The Record of Unusual Creatures

There was a fault in the fusion reaction! It was all because of that!

The people of a glorious civilization, running for their very lives, struggling desperately to survive, were in the end stumbled by a mechanical failure! This hibernation facility should have continued running for many more years to come, but when the fusion reactor in the ark suddenly broke down, the hibernation facility’s mainframe was affected. It awakened the children before their time. Hao Ren could not understand what the logic was behind the mainframe’s decision, but he knew that the mainframe’s designer had not foreseen this possibility. Even Vivian, who was no stranger to the rise and fall of various societies, could not help but sighed. “Fate can be cruel.”

Suddenly, the IDT found something interesting. “Hold on, it looks like there is a room in front.”

It flew quickly towards the other end of the bridge. Hao Ren did not know what it found, but he followed closely from behind. The group ran along the hundred-meter long bridge and arrived at the other side of the cylindrical expanse. There was a small door on the wall, with no clear indication of how to open it.

The ID hacked into the door’s security system and made short work of the lock.

Beyond the door was a small room. Hao Ren and his group noticed immediately that this place was not as clean as the vault. Miscellaneous items were scattered on the floor. Empty food cans and paper boxes took up nearly half the room. The rest of the space was occupied by all kinds of electric cables and controls. Upon his first sight of the room, Hao Ren immediately realized something – someone once lived here!

“There’s a hibernation pod here too!” Lily noticed something hidden behind all the junk. Everyone else turned and saw a silverish metallic container stowed away in a corner. Unlike the pods outside, this one was markedly larger.

It was made for an adult.

The IDT floated over to inspect it, and then gasped in pleasant surprise. “There are signs of life inside!”

Hao Ren was taken aback by the discovery, but this was no time to be pensive. “Open it, quick!”

By then, the IDT had already understood the workings of this low tech hibernation pod. It connected to the pod’s system circuitry and verified the vital signals of the person inside before initializing the procedures to awaken the person. Lights flashed on the hibernation pod’s surface, and then the sides of the pod hissed as cold air rushed out of the pod. There were faint sounds of mechanical gears turning, after which the pod’s cover slided upwards, revealing the person sleeping within.

There it was – the visage of a thin, old and wildly bearded old man.

Hao Ren slowly digested this discovery. He never imagined that the person inside would look like this. The old man lying inside the hibernation pod looked skinny as a rail. Deep wrinkles crawled all over his skin. His long and messy hair and beard were not cared for. The untidy and grubby beard rested on the old man’s chest like some animal’s nest.

After the hibernation pod was activated, a sticky substance that filled up the pod slowly receded to both sides under the guidance of some kind of attractive field. The old man inside spasmed all over, and then slowly opened his eyes.

His eyes stared blankly at Hao Ren. The old man did not move for two whole minutes until Lily accidentally touched something and made a sound. The old man jolted awake then. He was so greatly startled and surprised that his expression twisted almost menacingly. The scarecrow of an old man suddenly grabbed onto Hao Ren’s clothes tightly. He muttered incomprehensibly like he had forgotten how to speak.

“Calm down, calm down.” Hao Ren struggled free from the old man’s grasp, and then held held onto the latter’s arms. “Take a deep breath, let’s take a deep breath – Alright, don’t panic now. It’s safe here, take your time and explain to us what has happened.”

The old man was trembling. He looked around slowly and suspiciously at the strangers surrounding him, and then struggled to get out of the hibernation pod. Lily quickly stepped forward to help him, and together with Hao Ren helped the old man to sit on a chair nearby.

The old man was still muttering unclearly throughout when they helped him to the chair. It was when he sat down that Hao Ren finally understood some of his words. He was repeating a few words, “You’ve arrived, you have finally arrived, I’ve waited for hundreds of years … I thought you were all dead …”

“Waiting for us?” Hao Ren did not understand at first, but then he quickly realized that the old man was actually referring to the people in the residential area of the sanctuary.

“I’m afraid you are mistaken.” Lily seemed to understand him as well. She explained instinctively, “We are not from the ark. We just happened to pass by. Our ship is currently docked outside your ship.”

“You’re … not?” The old man was in his reactions, having been fresh out of hibernation. He took a while to understand Vivian’s words, and then looked at the people around him in disbelief. “But you are …”

He stopped right there, because he finally noticed the coiled up mass that was Nangong Bayue not far from him, a half-snake half-human being – he finally realized that these people were not from the ark.

“I …” The old man opened his mouth, but no words could form as he was stuck in deep confusion. In the end, he sighed. “Is there anyone alive on the ship?”

“There are many survivors, but they are not doing very well. Fortunately, we are still here in time.” Hao Ren wrapped his fingers around the old man’s bony hands to calm him down. “Can you tell us more about the situation on your ship? Who are you? Why are you in hibernation by yourself in this room?”

“My …” The old men shook his head, trying to recall something. “I … I forgot my name, I must have a name, but I forgot …”

Vivian put her hand firmly on his shoulder. “Long hibernation time can cause short time memory loss. Don’t worry about it, you will probably feel better very soon. Aside from your name, do you remember anything?”

The old frowned and spoke slowly, “I remember I was supposed to … Oh, right, I’m the ‘Father’. I must teach the children. Oh, right, right! I remember now, I’m responsible to lead the children to rebuild our society. I am the last adult who did not fall sick!”

“You did not fall sick?” Hao Ren turned stern immediately. “IDT, please check him.”

The IDT flew around the old man once, and then declared, “Old, but healthy. Unbelievable.”

“What happened on the ship? Where did you come from? Why was there a contagion?” Hao Ren spouted one question after another. “And that Gilded Disc in your ship … Start from the beginning.”

“Our home … It’s gone.” The old man held onto Hao Ren’s hands, and could only repeat those words for some time before he offered more. “We heard that the same thing was happening on other planets. A terrible ecological disaster. We received a warning from a highly advanced society before the apocalypse. We built the arks, sacrificed so many lives just to escape from our home … Did you know? Did you know? You must have experienced this disaster in this galaxy, but surely you are more advanced than us. You even have the luxury of sending people out to investigate someone else’s ships … But we had to give up so much simply to survive.”

The old man lost his focus from time to time, speaking agitatedly and incoherently, but Hao Ren did not cut him short. He knew that once the poor old man was interrupted, he might not find the courage to speak again.

“… I was born on this ship, grew up on it too. My father, grandfather, and generations before them, they were all the same. We lost more and more of our ships. There were less and less of us, but we tried our best to survive, because we cannot let our bloodline die out … A Divine Artifact kept us safe. Oh, you mentioned it just now. That Gilded Disc, it was brought to us by the advanced society that warned us before. They even taught us how to use it to avoid being captured and killed … But it doesn’t always work, it was only delaying the killer …”

The old man panted heavily. He needed to rest before continuing. Hao Ren took the opportunity to ask the IDT to put up an image of the Denizens of the Stars.

He pointed at the bright and irregular shapes and asked, “Do they look like this?”

“… Yes, like that.”