The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

Hao Ren and his team were being pretty loud. But sometimes, chaos was a necessary evil. To reach the deepest part of the city, to confirm Vivian’s suspicion, and to figure out everything about Twilight Capital, Hao Ren needed to create chaos; the chaos that would draw all attention to the platform high above.

The ear-piercing whistle continued to sound like more and more Twilight Guards had responded to the call to guard the upper city. In the eyes of the head of the defense forces, things had become unbelievably strange as the situation got out of hand. The top commanders were beating their brains out but still had no clue of where these powerful troublemakers came from. What was more, the Lightseeker who had just returned from the dark wilderness was seemingly in a cohort with the troublemakers.

In the past, the city was reasonably peaceful. Though there were problems like resource shortages, equipment failures, mine accidents, and even the most severe fire of a large boiler, experts and scholars could always find the root cause of the problem quickly. This time, they seemed to be helpless.

They did not know where the troublemakers came from. Everything just happened without warning.

A state of emergency was declared on most of the rail lines and station platforms in the upper city. The two giant gear sets in the middle-upper Twilight Capital rumbled as steam spurted from the gear set that gradually slowed down. The large boiler was reducing its output to prevent the threat from spreading to the vital central pressure pipeline. If the large boiler were attacked and exploded, the damage to the city would be unimaginable.

To avoid this danger, Twilight Capital had its own emergency plan, of which pressure relief of the central pressure pipeline was a part.

In the vicinity of the platform, a fierce battle was still raging on. Seventy percent of the city reinforcements had gathered there, but they had not been able to contain the situation. Smoke and fire accompanied by the sound of explosions could be seen around the lift.

Near the large boiler in the upper city, in a steel-cast square tower, leaders of the Steam Assembly and the senior commander of the Twilight Guards were having an emergency meeting. A bald man with only one arm, eyes inlaid with robotic lens had just returned from the battlefield. He had brought the latest news. “The enemy’s tactics are keeping changing, they have a shapeshifting ability. It is chaos. There is no way to know the exact number of them and their appearance. Those guys even have the power to summon phantoms, so I guess there should be a powerful wizard among them. The appearance of summoned creatures in the battle makes things even more complicated.”

“Where did these guys come from?” asked the head of the Steam Assembly, a serious middle-aged woman with a frown. “I have heard some bad rumors; it is said that they are descendants of the ancient sage.”

Sitting in the shadow was a thin man, wrapped himself up in a short black robe, almost blended in with the darkness. He whispered in a hoarse voice, “This is not a rumor, it is told by the scholars. The basilisk, giant wolf, and flame giant; their characteristics are basically the same as the creatures in ancient legends. It seems that we are not the only ones surviving the Twilight of the Gods. They have also survived and been hiding in our city.”

Everyone in the room could not help but feel a chill ran up their spines. They started to make all kinds of negative conjectures.

Here, the situation of the chaotic battles on the lift platform had reached the ears of the city government; a group of clueless people were speculating among themselves and churning out bizarre theories about the incident.

But the participants in this melee were just as clueless.

Lily was scurrying in front of the Twilight Guards. Her fur was thick enough to withstand the attack of normal cannon fire. Occasionally, when a more powerful cannon fire hit her, she would groan in pain and return to Nangong Wuyue. Nangong Wuyue would heal her, psychologically and physically, and she would recover to become a fearsome dog again. Y’zaks was throwing fireballs at the flank of the elevator platform, pretending that he was going to clear a path. In the process, he had successfully attracted 60 % of hate from the enemy. Meanwhile, Anthony Alfonso was floating in the air, surrounded by a group of star-like arcane balls. With his own power alone, he could suppress the most elite wizard corps of Twilight Capital with just utilizing a small part of his ability.

Compared to these powerful guys, Galazur, the golden dragon was more fearsome. The dragon queen was playing with the anti-air firepower of the Twilight Guards, but she later realized that becoming an air-borne bullseye was really stupid. And more importantly, her wings were actually pretty fragile, the anti-aircraft shells could really hurt her. So she flapped her wings and landed on a black tower on the edge of the platform. This tower was obviously a vital but fragile facility, the Twilight Guards were very reluctant to shoot in this direction. They only used small firearms to attack Galazur now. When the dragon queen saw this, she breathed a sigh of relief, snuggled herself in her best posture, covered her head with her wings, and then dozed off.

It might be very unsightly, but for the golden dragon, this was indeed the most effective protective posture. She settled herself in the most prominent spot in the battlefield, drawing all the attention to herself with her shiny golden appearance.

So no one had noticed something had sneaked past them.

Hao Ren, Vivian, and Wendell were using the old elevator shaft going down to the lower city.

They could no longer hear the sound of battle in the upper city. The faint sound of the explosions had become as if it was coming from another world.

In order not to alert the city guards, they did not use the lift as the operation of the lift would create noise. Instead, the MDT had slipped through a ventilation duck into the elevator shaft and teleported into the shaft before Vivian carried them straight down the shaft.

They dived straight down the shaft of the incredible ancient city, which looked as complex as a three-dimensional labyrinth. They felt as if they were flying in a strange dream. As the city was built on top of each other, the city that used to belong to the upper layer had now become the lower layer. The elevator shaft connecting the upper and lower cities had also been extended, old elevator platforms were dismantled and becoming support structure of the shaft. As a result, stacked city formation was formed, as if fossil sandwiched between rock layers, the elevator shaft was a snapshot of the entire historical trajectory of the city.

Round, and supported by steel, rocks and grayish hand-made materials began to appear on the elevator shaft as they descended. The shaft was not sealed, as large openings and gaps were everywhere. Some were dedicated service tunnels, and some were just cracks on building the structure. Large black steel pipes crisscrossed the shaft wall, and steam spurted from the safety valves of the pipeline occasionally. In some section of the shaft, steam had even formed into permanent clouds. There was even rain in some areas. This phenomenon had amazed Hao Ren.

“Milton Lake is at the bottom of the elevator shaft,” Wendell said. “All the steam in the city condenses into water and eventually returns to Milton Lake.”

Hao Ren listened. At this time, Vivian began to slow down. He could see the surroundings more clearly. They should be close or in the lower city. The shaft in this section appeared as if it was a thousand years old. Peeking through the large holes in the shaft wall, he saw vast space on the outside. Massive gears were rumbling as they spun, steam pipes running everywhere, black sticky grease was flowing on the ground, and some had run through the holes into the elevator shaft. He also saw people, or creatures resembling humans moving in between steam pipes and gears. They were pale, short and agile, almost wearing nothing and their heads were hairless. When they turned around in his direction, Hao Ren saw their faces; their eyes were big as well as horrible.

“Those are the people that live in the engine room, maintaining the pressure pipes and bearing groups for generations. It is not known since when they stopped leaving the engine room. They’ve been like this for many generations,” Wendell explained as if he was a tour guide. “They used to be humans, but scholars think they are—”

“They are still human,” Vivian cut in. “You are all trapped in the same little box, there is no difference between you and them.”

They kept descending for a while before Wendell broke the silence, “We have arrived at the lower city.”

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