The Record of Unusual Creatures

“The Denizens of the Stars?” Surprised to hear Muru mentioning this mysterious race, Hao Ren asked, “You think they’re the masterminds of the deicidal incident?”

Muru shook his head. “That is not what I mean. As you know, we know very little about the Denizens of the Stars so we cannot come to a conclusion. But the Echo Wall has reminded me of something. You must still remember that we once said that all investigations of the Denizens of the Stars had come to nothing. The only information about them was this line, ‘The Denizens of the Stars come from the deepest part of the universe, and their place is screaming with the sound of darkness.'”

Hao Ren blinked. Of course, he remembered this part, which Lemendusa told him about. However, the race that said this and knew the Denizens of the Stars had disappeared. This was the only clue about ancient energy beings. The sound of darkness? This term caught Hao Ren’s attention.

“The sound of darkness, the sound of whispers, the echo wall. Are these just a coincidence?” Muru looked down at Hao Ren. “Together, these words make me think that there is some hidden connection between them. Like you have said, the Godslayer is a piece from our universe of millions of years ago. During that time, our guardians had not yet been born, but some powerful guy had made this sword, injected it with the power of the Echo Wall, and triggered the whispers in the soul of the mortals. The Denizens of the Stars are the oldest life in the universe. They existed when the sword was made. So in the old proverbs, the ‘voice of darkness’ of the Denizens of the Stars reminds me of something—”

Lily chimed in abruptly. “So you think the voice of darkness is the voice of whispers, and the Denizens of the Stars are the voice of darkness. At least they are so related.”

Muru was silent for a moment and shook his head. “All pieces of evidence point to this. But if this is the case, how could we explain the Denizens of the Stars coming to the rescue when the catastrophe struck?”

Lily thought for a moment and said, “Maybe they were just pretending. Or maybe their bad joke had wrong and tried to cover their back.”

That might be oversimplified, but it did make sense. Though Hao Ren did not want to have any prejudice against them for they had saved many lives before, he had to admit that under this inference, the Denizens of the Stars were suspects.

The voice of whispers, the echo wall, the sound of darkness: these three terms became the cobweb that implicated the Denizens of the Stars.

At this moment, Heve, who had been silent all this while, spoke with a calming voice. “We can’t prejudge anything. After all, that mortal race did not even see the Denizens of the Stars until the day they died. This words could only be a religious reverie. The words of my mother suddenly come to mind.”

Suddenly there was a silence. Lemendusa asked, “What did mother say? How come I don’t know?”

“That was just a casual conversation. When we were talking about the mysterious life in the universe and the Denizens of the Stars, mother said: ‘They are very lonely but trustworthy. If something happens, whatever it is, you have to remember my words; they are trustworthy.’ But I didn’t know that there was such a deep meaning to her words.”

Everyone looked at each other; Heve certainly did not intend to conceal what the Goddess of Creation had said. She only remembered this casual conversation with her mother when everyone became suspicious of the Denizens of the Stars now. But this information was significant.

“It seems that we must be more cautious with the Denizens of the Stars,” Lemendusa said. “But before we find those ‘hermits,’ we need to keep our eyes open.”

“Then leave this matter aside,” Hao Ren said and tucked the sword away. “Do you know a guardian giant called Mimir? He is in my universe.”

“Mimir?” Lemendusa was surprised as if he knew something. “I know three compatriots named Mimir. One was a warrior, but he died in the early days of the war. Another one was an orbit guardian of the Gate of Solenne, and he was also dead. The last one is a great man, the first of us to be born, known as the ‘wise man who stares at the stars,’ responsible for coordinating the monitoring information of all habited planets in the universe, and the caregiver of mother’s garden. He disappeared after the war broke out 10,000 years ago. I thought he had died on the battlefield.”

“That seems to be him,” Hao Ren said, gently clapping his hands. “He didn’t die, but he came to Earth together with the many otherworldlings through the Wall of Reality. I think he has some kind of mission, but like other otherworldlings, he has lost his memory under the influence of the Sin of the Divine Blood.”

As he spoke, he let the MDT turn on a hologram with Mimir’s photo in it.

“Oh, my mother!” Lemendusa cried, seeing Mimir’s head in the hologram. “How did our brother become like this?”

“It was an experimental accident. Mimir’s body was destroyed, but his head was still fine,” Hao Ren explained. “He’s forgotten everything about the Plane of Dreams, so I’m going to arrange you all to meet. But I can’t bring him over to the Plane of Dreams. At least not at the moment. I have a more suitable place, where you may be able to talk face to face and don’t have to worry about putting too much pressure on the Wall of Reality.”

Muru asked in an eager tone of voice, “Where?”

“I have consulted my superior, and her advice is a place in our universe called the Scarred Nebula. It is a scar in the universe, a large tear in the Wall of Reality that has happened many years ago, situated between two universes, where the two universal rules have formed a dynamic balance there. It will be safe to meet there.”

In fact, using the Scarred Nebula as a new bridge between the Plane of Dreams and the surface world had long been in his mind. His intention was more than letting the guardians meet. Currently, the only channel that Hao Ren could use to travel between the Plane of Dreams and the Surface World was the rift below the Siberian Andrea Castle: a known stable passage. But, the size of this passage was small. Even though he had used various dimensional equipment to reinforce and expand the rift, transporting large goods through it was still a problem.

His work had come to the stage where he needed an army of helpers, sort of, to complete his missions. He had to face epic events, which sometimes called for the mobilization of an army. Transferring such a large number of people to the Plane of Dreams would destabilize the Wall of Reality. So he urgently needed to open a new stable passage.

After consulting with Raven 12345, they agreed that the Scarred Nebula was the best choice. Even though the rift had now stabilized and calmed down, there was still a connection point in the inside, where he could open a gate.

Of course, this gate would only allow Hao Ren to transport ordinary personnel and resources. Considering the unique nature of the guardian giants, they could not cross the Wall of Reality. So Hao Ren would build an exclusive zone, which would be equivalent to a safe island between the two universes in the Scarred Nebula. That way, Mimir, Muru, and the other giants could meet.

Raven 12345’s technical support had played an important part here; of course in a non-explosive way.

“We are counting on you,” Lemendusa said. “We will go wherever it takes.”

Hao Ren nodded. “Not a problem. But I still need some time to open this gate. I need to wait for the Wall of Reality to be in its most stable condition before I can open the connection. The next cycle is about one month from now. Before that, you can go chat online. Here, this is a special communication device.”

While saying, he took a silver-white, cube-shaped device out of his dimensional pocket and handed it to Muru.

“Mimir has the same device as yours. It is custom-made for demigods like you all to filter out the interference when you talk to each other and thus eliminating the pressure on the Wall of Reality. Go and give it a try. Mimir should be online now.”

Carefully holding the communication device with his two giant fingers that were as large as the pillar in a palace, Muru said, “Do you have a bigger one?”

“Ahh! I didn’t realize it.”