The Record of Unusual Creatures Chapter 321: What Is This?

Chapter 321: What Is This?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Petrachelys was an official ship for inspectors. Everything down to its minute details was tailor-made. It had everything in it. Although its daily supplies may not be the best, it was perfect for captains, who were always on the go. The spacecraft had a cargo hold that was not particularly large, but enough for small cargo. It also had a self-defense gun that was not very powerful, but enough to blow any mortal who stood in its way into pieces. The onboard factory was not all-capable, but good enough to produce relevant necessities. On top of that, it just obtained a new science lab for research purposes. The spacecraft was only a few hundred metres long, however it did not lack space thanks to space-expansion technology. The science lab was an important part of the ship. And, despite all the stuff Hao Ren had dumped inside it, it did not lack in space.
Nonetheless, when it came to analysing the Sacred Relic of Origins, Hao Ren knew it was out of his expertise. In most cases, inspectors were not scientific experts. But luckily, the science lab basically ran on its own. The analytic computer and servobots were the ones performing the work. All the captain did was tell the analytic computer what he wanted, then check the results. With the help of these equipment, laymen like Hao Ren could boast around saying, "Look, I'm conducting turnkey research."
Unfortunately, he could only brag to the brain-dead-but-still-patient vampire; no one else would be interested in the Sacred Relic of Origins. Even Lily would rather waste her brain juice on cracking the secret recipe of Spicy Sticks.
Vivian, Hesperides, Hao Ren and Lil Pea were teleported to the science lab in the Petrachelys. Hesperides, no stranger to teleportation had never seen an alien lab. When she arrived, she was surrounded by strange equipment, holograms as well as the whines and buzzes of the various machines there. So, she was rooted to the spot. She then grabbed Vivian by her arm and asked nervously, "Who is this man whom you call Landlord? He seems scary, doesn't he?"
"There's nothing to worry about." Vivian had seen the high-tech stuff in the spacecraft many times. She was only slightly curious. Although things were probably a little strange, she would not describe the bright and clean lab as scary.
Hesperides glanced at the large test benches and moving mechanical arms above her. She said, "I must say, I regret watching human movies already... I have a goddamn feeling that I've been conned into leaving Athens and I'm about to be soaked in formalin..."
Vivian was crying and laughing at the same time. She put Hesperides' hand away and said, "I've just discovered something about you: You've got more nonsense in your head now than before your brain hole was patched."
But this was only because Hesperides was awed by the science lab in the Petrachelys. God knows how she would react at all if she learned that the lab was not on Earth. Nevertheless, there was nothing else beyond that. Most otherworldlings were kind of "slow" when it came to high-tech stuff. They had some sort of subtle misunderstanding, ignorance and disdain towards human technology. So naturally, they were technological idiots. Hesperides just knew that this room was an advanced human science lab. Aliens, outer space and stuff like that were totally out of her bounds.
The science lab was oval in shape. Aside from the small, all-purpose test benches along the wall, there were three additional large benches placed equidistantly in the centre of the lab. These implements were fully equipped and capable of performing various types of disassembly as well as analysis. The equipment also consisted of a gravity-free floating platform, three sets of high-precision cutting tools, several power input or output ports with built in converters and a tonne of sensors. There were mechanical arms hanging from above too. The scientific term for them was "All-Purpose Adaptive Arms". Hao Ren thought they all looked more like tentacles.
That was more common, easy-to-understand, lifelike and visual.
While the loose samples were on a small test bench nearby undergoing regular tests, the Sacred Relic of Origins was on another test bench near the entrance. The relic, which was made up of a series of cylinders and ellipsoids had remained silent since it was dismantled and shipped back to this place. It was as if it had lost its source of power after leaving the temple. But, the analytic computer managed to find its power input interface, and it was now in its third attempt to inject power into the Sacred Relic of Origins as it observed its activity.
Hao Ren walked around the Sacred Relic of Origins. Part of its casing had been taken down, including the core cyclinder. The complex internal structure of the Sacred Relic was exposed. He could clearly see conduits and containers inside.
The Sacred Relic of Origins was a sophisticated piece of magical device. Its lower part was covered in an elegant metal panel, which had carvings of mysterious symbols. They were printed uniformly like a circuit board—very much like an industrial product. But, the Sacred Relic of Origins was deemed a magical device; results from preliminary analysis indicated that the pattern on the metal panel was not an electronic printed circuit, but more like a magic formation. The difference was apparent. On a PCB, electronic components are connected electronically via printed circuits; the patterns of the magic formation were like components, which were drawn using different types of materials. This gave the patterns functions or other more complicated features.
Such out-of-this-world technology was an eye-opener for Hao Ren. He had witnessed the use of magic and alchemy in The Plane of Dreams, but this thing was part of the Magic Civilisation's "advanced technology".
The rune-engraved crystal structure was similar to the metal panel; it was either a key energy carrier or required high energy to run, which necessitated a different type of material for it to function.
Peeking through the gaps between the sophisticated structure, crooked conduits could be seen cramping together like a ball of yarn. They all eventually converged and joined together at one end, connecting to the cylindrical container in the centre of the Sacred Relic of Origins.
"Several attempts have been made to activate it, but due to thelack of a key component, it would only run for a while before shutting down again. No idea what the conduits are." The MDT was connected to the analytic computer and it acted as a speaker for the analytic computer. "The possibilities of it being a purifying device, water or other liquid synthesiser and climate alteration machine have been ruled out. Most likely, the Sacred Relic of Origins is a culture tank combining synthesis, customisation, shaping and growth functions into one nurturing installation."
The MDT spoke as it knocked the exposed cylindrical container inside the Sacred Relic of Origins softly. "Judging by its size... it's most probably used for breeding humanoid creatures."
Vivian took a deep breath. "That's evil."
"Although it's just a guess"—the MDT commanded the mechanical tentacles above to remove other panels on the Sacred Relic of Origins—"nine out of ten, that's what the Sacred Relic was used for. Here's the feeding mouth. Residue has been found here and inside the core container as well—the residue is highly decomposed and appears to be a highly complex, organic substance."
The equipment for analysis connected its all-purpose power interface to a protruding crystal inside the Sacred Relic of Origins. The relic then gave out a deep, low buzzing sound as the metal panels and crystal device inside lit up just like the control panel on its exterior. But the weird thing was, the control panel kept playing the same, strange symbols over and over again.
"The analytic computer is trying to hack into the operating system. Its hoping to find an operation log. The log may be stored in the missing component. The Sacred Relic of Origins has its own set of machine language interface. But the interface won't run without the proper instruction code," the MDT said. "Anyway, these commands here have given us some information like 'growth acceleration, emergency deactivation, writing of inbuilt-memory, thought injection' and etc. They completely coincide with the humanoid biosynthesiser theory.
A chill ran down Hao Ren's spine and he asked, "A synthesised humanoid? Who did they make?"
The MDT wobbled, then said, "Only God knows. The key component is missing, so we don't know what it synthesises and how it synthesises things. It's like we have a handful of test tubes; we know their part numbers and we know that they're used for chemical experiments, but we don't know the chemical formula."
"I was just thinking..." Suddenly, Hesperides spoke in a low voice. "I've heard Vivian saying that you took this thing from Bethanos. Correct? Bethanos called it the Sacred Relic of Origins. That word 'Origins' seems to be very telling."
A storm started to brew in Hao Ren's mind. He thought he had it all figured out, but his confidence was beginning to crumble. He probably needed to revise his understanding on the relationship between otherworldlings and The Plane of Dreams!
Bethanos, the old shadeling who had mastered the forbidden knowledge had described the humanoid-synthesising, ancient machine as the Sacred Relic of Origins.
Were otherworldlings on Earth not travellers from other worlds? Or, were they just synthesised humanoids?