Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The main purpose of Hao Ren's visit to Saint Sur IV was to get his hands on the vengeful spirit. This purpose was finally achieved, and Galazur had her hands on the instrument as well as the technology needed to analyze the vengeful spirit. Everyone was happy.
"I have to go now," Hao Ren told his newly-acquainted colleague, whom he had just met for barely a day. "I'll leave the analysis instrument to you. If you find any new information, you know where to find me. I'm working on the Plane of Dreams case."
Galazur was a bit surprised. "In such a hurry?"
Hao Ren glanced at the Nangong siblings next to him. "I need to help these two find their parents who were taken away by the vengeful spirit. I'm here to find clues to read the vengeful spirit's memory, and now that things are done, you have to return quickly."
Nangong Wuyue dragged her brother along and they bowed to express their gratitude to Galazur. They felt emotional, as for the first time in many years, they finally saw hope in finding their parents. Galazur raised her eyebrows and said, "What's the hurry? You've come so far from the first galaxy, at least be my guest today. Don't let people get the impression that the Kingdom of Dragons is slighting our guests."
With her arms akimbo, she stood upright. "I'm teling you, you're very lucky; us dragons are rarely this hospitable—it's been 600 years since we last invited guests for dinner."
The Nangong siblings looked at each other and nodded slightly. Then Wuyue said to Hao Ren with a smile. "In that case... we should accept the invitation gracefully."
Lily blinked as she looked around. Knowing that the invitation was the real deal, she excitedly pulled on Hao Ren's sleeve, urging, "Let's go eat!"
Hao Ren looked at the husky helplessly, spreading out his hand as he said to Galazur, "Considering your hospitality, it'd be ungracious of me to not accept your invitation."
Galazur brought them back to Pyroxene Peak and ordered that a banquet be prepared in honor of her friends. The banquet was to be held in the massive square at the foothill of Pyroxene Peak. The old square was where the dragons regularly met. Its grandness exceeded all human imaginations. Hao Ren felt like he was standing on an airport runway eating barbecue. No matter which direction he looked in, it was an endless flat boulder. It was said that the dragons created the square by levelling an entire mountain. Looking at the towering mountains and cliffs surrounding the square, Hao Ren could not help but believe that the legend was true.
This was a new and interesting experience for everyone: They were on the land of an alien planet, surrounded by grand and magnificent dragon peaks. They were also joined by a group of dragons in a feast. Such a scene only appeared in mythical stories. Lily was especially excited. Although she had participated in various foreign feasts in Holletta, New Aerym, and Helcrown before, none of them could match the grandeur here. The reason was simple—looking at the huge dragons and eating with them was an adventurous as well as thrilling experience!
Curiosity was in the husky's blood, and she had now quenched it.
The dragons were of course curious about the guests at the banquet. Hao Ren had attracted the eyes of many young dragons on the way. However, the dragon queen had supreme authority there. So, when Galazur ordered them to entertain her guest, even if her guest was just a cat, no one would question it. Hence, the dragons just looked at the guests with curious eyes before they turned to enjoy the banquet.
"Dragons like to party, at least on this planet," said Galazur, who accompanied the guests in her human form. She smiled and pointed at the huge creatures around them. "As long as ther's a party, these guys won't ask questions. They don't care who you're entertaining or why you're holding a banquet, as long as there's a place to eat and have fun."
Lily was having a mouthful of barbeque. Gravy dripped down her mouth as she muttered, "Mmm... I like this lifestyle!"
Hao Ren was sitting on the floor like everyone else. It was a unique experience to eat among the creatures who were a dozen meters tall. He began to see things in Lil Pea's perspective—at least he now understood how the little mermaid felt as she saw the world on the dinner table. He looked at the food in front of him and noticed that the dragons' diet was unexpectedly... simple. Aside from meat, there was more meat, and all of it was cooked in barbecue style. It looked like these rugged creatures did not waste much time in studying food culture, which made him understand the reasons why Galazur enjoyed the snacks so much earlier. It seemed like this was not entirely her dietitian's problem...
"Roasted whole elephants, roasted whole cows, roasted whole camels, roasted whole whales, and... I can't even recognize it all," said the Nangong Sanba, looking wide-eyed at the huge bonfires and huge pieces of meat everywhere. The dragon feast was a curious journey. "Should I be relieved to learn that these are at least cooked?"
Galazur smiled and shook her head. "Actually, some of the more traditional dragons still prefer raw meat... Of course, they would season it with salt."
While she spoke, she raised a half-barbecued piece of meat and spewed out flames to cook it. After it was done, she stuffed it in her mouth. "But, I prefer cooked meat."
Nagong Sanba's jaw dropped to the ground.
Rollie was walking around a huge roasted whole elephant. The cat girl had a hard time deciding where she should bite first. She meowed for a while, but no one came to help. She had no choice but to help herself by lunging at the mountain of meat—the dumb cat had decided to dig a hole and eat it from the inside out.
Galazur had little interest in the food. She also saw that Hao Ren did not seem to like the greasy barbecued meat too, so she beckoned him to a quiet place. Looking at the sunset, the dragon queen said very casually, "I learned from the General Data Network that you're now fully responsible for the Plane of Dreams?"
"The goddess assigned it to me." Hao Ren shrugged. "To tell you the truth, I'm still confused; from the moment I took up this job till today, everything's been a little like boiling the ocean. But fortunately, all missions have been successfully completed."
"No one's ever been responsible for the Plane of Dreams before," said Galazur, leaning against a huge stone pillar. Her slightly curled long hair glowed under the glorious evening sun. "The work of an inspector is rather disorganized. We're often required to deal with emergency situations, so the goddess generally doesn't give us fixed, long-term tasks."
Hao Ren sensed a deeper meaning to what Galazur said. "You mean there's a problem with this mission?"
"A mission is a mission. I think the goddess has a good reason for her arrangement," said Galazur, who spat out a little flame. "It's just that the Plane of Dreams is… special. You should be careful, and not just focus all your attention on the mission itself, because sometimes revelations come from where the place you least expect."
Galazur spoke with a smile, "Sometimes in order to show that we're worth our salt, we need to go above and beyond the call of duty."
"Do you know something about the Plane of Dreams?" Hao Ren asked curiously.
"Every inspector knows about the Plane of Dreams, but nobody except you really tries to understand that world. It's a very unstable place, where there is a constant mutual interference with the real world. We wouldn't go there if it's not necessary. I went in there once hundreds of years ago to track an anomalous space phenomenon... I used a very complicated conversion instrument and only stayed there for a few hours. It rejects foreign matters, just like other regular alien worlds."
Hao Ren suddenly found that something was wrong. "Rejects foreign matters? Why didn't I feel it?"
He told her about his experience of entering the Plane of Dreams, and the stable portal he found. He had never felt any difference between the Plane of Dreams and the Surface World. On the contrary, the relationship between the two worlds was so close that the mutual influence had become very common.
Galazur blinked after she listened to Hao Ren's narrative. "Looks like a lot's happened to the Plane of Dreams recently… It gives me the feeling that the process of convergence is accelerating."
"Raven said that this is resulting from the gradual collapse of the Wall of Reality." Scratching his chin, Hao Ren continued, "But it's not yet certain what the problem is with the Wall of Reality."
Galazur frowned for a moment and suddenly said, "The relationship between the Plane of Dreams and the Surface World has been stable for more than 10,000 years. The accelerated collapse of the Wall of Reality has just happened in recent years... It doesn't look like a natural phenomenon."
"It's man-made?" Hao Ren raised his eyebrows. "I suspected it, however it didn't seem to be the case after I checked out a few clues. It looks like no mortal race, including the First Born, has the ability to influence the operation of the Wall of Reality, unless—"
Before Hao Ren could finish his sentence, the MDT suddenly called out to him telepathically. "Boss, there's news from the spacecraft's laboratory!"