Meng Chao felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
Staggering a few steps back, he watched in bewilderment as an ocean of fire seemed to be pouring down from the sky in the translucent, illusionary shadow that appeared on the neural network of the wisdom tree. It was exactly the same picture as his nightmare.
"I know that you might not believe me easily and think that this is just a ridiculous nightmare. How can you use a dream to guide reality?"
The girl's face smiled wanly. "I can't explain it to you, and I can't prove it either, but this nightmare is just … too real. It's like some sort of revelation.
"Besides, even when I woke up, it still lingered in my soul. It wasn't like a normal dream that would gradually fade away as time passed. Instead, it became clearer and clearer.
"It was as if there was a voice that was getting sharper and urging me to change everything and stop Dragon City from being destroyed.
"I just couldn't remain indifferent to such a realistic nightmare, just like how I couldn't just watch a bunch of hideous thugs swing their razors at a helpless girl."
Meng Chao sucked in a deep breath and sank his canines into his tongue. He used the pain to keep himself calm and clear.
With a hoarse voice that even he could not believe, he asked, "Did you see the reason behind Dragon City's destruction?"
"If I didn't see it directly, how could the revelation be so straightforward and clear?"
The wisdom tree said. "But based on Peach Blossom Town's history and Dragon City's current situation, isn't it easy to deduce the reason for its destruction?
"It's just that as the mega corporations continued growing in power, and after Dragon City completely won against the monster civilization, there was no longer any method or force of power that could keep the powerful people in check.
"Hence, the powerful people lost control and tore off the mask of the Army Ants to reveal their true selves as the Rampaging Rats. The conflict between them and the normal citizens became even worse.
"Gradually, the strong and the weak evolved into two completely different species that hated each other. They became parasites that were malignant tumors on the civilization. The ultimate experts who desired to surpass humans and become gods and demons swelled to the point where the entire civilization could not bear the burden of them.
"At that time, regardless of whether they were invaded by foreign enemies or fought against each other, Dragon City might be completely destroyed, just like what happened to Peach Blossom Town and Earth.
"Originally, I was hesitant about whether I should use my own method to interfere with Dragon City's development path and even completely change Dragon City's social form and resource allocation method.
'Because the mega corporations and peerless fighters have already kidnapped all of Dragon City and used their flowery words to deceive most of the normal citizens' hearts. If I attack recklessly, it's indeed very easy for me to accidentally injure innocent citizens. In fact, I might even make the situation worse.
"In a nutshell, innovation will bleed.
"This nightmare that appeared out of nowhere, like the arrival of doomsday, woke me up.
"If I watch coldly by the side because of a momentary moment of benevolence and do nothing, Dragon City will definitely walk down the path of destruction, and all living beings will die.
"And any of my actions, no matter how radical, how extreme, how cruel, and how inhumane they are, even if they will kill millions or even tens of millions of people, as long as I can reverse the future and save tens of millions of people, isn't it worth it, or even necessary?
"The worst case scenario is that I fail and can't change anything. The nine great mega corporations will still act just as the nightmare predicted and control Dragon City. In the end, the apocalypse will arrive, but I won't lose anything. At the very least, I've done my best.
"Now, you understand everything. Join us and change the future with us to save Dragon City. Meng Chao, why don't you?
"Ah, your reaction is a little unexpected. I can sense that you're more shocked than doubtful. You don't really doubt the arrival of the apocalypse. You seem to have realized that the nine great mega corporations and peerless fighters aren't Dragon City's saviors, but the chronic disease that will destroy Dragon City.
"That's right. Right now, Dragon City's civilization is like a flower in bloom, and it's on fire. It's getting better and better, but the chronic diseases that come from our genes are covered up by our temporary victories. If we don't change our roots, the apocalypse will eventually arrive.
"Unfortunately, most of the people have been deceived, controlled, and enslaved by the mega corporations. We can only save Dragon City if we work together.
"For Dragon City, for the future, and for civilization, we must do something!"
"Do what?"
More nerve bundles surrounded Meng Chao's body, and they became tighter as well, but he did not seem to notice them.
"Since the worst outcome is already set in stone, no matter what changes we make, there will only be benefits. There won't be any disadvantages."
The girl formed by the green tide leaned down to Meng Chao's ear again and said in a low but firm voice, "We can change Dragon City together and use the new monster civilization to inject new life into the decaying human civilization. It's only by doing so that we can reverse the future, crush the nightmare, and stop Dragon City from being destroyed!"
As the girl spoke, the flames that came from the apocalypse in his neural network burned brighter and raged.
Countless piercing balls of light seemed to explode on Meng Chao's retina and cerebral cortex, causing his mind to turn blank. He could not see or hear anything, and he could barely breathe or think.
'Oh no!'
Meng Chao realized that under the invasion of the nightmare from the apocalypse, which he did not know was a coincidence, his mental defenses were gradually crumbling.
The monster's mastermind's mind attack was clearly a few times stronger than the Demonic Abyss Eye and the Vortex.
He knew that the mastermind harbored malicious intentions.
But he felt as if he was trapped in a pure white maze.
Forget about finding a way out, he could not even tell where the walls were and where the tunnels were.
At that moment …
Boom!
Boom! Boom!
The Pure White Labyrinth suddenly shook violently as it cracked, revealing pitch-black cracks.
A voice rose in Meng Chao's mind. "Wake up, Meng Chao, wake up!"
It was Lu Siya's voice!
Through the gap in the pure white maze, Meng Chao saw the girl who resembled Golden Millennium quickly retreat from the green tide and fuse into the wisdom tree.
The wisdom tree looked as if it was being roasted by invisible flames. All its tentacles, branches, and vines sizzled and twitched violently. Some of them even curled up into charcoal.
The surrounding world was splitting apart, peeling off and collapsing piece by piece like a broken jigsaw puzzle.
'Big Sis Ya succeeded!'
Meng Chao's mind raced, and he was delighted. 'I told Big Sis Ya that I would attract the wisdom tree's attention while she and the other exploration team members would be in charge of destroying its main body. By the looks of it now, even if they didn't completely destroy it, they must have severely damaged the monster's neural network!'
As the wisdom tree retreated, Meng Chao's mind became clearer, and his thoughts became sharp again.
All the flaws in the wisdom tree's long speech were exposed like reefs after the tide ebbed.
'No, you're lying!'
Meng Chao lifted Golden Tooth Bloody Soul with one hand and pointed at the wisdom tree's core. 'Just now, you said that not long after you fused with Jin Qianxi's remains from Red Dragon River, you saved the girl from Peach Blossom Town, Gu Ling.
"That should be something that happened several decades ago. Why is it that the 'Gu Ling' I saw was still an innocent little girl?
'Also, if Peach Blossom Town really exists and you really built it into a prosperous place, why can't we see it from above the sinkhole?
'Don't tell me that Peach Blossom Town is in some dimensional fold and can't be found with normal methods. If that's really the case, you could have invited us into this paradise openly instead of using hallucinogenic spores to paralyze our central nervous system and cerebral cortex so that we would hallucinate and think that we fell into a sinkhole to enter this mysterious and unfathomable Peach Blossom Town.
'There's only one truth. Gu Ling and Peach Blossom Town don't exist. Even if they existed before, they're definitely not what you want us to see now.
'Why don't you dare let us see what Peach Blossom Town really looks like?
"Could it be that the 'City of Light' you mentioned is just an illusory fantasy, or is it just a damned scam?"
The wisdom tree had nothing to say to that.
As the invisible flames burned it, it looked even more twisted and in pain.
As for Meng Chao, he noticed more openings through its pale shadow.
'More importantly, if half of your soul is really Jin Qianxi's, and the other half is also influenced by her and is willing to live in peace with humans to create a future together, you wouldn't have waited until now to use such an extreme method as modifying super abnormal beasts to overthrow Dragon City from within.
'During the years when the wisdom tree and Jin Qianxi fused together, you could have gone to Dragon City to search for Battle God Lei Zongchao.
'At that time, the mega corporations weren't as powerful as they are now. The gap between the peerless fighters and third-class fighters wasn't large either. Many of the new fields were still free for competition. As a martial arts legend, Lei Zongchao had great prestige and great influence. Jin Wanhao was also restless in the lair. He wasn't willing to just be an Underground Emperor.
'You must know that Jin Qianxi was Lei Zongchao's lover and Jin Wanhao's only sister.
'Even though your life form became completely different from before, I believe that you had a lot of ways to make Lei Zongchao and Jin Wanhao verify your identity.
'That way, Lei Zongchao, Jin Wanhao, and Jin Qianxi, who had the monster neural network, would be able to fight against the mega corporations head-on. They would restrict each other and form a healthy competition to ensure the stable development of Dragon City, right?
'The real Jin Qianxi would definitely do that.
'She's not an innocent girl, but a survivor who crawled out of a pile of corpses in the ancient ruins.
'Aside from being astonishingly lucky, she must also have a really calm mind and outstanding deduction and judgment abilities.
'If even I know the correct answer, there's no reason for her not to know it.
'Since you chose to not take action at the best moment, it means that you're not Jin Qianxi. You're definitely not thinking for Dragon City and human civilization!
'Perhaps you're right. Some of the mega corporations are indeed tumors attached to Dragon City's civilization.
"But you watched the tumors expand day by day, transforming from 'benign' to 'malignant', and it was not until the tumors were about to burst that you slowly raised the rusty scalpel. How could anybody believe that you were trying to save them and did not have other purposes?
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