The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

Ever since he signed his work contract, Hao Ren felt that his free time got lesser by the day. He was on the road in foreign lands most of the time, like a people-minded minister running around the realm upon receiving his royal orders. When it was time to go home, he was pretty afraid that his cat would not even recognize him anymore…

After leading his crew back home, the first thing Hao Ren saw the moment he opened the door was Rollie squatting on the tea table watching TV. The dumb cat immediately leaped down the moment she heard movement near the door and scurrying before the group. She then threw Hao Ren a dumbfounded stare and only meowed after a good while. That reaction scared the living daylights out of Hao Ren. Could that dumb cat actually forget about him?”

“Oh, Big Boss Cat?” The catgirl swiftly circled Hao Ren for a bit before sticking her hand into the latter’s pocket. “You’re alive?”

“Hold on right there!” Hao Ren recovered from his stupor before grabbing the cat by the skull. “What do you mean by that? I had only gone out for a month and you had already forgotten who’s your master?”

“Snacks! I saw you have snacks! I’ve felt it! You must’ve bought them for me!” The dumb cat struggled against Hao Ren’s hold. Her frantic yelps were audible half a street away. “I was trying to get your scent. Who knows if you are real or fake. You’ve gone missing for so long I thought you were dead already!”

“Oh f*ck me… Why does this idiot think that I’ll be dying every now and then?” Hao Ren was flabbergasted as he looked at the dumb cat rummaging singlemindedly through his pocket looking for snacks (They were in fact for her.) “Are humans such a weak, pitiful race in the eyes of a cat?”

“What you think?” Wuyue said as she hugged her arm. “Every time you’ve been gone for a while, she’d start occupying the main door, and start interrogating everyone ‘If Big Boss Cat is dead outside. Why hasn’t he come back yet? Should we start splitting our share? We’ve gotten used to it by now.”

Hao Ren felt that a dagger had just run through his heart. “That heartless cretin… What else did she say?”

Nangong Sanba joined in. “I’ve asked her before. She said she would seek revenge for you. And if she can’t, she’ll go into your room to gather your items. Having split them, she’ll go her own way, wandering.”

Hao Ren was speechless.

“You are sure annoying Big Boss Cat!” The cat girl was busy stuffing her face with a load of fish jerky. Rolling her eyes at Hao Ren, she continued. “Why didn’t you react like this back then? I’ve been telling you that every time you came back late no?”

Hao Ren was dumbfounded. “You’ve said this before… Wait a minute. You’re just a cat back then. How the hell could I understand what you were on about!”

Once again, Hao Ren felt like a sword had just run through him. He knew all along that his cat was a lazy glutton, but she had a pretty good nature. Every time he comes back from afar the cat would happily circle around him meowing for a good while. While she would be demanding food soon after, Hao Ren was still touched by the gesture…

He however never thought that the cat was actually saying that!

Hao Ren was furious, and then…. there was nothing. The cat girl had an indestructible and self-preserving world view, she could very well entertain herself even when everyone ignores her.

And Hao Ren had no time to play with the cat. He had important work to be done.

The first thing he did after he got home was to send out the message sample that was recorded by Antony the moment the rift expanded to the exploratory drones in the Plane of Dreams.

The message sample is probably the sole clue of the location of the Crystal Core, and the exploratory droids were the most wide-ranging eyes and ears Hao Ren had in the Plane of Dreams. If these droids could not find the source of the message, the Crystal Core is probably gone for good.

It was obvious that Hao Ren was really concerned about the missing Crystal Core.

His concern obviously nothing to do with what Raven12345 had blabbered about. The real cause of concern was that the possibility of any relics of the Goddess of Creation being within the vicinity of where the Crystal Core had fallen. The second reason is that he needs a second ‘Gate of Reality’. And lastly, he still had one more concern.

And it is that the Crystal Core was just too powerful.

It was a divine relic in name and sense. Not only was it a divine relic, but the power within it was also divine. It had the power to pierce through the Wall of Reality and destroy the balance of worlds. And this had fallen into the already fragile Plane of Dreams. The mere thought of it sent chills down his spine. And Hao Ren knew that there was still an ‘ancient mastermind’ still hidden there. Would this mastermind find out that something so powerful had fallen into its cage and use it to break out?

While Raven12345 was a usually happy-go-lucky person, worry did form on her face when she found out that the Crystal Core was missing. This was enough to show the severity of things.

Hao Ren reckoned that if he could not get the Crystal Core back, things will definitely turn for the worst, and by then Raven12345 would need to intervene personally, and shit will hit the fan in the Plane of Dreams.

Hao Ren carefully detailed all he had seen in his reports, including the situation of the Nine Realms, the Ark of Origin, the Ultimate Salvation, etc. and had them sent to Raven 12345. After that he was working on massive flood of information coming from the exploratory droids, the control facilities at Purgatory, and the factories in the Solenne Gateway.

As the MDT produce another new set of consolidated reports to him, Hao Ren realized that he had unknowingly expanded his footsteps and work in places far and wide.

In the Surface World, the Plane of Dreams, the stars, and deep space, every minute and every second came a flood of information from the countless monitoring points across the area. Some were monitoring some ruins, some were recording a evolution of an ecosystem, some were monitoring the cultural evolution and progress of a race, and these tide of information were collected by the unmanned monitor droids before sending it to the nearest outpost or galactic fortress, and finally landing on his table as a consolidated report. All the along the process, the data were creeping upwards like a pyramid and finally reaching the top.

Then, Hao Ren read through the report with a stunned look, before sighing every five minutes. “F*ck me, there’s still that… F*ck me, there’s still that too?!”

He wondered if the other Inspectors went through the same thing during their rookie years.

Hao Ren flopped on the table as he continued reading his reports. Rollie was squatting by his side playing with a ball of yarn. The cat girl had no idea why Hao Ren had ignored her for the past two days, but she felt that as a cat, a proud, noble, intelligent and exceptionally cute cat, she had to maintain her poise, so if Big Boss Cat was ignoring her she would not disturb him either. But frankly…

Squatting there like a fool was just too boring!

The cat girl squatted on the floor as she played around with the yarn ball. She soon discovered that her previous plaything was now plain boring, and watching people fight on the telly was much more fun. She sneaked a peek at Hao Ren and realized that the latter was concentrating on reading his reports. She then tip-toed a few steps towards him.

Hao Ren did not react.

“Meeoww?” Rollie let out a gentle meow, before realizing that she had broken protocol and started feeling frustrated. After clearing her thoughts, she realized that Hao Ren had still not reacted to her.

She then decided to get even closer, and to throw the ball of yarn at Hao Ren if need me.

“What are you doing?” Hao Ren finally had enough of the dumb cat sneaking about like a thief and threw the dumb cat a glance.

He had already noticed Rollie’s movements the first time she got close, but the cat had a history of mindless actions, and the sudden explosion of her feline behavior was almost similar to Lily’s. So he could not be bothered with what she was doing by the side. But as he noticed the dumb cat getting closer, with a ball of yarn in cat, and a stupid grin on her face, Hao Ren had enough.

Could it be that the cat decided after being ignored for two days that it was time to off her master? And her weapon of choice, a ball of yarn? Isn’t that too wobbly a murder weapon?

Hao Ren’s voice gave Rollie a shock and the latter bowed her body as she leaped backward, her tail bristled and pointed towards the ceiling like a lightning rod. She gave Hao Ren a cautious look, before something came to mind: It was Big Boss Cat who spoke first!

So Rollie thought that she had won a huge victory. Feeling all satisfied, she came to Hao Ren’s side and lay her head on the latter’s leg. “Yep, you can start scratching my ears now.”

Hao Ren could not understand what the cat was actually thinking. “You and your antics…”

But he did not plan to dwell on the cat’s train of thought, and neither he planned to stop working. So he grabbed the MDT on one hand before letting the other down from the chair, landing just nice on Rollie’s head.

“I’m too lazy to move. Scratch it yourself.”

Rollie pondered for a bit, before starting to bob her head.

And just that, the cat’s worries was gone with the wind.

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