Chapter 2 The Next Day

The next day, Hao Ren called everyone to the living room and told them about his experiences from the previous day, as well as the series of tests he'd conducted that night.

"The planet called 'Zhuo Mu' is in a very strange state. We can't determine its exact location in the Dream Plane yet, but we know it's in a previously unexplored region of the universe. I haven't had time to observe the starry sky there, but there's interference and latency when contacting the crystal core research station, so the physical distance shouldn't be short," Hao Ren said, sitting on the sofa, listing the suspicious points he'd discovered. "Besides the unknown location, its relationship with the Surface World is also abnormal. Things from that place can't be brought to the Surface World, but things brought from the Surface World can be used. Experiences in Zhuo Mu can't affect the main body in the Surface World, as if the information flow is one-way. Transmitting from Zhuo Mu to other planets in the Dream Plane fails because accurate coordinates can't be found. And most importantly, the Data Terminal turns into a corpse when it goes there."

"The connection between other places in the Dream Plane and the Surface World is normal, and the universe parameters don't seem to have changed," the Data Terminal added from the side. "We can rule out the possibility of a sudden mutation in the Wall of Reality. It seems that all the anomalies are concentrated on the planet 'Zhuo Mu' itself, or in a region of space around it."

May curled up next to the coffee table, hugging her tail. After Hao Ren and the Data Terminal finished, she swayed her body: "Who understands what you two are talking about..."

Hao Ren waved his hand: "I just called you all here for a meeting to make it seem serious, at least to look like we're making progress."

This guy shamelessly admitted it.

"Rather than analyzing this, I'd rather do something simple and brutal," Lily said weakly, lying on the coffee table. "Like going somewhere to kill a few… Is there any fighting that needs help over there?"

"There are probably many occasions that need fighting, but over there it's a hot weapon war, there are no aliens or magic in the world. You probably can't发挥 (fā huī - fully display one's capabilities)," Hao Ren shook his head. "Of course, if you're aiming to cause panic or become a celebrity, that's perfect. The humans there have definitely never seen anyone who can turn into a five-meter-tall husky. You'll become world-renowned with one transformation."

Lily thought for a while and continued to lie on the table: "Then I won't go, it's boring."

"The abnormal space in the Dream Plane is probably related to the Goddess," Izhaks guessed, stroking his chin. "Could it be that the Zhuo Mu planet is next to the God-slaying battlefield from back then? Or... was it simply swept into some kind of 'turbulence' by the God-slaying event back then?"

Hao Ren frowned: "You're saying the impact when the Goddess fell sealed off the space around Zhuo Mu and changed the universal laws of that place?"

Izhaks nodded slightly. Despite his rugged appearance, this great demon was more scientifically minded than anyone else, and he had a thorough understanding of the knowledge of outer space: "According to the Guardians, the explosion of the Star of Creation pushed the entire battlefield into a place called the 'Dark Domain'. We speculate that the Dark Domain is an abnormal spatial structure, undetectable, discontinuous, and incompatible in the normal universe—although no one has ever really seen what the Dark Domain looks like, isn't that very similar to the situation on the Zhuo Mu planet? Maybe the place you went to is next to where the Goddess fell!"

Hearing this, Hao Ren suddenly felt a jolt of excitement, and an uncontrollable sense of anticipation arose in his heart, but he quickly calmed down from this excitement: he instinctively felt that the "Dark Domain," or rather the "Land of Divine Fall," was not a place that could be reached so easily. For someone to fall into the location of the Goddess's fall in a dream on Earth would make the Star of Creation explosion ten thousand years ago seem too much like child's play.

But Izhaks's guess also made sense, at least Hao Ren was willing to believe that the state of Zhuo Mu was related to the fall of the Goddess. He remembered the information he had found on the network there: "There are legends about the Creation Goddess on the Zhuo Mu planet. Until the war, there were religions on the planet that respected the Creator—after technology became advanced, they transformed the Creator into a goal similar to a pure spiritual sustenance to worship, but in any case, the belief system was still retained. But for some reason, after the Goddess fell, the Zhuo Mu planet escaped all the ecological disasters. The First Born didn't bother them, and the Guardian Giants didn't hunt them down. I searched all their data, and there wasn't even an entry for 'Underground Tentacles' on the Zhuo Mu human network."

Izhaks muttered in a low voice: "The Hollettans didn't even know there was a First Born on their planet before we went there."

"But the Hollettans at least knew that there was a world-destroying disaster ten thousand years ago. As long as there were survivors, such a big event couldn't possibly leave no records," Hao Ren had thought about this question long ago. "Moreover, the technological strength of the Zhuo Mu planet before the war was obviously higher than that of the Hollettans. Their industrial system required a large amount of minerals, and a large amount of minerals meant that they would dig very deep underground—could it be that they dug mines for ten thousand years, but always accurately avoided every First Born tentacle underground?"

There was no way to answer this question, and everyone looked at each other in dismay.

In the end, Vivian sighed and broke the silence: "We've discovered too few civilization samples in the Dream Plane, not enough to compare with the entire universe. Those few samples can't be used to analyze any patterns, so we shouldn't feel surprised no matter what happens. To put it bluntly, we haven't reached the point where we can develop a fixed mindset."

The Data Terminal interjected: "Those who work as Inspectors can never have a fixed mindset."

Hao Ren bit his fingernails and thought for a while, then suddenly brought up another matter: "Regarding the disappearance of the innate hostility between the aliens on our side, Vivian, do you think there will be any major movements in the near future?"

Vivian leaned back on the sofa with her arms folded: "There definitely won't be a fight in ten days or half a month, and it should be fine even if it's delayed for a year or two. I've already sent the message to my old friends. With a bunch of old guys suppressing them, the little brats can't make waves. And the Demon Hunters aren't stupid."

After saying that, she muttered again: "Besides, most of the alien families are so weak that they're starving to death. Even if they want to fight, they probably have to gain enough weight first."

"Now we have to thank the Demon Hunters for beating the aliens so badly that they can't turn over for the time being," Hao Ren grinned. "Since the mess on Earth won't cause any trouble for the time being, I plan to focus my attention on that Zhuo Mu planet in the near future."

After discussing with everyone, Hao Ren returned to the basement with the Data Terminal. He connected the Terminal to the hibernation pod he used for testing yesterday, and at the same time connected to the navigation system of the Turtle Rock Platform: he hoped to extract his spiritual navigation information from the Zhuo Mu planet and convert it into the real physical coordinates of the Dream Plane universe. With these coordinates, he could enter the Dream Plane in his main body through the Tanagrus Rift, and then drive the Turtle Rock Platform directly to find the Zhuo Mu planet. At that time, any spatial anomalies there would be clear at a glance.

But as he expected, things couldn't be so smooth.

"Conversion failed, location not found." The Data Terminal's report only had these eight words.

Hao Ren stared: "Location not found? Not blurry coordinates, but can't be found at all?"

The holographic screen projected by the Data Terminal showed complex data and charts, which were the "traces" Hao Ren left behind when he entered the Dream Plane through dreams yesterday: "It converts into an outrageous coordinate that is theoretically impossible to be located at any point in the material world. Navigating according to this coordinate will only crash into the void."

"So... there's no way to go through the Tanagrus Rift, is there?" Hao Ren felt a toothache. "Could it be that the planet isn't in the Dream Plane?"

"It's definitely still related to the 'spiritual trajectory'. The process of arriving at Zhuo Mu through dreams was interfered with, so this unit can't calculate the real coordinates of that planet," the Data Terminal reported in a stiff manner, at this time showing a bit of reliability. "Since this doesn't work, this unit has a suggestion: next time you enter Zhuo Mu, put a beacon transmitter there and use the navigation signal to guide the Turtle Rock Platform there. If the guidance still fails, it means that the Zhuo Mu planet is located in an encrypted space that you and I can't crack. You can apply for higher-level technical support."

Hao Ren blinked: "There's higher-level technical support?"

"Of course, the Empire provides ample technical support to the Inspectors, but usually the technical support sent by the Empire is all kinds of explosive devices, and occasionally engineers who are good at assembling explosive devices."

Hao Ren: "... So in the eyes of the Xiling God System, only explosions are the only way to solve problems?"

The Data Terminal remained expressionless—of course, its panel couldn't change color anyway: "Blowing up the problem itself is indeed an effective means of solving it."

"Forget it, I still don't expect the Empire's technical support," Hao Ren sighed, covering his forehead. "And speaking of which... I have quite a few backup plans myself."