The Record of Unusual Creature

Hao Ren once dealt with a group of heretics in Dragonspine Ridge. He had seen their scripture at that time, but he did not know the complete structure of the Cult of Origination. He thought that the black book was their original Bible. It now seemed like the structural form of the Cult of Origination was very different from a normal religious organization. The group of heretics that was destroyed in Dragonspine Ridge was just one of its outlying groups. The scripture he got was clearly not the original Bible used by the core personnel. According to Ophra, many things in the original Bible were unique.

Hao Ren opened the black leather handbook. The handbook was just placed on the table and it gave out an unpleasant vibe as though some kind of evil obsession was still attached to the pages. The black handbook was not printed, instead it was written by hand. The edges of those words had a strange sense of jitter as if the writer had transcribed the crazy characters in a state of extreme agitation. It seemed as though the writer was losing self-control. Hao Ren tried to concentrate on fighting against the page that brought him a sense of exhaustion, and found some of the marked paragraphs under Ophra’s guidance.

“…The Voice of the Master let us praise the true name of the goddess. However, this real name cannot be spoken in human words, only devout believers can recite the name in their hearts… We serve the pure, primitive flesh and blood in order to get closer to the sacred form, so that we can wash away our sins…

“…The Voice of the Master fall upon the prophet and tell the prophet in the voice of the soul that the Disciples of Glory are guilty. They have stolen the blood of the goddess to extend their sinful lives. You will go to the mountain of the west and break a branch. Carve it into a stick and it will become the weapon as well as mark that the goddess has given her heir. Then, the judgment of the Disciples of Glory will come. When Manura, the scourge star shines again, the trial will come…

“…The mountain men who serve the flesh and blood walk barefoot around the Voice of the Master and the wounds on their bodies are healed again. They are clean because they have cleansed all of their sins with a portion of the flesh and blood. The Voice of the Master told the prophet that he is acting for the goddess. So the prophet commanded the mountain men to pay respects to the sacred statue of the goddess, not to the Voice of the Master, which is right…”

The words on the strange book continued to remain jittery. Hao Ren was already having headache after reading a few paragraphs. He rubbed his eyebrows and asked, “How did the heretics read this thing in one breath? The words are all jittery.”

“These blasphemous books have the power to attack one’s mind.” Big Beardy glanced at the book but frowned and immediately moved away. “The more pious one is, the easier one will be attacked by the book. Probably, only the heretics who are completely deviated from the teachings of the goddess can read it.”

“It’s also true that the heretics revered the goddess. Just that, their goddess isn’t so much in line with your goddess.” Hao Ren closed the damned book and asked, “What’s the Voice of the Lord?”

“It sounds like a radio station!” said Lily.

“Ahem… It’s definitely not the same as the Campus Radio.”

“This is the difference between the original Bible and the teaching code circulating outside.” Ophra just answered Hao Ren’s question, not caring about the Campus Radio remark. “In the original Bible, there is ‘the Voice of the Master’, whose source is unknown. According to the information available, the Cult of Origination began to develop after it received some kind of revelation from the Voice of the Master. All their actions, including doctrinal codification and the ritual of flesh and blood, are the teachings of the Voice of the Master. But when they faced the outside church, they hid the existence of the ‘voice’, and pretended that they were following the goddess’s order.”

Hao Ren frowned and asked, “Why do they hide it?”

“Perhaps it is also on the order of the Voice of the Master, because it doesn’t want too many people to know of its presence,” Ophra said and shook her head. “We’ve only found these things recently, and it’s unclear if the Voice of the Master is a human being. We can just roughly infer that ‘it’ should be a role similar to a god’s messenger, whom the Cult of Origination regards as the incarnation and mouthpiece of the goddess. Many of their miraculous abilities are also obtained from the Voice of the Master.”

The words “god’s messenger” gave Hao Ren the shivers as soon as he heard it. Thinking about it, he seemed to do the same job. Then he suddenly remembered the giant brain he had dealt with in the cavern at the Dragonspine Ridge.

“Does the Voice of the Master refer to the giant brain?” Lily also thought of the same thing. “It seems that the thing is also called ‘God’s messenger’ by the heretics.”

Hao Ren recalled the situation at that time and got various speculations in his mind. “At that time, at Dragonspine Ridge, the one that the heretics summoned was not the real giant brain, according to Y’zaks, it’s called the befalling… Is it true that those at the top of the Cult of Origination have the ability to summon a real ‘giant brain monster’?”

“They don’t need to summon the real one,” Vivian suddenly interrupted. “That kind of giant brain monster should have a strong mental capacity, and can even project its mental power across the universe to other planets. So it only needs to cast its own shadow into a part of the human brain, then it can ‘appear’ on Holletta out of thin air. I think there should be such a strong type of giant brain monster. ”

Hao Ren gently shook his head and said, “No, I think it is the senior members of the Cult of Origination summoned the real giant brain, or there’s a giant brain accidentally came to this world. Do you remember the scroll that the assassin used to assassinate the Pope at the dinner today? Data Terminal and I analyzed its composition. That thing is not the product of this planet. Probably… There is a giant brain monster hiding on this planet.”

Ophra immediately looked serious and said, “This information is vital. I must inform the king and the Pope now.”

“Well,” Hao Ren nodded and said, “We can’t stay here to help you, so we can only wish you well. According to my speculations, the giant brain will interfere with the mental state of ordinary people, so there should be a mass phenomenon of insomnia, nightmares, and madness in the vicinity of its hiding place. And the key figures of the Cult of Origination are also ordinary people. They can’t live completely away from other people. If they’re with the giant brain, there are definitely traces left behind. You can start with this clue.”

Ophra nodded slightly while Big Beardy stepped forward, looked at Hao Ren and said, “I will stay to assist the Church to deal with this matter. This problem is extraordinary, and I, as a devout believer of goddess, cannot sit idly by.”

Hao Ren scratched his head and asked, “Then, do you need to inform the other three?”

Of the four ascetics, only one stayed, the other three guys had gone and traveled around the world. One was hunting on the African prairies, one was digging ice in Antarctica, and another one was in India competing with locals to challenge the limits of survival. Hao Ren did not know where to find these people.

Big Beardy shook his head and said, “No need, it’s quite troublesome. Four of us work with one heart. I can do it here without them.”

Well, he was quite sensible…

Hao Ren rummaged through the files in the small box. He wanted more information about how to summon the giant brain, but the related file was not in the box. He asked about this, and Ophra could only shake her head and said, “To summon the kind of monster you said seems to be a very top secret of the Cult of Origination. Only their ‘bishop-level’ people know the method, and there is no written information circulated, should be passed on by word of mouth. During the arrest, all the bishops had committed suicide, and even if those who were caught alive, they would have been killed before the trial for inexplicable reasons. The sect must have some way of controlling life to keep its members from betrayal. This is by far the biggest problem.”

Hao Ren frowned. If the giant brain was not caught, his investigation into these heretics was meaningless. What he wanted to know was the secret of the goddess of creation. He could not interfere in the sectarian warfare on the Holletta and if he insisted on it, Raven 12345 would give him the “blessing” for violating the employee code…

But he also knew that some things took time to solve, so he could only nod and said, “That’s it, at least we have collected the information… Let’s go back and see if Y’zaks has done his job.”