The Record of Unusual Creature

Staring at the hopeful Becky, Hao Ren thought it would be cruel to burst her bubble. Although it was true that there were many corporations such as the wealthy Fairy Void Consortium and the cunning Gnomish Union of Commerce doing trans-boundary trade in the macroworld, Becky’s smuggling idea was not going to work. He looked quietly at the mercenary and chimed in when she began to envision how she would finish off other mercenaries in nearby villages with her money after crowning herself king. “Becky, do you know who I am?”

Becky finally came back down to Earth. Then, she looked up at Hao Ren. “Err… like some sort of agent…”

“Do you know what an agent does?”

“Captain of transportation…?”

Slamming the tea table, Hao Ren said, “Anti-smuggling.”

Much to Hao Ren’s surprise, Becky was elated. “Oh, great! Considering our relationship, you could become my inside man. Whoa, I can’t believe that I’ll really ride on your coattail…”

Hao Ren was speechless.

He felt like they were at cross purposes.

“Don’t even think about that.” Hao Ren rejected her idea, almost in tears. “Firstly, the law of the universe prohibits any kind of material exchange between The Plane of Dreams and Surface World; secondly, it’s technically impossible—it’s not easy to traverse between both worlds, especially during this turbulent time. Some sort of collapse could happen if you’re not careful and we’ll all become the biggest sinners.”

Becky’s enthusiasm died down instantly. “Then, I’ve come here in vain.”

A mercenary through and through, she came solely for money.

“Just stay in peace.” Hao Ren waved his hand. “Treat it as your holiday here. This world is a fun place. Also, I’ll get you some souvenirs you can really brag about for a long time when you go back home.”

Noticing the seriousness on Hao Ren’s face, Becky knew he was not going to compromise. She reset her mind, thinking the trip was not that bad after all and she was happy again. She turned her attention back to the TV remote. Hao Ren looked at Becky; he was not able to ease his mind so easily like Becky did. In his mind, he discussed about something else with the MDT. “How do we send Becky back in one piece?”

“Impossible.” The MDT’s reply was expected. “As I’ve said earlier, the rule of teleportation between The Plane of Dreams and Surface World is unique; you can bring Hilda out of The Plane of Dreams but, if she were to go back to The Plane of Dreams, she’ll have to do the same as all of you did—lie in the dormant cabin and project her spiritual body inside it. The same applies to Becky. She had a real physical body in the Surface World when she passed through the barrier of reality. As a result, her existence in The Plane of Dreams was wiped out at the same time.”

“Which means if she wants to go home, she’ll have to lie in that casket and dream, leaving her body behind in the Surface World. And it doesn’t matter how long she stays there, she’ll have to wake up eventually in the Surface World?” Hao Ren began to feel a headache because of this. “She now belongs to the Surface World. She’s not going to make it back home. How am I going to tell her that?”

The MDT was silent for a few seconds, as if thinking about the problem on Hao Ren’s behalf. Then it suggested, “You should write a will first and send me to the nearest welfare department before telling her that—”

Without hesitation, Hao Ren took the MDT out from his pocket and threw it into a bin at the corner of the room. The MDT in very agile fashion, did a mid-air flip and flew back. “I was just giving you a pragmatic suggestion!”

Becky overheard it and was surprised. “Whoa, that’s the first music box I saw—it can talk?”

Now, Hao Ren did not need to mince his words. “Since you’re already here, I’ll be honest with you: this is not a music box, it’s my personal assistant. But, if it goes too far, I’m going to gift it to you.”

“…You son of a…” The MDT counted.

However, Becky’s voice totally overwhelmed it. “How far before you gift it to me?”

Then the MDT turned as quiet as a church mouse.

Lunch was already served on the table. While in The Plane of Dreams, they survived only on conveniently found food and local food. To quench their yearning for food back home, the first thing Vivian did when she got home was prepare a warm, home-cooked meal. Just a side note though, Vivian did not find the food in The Plane of Dreams bad. To her, a square meal a day was the biggest happiness.

While Vivian called for lunch, Hao Ren herded Hilda, who was still in deep thoughts and Becky, who was still holding the remote controller in her hand to the table. Becky pointed at the TV as she walked. “The Lord of the Rings’ really interesting. It looks familiar to me… I know the sword skill Gandalf performed! But my magic’s much more powerful than his. He only knows flare. Ahh, wait, there’s another thing; the advertisement—after shampooing, people’s hair would stand up? Can any of you demonstrate that to me? What’s 7-Up? Drinking 7-Up can summon a huge group of water elements and sea waves? So, is it actually a strong hallucinogen or a magic supplement? Your world is interesting…”

Being bombarded with questions from Becky, Hao Ren was already worn down half way to the table. He raised his eyes, looking around. “Can anyone teach Becky some common knowledge?”

Nangong Wuyue quickly lowered her head. “Let’s eat…”

She had been teaching Becky for a while. She was more tired than Hao Ren at that point.

Luckily, Vivian’s cooking skills were a game-changer—at least, Becky was now more fascinated by the food and stopped asking questions, for the time being. Nonetheless, the impression that Hao Ren was a parvenu was further reinforced and she would probably begin to ask questions about the food.

It was not that The Plane of Dreams lacked good food; after all, they had at least a 10,000 year history of civilization after the end of the world. Holletta was rich in resources. Gourmandism was surely part of their culture. But Becky was a mercenary who was constantly on the go with no place to lay her head. She was good at making barbecue and the most eaten food was hardtack. When she occasionally settled down at a place, she would go to a wine bar to order a few bowls of nigori and two katis of cooked beef—we do not know if she would go hunt tigers after that but, one thing for sure was the food she had certainly did not match those at home. So, the moment Vivian brought out the gourmet food, Becky was wide-eyed. She used a pair of chopsticks to shakily pick up a piece of tofu and managed to do it after sweating like a pig. “Having a meal here is so troublesome. You guys must’ve been using these sticks to train your mental strength and concentration…”

Hao Ren had no choice but to let Becky use a spoon and fork for fear that she might die from starvation on the table. As for the pair of chopsticks, he decided to feed them to Lil Pea.

Speaking of which, where the hell was Lil Pea?

Hao Ren now realized that Lil Pea was nowhere to be found. As he was about to get on his feet and call out for her, the table rattled and slanted to a side suddenly. As the plates were about to fall off, Vivian immediately summoned a swarm of bats to stabilize the table. Everyone ducked down, looking beneath and they saw her—Lil Pea was under the table without anyone’s knowledge, lifting and gnawing on one of the table legs.

Everyone’s jaw dropped to the ground. Nangong Wuyue screamed in surprise. “Where the hell did she get the strength?”

Lil Pea discovered that everyone was staring at her. She put the table down and turned to Hao Ren, wagging her tail in greeting with chaffs of wood still on her mouth.

Hao Ren could not believe what he had seen: the little mermaid, who was just half a foot had lifted the table up just a moment ago.

He gently cuddled the baby fish in his arms and carefully examined her for any injury. Lil Pea was as energetic as Lily and it looked like her table-lifting feat was just a casual move. Vivian pinched Lil Pea’s arm—it was thin, no thicker than a chopstick, as if boneless but…

Hao Ren shoved the pair of chopsticks to Lil Pea. She mumbled happily before breaking them in half with a snap. She started to gnaw at them.

That chopsticks were made of metal and wood though.