The Wisdom Tree danced.
In the translucent light and shadow, a small town surrounded by fog rose from the ground.
Even though it was small, it had everything. The Gemini Star, which was hundreds of meters tall, led the way. Dozens of skyscrapers outlined the magnificent skyline, and it exuded an aura that was completely different from that of a primitive forest.
"When I first saw Peach Blossom Town, I was shocked. I couldn't believe that there was such a beautiful, wonderful, and spectacular forest in the world. Those shining 'trees' were all tall, thick, straight, and had no branches. They were even more magnificent than the towering trees that had grown for thousands of years in my world. The factories in the town also let out continuous roars day and night, and they were even more terrifying than the roars of Tiger's Raging River. Even the black smoke coming out of the chimneys and the waste water discharged by the factories into Peach Blossom Creek made me feel … a power that was completely different from the claws of monsters."
The Wisdom Tree continued speaking. "At first, I thought that my 'eyes' and 'ears' had made a mistake. How could there be such a strange forest made of metal and cement in the world? Was there something wrong with my neural network? Did I accidentally connect to a crazy monster and have the most absurd dream?
"So, I sent out more 'eyes' and 'ears'. I used the eyes of tigers, the eyes of wolves, the eyes of pythons and lizards, the compound eyes of insects, the tongues of anteaters, the noses of hyenas, the dandelions that floated in the wind, the ultrasonic waves of bats … I used more than one hundred methods and more than one hundred different angles to observe Peach Blossom Town. Finally, I came to the conclusion that it really existed. It had a completely different ecosystem from my world, and it seemed to be more advanced than my world. It had something that I didn't have, and it might be able to help me reach the endless sea of stars.
"I also discovered that some naked apes that could change their skin at will and freely control metal, gunpowder, and crystals seemed to be the rulers of this ecosystem.
"This is really strange!
"There are quite a number of ape-type monsters in my world. I admit that their intelligence is higher than that of other monsters, and they can occasionally create some strange trinkets, but in any case, the sticks and stone tools they take great pains to create are not as sharp as the claws and teeth of liger-type monsters. They don't have the flying abilities of falcon-type monsters, nor do they have the acidity, poison, mimicry, limb regrowth, and camouflage abilities of reptilian monsters. They aren't high in the food chain.
"And the naked apes in this concrete forest look even weaker than the ape-type monsters in my world. How did they manage to survive and occupy such a beautiful forest?
"Not long after, I discovered that the 'skin' that they often changed into was called 'clothes', and those shining trees that rose into the sky without even a single branch were called 'skyscrapers'. The clothes, the skyscrapers, and everything else in Peach Blossom Town were not natural creations, but were made and built by the naked apes.
"This discovery shocked me even more.
"At first, I thought that the naked apes were just lucky and discovered a secret forest left behind from ancient times in the space fold area.
"This kind of thing is not uncommon in Hidden Fog Desolate Region. Even my tentacles and ears have discovered some ancient ruins, but at that time, I didn't have the wisdom and ability to explore and crack them.
"I thought that the naked apes were also lucky. When the space completely stabilized and the fog completely disappeared, powerful monsters discovered this shining forest one after another, and the naked apes' good luck came to an end.
"They were either forced to give up their warm and comfortable homes and flee to the deeper parts of Hidden Fog Desolate Region, or they became food for powerful monsters. Of course, there was a third choice, and that was to join my world and become a part of me.
"I admit that in the beginning, I did want to directly crush Peach Blossom Town and use the simplest and crudest method to integrate the entire town into my neural network. I believed that for the naked apes, this was the only way to survive.
"But once I realized that Peach Blossom Town was not a natural product and was created by the naked apes, I hesitated.
"The survival instincts in the depths of my genes told me that the naked apes were not on the same level as the monsters I absorbed in the past. If I rashly appeared in front of the naked apes, I might bring about the greatest danger to my own survival.
"On the other hand, what are the naked apes doing? Why did they build such a large forest made of metal, cement, and glass? Where did they come from, and where are they going? Why is their way of living so different from monsters? Do they know about my existence, my origins, and my mission?
"This series of questions has piqued my interest.
"Of course, I didn't know what I should do in the first place. My neural network has already reached its limit. A primitive forest with a circular area of 328 feet is no different from a primitive forest with a circular area of 328 miles. Am I growing nonstop just to control an insect that's thousands of miles away from me so that it can break out of its cocoon and become a butterfly? That's too boring!
"Besides, I still have to consider whether the naked apes can threaten my survival.
"Even though they are individually weak, the naked apes can use some of the rumbling metals to control larger and heavier metals. They can effortlessly cut down ancient trees that have a diameter of more than ten meters.
"Or they can use metal pellets that contain terrifying energy to shoot them at a speed faster than falcon-type monsters and kill ignorant monsters.
"I wasn't sure whether the monsters and etherealized plants under me would be able to fend against them if they discovered my existence and locked down the coordinates of my real body.
"Hence, I lurked in the dark and observed the naked apes' lives in an attempt to learn something from them so that I could upgrade … my civilization that was still in the process of being born.
"In the beginning, it was naturally difficult for two completely different ecosystems to understand and fuse with each other. I couldn't understand everything I saw, and I couldn't understand the lives of the naked apes.
"I also tried to find a naked ape who had fallen off a cliff during the process of pathfinding and was on the verge of death. I used my tentacles to forcefully invade its brain and tried to pry into its senses and memories.
"But who would have thought that the brain of a tiny naked ape would contain such rich and crazy things? It was one hundred times more complicated than the strongest monster.
"If the brains of normal monsters are black and white drawings, then the brains of naked apes are like 3D kaleidoscopes that are spinning at high speed.
"A large amount of information exploded in my body, and it even broke my nerve bundles, which allowed me to break free from the terrifying naked apes!
"This attempt left me with lingering fear.
"But it also opened a brand new door to wisdom for me and allowed me to understand a higher form of life.
"Through the scanning of the floating light and skimming shadows, I noticed that the naked apes consider themselves to be the spirits of all living things. They hold faint disdain for everything in the world, and they don't even treat other animals and plants as real life.
"That's only natural.
"Because the naked apes are a race that has seen and even touched the stars.
"A race that has seen the sea of stars and a race that has never seen or even thought about seeing the sea of stars are naturally not on the same level.
"When I discovered that the naked apes were so powerful and advanced, I could not help but feel ashamed of my own inferiority and fear. I wanted to learn from the naked apes from the bottom of my heart, just like an elementary school student. That's the only way I could develop my own civilization.
"There's no need for me to mention how difficult it was to learn. After all, in many aspects, I was far inferior to a human elementary school student.
"Fortunately, Peach Blossom Town was expanding at a large scale, and countless humans were chased out by the leader to develop the land.
"At that time, Red Dragon River and Tiger's Raging River had just merged together, and it was very unstable. Forget about the hungry monsters in the forest, just the collision of the two rivers and the change of their course was enough for thousands of people to sacrifice their lives. I also managed to obtain countless samples that were worth studying without anyone noticing.
"After sharing a large number of humans' senses and memories, I formed a general concept of humans and civilization.
"I also learned about the early history of Peach Blossom Town after it transmigrated to the Other World.
"But the fragmented, contradictory, ambiguous, and even ridiculous history in these humans' minds caused me to sink into deep puzzlement.
"For example, I discovered that when the Peach Blossom Town first came to this world, in the face of the treacherous fog and surging flood, some humans chose to step forward bravely. They used their own lives to open up a path in the fog and subdued the rampant scourges and fierce beasts.
"During one of the most violent floods that might have devoured the entire town, there were even people who tied explosives all over their bodies and used their lives as the price to blow up a mountain. They used rocks to block the collapsed dam and forced the flood to change its course.
"But while countless people sacrificed their lives for Peach Blossom Town, there were also quite a number of people who hid in the back and waited to reap the benefits. They used flowery words or forcefully seized the resources in the town. They did everything they could to gather the resources in the town into their own hands. Then, they did not use those resources to hunt monsters, explore the forest, or subdue the river. Instead, they continued to oppress their own kind to strengthen their rule.
"In my world, different creatures have different ways of surviving.
"When army ants run into danger, they will unhesitatingly band together and sacrifice the army ants at the periphery in exchange for the continuation of their entire tribe.
"When there are too many rampaging rats in their tribe and they run into a food crisis, they will resolutely kill each other and eat the corpses of their own kind or even their own kin. Only the strongest rampaging rats will have the right to survive.
"These two ways of surviving are both natural paths. I don't think that there's any sort of 'justice' or 'evil' between them.
"But you humans might look exactly the same, but when it comes to choosing survival strategies, the differences between you individuals are even greater than between army ants and rampaging rats. This is really strange."
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