The Record of Unusual Creatures

The probe was still climbing. It was now above the clouds of planet Inferno, leaving the atmosphere and entering the vacuum. The probe sent back the images of the planet from space, and it looked terrific.

The planet’s surface was nearly smooth, like a polished snowball without lines and wrinkles. Meanwhile, clouds covered and provided light to the planet. It looked like a pearl floating in space.

But no one could imagine how ugly the planet’s surface below the thick clouds was.

The probe continued to fly towards outer space, looking for stars. The MDT lost contact with the probe after the probe crossed some sort of spatial boundary.

“We lost it.” The MDT turned off the tracking screen, which was only filled with static noise. “I’m afraid it has crossed the dimensional boundary. If the probe is still intact, it’ll return from the void.”

“As expected, there are no stars,” Hao Ren muttered. “This planet is the only object in the space debris.”

Hessiana completely lost the plot. She wondered why a wizard-hunting mission had seemingly turned into something else. She scratched her head and stared at Hao Ren with a puzzled look. “What are you discussing about? What stars are you talking about?”

“Earth gets its energy from the sun. The sun is the existence of all things.” Hao Ren pointed at the bottom of the cloud shimmering with light. “Without light from the star, the planet will be dead and desolate beyond imagination. Though this world is also barren, it has an ecosystem and is relatively warm. But the hot springs alone could not keep the planet warm. I have reliable information shows that this planet has been in existence without sunlight for ten thousand years. So what is keeping the ecosystem going?”

“I don’t care about the sun,” Hessiana pursed her lips. “I don’t like that stuff.”

“That’s why I’m not discussing the high-tech topic with you.” Hao Ren sighed. “Unlike Vivian, you are narrow-minded. Whether you like it or not, the sun is a source of energy for a planet. But planet Inferno is generating its energy in another way…or maybe it is consuming its energy.”

“Is it not the cloud providing light and heat?” Lily looked up at the sky. “And the clouds seem to trap heat.”

“It’s not enough,” said the MDT. “The thick clouds and the light and heat it generates could only slow down the loss of heat. It is not a source of energy; it is only transforming energy. I have run the calculation; the clouds could never maintain the activity or temperature of Inferno today. So there must be something else on this planet that keeps the ecosystem alive without energy from the sun.”

Lily was wide-mouthed. Since she had the highest academic qualifications, she naturally grabbed the point. “So where does the energy come from?”

Hao Ren could think of many theories, but he carefully set them all aside. “I don’t know. Maybe we have to wait until we finished exploring the entire planet before we conclude. Anyway, this place is very amazing. A planet in the crack of the Wall of Reality that has an ecosystem but no sunlight been around for ten thousand years. The universe is just too mysterious.”

Vivian suddenly interrupted him. “Planet expert, can you stop your scientific lecture and start concentrating on the findings that my bats have brought? They have found a possible entrance to the second level of Inferno.”

Hao Ren immediately tucked the MDT. “Where?”

Vivian raised her finger and pointed to a direction. “There. Two thousand kilometers from here. Please let the MDT go and set the coordinate before teleporting us over. It would be faster this way. My bats will provide a navigation guide over there. It’s easy to find.”

The MDT said, “Please pay attention to–” Hao Ren grabbed the MDT and aimed straight at the direction where Vivian was pointing. Before the MDT could finish, with the swing of his arm, Hao Ren had yanked it out. “Go!”

The MDT faded into a blue light and disappeared before their eyes. Hessiana was rooted to the spot, looking at Hao Ren as if he were some monster. “I wouldn’t have thrown such an expensive tablet computer away if I were you!”

Hao Ren pursed her mouth and said, “You will when your tablet computer talks back at you.”

Hessiana: “?”

Soon, they arrived outside the crater—the so-called entrance to the second level of Inferno.

They climbed up the steep mountain wall and were awed at what lay before them.

It was a nearly circular crater, with an unbelievable uniformity in its natural geological formation. The radius of the cavity reached tens of kilometers. In the interior of the hole, the slope was gentle. There were neat, radial, weird lines on the ground as if someone had carefully carved them into the landscape. At the center of the crater was the so-called Inferno entrance. The frighteningly large circular hole constantly spurted out air and dust that formed a small cyclone.

They came near to the hole. It was a vertical cave. It was dark inside and seemed to lead straight to hell. It would make one shivering in fear by just standing on the edge of it.

Lily’s legs felt like jelly. She grabbed Hao Ren’s pant and squatted. “Do… do we have to jump into it?”

“Who told you we have to jump?” Hao Ren gave her a sideways glance. “We’ll fly.”

“Does it make any difference?”

The MDT reported, “I have detected a large feed wave at the bottom. It is a super-large underground space. Please take safety precautions.”

Hessiana stared at the deep cave. Even though she was a winged creature, she did not feel like going down there.

“It’s a shame; Nolan is on vacation at Kuiper Station. Otherwise, I could bring the spacecraft.” Hao Ren shook his head. Suddenly something crossed his mind. “Ahh, I think I have an alternative!”

Hao Ren brought out his North Stars.

Hessiana’s face turned to green. “I know I’m as educated as others but driving the North Stars straight down the crater? Is this your safety measure? You must be kidding me.”

“Believe it or not, this thing is not any slower than you, and it is better than you. Don’t look down on it; it could fit everyone in.” Hao Ren shrugged and took out the MDT, pressed it as if it was a remote to unlock the car. The car did unlock with a double deep sound. “Of course, you can choose to fly if you trust your wings. I would have one less person to worry about.”

Vivian patted on Hessiana’s shoulder. “Trust me. He is almost like Doraemon; he had tonnes of weird but useful gadget in his pocket.”

Then Vivian climbed into the car followed closely by the Nangong siblings, leaving Hessiana and her two sidekicks in a dilemma. Their reluctance was understandable though. Most gadgets that Hao Ren took out from his dimensional pockets in the past all looked high-tech, but this little North Stars was simply not confidence inspiring.

It is as if you bump into a white-bearded old man who descends from heavens, gives you an energy-charged sword and tells you that he wants to recruit you and bring you to the heavens because you are talented. What would your reaction? You would bow at him and worship him like God. But what if he is an old man falling out of the sky and landing face down, who later yanks out a magic wand and asks you to follow him to save the world. What would your response?

So Turcan looked at Hessiana, face like a dead man. “Master, do we want to climb into that junk and drive down that pit? That junk doesn’t look very reliable though.”

Hessiana’s face deadpan. Just when she was about to say something before she reluctantly climbed into that car, she heard something. Something was approaching rapidly.

Kassandra and Turcan had also heard it. They looked at the direction of the sound and saw a group of shadows appearing on the edge of the crater. A myriad of gnarled mutant creatures!

Vivian described this biota as ‘ridiculously gnarled monsters.’ Hao Ren thought that he would be lucky enough to miss these ugly monsters, but his optimism came too early.