The Record of Unusual Creatures

The ancient, deep-sea city of Nasaton was shutting down the large protective wall for the first time in 10,000 years. The translucent film above the city slowly crumbled and receded from the apex as well as spatial layer. At long last, the layered, invisible labyrinth was gone. With the shutting down of the wall, the maelstrom directly above the city gradually lost its energy supply. Its edge shook slightly and it began to spin at a slower speed. However, just as the siren queen had predicted, the maelstrom did not disappear. It was still unstoppable, still growing, albeit slowly.     

Hao Ren led everyone back to the city's surface (in the deep sea, the word "surface" seems a bit weird). He looked at the maelstrom above, and it felt like the maelstrom could fall down at any time and consume them all. "Now we have a month to shut this thing down. I think it'll directly affect my year-end bonus this year... So, which one of you has a better solution?"     

"Blow it up," the MDT said without hesitation.     

Hao Ren thought for a moment before he reached for Lil Pea and held her in front of the MDT. "You have 30 seconds to explain it clearly, or else you'll have to play with her for the whole day."     

The MDT took several "steps" back. "Put down the fish! I'm not kidding!"     

Lil Pea clapped happily. "Not kidding! Not kidding!"     

"Okay," Hao Ren let Lil Pea loose to swim in circles as he looked up at the MDT. "Are you really going to blow up this maelstrom? To be honest, I don't think this thing will go away that easily; it's accumulated the energy of Nasaton and the earth. Once these energies are released..."     

"Once they're released, you'll become the most wanted man of this century. Like in the movies, the superheroes will shoot at you for an hour, and when you resurrect in the next episode, the same process repeats." The MDT circled around Hao Ren. "However, theoretically, we can deflect the energy to other places, like the void. We can detonate both ends of the maelstrom concurrently and destroy its structural stability. Its energy will be concentrated at the center, and its 'center' is located in the rift between the Surface World and the Plane of Dreams, so the energy will be deflected into the void. Of course, this requires a little bit of precision... but once it's successful, we won't only solve the problem of this maelstrom, but the power it generates will also push the Plane of Dreams and the Surface World a little farther apart. That will essentially reinforce the Wall of Reality—speaking of hitting two birds with one stone."     

Hao Ren listened carefully and tried hard visualize it in his mind, pretending like he was a pro. "Although I don't really understand, it sounds very cool. What did you mean when you said you were going to detonate both ends of the maelstrom concurrently? The other side's in…"     

Nangong Wuyue who was listening suddenly chimed in, "The Plane of Dreams?"     

The MDT floated up and down. "Yes, the Plane of Dreams. According to observations, this portal has already begun to take shape, and its other end should have opened somewhere in the Plane of Dreams. We'll set explosions at both the Plane of Dreams and the Surface World simultaneously, then it'll be gone before you know it."     

Hao Ren looked around and nodded. "I think this is feasible."     

Lily scratched her chin and thought for a moment. "But I don't really understand."     

"It's okay, I don't understand too." Hao Ren waved. "Basically, we're going to blow it up at the same time on both sides of the maelstrom. We don't need to know how it works. After all, we haven't been able to understand how things work anyway. How do we find out the position of the other end of the maelstrom?"     

Hasse and the other two demon hunters looked on with excitement. White Flame could not help but suddenly mutter, "Can you really save the world like this?"     

"It's said that they always do this every time they save the world." Nangong Sanba smiled as he spread out his hand. "It's like adding special effects in a movie…"     

"If you're not helping, go away." Vivian shot them a sideways glance. "We're discussing how to save the world, you know."     

Hasse's stiff facial muscles twitched a little. His only eye filled with a strange light. "Will you take the time to explain to me what's happening after all of you are done discussing? I'm interested in you people..."     

Hao Ren waved his hand calmly, signaling he had heard him. The old, obstinate demon hunter, whose only concern was hunting demons had taken the bait. His efforts were seemingly beginning to pay off as the demon hunter was taking the initiative to explore what had once happened in the Plane of Dreams. This was more effective than trying to convince him. Hao Ren had loosened the first brick of obstinacy in the world's most stubborn demon hunter.     

Moreover, judging by Hasse's tone of voice, this brick was rocking quite violently.     

"Can you put a detector on the other side?" Vivian summoned a bat and made a throwing gesture in the direction of the maelstrom. "I think the portal's almost open. Maybe there's a crack or something that we can squeeze through. We can use a detector to find out the coordinate on the other side, then enter the Plane of Dreams from somewhere else to find the other side of the maelstrom..."     

"Please, don't," the MDT quickly dismissed her suggestion. "We have to do everything possible to prevent 'information' from crossing the Wall of Reality. You need to remember that 'information is everything' and sending a detector with a signal to the opposite side is more dangerous than shooting it in the face. If possible, even a stone shouldn't be allowed to pass through it, let alone a detector."     

"Then how do we know where the other end of the portal is in the Plane of Dreams?" Y'zaks asked sulkily. "The universe is such a big place; are we going to sweep it slowly with a radar?"     

The MDT rocked a little. "Hence, the biggest difficulty in this plan is determining the location of the other side of the portal: we have to find it within a month, and throw explosives into it. Everything else is much easier."     

The siren queen was listening attentively, trying to keep up with their rhythm. Although she could not understand many things, she could still guess what these people wanted to do. "You want to know where the Maelstrom leads to?"     

Lily's ear suddenly stood up. "You know the answer, My Queen?"     

"Call me Katreina. You all are my distinguished guests. You don't have to be too courteous in the city of the sirens," said the queen. "If I haven't guessed wrongly, the maelstrom probably leads to our homeworld."     

"I know, the Plane of Dreams…" Hao Ren said before he suddenly came to his senses. "Wait a second, do you mean the sirens' original planet?"     

"We don't know exactly where we came from, but we vaguely know that we're from a very distant place—and it's definitely not here," said the siren queen, nodding. "The water inside the aqua dome of Nasaton is slightly different from the water on this planet. Of course, the chemical composition is the same, but the sirens can appreciate some very subtle differences: we believe that the water inside the aqua dome comes from our homeworld."     

Hao Ren looked up at the aqua dome over the city. After the wall was shut down, the city still had a barrier, which was Nasaton's very own dome shield. This shield protected the entire city from the outside world. It did not lose a single drop of its internal body of water for the past 10,000 years. Instead, the water was constantly being recycled. This was how the city's ecosystem worked.     

The entire city was a huge space fortress and it still maintained a very good airtightness until today.     

"You feel the same smell inside the aqua dome from the maelstrom?" Lily asked, blinking.     

Katreina closed her eyes slightly and said, "Yes, and probably that smell's the reason why the monster took the sirens so easily—we were eager to return to our homeworld, and when the maelstrom emitted the smell of our homeworld, the sirens unconsciously gave up resistance... We were homesick."     

The atmosphere was now a bit gloomy. Vivian clapped her hands. "Well, we now have a target: to find the position of the siren's planet in the Plane of Dreams. However, is it weird that I don't find the level of difficulty decreasing that much?"     

Nangong Wuyue forced a smile. "Looks like it has gone from finding a needle in a haystack to finding Lil Pea in a haystack, but it makes no difference at all. God knows where our planet of origin is!"     

Hearing someone calling her name, Lil Pea quickly swam up to Nangong Wuyue. She rubbed her body against Nangong Wuyue's arm before she suspended herself in the water, waiting for someone to scoop her up.     

Hao Ren scratched his chin, and an idea came to mind. "'Someone' knows. Nasaton is an interstellar spacecraft. It knows where it came from!"