Chapter 1 Unprecedented

Mulu's report made Hao Ren realize the unusual nature of this event. The "dark realm" he had been searching for so long seemed to finally have a corner surfacing.

Mulu received a distress signal from other Guardians in his meditation, but this signal came from a place that, in theory, had long fallen into the dark realm along with the Origin Star. If this signal was not a forgery, then there was only one answer: the dark realm and the main universe were connected once again.

"I can confirm the authenticity of the signal," Mulu dispelled Hao Ren's last bit of doubt about the news. "We Guardians have a special telepathic connection, specially designed by our Mother. Unless there is another god forging it, it is unlikely that I would receive a false signal."

Hao Ren looked serious. "Can you determine the coordinates of the signal's origin? Is the Suloen Gate still in its original location?"

"The location has changed, to a place I don't recognize," Mulu said, taking out a black metal device from his bosom. "It may be that the big bang transferred the Suloen Gate to other locations in the universe, or it may be that the galaxy is operating on its own in a mysterious trajectory. The origin of the signal is very unusual. I only analyzed the keyword 'Suloen' from a cipher that only Guardians can understand. This is the information I recorded, but I don't know if your equipment can convert it into a navigation signal."

"My equipment can convert anything, it just needs some time." Hao Ren nodded, signaling Lily to take the recording device Mulu handed over.

The recording device was used by the giants, and was about the size of a palm for Mulu, but if thrown to an Earthling, it would be as big as a whole person. Lily obediently took the recorder and held it over her head, looking like a coffin with legs from a distance...

This husky is really obedient.

Hao Ren and Lily sent the recorder to the Core Research Station, connected it to the space station's mainframe, and began to analyze the data inside. He found that the coordinates recorded by Mulu were very vague and had a peculiar mathematical structure. This was partly because there would inevitably be errors in converting a mental signal into machine-readable mathematical coordinates, and partly because these giants used a very unique encoding method. The space station's mainframe could process this data, but it would take a little time.

While the equipment was processing the data, Hao Ren returned to Mulu's side. The group stood on a hill on the west side of Alamanda, looking out over the vast land. Lily, like an agile little monkey, quickly scurried to the top of Mulu's staff, shielding her eyes and looking into the distance. "Wow—it's completely grown. I remember when I was here last time, this side of the mountain was still a barren land."

Hao Ren didn't hear what Lily was shouting below, and only one question lingered in his mind: dogs are so good at climbing trees, is there any way for cats to survive!

Lily finally couldn't stand the height after blowing the wind on the staff for a while. She flipped over and slid down, tugging at Hao Ren's sleeve and jumping straight up: "Landlord, Landlord! I saw a city over by the lake! The architectural style doesn't look like Tanagus's!"

"That is a settlement built by the Jormungandr, it cannot yet be called a city, but it is developing rapidly," Mulu's rumbling voice came from above. "There are many such new towns around Alamanda, and people are resurrected from the blood pool in the town every day. Would you like to take a look?"

Before Hao Ren could say anything, Elizabeth had already jumped up: "Let's go see, let's go see—right, Uncle Ren?"

"It's good to go take a look," Hao Ren nodded with a smile. "I wonder if we'll run into any acquaintances."

Led by Mulu, the group came to the emerging town near the "Spring of Origin." Mulu chose to stay outside the town because of his huge size, so Hao Ren and the others walked into the town on their own. They saw a patchwork of simple houses arranged on a large open space. Some of these houses were made from the surrounding natural environment, and some looked like prefabricated houses produced by industrialization. Since the entire settlement was still expanding rapidly, there were no walls or obvious boundaries around the town. There was only a platform like a watchtower every so often, with someone on duty.

All the roads and ground in the city were just flattened dirt. Only in a few places could you see synthetic materials that looked like plastic boards. There were basically no more advanced urban facilities anywhere. Road signs were hand-painted wooden boards, streetlights were wooden stakes hanging oil pots, and water supply facilities were man-made wells and open ditches. Everything seemed primitive and simple, but it was systematically designed with the planning methods of modern thinking. This settlement everywhere can make people experience the peculiar sense of violation of civilization and primitive mixed together, and those mixed together industrial simple houses and stone and wood huts are even more magnified this sense of violation. Hao Ren felt as if he had stepped into a stage play of time and space chaos, but he thought that the revival of civilization under specific circumstances was probably this situation.

A highly civilized race with advanced technology returns to primitive society to rebuild everything.

However, the Jormungandr still had some lucky places, at least they could get the initial supply of materials: the simple industrial products in the town were. Hao Ren could recognize that some of the things were produced by the factory he had left on this planet, and many other things may have come from the nearby Tanagus ruins. He saw a light golden synthetic cladding on the outer wall of a residential building, which was a material unique to the Tanagus ruins.

The residents of the town soon discovered that guests had arrived. Hao Ren saw several men in coarse overalls coming towards him. When they were still far away, Hao Ren suddenly sighed: "To be honest, this is really the first time I've seen Jormungandr—in reality."

Then he took out the Data Terminal from his pocket, switched it a few times, and transferred Nolan's holographic projection from the spaceship to this side. Nolan's figure was floating in the air above the Data Terminal, only one and a half beans tall. She didn't know why Hao Ren suddenly called her over. "Hao Ren? What's up? I'm doing maintenance on my engine group."

"Nolan, come and see your compatriots. This is the newly born Jormungandr town. They have entered the real world in large quantities."

Nolan looked around the town through the Data Terminal's eyes. After a long time, she replied as if it had nothing to do with her: "I don't feel anything. I was originally just an AI. I never lived in the real world from the beginning. Can I be considered their compatriot?"

The Data Terminal hummed twice: "Still tangled up in this?"

At this time, the men in overalls had already come to Hao Ren. They first looked at Izhaks's height and the projection device next to Hao Ren with some astonishment, and then tentatively guessed the identity of this group of visitors: "Could it be... the Lord?"

The Tanagus-Jormungandr planet was already Hao Ren's base. The Jormungandr who rebuilt their homes on this planet were of course also considered the Lord's people here. Now that the old social order has completely collapsed and all humans have been scattered and reorganized, the earliest awakened part of these Resurrected Ones, after discussion, believed that they should accept the authority of the owner of this planet. This was not only their own decision, but also the will of the Firstborn Jormungandr transmitted to everyone through mental broadcasts.

Due to the great influence of the Firstborn Jormungandr on this civilization, its will was of course very important.

The Jormungandr who woke up from the dream in the virtual world already knew what happened to their home planet. They still found the disaster difficult to understand and accept, but reality was ultimately in front of them. As a pragmatic race that actively solves problems, they did not complain about anything in this situation, but chose the safest and most stable way to actively rebuild society. Hao Ren's authority on this planet has been recognized by most people—although he himself doesn't seem to pay much attention to the progress in this regard, because everything is handled by the AI of the Core Research Station, the Data Terminal, and the two Guardians here.

Hao Ren was stunned for a moment before he remembered what to say. He quickly nodded, trying to look reliable: "Oh, it's me. I'm here to see how things are going."

As he spoke, he wondered what he should explain to these Jormungandr, because he hadn't paid much attention to the reconstruction work on the Tanagus planet except for issuing a few remote instructions to the AIs here at the beginning. His level of intervention here was not even as high as on Erinn.

He was probably the planet lord with the lowest sense of presence in the world—if he was a company boss, he would definitely be the kind of person who no one recognizes wherever he goes, and who would be kicked out by security for forgetting to bring his badge when he went to a company meeting...

However, Hao Ren's embarrassment did not last long. An unexpected voice suddenly came from the side: "Hao Ren?"

Then the voice called out again: "...Nolan?"