The Record of Unusual Creatures

The sceneries were fascinating, but the backtracking journey was long. If one was not careful, it was easy to get sidetracked.

Traveling through the fragmented historical timelines was a test of will. The emperors and the peasants in the archival materials came to life in flesh and blood. Once you entered their history, they would no longer be pictures in historical memory but have real emotions, capable of experiencing joy and sorrow. Whether they lived a heroic or mediocre life, those experiences would leave indelible marks in their space and time.

As a time traveler, Hao Ren did everything possible to remain as a bystander and remain detached in his third-party perspective as he went back in time. He knew that only by maintaining the view of a third party could he finish the arduous 10,000-year journey into history without being swallowed up and assimilated by the endless historical illusions.

It was not easy to maintain that state of mind. For ordinary people, it was probably an impossible mission. But Hao Ren had learned to be persistent as an inspector during the past few years.

In every jump and backtrack on the timeline, Hao Ren would meet Vivian of different eras throughout history. But each reunion was brief and hurried before Hao Ren embarked on the next leg of his journey.

Not every stop of his journey worth telling. And not every time Hao Ren could wake up Vivian according to plan. But in any case, Hao Ren and his buddies had come a long way. The journey in Siberia and France seemed to be of a long time ago. After that, they traversed the vast jungles of the Amazon, crossed the endless Taklamakan Desert, and even drifted in the sea, where there was nowhere to land for half a month until they found a sunken ancient city of thousands of years. In the sunken city, destroyed by a mysterious explosion, they found the secret chamber at where Vivian’s coffin was.

They have an encounter with the werewolf recluse in South America, and they had joined hands with the descendants of the silver wizards, who had escaped in the Mesopotamian plains, to fight against the demon hunters. With the help of Hasse, Hao Ren had even infiltrated the Asian headquarters of the demon hunters and smuggled Vivian’s coffin out from the Himalaya mountains under the nose of thousands of demon hunters.

The cavalry of Genghis Khan, the palace of Chang’an of the Tang Dynasty, and the city-states of Aztec—all of which were well-known throughout history and almost iconic symbols floating past the eyes of Hao Ren. The journey of going back in time had let Hao Ren feel the way Vivian felt: times change and the world with it. The inhabitant of this world continuously transformed the world. The sun would rise and shine on the new world every day just as it set the day before. The worlds of humankind and the gods kept reshuffling in ever-changing history. Even the most brilliant, greatest dynasties, which the rulers thought to be eternal and immortal, could not last beyond a few generations.

The only constant thing was the eyes of the passerby of history.

“See you in the next era.”

Vivian gradually disappeared in the air with only her voice still seemingly ringing in the ears.

After a while, Hao Ren exhaled. He got to his feet and looked at those around him.

Out of boredom, Hessiana had carved a piece of gray wood as if she wanted to see if she could leave a mark on things frozen in this space and time. Hasse carefully checked his gear and weapons to ensure that they all always in tip-top condition. Lily sat not far away, concentrating on eating the shrimp sticks and potato chips which she took out from Hao Ren’s Dimensional Pocket.

They were now in a small cabin with wooden floors, wooden walls, wood ceilings, and a slatted window pasted with a thick layer of papers next to Lily. When they opened the window, they could only see a sea of chaos on the outside. There was no decoration in the house. The only furniture was a low square table in the middle and cushions around the table. A man dressed in ancient Chinese military uniform was standing in a corner, surprised. A blanket of gray had covered his frozen horrified expression.

Hessiana put away the knife and said, “The blaze at the Red Cliffs was nothing short of spectacular.”

“No wonder the warlord, Cao Cao lost so badly,” Lily said from not far away without looking up. “They camped on top Vivian’s crypt. I would have won the battle like that, let alone Zhuge Liang.”

“Boasting is all you know. You would have died from exhaustion many times over to fight the hundred-thousands-strong army.”

Hao Ren looked at Little Bat, who bickered with Lily just like how Vivian used to be, he could not help but find it funny. Hao Ren got to his feet and walked toward the wooden door, from which a faint ray of light shone through.

“Let’s go. The next era awaits us.”

He pushed open the door and, before them, it was an entirely different space and time.

After adjusted his vision to the new environment, Hao Ren found himself standing on a broad and straight road.

It was a wide walkway paved with slabs. On both sides of the road were gray and white tall houses, constructed with a mix of stone and wood. The buildings were of typically classical Greek style and extremely beautiful. At the end of the street was a large square with a fountain and sculptures.

The boulevard was bustling with pedestrians. Most of them wore white or gray robes, a section of which wrapped around the body and hung on the shoulder to form a beautiful drape. For women, their dress was more complex in design but still mainly white. It was not difficult to see from the costumes that the standard of life these people were relatively high.

Here seemed to be a big city, the level of cleanliness of which was way better than those 14th-century European cities.

Hao Ren looked back at from where he emerged. It was a wooden door embedded in the base of a giant sculpture. This out-of-place wooden door was obviously an abnormal existence caused by the misalignment of space and time. Such a strange appearance could not help but attract eyeballs. All the more so when it was situated on a busy street. The crowd began to gather and looked curiously at the guys who came out of the sculpture.

Hasse was right behind Hao Ren as they came out. His brows knitted together when he saw people had gathered around them. With the flip of his hand, the old demon hunter cast a powerful spell. “It seems we are in a vivacious place.”

The was Repel, the most common spell used by demon hunters in covert operations. Now, Hao Ren felt for the first time the convenience Hasse had brought. Under the influence of the magic spell, the bystanders’ attention had shifted away and began to disperse.

Hessiana glanced at the architectural style in the surroundings and observed the costumes of the people. “We should be near the ancient Greek region, probably Rome.”

While speaking, Little Bat’s facial expression changed as if she found at home when looking at the ancient Greek-style architecture. “It has been so long.”

“You sound like you are familiar with Rome.” Lily glanced curiously at Hessiana.

“I attained my transcendence in Greece and visited every city after that. At last, I came to Rome!” Hessiana said with her arms akimbo. “Wait a minute, let me recall. After achieving transcendence, I met Vivian in Rome for the first time!”

“Don’t you feel it weird to talk about transcendence while you are a through-and-through vampire of the West?” Hao Ren rolled his eyes. “Wait a minute. Did you just say you first met Vivian in Rome?”

“Yeah.” Hessiana scratched her head. “But I could not remember clearly what happened. After all, after I transcended and became human, my mind was still a muddle. I have no idea what was going on around me but just vaguely remember that Lady Vivian found me and we lived in Rome. The city looked like this, more or less.”

“Have you caught Vivian’s amnesia?” Lily could not help but roll her eyes.

“You can’t blame me!” Hessiana said with her arms akimbo. “I was sleeping by hanging upside down in the cave. The next morning when I woke up, I found myself walking upright. Would you be able to figure out what happened if you were me? The fact that I could still remember so many things is a ton much better than you who could only recall pulling a sled in the wood when you were little.

“I—”

“All right, please stop arguing.” Hao Ren glared at the two. It is not easy to find a day without Lily and Vivian bickering, Hao Ren thought, but now it seems Lily has found a new quarrelsome partner. “Let us discuss important business. Hessiana, what year was it when you and Vivian loitered in Rome?”

Hessiana thought for a moment and said, “I remember Caesar is still alive at that time.”

“How far have we gone back in time?” Hao Ren blinked as he looked at Hasse.

“No calculations needed. It is now some time around the AD with a margin of error of a hundred years.” Hasse said with his arms crossed, but his eyes were on the architecture and the pedestrians. “If the costumes of the people were anything to go by, it should be the Roman Republic period before the formation of the empire. Since the streets are still orderly, chances are high that Caesar is still in power. Just that we do not know if he has become a dictator.”

Hao Ren looked at Hessiana. “We may have come to a very delicate point in time. Where did Vivian and you live?”

“Holy moly! What a coincidence!” Hessiana was a little confused. But she quickly came out of her daze and now looked frustrated. “It has been two thousand years, how can I remember?”

“Then we will find it slowly,” Hao Ren said unhurriedly. “We may be meet Vivian who is still awake this time.”