The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

Hao Ren soon received news from Galazur and Anthony Alfonso; the messengers of Odin had successfully delivered his message. Though the Twilight Guards and the wizards were confused, they had stopped fighting under the direct command of the Steam Assembly. Now both sides on the upper city were in an awkward situation. Although the dragon queen and the rest were very restrained during the fight, many Twilight Guards were still wounded. It would probably take a while before the Steam Assembly could clean up the mess.

Anyway, they did not have to worry about the situation in the upper city anymore.

“In the past 2,000 years, I have thought about a lot of things,” Odin said. After telling about Twilight Capital, he could not help but sigh again. “We are outsiders. In fact, I knew from the beginning that we the otherworldlings that possessed powerful technology were apparently not the natives of this world. We were just poor refugees who had been displaced here for some reason. But we inflated ourselves because there was a group of native people in the world who were equally intelligent but far weaker than us. This made us feel that we were the rulers of the world. We occupied the land that was not our own, but we lacked the foundation: population, history, culture, technological system, except those few legacies we brought from our home world we practically had nothing. But even so, we could still dominate the world and fool everyone.

“Human was ignorance, so we thought they were born so. Humans were weak, so we thought they would always be weak. The human did not understand runes and technology, so we thought they did not deserve and have the wisdom to learn. But they built Twilight Capital in a way that I couldn’t have ever imagined. My old friends, you are right, the world is theirs, after all.”

“In fact, humans are even more powerful than you think if not trapped in this ruin.” Vivian smiled and shook her head. “Do you know how the earth looks like now? Humans can fly in the sky, go to the moon, dive into the ocean, and roam the land everywhere they like. They are everywhere. The cities they have built are way more magnificent than any kingdom of the gods in the Mythological era. The change is too big. I don’t even know where to begin to tell you.”

“Then, don’t say it.” Odin’s voice sounded relieved. “Anyway, my time has passed. I am pleased to see you again, and you look not bad. At least I can take the comfort that some of the otherworldlings have survived in today’s world. In fact, I have one request for you.”

Hao Ren suddenly said, “Helping Twilight Capital?”

“Yes,” Odin said slowly. “I was thinking about giving up completely, but your sudden appearance has brought some hope. Since you have a way to come in from the outside world, you must have a way to bring the people out. I don’t know if you have noticed it; the city has actually come to an end. Though humans have been extending the life of the city as long as possible and developing many amazing technologies under the shroud, everything is inevitably coming to an end.”

In fact, even without asking, Hao Ren would find a way to bring the millions of people in the city out. But Hao Ren still could not help himself. “What is the problem?”

“I…” Odin said softly. “I am dying.”

Though this was expected, Hao Ren and Vivian became silent when they heard this.

Hao Ren looked up at the dome of the hall of the Iron Throne. The vault was not completely sealed, there was a large circular opening through which one could see the scenery outside. A series of crisscrossing steel beams and city buildings stacked on top of each other, making the entire Twilight Capital as if a bloated nest. In the deepest part of the nest, Odin was like a cornerstone, upon which the city was built upon and resting on his shoulder.

Though Hao Ren had not figured out how the Twilight Shroud worked, it was no doubt that the shroud was built and dependent on him entirely.

Hao Ren looked at Odin again. Sealed in a crystal, weak and decaying, he was the one person who could maintain the Twilight Shroud.

“Maybe you don’t have to die,” Hao Ren said after exchanging opinions with the MDT. “I have a way to make you healthy again. But before that, I have to ask you something. We have a mission here. We are looking for an ancient spaceship that once belonged to the wisdom giant Mimir. The spaceship should be quite massive. It sank into the Spring of Wisdom. But it is said that it could have followed the roots of Yggdrasil and moved between the Nine Worlds. So we are unable to locate its whereabouts.”

Besides him, Vivian added, “If you can help us find that thing, we can transfer the entire Twilight Capital out of here.”

A few seconds later, Odin spoke in a hesitant tone of voice, “Is the spaceship you’re looking for, black?”

Hao Ren was shocked. “You know where it is?”

Odin paused and suddenly broke out in laughter. His voice was low, but it became louder and louder. He could not help himself. “Hahaha… it is fate. The three sisters of Nolan always talked about fate, but they did not foresee this coincidence.”

Hao Ren grabbed Vivian’s arm. “Will the old man pass out just like this?”

Vivian’s brows pulled together. “No, he won’t. He had already passed out 2,000 years ago.”

Odin suddenly raised his voice. “Do you know what the Twilight Shroud is?”

Hao Ren was startled. “What is it?”

Odin’s voice was heard from all directions. “The spaceship you are looking for is right here.”

As his voice trailed off, a series of grinding sound was heard from the ground below them.

Hao Ren was horrified to find that the ground in the hall of Iron Throne was covered with a transparent layer. Everything including the throne and the cables were actually sitting on it. He knew because he now saw the slates were moving under his feet and retreating.

The grinding became louder and louder as the entire ground moved. The heavy slates disassembled themselves and dispersed quickly one by one into the base of the walls. Hao Ren began to see the secret hidden in the deepest part of Twilight Capital.

Inside a large cave glowing in a faint red light lay a massive spaceship.

Most parts of the spaceship were hidden in the darkness. It was hard to gauge its size and shape, but one thing was sure, it was a behemoth and not wholly silent. Lights were blinking on the part of its armor plates, and two light strips extended out from the depths of the darkness. Though the light was faint, it was enough to show that the central power system of the spaceship was still running.

And Odin’s Iron Throne was actually built on top of a raised structure and connected with the spaceship.

“The Twilight Shroud was the shield of this spaceship.” Odin’s voice knocked Hao Ren out of his thought. “Though at first, I didn’t know what it was, I later found out that the vines of Yggdrasil brought it to Midgard, and that it had powerful energy. Twilight Capital was not yet formed at that time. The few cities that barely survived were relying on a large number of runic shrouds to block off the threats from the outside world. So I thought this powerful source of energy could make a good defense system.”

“Unbelievable!” Hao Ren’s thought was precisely like what Odin said. Fate had a funny way to say hi to you; his decision to come here was right. Had he sidestepped Twilight Capital and looked for Mimir’s spaceship elsewhere, he would have made a costly mistake!

But then again, he did have some foresight. Before coming here, he had vaguely felt that he might find some clues about the spaceship in Twilight Capital. After all, a city surviving the Twilight of the Gods must have a powerful force—a force that was unlikely to come from the humans. In his mind, he vaguely sensed that Twilight Capital could have something to do with Twilight Capital.

But seeing was believing. Hao Ren could not help but still be surprised.

“I couldn’t open this thing though I have fiddled with it for a long time. But I could activate its shield from the outside and expand it to cover the entire city,” Odin sounded proud. “But the shroud needs the power to stay online. So I sit here, day after day, year after year, to make sure the Twilight Shroud stays up.”

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