The Record of Unusual Creatures

Three years was over in a blink of an eye for beings with long, long lives, but for Hao Ren, it was long enough for him to get better at his job and more familiar with his colleagues. Though he usually stayed out of the community and did not make the effort to catch up with them, he remained well connected with his colleagues because of the way inspectors keep in touch with one another.

As the observer and responder to all living things in the universe, inspectors are distributed throughout the entire galaxy. Some were even assigned to different galaxies. Since every inspector had their own jobs and territories to look after, they did not have time to gather round and catch up frequently. The only way to stay connected was via data link or virtual meetings—the former was for day-to-day communication, while the latter was for official purposes.

The inspectors were physically separated from one another, but that did not stop them from communicating with each other.

One thing worth mentioning was that how the inspectors were distributed in the universe. Every world had a different “size”, and sometimes the difference can be staggering. Some worlds were like a dome-shaped space; some only had one star system; some only had a single sun; some were like Hao Ren’s home galaxy, with billions of stars spread across a large expanse. Hence, the number of inspectors assigned to each world was different, ranging from a solo inspector to the tens of thousands.

Even within the same world, inspectors were also not “evenly distributed”— due to the nature of their jobs, an inspector’s territory was defined not by the size, but by the number of civilizations within it. Usually, one inspector would be in charge of one civilization cluster, and their territory would be based on the whereabouts of these civilizations. Hao Ren’s territory was around 200 light-years across since Earth was the only civilization within this area. If nothing unexpected occurred, the civilization cluster based on Earth would grow within this boundary. Territories for other inspectors were also decided likewise.

For civilizations that had expanded into hundreds of other galaxies, the inspector assigned to them would have to monitor all these galaxies.

Despite the large variety of territories, all inspectors had equal power—this was because they were all observers and responders to their worlds, and their roles were beyond species and traditional boundaries. From the standpoint of these demigods, the famine crisis faced by a primitive tribe and an all-out intergalactic war were both matters under their purview. Hao Ren spent three years studying countless case studies to finally realize this.

Civilization clusters were observed by inspectors, while the vast and empty space untouched by these civilizations were observed by the gods themselves.

Inspectors work on matters related to the people, while the gods take care of the universe at large. Both the gods and inspectors follow this simple model of governance.

Of course, this was what was supposed to happen in theory, when things happened according to plan — the truth was, Hao Ren had doubts about whether their goddess dearest was really as reliable as his working manual suggested. After all, the goddess had just only been lurking around in the inspectors’ forum…

Outsiders would not be privy to the titbits happening amongst the inspectors. Civilization representatives who were qualified to do business with the Space Administration still viewed the inspectors as a mysterious, powerful, impartial, and dignified organization. Hao Ren’s ****** message spurred action in numerous space stations and deep space outposts. Massive scanning antenna arrays were re-assigned to his purpose; idle comm channels were requisitioned; the observatories of the magicians sparkled to life. Gungnir’s resonant frequency was copied and transmitted to every antenna array and magic crystal available. Countless pairs of eyes began their search in the universe for Yggdrasil. If they could not find it still… Hao Ren would expand the search perimeter and notify his colleagues in other parts of the universe to help.

After all, it did not require too much effort on their part.

Hao Ren placed his IDT on the tea table. “Sitting” elegantly on the opposite side of the table was a woman of large build. The queenly woman was sitting on a cheap fabric sofa, but her demeanor was regal and graceful. Hao Ren smiled at the woman and nodded. “When will I ever have an ounce of your gracefulness? You can make the stool you sit on feel like a throne.”

Galazur smiled gently. “I can’t help it. It’s all part of my upbringing as a member of the dragon tribe’s royal family. There are habits that I can never change. Besides, I have other people here with me. It’s Suharr Satellite Base’s observer. I have an image to maintain.”

“Well, I’m not one for appearances.” Hao Ren twitched his lips, knowing full well that the movement will be fully duplicated by a physical projection of himself in front of the real Galazur and seen by the people around her. He did not mind that. “Suharr Satellite Base has the most powerful probing facilities at the edge of the galaxy. It can cover a radius of nearly 20,000 light-years. I am hopeful to receive good news from you.”

Galazur nodded lightly. “I can feel that this mission is urgent. You have our full support.”

“Frankly, I’ve never tried something so big before. It’s quite unnerving.” Hao Ren confessed with a laugh. He knew that his conversation with Galazur was encrypted, so the people around them would not be able to hear their exact words — Rollie was right beside him, but she could only stare at him in puzzlement. That was why he spoke so casually. “I can’t imagine all the resources being requisitioned for this.”

“It’s actually not that uncommon.” Galazur spread her hands and explained. “It’s only unusual because you were the one who initiated it. Your message has surprised us all. As you can see, you have become a hot topic for those silly idiots. Since you were usually suffering from missions in the Plane of Dreams and rarely appear in the Surface World, your sudden request was… It felt like the Lochness monster suddenly made an entrance.”

Galazur spoke with a stern expression, but her words felt warm and familiar—such was the nature of all inspectors. They were a tight-knit bunch, so why put up an act when it was a chat amongst colleagues?

Hao Ren smiled awkwardly at the image Galazur conjured. He knew that he was an odd one out of all the inspectors — an inexperienced newbie who was assigned with heavy duty missions; explosion that followed everywhere he went; Raven 12345’s favor… Despite all these, the one thing that singled him out the most was his “big mission” in the Plane of Dreams. He was the sole assignee to that mission, so he did not have much opportunity to work with his colleagues in the Surface World. He was like a core engineer busying around in a hidden workshop in the company, laying low like a ninja for three years before suddenly coming out of nowhere, reminding his colleagues that, yes, he was also an important member of the company!

“I don’t know why the goddess gave so much responsibility to me, despite being new.” Hao Ren admitted honestly. “I think you don’t, too.”

Galazur nodded. “Indeed, it is unusual. However, the goddess always has her reasons. Do not be fooled by her appearance. She is the most responsible governor of this universe. We need only trust in her.”

“There’s something else that I’m very curious about.” Hao Ren looked Galazur in the eye. “In this world — and I meant, this universe, am I really the only inspector who is concerned about the Plane of Dreams?”

Galazur studied Hao Ren quietly before a smile slowly crept up her face. “The truth is, a lot of people are concerned about the Plane of Dreams. I myself am watching it closely. Ever since the Wall of Reality was weakened, we had encountered many issues. It’s not just Earth. Even my territory had problems with dimensional crossovers. However, the only inspector charged to directly deal with this matter is you.”

Hao Ren was surprised. “Dimensional crossovers? You have dimensional cracks as well?”

“No, nothing so serious yet. There were some areas where the dimensional boundaries were thin. There are some unstable hyperspace jump points in the star system where Saint Sur IV resided. Before I set up the warning perimeter, we frequently had adventurous space explorers who got lost around those jump points. Some of them were found later, but the rest are forever lost to this world. I believe that they had found their way to the gap between the Plane of Dreams and the Surface World. This is a consequence of the weakening Wall of Reality, and one of the most benign consequences we can expect. In further parts of the universe… That scarred nebula that you know of, for example, has an entire galaxy shred to bits. Now that is a scary crack in reality.”

Galazur smiled as she said this, and then she remembered something else. “I say… Ever since you began to work on missions in the Plane of Dreams, the Wall of Reality has become more stable in the past three years. How did you do it?”

Hao Ren was taken aback. “What?”