The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

A snowstorm was raging that night.

The ancient and fortified citadel of Snowfrost City stood in the midst of the snowstorm like a proud guard on the first sentry in front of Gorgon’s Abyss. It faced the cold wind and kept out the storm from the plains, but the howling of the cold wind was still able to penetrate through the gaps in the walls into the fortress city. The sound twisted through the walls and the magic barrier into a deep whimper, echoing in the outermost streets of the fortress city.

It was probably difficult for outsiders to sleep peacefully on such a night. Even the tough Northerners were irritated by the cries circling outside the city. They saw the hovering sounds over the land as ominous, therefore, the taverns on the outermost streets lit their brightest lights, and liquor was carried to the table, melting into courage and heat in the patrons’ veins.

The men of Snowfrost City laughed loudly in the tavern, dispelling the ominous sounds from the plain. They talked about the war on the front, the Knights of Ebon Blade who had lost their minds, Gorgon’s Abyss, and the “diplomatic envoy” that had entered the city during the day.

Whatever they were talking about, the point was to heat up the atmosphere so that it could withstand the blizzard, which was sweeping across the land.

However, almost all the noise was at the foot of the mountain. The higher up the city, the less human noise there was. In the area where the castle stood, the only noise was the roar of the snowstorm.

The cold wind swept the snow through the courtyard. The outside world was freezing, making the warm room seem like an isolated retreat.

Lily leaned over toward the window, watching the snow for quite some time. “Awwoo… Even I don’t think I want to go out in such a snowstorm…”

“Well, do you have any clues about the Holy Tumen Empire and the ‘source’ of the world collapse?” Hao Ren asked Rheia.

After his exploration of Gorgon’s Abyss, he gathered Lily, Vivian, and Rheia in the room to discuss the clues found by the three probes. The most promising source of information, of course, was the goddess of creation herself.

Unfortunately, Rheia knew nothing about the Tumen Empire either.

“Never heard of it,” said Rheia, shaking her legs on a high back chair. That was not a sign of her being in a good mood but one of her being slightly irritable. “While I do not understand, I have discovered something bad.”

“Something bad?” Hao Ren frowned. He sensed something ominous in Rheia’s simple words. “What is it?”

“Do you remember the connection between Gorgon’s Abyss and Black Pine Forest?”

Hao Ren nodded. “Of course. That’s why we took the short cut from Black Pine Forest to the north.”

“Then you probably remember when I said that Black Pine Forest is not fundamentally different from Gorgon’s Abyss. They are both ‘fragments of the deeper world’, and they are now connected in the real world because they are ‘rising’.” Rheia stopped shaking her legs and became serious. “I just confirmed two things.”

Hao Ren and Vivian looked at each other. “What two things?”

“First, the ‘rising’ is absolutely true. I have kept my eyes on the connection between Gorgon’s Abyss and Black Pine Forest. Now I can confirm that the connection is becoming more stable and that new connections are being built. This shows that the ‘debris of the world line’ deep in the world is indeed rising and has begun to affect the structure of the real world,” Rheia said slowly. “The second thing is… I have found that as those things rise, the stability of L’Haronne as a whole is decreasing.”

Hao Ren frowned slightly. “Can you explain it in words we understand?”

“L’Haronne is surrounded by my divine shield, so it can be seen as a closed ‘little world’. The information cycle of this little world is self-consistent and stable like a mini-universe. But since there is stability, there will be instability. At this point, L’Haronne’s stability as an information structure is declining⁠—in a normal world, entropy is exploding and the universe is collapsing! Plus, its stability is declining much faster than the debris of the world line is rising, which means that something else is speeding up the process of the world’s descent into chaos!”

Hao Ren finally realized the seriousness of the situation. “You mean… L’Haronne is collapsing?!”

Rheia nodded.

For some reason, Hao Ren suddenly thought of the inexplicable civil war that was going on in the Dragon Empire.

He first thought that it was just a regular conflict within an indigenous civilization, but clues gradually came to mind, giving him a vague feeling that he had caught something…

Unknown energy reactions at the core of the planet, the mysterious signal link between the core of the planet and the Dragon Empire, the secret of the Knights of the Broken Blade moving freely in Black Pine Forest, the connection between Black Pine Forest and Gorgon’s Abyss, the connection between Princess Constance and Gorgon’s Abyss…

He listed all the things that had happened, and the connection between them became more obvious.

The Knights of the Ebon Blade, bound to the Dragon Soul Emperor, showed signs of being tainted. At the same time, Princess Constance suddenly fought against the Knights of the Ebon Blade as if she had been preparing for a long time. The six northern provinces responded instantly, and Gorgon’s Abyss also weakened the intensity of its activities simultaneously. And as these events unfolded, the deeper part of the world also changed synchronously.

While the “debris of the world line” was beginning to rise from the bottom of the world, the stability of the entire L’Haronne was on a rapid decline.

Obviously, everything could be considered as “unexpected situations”, but when all things added up, it seemed like seamless coordination. It was like it had been rehearsed countless times.

“Could it have something to do with the Mad Lord’s residual influence?” asked Lily.

“I still don’t feel the energy undulations of the Mad Lord,” said Rheia in a despondent tone. “I do not feel good about this world. It is like a machine that is running according to a given program, and everyone is operating this machine as if they were destined to.”

“If L’Haronne’s stability continues to decline, how long will it last?” Hao Ren asked the most critical question.

“Two years, two years at the most,” said Rheia firmly. “And in the process, debris of the world line like Black Pine Forest and Gorgon’s Abyss will completely rise to the surface, replacing more than half of the planet and eating up more than 70% of its population. Then, the remaining ‘safety islands’ will also be out of order, the rules of physics will become chaotic, and the physical world will fall apart. In the end, the whole world will decompose into basic information elements, and nothing will be born, nothing will die, and that will be the last day of the world.”

Hao Ren was unsure of what he was supposed to do. He tapped the MDT and asked, “This… Is it beyond my job scope?”

“Don’t worry. If the planet doesn’t survive, we can move the people to a safer place. Then Rheia will be able to pack half the biosphere…”

Hao Ren breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good, but that’s for the worst-case scenario. We can’t just sit back and wait for this to happen. How can a world collapse so easily? Besides, it’s protected by Rheia’s power. Why is it coming to an end under these circumstances?”

No one could answer his question. Rheia could only shake her head with a wry smile, while Lily looked out of the window again to witness the snowstorm.

“The blizzard is raging…” muttered the husky girl. “It feels like something is going to happen tonight…”

Vivian gave Lily a sideways glance. “Don’t talk nonsense…”

As she said that, sudden tremors sent everyone in the room up from their chairs.

Rheia jumped straight onto the ground. Her face turned grim, and the next second, she approached the window and flung it open.

The snowstorm howled and rushed toward the window, but it all stopped before it touched Rheia’s body. It then backed away in fear.

Rheia looked south.

The sky in that direction had turned a deep black. Even though it was night, the sky was so dark, as though there was an enormous dark vortex hanging upside down, absorbing all the light.

“The Mad Lord…” said Rheia, gnashing her teeth.