At the center of the wisdom tree was a girl's face that had appeared from the green tide. The green tide was dyed in a faint gold color. She suddenly quirked her eyebrows, and she glared at me like a diamond.
"When I saw the leader's subordinate holding a razor that was as thin as a cicada's wing and smiling ferociously at the helpless girl, I suddenly felt endless anger," the wisdom tree said.
"In the past, I had tasted anger through my neural network. Regardless of whether it was when the weak had all their resources taken away, when the weak worked together to overthrow the rule of the strong, when the strong were trapped in rubber tires and burned to death, or when the food the monsters caught was snatched away or slipped away, they would always be angry.
"But this time, my anger was different.
"This time, I'm not just angry at the people and things in front of me. I'm not just angry at Ferocious Smile and the razor. I'm also angry at something … I can't see or touch, but it's even grander and sturdier.
"It shouldn't be like this, I heard a voice in the depths of my heart say.
"The human world shouldn't be like this. Civilization shouldn't be like this. The world shouldn't be like this!
"That seems to be Jin Qianxi's voice.
"To my shock and despair, I discovered that from the moment that angry voice rose, I lost control over my neural network even further.
"Jin Qianxi's brain tissue and what was left of her body quickly withered, but she burned the last bit of her life to release the golden light that came from the depths of her soul. It cleansed, infected, and transformed my neural network, my tentacles, and my soul.
"I told her to stop. If she continued burning her brain, stirring her soul, and releasing the last of her life force, it would mean that her body would be destroyed, and her independent consciousness would disappear. She would die completely.
"But she told me that she couldn't stop. It was impossible for her to watch an innocent girl be tortured to death without doing anything. It was also impossible for her to stop her footsteps to change the world and search for light, just like how a towering tree can't stop its branches from growing toward the sun.
"Even if she died, as long as she could brand even the slightest bit of her belief in light into my neural network and help me transform, she felt that it was worth it.
"Even if it was just once, she begged me to try, even if it was just once. She begged me to try to save instead of kill, to create instead of destroy, to change instead of watching by the side, to surpass the instinct of the strong preying on the weak, and to search for the true meaning of civilization.
"I was convinced by her.
"Before I fished her out of Red Dragon River, I was already tired of killing, just like how I was tired of expanding a long time ago.
"If that's the case, why not try something new?"
A small jungle camp appeared in the translucent light.
The innocent and helpless little girl, Gu Ling, was tied to a deformed, twisted tree. A few ferocious men were standing beside her, licking the blood on their razors while grinning hideously.
Suddenly, howls rose and fell in the forest.
Countless snakes, insects, rats, ants, jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards rushed out like a tide.
The vines and branches that were originally motionless also came to life under the surging of the green tide. They tightly entangled the fiendish men and drilled into their seven orifices, tearing their internal organs into pieces.
Before the horrified expressions on their faces could even freeze, all their flesh was devoured by the monster, not even their bones were left.
"I saved this girl named Gu Ling. Naturally, she was terrified by the unbelievable scene in front of her, and she could only struggle and scream," the wisdom tree said.
"To placate and explain, I could only connect her to my neural network and let her share senses and emotions with me, Jin Qianxi, and all the monsters and etherealized plants in the forest.
"I made her understand that not all monsters are ignorant wild beasts. Even wild beasts can sense the fragrance of flowers, the warmth of sunlight, the coolness of spring wind, the joy of flying at high speeds, and the joy of playing with their cubs.
"I made her understand that humans can live in many ways, and the way they live in Peach Blossom Town is one of the worst.
"I made her understand that humans and monsters are not natural enemies. We can work together to build a beautiful city of light, and our enemies should be those who prevent this city of light from descending into the real world.
"With a large amount of senses, emotions, memories, and thoughts pouring into her, the girl finally understood everything.
"She realized that she was saved, and she laughed as if she had just survived a disaster.
"This isn't the first time I've heard human laughter.
"For the first time, someone showed the purest smile because of my actions. This is the 'laughter that I created with my own hands'!
"At that moment, an unprecedented experience appeared in the depths of my soul.
"How should I put it? It's just like the first time I stretched out my thin nerves and wrapped them around a small plant. I shared the joy of breaking out of the ground with it and felt the first ray of warm sunlight caressing its tender shoots.
"It's like the first time I turned into a bug, broke out of a cocoon, turned into a butterfly, and started dancing.
"The deepest, most complicated, and most sincere emotions of human beings are a hundred times stronger than the emotions of any animal or plant. Naturally, the joy and satisfaction they bring me is a hundred times stronger.
"I even feel that even if I really touch the unreachable stars one day, the joy and satisfaction I will feel will not be stronger than hearing the little girl's laughter at this moment.
"Jin Qianxi didn't lie to me.
"Although building her ideal City of Light is still a long journey with no end in sight, it is still a long journey.
"But at the very least, it seems possible to save Peach Blossom Town and try to turn it into a 'Town of Light.'
"So, I awakened the beast horde that had retreated into the depths of the forest and contacted the remnants of the rebel army, who were also hiding in the forest, through Gu Ling. Through the neural network, I made them understand everything.
"We set up a trap in the forest and pretended to be weak. We destroyed a large number of the leader's troops, who had advanced rashly.
"When the allied forces of the beast horde and the rebel army appeared outside Peach Blossom Town with the momentum of a great victory, there was no longer any power that could stop us.
"The leader still wanted to put up a stubborn resistance, but when the powerful fighters under him saw that the situation was not good, they all rushed to betray him. If we hadn't stopped them in time, they would have long since cut off the leader's head, who was on the verge of death.
"Jin Qianxi only advocated light. She, who had tasted the darkness of the world in the Blood Oath Alliance, was definitely not a soft-hearted person.
"In the face of our leader, who was full of evil and capricious, we naturally had no intention of letting this' violent rat disguised as an army ant go. '
"However, we all wanted to figure out one thing from our leader. Why did he fall so quickly back then? Why did he lose all his humanity in an instant and transform from an army ant into a violent rat?
"Was he not afraid that Peach Blossom Town would one day transmigrate back to Earth, or that the Other World and Earth were connected in some mysterious way? Was he not afraid that Peach Blossom Town would rediscover Peach Blossom Town and judge and punish him for his evil rule in Peach Blossom Town?
"You must know that at that time, Peach Blossom Town's understanding of the Other World was still quite shallow. It didn't even know anything about the world around it. No one knew what the world would be like after the fog disappeared. Why did the leader so crazily trample on all morals, laws, and the bottom line of human nature, and turn into a demon that was even more despicable than the monsters? Was he really confident that he could deceive everyone? Was he not afraid that the civilization on Earth would come after him?
"On the verge of death, the leader no longer struggled or hid anything. However, the answer he gave was earth-shattering!"
The green tide slowly squirmed and suddenly changed its face.
It was clearly a human face.
But it was even more twisted than the most hideous monster.
"Earth was destroyed! A thermonuclear war! A long nuclear winter! Everyone was dead! Only we escaped! Only we! "
The hideous and grotesque face roared. "Do you understand? No one will come to save us, and no one will judge us! We can only rely on our own strength to survive. And for survival, all the morals, laws, and f * cking human nature that were formed on Earth will be meaningless!
"From the moment we escaped from Earth, we were no longer earthlings. We were not even human anymore. We were some kind of … new people! And the morals, laws, and human nature of this' new person 'can only be defined by the victors among us!
"So, put away your disdainful eyes from Earth. You can judge me like an earthling, read out my crimes, and scold me for breaking all the moral boundaries of earthlings. But, hehe, if you want to survive in this d * mn new world, you will become like me. You can only become like me — a 'new person'. Hehehehe. Hahahaha!"
The hideous and grotesque face laughed loudly.
Then, it was submerged by the green tide and sank into the depths of the Wisdom Tree.
But Meng Chao was still affected by its demonic laughter. No matter how he warned himself not to think about Earth being destroyed, he could not do it.
"You seem to be troubled by the truth of this matter. Are you suspecting that I want to use the matter of Earth's destruction to attack your faith, shake your will, and erode your mental defenses?"
The Wisdom Tree observed Meng Chao's expression and said faintly, "Your suspicions are not without reason, but it's up to you whether you want to believe me or not. I'm only telling you what I saw, heard, and sensed.
"Jin Qianxi and I not only heard the leader's crazed laughter before he died, we also read some information from his brain and found a few top-secret documents he hid in the deepest parts of the vault in the basement. We proved that a full-scale nuclear war had indeed broken out on Earth.
"Peach Blossom Town might just be one of Dragon City's satellite towns, but a long time ago on Earth, it was a research and development base for cutting-edge technology. An observatory with complete facilities was built here, which was why we were able to observe and deduce the consequences before the destruction descended. We fled Earth at the last second.
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