Frankly speaking, Hao Ren felt that it was unwise to let the four ascetics live outdoors. Their way of life was just too different from a normal person's. If they were in The Plane of Dreams, you could have probably pinned it down to their piety. But now that they were in the Surface World, how was Hao Ren suppose to explain their behaviour? Most common folk would struggle to understand why a group of people refused the luxury of a house to live in the wild. Not to mention their need to meditate with subzero winds blowing at them, or the fact that they set bonfires behind someone's house and caught rabbits by the edge of the city...
But after experiencing so much for so long, Hao Ren had pretty much seen it all. Hence, he took most of their odd practices and customs in stride. The old country bumpkin months ago was no longer around and he was glad about it. Besides, there were not many people living in the Southern Suburbs anyway. The only weird part was their lifestyle, so they probably would not cause much of a ruckus. If they wished to stay that way, so be it. That said... people pulling stunts like that are not rare these days. In fact, the sh*t people conjure up nowadays are beyond what mother nature intended.
So, the four new guests had somewhat settled in. They would come back at night to sleep, and leave at dawn to meditate in the vast land behind his house. Their basic needs just consisted of a few buns and sufficient water. Truth be told, if not for the fact that there was no underground water source, Big Beardy and his fellow ascetics would have dug a well behind Hao Ren's house. Their daily routine was regimented, yet simple. Aside from meditating and praying, they would wander the wild, and probably hunt a rabbit or two, or fetch some bird eyes (no idea where they got those). Other than that, they paid no attention to other things, and they seemed to be rather content with life. Perhaps, living like this was their way of paying respect to nature. For two days, Hao Ren hesitated on informing them about the dwindling wild animal population. This was a suburban area after all, and while it was not comparable to the mountains, it was the middle of winter. At the rate they were going, the animal population there would not last till Chinese New Year...
The four ascetics aside, Hao Ren was busy writing and editing his report. Too many things had happened in The Plane of Dreams and in the span of a few short days, the truth he uncovered far exceeded anything he had done in the past few months. Thus, he needed to plan how he would set the record straight. As they left The Plane of Dreams in a hurry, there were many things that they did not manage to investigate. He needed to consult the rest as well before he could decide on how to report the matter to Raven 12345.
The written report was compiled and sent via the MDT. He also planned to pay Raven 12345 a visit later in the afternoon. Just as he sent his report, Wuyue came home from shopping. He suddenly thought of something and called the siren.
"Say, you haven't been singing for a while now," Hao Ren casually mentioned Wuyue's old profession and the latter quickly turtled. "What are you talking about? It's in the middle of winter... Even if I was willing to sing, who would even come out to listen?"
Hao Ren laughed awkwardly and brought up the thing that he wanted to ask her. "Actually, I have something to ask you..."
"What is it?" Wuyue saw Hao Ren's serious face and she sat on the sofa with an earnest look.
"Do you have any way to contact the sirens on Earth? Or, look for any ruins that the sirens left on land? Or, any other thing? As long as it has something to do with your kind, and it can explain your culture or origin."
Wuyue looked at Hao Ren curiously. "Why the sudden interest? Are you an archaeologist now?"
"Actually, there's something I want to clarify." Hao Ren's gaze was distant. He recalled space and the sea of stars he saw when he was in The Plane of Dreams. "You remember when we talked about sirens with the people from The Plane of Dreams and found out that there were no sirens there?"
Wuyue nodded. "Yes, what of it?"
"After that, Raven 12345 reminded me of something—to look to the sky." Hao Ren appeared perplexed. "I thought that after experiencing so much, my worldview would be pretty wide by now. But, after our fight with the First Born, I realised that I was still being shackled by my old perceptions... We only focused on one planet in The Plane of Dreams and forgot that there's a universe out there above our heads!"
Wuyue was not as learned as Hao Ren was when it came to the stars and it took a while before she understood him. "You mean to say... that the sirens came from another planet in The Plane of Dreams?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Hao Ren motioned. "The goddess whom Big Beardy worships is part of a race from space, and all lifeforms on the planet were sown from space. The Ancient Magic Civilisation already had space colonies on their moon, and the founder of the Disciples of Glory also mentioned a group of visitors from space helping to destroy the First Born... We have been too narrow in our thoughts. I should have known better when we entered The Plane of Dreams the first time. There were stars when I looked up."
You could not blame Hao Ren entirely for his narrow worldview. Under normal circumstances, if one stepped into a magical world, and the whole place seemed to be a carbon copy of medieval Europe; everyone was all about theology, and there were no sprouts of scientific innovation or any large scale industries, one would have been unconsciously drawn into the local atmosphere. You could not help but think that you were in a script about a medieval magic kingdom. If you've read such novels, you would not have related any of it to aliens.
The point is, The Plane of Dreams was not normal. It started off as a normal, medieval fantasy world, but things derailed to involve aliens!
"All unusual creatures came from The Plane of Dreams; I strongly believe that." Hao Ren was serious. "And, I swear by Darwin's name that an ecosystem like Earth's could not have caused the evolution of races capable of toppling mountains and splitting oceans. The sirens are definitely not from Earth and I think that they possibly came from one of the planets in The Plane of Dreams..."
"So, you plan to find the origin of the sirens?" Wuyue was interested in what Hao Ren had said. "This seems very interesting, but what purpose does it serve?"
Hao Ren looked at Wuyue in the eye. "Think of it. We initially thought that planet in The Plane of Dreams was the only planet in the universe. Plus, the calamity mentioned in the holy books of the Disciples of Glory said that total annihilation was one of the disasters to befall the planet. Even though it almost wiped out the entire planet, in the grand scale of things, it was nothing more than a localised incident."
"So..."—Wuyue seemed to finally understand Hao Ren at this point—"the sirens did not undergo the calamity of the goddess."
"Based on the calendar, the werewolves and vampires came to Earth after the calamity," Hao Ren theorised. "Let's not bother with how they got here; let's just assume that they figured a way out of desperation. Based on the records, the appearance of the unusual creatures on Earth certainly had to do with the calamity of the goddess. Maybe, they were refugees, or maybe, they used the First Born's unnatural ability to breach the Wall of Reality in order to come to Earth. But now, there's a missing piece: how did the sirens come here? They did not experience the calamity, but why did they appear on Earth at the same time?"
Wuyue started frowning as she caught up to Hao Ren's train of thought.
Hao Ren paused for a bit before continuing, "There are two possibilities: one, they had nothing to do with the calamity and the coming of the unusual creatures, or... two, the sirens' homeworld also experienced similar incidents, which forced them to escape The Plane of Dreams."
Wuyue looked on in disbelief. "Is the second possibility even conceivable? The Ancient Magic Civilisation was destroyed because they were poking their noses into the First Born, causing it to go berserk... However, the sirens' homeworld... No matter what planet it was, certainly, it had nothing to do with the Ancient Magic Kingdom? Could there be such a coincidence?"
This was the part Hao Ren had not figured out. He assumed that all unusual creatures came from The Plane of Dreams, and the reason for their arrival was the calamity. However, now that he knew the calamity was a localised incident, the sirens' appearance on Earth became difficult to explain. All in all, the calamity occurred because someone on the planet had decided to poke a bear. There was no common cause or inevitable cause, so for the same thing to happen at the same time on another planet was rather unlikely. Hence, what drove the sirens to Earth? Did it really have nothing to do with the goddess, but a disasterous collateral damage of galactic proportions instead? Was the calamity just a coincidence? How many races on Earth had the same predicament as the sirens? What were the chances that the unusual creatures Vivian knew were all those who had made the journey?
Wuyue looked at Hao Ren's expression and realised that the man, while carefree most of the time, was dead set on something once he was serious. What he spoke had basis. He was rarely serious, but when he was, he did not mess around. So, she followed up with a question, "From your tone, are you sure the sirens also encountered a calamity that possibly wiped out the entire race? Do you have any leads?"
Hao Ren nodded. "The first pope mentioned in his patrimony that when the First Born awakes, a group of allies from the stars will appear. I'm sure I'm not the ally they're talking about. Because 3,000 years ago, even my ancestors weren't around yet. So, the question is, why didn't the real 'allies' appear? Did something happen to them?"
Frankly speaking, Hao Ren felt that it was unwise to let the four ascetics live outdoors. Their way of life was just too different from a normal person's. If they were in The Plane of Dreams, you could have probably pinned it down to their piety. But now that they were in the Surface World, how was Hao Ren suppose to explain their behaviour? Most common folk would struggle to understand why a group of people refused the luxury of a house to live in the wild. Not to mention their need to meditate with subzero winds blowing at them, or the fact that they set bonfires behind someone's house and caught rabbits by the edge of the city...
But after experiencing so much for so long, Hao Ren had pretty much seen it all. Hence, he took most of their odd practices and customs in stride. The old country bumpkin months ago was no longer around and he was glad about it. Besides, there were not many people living in the Southern Suburbs anyway. The only weird part was their lifestyle, so they probably would not cause much of a ruckus. If they wished to stay that way, so be it. That said... people pulling stunts like that are not rare these days. In fact, the sh*t people conjure up nowadays are beyond what mother nature intended.
So, the four new guests had somewhat settled in. They would come back at night to sleep, and leave at dawn to meditate in the vast land behind his house. Their basic needs just consisted of a few buns and sufficient water. Truth be told, if not for the fact that there was no underground water source, Big Beardy and his fellow ascetics would have dug a well behind Hao Ren's house. Their daily routine was regimented, yet simple. Aside from meditating and praying, they would wander the wild, and probably hunt a rabbit or two, or fetch some bird eyes (no idea where they got those). Other than that, they paid no attention to other things, and they seemed to be rather content with life. Perhaps, living like this was their way of paying respect to nature. For two days, Hao Ren hesitated on informing them about the dwindling wild animal population. This was a suburban area after all, and while it was not comparable to the mountains, it was the middle of winter. At the rate they were going, the animal population there would not last till Chinese New Year...
The four ascetics aside, Hao Ren was busy writing and editing his report. Too many things had happened in The Plane of Dreams and in the span of a few short days, the truth he uncovered far exceeded anything he had done in the past few months. Thus, he needed to plan how he would set the record straight. As they left The Plane of Dreams in a hurry, there were many things that they did not manage to investigate. He needed to consult the rest as well before he could decide on how to report the matter to Raven 12345.
The written report was compiled and sent via the MDT. He also planned to pay Raven 12345 a visit later in the afternoon. Just as he sent his report, Wuyue came home from shopping. He suddenly thought of something and called the siren.
"Say, you haven't been singing for a while now," Hao Ren casually mentioned Wuyue's old profession and the latter quickly turtled. "What are you talking about? It's in the middle of winter... Even if I was willing to sing, who would even come out to listen?"
Hao Ren laughed awkwardly and brought up the thing that he wanted to ask her. "Actually, I have something to ask you..."
"What is it?" Wuyue saw Hao Ren's serious face and she sat on the sofa with an earnest look.
"Do you have any way to contact the sirens on Earth? Or, look for any ruins that the sirens left on land? Or, any other thing? As long as it has something to do with your kind, and it can explain your culture or origin."
Wuyue looked at Hao Ren curiously. "Why the sudden interest? Are you an archaeologist now?"
"Actually, there's something I want to clarify." Hao Ren's gaze was distant. He recalled space and the sea of stars he saw when he was in The Plane of Dreams. "You remember when we talked about sirens with the people from The Plane of Dreams and found out that there were no sirens there?"
Wuyue nodded. "Yes, what of it?"
"After that, Raven 12345 reminded me of something—to look to the sky." Hao Ren appeared perplexed. "I thought that after experiencing so much, my worldview would be pretty wide by now. But, after our fight with the First Born, I realised that I was still being shackled by my old perceptions... We only focused on one planet in The Plane of Dreams and forgot that there's a universe out there above our heads!"
Wuyue was not as learned as Hao Ren was when it came to the stars and it took a while before she understood him. "You mean to say... that the sirens came from another planet in The Plane of Dreams?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Hao Ren motioned. "The goddess whom Big Beardy worships is part of a race from space, and all lifeforms on the planet were sown from space. The Ancient Magic Civilisation already had space colonies on their moon, and the founder of the Disciples of Glory also mentioned a group of visitors from space helping to destroy the First Born... We have been too narrow in our thoughts. I should have known better when we entered The Plane of Dreams the first time. There were stars when I looked up."
You could not blame Hao Ren entirely for his narrow worldview. Under normal circumstances, if one stepped into a magical world, and the whole place seemed to be a carbon copy of medieval Europe; everyone was all about theology, and there were no sprouts of scientific innovation or any large scale industries, one would have been unconsciously drawn into the local atmosphere. You could not help but think that you were in a script about a medieval magic kingdom. If you've read such novels, you would not have related any of it to aliens.
The point is, The Plane of Dreams was not normal. It started off as a normal, medieval fantasy world, but things derailed to involve aliens!
"All unusual creatures came from The Plane of Dreams; I strongly believe that." Hao Ren was serious. "And, I swear by Darwin's name that an ecosystem like Earth's could not have caused the evolution of races capable of toppling mountains and splitting oceans. The sirens are definitely not from Earth and I think that they possibly came from one of the planets in The Plane of Dreams..."
"So, you plan to find the origin of the sirens?" Wuyue was interested in what Hao Ren had said. "This seems very interesting, but what purpose does it serve?"
Hao Ren looked at Wuyue in the eye. "Think of it. We initially thought that planet in The Plane of Dreams was the only planet in the universe. Plus, the calamity mentioned in the holy books of the Disciples of Glory said that total annihilation was one of the disasters to befall the planet. Even though it almost wiped out the entire planet, in the grand scale of things, it was nothing more than a localised incident."
"So..."—Wuyue seemed to finally understand Hao Ren at this point—"the sirens did not undergo the calamity of the goddess."
"Based on the calendar, the werewolves and vampires came to Earth after the calamity," Hao Ren theorised. "Let's not bother with how they got here; let's just assume that they figured a way out of desperation. Based on the records, the appearance of the unusual creatures on Earth certainly had to do with the calamity of the goddess. Maybe, they were refugees, or maybe, they used the First Born's unnatural ability to breach the Wall of Reality in order to come to Earth. But now, there's a missing piece: how did the sirens come here? They did not experience the calamity, but why did they appear on Earth at the same time?"
Wuyue started frowning as she caught up to Hao Ren's train of thought.
Hao Ren paused for a bit before continuing, "There are two possibilities: one, they had nothing to do with the calamity and the coming of the unusual creatures, or... two, the sirens' homeworld also experienced similar incidents, which forced them to escape The Plane of Dreams."
Wuyue looked on in disbelief. "Is the second possibility even conceivable? The Ancient Magic Civilisation was destroyed because they were poking their noses into the First Born, causing it to go berserk... However, the sirens' homeworld... No matter what planet it was, certainly, it had nothing to do with the Ancient Magic Kingdom? Could there be such a coincidence?"
This was the part Hao Ren had not figured out. He assumed that all unusual creatures came from The Plane of Dreams, and the reason for their arrival was the calamity. However, now that he knew the calamity was a localised incident, the sirens' appearance on Earth became difficult to explain. All in all, the calamity occurred because someone on the planet had decided to poke a bear. There was no common cause or inevitable cause, so for the same thing to happen at the same time on another planet was rather unlikely. Hence, what drove the sirens to Earth? Did it really have nothing to do with the goddess, but a disasterous collateral damage of galactic proportions instead? Was the calamity just a coincidence? How many races on Earth had the same predicament as the sirens? What were the chances that the unusual creatures Vivian knew were all those who had made the journey?
Wuyue looked at Hao Ren's expression and realised that the man, while carefree most of the time, was dead set on something once he was serious. What he spoke had basis. He was rarely serious, but when he was, he did not mess around. So, she followed up with a question, "From your tone, are you sure the sirens also encountered a calamity that possibly wiped out the entire race? Do you have any leads?"
Hao Ren nodded. "The first pope mentioned in his patrimony that when the First Born awakes, a group of allies from the stars will appear. I'm sure I'm not the ally they're talking about. Because 3,000 years ago, even my ancestors weren't around yet. So, the question is, why didn't the real 'allies' appear? Did something happen to them?"
