The Record of Unusual Creatures

A man-made probe the size of a car was slowly moving across the red surface of Mars. It was moving so slowly that is was almost limping—due to the distance between Mars and Earth, the time lag in controlling things such as rovers remotely could be very huge. It must have been moving at a very slow pace to prevent accidents from happening. While the rover was slow, it was busy. The front-mounted camera was snapping photos as it went. Now it was moving in Hao Ren and his team's direction.     

Considering the speed of the rover and the distance between it and the hillside, it would probably take the little guy a long time before it got there. However, it would eventually reach the rolling slope as long as it did not change its course halfway.     

Hao Ren looked over his shoulder at the scorched marks on the ground behind him. He also observed the vitreous crystals that the Plasma Flare and Demonic Flare caused, as well as all the debris around them. He was wondered to himself, "Why did this happen to us? How did we stumble into a probe in a place as big as Mars?"     

"No matter what; you've got to pick up the mess." The MDT snorted. "This is an untouched planet. The humans on Earth will be sending more probes eventually. You think you can get away with this by leaving a mess behind? Before the rover reaches this place, clean up the scene. But, remember not to damage the rover. That thing is protected by the Imperial Law."     

Nangong Sanba turned around and looked at the mess. "How do we even clean up this mess? Shall we scoop the entire place away?"     

"There are two options now," Lily said. "One; scoop the hell of out of this place. Two; find an LCD TV, play a Mars video, and I'll carry the TV in front of the rover's camera…"     

Hao Ren could not believe Lily's ingenuity; she was beyond repair.     

"Taking into account the conscientiousness and precision of Science, we have to ensure that all clues here are eliminated," said Y'zaks, rolling up his sleeves. "I'm an expert in this field, so I'll handle this with surgical precision…"     

Staring at the runes on Y'zaks arms, cold sweat trickled down Hao Ren's forehead. "Are you sure it'll be accurate enough? Doesn't sound very convincing to me—"     

Before he could finish talking, a light appeared in the sky. A meteorite was crashing down at an angle from the sky. A loud boom was heard followed by a small mushroom cloud rising up slowly into the sky. It was done.     

Y'zaks had figured the precise impact force and angle of the meteorite. The rover was outside the impact zone. Traces of evidence were completely destroyed. Even the blood stain (of the evil spirit) had vaporized. The blood vapor mixed with the meteorite steam as well as other space gases and was instantaneously blown away by the shockwaves. It would never be detected.     

Of course, the rover likely saw the moment the meteorite fell. However, that was easier to explain away as a normal meteorite strike than justify aliens fighting on Mars. To be honest, Hao Ren and his group could not care less about the issue now.     

They had to find out what that thing was, and its relationship with Vivian.     

They double-checked everything, making sure no evidence was left behind. Then they quickly left for home. The first thing Hao Ren did when they got back to his house was to check out the Summoning Circle. Only a piece of scorched land and some white ashes were left out in the open. It looked like the Summoning Circle that Lily built had self-destructed when it ran out of energy. The husky stared at the ashes, almost in tears. "My shoes... I was planning to wear them this winter..."     

"Can't you not whine about that now," said Hao Ren, dragging Lily back into the house by her tail. "Let's first see Vivian's condition."     

Sitting on the sofa, Vivian was surrounded by everyone. She was baffled by what had happened that evening. Lily and Hao Ren were the ones who sneaked out, conducted the freaking test and dragged her into this. The vampire maiden now felt she like had found herself on the wrong end of it. She checked herself, making sure she was all right. "I feel completely fine… just a little tired. That thing was really badass."     

"Indeed," said Hao Ren, pursing his mouth. "She challenged us all singlehandedly and almost succeeded. Had I not cut her off from the moonlight, I'm afraid everyone would have been in trouble. Only you—Vivian. You could hurt her. Is something going on between you and her?"     

"You're saying that it was the experiment of the summoning ritual that brought 'her' out?" Vivian frowned, eyeing Lily. "Didn't I tell you not to try and study those mystic things? What good would it be besides getting us all into trouble?"     

Lily stuck her tongue out, pointing her finger at Hao Ren conveniently. "I've been telling you that it was Mr. Landlord's fault…"     

"Don't kid with me. Mr. Landlord may be whimsical at times, but without you, things would not have come to this point." Vivian had known the husky and Hao Ren's characters for a long time. "Let's not talk about this. Did you say that the evil spirit looks like me?"     

"Splitting image," said Y'zaks, hissing. His voice was always the more reliable one. "Only the color of her hair and aura were different. Couldn't you see her face?"     

Even Y'zaks saw the face of that thing, so most likely it was true. Vivian's brows knit tightly together, perplexed. "Splitting image? I don't know what was going on. All I saw was just a figure, red in the dark, like a shadow. Its face was as blurry as it could get. I didn't even know if it was a man or woman, much less its look."     

"This precisely shows that the evil spirit has something to do with you," Hao Ren looked at Vivian, her face was serious. "You were the only one who couldn't see its face. It's either the evil spirit was hiding from you, or there was some kind of mutual interference between the two of you, so much so that the evil spirit was also confused when she saw you."     

"Battie could hurt her! Using a skillet!" Lily blurted. "If that's no connection, then I don't know what is."     

Although Hao Ren was rendered speechless by how Lily said things, he had to admit that Vivian's reaction at the time was no less stunning, especially when she smashed the evil spirit with a skillet and blew it 20 m out—her skillet skills could rival that of the Sword of Heaven.     

Vivian was still experiencing heartache for her losses that day. "That was a good skillet..."     

Hao Ren took the small blood sample out from his Dimensional Pocket. The tube was a dedicated biological sample container with transparent crystal shell on both sides to facilitate the observation of the sample inside. Now, the viscous liquid inside had completely calmed down. It looked just like normal blood. He twisted the bottom of the metal tube where there was a dedicated sampling port, which prevented back-flowing contamination. He then dripped a drop of the blood sample into a petri dish and handed it to Vivian. "Please analyze it and see if it's blood."     

Vivian took the blood, sniffed it under her nose, and stuck her tongue out to taste it. Hao Ren hurriedly reminded her, "Careful! That thing is of unknown origin!"     

Vivian thought he was right. She divided a small bat from her body and used it to taste the blood inside the petri dish. She frowned. "It's blood... but it's strange. I can't tell what species it came from. It's been changing."     

"Changing?" Hao Ren looked at the sample container in his hand. "Is this thing still alive?"     

"No, it's dead. There isn't a single breath of life left." Vivian and the little bat sucked their mouth in unison, seemingly sharing the same sense of taste. "However, it's still changing in its state of death. It's constantly transforming into the blood of other creatures... No, not right. It just feels like other creatures, but in reality, it's just a type of disguise. The blood's original characteristics are unknown; it only shows similar characteristics of biological blood."     

"How could this thing even exist?" Hao Ren did not know much about blood magic, but he could still recognize what Vivian said did not make sense. "You mean, this thing isn't really blood?"     

"Can ordinary blood turn into a person and fight with you?" Vivian rolled her eyes at Hao Ren. "Anyway, I have to ask Hessiana about the origins of this magic book. The wizard who left this behind must not be some ordinary fellow, but I've never heard of any wizard who has such high attainments in blood magic."     

Vivian did not believe the "summoning ritual" recorded in the magic book. She felt that it was more like a seal. The book contained a magical creature based on blood magic. The so-called "summoning ritual" Lily and Hao Ren performed had accidentally released the creature.     

Anyway, it seemed that Hessiana would soon have her wish granted: Vivian was going to look for her.     

Her visit was going to be punitory in nature, though…