The Scarred Nebula? He had never heard of that place before, but what interested him more was why Raven 12345 would want to move the planet to the Surface World. “Move Inferno to the main universe? Isn’t it safer to move it back to the Plane of Dreams?”
“It’s been drifting across the Wall of Reality for too long,” Raven 12345 explained. “Getting stuck in between two dimensions has affected it greatly. Like the otherworldlings on Earth today, they can’t go back to the Plane of Dreams. Forcing it to return will only cause an excessive rejection phenomenon.”
Hao Ren was still worried. “So you’re saying it’ll be okay to move it to the Surface World?”
“There will be some impacts of course. As you said, Inferno belongs to neither the Surface world nor the Plane of Dreams now. No matter which direction it goes, there will be some compatibility issues, but it will be more stable in the Surface World than in the Plane of Dreams. After all, I’m here and I’m going to see it through personally. The Surface World is the best bet when considering all factors.”
Then, Raven 12345 added, “What’s more, the Scarred Nebula is an extraordinary place. I’ll explain further when you get there.”
Hao Ren scratched his head. “After so much talking, I still don’t get how I’m supposed to move the space debris out of the spatial rift. Should I tow it out with a spacecraft?”
“Do you think this is like hauling a cart in the supermarket?” Raven 12345 snapped. “I’ll handle most of the operations, and I’m going to give you beacon guidance authorization as well as a copy of the tips for handling mega-operations. Read it and memorize it; it’ll be useful in the future.”
Raven 12345 proceeded to hang up abruptly. A moment later, the MDT received a confidential document from Raven 12345. Hao Ren opened the document in anticipation and fainted after he read it.
There was only a line of text, “Believe me and you will have eternal life—do you think there are tips for such matters?”
Hao Ren was like, What the hell?!
It was as if Hao Ren was a model of piety and papacy; he did not know how he managed not to shoot his mouth off to curse the goddess. Once beaten, twice shy; he had wised up after being struck by lightning every time he swore.
It took a while before Raven 12345 sent the second message, which was the real deal. Hao Ren read it, but he could understand none of it as the information was meant for the spacecraft’s central computer. When Inferno was removed from the Wall of Reality, the data would come in handy.
“Bring the Petrachelys in.” Hao Ren patted the MDT. “Enter this information into the host. We’re going to move the planet into normal space before we start the construction work. It’ll be convenient this way.”
The MDT disappeared from Hao Ren’s sight, repeatedly groaning, “An able man is always a busy man.” Everyone returned to the surface soon after.
They had been in the underground world for a day and a night. It was early morning when they came back out to Dorasil. The light from the clouds shone on the prairie and coated the ancient boulder city in a dreamlike glow. Vivian leaned against a massive stone beside the pyramid, gazing at the dark rocky dome behind the clouds. It seemed like she was sorting out her memory or just thinking about the future of the planet. Lily stood nearby, wagging her tail and staring intently at her.
Vivian was bothered by the stare. “Why are you staring at me too? What’s happened to you guys lately?” she asked.
Lily nodded her head, looking somber. “I just want to see when you might split again.”
Vivian smacked Lily on the head. “Nonsense!”
All of a sudden, Nangong Wuyue seemingly thought of something. She shook her body and changed into two lumps of shimmering slime. She exclaimed in joy, “Hey, look! I can split! I’ve learned to split!”
Hao Ren was also in thought when Nangong Wuyue’s action almost made him jump out of his skin. “Wait a second! What are you doing, Wuyue?”
The two slimes changed shape to form two Nangong Wuyues, who both looked identical but one-half the size of the original. “I got inspiration from Vivian! Since water’s amorphous, I thought I could probably mimic what Vivian did.”
The two Nangong Wuyues were not only smaller, but their voices also sounded childish.
While Hao Ren was dumbstruck by what he saw, Nangong Sanba appeared to be interested in his sister’s magical ability. “Can you split further?” he asked.
The two Wuyues thought for a while and inhaled forcefully. Suddenly, the two of them exploded like water balloons. Everyone was in shock; Nangong Wuyue had changed into at least a hundred mermaids, all smaller than Lil Pea. They jumped around on the grassy land. “I did it!” Nangong Wuyue exclaimed.
Surprised by what she saw, Lily could not wait to join in on the fun. “Can you split further?”
The mini Wuyues jumped around the ground like freshly-caught fish being poured out from a trawl. “I’ll try…” the Wuyues said.
Hao Ren quickly stopped her. “That’s enough! If you split further, you’ll be small enough to permeate the ground.”
Hessiana and her sidekicks were still recovering from their mental and physical exhaustion. After their crazy adventure, they needed to reconstruct their worldviews badly. Halfway through the construction, Hessiana’s jaw dropped to the ground when she saw the hoo-ha. “…What is wrong with you people?”
Vivian forced a smile and sighed. “I don’t know you, but I’ve gotten used to it. Their brains are made up of some weird stuff. They usually do this at home, but it’s okay, no animals have been harmed.”
They all felt at ease after they witnessed the drama. After Doggie and the siren had played enough, Hao Ren brought them back to the village of the Wind tribe. Learning about the underground seismic changes from Gezer and Bonia, Gotarug led several tribal warriors to come and greet them. Vivian took the opportunity to ask Gotarug to gather all elders, soldiers, saintesses, priests, and other notable figures; she was going to make a significant announcement.
Gotarug had sensed it; something big was going to happen. He quickly summoned the important figures over to the big yurt. Soon, more than 20 bigwigs from the Wind tribe had gathered. They greeted Vivian respectfully and waited for Vivian to hand down her “decree”.
Vivian looked at the tribal members and suddenly flinched; she did not know how to break the news about what was going to take place soon. Their civilization had gotten so backward that the people did not have the concept of a planet. They did not even know what the sun, moon, and stars were, merely learning about them in the ancient books.
After much thought, she decided not to blind them with science but summarize things into one sentence.
“The Year of the Jade is coming to an end. Soon the world will reenter the Sun Era.”
There was a deafening silence.
The tribe members did not understand what she said. More specifically, they followed the sentence itself, but could not believe it.
“You mean the heavens will reopen?” Gotarug first thought. “You are going to release the sun?”
“Not release, but move the world near a new sun,” Vivian explained awkwardly. “As for opening the heavens, yes, that is the plan, and it will surely happen.”
While she spoke, she looked at Hao Ren as if expecting some response. When Hao Ren nodded, she knew she had gotten it right.
Gotarug stroked his beard slowly, his eyes flashing with wisdom. However, he still could not wrap his brain around it.
Hao Ren knew it would turn out that way. He smiled and clapped his hands. “You don’t have to know the actual processes. You don’t even need to understand what’s happening right now. I only have three instructions for you: One, send out messengers, repeat every word that Vivian… I mean the goddess has told you today to the other tribes, and I will arrange transportation for you. Two, inform the other tribes to cancel the incense ritual for newborns.”
Then he stopped. There was silence. Vivian quickly nudged Hao Ren by the arm. “What is the third instruction?”
Hao Ren said, “Huh? Did I say three instructions?”
Vivian buried her face in her hand and sighed big time. She then got to her feet and summed up the speech on his behalf. “Three, keep calm and wait for new instructions. That is all. Dismissed. Bring the chosen messengers to me afterwards.”