The Record of Unusual Creatures

Everyone left the platform where the portal was and went out into the square in front of the mansion. They gathered around Raven 12345, waiting for the historic moment. For those who had never experienced the epic adventures of Hao Ren, this was indeed a landmark moment.

Raven 12345 took out the crystal cube, in which Earth and the moon were suspended. Those two celestial bodies looked like insects, sealed inside an amber as some incredible power froze them in time, waiting quietly for the recovery of the space and time.

The surroundings changed instantly the moment Raven 12345 took out the crystal cube. The goddess’s house and the heavenly garden had disappeared, stars and space had replaced everything in their field of vision. A dazzlingly bright orange-yellow fireball was in distant space.

In a split second, Raven 12345 shifted everyone into the Earth’s orbit in the Solar system.

People like White Flame and Hesperides, who had never been to space before, became panic. But soon they found themselves surrounded by an almost transparent energy shield that ensured they could survive in space. Inside the shield, there was a healthy level of gravity. The shield filtered out the intense solar rays, which could blind the eyes otherwise.

“The administrator is calling the sovereign hub.” Raven 12345 called as runes and images refreshed around her. She tossed the crystal cube in her hand and issued instructions. “Project 7K03-15 is completed. Release the stack and heap in the memory, delete the data in the corresponding sandbox, and clear all the variables of the mirrored earth. Record the current time, the real Earth will be back online and connecting with the universal timeline.”

After that, Raven 12345 crushed the magic crystal cube in her hand.

The magic happened. Earth and the moon enclosed in the crystal earlier were flying into their original orbits and enlarging. But it was not the change in their sizes but more like stretching in scales. It was a phenomenon that happened outside of optical law and so became incomprehensible by human eyesight. It appeared differently to different people. The process lasted two minutes, and when the moon and Earth were finally back into their original orbits, no one could tell clearly what they had just seen. Hao Ren, Vivian, and Y’zaks were the only ones who still retained some impressions.

Raven 12345 was seen rolling up her sleeves when the two celestial bodies were in orbits.

Hao Ren quickly warned, “Things that are going to happen may destroy your senses. Anyone who thinks you are unable to handle it, close your eyes while you still can.”

“Aah?” Hasse and Hesperides were struck dumb.

There was no time for Hao Ren to explain. Before everyone knew it, Raven 12345 had turned into a giant figure standing in space. She twisted her body and sent a flying kick at Earth. “Here you go!”

Leveraging on the momentum, Raven 12345 spun her body around again and gave the moon a kick on the face. “You go, too!”

Under the divine blessing, the physics-defying Prime Force began to take effect as the earth, and the moon returned to their regular movements in the orbits in the original timeline.

“I knew it—the same old trick.”

“Has my only eye gone blind?” Hasse said.

People like Hasse and Hesperides only came to know about the ‘reality’ recently and were clueless about the personality of the goddess of this universe. But even then, and after witnessing her sense-defying stunts, they still held a blind faith and reverence toward Raven 12345. Now Hao Ren knew his earlier worries were unfounded.

No one could still believe in this goddess while seeing her Prime Force. If there was, then let her give the moon a kick as well.

If there are still more; awesome. But please seek treatment as early as possible.

Raven 12345 transformed back into her standard form. Showily, she exhaled and gave everyone a thumbs-up. “Done!”

When the goddess saw that no one gave a hoot, she pretended nothing had happened. “I always say that efficiency is key. Now things are all over, I will send you all back to your homes. Since the time on Earth has been standing still, you will find everything remains the same as before. But you still have to adapt. After all, you all have been outside the Earth’s timeline for several months.”

At this time, a very technical question came to Lily’s mind. “Is it not the earth has lost a few months relative to the universe? Will the scientists on Earth find it odd that the positions of the stars have misaligned?”

Raven 12345 just smiled faintly. “Do not worry, I have it covered and corrected the trajectory of history on Earth. After fundamentally changing the information flow, the lost time of a few months on Earth is justified.”

The neurotic goddess might appear to be fiddling around sometimes, but she had her serious moment.

Streams of light flashed across space, carrying the space-time travelers back to their proper space-time trajectories respectively. As the last figure disappeared into space, Raven 12345 exhaled as she looked at the direction of Earth.

“Holy moly, I have to quickly fix the bug.” The goddess swore before disappearing into thin air.

Unfortunately, Hao Ren did not know about it.

It felt like a lifetime had passed upon returning to the old house in Southern Suburbs.

Few pedestrians were on the streets. The mottled houses and the pothole-filled concrete road were still there. At the end of the concrete path, the two-story building remained the same as before the distortion of space and time. Every brick and tile, every grass and tree were still the same. But somehow, Hao Ren felt that these things were a century old.

No. It was longer than that; it was not a century but 10,000 years.

Hao Ren did not experience the complete history of 10,000 years, and his mind and willpower were strong enough to resist the psychological impact from the time travel. But when he saw the house that he had lived in for over 20 years, he still felt severe disorientation.

People outside the sandbox would not get this feeling. They might have been outside for a few months, but they could only feel that it was a long trip without the disorientation.

Vivian was probably the only person who could share the feelings of Hao Ren at this moment. She smiled and took out the key to open the door, just like how she opened the door at the last leg of the time travel. “Why are you all standing outside like statues? Get in. I am going to cook for you all. Hao Ren, would you please take the garbage out, I remember there is garbage in the kitchen.”

“Battie has superb memory now after recovering from her amnesia. I do not even remember what I was doing a few months ago.” Lily was wide-eyed.

“I am going to take a bath! I am going to take a bath!” Nangong Wuyue ran straight into the house. “As large as the pool in heaven is, nothing beat the feeling of bathing in the bathtub at home.”

Lily followed closely behind. “Battie! Don’t forget to cook braised pork ribs for me! You promised!”

Everyone just flocked in with Rollie jumping up and down from behind as she could not wait to get in first. At last, she saw an opening and slipped in with a swoop. “It’s time to eat! It’s time to eat! Meow—”

The sudden lively atmosphere jolted Hao Ren out of his daze. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled; finally, the feeling of being home was back. Hao Ren gently patted the little mermaid who was quietly peeking out from his collar as he stepped into the house.

Lily flung herself into the sofa, stretched, and then lay still with her tongue poking out on the armrest like a dead dog. Meanwhile, Rollie rushed to her favorite rug and after a while sniffling around to make sure that no one had trespassed her territory for the past few months, she snuggled into the most comfortable position and purred, waiting for her meal patiently.

The concept of space-time misalignment was beyond the car’s understanding. She did not know that the time on Earth had been stood still for the past few months. Just as she could not grasp the concept that Hao Ren had been in an adventure in a parallel universe, she firmly believed that her master was dead.

She was an instinctual and egoistic fellow. People were envious of her life sometimes.

Hao Ren smacked Lily on the leg. She moved over a little so that he could sit down. Hao Ren let out a sigh as he snugged down on the sofa. It felt much more comfortable than sitting on the boulder during the end of the ice age.

Lil Pea got out of Hao Ren’s arms, climbed over his chest and shoulder and then clung to his arm rightly. It had been a long trip—longer than any previous ones. For months, she was staying in an unfamiliar place. Despite that Raven 12345 had provided Lil Pea with enough comfort, the little mermaid had been feeling uneasy. She was smart, and her intelligence was growing at a rate faster than that of humans. But still, she was still only a child.

Now Dad-dee was back, and she had returned home, now feeling relieved. Perhaps she was not going to let go of Hao Ren any time soon.

Hao Ren was not annoyed. He just patted the little mermaid’s tail while looking at things around him. He was trying to re-familiarize with everything in his sight, and it was not difficult.

His half-read magazine was still on the coffee table. The cushions that he had just bought were still on the sofa. But the drama showed on the TV seemed like it was of ages ago. The familiar Noobie was again firing her ‘biubiubiu’ at Y’zaks big bald head.

Oh, wait. Noobie?

“Damn it! There is still a Malevolence here!”