Hao Ren was not listening to what Raven 12345 was saying; he was obsessed with the hibernation pods. Seeing dozens of red-haired Vivian, it reminded him about being a harbinger of bad luck.
He had just thought about Kaku-San-Sei Million Vivian for the last two days, and now he was looking at them.
“You’ve been collecting my splits?” Vivian’s voice was a little quivery. She stared at Raven 12345. “You said that they’re all here. Have you been tracking and collecting them?”
Hao Ren could not help but imagine Raven 12345 a stalking maniac. He looked at the Goddess with a strange look.
“Don’t stare at me like that.” Raven 12345 compressed her lips. “I have spent a long time collecting.”
“These are the split bodies of Vivian? Is it the same as the red-haired evil spirit that we have killed last time?” Hao Ren asked in disbelief. “Also, the one we saw on the planet Inferno. Is it the same?”
“No, that one is slightly different.” Raven 12345 shook her head slightly. “The split in Inferno is the primary one and the beginning of the entire process of splitting. The ones here are the secondary splits; they are the so-called production versions. The ‘evil spirit’ that you summoned from the magic book was one of the production versions. She used to be here.”
While saying, Raven 12345 pointed at an empty crystal container.
Hao Ren could not wait to ask, “What is this all about? Why are you collecting these splits?”
“Easy, man. I have something to tell you,” Raven 12345 said with a calm voice, which worked like magic in calming down Hao Ren. She then turned to look at Vivian. “How much do you know about yourself?”
“Mr. Landlord has already told me,” Vivian replied honestly. “I might have something to do with the ‘Goddess’ of the Plane of Dreams, but I don’t know what exactly it is.”
Raven 12345 nodded gently. “Well, to be honest, I haven’t figured out your relationship with the Goddess of Creation. When I started to notice you, the event of the Plane of Dreams was already over. The aftermath of the Goddess of Creation incident left little clues, and I couldn’t involve too much into that world. I’ve indirectly done some investigations, and I found out that you are the ‘key element’ that the Goddess of Creation projected onto the surface world when she began to realize that she was in crisis.
“The fall of the Goddess of Creation did not happen in instantly. According to Hao Ren’s investigation, she had at fought a brutal war with the treacherous son for some time before she was killed; she had time to do preparation; you are her preparation.
“The damage on the Wall of Reality must have something to do with the Goddess of Creation before her death, and the mass crossing of otherworldlings into the surface world coincided with your arrival, at least shortly after her fall.
“So why do you think the Goddess of Creation put Vivian in this universe?”
At last, Raven 12345 passed the buck back to Hao Ren and Vivian. The two of them thought for a while, and then Hao Ren said, “A tool for her resurrection when she realized that she was dying.”
“A resurrection container, reincarnation carrier, or some incomplete replica; it’s easy to think in that way, but Vivian is not divine, which makes things even more complicated.” Raven 12345 shook her head. “A true Goddess would be unlikely to choose to resurrect herself this way; it’s inefficient, and success is not guaranteed, and it would become uncontrollable when the ‘resurrection container’ becomes self-aware. There are many more sophisticated ways to resurrection.”
Hao Ren was a bit confused. “You mean…”
Raven 12345 raised a seemingly irrelevant question suddenly. “After the Goddess of Creation fell, it was said that her kingdom had also disappeared.”
“Oh, the Star of Creation.” Hao Ren nodded immediately. “It is said that the big bang at the final moment of the deicidal war had sent the star into exile in a place called the Umbral Realm. The surviving guardians thought that the Umbral Realm was a closed dimension, but my drone cluster did not find it. You think Vivian has something to do with that dimension?”
“That Goddess of Creation might be a half-baked deity, but she knew her universe well. When the war of deicide broke out, she could foresee the outcomes of the war; she knew the kingdom of the Goddess would fall. She was a creator of life, and life required a corresponding database and control terminal to function. Her guardians were only responsible for maintaining the peripheral system; the real control terminal must be inside her kingdom. The database of creation is vital to her.”
Hao Ren had sorted out what Raven 12345 said. “She knew that her database was in danger, so she created a mirror database. And that mirror is Vivian. Isn’t it?”
“True Goddess does not need a container to resurrect, then the ‘key element’ that she put into this universe before her death was only to repair her database.” Raven 12345 nodded. “It could be a mirror image, a key to restart the database or a microsystem. Of course, I’m just guessing, but considering the huge amount of information that Vivian carries, it’s highly possible.”
Vivian listened on as Hao Ren and Raven 12345 discussed herself. She did not know what to say; it was too far ahead of her time, too abstract, too difficult to understand. Vivian did not know how all these things would affect her and how to deal with it. Nevertheless, she was the ancient one who had 10,000 years of experience under her belt. Even though Vivian was confused, she could remain calm. “How would these things affect me?” she asked.
Raven 12345 glanced at her. “Is the amulet that I gave you still with you?”
Vivian immediately nodded. “Yes.”
“Good! You are at least half-safe. As for those things that lingered inside you, it is the safest if they are just information. Data is just that—a lifeless data, no matter how much it is. What you should be worried about is the consciousness that the Goddess of Creation had put inside you. A soul that is self-aware is the biggest variable, and the Goddess makes this soul. If this soul exists, taking her out would be a headache.”
It is like a computer; no matter how large your data is, all you need is just a large hard drive, but it would be a disaster if the problem is with the operating software.
Hao Ren could understand this point, and cold sweat started to trickle down his forehead. “Wait a second. Does anther soul exist in Vivian and is ever ready to wrestle control of her?”
Vivian felt goosebumps on her skin. She rubbed herself on the arms and said, “You are scaring the hell out of me. I’m already physically divisive. I think I’d better die if I get schizophrenia.”
“No such sign yet so far.” Raven 12345 waved her hand and then pointed to the crystal containers. “These things are the hidden dangers though.”
Hao Ren turned his attention back to the splits in front of him. Their conversation finally came full circle and back to the most suspicious thing. His brows pulled together. “How did these splits come about?”
“You all know that Vivian will hibernate every once in a while.” Raven 12345 raised a finger. “A split will happen every time she hibernates. Of course, I’m talking about the regular phenomenon. In some special cases, she will also split, such as the first split of ten thousand years ago.”
Vivian and Hao Ren looked at each other and asked in unison, “How does that happen?”
“Who knows, perhaps the combination of soul and body is not stable enough that leads to frequent divisions, and amnesia by the way. I think the first split ten thousand years ago had triggered a domino effect. When the first domino fell, it caused a chain reaction. As for these split individuals here, they don’t seem to possess intelligence, but it is hard to say when they come together as one.”
Something came to Hao Ren’s mind suddenly. “Oh gosh! Vivian has eaten her split in inferno. Will she be fine?”