The Record of Unusual Creature

So, what does one do after coming back from The Plane of Dreams? Plan the next course of action? Write a report? Do some research ? Seek advice from an unreliable goddess? It was all hogwash. Those heroes in the movies, who could attend a state ball after saving the world were all lies. The reality was, after Hao Ren and the rest arrived home, the first thing they did was crash into their respective rooms to sleep the entire day. By the time Hao Ren woke up, he was so dazed that it took him a good while to realise what the date was…

After struggling a little to recollect the date, Hao Ren gave a big yawn as he fell back on the bed to sleep again. But this time, as he lay down, he heard the sounds of pitter-patter next to him and after that, something leapt onto his chest. The next moment, a wet tail started smacking him in the face. Hao Ren opened his eyes and saw the little mermaid looking at him in the eye.

The little one was clearly enjoying herself. She was of course, not tired at all. She spent most of the time in The Plane of Dreams snoozing, and she only came out for a breather once in a while. As such, she did not experience the danger that all the others went through. Hao Ren even started to doubt the need of bringing the little one into The Plane of Dreams. However, he then realised that it was not pointless after all. Given how rambunctious the little mermaid could be, bringing her along was probably for the best…

Hao Ren tidied his bed up and brought Lil Pea out of the room with her pot in tow. He saw that Vivian was cleaning the house while Lily was lecturing Rollie in a corner. The idiotic cat with black and white patches had a wee fun time outside and gotten itself all dirty. However, it seemed like it had put on quite a bit of weight, though Hao Ren had no idea where it went to. Seeing them returning back to their normal lives sort of confounded Hao Ren. He had yet to snap out of the “War Against the First Born Mode”, and the harrowing scene was still freshly etched in his mind. Seeing such a serene daily routine was almost too much a disconnect.

“Oh, you’re awake?” Vivian took a glance at Hao Ren and pointed towards the table. “The food is still warm. Eat up, it’s all yours.”

Hao Ren casually said, “Oh.” After that, he sat in his usual spot, looking at his usual bowl as well as chopsticks and smelling the usual aroma of Vivian’s cooking. That at last, had rid him of the sense of disconnect. After taking a couple slurps of the porridge and picking up a xiao long bao, something suddenly came to mind. He looked at Lily and called out to her, “Lily!”

The moment Lily responded to his call, Hao Ren threw the dumpling towards her. The next scene was simply too epic. Lily pretty much leapt up naturally as she spun towards the bun with her mouth wide open—however, Rollie was faster, and in a shadowy flicker, the dumpling was gone, leaving Lily to stare at the cat as it munched on the dumpling.

Vivian put her arms on her hips as she glared at Lily. “Just look at you! I can overlook you leaping to grab the dumpling, but you had to fight with a cat? And not just that, you actually lost to the cat?! What will your ancestors think of you?!”

Lily blinked as she mumbled, “Why does Mr. Landlord’s cat act like a dog…”

“Speaking of which, where are the four ascetics?” Hao Ren said as he wolfed down his breakfast. He recalled that he had four new tenants now, but he did not see any sign of them since he woke up. He, at the very least, remembered that his job was to monitor the unusual creatures. Hence, he decided that he needed to check on how the four were faring.

As things usually went, the four would be stuck there like Becky for a while.

He remembered giving Big Beardy and his fellow ascetics a few pointers on the way of life in the Surface World, like how to use the toilet and the water faucet. The four ascetics went directly to Kuiper Station and The Plane of Dreams after they were released by the Kerbalians. This was their first day on Earth. He had arranged for the four of them to live in the remaining two bedrooms. It was just nice that there were a pair of men and women each. But, he wondered if the four of them were comfortable.

“They should be at the back of the house.” Vivian frowned slightly. “They left the house rather early in the morning. They said they weren’t used to staying inside and wanted to meditate outside, closer to nature.”

“Meditate?” Hao Ren was stunned, and for a moment, he could not understand how meditation even came into the picture. “Don’t tell me they’re planning to build a temple or something there! The Real Estate Board will never allow it!”

“Why don’t you go see for yourself,” Vivian said as she cleaned the dining table and threw Hao Ren’s chopsticks into Lil Pea’s pot. “I think they’re not used to the lifestyle here. I prepared quite the meal for them this morning, but they only grabbed a few buns and a bag of water before leaving the house…”

Hao Ren managed to figure out the situation after that, and he quickly went out through the backdoor to look for the four ascetics. As mentioned, Hao Ren’s house or mansion was located in the outskirts of the Southern Suburbs, and it was the last lot of the place. Behind his house, there was a vast undeveloped land. He had little idea on why the four masters planned to meditate there. Not long after, he saw Big Beard and two other ascetics seated on a cleared patch of land. They still wore their torn grey robes as they sat on the ground, meditating with their eyes shut. In the centre was a small bonfire; it was almost as if they were living in the wild…

Hao Ren went closer and noticed that Big Beardy was with the other two female ascetics. The younger, male ascetic was nowhere to be found. He took a seat beside Big Beardy and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Meditating and improving ourselves, seeking inspiration for our daily life.” Big Beardy opened his eyes as he laughed and nodded at Hao Ren. “Have you eaten?”

Hao Ren was stunned. The way Big Beardy addressed him was rather casual. “Uh… yeah, I’ve eaten. Say… why are you guys not inside the house? I’ve prepared rooms for you, right?”

“The rooms are simply too luxurious for us, and they’re not suitable for quiet meditation.” The elder ascetic nun shook her head. “We cannot let the comforts of life distract us from our meditation; it will weaken our willpower. The comfort we get during missions are just that, but now that we are back to our normal lives, we need to follow the path of asceticism again.”

Hao Ren looked at the empty land. The wind was chilly as winter was approaching. The area was almost totally deserted and the rabbits that occasionally popped out were nowhere to be seen. Hao Ren was conflicted. “Don’t tell me that you plan to stay out here?”

“We do.” Big Beardy’s face was serious as he nodded. “We plan to build wooden shacks somewhere—one for us to meditate and two to honour the goddess. We want to let this world bask in her light as well. It’s a good thing.”

Hao Ren found himself unable to ever comprehend their train of thought. “You sure you want to do that? Uh… how do you plan on getting the wood for the shacks?”

Big Beardy finally frowned once he heard Hao Ren’s question. “You’re right. We went about the place for a while and realised that there are very little trees here, and not many rocks as well. Building a shack may be difficult. However, we saw plenty of trees in the north…”

Hao Ren thought for a bit and almost jumped. “That’s a windbreak! Logging is illegal!”

“Seems like we have a lot to learn about this world,” the younger ascetic nun spoke as she looked at Big Beardy. “If that’s not possible, let’s just dig a cave? We can follow in the steps of the Veridian Robes…”

The elder nun gave her suggestion too. “How about that tower we saw in the south? It seems to be made out of metal, and if we put cloth over it, we can block out the wind… But, it’s a little closer to civilisation, and I’m not sure if the owner will be willing to cooperate…”

Hao Ren pondered again as cold sweat started forming across his forehead. “… Don’t bother… That’s the TV tower…”

Big Beardy nodded solemnly. “Seems like digging a cave is the best option. Once he’s back, we’ll start… Say, I suppose it’s not forbidden to dig holes here? Over our end, some places don’t allow digging without informing the landlord.”

Hao Ren’s cold sweat had already reached his legs at this point. He seemed to have underestimated the ascetics’ way of life. Their way of life was to challenge their own limits. And Hao Ren realised that he would not be changing their beliefs anytime soon. Resignedly, he suggested, “If you want to live in the wild, I have no objections, but can we delay it for a few days? All of you have yet to accustom yourselves to the rules here. You almost felled the trees in the windbreak. That would have caused a lot of trouble for people. Maybe once all of you are clear on how things operate here, then you can get back to that again?”

Big Beardy thought about it for a moment and realised the truth in Hao Ren’s words. “That may be prudent. Very well then, we will be in your care at night, and meditate here during the day. This area is just very good for meditating.”

The two ascetic nuns nodded in agreement before pulling out the buns from their robes and placing them by the fire to prepare their meal. It appeared that they had a “meditate first, eat later” rule and had not eaten until that point. Hao Ren looked at the buns and thought of the meals he consumed on a daily basis. It just did not sit right with him. “You’re just eating this?”

Big Beardy smiled. “Yes, this is good.”

Hao Ren recalled the almost gourmet meals that his other guests had and these four ascetics were at the back of his house, challenging their limits. If this went out, Weibo would probably hound him to no end. “But, you’ll really starve with just that—”

Before he could finish, the young male ascetic returned and he had a rabbit in his hand…

Big Beardy quickly grabbed the rabbit. Using magic, he skinned and bled the rabbit out almost immediately. After he rubbed some spices on the meat, he put it to roast. “What were you saying again?”

“Nothing…”

F*cking hell, this bunch was having a feast.