Hao Ren's conciousness had not fully left the Dream Plane as his body disappeared, Becky's words were still ringing in his head. Unable to speak, he screamed internally. "There's nothing wrong with my head!!!!"
"Mr Landlord, Mr Landlord! Are you okay?!" Hao Ren suddenly heard Nangong Wuyue's voice very close to him. He quickly opened his eyes only to be greeted by a ray of sunlight shining at him. The glare almost blinded him for a moment. He heard sounds of waves crashing against the rock, and beast howls in the distance. A salty smell soon engulfed his nostrils. He was by the sea..
Wuyue smiled brightly as she saw Hao Ren woke up. "What did you ran into there? What's wrong with you head?"
"Ughhh... it's nothing," Hao Ren groaned.
It seemed like Hao Ren couldn't stop himself from speaking what's in his heart the moment he woke.
He sat up straight, and tried to jog his dulled senses into motion again. The image of those Letta runes that he had glimpsed before he woke still haunted him. The image was so vivid that it was scary. He supposed the difference between the Dream Plane and your normal dream is that your memory of what happened in the Dream Plane stays fresh within one's mind. In fact, with time things that you see in the Dream Plane looked so real, that they mimic real life, and that convinced Hao Ren that he had indeed saw Letta Runes. He groggily looked up at Y'zaks and Wuyue and said, "I went into the Dream Plane last night... and I saw something really weird... Letta Runes..."
Y'zaks who came from the other world had no idea what Letta Runes were and just simply nodded. Wuyue on the other hand who had some inkling of the matter, furthermore she seemed to be very familiar with the demon hunters and the words caused her to eyes to widen. "Letta Runes you say? Those runes those ancient priests and demon hunters are using now?"
"Yes, they appeared in the Dream Plane... It was carved onto the wall by the locals... but I can't read the runes to make anything out of it. Vivian should have some idea.... Oh I better write them down before I forget them."
"Here!" Wuyue quickly pulled a notebook out of her backpack and handed it to Hao Ren. "Wanted to write my music on it."
Hao Ren took the notebook and quickly started drawing the runes that he saw on it. He always thought his memory was rather good, and he managed to remember at least one line of the rune. While his depiction of the runes may not be the most accurate, he managed to get the general shape of the runes right. Letta Runes are series of runic letters with a very strong individuality. Each runes had it's own unique shape and contour; as long as he gets the general shape right, Vivian should be able to read it.
"So... how did you know about the Dream Plane?" Hao Ren returned the notebook to Wuyue as he was done writing. He didn't recall telling Wuyue about that as she was still new, and felt that he had to ask.
"Your MDT told me about it." Wuyue pointed at the MDT that was floating beside Hao Ren. "After you slept last night it suddenly activated itself and started screaming "Slip and Fall!". After which, it hold me about the Dream Plane. Oh yea, it also said that you were investigating something really important, and for me to let you sleep even longer. So I sang a lullaby for you, did it work?"
Hao Ren now only realised the song that he had heard before he woke up was Wuyue's. The enchanting melody lingered at the back of his head, and with this vague memory, he still felt an uncanny feeling of calm and comfort. As if the song was indeed magical, that it seeped deep into his mind. Guess what they say about Sirens and their songs were real. He nodded gratefully. "Yes it did, bought me a few minutes to grasp the key stuff... OH SH*T! I forgot about something!"
"What's wrong?" The MDT floated towards him. "If you want to say that you had actually sold me off I'll f*cking murder you."
"Oh, you, off to a side." Hao Ren grabbed the MDT and stuffed it into a pile of pebbles. " I promised the Wolf King that I'd bring him a dentist the next time I visit.... Can't believe I forgot about it... He didn't even mentioned it at all."
"It's quite clear that he didn't note count on you to fulfill your promise." The MDT popped out of the pile of pebble with a dry seaweed hanging onto it. "Don't fret too much, just make up for it next time. You didn't even bring Husky this time around. And frankly speaking, whether you can bring a living person into the Dream Plane is a question by itself. I think you need Madam Raven to provide you support for that."
Hao Ren demurred for a moment and concurred. He also needed to report what he saw to Raven12345, but that could wait after they return from this foray. He gave himself a good tap in the face and said. "We better get on finding the person... Oh yeah, MDT, have you found the cargo craft? Reckon you have scanned this area for a night already."
"My life as a PDA.... all work no play... I even need to play bodyguard and radar when you are asleep." The MDT grumbled incessantly as it opened up the holographic map, on it a was a very detailed map of the ocean floor. "I have marked three most possible sites, all have either impact craters or energy signals, probably what remained of the cargo craft or the cargo pod. Two of spots is in the nearby jungle and in the mountain 200 km away from here. The last one... is a bit scary, a deep sea trench some 2000km away. I almost wanted to omit it. Hopefully that's not the cargo craft. I'm afraid of deep seas."
"..."
Having a PDA that is neurotic, sarcastic and have a temper to boot. Not to mention that it even has it's own taste in movies, and now a fear for the deep? Hao Ren felt that he could achieve a state that of nothingness sooner or later.
"The wreck of the cargo pod?" Y'zaks frowned. "I thought the cargo craft had arrived safely? What happened?"
"It's true that the cargo craft had arrived safely, but the cargo pod had crashed." The MDT vibrated as it spoke. "Never trust Gnomish technology. Had already warned Madam Raven to hire someone more reliable, and not that half baked Gnomish veterans for the job. Their cost control regime is almost to the point of cringe-worthy. From what I can discern from the Space Administration datalogs, the cargo craft was unmanned, and it disintegrated upon atmospheric entry. The cargo pod only survived because of it's own Emergency Decelerator kicking into gear. But the force of entry burnt out most of it's electronics, including it's locator beacon. The last signal received was merely a distress signal, and it's now silent. We will need to search all three spots for it then."
Hao Ren took a look at the jungle behind him. "I gues we'll start here then. It's the closest... As for the sea trench..."
He turned towards Wuyue, "Did Raven12345 actually foresaw this happening that she had me bringing you along? Or should we check the trench first?
Hao Ren almost believed what he just said. His impression of Raven12345 that she was the puppet master behind the scene, manipulating and dictating her chess pieces (employees) with sheer impunity. It's no surprise if she had already figured out the whereabouts of the pod, and had sent Hao Ren to retrieve it for kicks...
"Doubtful." The MDT explained. "Madam is a meticulous planner, the planet that we are on is 80% water, and the place we are at is the only land mass. The chances of the pod dropping into the sea was high to begin with, so she had you bringing the Siren along."
Hao Ren nodded in understanding. Wuyue also had a confident look on her face. "No worries, while I never been into the deep before, Sirens are still natural dwellers of the deep. I'm immune to darkness and water pressure when I'm in water. But... I hope that the sea water here isn't made out of some odd stuff...."
"Oh worry you not!" The MDT reassured her. "It's your usual sea water. The salinity is a bit on the high side. You won't turn into dried fish fillet by high salt content would you?
Wuyue pondered for a moment. "... I think I won't... I'm a salt-water being. And I have some special abilities to keep me from turning into dried fish fillet in briny waters."
This topic just went weird.