The Record of Unusual Creatures

The uncontrollable rampage of the Nanomachine Swarm was one of the triggers that led to the collapse of the planet's civilization. The Nanomachine Swarm was indeed a taboo technology, but nothing stayed unchanged in that world. Something that triggered the war in the past had become the last lifeline for humans to depend on in the present. The global war had destroyed the original production system and pushed the planet's ecology to the verge of extinction. As more and more people became involved in the war, the agricultural and industrial models could no longer support humankind's survival needs. Hence, they restarted the Nanomachine Swarm. They made a series of better-than-nothing security improvements and made the Nanomachine Swarm the cornerstone of human survival. The Nanomachine Swarm provided food, air as well as medication, and it became the basis of industrialization. Ninety percent of the human beings in that world depended on the Nanomachine Swarm for survival.     

Scientists who once invented the Nanomachine Swarm finally achieved their long-cherished wish: the fleet reshaped the entire society, took on the work in all aspects from the environment to the industry, evolving into the planet's new lifeline—but only after the collapse of civilization.     

"You don't need any clever technologies to be a doctor in this place," the middle-aged woman said, looking through a small window on the syringe to check if the Nanomachine Swarm was working. "We only need to know how to use a syringe and perform amputations. If these two measures don't work, the only choice would be to resign to fate. But I'm guessing that the city you were living in was better than elsewhere? I've heard that the ultra-conservative Naturals occupy the last few natural environments in the world. Did your food come from the ground?"     

Hao Ren did not want to answer her question directly. "I've left the place. I don't feel like talking about things over there."     

"I don't know when you'll start regretting your decision." The "doctor" shook her head and put away her tools. "Maybe you've never felt regret. Oh yeah, would you like a shot? Free of charge. It's not that I can meet people like you every day in this era."     

Hao Ren was stunned. "A shot? I'm not injured..."     

"Tranquilizer." The "doctor" pointed at her head. "You may need it."     

Hao Ren forced a smile. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'm not mad... really."     

The "doctor" shook her head, threw the cigarette butt on the ground, and stamped it off with her foot. Before leaving, she bent over and casually examined the girl's wound. However, she quickly became wide-eyed. "Did someone give her a Nano-fleet injection a few hours ago?"     

Hao Ren had no clue why she said so. "What's the matter?"     

"The wound has no signs of decomposition," the 'doctor' said, pointing at the wound on the girl's abdomen. "Haven't you noticed? The Nano-fleet I just injected can only maintain her current physical condition. But judging from the condition of her wound, the tissues stopped deteriorating a few hours ago."     

Hao Ren did not understand what she meant, but he quickly came to his senses and asked, "You mean her body has never decomposed?"     

"Something's not right… It's like time stood still." The "doctor" did not address Hao Ren's question. She bent down again and carefully examined the condition of flesh around her wound. "Looks like whatever it is has done an even better job than the best Nanomachine Swarm. Where did you give her the injection and why didn't mention it before?"     

Hao Ren never knew that the girl's body had not been deteriorating. But if he said so, he would draw suspicion to himself. Hence, he tried to sway the conversation. "Will there be a problem since you gave her another jab just now?"     

The "doctor" shook her head. "The medical Nanomachine Swarm will intelligently adjust to her condition. There's no danger of conflict or poisoning. Just that I've wasted one precious dose, it's an anti-... I mean, it is rarely used."     

Hao Ren did not seem to understand her. Nevertheless, he thanked the "doctor" anyway. She waved her hand listlessly. "I'm just doing my job. Oh yeah, by the way, I'll leave you some bandages. You can wrap her wound up yourself—it's not appropriate to expose her wound like that. I need to go back and sleep now."     

She threw a pack of oft toolkit to Hao Ren and yawned as she left without the professionalism of a medical practitioner. After the doctor went, the MDT spoke again, "It feels creepy… What has she done to the body?"     

Hao Ren gave the girl on the bed a sideways glance. "Didn't you say that you don't think like us and don't care about this body? Now what? Are you scared?"     

Hao Ren opened the toolkit given by the "doctor." Inside the kit were thick, transparent films like that of a food wrap instead of the bandage material he had imagined. He glanced at the MDT, thinking that it was not appropriate to leave the wound the way it was. But he was at a loss. "How am I supposed to use this 'film'?"     

The MDT said, "Maybe you can try applying it on my stomach like duct tape…"     

"What if it doesn't stick?"     

"Just add some glue."     

Hao Ren was now sure that the MDT honestly thought differently from human beings.     

Fortunately, the film was more straightforward to use than expected. After studying the instructions on the packaging, Hao Ren treated the wound, then peeled off the protective layer of the film and directly applied it on the injury in the MDT's belly. A moment later, the transparent layer wriggled and blended in with the skin as if it were a part of the skin in just a few seconds. The wound healed perfectly.     

Those not in the know would not realize that it was still a mess inside the abdomen.     

"If used on a living person, this thing would make use of cellular energy to metabolize itself and slowly guide the normal skin cells to replace the artificial colloids in the epidermis. It'll completely turn into normal skin within two days. But if used on corpses, it's only an aesthetic procedure." Hao Ren patted the MDT's belly. "Good stuff for treating external injuries. It's a pity that it was born out of the war."     

"Get your hands off me, pervert! Dress me up, you necrophile! It'll be sexual assault if you do that after the wound heals..."     

"My foot!"     

"You better think about what to do next," the MDT wisely steered away from the conversation before Hao Ren lost control of himself. "We can't stay in this world forever. Don't forget that we came here by dreaming. It's almost time for you to wake up—Lily is expecting you for dinner."     

Hao Ren did not forget that he entered the Plane of Dreams through his dream, not the hibernation pod. He had limited time. Turning and looking around the small room, it would raise suspicion if they were to vanish from the dimension just like that. Scratching his jaw in thought, he then said, "We should try our best to maintain our presence before the mercenaries, but at the same time, we need to find reasonable excuses to leave the base. I don't know if we can come and go freely here. But in theory, these organized mercenaries should be more cautious. If we come in and out of the base too frequently, they 'll treat us as spies."     

"It's not 'us,' it's you," the MDT said, sounding indifferent as if the situation did not concern it at all. "I'm just a corpse. Isn't Ulyanov next door? You can go over, say hello and make up some excuses. Tell him it's that time of the month again, you need to get out for a stroll. Then, you disappear for the whole day..."     

Hao Ren felt like whacking the MDT, but faced with a girl—and a dead one, he could only groan inwardly and walk towards the door. "Wait here. I have a job to do."     

Ulyanov's room was just next door.     

The barracks were assembled using gray boxes on an alloy frame with internal partitions dividing the gray boxes into two rows of rooms with a corridor in the middle. It looked clean and tidy by mercenary standards. The door of Ulyanov's place had a UFO graffiti on it, which looked like the work of a child. It was hard to miss.     

Hao Ren knocked on the door a couple of times. It was only after a while that a rough, low voice replied, "Come in. The door's not locked."     

Hao Ren pushed the door open and went in. "Ulyanov, let me ask you something… Holy sh*t!"     

Ulyanov looked up. "My face looks scary, doesn't it?"