The Record of Unusual Creature

“The Day of Return?” Raven 12345’s eyebrow twitched upon hearing the strange term. “What does that mean? I’ve lost touch with the situation in this universe. Something’s going on with the earth’s unusual creatures?”

“In fact, yes. They’ve been active since a hundred years ago but, it only came to light recently.” Hao Ren had made a connection between The Day of Return with The Plane of Dreams. “…That’s the situation, the unusual creatures think their powers are being revived and the relic of their ancestors will resurface. That reminds me about The Plane of Dreams and Surface World where the connection between them will soon be established. Is this what they’re referring to? All the unusual creatures on Earth were originally from The Plane of Dreams. Besides us, no one would know the consequences of The Plane of Dreams’ disappearing barrier. They think it’s an opportunity they can exploit to reconnect with their home and revive their race.”

Tapping lightly on the table with her fingers, Raven 12345 said, “Perhaps. Their memories of The Plane of Dreams were erased after the disaster. But somehow, they might’ve still managed to pass down some secrets like the obscure, religious legend of ‘ancestral power from the lost world, which has been sealed’”.

Hao Ren looked at Raven 12345 inquisitively. “The merging of The Plane of Dreams and Surface World, are the unusual creatures the one—”

Without waiting for Hao Ren to finish, Raven 12345 waved her hands in dismissal. “No, they don’t have what it takes. Most of them don’t possess the kind of power to do so. They can’t even understand the mapping formula between The Plane of Dreams and Surface World, which calls for a special thinking organ to do the Math. What caused the ‘wall’ to disappear is of something higher, relating to the law of the universe. I’m not ruling out the possibility of a conspiracy; some very ancient fellows could be behind this but, investigation is needed before any conclusion can be drawn. All in all, the earth’s unusual creatures couldn’t have done that. They probably learned about the failing ‘wall’ from somewhere and misconstrued it as the dawn when actually it’s just a glint before the end.”

A shiver ran down his spine when Raven 12345 mentioned ‘some really ancient fellows’ as though this obscure image possessed a shocking power. Judging from Raven 12345’s solemn expression, Hao Ren suspected that a powerful evil force, which was lower than God but far above humans, capable of shaking the foundation of the world existed in the universe. Raven 12345 had just scratched the surface and did not intend to elaborate.

It appeared that Raven 12345 did not believe the earth’s unusual creatures were the masterminds but instead, they were being deceived. Anyway, she thought the intel Hao Ren provided was vital. “Though unusual creatures don’t play a hand in the mega merger of the worlds, The Day of Return surely has something to do with the extirpation of the ‘wall’. Keep an eye on this. Use force if necessary. I’ll send reinforcements if necessary. Hmm, if necessary.”

“Intel on The Day of Return was first obtained from the sirens—the first batch of sirens who came to the surface a hundred years ago,” said Hao Ren.

“Sirens?” Raven 12345 was surprised. “I barely knew about their surfacing. They were the ones giving the intel?”

“They may have obtained news of the falling ‘wall’ between The Plane of Dreams and Surface World somewhere.” Hao Ren concluded, based on the intel in hand. “Do you think it’s necessary to go to the deep sea to have a look? It’s said that there’s some kind of forbiddance…”

“It’s your call. From now on, it’s based on your own discretion. You’re in charge.” Raven 12345 looked at Hao Ren, her expression having some deeper meaning to it. “I’ll focus more on complex works. From now on, I won’t restrict your actions. There’ll be no more instructions from me unless it being absolutely necessary. I’ll be providing support in case you fail. You decide what course of action to take based on the intel you’ve collected. If you think you’ve secured key intel about the deep sea, then go. If not, do nothing.”

For a moment, Hao Ren did not give it a thought. But a few seconds later, Hao Ren sensed there was more to Raven’s attitude than met the eye. “Am I being conned again?”

Raven 12345 laughed but her face still looked solemn. “Hell, yes.”

She admitted it! The psychotic woman had admitted to it!

Yet, unlike in the past, Hao Ren did not jump to his feet and argue with her because he vaguely sensed her seriousness behind the cynicism. Something had to be going on—a test, perhaps. Hao Ren did not bother to ask because he knew the psychotic woman too well—she would not have divulged more than what she intended to, no matter what.

“Last question.” Recollecting in his thought, Hao Ren realized he had missed out a key thing. “Where did the sirens come from?”

“Where?” Giving Hao Ren a perplexed glance, Raven 12345 replied, “Of course, from the water.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Hao Ren coughed. “When I mentioned about sirens to the people in The Plane of Dreams, they seemed to know nothing about them—there was even no mention of the siren race in their ancient legends. Didn’t you say that all unusual creatures on Warth were originally from The Plane of Dreams? So, where did the sirens originally come from?”

Raven 12345 was silent, staring in his eyes with a creepy expression. Then, she said slyly, “Looks like you need more time to adapt to your wok.”

“…What?”

“Don’t let your old mind restrict your eyes.” Raven 12345 reached her hand out suddenly, patting his shoulder. “Look up at the sky sometimes. That’s all I have to say. Go figure it out yourself.”

Hao Ren rubbed his nose. He now had more questions than answers.

Hilda looked on. She had no idea what they were talking about the entire time but, she did feel that it had to be something cool. Cautiously, she chimed in as they finished their discussion. “May I…talk about my problem now?”

“Oops, traverser!” It seemed like Raven 12345 had forgotten about her. She may have indeed forgotten. Smacking her forehead, she said, “Deporting and settling traversers are jobs of the agent.”

Hao Ren pointed his finger at himself. “Me? How am I going to send her back?”

Quickly yanking the MDT out, Hao Ren found the clause Raven 12345 had mentioned. It explained everything about traversers, complete with case studies. He found that, in the eyes of Xi Ling Celestials, traversers were a dime in a dozen. The protocol to deal with them was simple and easy. He had a choice of three: one, let Hilda lie in the dormant cabin, any basic scan functions in the dormant cabin would be able to identify the traverser’s identity; two, send the scanned results to Traversal Affairs of Space Administration, marked ‘Ready-Processing’ and ‘Self-Processing’, then let technicians from the other department trace the traverser’s world of origin and run through the wanted list as well as traversal blacklist; three, fly his own spacecraft and navigate it to a giant space installation called World’s Gate in the local universe, upload the code to the space port, floor the spacecraft and the traverser would be home in no time.

It was up to the agent; he could either deport the traverser or place the traverser in a shelter after sampling the information or he could yank out an automatic lead and press it in front of the traverser. As long as it did not affect the equilibrium of the universe and the diversity of civilization, it was deemed a local issue. Those Xi Ling Celestial bigwigs could not have cared less.

Having read the entire clause, Hao Ren found that it was a matter of low priority and low-level authorization. Any agent could have handled it—of course, reporting back to the higher authority about the outcome was necessary. At the same time, he also found other seemingly irrelevant information such as non-motorized vehicular accidents, conventional war in the planet, public fights and etc. in the same folder…

He thought for a while, realizing that the MDT had probably messed up the information.

“For this matter, you’re in charge too.” Raven 12345 stared into his eyes. “You make your own decisions as long as they don’t violate the World’s Balance Security and Civilization Development Act. However, there’s a limit to how much special support you can get from me. Try to solve problems on your own and most importantly, by using your brain.”

It was the second time Raven 12345 had emphasized “You’re in charge”.

Hao Ren nodded in acknowledgement.