Chapter 1 The Influence of the Creator Goddess

The Creator Goddess of the Dream Plane was always a presence that Hao Ren couldn't ignore, because with each deeper understanding of the Dream Plane, the influence of this Creator Goddess seemed to extend further. At first, Hao Ren thought that this Creator Goddess was just a powerful mortal, an ancient primordial being from Holletta's ancient times. However, now, this Creator Goddess really seemed to have divine implications.

She created the ecosystems on countless planets in the Dream Plane through seeding. The Primal Seed she created could give birth to creatures like the "Eldest Son," which resembled gods of chaos. Her influence spanned across time and space, permeating countless planets. The Radiant Church's ability to sense the Goddess's power was solid proof. And now, the Eldest Sons scattered on different planets seemed to have fallen into madness, which was probably related to the Creator Goddess.

"It would be great if we could find more ecological planets. If the third planet also shows signs of the Eldest Son and world-ending events, our guess will be pretty much confirmed," Vivian said, bending down to pick up a piece of grey-black debris that had fallen from a tentacle, and casually crushing it into dust. "I wonder if there are any surviving Eldest Sons left... It would be even better if we could follow this clue to find the Creator Goddess."

"In a vision, I saw a planet covered in an endless sea of blood," Hao Ren mentioned the hallucination he had seen under the influence of the giant brain. "That should be where the Creator Goddess's main body is located. Perhaps we can start with those giant brains..."

"The prerequisite is that they can catch that heretical sect on Holletta. Only they know how to summon the giant brain," Nangong Wuyue clicked her tongue. "The Eldest Son destroyed the entire Dragon Spine Mountains. I'm afraid no clues will be left. Can the Radiant Church find those heretics?"

"We'll see when the time comes. If it doesn't work, we'll do it ourselves... or ask Marshal Aufra for help," Vivian brushed off the grey-black powder in her hand and looked around. "Do you feel like... the wind direction is a bit off?"

Vivian's reminder made Hao Ren realize that the atmosphere around them seemed a bit strange. Gusts of strange wind, sometimes strong, sometimes weak, sometimes from the left, sometimes from the right, were blowing in from all directions. This chaotic wind carried a peculiar aura that made people feel inexplicably cold. Almost at the same time that everyone noticed, the wind seemed to realize that Hao Ren and the others were on alert. The wind speed instantly increased several times, and dust filled the sky!

"It's a Wrath Spirit!" Becky immediately summoned a layer of multicolored magical light around herself and shouted, sword in hand, "Defend!"

The ancient souls of the Tanagurs wandered on Planet Tanagus. Although these strange creatures, transformed into Wrath Spirits, were unconscious, they could still identify intruders entering their territory. Apparently, a Wrath Spirit was wandering near Alamanda, and Hao Ren and the others had been targeted.

A misty water barrier suddenly appeared around Nangong Wuyue, enveloping everyone in a safe protective layer. At this time, the strange wind had rapidly evolved into a strong storm. The dust and tentacle fragments on the ground were swept up by the storm, forming tornadoes hundreds of meters high. The chaotic walls of wind twisted and approached the group. In this storm, pale phantoms and bright lightning were constantly brewing.

However, Hao Ren and the others had already dealt with a Wrath Spirit before, so they were all experienced. Everyone threw all their ultimate moves at the wall of wind at the same time. While the storm weakened slightly, Hao Ren had already taken out his demon-hunting fish from his arms: "Doudou, get ready—sing!"

The little guy immediately screamed at the top of his lungs: "@##￥￥！##@￥@%%……￥&……"

A strange creaking sound immediately came from the surrounding storm. The tornado, hundreds of meters high, was forcibly stopped in mid-air. The sand and dust that had been stirred up began to fall like hail. Vivian looked strangely at Doudou, who was howling in Hao Ren's hand: "Although it's really effective... it still feels weird no matter how many times I see it."

"Alright, when have we ever been normal?" Hao Ren grabbed Doudou's fishtail as if he were holding a handheld loudspeaker. Whichever way he pointed, a big hole would break in the storm wall. He was having fun playing with his fish daughter. "You know, even though there are no lyrics, the little guy sings pretty well... Doudou, let's change to another song."

The data terminal slammed into the back of Hao Ren's head: "Stop messing around, more Wrath Spirits are gathering here. This is no place to stay!"

"Which way is safer?" Hao Ren immediately shouted—he didn't plan to leave Tanagus yet. There were still many things in this lost world that he hadn't figured out.

Vivian immediately focused her mind and communicated with the little bats she had sent out. Then, she clapped her hands: "A bat found a very suspicious ruin. Let's go there."

The data terminal shone brightly and shouted, "If we force our way out, we might be chased by the Wrath Spirits on the road. Tell me the approximate location of that bat, and we'll teleport there."

Vivian immediately focused her mind and outlined the terrain map that the little bats had scouted in her mind. Then, she transmitted this map to the data terminal through mental link. The next second, everyone had disappeared into the crumbling eye of the storm.

The teleportation light flashed, and the group arrived on a hill hundreds of kilometers away from the outer wall of Alamanda. The Wrath Spirits had obviously not noticed this place: it seemed quite peaceful here.

Doudou was still screaming in Hao Ren's hand. After howling twice, she suddenly realized that the surrounding environment seemed to have changed. The little guy opened her eyes and looked around, and when she found that the storm had disappeared, she happily clapped her hands: she thought it was her credit.

"What is this place..." Hao Ren looked around and found that this was a bare hill, and behind him was a strange tower-like building shimmering with a faint golden light. "What's this?"

"I don't know. The bat found it halfway. It may be one of the ruins left by the Tanagurs," Vivian waved her hand and took her little bat back into her body. "It looks like it's well preserved."

Lily was surprised: "Why didn't the Eldest Son tear this place down?"

"The Eldest Son's purpose is to eliminate the Second Era ecosystem. Tearing down houses is just a side effect. If there's no one here, the Eldest Son will naturally be too lazy to tear it down." As Hao Ren spoke, he came to the building, which resembled a watchtower. He found the gate of the building and found that it was open.

The Tanagurs who had been stationed in this tower must have evacuated this place when the Eldest Son approached the defense line. They didn't think they would ever come back when they left, so this place was abandoned in a hurry.

Like other Tanagur buildings, this tower also had light pillars of unknown origin providing lighting. Hao Ren and his group entered, and found that this might be a research facility.

After passing through two opened gates, they could see that it was an old equipment room. Various instruments and equipment occupied about half of the large room's space. Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust, but there were no signs of major damage on the various objects. The Tanagurs' technology was very advanced, especially in materials science, where they had special attainments. The things they made were much more durable than other mortal creations.

"Landlord, look over there~~" Lily tugged at Hao Ren's sleeve, pointing to the wall not far away. A huge star chart hung on the wall, and there were some bulletin boards next to the star chart that seemed to be used for record-keeping.

Nangong Wuyue stepped forward and used a burst of water mist to clear the floating dust on the bulletin boards, revealing complex stellar operation records and some incomprehensible charts and formulas: "This place seems to be an observatory?"

The data terminal floated around the room, emitting a faint blue light. It detected the ancient equipment that was already ten thousand years old, and then suddenly let out a loud whistle: "Yo-ho—this machine is a genius, there seems to be a storage device here that can still be read."

The others were immediately attracted to the data terminal, but Hao Ren's attention was drawn to something else at this time.

He saw something strange above a certain equipment console not far from him. The air there was slightly distorted, as if there was an invisible energy field or gravitational anomaly point.

He slowly walked forward, and the distorted air did not move at all. Seeing this, Hao Ren dared to reach out his hand.

A surge of unfamiliar memories suddenly flooded into his mind.