The Record of Unusual Creatures

If the intelligence they obtained was accurate, the source of the corruption of the World Tree should be directly below the nest of Nidhogg. It was the core of the First Born: the brain. They explored along the crypt, and the signs found along the way showed the trend of this corruption. But one little thing was out of Hao Ren’s expectation.

The organ in front of his eyes was healthy.

“These tentacles and ganglion aren’t quite right,” the MDT said, flying around in the cave and sweeping his blue-scanning beam over the tangled vine-like tentacles. “They look like two clearly divided factions.”

Not only did the MDT discovered this, but Hao Ren had also noticed the abnormal tissues near the ganglion. The tentacles on the walls were not the same. Some of them had severe lesions, and their skins were wrinkled and blackened as if grilled by flame. The other part looked healthy, lively, and skin was glowing in silver runes. That was the unique symbol of the peculiar First Born of Yggdrasil. These two types of tentacles were as distinct as from two different organisms, they were intertwined and looked incompatible.

If it was a typical biological lesion, the lesion area was mostly gradual, healthy and unhealthy tissues would grow together with a lot of partially corrupted masses. But here, there was none.

Whether it was healthy tentacles or sick tentacles, they would eventually converge in the center of the large cave, growing on the beating ganglia, which had Hao Ren’s attention.

He looked at it for a long while and finally found something suspicious from the seemingly healthy organ. In the connective grid where the brain nucleus was located, some black marks were pulsing inside. At first, he thought it was a regular blood vessel or something, but then he suddenly remembered that there were no blood vessels around the brain of the First Born.

This was due to the brain nucleus being immersed in the lifeblood. Lifeblood did not require blood vessels to move around. The brain was suspended in a chamber filled with liquid, and the transmission of information between it and the surrounding tissues was carried out using a near-psionic connection; there were no physical organs or tissues around it that might cause shadows.

Hovering around the large organ in the center of the cave, the MDT was considering whether to use a high-power scanner. But it was reluctant because high-power equipment might wake up the First Born.

“We have to check what is inside,” Hao Ren said, pointing to the shadow. “Something is not right there.”

“Shall we scan it?” The MDT flew over.

“No.” Hao Ren waved. “I want to do an incision and take a look directly inside.”

“The risk is too high.” The MDT jumped to its feet, so to speak. “Yggdrasil will wake up as it is a powerful stimulus. We don’t currently have effective hypnosis for the First Born. The “lullaby” device copied from Holletta is only effective against specific First Borns. Theoretically, it does not affect this big guy.”

Hao Ren shook his head, pointing to the pool of lifeblood in the center of the cave. “The most dangerous thing is when lifeblood goes violent. As long as it can inhibit the activity of the lifeblood, it would greatly weaken the strength of the First Born. Remember the strong calming agent we synthesized on CARS? We can inject it into the First Born, and it would be okay, I guess.”

The Crapple Research Station, CARS, had been fiddling with the two First Born samples from Holletta for two years. No matter how mysterious the First Borns were, they had obtained some results, one of which was the targeted sedative. This sedative was essential when performing high irritancy tests.

The MDT was not questioning the effectiveness of this sedative, but the biggest problem lay elsewhere: the blood of the First Born was self-contained, and it could not be calmed or soothed by any calming agents.”

The MDT asked itself, “Sedative is not a problem, we have lots of them in the cargo bay of the Petrachelys. But what about the lifeblood?”

A little guy suddenly came to mind. Hao Ren said, “Fetch me, Lil Pea!”

“Right, Lil Pea can suppress the lifeblood!” Vivian had also realized. She remembered the fantastic talent the baby fish had shown in Tannagost. As the end of a world of life, Lil Pea had her unique position in the ecological order. The lifeblood created by the Goddess of Creation had an inherent fear and avoidant instinct towards Lil Pea.

The MDT immediately set off to fetch the little mermaid from Earth. With teleporting technology, it did not take long before a baby fish emerged from a blue light that flashed across the air. Hanging from Hao Ren’s neck, her tail slapping on his chest, the little guy said, “Dad-dee, vomit…”

The MDT’s teleportation skill was still a little unrefined, so the little mermaid was feeling dizzy.

“We’d better get it done quickly,” the MDT swayed from side to side beside Hao Ren’s head. “Your fish was playing with your cat. Now that the fish is gone, I don’t know how long the cat will continue to behave.”

Still hanging from Hao Ren’s head, Lil Pea said, “The cat is amusing!”

Galazur silently looked on without saying a word. She had long been refraining from commenting on the way how Hao Ren’s teammates got along.

The MDT had also brought the powerful Sedative for First Born Version 2.0 from the spaceship. Stored in a silver-white box and packed in metal tubes, all it took was one tube to give the First Born topical anesthesia that would last half an hour. But it remained to be seen how it would work on this First Born.

When all the conditions were ready, Hao Ren decided to start implementing this creative surgery.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Vivian looked at the living tissue beating in the center of the cave. “It is uncertain what would happen if it is flooded. Maybe we should evacuate the residents of Twilight Capital first.”

Hao Ren shrugged. “But we can’t do any other things when Yggdrasil remains in this state.”

He released three autonomous robots from his dimensional pocket. One of which grunted and circled them two times before picking up a tube of sedative and flew up to the ganglia of the First Born. Different tentacles of the autonomous robots had various functions, one of which was mimetic. The grunting little guy transformed its limb into a syringe and injected the sedative into the ganglia of the First Born.

*Psssh…*

Along with a sound of pressurization, the autonomous robot injected the sedative into the body of Yggdrasil. The red light pulsating on the surface of the nerve tissue dimmed, becoming barely visible, but it did not die down completely.

The sedative worked. But as Hao Ren had expected, the effect was not as evident as on ordinary First Born. Yggdrasil was apparently a more powerful individual, which had a stronger resistance to the sedative.

The autonomous robot emptied sedative in Cartridge No. 2 and No. 3 into the First Born and finally suppressed the neural response of the core tissue.

“Suppression of lifeblood begins.” Hao Ren held the one-foot-long little mermaid standing beside the pool of lifeblood and solemnly placed Lil Pea on the ground. “Initiating the first contact!”

Lil Pea clapped her hands and ran towards the surging red liquid. It was the instinct of a fish to be drawn to water. She did not care whether the color and form of the liquid looked dangerous. Like a master of rebellion, she liked challenges.

As expected, before Lil Pea could reach the pool, the lifeblood quieted down. Closest to the edge of the pond, the lifeblood even retreated. This avoidant reaction eventually affected the ganglia of Yggdrasil, the lifeblood in the tentacles and node organs also lost their vitality, and the sign of life of the First Born instantly dropped to the lowest level.

Galazur’s jaw dropped to the ground looking at what was happening. “It really works?”

“As usual, the unconventional way works the best.”

She was speechless.

Hao Ren asked Lil Pea not to go anywhere else but stood on the edge of the lifeblood pond so that the suppression would remain. When the little guy clenched her fists with a serious face and guaranteed that she would do as told, Hao Ren ordered two autonomous robots to begin to dissect the connective tissue outside the brain.

When the cutting beam cut through the knotted skin, a stench suddenly surged into their noses.