Chapter 44 The Day of Return

"Day of Return?" Raven 12345 raised an eyebrow at the strange phrase. "What does that mean? I haven't been paying attention to this universe lately. Have the aliens on Earth been making moves?"

"...Actually, they've been making moves for over a century, but I guess they're only bringing it to the surface now," Hao Ren explained the Day of Return, linking it to the changes in the Dream Plane. "...That's the situation. The aliens seem to think their power is about to be restored and certain 'ancestral artifacts' are about to reappear. Considering that the connection between the Dream Plane and the surface world is strengthening, and the two worlds will soon be connected, could that be what they're referring to? The aliens on Earth all came from the Dream Plane, and I'm guessing that no one besides us knows the real consequences of the Dream Plane barrier disappearing. They might see it as an opportunity—an opportunity to reconnect with their homeland and be fully resurrected."

Raven 12345 tapped her fingers lightly on the table. "Very likely. The aliens' memories of the Dream Plane have been erased by some kind of disaster, but they may have other ways of passing down secrets, such as 'the power of the ancestors comes from a sealed lost world'—this kind of obscure religious legend is very likely to have survived."

Hao Ren looked at Raven 12345 inquisitively. "Could the aliens be driving the fusion of the Dream Plane and the surface world..."

Raven 12345 waved her hand before Hao Ren could finish. "No, they don't have that power. Most mortals don't have that power. They can't even understand the mapping formula between the Dream Plane and the surface world. It requires a special thinking organ to perform the conversion. What's causing the 'wall' to dissolve is something at a higher level, something related to the laws of the universe itself—of course, there may be some conspiracy involved. Some very ancient guys may be driving this, but I need to investigate and can't jump to conclusions. In short, the aliens on Earth shouldn't be able to participate in it. They probably just learned through some channels that the wall is weakening, and then misinterpreted the situation, thinking that the dawn is coming, but in fact, it's just a gleam before the end."

Hao Ren felt a chill run down his spine as soon as he heard "some very ancient guys." It seemed that Raven 12345 merely mentioning these vague concepts was enough to convey some kind of awe-inspiring power. From Raven 12345's serious expression, he guessed that there really was such a huge evil force in this universe, below the gods but far above mortals, an evil force that could shake the foundations of the world. But Raven 12345 didn't seem to be willing to explain the problem; she just glossed over it.

It seemed that Raven 12345 thought that the aliens on Earth were just misled by some false information and were far from being behind-the-scenes masterminds, but she still felt that Hao Ren's information was important. "The aliens can't participate in a 'world fusion' project like this, but their Day of Return must be related to the dissolving of the 'wall'. Keep an eye on this information at all times. If necessary, you can take a little violence. I'll approve some armed support when the situation calls for it, um, when the situation calls for it."

Hao Ren also thought of something else. "Oh, right, the information about the Day of Return is said to have first come from the sirens. The sirens who landed more than a century ago brought the news from the deep sea."

"Sirens?" Raven 12345 was surprised. "I knew about their landing, but I didn't pay much attention at the time. They were the first to bring the news of the Day of Return?"

"Yeah, it seems that they learned through some means that the 'wall' between the Dream Plane and the surface world was weakening," Hao Ren judged based on the information he had now. "Do you think it's necessary for me to take a trip to the deep sea? It is said that there is some kind of restriction there..."

"You decide for yourself. From now on, you decide many things for yourself, and handle them with full authority," Raven 12345 looked at Hao Ren, her expression suddenly having a special meaning. "Next, I'm going to focus on more complicated things. Besides giving you the necessary power support that you can't solve yourself, I won't restrict your actions or give too much guidance. You decide what to do based on the information and power you have at hand. If you find the key secret about the deep sea, then go to the deep sea. If you can't go, then do something else first."

Hao Ren didn't think much at first, but after a few seconds, he suddenly felt that Raven's attitude seemed to have another meaning. "You... are you planning to trick me again?"

Raven 12345 smiled solemnly. "Oh, yes."

She admitted it! This psycho actually admitted it shamelessly!

Hao Ren didn't jump up and argue with her as usual because he vaguely felt that the serious look hidden behind Raven 12345's cynical expression was genuine. This was likely to be a significant arrangement, such as a test or something... Anyway, Hao Ren felt that even if he threatened this psycho with death, she wouldn't say anything more, so he might as well save some energy.

"One last question," Hao Ren carefully sorted out the series of things he had considered before coming, and finally remembered that there was a crucial situation he hadn't asked about. "Where do the sirens come from?"

"What do you mean, where do they come from?" Raven 12345 looked at Hao Ren strangely. "From the water."

"That's not what I meant," Hao Ren coughed twice. "It's like this. When I was in the Dream Plane, I mentioned the sirens to the locals, and they seemed to have no idea about this species at all—not even in their ancient legends. Didn't you say that the aliens on Earth all came from the Dream Plane? So where did the sirens come from?"

Raven 12345 didn't say anything after hearing this, but just looked at Hao Ren with a very strange expression, staring at him until he felt a chill down his spine, and then she chuckled. "Aha, it looks like you need some time to adapt to your job."

Hao Ren: "...Huh?"

"Don't let old perspectives limit your vision," Raven 12345 suddenly reached out and patted Hao Ren on the shoulder. "Occasionally look up at the sky. That's all the reminder I'll give you. The rest is up to you to figure out."

Hao Ren scratched his nose, feeling somewhat enlightened.

Hilda had been watching the two of them discussing a lot of things she couldn't understand but felt were very powerful. At this time, she finally waited until Hao Ren and Raven's discussion came to an end, and she carefully interjected. "Excuse me... Can we talk about my matter now?"

"Oh, right, there's still a transmigrator here," Raven 12345 slapped her forehead as if she had really forgotten about it (of course, it was possible that she really had forgotten). "Repatriating or settling transmigrators is the job of the inspector, Hao Ren. I'll leave this to you."

Hao Ren pointed at his nose. "Me? How do I send her back?"

"Employee Handbook, Part 6, Section 3, 'Guidelines for Handling Transmigration Issues'. I'm telling you, if you ask such basic questions again, I won't even give you soup!"

Hao Ren quickly took out the data terminal and found the clauses that Raven 12345 mentioned. As a result, he found that there was indeed a special section explaining transmigrators, and even a large number of classic cases for reference. He found that transmigrators, as a special kind of creature, had long been an insignificant natural phenomenon in the eyes of the Xiling God System, and there were a large number of simple measures to deal with them. All he had to do now were three things: first, let Hilda lie in any hibernation pod, and the basic scanning function of any hibernation pod could collect the transmigrator's information characteristics; second, upload the scanning results to the Space-Time Administration's Transmigration Affairs Group, tag it with "preparatory processing" and "autonomous processing" projects, and let the technical staff of other departments reverse-lock the transmigrator's source world, and determine whether the person was a black户 (hù - registered permanent residence) wanted by the Administration or other person prohibited from passing; third, drive his spaceship, navigate to a huge space facility called the World Gate in this universe, upload the access code to the spaceport, and then step on the gas pedal and slam into it—the next second, you'll send the transmigrator back home.

What happened afterward was up to the inspector to decide. He could directly throw the person back home and be done with it, or he could complete the information sampling and then pull the person back to settle in some kind of shelter, or he could take out a mechanical pencil and press it in front of the transmigrator's eyes. Since anything that didn't affect the balance of the universe and the diversity of civilizations was considered a local matter, the bosses of the Xiling God System didn't care about these trivial matters.

Hao Ren read these clauses and found that their information priority and related disposal authority were arranged very low. Any inspector could handle them autonomously (of course, he needed to report the processing details to the upper levels of the Administration). Their event level was placed in a catalog with non-motor vehicle traffic accidents, conventional planetary wars, and fights in public places...

He thought about it and felt that it was possible that the data terminal had put it in the wrong place when sorting out the data library.

"This matter, you also have full authority to handle," Raven 12345 looked into Hao Ren's eyes. "The greatest degree of full authority, as long as you don't violate the World Balance Preservation Ordinance and the Civilization Development Protection Law, you can make your own decisions. But the special support you can apply for from me is limited. You should try to use your own abilities—most importantly, your brain—to solve this matter."

This was the second time Raven 12345 had emphasized the four words "full authority" so much.

Hao Ren nodded silently.