The Record of Unusual Creatures

Chapter 1492: Finally Weaseling Out

It was more challenging to deal with Vivian when her mind was muddled than when she lost her memory. Vivian may have forgotten everything about the 21st century the last few times Hao Ren found her, but at least she was sober, and Hao Ren was able to earn her trust. This time, she was kind of in limbo. One moment you think that you have gained her confidence, the next moment, she would ask, “Who are you?”

It was frustrating, to say the least.

Hao Ren gave up on introducing himself. Instead, he pointed at Hessiana and little Hessiana before he said, “Both of them are your bats. You know how ‘good’ your memory is. So do not ask again why they are here. I have brought them here to bring you out of this mountain. You need not study how you ended up here in the first place.”

Vivian was still confused. She patted little Hessiana on the head and said, “Indeed, you are this tall. I know about getting down the mountain. Thank you for that. I remember that I came here to save someone, but I cannot remember who. By the way, who are you?”

Hao Ren was stupefied.

He sighed and turned to look in the direction of Poseidon. “We are done here. Get ready whatever, and whoever you want to send away, we do not have much time.”

Without needing a reminder, the Olympian G.o.ds had arranged everything and come up with a list. They kept the number of people down to a minimum, ten to be exact, to endure the best chance of survival. They had also limited the number of artifacts to be brought along to a bare minimum. As it was an escape attempt; nothing was more precious than saving the bloodline of Olympus. If it could help increase the chances of survival, Poseidon and Zeus would not hesitate to ask the ten guys to streak.

Hao Ren was very aware of one thing: someone else had escaped with the scrolls and artifacts earlier. Hercules, the demiG.o.d, had gotten out before the situation got this bad. Zeus had entrusted Hercules with whatever he wanted to pa.s.s on.

Hao Ren could care less who was on the list. After all, most of the people on the list were just names in history. He just needed to ensure that one thing matched history: Hesperides had to be on the list.

As one of the few outstanding descendants of genetically degraded deities, Hesperides had an important place on Mount Olympus. Thus, she was naturally qualified to stay in this hall. While Hao Ren was talking to Vivian earlier, Hesperides chatted with Lily. The two seemed to be happy with each other. All the more so when Lily was a person who could quickly warm up to anyone.

Meanwhile, Hesperides was still a gentle and quiet G.o.ddess, not the Tyrannosaurus with dissociative ident.i.ty disorder that she was 2,000 years later. Wearing an elegant bright yellow dress, golden chaplet on her head, this Hesperides did not have a hole in the head. In the original historical timeline, Hesperides was separated from the team while escaping out of Mount Olympus. She b.u.mped into Ha.s.se, who then blew a hole in her head. But in this sandbox world built on dreams, memories and information debris, Hesperides no longer had to endure the trauma of getting shot by the arrow. Ha.s.se of this era was still flying in supersonic speed above Olympus right now.

Hao Ren and Hesperides were strangers to each other at this moment. After a brief self-introduction to the ten guys and selecting a few treasures as a token of friendly cooperation, as requested by Poseiden, Hao Ren brought Vivian and the ten people and left.

Hao Ren could not care less about the treasures. As someone coming from outside the sandbox, he was well the rules of this world. The so-called treasures were only made up of bits and bytes of data; when the sandbox shut down, everything would be gone.

The ten selected Olympian G.o.ds were wearing gorgeous armor. Even Hesperides had a splendid armor on her and the Wand of the Evening in her hands. Poseidon did not call this an escape plan publicly to avoid shaking the confidence of other survivors. He selected these ten people on the pretense that they were going to find help. So it was only natural that they left in full set of armor and suit to avoid arousing suspicion of those remaining in the temple.

But when the group left the atrium and was about to arrive at the back door, Hao Ren ordered the ten G.o.ds to change into plain Roman civilian clothes.

“Wearing those things would only make yourself a target.” Hao Ren’s arms akimbo as he looked at the Olympian G.o.ds, who were not very willing to give up their beautiful armor. “We are running for our lives, not going to a parade. You all look like searchlights. Are you worried that the demon hunters could not find you?”

Hesperides looked at Lily with a confused look. “What is a searchlight?”

“A target,” Lily said.

“Oh, thank you.”

The two Hessianas stood beside Vivian, who seemed to have regained her sobriety somewhat but still could not remember why she was here. Right now, she was trying to find out what happened on Mount Olympus and where they were going from her two “daughters”. Little Hessiana was still naive and innocent and had no idea of what the war was all about. All she needed was love from her mother. Meanwhile, Hessiana was explaining to Vivian the current situation. She cleverly inserted Hao Ren and Lily into the stories to make their appearance here more credible.

Apparently, Vivian believed Little Bat, who had quashed her doubts completely. The only annoying thing that was that Vivian still kept asking who Hao Ren was.

Meanwhile, in the Temple of Poseidon, Zeus finally breathed his last.

The demon hunters had not scaled down their attack on the temple. Poseidon once again wielded his trident and turned the dome of the hall into clear seawater. The images of the great s.h.i.+eld that rippled from the magic-bombing appeared before the eyes of everyone.

Zeus looked at the swaying shadows; life gradually faded from his face. Soon, his flesh and blood would wither like his brother who had been immersed in the Undead Spell all year round. On his rapidly decaying face, only the lightning in his eyes still carried a hint of light.

Amid the heavy sh.e.l.lings, he seemed to see the days when he led his people to build this divine mountain. He also saw the age of darkness on the earth, and humans wearing animal skins and living in caves.

Humans had spread all over the earth and built palaces. But on Mount Olympus, where things had stood still for thousands of years, everything was coming to an end.

For the first time in thousands of years, Zeus finally realized the presence of humans and their growth. He saw that the short-lived humans had become the masters of the earth. The kingdoms of the G.o.ds had come to an end, but the humans would live for a long time.

Zeus could not see the future, but with wisdom and intuition, he could vaguely figure out to where the world was headed.

Unfortunately, no one could hear his epiphany now.

Zeus felt as if he had spoken of everything he had foreseen, but in the eyes of Poseidon, Zeus was merely twitching his lips. The king of the G.o.ds stared at the “meteor shower” on the dome and breathed his last.

After leaving the Temple of Poseidon, Hao Ren and his entourage did not immediately sneak past the enemy line and escape. They did not even head toward the escape route but move in an arc around the Temple of Poseidon. Under cover of the ruins, they finally came to high ground.

Here, there was a small palace that was almost completely collapsed. Perhaps some descendant of Poseidon used to live here. It was located between the sacred army and the Temple of Poseidon, but since the demon hunters had moved their army away, this place was safe for the moment.

When standing on the remaining tower of this palace, one could still see a sea of the sacred army and their flags fluttering in the wind.

“What are we doing here?” an Olympian asked anxiously. “It is too close to where the demon hunters are. Some more, it does not seem to be an ideal escape route.”

“Escape? We are not escaping for the moment.” Hao Ren looked at the unknown G.o.d, who did not even have made a name for himself in history. Shaking his head and smiling, Hao Ren said, “We have to first meet a friend on the outside, and then we will set off our journey.”

But you all will have nothing to do with the subsequent journey, Hao Ren said in his mind.

“You have people on the outside?” Hesperides frowned. “I really do not know how you have pulled this off. With such a capability, you should not be nameless.”

“We come from far away, not local.” Hao Ren said. And to prepare Hessiana for who was to come, he said, “Our friend will come soon. Do not fret. He is on our side. His ident.i.ty is just a disguise. Ya, a magic camouflage.”

But Hao Ren knew that his words had little effect of lessening the level of innate hostility. When Ha.s.se came, the Olympians would immediately draw their weapons. Hessiana was no exception. That was why Hao Ren had forced the Olympians to disarm earlier, but he could not kill them in the presence of Vivian. He could only improvise from now on.

But Hao Ren had something up his sleeve. When Ha.s.se appeared, he would detonate a stun grenade. Taking advantage of the chaos, he would wake Vivian up, which only took an instant. With the combat strength of an elder, the disarmed Olympian G.o.ds should not be able to do any harm to Ha.s.se in such a short time.

While Hao Ren was brewing his plan in his mind, Vivian had come up to him without him noticing. When he looked up, he was shocked to find that Vivian was staring at himself. “What?”

Vivian looked at Hao Ren for a while and asked seriously, “Who are you?”

Hao Ren started to curse.