The Record of Unusual Creatures

The illusion flashed across Hao Ren’s eyes.

It was so fast that he was not sure if what he saw had happened. Hao Ren shook his head, but the corridor in front of him had returned to normal. Suddenly, a second gunshot came from a distance. He quickly disregarded the illusion and dashed towards the end of the corridor. He heard the hurried footsteps of other mercenaries catching up to him.

Meanwhile, the MDT that was training its own body in the Dimensional Pocket heard the gunshots and footsteps through its shared senses with Hao Ren. It asked, “What’s happening out there?”

“Ulyanov’s probably exchanging fire with the security robots,” Hao Ren said telepathically. “By the way, why is this corridor so long?”

He remembered when Ulyanov left he could see the end of the corridor. But now he felt he was running in an endless dark passage. He could not hear the footsteps of the mercenaries behind him anymore. He looked back and only saw the same dark corridor and Nolan’s figure behind him. The others had gone.

“This is strange, where are the soldiers behind me?” Hao Ren whispered. Just as he was wondering whether it was an illusion, a gunshot was heard and then a thud—the sound of a body falling to the ground not far ahead.

The sounds were very near. Hao Ren immediately dashed into the darkness. The next moment he knew, he found himself in a dimly lit rectangular hall. There were many long metal boxes everywhere. He did not know what they were for, but he smelled thick engine oil and gun smoke. Astonished at this hidden chamber in the Northern Ring Tower, he suddenly saw a shadow from the corner of his eye.

Hao Ren quickly darted over and discovered Ulyanov was on the ground. The trademark full-faced helmet was unmistakable. The veteran had fatal gunshot wounds in the abdomen and chest; pale pink mucus spurted out from the wounds onto the ground. He was struggling in pain; his breathing was loud behind the helmet.

“Ulyanov!” Hao Ren called him, stepping forward to lift Ulyanov’s slightly. He did not dare to move Ulyanov for fear of causing secondary injury. He reached into his dimensional pocket for a portable medical instrument and asked anxiously, “What happened? The security robot?”

“No… It’s a human enemy,” Ulyanov’s voice was weakening. He lifted his finger slightly and pointed to the other end of the hall. “They’re in uniform, regular army. Many…”

“Don’t talk. I have a medical instrument here. I will explain to you what it is later,” Hao Ren said, setting the parameters of the simple medical instrument with his free hand. He needed to adjust the tool into compatibility mode to treat Ulyanov. Ulyanov was neither fully human nor entirely robot; it was difficult to cure him with the conventional method. Hao Ren even had no idea whether he should use a medical kit or a repair robot. Which one was more suitable for Ulyanov?

“No… That’s okay. My pump is broken,” Ulyanov’s eyes did not even look at the next silver metal box that suddenly appeared out of nowhere beside him. He just waved and stopped Hao Ren. “I know you’re a good man, but you can’t save me… blood?”

Ulyanov suddenly paused. He lifted his hand that was stained with the fluid from his body. The liquid was warm and red, dripping down from his helmet’s visor. It had a sweet metallic scent.

It was not an electrolyte and biochemical solution but blood.

Hao Ren was surprised at what he saw. He did not know when the fluid changed, but he did clearly remember he had seen electrolyte spurting out from Ulyanov’s wounds. Now Ulyanov was covered in blood.

“My…blood…” Ulyanov’s voice suddenly became elusive, as if his consciousness was leaving his body and the world. He slowly turned to look at Hao Ren as his confused mind was struggling to recognize the person in front of his eyes before he completely went blackout. “I…seem to know…”

“Hao Ren, I’m Hao Ren.” Hao Ren could not wrap his brain around what happened. But he had felt everything around him was undergoing tremendous changes. It was a baffling feeling that came from his intuition of years of encounters with the supernatural powers. He shook Ulyanov and asked, “What’s going on? You…”

“Hao Ren, yes… I know you…,” Ulyanov’s voice slowly sank. “Hao Ren, Gray Fox, Carl… Khiton… I saw it–it’s red, we all soaked in the red. Fire in the sky, burning, out of control, the whole world is burning. I… I will…”

Hao Ren felt that Ulyanov’s body was getting lighter as if he was pulling himself out of the world. Hao Ren was desperate to do something to stop that, but Ulyanov’s condition was no longer medically treatable. At his last moment, Ulyanov seemed to have recovered his strength as he grabbed Hao Ren’s collar desperately, but his body was almost weightless. “Khiton… Khiton was right!”

Hao Ren felt Ulyanov’s grip on his collar loosening. Then Ulyanov’s body disappeared in his arm as soon as he blinked, leaving only a voice from above that said, “I’ve woke up… in the next dream…”

“What exactly did he want to say?” the voice of the MDT only sounded this time. “Do humans become philosophers the moment before they die?”

“How could machine head like you understand the abstract concept?” Hao Ren said, getting to his feet. He saw every trace of Ulyanov had disappeared, not even a drop of blood or electrolyte. “We must find Nolan. She may know something.”

Hao Ren tucked the medical instrument and ran back from where he had come. But after leaving the hall, he entered into an unfamiliar place.

The dark passage was gone and replaced by a dimly lit alloy gallery. The difference was not just in lighting as Hao Ren clearly remembered how the corridor looked. This place was a completely different space. Even the architectural style was not of the inside of Northern Ring Tower.

“Well, before finding Nolan you must first find your way back out,” said the MDT. “If that passage is still there.”

Hao Ren clenched his rifle and prayed casually to his sixth sense before dashing in a direction. No matter what changes had occurred, he remembered he had come from this direction.

As Hao Ren ran, the sound of hurried footsteps and jumble of shouts and vulgar curses came from behind. He looked back and was surprised to see a group of soldiers dressed in grey-blue combat uniforms coming out from a corner of the corridor.

The soldiers were surprised when they saw Hao Ren. But they were no hesitation in their action at all, as they immediately pointed their guns at him and fired without warning.

Without warning or dialogue, it seemed that the purpose of the soldiers here was to eliminate all targets but themselves. Hao Ren was surprised and flurried as bullets rained on him and sparkled like burning firecracker fuses.

“What the hell? Where do these people come from?” He lunged forward as he yelled. Armed with his Steel Membrane Shield bracing the hail of bullets, he took the soldiers on in close quarters combat—actually, it was just a one-sided walloping.

The ordinary human soldiers were confounded when they saw the invulnerable man. They shot instinctively, but it was useless. Hao Ren moved like a faint shadow; the eyes of the normal humans could not follow his movement. Hao Ren knew he did not have to hold back; these ruthless soldiers would not hesitate to kill. But he figured he did not have to use the powerful weapon in dealing with these mortals — the Steel Membrane Shield would do the job.

But Hao Ren did not kill them. He needed to figure out what was going on.