The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

The column that Lily found looked like some kind of remote surveillance equipment. The holographic images floating around it showed the photos of some areas outside the Garden of Asgard. Though Hao Ren could not determine its specific location, the iconic landscape on some of these images was what he had seen when he flew over Asgard. These areas were all located on the edge of Asgard.

In the hologram, five or six figures were moving on the scorched earth. They neither belonged to Asgard nor Vanir. These people were wearing bloated and cumbersome leather clothes and carrying various unknown gear. They were not so much the surviving ancient gods, but more like wandering warriors. These men and women were moving in the wasteland, as if unaware that they were being monitored. Like scavengers, they rummaged in the battlefield for relics excitedly and yet cautiously.

It was hard to tell the time of the footage, but judging from the battlefield situation, it probably was right after the end of the Twilight of the Gods battle. The magic fire on the wasteland had been extinguished, and the tearing in the sky caused by the light cannon of the demon hunters had healed. Those who appeared in the footage were obviously survivors of the Twilight of the Gods.

Hao Ren immediately turned to ask the Valkyrie, “Is this real-time surveillance footage?”

The Valkyrie curled up on the chair like a cub in a defensive posture. “Real-time surveillance?”

Vivian repeated it. “I just want to ask when these footages were taken. Is it real-time footage?”

“No.” The Valkyrie glanced at Vivian in fear. It seemed she had finally recovered her memory as she began to remember the ancient vampire who was once a guest in the Garden of Asgard more than 2,000 years ago. It might also be shocked by Vivian’s ‘electric therapy’ earlier. “This was… thousands of days ago, or even much earlier… I don’t know, I just guard Valhalla, I don’t know the situation on the outside. I don’t know…”

“What happened on the plains of Vigrid had caused a psychological trauma in her. She didn’t dare to look at the situation outside the Valhalla Palace,” Nangong Sanba said in a whisper. “A typical self-protective hypnosis.”

“It seems that these were recorded much earlier.” Hao Ren nodded after hearing the reply of the Valkyrie. “After all, when we flew over Asgard, we didn’t detect any signs of human activities on the surface.”

“Can you tell where the surveillance footage comes from?” Galazur turned to look at Anthony Alfonso.

“I think I know where it is,” Vivian interjected. “This Valkyrie had just mentioned the lower bound and Rainbow Bridge, which should be on the southeast of Vigrid Plain. I know that place. And if we want to go to other dimensions, we will definitely have to pass through that place.”

Noticing the curious look on the faces of Anthony Alfonso and Galazur, she further explained, “The Nine Kingdoms are connected by the branches of Yggdrasil, and the weak links of the various dimensional barriers are naturally those branches. The gods of Asgard have built an accelerator called the Rainbow Bridge in the largest branch, enabling people to cross the barriers between the Nine Kingdoms safely and stably. The Twilight of the Gods battle destroyed the Rainbow Bridge, but those remaining passages should still be passable. At least they still allow us to pass through. If Odin is really not in Asgard, then we could only check the other dimensions. Other dimensions might be different from what we think and having more survivors.”

“Let’s go and check out the Rainbow Bridge.” Hao Ren nodded immediately but hesitated when he glanced at the Valkyrie. “The question is what we should do about her. Just let her stay here?”

The mad Valkyrie had heard their voices and looked up. Her murky eyes were full of suspicion as if she knew something would fall upon her. She felt uneasy.

“Are you leaving with us?” Vivian smiled and asked kindly.

The Valkyrie thought for a moment before shaking her head frantically. “No! I want to guard the palace with my sisters! We should not allow any breach to appear here!”

“Leave her alone. After all, she has been here for more than two thousand years.” Hao Ren said. “Let’s only deal with her when we come back.”

No one objected. They checked the other surveillance equipment in the central control room and found no traces of Odin, and they left Valhalla.

As they left, the mad Valkyrie followed them to the palace entrance. She spent most of her time staring dead at Hao Ren and rarely responded to questions with rationally. Until they stepped out of the door, the Valkyrie asked nervously, “Will you return the spear to Holy Father?”

Hao Ren was startled. She really took it seriously when all he had just wanted was to make up an excuse to calm her down.

But he obviously could not be perfunctory now. He nodded. “Oh, yes, I will give it to Odin when I see him.”

“Please tell him,” the valkyrie lowered her eyes, trying not to look at the rest of the Garden of Asgard and pretending that the great city still remained standing. “Please ask him, what order he has for the Valkyries.”

“I will.” Hao Ren could only keep nodding, and then quickly left as if he was fleeing.

“It is terrible,” Hao Ren said, forcing a smile and looking at Vivian upon returning onboard the spherical flying craft. “It almost drove me crazy talking to a psychotic. What should I tell her when we come back?”

“Don’t ask me, you are the one lying.” Vivian turned her head away. “Let’s pray we would find Odin. If other dimensions survive, then maybe we would be able to find Odin.”

It did not take long before they arrived at the Rainbow Bridge.

The Asgard dimension was not on Earth; naturally, there was no way to tell directions based on the earth’s magnetic field. But for the sake of ease of navigation, the gods of Asgard had manually designated the course of each of the Nine Kingdoms. Though the original formula was lost, Vivian could still tell routes based on the mountain range.

The passed through the plain of Vigrid that extended southeast and had been turned into scorched earth, a dry shoal, and a twisted jungle before arriving at the end of Asgard.

It was the real dimensional end.

The earth ended abruptly in front of them, and the mountains on both sides appeared like cliffs as if a cake was cut out, showing its cross-section. Looking down from above, there were only jaw-dropping abyss and chaos.

A river flowed from the inland and cut off at this end of the dimension. Water rushed off the earth and was suspended in the void, becoming an endless fog in the distance. This fog was like a barrier covering half of the dimensional border of Asgard. This fog circulated back to the inland following an air current and turned into rain and snow again to complete a cycle.

The most awe-inspiring scenery was neither the cut-off earth nor the floating river in the void, but the numerous huge vines that extended out from the ground to the void.

Their spherical flying craft landed on a small hill at the end of the earth. This small hill was actually the knuckle of a vine. Disembarking from the flying craft, Hao Ren once again set foot on the tentacle of a First Born. A dozen massive arms extended from the earth beneath and the mountains far away before growing loosely into the barrier-like cloud. These tentacles were identical in form to the First Born, but their skin was shining with mysterious silver runes. Each of these runes was hundreds of square meters wide.

This was the body of Yggdrasil. These giant tentacles grew in the deepest part of the earth and even spread to other dimensions and finally connected the nine otherworldly dimensions like a skeleton. Now, these things lay silently as if they did not know some ‘tiny microbes’ were lurking nearby. Only in a particular nightmarish state would the tentacles in the distance twitch slightly—it was so slight that it was almost imperceptible to the naked eyes.

But it was enough to prove that Yggdrasil was still alive.

“It is indeed the living tissues of the First Born. But it has undergone tremendous mutation. I can’t tell why it becomes like this,” the MDT said after performing a shallow-layer scan of the tentacles. “I don’t want to go too deep. It has nerve activity inside and not very stable. It will cause a problem if it wakes up.”

“Mimir is still pacifying him.” Hao Ren nodded. “Let’s us explore the other places first before waking up this big guy.”

“Let’s split and search.” Vivian looked into the distance. “There seems to be something there.”

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