Chapter 27: Monthly Pay
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Clutching the buzzing mobile phone, Hao Ren was very much agitated. His thoughts jumbled, heck, even his hands felt like a wobbly mess. All this while, the old Nokia was vibrating furiously in his hand.
A normal phone call wouldn't have elicited such a reaction, but god knows how Raven12345 did it, the buzzing of the phone was akin to a boombox. Much of it was to make sure Hao Ren did not miss her call, but the buzzing could even be heard a few blocks away.
"Hello?" Hao Ren took the call, weary of any pranks Raven12345 would pull to scare the daylight out of him.
"Yo! Hao Ren, still alive? Did ya take good care of the new guests?" Raven12345 spoke chirpily. It seems like she was still her usual self. "I messed up the other time. It seems that you are not the only one to have a furball of a werewolf at your place. I think you have someone from the Blood Clan as well, is she there? How's things going? Nothin' wrong I hope? Was out doing stuff earlier, oh, let me tell you about the Blue Horn Nebula...."
Hao Ren was pretty much floored by the pace Raven12345 went about blabbering. Thankfully he still held on to his wits and interrupted the loony Goddess "Hold on, hold on, I need to see you about something!"
"Something? Wazzit?" Raven12345 sounded puzzled. "Oh, you mean your salary? I haven't actually thought about that... Oh wait, or is it about your benefits? It's not even the end of the month yet....'
'Can you please let me speak?!' Hao Ren finally snapped and yelled at the phone. He regained his train of thoughts not long after and quickly cowered. He had just raised his voice at the loony Goddess. Some random thunderbolt would probably be striking him down any time now.
Lucky for Hao Ren, the sky was clear. At least he won't be zapped by a thunderbolt this time around. Raven12345 demurred for a moment and chirpily went "Oh, sorry bout’ that, got all excited from that trip. Go on, hehehehe."
Hao Ren wiped off his cold sweat, thanking lady luck for Raven12345's apparent good mood. "Right... I still can't make heads of tails after you left so suddenly. I ran into something really weird, and there's that dream too..."
Raven12345 was silent, for once, when Hao Ren told her about the reality-altering dream that he had. Well, until Hao Ren finished talking at least.
"Oh...slurrrrppp.... You had a dream like that huh? Slrrruppp... That complicates things a bisssslurrrpp... Why not you drop by my plaissslurpppp..."
"What's going on over there?" Hao Ren wondered at the distorted speech.
"Huh? Slurrrrppppp, oh I'm having cup noodles!' Raven12345 continued eating "I forgot about breakfast earlier."
Good lord above, did she just went to prepare her cup noodle when he was talking about the dream?!
Hao Ren recollected his thoughts, and after confirming with Raven12345 the meeting spot, he went out after changing into a more proper attire. Vivian was preparing some light snacks for Rollie and saw Hao Ren getting ready. "Heading out to see her?"
Hao Ren nodded went on "Oh yea, I might be late. If Lily's back by then, just grab your meals outside, or you can have food delivery. The number's on the calendar, that's the only shop that delivers up to here."
Vivian heard Lily's name and frowned, before she could speak Hao Ren went "Oh don't give me that. Your food is being paid for by Lily. You're already piss poor as it is."
Vivian was silent. The vampire who had lived for ages, the one who fought with Acherus had a surprisingly mild temper. Hao Ren felt that he understands her better now and the sense of awe and fear he had for her before have pretty much faded away.
After reminding Vivian to feed Rollie lunch, Hao Ren left home and was headed for the Space Administration office at Bastard Barrio.
The imposing white villa was the same as a few days before. The servants in the house kept the building spick-and-span while the owner was away. Hao Ren was running all the way under the hot sun, and gave a sigh of relief when he was teleported to the fountain in front of the villa. As the building was in a different dimension, it was neither hot nor cold, and the air was surprisingly fresh, Hao Ren did entertained some thoughts about staying longer.
"Oh, you're here!" Raven12345 appeared behind him.
Hao Ren quickly turned about and saw the silver-haired lady holding an odd-looking giant blade walking out from the garden. Her clothing was stained with mud and grass.
"I was trimming the hedgerows" Raven12345 said with an accomplished grin while lifting the two meter long silver blade. Hao Ren was fixated at it and she chuckled "It's awesome yeah? This blade is a momento you know. There's nothing like it amongst the Ravens." She turned around and waved at Hao Ren to head in into the house "Let’s head in and talk about the stuffs you had ran into.
Hao Ren nodded and quickly followed behind. Both of them walked into Raven12345's office. It was pretty much the same, except for the pile of empty noodle cups piling up by her desk. Hao Ren really wondered if he should be taking Raven12345 seriously at this point, for such a godly being, she sure ain't eating like one.
Raven noticed Hao Ren's gaze and brushed it aside "Well, I'm done eating those~"
Hao Ren sighed and went to sit on the sofa facing Raven12345 and pulled out a small case that contained a ball of black fur.
"This was what I told you about. It had just appeared in my hand when I woke up from that nightmare. Lily took a good sniff at it and was sure it wasn't something from the human world.'
Raven12345 took the ball of fur and snapped her fingers. A series of bright blue lines appeared out of nowhere and quickly assembled themselves into a container. The black fur floated within the container and slowly let out a puff of grey smoke.
Hao Ren was taken aback by the scene. "Well, I guess she ain't all bluster" he thought to himself. What he just saw clearly looks way stronger than Vivian's blood arts, at least when it comes to the magic circle formation.
"Ah... so it came from that world...." Raven12345 mumbled as she looked at the last of the fur being disintegrated.
"From where you say?" Hao Ren interjected.
"The Dream World. But it doesn't concern you now, at the very least. You won't be able to deal with this sort of matter anyway, not at your level." Raven12345 shook her head, looking serious. "I'll pass this on to those at the Shadow City HQ. This world is nothing but trouble and the guys over at the Administration had been keeping a watchful eye on it for a long long time'
She saw Hao Ren's perplexed look and pulled out a silver hexagonal item and pushed it towards him. "You clearly don't know much. Take it, it's an investigator's Mobile Data Terminal, M.D.T. Just got it for you earlier. It's pretty much like Wikipedia. You can find out more about the SOPs, the dimensional navigation map and table... and oh, your access level. Hmmm... You’re still under probation, so I guess much of it is still beyond you. But it's good to read up in advance."
Hao Ren snapped out of his stupor when he saw the silvery item flying his way and caught it just in time. After digesting what Raven12345 just said, he realized, "Well, at least I've got my monthly pay this time."
Chapter 28: Super High Tech!
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Hao Ren toyed around with the silver device in his hand. He was both excited and yet worried.
The device was about palm-sized and had a silver glow to it. Yet, it did not feel metallic when held. It was warm, probably not a metal from this world. It had a very fine hexagonal edge, and was barely a few millimeters thick. Hao Ren could see some light pulsing within the device, as it it was a living, breathing being. He gave the surface of the device a rub and it activated with a sudden bright flash. A holographic menu popped out of the ether and took Hao Ren by surprise.
It was to Hao Ren's credit that he did not just toss the device instinctively. He held it tightly and stared at the hologram. There was a blue cross-shaped sigil revolving slowly in the middle of the hologram. Beneath the icon was a line of words: Space Administration-EN35 Node – World AZ655 – General-Use of MDT. Access verified. Standing by.
"Full Mandarin interface, idiot-proof navigation, even a dummy can master this." Raven12345 pointed towards the MDT, drawing Hao Ren's attention. "This device here contains all you need to know about your work. Oh, and there's the introduction about the Imperial Space Administration, plus some basic information about the Empire. Also, there's more information about worlds, space lanes, world codes, authority levels, material distribution list, support application and more that you'll need to learn. It's a bit too much of a hassle to explain all of it to you, go read it up" Raven12345 snickered "Well, digesting all of this.... hurm... you should be done with module one of the tutorial by now, and on to the second module..."
All Hao Ren saw was despair. He just managed to scrape through school, and now he's back to it again?
"What is this though?" Hao Ren, trying to distract himself from the amount of studying he needed to do, pointed towards the floating blue cross-shaped sigil. He did not know what it symbolized, but was pretty sure it was a pretty big deal. He saw the same shapes within Raven12345's villa and on the magical servants as well. Hao Ren then poked at the hologram and his fingers went through the image. Well, guess it is not manipulated by touch.
Raven12345's expression became serious all of a sudden and Hao Ren took a step back. He never thought that such a whimsical Goddess could swing from one end of a spectrum of gravity to the other. Raven12345 stared deeply at Hao Ren, as though wanting to drill her thoughts directly into his skull.
"This is the insignia of the Xi Ling Legion, the Empire’s emblem, the mark of the Xi Ling civilization. It represents the Xi Ling Empire. Well, you're new, so you might not grasp the significance of the insignia. Just know that it is a very important symbol, that throughout the ether, countless of races are under her protection, and her unnumbered legions fighting for her glory."
Hao Ren could only nod at what Raven12345 just told him. Sensing the mood had gotten severe she tapped her forehead and went "Ah, what am I doing drowning you in this so early in the morning. Remember, no matter what sort of perils you are facing, or what sort of troubles you find yourself in, as long as you see this insignia, know that you are with family. Understand?'
Hao Ren responded with a quick nod. "Uh... how do I use this again?"
"Just put your hand on one of the edges, and control it mentally. It will automatically act on your directive without fail." Raven12345 said as she guided Hao Ren on how to use the device. "Of course, you might need some time to get used to it. Its reaction time is very fast, and the A.I within is as potent as a human's mind, so it will automatically help you out when you've messed up. It's nothing really. Oh, try activating the system, and say "I'm a noob"."
Hao Ren blinked at the device, the only thought that swirled in his head was "My god, this is some high tech stuff!'"
'I thought the Xi Ling apostles are Gods, why would you need such high tech stuff?' Hao Ren asked while trying to communicate with the device. Raven12345 looked at him curiously "How is science and magic any different? The Xi Ling Gods went on both paths, and use what was useful, after all, this are just tools to control reality. Throw that gadget you have right now to a bunch of cavemen and they'll take it as a gift from the gods. That being said, I don't fancy all this high tech stuff, I still prefer my magical items. It’s a pity that you won't be able to use them"
Hao Ren did not pay much attention to Raven12345 at that point, as he had managed to activate the device!
A series of holographic images refreshed at a very fast pace but Hao Ren was not overwhelmed by it. The way the images were formed and refreshed matched his mental agility, as if the device was capable of scanning his brain and determine how it could best absorb new information. Hao Ren's eyes quickly scanned through the data screens that was centered around him. He appreciated the fact that when he needs new information, it will be automatically brought to him in the most efficient manner.
Hao Ren thought he would not be able to manipulate such an advanced device, he quickly realized something: for such an expansive, multiversal civilization, to create an easy-to-use device was as easy as 1, 2, 3. He concluded that the ease of usage only meant that the inner workings of this device is very much complicated. If he were to pry the device open, god knows who would be able to put it back together.
"What does this "Request Support" button do?" Hao Ren asked as he saw it while browsing through the database. The holographic screen stopped at the menu and displayed a huge list of pictures and the corresponding information. It looked like a lot of them are weapons or troop lists, but most of them were grayed out.
"You really thought that the Inspectors are lone wolves? Or that taking care of a few special creatures at home constitutes the whole of the job scope?" Raven12345 snickered. "Just wait till you go official, being an Inspector is no easy job. What if I were to send you out to pacify a rebellion at Centauri? Or to mediate a military ceasefire in the Scorpio Stars? At this point, you'd be begging for combat support. When you're about to get killed, by all means use it. Of course, such a request would need the necessary authorization, and authorization can only be gained by a strict assessment. Of course we would not be giving access to lethal arms to fresh bloods. Well...lethal arms it may be, it's still just child’s play to us. Hurmm... let’s say if one of this were to land on earth, you'll be looking at centuries long nuclear winter.
Hao Ren gulped as he heard what Raven12345 had just said. This job would be the death of him!
"I....", he stuttered.
"No quitting" Raven12345 grinned. "Even if you were to die, your spirit will be within my grasp. I just need to get you a new body and you're as good as new! It took me so much effort to get a new employee, you think I'd let you go?"
Hao Ren's face soured at the thought.
"Oh don't give me that", Raven12345 teleported to his side and scared the living daylight out of Hao Ren. "It's not my nature to sugarcoat the reality. You'll find out soon enough that this is an opportunity that most would kill for. As long as you don't screw up, you'll live for... erm... quite long. Inspectors are not military personnel. We won't be sending you out to fight wars.'
Hao Ren wanted to speak but was totally overwhelmed by her presence. He slid the MDT into his pocket. There will be much reading and researching to do later.
"Let’s talk about the nightmare" he said as he dropped resignedly back on the sofa. "I felt as if you are hiding things from me. I may be naive, but please don't take me for a fool. At least let me know the things I need to know."
Raven12345 took a glance at Hao Ren, and sighed "Alright, alright, since you are this insistent. I'll let you in on a bit more."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
10 Power
stone 
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