The Record of Unusual Creatures

Hustling across the desolate planet, Hao Ren was driving his official ride, which could shapeshift into anything but Optimus Prime. Looking out at the ancient, old-fashioned but massive steel structure flashing by, one could not help but feel depressed. They were now passing by an idle mega-thruster. The thruster looked like a weird extinct volcano; it had the shape of a mountain peak, and there were huge piping and steel structures on the outside. Some old and mottled marks were scattered across the "peak"; probably rust that developed when the atmosphere was still abundant.     

Lily lay her head on the window frame. Looking out, she said, "The machine's alive, but the people are dead... Who made these things?"     

"No advanced life has been detected yet. Only a few microorganisms are barely surviving in the extreme underground environment," said Hao Ren as he checked the car's control panel. It should have displayed various readings like the oil level and mileage, instead it was filled with complex radar charts and a communication interface connected to the Petrachelys. "Humans may have died out on this planet... or they could be hiding in some shelters. Just that we haven't found them yet."     

"The second scenario is less probable," said Vivian, shaking her head. "It's just my intuition."     

"You mean the thrusters run by themselves? Hao Ren turned to look at Vivian.     

Still shaking her head, Vivian said, "I don't know about the thrusters. I just feel that this place is haunted by the smell of death... The Blood Clan can sense these things."     

They did not stay long at the idle thruster. After they circled it once and snapped a few images, they left the massive thruster behind and continued their journey. After passing by more massive pipelines and steel structures, they began to see some other sporadic structures that looked like sentry towers and bunkers—one could not help but think of a military base. It seemed there had been a war on the planet before the huge thrusters were even completed.     

Thick snow had buried most of the traces, and only structures on the higher ground stood out above the icy layer. Unless they stopped and did a detailed scan, it was difficult to know what lay beneath the thick solid carbon dioxide and regular ice.     

As the car continued to move on, their surroundings began to warm up. There were three massive thrusters on the horizon, shooting out bluish-white flares into space. The thermal radiation of the plasma flares was warming up the area, allowing carbon dioxide to return to the atmosphere. It even melted the ice and snow, exposing the dirt as well as gravel on the ground.     

From time to time, sand and stone chips would hit the car and produce some crackling sound outside, because strong winds blew up the gravel as well as debris. The heat from the mega-thrusters had caused the nearby dry ice to return to the atmosphere, creating a convection process in that part of the planet.     

The thrusters were so massive that they even caused weather-like phenomena during their operation. However, the scope of these phenomena was limited to the space around the active thrusters. After crossing these "weather rings", the air became quiet and dead again.     

After driving for some time, they accidentally stumbled upon the remains of a city.     

The city was situated on high ground, and due to its proximity to an active thruster, the heat of the plasma flare had melted the ice and snow in the city. The Nangong siblings urged Hao Ren to enter the city. As they drove along the street, they saw high-rise buildings everywhere. Though architecturally very different from the ones on Earth, one could tell that an advanced civilization once existed there by looking at the exquisite and high-tech architecture.     

Unlike those dark thrusters, the city was once filled with color—from the detailed decorations on the buildings, colorful art like commercial billboards to roofs, squares, and streets. Hao Ren drove through a pair of twin towers, which looked like a pair of symmetrical plant sprouts. They were connected by an elegantly designed, arched sky-bridge.     

Similar buildings were everywhere in the city, however they varied in style; some were elegant, some were rough like those huge thrusters, and some were mysterious as their uses were unknown. Lily looked at the old buildings, wide-mouthed. She imagined a sunny and normal busy day in the alien city with buildings full of color, people walking leisurely in the streets, and flying crafts traversing the air between the high-rise architecture... All these images suddenly receded like a tidal wave as everything turned gray, and death took over.     

The empty buildings stood lifelessly in the darkness, silently facing the distant stars, and greeting the uninvited guests with their ghostly face.     

In the city's background, massive plasma flares pierced through the night sky, breaking the space in half.     

"There are no signs of life." Hao Ren checked the radar screen in his car. "The city's been abandoned for so long; 10,000 years at the very least."     

What Hao Ren said was no drivel. He had the knowledge to back his claim up. He had a feeling that the city was just a temporary settlement prior to the completion of the thrusters. When the thrusters were fired up, the planet left its orbit into space. The inhabitants of the planet obviously had no ability to maintain the planet's atmosphere after leaving the sun. They had to have abandoned the city on the surface after the completion of the thrusters and moved underground or into some hibernation facility.     

Had the thrusters not started 10,000 years ago, then everything would have been simpler: the inhabitants of the city would have died in the catastrophic supernova.     

Vivian asked in a whisper, "Why do you think they wanted to transform their planet into this?"     

"Obviously for survival," said Hao Ren, gazing at the huge plasma flares in the distance. "I guess it was the First Born… if not the brain monster that was responsible for the catastrophe. Apart from an extinction level event, what else could make a race go on the run with their planet?"     

Lily lay her head on the backrest of Hao Ren's seat, rolling her eyes in deep thought. She then shook her head and said, "Obviously something went wrong during their escape."     

Amazed by the husky's quick wit, Vivian asked, "How do you know that?"     

"Because this planet only started its journey a hundred years ago," replied Lily, shaking her ears. "It was a hundred years ago that the vengeful spirit kidnapped the Nangong couple and sent them to this planet. The sight of the stars in the vengeful spirit's memory clearly suggests that the planet was still in its own solar system a hundred years ago while the catastrophic disaster of the universe had already happened 10,000 years ago. So, this planet's escape plan had obviously failed. Hey, you didn't think of this, did you?"     

"Whoa, honestly, I haven't thought about that before, really. But you did," Vivian replied honestly.     

"I'm not stupid, okay!" Rolling her eyes, Lily flung herself into a seat, ignoring Battie.     

Hao Ren smiled and watched as the two quarreled. "Lily's right. If this planet had fled, it would have set off before 10,000 years ago. So something must have happened, causing it to be stranded in its own solar system for 10,000 years. It wasn't until the Nangong couple were brought here that the thrusters suddenly fired up... That probably came about a hundred years ago."     

They lingered in the city for quite a while, but disappointment eventually set in. There was no sign of advanced life form there, or any trace of recent human activity. Although the city was in a relatively warm environment and liquid water, as well as basic, moss-like plants existed, the Nangong siblings' parents were not there.     

However, the Nangong siblings were still holding on to hope: the environment in the city could clearly sustain sirens and demon hunters. Although uncomfortable, it was feasible. Furthermore, there could be more than one such "liveable" region. The area surrounding each active thruster could provide enough life-sustaining conditions. If they could not find any in this city; they could still look into another.     

Until they combed the entire planet.