The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

Hao Ren took the shopping list that Vivian gave him and headed to the market with Lily and Lorissa following suit. As usual, Lily’s eyes busily darted about her surroundings the whole time. Lorissa had shapeshifted into a human, and the sight of an earthling’s daily life aroused curiosity in the cloned mage empress. Unlike Lily, Lorissa was more restraint. She observed quietly. Everything seemed to be new to her.

Hao Ren looked back at the two, feeling a little funny. He asked Lily, “Didn’t you want to counsel Beanbag?”

“Don’t worry about it. That guy has been out on the street for half a month anyway,” Lily said while waving her hand. “It’s not like Lorrisa can come to Earth very often. I should accompany her shopping.”

“You mean you want to go shopping.” Hao Ren could not help but shoot the husky a sideways glance. As the saying went, walking your dog was part of the responsibility that came with keeping a dog. All the more so when it was a husky. Instead of shopping, Hao Ren began to feel that he was walking the dog now. “Lorissa, how do you feel about shopping on Earth for the first time?”

“It’s very lively, but it is not as much as I have imagined,” Lorissa said. “I was shocked when I heard that there were seven billion people on this planet. I thought it would be packed like sardines in this place. But it looks not much different from the royal city of Holletta.”

“It is true that there are seven billion people on this planet, but not all of them stay in one place. Here where I live in is a suburb. The population here is not comparable to the city. The next time I take you to the city center, you will know what overpopulation means.”

“Overpopulation? What a surprise to hear you talking about it here,” Lorissa said. There was a sudden sense of sadness on her face. “During the heyday of the Magic Empire, we had nearly ten billion people on the planet. Our city rose into the sky and expanded to the bottom of the sea, but it could never catch up with the increase in population. So we built a colony on the moon. Everyone felt that our expansion was unstoppable and would soon go interstellar. But… sigh.”

Hearing the sigh of Lorissa, Lily’s eyes brightened up. She wrapped her arm around Lorissa’s shoulder and said, “Hey, it seems that we have something in common here.”

“Something in common?” Lorissa was puzzled looking at the husky. “You are also a queen?”

“I was also an empress!” Lily sounded particularly happy. “I was the leader of the demon hunters in my previous life, and you were an elven queen. So both of us were the first empresses. You are the clone of the elven queen, but you inherit her memory, so it is still the same.”

Lorissa was dumbstruck.

Lily began to lament, “Sigh, I have had my pinnacle in life. During my time as the leader of the demon hunters, life was hard, but at least we were unlike other races that did nothing but fight. We lived around the Arctic Circle, stayed aloof of this world and managed to survive. Later, we acquired our territory, Coldpath. We had land, a roof over our heads, and unlimited energy supply. We thought that the demon hunters were at the height of our civilization. But the unexpected happened… sigh.”

“There went my throne.” The two maidens sighed in unison.

Hao Ren felt goosebumps all over his skin. “What is the matter with both of you? I can understand why Lorissa lamented about her past, but you, Lily, did you not lose your memory of your previous life?”

“Did I not tell you that I have recovered some pieces of my previous life’s memory?” Lily said matter-of-factly. “Let me tell you, Mr. Landlord. I sometimes dreamed of the royal court. Do you know how awesome I was in the past?”

But seeing Hao Ren’s face that looked like saying “you are bluffing,” Lily was piqued. “Forget it, mortal like you would not understand what I say. –Lorissa, tell me about your experience as a queen.”

Lorissa shook her head helplessly. “Experience as a queen? That is not my experience. I am just a clone. The memories that I inherited are not mine, and they are confusing at times. My memory was all about experiments and taking orders from others, including the real elven queen. Clone One, do this; and Clone One, do that. They would not even call my name, because even that name is not mine. Sometimes I feel like schizophrenic. Half of me is the elven queen—I have her memory and personality. But this part seems like the books in the library. It stays on the shelves lifelessly. I occasionally flipped through them as if I were looking at a stranger from the indifferent perspective of a third-party. The other half of me is a clone, who used to take orders from others, has never thought of where I come from, nor what is the purpose of my life. I thought that it was useless to even think about these things.”

Lily began to feel sad for Lorrissa. “Oh, so sad.”

“Is it?” Lorissa could not care less. “I don’t feel it at all. My life has been like that ever since I have memories. Maybe it is not a good life in your perspective. Anyway, it is the past; no one is giving me order or determining what I should do tomorrow. I am trying to learn to arrange my own life now, and it feels good.”

A question suddenly crossed Hao Ren’s mind. “Lorissa, how old do you think you are now?”

“One and a half years old. Why?”

Hao Ren was flabbergasted.

Even Lily was stupified. “What? What is wrong with me being one and a half years old?” Lorissa asked.

It took Hao Ren a long while before he could utter, “There is nothing wrong with it. After all, your time has stood still for ten thousand years. But still, you do not look like you are one and a half years old.”

Lorissa looked down at her body and then looked up helplessly. “I can’t help it. I was born this way.”

“All right, I will take it as one and a half years old,” Hao Ren said while waving his hand helplessly. “You will have to call Lil Pea your elder sister though.”

Lorissa was startled. She had never thought about this problem before. “So I am the youngest around here?”

“Not really.” Hao Ren waved his hand. “There is still one guy younger than you.”

“Even younger than me?” Lorissa was shocked. “Is that fish not young enough?”

“Noobie will only attain one year old in a few months. I thought my house was a kindergarten at first. but now, I realize that it is actually a nursery.”

Lorissa and Lily were stupefied.

So the three of them chatted as they walked. After spending half a day at the market hunting for the stuff that Vivian needed, Hao Ren only realized that it was a long list of items. He felt like he could almost open a fruits and vegetable store and need not to have to come back again for the entire month with all the things he had bought. Lily was carrying two large bags and babbled, “I do not think Battie will even use half of what we bought. The cunning bat must be tricking us into buying the entire month’ worth of grocery.”

Hao Ren was also hauling two bags of stuff. But he did not complain. “If that is really the case, you should be happy instead. It means you can start eating when you go back.”

It worked for the husky, who began to feel everything make sense and complained no more.

“Do you not have a dimensional pocket? Why do we have to lug the things around like ordinary people?” Lorissa asked curiously. “I also heard you bargaining with the vendors. Are you not a pope?”

“It is called life. Do you know what life is?” Hao Ren looked at Lorissa, his tone of voice sounded particularly imperious. “You have to learn to enjoy life. Otherwise, you will miss many things in life. I spend over two hundred days a year blowing up things… err, I mean carrying out missions. It feels good to be at home. Sometimes, I even think that going out to pay my utility bills is a pleasure. Do you understand what I say?”

“Nope,” Lorissa replied, shaking her head. “I am only one and a half years old.”

Hao Ren was stupified.

It does not help to tell people that you are only one and a half years old while you clearly have an adult face, Hao Ren said to himself.

Vivian quickly came up and took the grocery from Hao Ren and Lily as soon as the three of them stepped into the doorway. “Thank you very much. It has been a long day. I did not expect it to be this many. Hao Ren, you should have let Lily carry all the stuff. She has strong arms.”

“I wanted to, but she bites,” Hao Ren mumbled.

“Bah, she consumes the most when it comes to eating,” Vivian said, twitching her mouth. She then summoned a group of bats to lug those things into the kitchen. Lily suddenly jumped up. “Mr. Landlord, do you see that? She really moves the stuff into the kitchen!” Lily said.

“If not, where should we store those things? Your room?” Hao Ren asked, rolling his eyes.

Lily thought for a moment and said, “Sounds good!”

Hao Ren was speechless.

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