The Record of Unusual Creatures

In theory, Lily could have bitten Vivian’s arm to draw her blood. But in reality, Lily did not stand a chance. Vivian had dispersed into a swarm of bats and flown away, leaving behind a ball of lightning, which blew up in Lily’s mouth. “Arf!”

“Doggie, are you stupid or something?” Vivian reemerged, glaring at the husky, who covered her mouth in pain. “What wrong have I done? Looks like I was right; I can’t ever relax around you.”

Electrocuted, Lily’s tongue felt numb. It was only after a long while that she breathed a sigh of relief and complained about Vivian to Hao Ren. “Mr. Landlord, she’s bullying me. I’m not stupid. That lightning really hurt my mouth.”

With his sleeve, Hao Ren tried to wipe Lily’s face, which was blackened by the explosion. He then glanced at the text on the ground and nodded to Vivian and said, “I think you should draw your blood, after all, that’s why the text says.”

Speechless.

“Of course, not in the crude way Lily would take,” Hao Ren said, pressing his hand on Lily’s head so that she would not get too carried away. He then poked the MDT. “Check this magic circle.”

“No traps, hidden settings nor suspicious energy source are found. This should be the switch of a certain system. It looks fine now, but I cannot say what would happen when activated. I am not a prophet, you know,” the MDT said.

Hao Ren thought for a moment, thinking that since it was the goddess of creation who left it behind, it should be fine. At least she would not harm her own descendants whom she created with the lifeblood. Anyway, he felt the need to consult the witness of the deicidal war first.

He took out the Godslayer from his dimensional pocket. “Hey Godslayer, let me ask you something.”

Seeing the black sword, White Flame was shocked. “This sword—”

“Don’t worry, it’s harmless now,” Hao Ren said while waving his hand. “I have asked my boss to give it a blessing. The negative power of this thing has been emptied. I tell you what, the mind of the sword itself is actually—”

Before he finished, the Godslayer had recovered its thinking ability because of the Echo Wall effect of the mind connection. It saw the demon hunters in front of it and quickly introduced itself. “Hello, I am Godslayer, alias Echo Wall, and nickname Small Sword. You can call me Householder Stabber.”

Hao Ren quickly motioned the Godslayer to shut up. Glaring at the MDT, he said, “Look at what you’ve taught it!”

The MDT flew in a circle, pretending not hearing.

White Flame had shown great interest in the sword, but she knew that was not the priority right now, so she did not ask too many questions. Hao Ren let the Godslayer take a look at the reliefs, which appeared like a magic circle. “Is this what the goddess of creation created? Is it a trap your wielder or other person has left behind?” Hao Ren asked.

The Godslayer carefully examined it. “No. They didn’t leave this behind; the scent is different. It should be of the goddess of creation, I could remember it clearly. I have been spending most of my time getting rid of this kind of scent.”

“Thank you.” Hao Ren put away the sword and nodded to Vivian. “Come over. Try to activate this thing. Everyone, please step back. White Flame, you too. The farther, the better.”

Hao Ren was deeply impressed by the power of the Words of God. Words of the goddess of creation in the soul of Zhao Xi had already yielded such immense power, it was hard to say whether this ‘magic circle’ would release something more powerful. Judging from what he knew, the Zhao Xi’s infection of the Words of God must have something to do with the space-time vault; so he could not be too careful with it.

Lily and Rollie had got their fingers burnt by the Words of God. Same went to White Flame. Everyone retreated to outside the platform. Hao Ren wasted no time and proceeded to lay a circle of shield generator around the magic circle. The shield generator was a standard issue device his superior gave him. It would have some divine power.

Vivian came up to the magic circle, preparing to draw her blood. This time it would not be the corrosive blood mist that she used in combat but real blood. This blood of the most ancient was the most precious and coveted element in the eyes of the blood-sucking vampire community. Now Vivian was going to drip that on the ground.

Vivian punctured her fingertip with her nail and blood began to ooze out and drip on the ground. She licked her lips. “What a waste!”

“I thought you did not drink blood?” Hao Ren asked.

“I can, but I do not need to,” Vivian said, rolling her eyes. “I like blood tofu more.”

Her blood dripped on the intricate pattern on the ground. But there was no whatsoever response.

“Looks like it doesn’t work.” Vivian’s brows knit together. “Have we done it the wrong way?”

Hao Ren crouched down, examining the pattern. “Maybe you need to squeeze a little more… Why are you holding a straw?”

Vivian appeared hesitating and embarrassed. “Didn’t you say if food dropped on the ground, you could still pick it up and eat it within three seconds?”

Hao Ren laughed. “Since when you have become so unambitious? Didn’t you teach Hessiana to not do this last time?”

“But that this is my own blood. Do you know how precious it is?”

Speechless.

“Buddy, this thing is responding.” The MDT interrupted.

Hao Ren looked down at the magic circle. The blood on the pattern began to glow like a fluorescent liquid, flowing in the grooves and gradually filling the entire pattern.

Shocked, Hao Ren took a step back. “I thought it didn’t work. How could this happen suddenly?”

The MDT thought for a moment. “Perhaps it has been lying idle here for too long, it needs more time to boot up.”

“What should I do next?” Vivian stood helplessly before the magic circle that had turned red. “Although you’re saying that this is meant for me, I have absolutely no clue how to operate it!”

“Could it be highly intelligent?” Puzzled by why the goddess of creation had not left behind any instruction of use, Hao Ren began to think. “Probably it will work if you chant the magical phrase ‘Open sesame’!”

Vivian thought for a moment, and then with a solemn tone of voice she said, “Open sesame!”

“You really try?”

As Vivian’s voice trailed off, the red runes and intaglio patterns on the ground glowed brighter and flashed rhythmically.

“Holy moly, it really works!” Hao Ren was stunned.

“I don’t think it is because of the secret phrases,” the MDT said. It could not believe in their hilariously illogical reasoning. “It must be because it has authenticated Vivian’s identity only it comes to live… Look! Something is coming!”

Hao Ren had also seen the purple lights that flew from the deep space!

Those lights were the space fissures scattered around the Netherrealm Clock Tower. As if being pulled by some forces, the cracks came together like a jigsaw puzzle. In just matter of a few minutes, a spheroidal body with a mysterious purple halo took shape.

The sphere was shockingly huge at six hundred meters across. Standing at a distance, Hao Ren sensed a phobia rose within him. The fissures joined together seamlessly.

It was as if they had utterly fused together.

A moment later, the colossal treasure vault that had been hidden for 10,000 years quietly opened.

The sphere suddenly shattered dust of light. An extremely complicated and mysterious device with a diameter of 500 m emerged.

It was a huge metal ball.

Hao Ren’s jaw dropped to the ground. He nudged Vivian. “Why did your mom leave you a ball?”

Lily thought for a moment. “Probably so that you can play the egg collision game¹.”