The Record of Unusual Creatures

Nothing was more anti-climatic than seeing a Malevolence charging at you furiously only to trip on itself. If you really needed something even more anti-climatic, it would be her tripping the second time…

As the palm-sized Malevolence scrambled to get up and charged towards her target with her threatening hiss, but half-way through her sprint she fell again, and this time it was worse. Hao Ren could clearly hear the sound of one’s face smashing into the ground, and he suddenly felt sorry for that god-knows-why-is-she-a-palm-sized Malevolence.

To think that this is a manifestation of malignant energies…

“Seems like it’s still dazed by my sister’s water spout.” Nangong Sanba squatted by Hao Ren’s side looking at the struggling creature with sympathy. “Look at her keep tripping herself.”

“Why would a Malevolence this small even appear?” Hao Ren was still pondering the question. “Vivian, your splits are really unreasonable.”

Lily seemed to have had that figured out. Bobbing her head, she went. “Battie’s splits never had a fixed form no? The one at Purgatory was a skyscraper, so why can’t it be the size of a mouse too?”

The husky’s thought process was always going through the path less taken, and her conclusion had everyone nodding in agreement. At the same time, the clumsy little figurine had gotten back to her feet after much effort. She was still in a daze and shook her head violently before changing her target: Turning towards Lil Pea who looked much an easier prey.

Lil Pea was already all nervous having sensed that “weird thing”, and she was terrified as the foe came charging at her. The little mermaid by reflex used her ultimate ability that she had learned since birth, the tail whip and after a violent sweep of her tail… the little figurine was smashed into the air and landed in a parabolic arc towards Rollie.

The cat girl saw something the size of a rat landed with a splat near her and her natural cat instincts came into play. She put her hands on the tiny Malevolence like she was catching a mouse before she lifted it up and put it into her mouth!

The cat’s motion was both agile and swift, and by the time Hao Ren caught sight of it it was too late to even get her to stop, but as Rollie was just about to stuff the tiny Vivian into her mouth she stopped, and a troubled look appeared on her face. “Uhh… Big Boss Cat said no eating mouse at home…”

After so long, this dumb cat had finally remembered something that she was taught!

And just as Rollie hesitated, the Malevolence woke from her daze and the moment she saw the gigantic face before her, she let out another primal yelp before flailing her arms wildly. As the Malevolence swung her arms about, a dark energy ball shot out from her palm and struck Rollie on the ear!

“Meeeeeooooouccchhhhh!!!” the cat girl immediately broke into a sharp yelp, and after she threw the Malevolence away she grabbed her head and started jumping about before running into Hao Ren. “Big Boss Cat! Big Boss Cat! The mouse hit me! The mouse hit me!”

Hao Ren too was thrown off by the sudden turn of events. He first held the panicking dumb cat in place before barking an order. “Grab that Malevolence! Don’t let it get away!”

Nangong Sanba looked down. “No worries, she won’t be going anywhere. Rollie had knocked her out.”

It was only then Hao Ren realized that when Rollie was thrashing about in pain, she had unknowingly thrown the Malevolence towards the wall. And the strength of a cat girl that had eaten the Golden Apple was no laughing matter. A fist-sized crater was formed on the wall from the impact and had knocked out the Malevolence in the process. Hao Ren was checking out the cat girl’s injury, and as he saw that he nodded at Lily. “Get something…. to secure this thing in. Don’t let it escape.”

Lily gave a curt ‘Oh’ before going to look for a cage, but after some time realizing that there was not one that was of use. As the Malevolence was just too small, it was pretty much the size of a rat! She even found a cat cage, and that was the one Hao Ren had bought some time ago out of frustration when he first took Rollie in. After Rollie’s violent protest throughout the night for being put into a cage, he gave up. But even that cage was useless. That mini Vivian could just walk out of the gaps!

Finally, the husky had managed to find a very contemporary-looking porcelain lunch box and stuffed the little figurine-sized Malevolence into it. For extra safety, she taped two cycles of duct tape over the cover. Nangong Sanba looked rather worried at the lunch box. “Won’t she suffocate in there? Need to poke a few holes on the cover?”

Lily immediately panicked as she hugged her treasured lunch box. “This was from days of the Republic! I brought this with me to the University of Beijing! I even smashed Xu Zhimo’s head with this before you know!”

“Uh… I know it’s a valuable item, but you don’t have to go into detail about this…” Nangong Sanba sighed.

“No worries, she won’t suffocate.” Nangong Wuyue then interjected. “Since when does a Malevolence needs to breathe. Didn’t they survive on Mars without a problem?

After Lily had managed to ‘seal’ the evil spirit, Hao Ren brought Rollie to the sofa in the hall. The cat girl had calmed down by now, and she was actually more shocked than in pain. Hao Ren pulled pried open her hands off her ears and only saw a minor gash on the ear. There was not even much blood.

“Big Boss Cat, is my ears gone…” The cat girl was on the verge of tears. “Am I only left with three ears now?”

Much like Lily, this cat was quadraphonic after transforming.

“Silly cat. It’s just a minor gash.” Hao Ren smacked the dumb cat’s head. “Go look at the mirror.”

“Meow.”

“That looked like my Corrosion Blood Arrow.” Vivian came to Hao Ren’s side. “But the concentration of dark powers is much more potent and is more towards the chaotic element. That is a trait of a Malevolence.”

“Why would one pop up all the sudden?” Hao Ren frowned. “And this is so… small. Ah, we’ve been on that for quite a while now. Size aside how did that… thing hid in that mouse hole without us noticing?”

“Every Malevolence has a unique power trait, some represent Decay, some symbolize the Plague, and on that front their powers is overwhelming. It’s like slamming all talent points into a single trait, and being the master of that particular trait.” Vivian frowned. “And perhaps this Malevolence is adept at hiding its aura… Maybe her power trait is… “Being without Presence.”

Everyone had a weird look on their face, and Vivian spat her tongue out. “Alright, I’m just guessing. But her ability to conceal her presence is very strong. I only detected her minute presence in the mouse hole after being very close to it.”

“How did Lil Pea detected it?” Nangong Wuyue gave the little mermaid an amazed glance. The little rascal immediately puffed her chest up. She knew that she did well this time.”

“Probably have something to do with the ‘Lifeform Level’. “the MDT finally butt in. “She could sense the minute change in the lifeblood, and the Malevolences are technically lifeforms made out of corrupted lifeblood, so it is very obvious to her.”

“But she said something about Vivian being eaten…” Hao Ren looked at the little one while deep in thought.

“She probably sensed that that thing had Vivian’s aura, and was surrounded by all sorts of negative energies, and something somehow just clicked in her imagination … She’s just a child, and her cognitive logic is pretty much all over the place.”

Since the MDT’s explanation was logical, Hao Ren did not dwell on the topic any longer. He looked at the porcelain lunch box that Lily had placed on the tea table. The Malevolence trapped inside had already woke up and was now struggling inside. The entire lunch box looked like it had a motor on it as it bounced about, with an audible clack.

Somehow or rather the lunch box actually managed to hold the Malevolence in.

“Seems like this Malevolence’s combat prowess is weaker than Lil Pea.” Nangong Sanba scratched his head. “The Blood Arrow could only give Rollie a slight gash, and she can’t even escape a porcelain lunch box. Lil Pea’s tiny embers could easily tear a hole through that lunch box.”

Lily prodded the bouncing lunch box. “The key question is how did this thing come about, and why did it end up in that mouse hole…”

The MDT flew above the lunch box and projected a blue ray scanning the energy signatures inside the lunchbox. It planned to use the samples from the Malevolence to track its path into the house but after a while, it found something even more alarming. “Wait a minute… that’s a problem here… This Malevolence seems to be a ‘newborn’.”

“A newborn?!” Hao Ren and Vivian exclaimed in sync.

“After vanquishing the earlier Malevolence I updated the database, and Madame Raven sent me many research results in this area too,” the MDT explained. “The power of this type of Malevolence would stabilize and refine itself given time. A self-refinement of sorts. Based on this logic, I’ve determined that the Malevolence in the lunch box is probably… yeah… probably about a few hours old.”

As that went out, everyone trained their eyes on Vivian.

“Battie…” the Lily spoke slightly gingerly. “Seems like you’re splitting apart again!”