The Record of Unusual Creatures

Vivian was in the kitchen, cooking for everyone when she heard the din in the living room. She ran out. Upon learning the truth of the star chart, she as well as Hao Ren fell into thoughts.

Everything seemed to make sense now.

Hao Ren stared at the two charts that matched perfectly, the first thing that came to mind was not the value of this star chart, but how all the pieces had finally come together.

The star chart had two parts. One part was stored deep in Vivian’s soul with the red crystal in her consciousness and the Crimson Moon in the real world as the carrier. Bu no matter what form of storage it was, there was no question that it was part of Vivian’s own memory. The other part of the star chart was in planet Inferno, first discovered to be hidden in the pyramid of the Sun Dynasty.

Since the other half of the star chart was found in the ruins of the Sun Dynasty, it somehow led everyone into a false impression that the star chart was the legacy of the Sun Dynasty, a material left behind by the previous civilization on Inferno. But the truth was that the star chart did not belong to the people of the Sun Dynasty.

It was Vivian’s twin, the demon-god that left the star chart in Inferno.

During the collision of the two worlds 10,000 years ago, the Goddess of Creation threw a divine avatar to the surface world. This divine avatar landed on the planet Inferno and began its first division. Half of her turned into a demon, stranded on the planet Inferno. This half had helped the survivors of the planet lived through the dramatic changes of the planet before it fell into dormancy, was eventually corrupted and annihilated by Hao Ren. The other half fell to the earth, becoming Vivian of today. It was easy to figure that Vivian and the demon god each bore the power and memory of the first divine avatar. So, everything was explainable. Both of them had inherited part of the star chart.

Vivian had also realized this. Her facial expression was complicated. “It was the Malevolence on the planet Inferno who kept the other half of the chart. We had been thinking all along that it belonged to the Sun Dynasty.”

“It seems that she did it while she was still sober.” Hao Ren sighed. “She was eventually festered. But before she lost her mind, she had done everything she could. She gave the star chart to the Sun Dynasty so that they could preserve it. She built a seal for herself to ensure that she would not lose control for 10,000 years. She destroyed the nervous center of the First Born and saved the last batch of lives on the planet. I am beginning to admire her.”

Vivian sighed. “One-half… I could have gone the way of the Malevolence too if not for the splitting. I do not know how, but I think the uncontrolled division has somehow slowed down my decay. I think I am actually lucky.”

Lily looked at Vivian as if she was a ghost (Lily was not entirely wrong, though). “I guess this is the first time in your life that you feel fortunate!”

“At least I am much luckier than the other half in Inferno.” Vivian looked at Lily with a provocative look. “I knew my collection of amulets helped! See what you have to say this time!”

“I do not think so. But it is not important. What is more crucial is that we have the complete star chart now and we have restored the data. Should we go to the place on the map to check it out ourselves?” Hao Ren asked.

Vivian looked at Hao Ren with a smile. “Since you say this, does it not mean that you have already made up your mind?”

Hao Ren scratched his head. “I just feel that we should take a look since there is such an apparent lead before us.”

Lily nodded her head in agreement.

Soon, everyone in the family had learned about the news that the star chart was now complete. How did they know? Because Lily had sent a group message. Y’zaks, his daughter, and Nangong siblings, who were eating in the Nangong’s restaurant, ran back. He could not read the start chart, but the new adventure seemed like an exciting proposition.

Everyone in this house was mischief-maker. Even the Nangong siblings had traveled around the world for a dozen times. For people like them who had been used to wandering around outside, settling down for a peaceful life was something unthinkable.

But it was always good to have a home to fall back on especially after coming back from an adventure.

The MDT was placed on the TV cabinet projecting a giant hologram in the living room. The hologram was so enormous that it filled one-third of the living room space. Everyone was watching from the other end of the living hall. There were not enough seats for them when everyone was present. Some had taken a few benches as if a bunch of old folks listening to health talk. Hao Ren, who stood beside the hologram, was apparently the ‘health speaker.’

With the Gungnir as the pointer, Hao Ren pointed at the coordinates on the start chart. He looked around and found a few uninvited guests among his audience. Lil Pea lay on the head of Nangong Wuyue waving at him, curious and excited. Noobie had also come out of her mouse hole, standing and watching from far away, but God knows what was in her mind. There were no signs that indicated she would fire her ‘biubiubiu.’ And there was this cat, Rollie, who had found a bench and her enthusiasm to join the crowd, squatting on the bench and listening attentively like others.

Hao Ren shook his head. He could not fathom what these three little guys were up to except that they were just curious. But simply because the three most hyperactive guys could finally sit down quietly, Hao Ren would just let sleeping dogs lie. He continued to point the Gungnir at the figures on the star chart. “First, let’s look at the approximate location indicated on the star chart. I have already confirmed it with the drone cluster; it is a galaxy which the expedition probes have yet explored. Even with the use of superluminal observation, we could only vaguely find a few galaxies roughly consistent with the star chart. In other words, this region of space is outside the area of control of the drone cluster and is very far from the universe that we know.”

Y’zaks nodded and said, “Outside the zone of control means it is risky.”

“That’s right. So, as the first step, I will send a few drones to check it out.” Hao Ren nodded. “It is far, but with the rapid drones are equipped with powerful warp engines, they can quickly shuttle around the entire universe. By the way, Y’zaks, why are you squatting on the floor?”

“I am sitting on a stool.”

“You can swap seat with your daughter. Let her sit on the stool while you on the sofa. You should not over-protect her. Your body is so large, and the stool is so small that it looks like you are squatting.”

Y’zaks scratched his head. “Meh, I am fine.”

“I am more concerned about my stool. For your info, all four legs are being pitted into the floor.”

At this time, Lily raised her hand. “Mr. Landlord, can the probe go to the unexplored region of the universe using the warp engine?”

The question was right up the alley of a scholar like Lily. Hao Ren nodded. “It should work. There are a few navigation parameters on the star chart that could guide the warp jump. I have asked Nolan to run a simulation and found that the data could be converted into coordinates readable by the drone cluster. It should work as long as the warp jump happens within the universe of the Plane of Dreams. But of course, the final trajectory will be off by some margin. After all, there is a slight error in translation of the star chart. Secondly, the navigation guide of the star chart is a result of calculation under an ideal movement of celestial bodies, which inevitably cannot reflect the actual motion of the universe. The deviation would only be larger as time goes by, and the star chart has not undergone an update for 10,000 years.”

Hao Ren continued. “Of course, the deviation will not affect the warp jump by much. The probes will reach somewhere nearby the key coordinates on the star chart, and after which, they could crawl their way to the correct coordinates. It will only take the superluminal engine hours, if not days, to reach the destination.”

Nothing was perfect, but it was a pretty ideal situation already. How difficult was it to use a warp engine and a star chart that had not been updated for 10,000 years to go to an unknown galaxy that was barely observable? It was as if finding two identical faces from among a million people. Of course, doing that in Korea would be an exception.

Nangong Wuyue raised her and asked, “I have a question: now we already know that the mad Lord has corrupted the Goddess of Creation, who has even split into two later. How do we ascertain that it was the Goddess of Creation who left behind this star chart? What if it was the festered half? Could this be a trap?”

“I have thought about these questions,” Hao Ren said. “Whatever the case, we still need to check it out ourselves. No matter what we will find there, we must not ignore the place on the star chart. Whether it was the Goddess of Creation or the Goddess of Destruction, she did not spend so much effort to preserve this start chart for nothing.”

“I think however powerful the Goddess of Creation was, she could not have possibly known about us who only existed 10,000 years later. Similarly, the Goddess of Destruction that she split was unlikely to set a trap for us, unless she intended it for me,” Vivian pointed at herself. “If I had not split, then I would be the only person who would use the star chart. Why did she want to do that?”

Lily’s imagination began to run wild. “Maybe her target was the real Goddess of Creation. Suppose you are the key to the resurrection of the Goddess of Creation, and the fake one could not stop your birth, she can only fiddle with your soul, set a trap for you and have you killed.”

As the conversation seemed to come to nowhere, Hao Ren interrupted. “We are not going to know the truth by just sitting here. The only way to find out the truth is to go there. I have decided to send out the probes. If the probes could arrive safely, then we will follow suit. What do you guys think?”

“I am all for it. Anyway, it is your drones, and I think what you said makes sense,” Lily said.

The Nangong siblings exchanged a look and said, “Count us in.”

So, everyone had agreed. Suddenly, Rollie raised her hand and waved. “I have a question, meow. Big Boss Cat, you have not mentioned about dried fish for a while.”

“Well, it seems that we have a unanimous vote,” Hao Ren said.

“Meow, meow, meow?”

No one gave a hoot to Rollie. On the evening the same day, the drone cluster in the Plane of Dreams had received a trans-space-time command from Hao Ren. Three probes equipped with enhanced warp engines detached from the drone cluster and headed toward the mysterious coordinates on the star chart.

Two days later, two of the probes arrived safely at the intended coordinates. But they sent back some incredible images.