaborate tale. However, he managed to calmly stand up and said, “Thank you for your hospitality, my dear host. You’re a good person, and your programme was really interesting. May I ask where the exit is?”

Raven 12345’s face showed no signs of surprise, as though she had faced this same situation millions of times before. She waited for Hao Ren to finish and then casually lifted a finger, “According to the job entry requirements, new interns are required to sit for some psychological tests for quite a long period of time, so now we’ll take you through the basics…”

Before Hao Ren could utter a word, his body felt intensely light, and his surroundings abruptly changed!

The extravagant building that he was in was no more. Surrounded by thick darkness, he realised he was standing in the midst of nothingness, and within it was a spot of light which suddenly sparked and beamed and brightened up the whole area!

What emerged first was an indescribable ball of heat, its structure unrecognisable, and its form unstable. This ball of light bore down on him as it got charged up, and instantly expanded into the endless distance beyond. Hao Ren could barely blink while this ball of light swelled up to a size he could no longer comprehend.

And as the light faded, its extraordinarily high levels of energy quickly dissipated, downsized. Primitive particles were created as the space cooled. The aftermath of that first boom of light kicked start the universe and everything in it, the creation. The earliest primitive nebula was born, and it would go on to be the prototype for other galaxy clusters and giant celestial bodies to come.

As the dust begin to settle and cooldown, ancient planets began to rise from the thick maelstroms of the primitive nebulae, while those primitive nebulae split themselves and each became an independent cluster of galaxies. Partial core reaction replaced the explosive energy of the Big Bang, and the world welcomed a milder era of order—following the constant cooling, primitive stars swiftly ran out of fuel as they continued to burn. With one explosion after another they projected heavy elements long accumulated within them. These heavy elements were the first highly stable material to appear after “the first ray of light”. They followed the path constructed by the remnants of those stars and flew, clashed and fused with one another, and soon took the form of newly born, young stars.

And so, the first stellar system was created.

As materials began to thin out, the restless galaxies slowly stabilised after emitting tremendous amount of energy and consuming immeasurable amount of material. The complexity of the universe began to increase, clumps of stars evolved, and life multiplied. Hao Ren felt that his sights were now far beyond human interpretation. He was observing the universe from an all-knowing point of view, and very quickly he found the target he had been restlessly searching for: right there, close to a young star, a blue planet, covered with greenery…..

And then everything came to a halt, paused, and a line of words floated before his eyes: Professional Documentation of Genesis, Trial Version. If you wish to continue, please recharge.

The surrounding scenes faded away as receding tides. Hao Ren realised he was still sitting on the couch in the middle of the classy room, his clothes drenched in his own sweat. Raven 12345 smiled at him and said, “This is the recordings of the evolution of your universe from the beginning of time. Of course, some sections were tweaked to adjust the timeline for the convenience of your viewing. This was not recorded by me; the snapshots were taken directly from the information in the depths of the universe. So, in short, it’s like you have you have personally experienced Genesis yourself. How does it feel?”