Before seeing the actual data, Hao Ren had a feeling the Inferno was just a piece of debris that fell off the Plane of Dreams and became part of this universe. The special nature of this space debris was that it did not have a fixed position in the universe; it constantly drifted on the edge of the real world, and occasionally made contact with Earth. This triggered the so-called the opening of Inferno that occurred many times in Earth's history. But, the data sent back by the probe seemed to suggest that the dimension was more complicated than previously thought. This space fragment from the Plane of Dreams did not fully enter the Surface World; it was stuck between the Surface World and the Plane of Dreams!
The data the MDT showed was still fluctuating. It showed the ever-changing relative position of the Inferno dimension. Without the necessary tools, it was impossible interpret the data. So far Hao Ren could analyse things because he was using the data link; his mind was connected to the MDT, which in turned was connected to the data network of the Xi Ling Empire. This linkage allowed inspectors to see things beyond-human perspectives. It did not enhance other human qualities and would not increase one's IQ. Its biggest function was to let Hao Ren think outside the box beyond to understand the abstract knowledge.
So he understood what Infernal dimension was really about; it was essentially a gangrene on the Wall of Reality.
The tremor of this space debris on the Wall of Reality was probably the cause of the deterioration of the situation—at least it was one of the reasons.
But Hessiana and her sidekicks had no clue what the Wall of Reality was. They wanted to catch the wizard as quickly as possible. Hessiana pointed at the portal. "Can we use it now? Would the drift that you mentioned affect it?"
Hao Ren switched on the portal. "Don't worry. This thing is much more advanced than what Baptiste has ever made." He sounded very confident.
He now knew why the magic masters on Earth had been unable to find a stable Inferno gate; they failed to jump out of their cosmic worldview, and fixed portals did not work on a drifting dimension because of the incompatible coordinate system.
But his portal could do that.
He fired up the portal as it gave out a slight humming sound; a translucent warped sphere emerged over the silver platform. Hao Ren and the others stepped back slightly. When the sphere expanded large enough to allow a person to walk through, Hao Ren went in first. He said, "Let's go and catch the wizard!"
After they crossed a layer of turbulent and warped light film, the harsh environment of Infernal dimension greeted them on the other side.
It was hot and stinking space like a dirty swamp of hot spring; decomposing substances covered the earth with lumpy dark earth. It was lifeless. There was no sunlight, moon nor stars. Thick clouds blocked shrouded the world. Only the weird, non-sun lighting glow from within the clouds provided some light to the land that otherwise a completely dark world. This is Inferno. It was different from what the religious story described but nonetheless it was still an inferno.
Lily could not help but cough. She had sensitive nose. "This is truly a hellish place. Let me put on the collar."
She felt better with the life-support collar on. Her brows knit together as she looked around. "Does this hellish place support life at all?"
"Well, at least you would find something like the Infernal Fleshripper." Vivian nodded. "I have only been there once but it was thousands of years ago. I've almost forgotten about the situation here. So everyone please keep your eyes open."
Nangong Wuyue was making a hissing sound in her throat. She sensed the presence of water vapour; it was not a very difficult place to survive, but the water vapour was mixing with some unpleasant odours. The sense of hostility and corrosiveness irritated her. Hao Ren noticed it. He asked, "Hey? You okay? Why not you put the collar on?"
"It's nothing to do with the conventional senses," Nangong Wuyue replied. She then summoned a mist and transformed herself into siren. The tiny water sphere made up of mist began to purify the surrounding air. "I sense a force in the water; it is harmful to living things. Siren is very sensitive to water as we are water elemental creatures... Oh, it's really uncomfortable here."
Hao Ren looked up into the distance. There were bubbling, muddy hot springs of disgusting colours. When the huge bubbles on the surface of the hot spring popped, it spurted out a green, dirty air.
The muddy hot spring was the cradle of life on most planets, but the ones in Inferno was totally another thing.
These hot springs were the most abundant form of water in the world but it was disgusting. No wonder Nangong Wuyue felt so uncomfortable.
"Sorry, I have to transform the second time. I just can't stand it."
Then she collapsed into water droplets.
The water droplets hovered and condensed in the air, and finally became a gel-like soft stuff. A Slime.
Maybe it was not a Slime. It was just a form of Nangong Wuyue's existence. But the appearance did not help it, it was translucent gel-like substance.
The slime shook and made a groaning sound. "Okay, I've completed my formshift."
"Are you sure you've finished?" Lily looked at her, stunned. "People usually turned into something more badass. But you don't even have a face now."
The slime shook its body and this time, it had an upper body of a female, but still translucent. Nangong Wuyue asked, "How does it look this time?"
Lily: "….."
"This body form could produce the greatest amount of elemental affinity. I have to compete with the native water environment of this world for control, otherwise I will evaporate." Nangong Wuyue splashed water to explain her point. "I can also spare some energy to maintain a clean air space for you. Too many things in this space make me feel uneasy. I need to block them out."
"This place is too big... Where are we going to find Baptiste?" Nangong Sanba looked at the endless mass of land. "I suspect this is a planet. How difficult it is to find someone in this place?"
"Let's see how lucky we are, but I hope we have not deviated too far," Vivian said. She raised her hands, and immediately a large swarm of bats appeared and spread out in the air behind her. "I have created these hunting bats. I have already remembered Baptiste's smell. These little bats are able to sense him from several dozen kilometres away."
The bat swarm was so large so that it covered almost the entire sky. This was unlike anything Vivian had done before. Hao Ren was shocked. Hessiana stared at the bats, slowly sinking into thought as she mumbled, "I was yanked out exactly the same way last time."
Hessiana used to be one of Vivian's tiny bat. But she had transcended. Now, she was a little emotional when she looked at her 'siblings' by the thousand.
The bats dispersed into the distance. Hao Ren also released all the probes from his dimensional pocket. These agile probes were known for their speed, though unlike Vivian's hunting bats, these probes could scan a vast area in a short time and dramatically increase the chances of finding Baptiste.