The Record of Unusual Creatures

Sitting on the sofa in a daze, the Nangong siblings were thinking of their parents. It seemed like it was impossible to get any lead from the vengeful spirit. The memory of the vengeful spirit was bound in an energy field in the form of chaotic debris, and after contacting it, only some vague, random memories could be read. Even a talented child like Anna could not read the details of the vengeful spirit's memory. It was likely that no one could find out where the Nangongs' parents had been sent to.     

What was more, the vengeful spirit had already been vanguished by Lil Pea's voice. Only part of it remained.     

Hao Ren noticed that Vivian and the Nangong siblings were looking depressed. He came up and asked, "What happened?"     

"It's about my parents." Nangong Wuyue sighed and continued, "I thought this time there would be some hope... I never expected that the vengeful spirit would just be a chaotic natural phenomenon. There's no lead now."     

Hao Ren thought for a moment, then he took out a small apple box from his Dimensional Pocket. The box was actually the container used to seal in the vengeful spirit. It looked just like any other normal box and it seemed empty. But there were occasional tiny sparks inside, which were caused by the rapid turbulence of the vengeful spirit.     

"This is part of the sample... I don't know if I can analyze anything from it," Hao Ren said.     

"Those are only fragments." Vivian sighed. "The memory of the vengeful spirit is already confusing enough, and what you have here is only some debris... How much valuable information can there be?"     

Hao Ren remained silent. The MDT suddenly floated up from the sofa's armrest and said, "All of it."     

Hao Ren and Vivian spoke in unison, "What?"     

"The whole memory of the vengeful spirit is stored in here." The MDT hovered above the box. "You're still not understanding the vengeful spirit's life form correctly—you mustn't think of energy fields or spiritual creatures as a 'substance' in the ordinary sense. Don't assume that these fragments are actually 'fragments' of electromagnetic waves. As long as the critical frequencies are not destroyed, every piece of the vengeful spirit contains all of its entire information, just like the exponential repetition of a mathematical model. Each component is a complete template, each detail stores the whole information and it can be duplicated as well as expanded indefinitely—this is the key that enables the vengeful spirit to extend from a small group of white light to hundreds of square kilometers without losing information. It is self-explanatory, there is no physical limit."     

The MDT's explanation was very technical. But given Vivian's long experience mingling with major mathematicians in history, she immediately understood what it was all about. "Ahh, it's like Roman cauliflower where countless similar bodies make a complete body, isn't it?"     

Hao Ren was speechless. He marvelled at the vampire's train of thought, which seemed to revolve around the kitchen.     

"Although the metaphor is a little weird, it's apt." The MDT gently landed on top of the apple box. "The size of the fragment only affects the vengeful spirit's strength. The information it stores will become weak, but the volume of data will not be affected. As long as it's given sufficient external energy, it can be completely restored to its peak level, just as it was under the Andrea Castle. And if the energy environment on Earth is condusive, it can grow further. Of course, we don't need it to do that. As soon as it's slightly recharged, we can try to read its strange electromagnetic waves."     

After listening to all the technical jargon, the Nangong siblings were none the wiser. But when they heard the last sentence, they understood what it meant and their eyes lit up. "Then, let's do it now!"     

"It's just an idea. Knowing how to read it is an entirely different matter," the MDT poured cold water on the idea, trying to calm the Nangong siblings down. "This is the most wonderful life form I've ever seen. Even the Encyclopaedia of Life Forms in the Imperial Database has no record of this spiritual body. The sublimation technique of the Tannaeans and the spiritual field of the First Born have produced such a distorted, weird structure. We need to design a comprehensive reading process in the laboratory, and be careful not to let this thing escape."     

Hao Ren poked the MDT. "Is there a spare lab on the Petrachelys?" he asked.     

"All labs are occupied and dedicated to studying as well as cloning of the Seed of Origin. But some workbenches could be vacated." The MDT rolled up Hao Ren's arm and onto his shoulder. "You want to open a new research line?" it asked.     

After obtaining Hao Ren's permission, the MDT immediately issued an order to the Petrachelys, which was parked in Kuiper Station. Although Hao Ren could tuck the spacecraft in his Dimensional Pocket for long periods, there were many research projects going on onboard the spacecraft. Besides, he often needed to send some autonomous robots to New Aerym or Tannagost, so he sent the spacecraft to Kuiper Station when he came back earlier.     

The spacecraft carried out the orders upon receiving instructions. In the lab of the core compartment where analyses of the Seed of Origin were conducted, agile robotic arms and precision scanners were busily at work. But after the new directives were issued, the analysis equipment on some of the benches were transferred somewhere else, while containers that had developed prototypes of the strange flesh were temporarily sealed and stored in the safe by autonomous robots. The research host began to simulate a decoding device based on the information the MDT sent on the vengeful spirit's characteristics. Very quickly, the onboard processing plant of the Petrachelys began its work.     

When Hao Ren stepped into the spacecraft next time, there would be a new set of equipment waiting for him in the lab.     

Now, he and the Nangong siblings could only wait.     

"Let's wait for two days. There isn't any readily available decoding device in the world that can communicate with the vengeful spirit, and the Petrachelys needs some time to perform R&D." While it kept everyone calm, the MDT did not forget to brag. "Fortunately for you, Imperial science and technology warms people's hearts. The R&D host on the inspector's spaceship is absolutely more awesome than the scientists in Tannagost. It's all thanks to my wisdom and command."     

"Oh yeah?" Hao Ren knocked on the MDT on its outer shell, and asked, "What reward do you want?"     

"I'm a noble PDA, a pure PDA. I'm not a PDA of poor taste. I'm thinking of—"     

Not waiting for the MDT to finish, Hao Ren took out a sticker from his pocket and stuck it on its shell. "This is for you. I picked it up from the street earlier."     

The MDT swiftly flew up. "What-what-what did you just stick on me?! Is it Pleasant Goat or SpongeBob?! Is it Pony? Ouch, you're so cruel to your own PDA…"     

Hao Ren held up a mirror in front of the MDT. "See for yourself."     

The MDT suddenly calmed down. "Oh, it's a ¥9.90 price tag. You should've told me earlier. Get this thing off me right now!"     

Amid the teasing and noise, Lily suddenly hurried down the stairs and said, "Mr. Landlord, Rollie is missing!"     

For some reason, Lily was currently the person in charge of feeding the cat.     

Of course, for the sake of clarity, we have to clarify that Rollie was the one in charge of feeding the fish.     

That was how well-organized the ecological chain of the family was.     

"Rollie's out?" Hao Ren lifted his eyebrows. "Maybe it went for a walk. I saw it watching TV in my room this afternoon."     

Both Vivian and Nangong Wuyue looked at Hao Ren with a strange expression on their faces. Vivian reminded him, "Don't you think it's weird that a cat would go into your room, turn on the TV and switch to the pet channel on the dot every day?"     

Hao Ren thought for a moment before he began to realize it. "Yeah... the claws of a cat aren't quite suitable for operating remote controllers."     

Vivian facepalmed and said, "That's not the point!"     

She had a feeling that the man beside her must have had his worldview ruined as a result of mingling with otherworldlings for too long.     

Lily took the cat food and stumbled down the stairs. "I don't think it's strolling outside. It'll usually be home at this time, waiting for its meal to be served."     

Hao Ren thought about it for a long while, recalling Rollie's strange behavior the other day. His normal "human awareness" finally began to return and he also found that something was amiss about the cat.