The Record of Unusual Creatures

Hao Ren looked at Big Beardy, feeling surprised. Things did not seem to be going as expected—the pagan who believed in the goddess of creation, which the Disciples of Glory put their faith in had proposed to see the big boss. Was it going to be a religious or diplomatic issue?     

In fact, Hao Ren had also considered the right time to bring the four ascetics to see Raven 12345. After all, this was the "rule" of his house: when new members joined, they had to report to God.     

However due to the special status of the four ascetics, he never dared to mention it. Mainly because, he was not sure what role Raven 12345, a licensed goddess would have in the minds of the ascetics, who believed in the goddess of creation. And as a goddess herself, could Raven 12345 tolerate a group of mortal believers? Of course, he did not need to worry about the second question. Hao Ren had never seen anyone more open-minded than Raven 12345 in his life. The goddess was so broad-minded that Hao Ren wondered if she had any feelings at all…     

"Is there a problem?" Big Beardy looked at Hao Ren calmly and said, "Oh, I understand. We can't go and meet the goddess as we like."     

"That's not the problem," Hao Ren said as he looked at the "pagans" and felt the pressure. He did not expect to face such a scenario in his life. "A person going to McDonald's in a KFC uniform would easily lead to a criminal case these days. Do you think it's okay to meet another goddess? Let me declare that, although I have no intention of offending your beliefs, the goddess above me is a licensed one."     

Big Beardy's face finally twitched, but then he smiled and said, "It's okay. Our belief in the goddess will not waver because of other things. We are just curious about what the goddess you mentioned looks like, and wonder what she thinks of us."     

Hao Ren had no choice but to nod and say, "Okay, all of you are clever, so you should know when to keep quiet. Try not to talk about the question of faith and issues of 'real god or false god' later."     

The four ascetics continued to nod and said, "Of course, we are aware of that."     

They were wise enough to know that it would be awkward to bring up issues on real gods and false gods. So, they kept their mouths shut and allowed the Data Terminal to activate the teleportation portal to goddess' house.     

With a flash of white light, Hao Ren felt that he had accomplished an unprecedented feat: taking a group of pagans to see God, and this sentence was a declaration.     

The white light dissipated and Raven 12345's gorgeous house appeared before them. Hao Ren had not visited for quite some time; the familiar fountain and garden made him feel at home. The four ascetics looked at their surroundings in amazement once they opened their eyes. One of the usual amusements of such religious people was probably imagining how a god's house would look like, but very few actually had the chance to see it. Now that they were there, they could not help looking around constantly.     

After surveying the place, the young ascetic muttered a little doubtfully, "It feels different from what I had imagined…"     

"Well, it's not as magnificent as I had pictured it," echoed another young nun. "Although this space looks really magical and the architecture is gorgeous, as heaven... it feels a little bit small."     

Hao Ren smiled and explained to them, "This place is actually just her temporary office. It is said that the headquarters is in a place called the City of Shadows, which is much bigger and wider than this place."     

"Oh, that's understandable," Big beardy said, although he was still puzzled. He pointed at the big house and asked, "But, what's that hole for?"     

Hao Ren looked up and began to sweat immediately. A shuttle had crashed into the house previously, however the damaged that was caused had already been repaired. But now, there was another big hole in the roof and a great cloud of black smoke billowed out of the big hole. Only God knew what that goddess was up to again...     

Hao Ren was about to explain the situation to them when the door of the house suddenly opened automatically. A blue elemental creature then came out. Hao Ren listened to the creature's jabbering and understood that Raven 12345 was already aware of their arrival. She wanted the arcane servant to take them to see her.     

"Let's go." Hao Ren beckoned the four ascetics and said, "Let's meet the goddess here."     

Led by the arcane servant, they passed through a long corridor as well as a little, empty sitting-room before they came to a gorgeous round hall that Hao Ren had never seen before. This magnificent round hall was resplendently decorated with exquisite murals and mysterious reliefs that filled them with a sense of awe. Raven 12345 was standing on a pedestal in the centre of the round hall, posing before a crystal barrier.     

Before Hao Ren could speak, Raven 12345 waved her hand behind her, signaling him to be quiet for a while.     

Hao Ren was puzzled by Raven's strange behavior. He had never seen the goddess so serious. She was standing on the pedestal with such reverence and majesty; her whole body exuded a sense of inexplicable holiness, plus she was surrounded by a mysterious radiance. At this moment, Raven 12345 actually looked like a goddess. Hao Ren immediately had a feeling that his goddess was probably absent from work again. The lady in front of him was most likely Raven 23333…     

But halfway through his thoughts, the holy goddess on the platform proved her identity with her actual actions. She suddenly jumped down, stretched her body and yelled, "Jeez... it's so tiring. Yo, Hao Ren, you brought some visitors? Have you told them that there's no lunch here?"     

"…"     

Big Beardy looked at this scene with an opened mouth, pointing at Raven 12345 as he was at a lost for words. After a while, the young ascetic asked, "This…"     

"This is our goddess. Don't look at me, I don't know why. It's an arrangement by the organisation." Hao Ren dropped his head, but he was familiar with Raven 12345's style and soon adjusted himself. He looked up at the goddess and asked, "What were you doing just now? I thought you were about to go up to heaven."     

"The Vallelaena Civilisation Sphere is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Church of Divine Truth's founding—I am their goddess, so I was just showing my face and saying a few words to wish them Happy New Year and whatnot," Raven said these surreal things casually. "They're a bunch of very amusing fellows. Although very close to me, their culture makes me speechless... Forget it."     

Hao Ren was surprised. He never thought that a goddess like Raven 12345 would be a serious goddess in the eyes of mortals. "Aren't you uninterested in being their god? Plus, I remember you saying that you didn't preach at all."     

"Me not preaching doesn't mean that people don't believe," Raven 12345 said. "More than 100 years ago, I helped them solve a little problem, and in a few years they managed to develop a church of tens of billions of people. And they really figured out a prayer service that could talk directly to me. It's like the phone number is leaked. I can't avoid or stop it."     

Hao Ren was stunned. He did not know how to evaluate this. It was clearly beyond a normal human's perception of the world. As a human being, it was difficult for him to understand how gods felt when listening to prayers. Raven 12345 patiently explained, "Actually, praying is a bit similar to sending someone harassing messages. In most cases, a mortal's prayer is like a complaint call, telling you that his life is bad and the things he wants. People put two pieces of meat on the table and light two incense sticks, then want you to help them solve their problems like quarreling among family members, declining businesses, wives refusing to come back home, kids refusing to go to school and things like that. People think that immortals are always free to just sit at the reception desk and answer the phone all day. That's why I'm not willing to preach. Of course, the Vallelaena Civilisation is a little bit better. Most of the time, they sing to me when they're praying, even though the song hasn't changed for the past 100 years…"     

The four ascetics stood there like stone carvings. Hao Ren estimated that the impact of this meeting was enough to shock them until lunch. He poked Big Beardy in the arm and said, "Hey."     

The four masters recovered from their surprise and the young nun muttered, "That's the way the gods look at 'praying'."     

Hao Ren hastened to correct them and said, "Don't take this as a reference!"     

"I've read your report," Raven 12345 said as she looked at Hao Ren. "What you found is very valuable. There are a lot of things that I didn't have time to investigate. It seems that I was right to give this task to you. But we'll talk about it later. First, let's look at these…"     

Raven then turned to look at Big Beardy and the other three ascetics.     

"The goddess you believe in is a very interesting existence. I'm currently investigating her identity. Do tell me something about her."