The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

This section of returning to the past was more pleasant than all the previous ones, but Hao Ren knew that traveling in the distorted space and time was nowhere near pleasant.

There were always things out of his expectations and troubles that awaited him.

They had met Vivian wandering in the Amazon Jungle. But before they could talk, Vivian had gone into her pre-hibernation state of violence, which almost wiped out Hao Ren’s entire team.

On the steppes of Mongolia, Vivian’s mausoleum was right before their eyes. But the sudden appearance of close to a hundred demon hunters and more remnants of the werewolves had dragged them into a melee. With the protection of his Steel Membrane Shield, Hao Ren went ahead to wake Vivian up amid the violent bombardment.

In ancient Rome, towards the end of the Mythological Era, God knows what would await them.

After changing into costumes that were appropriate to the era, Hao Ren and his team wandered the city of Rome as they gathered information along the way.

The ancient city surprised Hao Ren. Compared with the barbaric American tribal settlements and polluted European towns in medieval times, the order and grandeur of Rome was a miracle. From a municipal point of view, it was even more beautiful and livable than the medieval European cities more than a thousand years later. At least in Rome, there was no rotten smell. There were big houses on the side of the road, exquisite stone carvings everywhere, and decorative pillars that projected the power of the Roman Republic. All these things combined was the embryonic form of a mighty empire. At that time, Rome was only a republic and not an empire, but it had already manifested some of the qualities of an empire. These qualities were embedded in the grandeur of urban architecture and in the proud as well as confident faces of the people.

Hao Ren knew that the level of human productivity on Earth during this era was uncomparable to later generations, yet he still held the city in high regard.

“So, history is a spiral, and there will always be a time when things dip a little,” Hessiana said. Her voice was filled with emotions looking at the city where she was ‘born.'”Even In the era of the Republic, Rome had comprehensive urban planning. There were professionally-managed drainage system and sewage treatment, but the Germans from the wildland had smashed these facilities to the ground—barbarism destroyed civilization. Until the fifteenth century, Paris in France still did not manage to recreate the sewerage technology of the Roman era. Tsk tsk.”

Little Bat had great respect for this city. After all, it was her hometown where she had an emotional attachment.

Lily stretched her neck and looked around. “Can we find Vivian just by strolling around in the city?”

“Of course not. But it is the best way we can use right now.” Hessiana glanced at Lily. “First of all, I cannot remember what happened when I was little, it has been two thousand years. Now I can get lost in Rome. Secondly, Lady Vivian and I were homeless at that time. We were wandering in and around Rome, usually within a hundred miles of the city center.”

“A hundred miles in radius? What the heck! How long it would take us to scout the entire area?” Lily was wide-eyed.

“So we need to find clues,” said Hessiana, looking annoyed by the stupid dog. “This is the tail end of the Mythological Era. The gods are not completely finished yet, and Vivian and I were in the open. We will find something sooner or later.”

The tail end of the Mythological Era; Hessiana’s description was apt.

“At this time, are the gods on Mount Olympus still there? Hasse, tell me about this period and the gods.” Hao Ren said.

Hasse’s face was still emotionless. “This is the end time of the Mythological Era, and all the foreign gods on this planet are going downhill as the demon hunters continue their attack on the gods. Another reason for their decline is that their ruling method is unsustainable. At this time, Odin of the Nordic side is still sending Valkyries to collect spirit warriors to get ready for the Twilight of the Gods. But the Zeus family on Mount Olympus is losing the battle. If I remember it correctly, before the rise of Caesar, the demon hunter, Amatura, had led an army and brought down the dimensional barrier of Olympus. Our soldiers and the Ares’ army fought for decades at the foot of Mount Olympus. During Caesar’s time, I again led a second battle group to attack Apollo from the south of Mount Olympus and went all the way up to the throne of Zeus. And you know the rest of the story; we destroyed the energy furnace and control center of Olympus, and the collapse of the dimension was clearly visible in the human world.”

Hao Ren certainly knew this last big event. He also knew that when Mount Olympus fell, there was a group of sirens on the sea. The strange items collectors salvaged many things that dropped from Mount Olympus. Among the items the sirens had taken was the statue of Vivian.

“When was it?” Hao Ren looked at Hasse. “Was Rome a republic or an empire? Was Caesar assassinated?”

“Then I have no idea,” Hasse shrugged. “We did not care about the human world, at least that was the case at that time. To us, the succession of the throne and social change in the human kingdoms were no different from a troop of monkeys getting a new leader.”

Hao Ren was stupefied.

After hearing what Hasse said, Lily kept looking around curiously. “If that is the case, the demon hunters must be attacking Mount Olympus now.”

Hasse nodded. “Not only that, even I in history might be in the battlefield now.”

“I cannot really see from here. The world of the gods is crumbling, but human society in Rome is still business as usual. Look there, a bunch of monks is still strolling around!”

“It is indeed true. The war in the divine realm is a remote happening to the humans. The otherworldlings used their superb technology or magic to create various other dimensions. They wanted to show that they were powerful, and they did not want to live with the ‘inferior, ignorant’ humans. But this ultimately shielded the human world from the war of the gods, because all main battlefields were in the divine realms. Of course, the battle of the gods had an impact on humans, but it often happened at the end of the war. When the celestial spheres crumbled down, debris fell into the world and left behind many legends, such as the Twilight of Gods. All this has been passed down as myths and legends.”

While Lily and Hasse discussed the fight of the gods, an idea suddenly crossed Hao Ren’s mind.

Hao Ren realized that he might have another way to find out the whereabouts of Vivian.

“The gods of Olympus are still not dead yet, right?”

Hasse glanced at Hao Ren. “Hard to say. But judging from the current atmosphere in the city, humans have not noticed the collapse of Olympus. The gods of Olympus should still be alive.”

“That will be easy.” Hao Ren clapped. “Let us go and find a temple!”

“What for?” Lily had no clue what Hao Ren was up to.

“Look for the so-called ‘God’ to find out the situation!”

Temples were abundant in Rome.

As a country of inclusiveness and acceptance of foreign elements, Rome had never declined the foreign religions from settling in the land. As long as they did not adversely affect the foundation of the country and deny the Romans their own values, then foreign religions could easily find a foothold in the city—of course, they were required to pay for it. This open-door policy directly led to religions sprouted like mushrooms after the rain in Rome.

In the process of religious fusion, the ancient Greek gods from the Greek peninsula became the dominant religion. This otherworldling family, which was at its peak during the Middle Ages, spread their influence throughout the Mediterranean region—the ancient Greek peninsula, the ancient Italian peninsula, and the vast areas surrounding them. Many of the gods were mainly Olympians or their incarnations and variants in the world.

There was a less accurate saying that the Roman gods were Greek. This theory lacked professionalism and diligence in archaeology and mythology, but many gods worshipped in Rome did have the shadows of Greek gods. As the greatest successor of ancient Greek civilization, the Romans had included over half of the Greek gods into their own mythological system and fused the gods together. Even though the gods’ name and title had changed, in essence, the offerings in the temples would eventually be sent to the same place: Mount Olympus.

Hao Ren once learned from Vivian about the method by which the ancient gods ruled the human world. These gods lived in the divine realm isolated from the human world. But to accept the offering and show their majesty, they must leave a channel of communication by which the mortal could communicate with them. This channel was in the form of the temples built under their inspiration. Other than the small religions and temples, large temples or registered temples had professional priests, who were considered to have the power to communicate with the gods, and in fact, it was true.

At least until the death of the gods, the human spokespersons they chose were able to connect with their gods.

After thirty minutes of getting lost, Hao Ren found a place that seemed right: the Temple of Apollo.