Chapter 62 As Expected

Sure enough, as soon as Hao Ren mentioned the Holy Relic, the bearded man and the other three ascetics tensed up, indicating that this was an extremely sensitive topic.

"Don't be nervous. I'm not interested in your treasure. Have you forgotten that this thing is only a treasure in your world? No one here knows what it does," Hao Ren quickly waved his hands, while thinking of a good reason. "It's like this: your teleportation to this planet should also be partly due to the Holy Relic's influence. I need to use it to analyze the teleportation process. This is a necessary step to send you back."

The bearded man looked at Hao Ren suspiciously. The Holy Relic was the most treasured object to the four of them. When the little green men wanted to see it, they almost had a violent conflict over it. But Hao Ren's likability was obviously higher than the little green men’s, and Hao Ren said something he strongly agreed with: the Holy Relic was a treasure of the Dream Plane. Now that they had crossed worlds, the aliens really had no need to have any ulterior motives towards such a bead. So the bearded man thought for a long time and reluctantly nodded: "I can let you see it, but you can't touch it. I'll only allow you to touch it after you show us that you actually have the ability to open a dimensional portal. This is a sacred object; you must understand this."

The other party had a strong stance on the Holy Relic, and Hao Ren understood this. Only then did the bearded man cautiously open a thick cloth bag that he carried with him: it turned out he was carrying the Holy Relic at all times.

The cloth bag opened, and a golden orb that flickered with a faint light was taken out.

This was a metal ball the size of a football. It was impossible to tell what material it was made of, but it constantly emitted a faint light. Its surface had complex and exquisite patterns. These patterns were straight, with orderly convex and concave shapes, and distributed in a staggered manner. At first glance, they looked like some kind of hieroglyphic writing, but upon closer inspection, one would find that all the patterns were connected together, covering the entire surface of the sphere. Hao Ren curiously observed the orb, wondering how to use such a thing to communicate with the "goddess" as in the legends. However, after observing it for a while, he didn't see the connection between this thing and the gods, but instead felt a strange sense of familiarity.

He had never seen the orb before, but the uneven patterns on it… vaguely reminded him of something.

"These patterns…" Hao Ren muttered to himself, "Why do I have some impression? And the size of this orb…"

Vivian frowned and looked at it for a long time. Her unreliable memory, which hadn't been right in ten thousand years, actually performed extraordinarily this time. She suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, that's right! Doesn't the Ancestral Relic have a hole about the same size as it? I remember that there were also such patterns in that round hole!"

Vivian's reminder made Hao Ren immediately realize what that subtle sense of familiarity was, and he was immediately surprised and suspicious: "Yes! There is indeed such a hole on the Ancestral Relic… Is there such a coincidence in the world?"

At this time, the data terminal suddenly spoke up: "Scanning completed. The external shape matches one hundred percent. To prevent damage to its function, the internal structure is temporarily unknown."

Hao Ren and the others were stunned. The young female ascetic curiously glanced at the data terminal on Hao Ren's shoulder: "Your pauldron is talking?"

Following brick, coaster, and kaleidoscope, the data terminal had a new identity, which made it suddenly furious: "Ignorance! Open your eyes and see if there is such a small pauldron! This machine is a data brick manufactured by the empire… No, data terminal!"

The bearded man ignored this talking "alchemy item." He just guarded the orb in his hand and cautiously glanced at Hao Ren: "What were you saying just now? Have you seen something similar to the Holy Relic?"

In an instant, he thought of many things: since he could be thrown out of the Dream Plane, similar situations might have happened in the past, and perhaps other treasures of the goddess had also fallen into this different world. The bearded man was a sharp-minded person. As the elder of the four, he considered things very quickly and thoroughly.

Hao Ren's mind raced, and he nodded with a half-truth: "We did find something in a desert that might be related to the orb in your arms, but it's not an orb, but a device. That device is missing a part, which should be the Holy Relic, but I have to put these two things together to confirm this."

The bearded man saw that Hao Ren's expression didn't look like he was lying, but he still put the orb into his pocket. He gritted his teeth: "You have to let me see that device you mentioned too. If it really is a sacred object left behind by the goddess in another world, I can study it with you—it looks like you are also a scholar, and you should have the necessary tools. But under any circumstances, the orb cannot leave my sight, and if that device is really a sacred object of the goddess, I will take it away too."

The bearded man's last words felt a bit unreasonable. Hao Ren nodded, thinking that he had finally seen the tough side that an ascetic should have. While agreeing, he instructed the data terminal in his mind: "Replicate the Ancestral Relic…"

The structure of the Ancestral Relic wasn't complicated for the data terminal, and the materials that made up the relic could be easily synthesized in the ship's factory. When doing experiments, the data terminal had replicated several sets of relic "cores," so it wasn't a problem for it to synthesize a complete set now. The data terminal readily agreed: "Completed in one hour."

At this time, the group walked out of the ecological garden. Except for Lily, who hummed songs from beginning to end and didn't have any worries at all, everyone else looked worried. Hao Ren was speculating about the connection between the Holy Relic and the Ancestral Relic and their true functions, Becky was homesick, Nangong Wuyue and Izhaks were worrying about Hao Ren, the four ascetics were immersed in the sacred knowledge of the different world and ancient sacred objects that stirred their hearts, Vivian was thinking about what to do tonight, and Doudou was thinking about what to eat tonight.

Anyway, everyone had worries—except for the husky.

Talaam and a group of little green men were watching outside and didn't dare to go too far. When they saw the group coming out, they immediately surrounded them. Hao Ren saw a large pile of identical green heads shaking in front of him, like green bean cake fairies having a meeting, until Talaam spoke up to greet him, only then did he know where to look. He nodded to Talaam: "The matter is settled. I'm going to take these people away."

Talaam enthusiastically grabbed Hao Ren: "Don't you want to stay for a simple meal? I heard it's popular on Earth…"

Although Hao Ren was very interested in alien food, he still politely declined subconsciously: "No, no, we still have to go back and take care of things…"

Talaam immediately nodded decisively: "Then you go. I still have to deal with things here and go back to the Kuiper Station tomorrow."

Hao Ren's second half of the sentence "But since you're so enthusiastic, I can't refuse" choked in his throat. He only had one sentence in his heart: Why are all the little green men so honest!

The group said goodbye to the little green men and went to the spaceship landing field. This was the first time in months that the four ascetics had left the steel facility in a completely free state. The bearded man looked back at the little green men who were still waving goodbye at the door and said with some emotion: "These green creatures are actually quite friendly."

Another young male ascetic nodded: "It's just that they look too much like demons."

The young female ascetic also added: "We thought we had arrived in hell; the goddess was testing us with demons."

Finally, the older female ascetic concluded: "Fortunately, the wisdom bestowed by the goddess allowed us to give up armed resistance at a critical moment, otherwise misunderstandings would have inevitably deepened."

Hao Ren curiously asked the bearded man: "How did you resolve the misunderstanding with the little green men in the end?"

The bearded man had a solemn expression: "I found that I couldn't beat their machines."

Hao Ren: "…"

Nangong Wuyue couldn't hold back at the time: "Master, you're being too honest, aren't you?"

The bearded man nodded indifferently: "Just admitting the facts. We have a mission, and we must live to protect the orb, so of course we can do anything to survive; it's just surrender."

The bearded man only said a plain sentence, but Hao Ren suddenly felt a strange fanaticism from it. He seemed to suddenly understand what the worldview of these ascetics was all about.

The group returned to the Stone Turtle Rock Terrace, and the spaceship quickly lifted off and left the planet. Before accelerating into hyperspace, Hao Ren had the external monitor face the planet. The four ascetics looked at the planet that was gradually moving away, and then looked at the huge spacecraft they were in, and said it was unbelievable. The bearded man also thought of some things from legends: "Before the end of the world, the humans on our side also had the ability to fly to the stars. It is said that there were cities on the moon at that time… But I feel that this ship should be more powerful."

Hao Ren immediately transferred this "more powerful" evaluation to himself and nodded with satisfaction, starting the spaceship's automatic navigation.

The picture from the external monitor twisted for a while; the spaceship had entered hyperspace.