The Record of Unusual Creature

Standing within the long gallery was a giant sculpture. For a couple of moments, Hao Ren was rooted to the spot. He then turned his head and asked, “Is that you?”

Vivian was puzzled. “…It looks like me but, I can’t remember the Olympians ever making a sculpture of me. They were very strict about things like this.”

Hessiana and Zeon were even more surprised. They had joined the expedition team, exploring the space a few times yet, they did not recall the existence of the sculpture. Hessiana scratched her head. She asked Zeon, “Hey old fogy, was this thing here the last time we were here?”

Zeon shook his head. “No, I’m sure it wasn’t. I would have seen it if it was here. This place was empty the last time I came.”

“So, that means this sculpture just popped out recently?” In disbelief, Hao Ren went up to the sculpture and examined it closely. It was about five metres tall—an unusual size in ancient Greek sculpture standards, which were mostly life-size. But, the sculpture was meticulously carved and lifelike; it looked like the real Vivian save for the lack of colours. This sculpture looked somber, which was another weird attribute; ancient Greek sculptures were mimics of various figures from their physical appearance down to their facial expressions, so they were rarely of stoned face.

However, the most notable feature of Vivian’s sculpture was its attire: it was dressed up to the nines. The attire looked like some costume of special religious significance; its towering collar, complicated laces and decorative patterns were unlike any ancient Greek fashion.

Forget about ancient Greek, even in MMORPGs, you would have to get a 20-year membership subscription before you could even dream of getting clothes like that. The laces on the collar, Hao Ren suspected, would need at least a +13 enhancement. Apart from use in religious rituals, would you actually to wear such an attire on the street? Any wind higher than Category 6 would blow you up in the air like a leaf…

If it had not been for the fact that Vivian’s face was carved into his mind, Hao Ren would not have believed the sculpture to be her. The sculpture was dressed up like a homegrown, browser game, lifetime member compared to the penurious Vivian. He rubbed his shoulder against hers and asked, “Don’t you feel anything?”

“Not the slightest.” Vivian was awed by the clothes on the sculpture. “If I had these clothes back then, I wouldn’t have had to beg for food!”

It was a sad statement, and Hao Ren felt so sorry. He tried to comfort her. “Let bygones be bygones. We’re not going to live like rats anymore…”

Becky took a walk around the base of the sculpture, hoping to spot any hidden switches with her mercenary instincts. Soon enough, she spotted something unusual; there was a subtle difference in colour between the base of the sculpture and the floor. She used her blade to scratch it. “It doesn’t look like stone… See that powder? It’s like some sort of instant artificial material.”

Hao Ren went up to it and grabbed some in his hand; it felt like finely-ground stone powder. The sculpture was softer to the touch than it looked. He recalled Hessiana saying that the sculpture was not there the last time she came, so he had a bold suggestion. “Don’t you think that this sculpture was hastily made in the last two days? When did you last come, Hessiana?”

Hessiana did not want to play ball with Hao Ren, but somehow, she felt compelled to answer the question. “About four days ago, more or less. But what you’re saying is ridiculous. Look, the old fogy and me hold the keys to the entrance. Only the both of us together can open the door. So, who could have brought that sculpture in here? Even if there are another set of keys, would anyone risk being pursued by the Blood Clan just to place a sculpture in here? It would be more convincing if I told you that I was the one who who brought the sculpture here, after all I’m Lady Vivian’s brain-dead fan…”

The maiden spoke in such a matter-of-fact manner, leaving Vivian widemouthed and speechless. Meanwhile, Zeon glanced at Hessiana suspiciously. “Tell me the truth; did you put the sculpture here? I think you did…”

Hessiana waved it off in dismissal. “No, no… I wish I did, but Lady Vivian would surely be mad at me. She doesn’t like it. Look at the design of the clothes, does it look like I can make something like that? It looks more like Andrea’s work; she’s a fashion freak, even her dog’s wearing Van Gogh’s artwork…”

As listened further, Lily became a little impatient. She then started to spew her nonsense, “Let’s not be too engrossed with this. Battie and Zeus were good friends back then, the sculpture could be Battie’s birthday gift from Zeus. They probably didn’t manage to send it out before the demon hunters came and finished them off. As to why the sculpture is here, we may as well just treat it as a plot of the story…”

“Nonsense!” Hao Ren and Vivian scoffed at her in unison.

Lily lowered her head, squatted down beside the sculpture, and started scratching at it with her claws. “Bully… bully… I’m going to gouge your sculpture…”

Leaving Lily alone with her “manicure treatment”, Hao Ren and Vivian went on to search the long gallery for hidden switches and secret doors. If the written record on the slate was anything to go by, the long gallery would surely contain access points to the research and storage chambers; the storage chamber contained the relic, which the Olympians had been studying for a long time. It may also be related to The Plane of Dreams and the source of energy in this dimensional space. That relic was the bullseye Hao Ren was looking forward to. After a round of scouting, they found nothing. Though the MDT scan had found an energy source in the gallery, it was drowned out by the noisy environmental radiation and constantly shifting location. Apparently, it was not simply a physical coordinate.

“Probably, the connection of the storage and research chambers to the gallery isn’t actually physical.” Y’zaks opined after their furtile search. “There must be some sort of dimensional structure for security reasons…”

Suddenly, a thought struck Hao Ren’s mind. He recalled when Vivian read the last part of the runes, about the functions of the temple; the temple was not just a storage chamber and a research facility, but also a prison. He could not make anything out of it back then. Y’zaks’ suggestion, and also the abnormal reaction Vivian had when she sensed the environment’s energy made him think of something.

What the gods of Olympus were studying had to be some nasty stuff!

He quickly got the MDT to dial up its scanning power, looking for hidden structures in the spatial gap. The MDT warned, “There’s a risk that this unstable enviroment, which contains spatial gaps could be rigged with traps. It’s easy to find the door, but not so easy to enter, I’m afraid—”

Before the MDT could finish its sentence, Lily screamed, “Look! Look, what I’ve found!”

Hao Ren scurried over. He saw a large chunk of the sculpture was gouged out by Lily. Innocent is as innocent does—the bored husky became an accidental hero. The chunk of powder which had been gouged off was vibrating; it floated in the air before it returned itself to the sculpture.

Lily continued to scrape at the sculpture with her Frostfire Claws, leaving behind a few claw marks on the sculpture as the white powder fell off. But before long, the powder floated up and back into the sculpture.

The sculpture was like a precisely-designed magnet, it attracted everything that fell off its body back to maintain its form.

“I think I’ve figured out where this thing comes from…” Hao Ren could vaguely guess it, but just as he was about to touch the sculpture, a tremor shocked the temple!

At the same time, a roar out of nowhere increased in intensity as the temple shook. Dust fell off the roof and everyone suddenly felt an electrical shock on their skin. Becky had the most sensitive skin of all of them and she screamed in pain.

Hao Ren quickly noticed a glimmer of white light covering Becky’s exposed skin. Her skin was noticeably turning red under the glimmer. In this critical juncture, a mist suddenly came from all directions as Nangong Wuyue summoned a shroud of mist to act as a protective shield. The scales on her tail were emanating a glorious, blue glow under her strong magical power. “Radiation! Radiation!”

The MDT sounded its warning incessantly. “Hazardous levels of radiation! Hazardous levels of radiation! It’s increasing. It’s almost at the limit where the team can endure. Immediate evacuation is recommended. Why are you still rooted to the spot?! The reactor has long passed it expiry date!”