The Record of Unusual Creatures

After Vivian carried the basket and went home with Lily, she saw Hao Ren rolling up the scroll. “Still working on that thing?” Vivian asked casually.

Lily was not interested in the scroll. She howled happily and then ran to the kitchen and gulped down lots of cold water. After quenching her thirst, she yelled at Vivian, “Battie, hurry up and cook! Why did you drag me along just to buy some vegetables? What did I owe you in my past life?”

“It’s only 10:30 a.m. and you’re already hungry? What did I owe you in my past life?” Vivian yelled back.

“You killed me in your past life… I mean, I was killed by you in my past life!”

“…Why is this girl so quick-witted only at times like this?” said Vivian.

Hao Ren looked at the two enemies doing their daily bickering, smiled and said, “I’ve begun to decipher the second scroll.”

Vivian looked interested immediately. She handed the basket to Nangong Wuyue, who was wriggling on the ground, mopping the floor. She came to Hao Ren and asked, “What did you find?”

Hao Ren pointed to the data projected by the data terminal and explained, “I guess these four scrolls record four important chapters of ancient history on the Plane of Dreams respectively because the records of the first and second scrolls are obviously segmented. The first scroll records the reign of the Mad Lord over the universe, which is also the most dangerous scroll: it is full of the names and deeds of evil gods, and it took me nearly a week to read all those things. The second scroll begins to record the history of the period after the goddess of creation defeated the Mad Lord. The scroll calls this period ‘the idyllic age’, and I have just read this part.”

Vivian looked at the data curiously. These materials were, in fact, the translated and arranged version, which was still full of the content on the Mad Lord, but as Raven 12345 said, these copied words had lost their danger, and anyone could read them safely.

“So you suspect that those ancestors were the denizens of the stars?” Vivian asked.

“It’s just a guess. It could be something else. Anyway, it’s an indigenous intelligent creature that existed before the birth of the guardian giants like Muru. In order to better suppress the Mad Lord, the goddess of creation redesigned and strengthened the cage. This time, the cage had three solid layers, 99 heavy barriers, and arranged a number of prison guards in it. I am curious about the fate of these prison guards.”

“Most likely they wouldn’t end well… After all, even the goddess has fallen, it is difficult to guess how many human prison guards can survive.” Vivian shook her head, turning her attention away from the materials and reminded, “Don’t get too carried away by these things. Raven 12345 said, these things are evil, and the process of learning this knowledge is like taking drugs.”

Hao Ren smiled and said he would be more careful, but just then, a sudden noise coming from the corner of the wall interrupted the conversation.

The big cardboard box in the corner of the living room was pushed away and Noobie poked her head out of the rat hole. She carefully observed the surrounding environment, and soon found that Hao Ren and Vivian were talking to each other, so the little one immediately ran to them. She jumped onto the arm of Hao Ren’s chair, bared her teeth and showed her claws, making a threatening gesture to Hao Ren. “Ha – hiss!”

Hao Ren pinned the little one’s head with one finger, took a saucer from the table, poured some water into it and put it on the armrest of the chair.

The little one looked down, waved her arms and yelled at Hao Ren. Then she lowered her head and drank water.

“Have you found it?” Hao Ren said to Vivian as he looked down at the little one who was drinking water seriously. “She has changed a little.”

At this moment, Lily strolled out and heard Hao Ren’s words. “Yes. She didn’t drink water before.” She answered.

“Not that,” Hao Ren said, waving his hand. “Have you noticed that she seems to be… much gentler?”

The little one licked the last bit of water, and then grabbed the saucer and swung at Hao Ren’s face. “Hiss Ha!”

Lily was shocked. “You call this gentle?”

Hao Ren hurriedly caught the plate and pinned the little one onto the table. He shook his head and explained, “No, I mean… I think she’s been a little obedient lately. Have you noticed that she seems to understand people?”

Vivian frowned at the little one and tries to say hello to her. “Can you understand me?”

The little one heard the sudden voice and quieted down for a moment. She looked up at Vivian and then shook her head wildly.

Everybody, “…”

“When did you notice this change in her?” Vivian became serious at once. She had not really paid attention to these subtle changes in Noobie. Although she was concerned about her unexpected split, her interaction with Noobie was actually not as good as Hao Ren, and the reason was very simple – the little one found that the one with the best temper in the family was Hao Ren, and others would bully her. Hao Ren was the only person who would just laugh it off whatever she did to him. So the little one used her confused brain to do some confusing calculations and decided that Hao Ren was her best target. So after a while, Hao Ren was the first to notice the change in the little one.

“Since we left that forest last time,” Hao Ren nodded and said. “Strictly speaking, I think the change happened when we were still in that space. Do you remember? When we left that space, we found the little one stayed quietly in the jar. When we got home, she slept all day and all night. But something was wrong with her when she woke up.”

Then he let go of the little one. When the little one was free, she let out a shrill cry and darted down the table into a mouse hole in the corner of the wall.

A moment later, the little one zipped out of the mouse hole again. She dragged the cardboard box beside her to block her ‘door’. Before she got back into the hole, she darted a glance at Hao Ren. Although her eyes could not show any emotions, she was obviously angry.

Hao Ren, Vivian, and Lily stared at the scene. Noobie’s action just now was full of a trait she had never had before: emotional. And that’s a pretty obvious one.

The three of them had a discussion on the spot, and soon after mopping the floor, Wuyue also joined in the discussion. They put together a collection of the most recent actions and behaviors of the little one they usually saw, and soon came to the conclusion:

“It is clear that she now understands human language and has obvious emotional responses,” Hao Ren said while touching his chin. “But her mind is not yet developed completely. Her most complex emotional reactions to date are also extremely ‘childish’ and in many cases, she has no control over her actions. Lily mentioned earlier that the little one still throws magic arrows at the wall and bites wires every day, even though she should have known it didn’t make any sense – I think it shows a lack of self-control.”

Nangong Wuyue frowned and said, “Now we know that there is a change. The question is what caused her change.”

“Let’s suppose that her change is related to our previous experience in that space. What are all the suspicious things that could have affected her there?” Vivian was bending the fingers, counting them one by one, “the big enchantment built by the demon hunters, then the scepter, then the four scrolls. All three of them are very powerful sources of energy, and I think all of them are possible.”

Nangong Wuyue said while wiping the table, “Well, I don’t know. I didn’t go with you, didn’t know the situation.”

Hao Ren recalled what they had experienced carefully, and then shook his head gently and said, “There was a big factor that was overlooked.”

“What factor?” Vivian asked.

“Your moonlight.”

Everybody fell silent.

“Moonlight?” Vivian froze for a moment. She then raised her hand, pointing at herself and said, “You mean the crimson moon? That thing is supposed to make you crazier. I don’t even know it has a therapeutic effect.”

“But didn’t you say that the crimson moon that you summoned last time was different? Maybe that’s the problem: your moonlight has changed, and so has the little evil spirit that split from you.”

Vivian touched her chin and asked, “You seem to have a plan?”

“Not really a plan, just an idea.” Hao Ren nodded. “I want to see your crimson moon again and have a thorough examination of it.”

Vivian did not show any hesitation or resistance because she now had a kind of inexplicable trust in Hao Ren. She felt that any plan he proposed would succeed. There was no basis for it. She just believed it.

But then she shook her head. “I don’t mind, but I’m afraid not for the time being – summoning the crimson moon is a pretty magic-consuming and energy-consuming ability. I think it will be a while before I can do it again.”

Hao Ren certainly understands this. In fact, he was not too urgent about this problem. It’s just that he had been studying scrolls or Noobie for the last few days. It was really boring and he wanted to find something else to do…

But soon he would not feel so anymore, because the data terminal brought him great news that afternoon:

A corresponding rift of the Scarred Nebula in the Plane of Dream was found.