Chapter 205: Hilda’s Background
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Upon listening to Hilda's question, Hao Ren smiled and answered, "You mean Becky? She's considered our partner, but just a partner in 'this world'. She isn't really familiar with us or our background, so it was inconvenient for us to tell you something directly when we met in the afternoon.
As he spoke, he stood up, reached out to Hilda in a friendly manner and said, "Let me reintroduce myself. I'm Hao Ren, an inspector from the Space Administration, responsible for all kinds of unusual time-traveling cases."
As usual, Hilda clumsily grabbed Hao Ren's wrist and shook it. She then asked curiously, "Space Administration? What's that? Is it the name of your research organization?"
Hao Ren was a little embarrassed. He thought of telling Hilda about their background to surprise her. However, he forgot about the cultural differences. It seemed that empiricism really killed. He laughed awkwardly and explained, "Actually, I'm the same as you. I'm not from this world. But unlike you, I'm not trapped here accidentally. I'm here for a purpose, to deal with people like you who have accidentally lost their way. And, the so-called Space Administration is…"
Hao Ren tried to explain the Space Administration and the concept of the Macro World to her as simply and clearly as possible. The more Hilda knew, the more surprised she was. When Hao Ren was finished talking, she could not help but stand up and exclaim, "For real?"
Vivian had her hands outstretched, and said, "There's no need for us to lie to you."
Hilda was a little confused. Although she had just gone through a time-travel event, she totally did not expect there to be such a department responsible for time-traveling. She looked at Hao Ren, bewildered. Obviously, she was in doubt. She was not quick to believe Hao Ren no matter how well he explained things. Of course, Hao Ren knew that the credibility of his words was very limited. He was just doing what the job manual said: when facing a concerned party, identification and follow-up requirements should be identified as soon as conditions were appropriate to ensure that follow-ups were conducted with the knowledge of both parties. And, it was up to the client to believe it or not. It was just a part of the workflow.
"So, that's the situation." After Hao Ren disclosed his identity, he sat down opposite Hilda and continued to explain, "You probably won't believe me right away, but you just need to know this: we're not enemies, neither relatives nor friends, so we don't need to make up such a big lie to cheat you. We're here to carry out a task. We met you by accident, however once we get back, we'll take you to the administration's office, where there are professional equipment to send you home... Well, if my boss isn't bluffing, the office should be well-equipped."
Hilda was still confused, but at least, she knew it was not the time to look into details. At that moment, it was better to cooperate with these strangers, who were somewhat trustworthy than be suspicious. She nodded and said, "I still don't know what you're talking about, but I would like to believe in your kindness. As long as you can send me back, I'll do whatever you need me to do."
"There's nothing much to do. It's my job," Hao Ren said and waved his hand. "But, if there's something you need to do... You can open up and tell me how you got here. At least, I'll know how to write this report."
Hilda hesitated but, she soon realised that there was no need to keep the secret here. Nobody in this world knew her. Thinking of it, Hilda slowly took off her hood, revealing dazzling blonde, wavy hair and two pointy long ears. "I'm Hilda Vader, from a world called Aerym. I am its queen."
Hao Ren was so surprised to see her pointy ears that he was not listening carefully when she mentioned her identity. " An elf? Uh... What did you say again, a queen?" Hao Ren asked.
Hilda looked suspiciously at Hao Ren and asked, "The inspector of the Space Administration seems to be a big shot. Do you really have to get so excited over this? You jumped so high just now."
Hao Ren immediately sat back down in embarrassment. He thought to himself, not everybody could have accepted her being so frank. He touched the tip of his nose and explained awkwardly, "Ehem, the elf is quite rare. We are divided into different districts. The place I'm in charge of really has no elves…"
He was really embarrassed to admit that he was just an ignorant apprentice…
Soon, Hilda was mobbed by the rest of them. Lily asked eagerly, "Wait a minute, you just said you're the queen! Really? Really?"
"I don't need a fake queen identity in this world," said Hilda, a tiny radian forming in the corners of her mouth. "Especially when this identity can't even bring me a piece of food."
Lily thought to herself for a bit. Then, all of a sudden, she lifted her tail and said, "You're a big shot!"
Vivian impatiently pushed Lily away and said, "Stop wagging your tail. Your fur keeps shedding."
Hao Ren allowed them to quiet down and looked at Hilda with apologetically. He said, "Hope you don't mind. They're always like this, peevish in the presence of strangers. Now, tell me about yourself. How did you get here?"
Hilda glanced at Hao Ren. She slowly lowered her eyes and explained, "I was sent here because of a teleportation portal accident. Our planet is on the verge of exhaustion, so we built a huge space-time accelerator to find a new home for our species to survive. However, something went wrong after the device started."
Hilda stopped explaining here. Even if she had continued to tell them more details, they could not understand it. After all, it was the problem of another world.
Hao Ren nodded, but suddenly thought of a question: Is Hilda really from a different world? Is it possible that she actually came from another planet?
He had been to outer space and another planet, and now, the way he looked at the problem was much wider than he before. He remembered what he read in the manual: Many "time-travelers" mistakenly judged themselves to be in a different world because of insufficient knowledge or limited means of self-identification. In many cases, they just came to another planet in the universe because teleportation within a universe was much easier than teleportation between different worlds. Therefore, this kind of misjudgment had accounted for the vast majority.
"I know what you mean." After listening to Hao Ren's question, Hilda took out a delicate little disc from her clothes as if she had expected this and explained, "This is a device that can detect background radiation. Our astrologer believes that space background radiations and the underlying structure of matter are the 'standard codes' for determining a cosmic identity. I doubted at first on whether I was being teleported to a different planet in the same universe. Our teleportation portal would be considered a success in another sense if I was. But after a simple observation, I found... Although it's hard to believe, I think I should be in another universe. I wondered why the basic physical laws of this universe were about the same as my hometown's, but the significant difference in the background radiation made me realise that I really am in the Otherworld."
"There are a group of astrologers who have been insisting on the theory of the Otherworld, but I never supported them at the Royal Conference. And, now when I think about it… If I go back, the first thing I have to do is get them to the Royal Astrology Tower," said Hilda as she laughed wryly.
At this time, the MDT's voice was suddenly heard behind Hao Ren. "The identification code of the world is more than just background radiation, but you really are from a different world. I just checked your profile, you have obvious traces of time-travelling residue."
Hao Ren turned his head to have a look. He found the MDT floating two metres away from him. However, it still failed to get rid of Lil Pea: the little mermaid was sitting on the MDT with her little hands clutching the two edges of the "frisbee". When she saw Hao Ren turn around, the little girl flapped her tail happily. But, she just would not let go!
The MDT sighed and said, "I've made a lot of effort, but your daughter seems to think that I'm a mount. You should correct her..."
"She's not heavy, just carry her," Hao Ren said and shrugged as if it was none of his business. "You're in my pocket all day but I don't complain about it."
The MDT was about to go on a rampage, but before it could jump, Hao Ren had already turned his head to look at Hilda and said, "Okay, I have basically understood your situation. It seems you really have teleported to a different world by accident. When we are done here, we will take you back. Don't worry, everything will be fast."
"If you really have a way, please be sure do it as soon as possible." Hilda stood up and bowed to Hao Ren without hesitation. "Before I left, our entire country was already in a state of extremes, and the explosion of the teleportation device has likely pushed my people to a psychological tipping point. Now they have no resources, no hope, no queen. I must go back before the situation gets worse!"
Hao Ren did not expect Hilda, who was a queen to bow to him. This was the first time he faced such a situation. He quickly jumped up from the chair and rushed to help Hilda up. "Okay, okay, I'll do it as quick as I can. Don't be like this, I can't accept it..."
After Hao Ren and Vivian soothed Hilda, she calmed down. Then, she sat in a chair in the corner of the room and remained silent. At that point, she did not care about anything other than going home. When she was not talking about her hometown, she was just sitting there like a puppet.
The MDT was in a discussion with them while it carried Lil Pea. "This is a rare situation. The technical difficulty of time-travelling can be higher than you think. She could have been teleported to The Plane of Dreams by a low-level teleportation device... I feel that there is a lot to investigate in this matter."
"That will have to wait until we go back." Hao Ren nodded,. "Now, we have to figure out how to get to the middle of the lake later at night..."
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