The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

Lily suddenly appeared behind Hao Ren while he was immersed in his lofty sentiments and aspirations. The husky was a spoiler, but aside from the trivial annoyance, Hao Ren was happy to see her.

In that lonely and dangerous retrospective journey, any company was better than none.

Moreover, Lily was a very useful partner. Her nose, among other things, had fully proven her worth.

It took Hao Ren a few seconds to accept the fact that his tenants were playing mahjong and card games on the other side. He then curiously looked at the husky maiden. “I still don’t understand how you came in?”

“Me too.” Lily scratched her head. “While sticking a paper note on Hessiana’s face to prank her, I felt dizziness hit me, and footages flashed across my mind. The next thing I knew, I was already here.”

“Footages?” That word caught Hao Ren’s attention. “What footages?”

“I saw myself following you in the woods and cooking for you. Then we entered a valley…” Lily suddenly paused, seemingly thinking of something. “Mr. Landlord! Are all these extra memories real?”

Hao Ren already had some speculation in mind. “They did happen. They’re experiences I had with the you of the past in this distorted space and time. The time should be in the early part of the last century, where you were still hunting in the Siberian snowfields. It seems that for some inexplicable reason, you have connected with ‘yourself’ in this space and time. As a result, your consciousness has entered this world and attached to your past self. In theory, I’m supposed to be on the second leg of my retrospective journey, which is some time around Vivian’s second hibernation. You haven’t been born at this time. Your projection shouldn’t have reached this far.”

While Hao Ren was in confusion, Lily suddenly froze, and her temperament took a one-eighty. Hao Ren felt like the husky had turned into a completely different person, from a dumbo to a neurotic.

“It’s me, Hao Ren,” Lily suddenly said. But it was Raven 12345’s voice. “Not bad, dude. What you’ve achieved so far has surprised me. It only took you this long to change the rules of the sandbox?”

Cold sweat trickled down his forehead. Hao Ren quickly shook the disrespectful thoughts out of his mind. “Boss? How could it be you?”

“Surprising, isn’t it? Yeah, I can do that,” Raven 12345 said, not forgetting to boast.

“I was with the Lily from the past, but she suddenly turned into Lily of the present. She’s not supposed to exist anymore once I enter the next node. Yet, she’s followed me a few hundreds of years further back in time.”

Hao Ren told Raven 12345 about the strange phenomenon that happened to him, his thoughts, and the information he received from Vivian.

Raven 12345—in Lily’s body—thought for a moment and said, “Well, you’re going about it in the right direction generally. I’ve observed something from outside the sandbox and the evidence confirms this.”

“It looks like you know what’s happening.”

“You’ve successfully backtracked to one point in time and liberated a part of Vivian’s consciousness from the memory vortex. This part of her consciousness is now back in her control as a part of her power. It has begun to resist the distortion of history caused by the resonance of the Malevolences. The results are still not good enough to reverse the distortion, but a result is a result; it has begun to affect the mirrored Earth in the sandbox,” Raven 12345 explained. “It has lessened the distortion somewhat, reduced the contamination of the mirrored Earth, and weakened the isolation of the chaotic space and time, leading to ‘safer’ information being able to enter the sandbox. But no random information can enter. It must fulfill certain conditions such as have something to do with your actions, require a receiver, and not affect the history of this distorted space and time. Lily seems to fit these conditions perfectly. So she’s the first one to make it in.”

“The first one? Are you saying that more people are coming in?”

“If you can find a second person who meets the conditions, it would help you in your retrospective journey. But only their consciousness can enter. They cannot bring along learned skills and physical equipment, so their strengths won’t be greatly discounted. I guess this Lily in front of you will not be able to use her Doggoblast, so just be mindful.”

That was better than nothing. Hao Ren could not have asked for more. He was just worried about one thing. “Wait a minute. If something bad happens to those who’ve ‘sneaked in’ here, what will happen?”

“You mean dying in the retrospective journey?”

Hao Ren nodded.

Hao Ren was reluctant to say it but he had to take this potential problem into account. The retrospective journey was dangerous. Those who came in would face the darkest and most chaotic era on Earth, plus they would face various threats because of their identities. The life of a werewolf at the end of the Mythological Era was so much harder than that of an ordinary human, let alone a half-baked werewolf. In the real world, Hao Ren had a spaceship, drone clusters, an MDT, and tons of other life-saving equipment. But in there, he only had explosives and supplies in his Dimensional Pocket.

Hao Ren could easily disguise himself because the innate hostility did not affect him one bit. As long as he was smart and cautious enough, he could stay alive in the Dark Ages. But he could not say the same for his little buddy who had become a moving time bomb once she entered into the Dark Ages and Mythological Era.

Raven 12345—in Lily’s body—closed her eyes and slowly opened them again after a moment. “All I can say is that be safe. They only enter the mirrored Earth via their consciousness. They won’t really die and the system will kick them out of the sandbox once they ‘perish.’ But things involving the soul are always complicated, and the environment inside the sandbox is not stable. One could become a retard or have extreme changes in temperament upon returning to the real world after dying in the sandbox.”

Basically, those coming to help would not only have lower combat effectiveness but also have so many restrictions. It sounded like they would be more of a hindrance than a help. Hao Ren was just thankful that he met Lily first, not the Nangong Siblings, who would have beaten a hasty retreat once they found that they were 200 years back in time. Lily had brute physical strength at least.

Disheartenment was written all over Hao Ren’s face. Raven 12345 noticed it and said, “You’re being a little too nervous. Your friends are not children, and you’re not their nanny. You should believe in them; at least trust that they have the ability to take care of themselves. A leader should not see his or her teammates as a burden. Instead of worrying about them, you should worry about yourself: you’ve entered the sandbox in person, and because of the special nature of the sandbox, you cannot upload your soul from within the sandbox. Even I can only contact you at a specific time and place. Do you know what that means?”

“If I die here, I die for real.”

“You don’t seem to be nervous at all?” It was Raven 12345 who was surprised this time.

“I’ve thought about it before I came.” Hao Ren shrugged. “I’ve done my homework. During the mission briefing, I did some checks in the database to see how the sandbox works. Don’t worry, I won’t die here. I’m not going to die in Vivian’s dream and become a laughing stock for the next century.”

“Glad to hear.” Raven 12345 finally smiled in approval and nodded. “Then I should end the connection. The tolerance for interference in the sandbox is limited. Our next contact will be after you finish another leg of backtracking… Oh, you still have less than a minute to ask questions.”

“Is Lily’s body still outside? What’s her situation?” Hao Ren asked.

“Don’t worry, she’s fine. Hessiana’s putting stickers on her face while Y’lisabet’s about to paint a tortoise on her forehead. I’ll stop them at the right time.”

Raven 12345’s voice slowly faded into complete silence as Lily’s head sank.

After a few moments, Lily looked up. Hao Ren knew that the husky had returned, judging from her big eyes.

However, he hesitated in telling Lily about the current activities on the other side.

“Mr. Landlord, what happened?” Lily’s eyes spun for a while before she could refocus. “I spaced out, and my mind was blank just now! It seemed to be a long time. Is the sandbox causing a bad connection?”

The husky was truly amazing… She actually described it as a “bad connection”.

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