Chapter 1 A Day in the Life of an Inspector

As an inspector whose job content and routine were uncertain and involved patrolling the universe, Hao Ren felt that his workload was simply exhibiting Brownian motion. Sometimes almost everything would pile up and happen all at once, making him wish he could just undergo mitosis on the spot to gain a couple of extra helpers. Yet other times, the universe was at peace, all incidents were quiet, and he was so idle that he could grow mushrooms...

The pursuit of the Crystal Core's whereabouts had temporarily fallen into a stalemate. Actually, it wasn't exactly a stalemate; strictly speaking, it was because the universe was vast and the range of drone activity was limited, so no effective signals had been detected yet. Hao Ren had uploaded the information recorded by Anthony to the drone network server many days ago, and also sent a copy to the Crystal Core Research Station. Countless super antennas deployed in the Dream Plane universe had opened their eyes wide, scanning day and night for even the weakest trace of information from the depths of space.

So far, no signal responses matching the feature codes had been found within the already explored areas of the Dream Plane.

On the other hand, the detectors used to monitor the movements of various ecological reserves in the Dream Plane had not returned any abnormal situations either.

Hao Ren had been leaning against the table since early morning, listening to the data terminal's report, while Gun was lazily nestled in his new cat bed at his feet, playing with its tail and purring.

After a long period of education, this cat still had many incorrigible habits. Apart from squatting to eat and occasionally forgetting to walk upright, the biggest problem was that she had to nestle in various corners to feel comfortable. These days, Lily had happened to buy a lot of things online, and after unpacking the express delivery, there was a huge cardboard box left over. So the cardboard box was occupied by the cat girl. Obviously, Hao Ren would not help her return to her beastly nature, so the cat girl took matters into her own hands and made sure she had enough food and clothing. She put a thick layer of torn and scratched clothes and old sheets in the box, creating an extra-large soft nest. Now, except for eating and going to the toilet, she was almost inseparable from it...

Hao Ren was now worried that someone would see this scene. If people who didn't know the situation saw it, wouldn't they think he was abusing a young girl!

"Purr, purr—" The cat girl turned over and kicked Hao Ren's calf with her foot. "Meow, food."

"I'm raising an ancestor..." Hao Ren sighed and casually grabbed a handful of cat biscuits from the small box next to him and handed them over. "Don't drop too many crumbs, I still have to clean them up."

After saying that, he turned his head and prepared to continue listening to the report, but the cat girl kicked him a few times again: "Meow, water."

"Get out of here! The water is next to your box, can't you reach out and get it yourself?!"

The cat girl stubbornly raised her neck: "I don't want the one in the cup, pour it into a bowl for me, meow."

Hao Ren felt that he was indeed raising an ancestor!

After serving the cat ancestor, he finally had time to continue listening to the data terminal's report on the situation in various places.

"Actually, there's nothing new, it's the same as the last report," the data terminal floated a few inches above the table and swayed gently. "The ecological reshaping of Zorm-Tannagus has come to an end, and the Zorm people are preparing for winter. They have initially established living camps and production facilities, as well as a certain amount of material reserves, so there should be no problem getting through the first winter; Hollaraita is now considered a paradise in the Dream Plane. The turmoil caused by the First Born has passed, and the monitoring satellites remaining in the planet's sky have not found any remaining ancient creatures inside the planet; the situation on Aio is also normal, and the Ark survivors are adapting to that ocean planet. Iva gets along well with those new guests. The stability of the above-mentioned ecological reserves is nothing to worry about. Armed drones patrol around each planet for a long time and have set up heavily armed space fortresses. If there is any threat, it can be eliminated immediately, and there is no threat at present."

"How's the situation at the Gate of Surun?" Hao Ren asked casually.

"Several Dead Star Forges have started working, and Lementusa is there supervising the casting of the Founding Engine components. Some parts have already been produced. The construction units we left at the Gate of Surun have built large assembly stations in space, and the initially produced parts have begun to be assembled," the data terminal said, projecting a set of holographic images. In the images, you could see a vast expanse of space, with many strangely structured light golden combinations floating in the space. Around the combinations, you could see many small spots of light flying around and things similar to tractor beams. "Apart from the production facilities, there is no new information from the Gate of Surun. The spatial fracture situation there remains the same, but no more 'God Domains' have run out of the Dark Realm."

"Hmm..." Hao Ren pinched his nose, thinking about what else he might have missed, when he suddenly remembered a long-ago instruction. "By the way, how far has the drone swarm expanded now? Is it still expanding towards the primitive area in the center of the universe?"

"I was just about to report this," the lights on the surface of the data terminal brightened, indicating that this was a relatively important topic. "The expansion speed of the drone swarm is increasing as planned, and the number of armed drones has been increased according to your order. This is the area they have spread to so far, and a rough star chart has been drawn..."

The data terminal projected a complex pattern of light spots and lines, marked with the detection range of the drone swarm. Most of the star systems within the swarm's coverage area were unnamed, and were only registered in general terms using alphanumeric codes.

"Because the advance route encountered many unregistered star systems, the actual speed of advance is not fast, despite the rapid proliferation of the drone swarm – every inch of suspicious area must be investigated, and all material-rich zones must be fortified with bunkers and fortresses, which slows down the expansion speed of the drone swarm. However, their expansion should speed up next: the closer they get to the primitive area in the center of the universe, the fewer celestial bodies are worth paying attention to. The space ahead of the swarm is becoming increasingly dark and sparse, and most of the star systems within the area have gone out. Nuclear reactions probably stopped hundreds of millions of years ago. Apart from some cold piles of ashes, there is nothing to detect in that space. A single drone bunker can monitor a vast area."

Hao Ren looked at the star chart projected by the data terminal. He could see a hazy darkness in front of the large, glittering star system landscape, as if the oldest secrets of the Dream Plane universe were hidden in that darkness. At present, the expansion range of the drone swarm has not yet broken through the active star system area, and there is still a long distance from the dark boundary, but in any case, the dark boundary has appeared within the sensory range of the drone swarm.

"The swarm consciousness sent a report earlier today, mentioning that under the observation of the drone outposts, the dark space ahead was 'quiet to the point of being eerie,'" the data terminal said. "Even the oldest primordial nebulae should have a certain number of stars being born, because the star-forming period of the Dream Plane universe is far from over, but the starlight in that dark area is at least 80 percent less than expected, as if something happened there that caused the nebular material within the area to be burned away."

"Darkness... darkness..." Hao Ren clicked his tongue. "Anyway, in our previous speculations, there must be something in that darkness. Let the swarm continue to advance... By the way, do drone swarms have souls?"

The data terminal was stunned for a moment, not knowing why Hao Ren suddenly brought this up, but still answered seriously: "No, they only have intelligence, like this machine, have intelligence, no soul."

Hao Ren still couldn't figure out what the "soul" defined by the gods was, and he didn't know why the concept of "having intelligence but no soul" appeared, but he didn't intend to study this field: "Okay, it's good that they don't have souls, let the swarm continue to advance. By the way, have they found any surviving civilizations or anything else in the middle of their expansion?"

"Unfortunately, no," the data terminal's voice did have regret in it. "A large number of planetary ruins destroyed by the First Born were found, but most of the ruins have been melted into a mass of indescribable matter by the Origin Blood. All the matter is evenly dispersed and unrecognizable, and there is no way to even start an investigation. In comparison, the Tannagus ruins and the Aio ruins we discovered before can be considered beacons in the night. In addition, some rare life reactions were occasionally found on those completely destroyed planets, but they were all crude life forms that were reborn from the Origin Blood after the apocalypse. The life forms are extremely low-level and evolve slowly. It seems that after the death of the First Born, the God-made ecosystem lost most of its power, and the Origin Blood also deteriorated, making it difficult to breed complex life from the Origin Blood."

"...Completely destroy vitality, erase the traces left by the Creation Goddess in the universe, change the nature of the Origin Blood, and cut off the possibility of the goddess's people rising again," Hao Ren murmured softly. "Now it's much easier to explain these phenomena."

While Hao Ren was discussing matters related to the Dream Plane with the data terminal, a burst of shouting from Lily suddenly came from the living room, interrupting their conversation:

"Landlord, landlord! Come and see, something's wrong with Dou Dou!!"