The Record of Unusual Creatures
chapter-137

Chapter 137: A Really Big Surprise

“That’s the egg!”

When Hao Ren heard these words, he knew the goddess had gottem him into a fix again: how could she not have told him about such an important detail earlier!

Nangong Wuyue was shocked too. Her tail trembled and the oversized egg dropped onto the ground. Hao Ren lunged forward like how Lily would when she saw a bone. Most people would think that the egg was broken but, it was not.

Perhaps the soft sand on the sea floor cushioned it, or maybe the egg shell was solid; it did not suffer a scratch after falling off the siren’s tail. Hao Ren held the egg like a baby and examined it real hard for half a day to ensure it was okay. He finally exhaled in relief. “Holy moly, I was almost scared to death. Luckily, it’s still intact.”

When Nangong Wuyue was playing with the egg, Hao Ren thought it was a ball. It was not until he held it in his arms that he realized it was really an egg. It was pure white with a little yellow spot in the center; much bigger than a goose egg; oval but, more rounded than a normal egg. The egg’s shell was silky smooth and warm to the touch. Nangong Wuyue came up and touched it. She was very curious but, very cautious too. “Thank God, it’s still in one piece.”

“How can this be? An egg?” Hao Ren almost cried as he spoke to Raven 12345. “My new tenant’s an egg?”

“It hasn’t hatched yet.” Raven 12345 spoke matter-of-factly. “It doesn’t matter what it is. Just keep it safely. There are already four different kinds of people with you, and you still can’t shake off your racial mindset?”

“…It’s not about racial prejudice.” Hao Ren half-smiled, half-cried with the egg in his hand. “It was perfectly acceptable when you sent a werewolf and a vampire but, this time…it’s an egg! It doesn’t even have a face! Is that what you mean by ‘person’?”

“Just wait until it hatches,” Raven 12345 sounded totally calm. “It will hatch. And I think you should be happier. Looking after an egg is way easier than taking care of a husky. Just don’t break it and it’ll hatch on its own in no time, without requiring any special environmental conditions. Also, make sure it has enough humidity. That little thing isn’t really fond of a dry atmosphere once it hatches.”

Hao Ren knew there was no way he could convey his heartache to the obstinate goddess. He had to bite his lip as he welcomed his new egg-tenant. The two gave each other a glance before Hao Ren asked with a faint voice, “You have to at least tell me the egg’s origin.”

“I’m about to tell you that. In fact, I’ll do it when we meet. I’m on my way to you,” Raven 12345 sounded cheerful. “I’ve got a big surprise for you to commend you on a job well done! Get the MDT out into an open space now. I’ll be there in about an hour.”

Raven 12345 rudely hung up right after that just like she always did, leaving Hao Ren stupefied.

“She’s coming?”

For two seconds, he tried to grab his thought. Then he came to his senses. The pyscho was coming. He did not know how she had found the time to come over. He grabbed Nangong Wuyue’s tail and curled it up on his waist and said, “Let’s get out of here.”

Nangong Wuyue looked at his familiar act. She grimaced before she uttered a short syllable just like before. The barrier disappeared in a snap. Sea water came back down like water from a burst dam. Amid the thunderous sound of rushing water, the siren carried Hao Ren and shot for the surface.

The return trip felt a lot quicker. The two of them did not say a thing as they headed back to the surface. Before long, they were able to see the sunlight from above and the shadow of the floating ice. As they came close to the surface, Nangong Wuyue let Hao Ren loose and pushed him out of the surface with the help of the flowing current. “Landlord, please pass me my clothes when you get up there. I’ll dress up down here. Hey, grab the egg!”

When Hao Ren broke the surface, he found himself in the most awkward moment of his life as his hand was raised above his head holding the egg, just like the Statue of Liberty…

He wished it was anything but an egg!

The vast expanse of sea water was already under the control of Nangong Wuyue. As Hao Ren reached the surface, the water under his feet turned into an ice bridge, linking to the floating ice. There, Y’zaks was guarding the icy “clothing ball” while playing poker with himself. When he saw Hao Ren, he gave him a very warm welcome. “Hi, welcome back! Where’s the lady siren and the new tenant?”

“Wuyue needs her clothes back.” As he said it, he tossed the icy ball of clothing into the water. The mermaid jumped out and pulled the icy ball back into the water with her. “This is the new tenant,” said Hao Ren as he shoved the egg in front of Y’zaks.

“…?”

“You got that right. This is the new tenant.” Hao Ren’s face turned solemn. “It wasn’t just straying out of course. It was also arriving way too early—this thing hasn’t hatched yet. Now, I know the reason why they were using a container.”

Y’zaks was still flabbergasted and speechless.

“…?”

After a long-winded explanation, the demon finally came to grips with the situation—the egg was the target of the mission. With an annoyed expression on his face, he said, “My goddess, Her Majesty… tsk, tsk, I was thinking of shaking hands with the new tenant.”

Hao Ren shoved the egg to Y’zaks. “Take it. And, don’t break it.”

“…”

The sound of splashing water was then heard not too far away. Nangong Wuyue was coming out of the water. She had transformed back into her human form with her clothes on, fully dried. As Hao Ren and Y’zaks were sitting down facing each other and studying the egg, Nangong Wuyue reminded the two careless chaps, “Sister Goddess will be here any moment. Where are we going to find open land?”

“The beach, where we landed is pretty wide.” Hao Ren pondered for a moment and his eyes landed on the floating ice. “But, nothing comes close to where we are now if you’re talking about a level field. Wuyue, could you expand the floating ice?”

“Of course, I can if it’s within a one-kilometer radius.”

“Wait a second. I suggest you guys go back to the beach instead,” The MDT suddenly chimed in. “Experience tells me that when Ma’am Raven says ‘big surprise’, she really means B-I-G; since she said, ‘open land’, we should really find a more solid ground.”

Hao Ren concurred. He knew Raven 12345’s style. The three of them, plus the egg, were teleported back to the beach where they had landed earlier. To make sure the chosen spot was wide enough, they found a much bigger beach one kilometer away from their landing spot. And they waited for the arrival of Raven 12345.

And yes, the arrival of the goddess deserved a red carpet treatment.

As the MDT sent out its location, Raven 12345 was just a few minutes away. They went to a higher ground on the beach and stared at the sky expectantly. Hao Ren felt that time was crawling very slowly at that point. Just as he was about to doubt that the pyscho would ever show up, a streak of light appeared in the sky.

A strange vision filled the sky: the sun was gone, and the firmament was filled with thousands of stars. A curtain of blue light like an aurora started to lower itself from above the high sky while a huge door appeared in the centre of the aurora. Seconds later, Hao Ren saw a massive, silver white object emerge from the door.

It was a spaceship.

The spaceship was asymmetrical and hexagonal in shape. One end was bigger than the other, and slightly narrow in what looked like a western-style casket if you asked Hao Ren. Luckily, there were some other attached structures, which helped lessen the casket illusion. On the narrow end of the spaceship were four hexagonal cylinders in pairs, one on each side. The front end of the spaceship had complex and protruding structures, which made it look like a floating monster with many eyes. Hao Ren was not able to tell the dimensions of this monster ship but, he knew it was bigger than any aircraft carriers humans had ever built on Earth—to put it into perspective, it was like a mountain falling from the sky.

The spaceship was covered by a translucent, blue light-curtain. The image of Raven 12345 appeared on it and her voice was like thunder. “How is it? This is the big surprise I was talking about. It’s yours! Just got the approval today and I’m delivering it to you myself!”