Chapter 85: The Waking Moment
The little houses in the steppe were not what Hao Ren had imagined. However, they still had nomadic characteristics—the pillars were of solid wood and arranged in a circular layout, the walls were constructed from flexible straw mat and some unknown filler materials, the thatched roofs was secured down by placing heavy stones on top while their foundations were reinforced with baked clay; overall the whole structure of each house was primitive yet solid. The dozens of circular houses, which looked identical and measured approximately less than 10 meters in diameter, were scattered inside a fenced perimeter, forming a ‘village’.
Hao Ren did not pay attention to the surrounding environment as he was too eager to get into the house to find out how the human civilization in The Plane of Dreams was like. He pushed the door of the nearest house open. Instead of swinging open, the rattan and straw door fell down inwards.
“It appears that the nomads have left for a long time…” Hao Ren glanced in astonishment at the rotten door frame. The door was attached by hinges fashioned from rope. The door hinges had rotten so much that they completely gave way when Hao Ren pushed against the door. Apparently, the wolves’ perception of time was somewhat inaccurate.
“I hope this shaky structure will not give way all of a sudden,” murmured Hao Ren as he entered the nomadic house. A dim light emanated from the MDT and allowed him to see in the pitch-dark interior.
As expected, the house was empty, which implied that the owner left the house in an orderly manner. The floor under Hao Ren’s feet was unpaved. He also noticed some fabric lying at the corners of the house. It suggested that the floor was once carpeted. On each of the wooden pillars was a metal hook which could have served as a hanger for weapons or tools. The floor in the middle of the house was visibly lower than the floor around it. A pit with a burnt mark in its center could have been a stove or fire place.
Other than that, there was not much left.
Hao Ren was kind of disappointed. He did not find anything valuable—not even a small piece of sheepskin.
However, the fact that these tiny little houses existed was significant. They showed that: human civilization existed in The Planes of Dreams and they could have been highly civilized with developed technologies—metallurgy (the metal hooks on the wall), construction, and survival skills in a grassland or prairie full of roaming wolves. Despite Raven 12345’s briefing that The Plane of Dreams was not just a strange world with beasts and monsters, witnessing everything with his own eyes was much more real and profound.
“Do you know anything about The Plane of Dreams?” asked Hao Ren as he looked at the MDT dangling from his pocket. “Please keep your light steady.”
“I suggest you read the operation manual! You have been using the device wrongly! The device is a high-tech personal assistant, not a torchlight, not a meteor hammer and much less your pet!” Nevertheless, the MDT still responded to Hao Ren’s question after lashing out at him. “There are some limited pre-loaded information. This is a specialized gadget for inspectors installed only with the necessary modules. The device will search the local universe channels for more information… Search completed. The features of The Plane of Dreams are: reality, size, linear development, self-consistent, capable of influencing the real world. Do you need further explanations?”
“That would be very much appreciated,” said Hao Ren as he sauntered around the house looking for possibly valuable clues.
“Reality— The existence of The Plane of Dreams is real; it has an effective and analyzable set of law; although it is a warped reality, it has its own set of logic and everything in this space is not an illusion. Size— Due to various reasons, study of The Plane of Dreams has never been carried out but, judging from the few spatial induction results, the size of The Plane of Dreams is roughly equal the size of the real world. Thus, it is something to behold. If the goddess of the Space Administration was to launch an exploration program for The Plane of Dreams, inspectors would be as busy as a cat on a hot tin roof. Linear development— The Plane of Dreams is a space of constant change and development. While it is a strange place, everything develops linearly in its evolving history and each moment of its history is the result of its linear causation. As such, everything happens for a reason and there is nothing that cannot be explained—this is a new point, the authenticity of which has yet to be proven. Self-consistent— Everything in The Plane of Dreams is self-consistent. They are an embodiment of its reality. Capable of influencing the real world— this is an utterly redundant point, of which explanation is unnecessary.”
Blinded by Science, Hao Ren grasped only what he could understand. Suddenly, a flash of light at the corner of the house caught his attention.
He dashed towards it and found that a little piece of metal protruded from the ground.
His heart pounded as he looked at the metal piece; a sense of familiarity riddled him. When he finally dug the metal out of the ground, he froze.
It was a diamond-shaped metal plate roughly the size of his palm. The surface was partly rusted which meant that it was made of iron. However, one thing caught his eye and it was the hieroglyphs on the metal sheet. He stared intensely at it for some time before realization struck him—it was the very same metal sheet he and Vivian found in his own basement!
“WTF?” Hao Ren murmured to himself in shock, “Why is this thing in my house…”
Before he could finish murmuring to himself, a strange whistling sound from outside the house interrupted him.
Alternating sounds of rumbling and whistling wind were heard from all directions followed by the rattling of the house. Hao Ren looked up instinctively. All of a sudden, the roof launched itself into the air and was blown away!
The thatched roof secured down by heavy stones was completed gone and the dark interior was suddenly filled with light—starlight and moonlight. The wall started shaking violently and before he knew it, the house was completely uprooted from its foundation.
The word ‘typhoon’ came to mind but it was too late. Before he could react to it, Hao Ren along with the wall were carried by the strong wind and blown up in the air!
Although bioenhancement had made Hao Ren as strong as an ox and as fit as a fiddle, it did not endow him with the stability of a mountain. The typhoon carried and tossed him around like a leaf. He was pulled into the typhoon and bumped into thousands of flying debris. He became disoriented and totally hapless. However, he quickly realized that the debris he smashed into the most was not of the house but a piece of glowing, metal object the size of his palm. He burst out, “MDT! Is this revenge?!”
The MDT pleaded sincerely as it swung around and hit Hao Ren’s head countless times, “The device is unable to control itself. It is such a horrible typhoon…”
“Horrible what? You’ve hit me on my face no less than four…five times, now!” Hao Ren was furious but he didn’t lose his mind. “What’s going on? A typhoon in clear weather?”
“God knows! The early warning system for disasters was not working since Raven 12345 meddled with the device! And the extreme weather radar program just passed its trial period last night. File your complaint to the higher-ups if you have the guts!”
“You son of a b…” Before he could lash out, he blacked out.
A sense of weightlessness engulfed him before he he felt like he was thrown violently onto solid ground. When he opened his eyes, he found himself lying in his bed in the comfort of his home; a warm ray of sunshine shone on him.
It was time to wake up—the timing was pre-set before he entered The Plane of Dreams.
The sensation of being tossed around by the typhoon still terrorized him. Going into The Plane of Dreams was indeed a test of the strength of one’s heart. It took him quite a while before his heartbeat slowed down to a normal rate. But, he felt something sharp pressing against his thigh.
He reached for his thigh and there it was—the diamond-shaped metal plate.
Comments