Chapter 1382 Backup Plans

Hao Ren's backup plans stemmed from his unrestrained imagination, but before implementing those plans, he still needed to understand the situation on Planet Zorm better. Considering that he couldn't disappear from Norn and the other mercenaries for too long, he decided to return to the Dream Plane at noon.

Since he couldn't pinpoint the exact location of Planet Zorm in the Dream Plane, the Tanagus Rift, that "stable gate," was unusable. He reactivated the hibernation pods in the basement. This time, he decided to bring a few helpers, not to act together, but to gather information separately once inside, since the information he could access in the mercenary camp was too limited.

"San-ba, Lao Wang, and Vivian, the three of you come with me," Hao Ren said, selecting his helpers. Nangong San-ba was an experienced demon hunter, Izhaks was steady, reliable, and had tremendous combat power, and Vivian possessed ten thousand years of wisdom and alertness. Besides, the natives of Planet Zorm weren't familiar with supernatural powers. Even without exposing their non-human abilities, the three of them should be able to handle the situation. And even if an emergency occurred, there was nothing to fear: after all, everyone was entering as a spiritual body and could cut off the connection to the Dream Plane at any time, returning safely.

Watching the hibernation pods slowly open, Hao Ren chuckled: "Hey, I really didn't expect to use this thing again... I thought I wouldn't have to sleep in this coffin after finding the Tanagus Rift."

The data terminal, after setting the hibernation pod's mode, floated to Hao Ren's shoulder: "This unit has already issued instructions to the probe drone swarm. Once we arrive on Zorm, we'll set up a beacon so the drone swarm can determine our location from the outside. If we still can't find a navigation signal, we'll use your backup plans."

Vivian eagerly lay down in the coffin first, followed by Izhaks and Nangong San-ba. Hao Ren sat in the hibernation pod last, instructing Lily beside him: "We'll be inside for three to five days at the shortest, half a month at the longest. We probably won't wake up during that time. You and Wuyue take care of the house and don't make trouble, got it?"

Lily patted her chest confidently: "Don't worry, landlord! I have Wuyue's parents watching me, I can't make trouble!"

Hao Ren: "..." He really didn't know whether to praise this idiot for knowing herself... Was that something to say with such pride?

"Gun Gun" was beside the hibernation pod, staring at Hao Ren with pleading eyes, meowing occasionally, while Elizabeth was standing by another hibernation pod, talking to her father inside. Hao Ren felt goosebumps all over his body from this strange atmosphere and quickly waved his hand: "Alright, alright, everyone get out, this scene is like a funeral farewell – Wuyue, don't forget to come down and clean the room often! At least wipe the dust off our coffins..."

Nangong Wuyue patted Hao Ren's "coffin box" with her tail: "Okay, okay, hurry up and lie down, landlord, it's best if you don't talk with that mouth of yours."

The lid of the hibernation pod slowly closed, and darkness followed. After the familiar sensation of spiritual transcendence gradually faded, Hao Ren felt a rough, filthy odor enter his nostrils. He opened his eyes and found himself standing in a corner of the black street slums. The unique, low-quality air here almost made him want to cover his nose and flee.

"This damn place really isn't fit for humans," Hao Ren said, covering his nose, then instructing without turning his head, "See, it's just a place like this. We'll split up later. You know the way around here... uh? Where are the people?!"

Hao Ren turned his head and stared in disbelief to find that Vivian and the others who should have followed him were nowhere to be seen. He was all alone in the empty space.

He was stunned for a moment, then immediately called the data terminal in his mind: "Terminal, terminal, something's wrong. Transmission error. Vivian and the others didn't come in..."

He had only called out halfway when he heard Vivian's voice coming from another communication frequency in his mind: "Landlord, did we take the wrong transmission path?"

Hao Ren quickly merged the channels into one: "Vivian? Where are the others? Are they all with you? Where are you now?"

"Holletta, in the wilderness near the royal capital," Vivian's voice sounded slightly distorted, but the signal was fairly clear, "It's the default coordinates for spiritual infiltration. The big guy and San-ba are with me. The three of us were sent to Holletta."

Hao Ren paused for a moment, then, while paying attention to his surroundings, walked out of the corner he was hiding in, asking about the situation in his mind: "Terminal, check the previous device parameters. Didn't Vivian and the others change the settings on their hibernation pods?"

"The device parameters are fine. The hibernation pods of the three of them were indeed set to the same spiritual path as you, but for some reason, the parameters became invalid the moment of spiritual submersion. Then they were transmitted according to the default coordinates left before leaving Holletta last time."

An unexpected deviation occurred. Hao Ren immediately had Vivian and the others return to the surface world, then had the data terminal remotely execute the operation again on the hibernation pods in the surface world, but the result remained unchanged: Vivian and the others were sent to Holletta.

"Do you want to try again?" Vivian asked in the communication channel. "Perhaps the Wall of Reality is particularly strong today?"

Hao Ren pondered slightly and rejected the suggestion: "Don't try it. I'm afraid it's a deeper problem. It seems that no one except me and the data terminal can come over."

"Are you going to continue the investigation over there?" Vivian's voice sounded somewhat concerned. "Will there be any problems on your end?"

"Everything is normal on my end," Hao Ren reassured her. "The three of you go back and help me take care of the house. It looks like even the heavens don't want me to relax. They're making me handle this damn thing alone."

Hearing that his tone was relaxed, Vivian knew that Hao Ren's situation was normal. She said with a smile, "Don't complain about the heavens. The heavens are your boss now – be careful over there. The few of us will go back first."

After the communication was cut off, Hao Ren took a breath, thinking that it looked like he would be on his own in this world for the next few days: fortunately, he had acted alone before, so there was no pressure. But the current situation still puzzled him: "Terminal, give me some insight. What's going on?"

"Only you can reach this planet through spiritual projection, and this unit, as an 'accessory' bound to your spirit, can enter this world in an incomplete state. Apart from that, no one else can."

"The key is the reason, why is this happening?" Hao Ren frowned, looking up at the gray sky above. "Does this planet have some filtering mechanism or identification requirements? Will those who don't meet the requirements be blocked?"

"Insufficient information, cannot disclose. We originally guessed that there was a problem with Planet Zorm, but now it seems that the problem is also with you," the data terminal said cheerfully, completely disregarding Hao Ren's increasingly dark expression. "Think optimistically, maybe there's just something wrong with your head? Also, when are you going to release this unit from the portable space?"

"Portable space?" Hao Ren was stunned, only then realizing that the data terminal had been talking to him using a spiritual connection. That brick hadn't managed to fully transmit itself this time either. He immediately checked his portable space and discovered the terminal lying inside in its corpse-姬 state...

"When we were in the surface world, this corpse was indeed missing," Hao Ren mused. "But after coming to 'Zorm,' the corpse reappeared inexplicably... The portable space is something encrypted by the gods. Secular forces shouldn't be able to affect its interior, so how did this corpse..."

"Anyway, when are you going to let this unit out?" the data terminal clamored. "It's suffocating this unit in here!"

"Shut your trap!" Hao Ren roared in his mind, silencing the chatterbox. "You're in a corpse state, idiot! You've lost all five senses, okay? Can you still feel suffocated?"

"Oh, maybe it's just psychological. You continue to explore, and this unit will tell you the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Dwarfs..."

Hao Ren simply blocked this noisy thing, leaving only an emergency notification channel. Finally, the world was quiet.

The dirty and chaotic streets of the slum stretched out before him, and pairs of guarded and wary eyes flickered behind the cracks in doors and windows. Hao Ren uncomfortably walked through the terrible streets. He still remembered the location of the Gray Fox Mercenary Corps' headquarters, but he wasn't planning on going back just yet.

He wanted to wander around this chaotic district more and gain a deeper understanding of the place.

(Seeking monthly tickets~~ there shouldn't be double this month, and according to the monthly ticket mechanism, the number of tickets that can be cast each day is limited, so everyone should try to cast their tickets as much as possible. At the end of the month, they may be held in your hands and unable to be cast!)