No one knew whether it was because of Meng Chao's question.
It was because of Lu Siya's attack.
The bark of the Wisdom Tree cracked, revealing the vines that were wriggling like internal organs. Even the vines were withering and rotting at a visible speed.
Meng Chao coldly delivered the final blow.
"Also, you've been hiding something.
"Right from the start, you've been talking about how you used the neural network to copy human emotions and desires into the monsters to activate their intelligence and turn them into spirit beasts.
"But how do you explain why monsters have the characteristics of different species and even have the characteristics of animals and plants at the same time?
"Many of the monsters are the amalgamation of reptiles and mammals. Some of them have the torsos of birds and the tails of arthropods. All sorts of evolutions that are impossible for nature to produce are forcefully pieced together by monsters with a simple and crude method.
"If there isn't a gene factory or biochemical modification research center to mass produce them, how do you explain the birth of these monsters?
"Why do you keep avoiding talking about this gene factory? Could it be that it's your greatest secret and the true place where the monster mastermind resides?" Meng Chao asked in a low voice.
Meng Chao's question was as sharp as Golden Tooth Bloody Soul.
The miniaturized Wisdom Tree in front of him and the illusion it created were chopped into pieces.
While the wisdom tree screamed, Meng Chao broke free of the last nerve bundle.
The ground under his feet seemed to have disappeared along with the world around him.
He fell down while enveloped in a sense of weightlessness. But half a second later, someone caught him.
"Meng Chao, you're awake!" It was Lu Siya's surprised and delighted voice.
Meng Chao blinked hard and looked around. He noticed that he was back at the center of Peach Blossom Town.
The wisdom tree that surrounded the twin buildings and climbed hundreds of meters into the air was twisting, struggling, roaring, and wailing in the flames.
The flames burned brighter and brighter, gradually licking the crown of the tree.
Countless fruits and branches withered one after another, turning into specks of fiery light that drifted down like flowers scattered by a celestial maiden.
The townsfolk and monsters who had inhaled too much of the Hallucinogenic Pollen felt as if they had fallen from a beautiful dream into a nightmare. They went hysterical and started baring their teeth.
Meng Chao noticed that Lu Siya was carrying him like a princess.
He hurriedly climbed down from her embrace, composed himself, and asked, "What happened just now?"
"We did it!"
"Just now, you were completely devoured by a flower that bloomed at the end of one of the Wisdom Tree's vines. It lifted you into the air, and you looked like you were sleeping in a huge cocoon. No matter how much I shouted, you didn't hear me.
"Thankfully, the wisdom tree seemed to have spent too much of its attention on you and was indeed distracted by you. We successfully fixed crystal bombs and flammable materials on its roots and burnt it to a crisp.
"Its ability to create illusions has been greatly weakened. Look, the entire illusion is starting to collapse.
"Its mind control ability was greatly weakened, too. Many members of the exploration team woke up and regained their self-awareness!"
Meng Chao looked in the direction Lu Siya was pointing. Just as she said, all of Peach Blossom Town looked like it was sitting on an erupting volcano. It was shaking even more violently.
The overly bright sky, the town that was covered in a sea of flowers and a green tide, and the beautiful silhouettes of the mountains around them gradually faded and became blurry.
The illusion was crumbling.
They were about to see the true face of the world.
"How was it? You should have suffered a mind attack from the monster mastermind just now. What did it say to bewitch you?" Lu Siya looked at Meng Chao in concern.
Meng Chao hesitated for a moment. "Um …"
"Did it say that it didn't want to destroy humans but wanted to save them?"
Lu Siya asked. "Did it say that Dragon City is currently controlled by the nine great mega corporations and is destined to walk down the path of destruction? That Dragon City will only have a future if we destroy the mega corporations?
"Then, it told you that most of the people in the world have been deceived, deceived, and enslaved by the mega corporations, but you're not.
"It thinks that you're different, that you're worried about the country and the people, that you're selfless, that you don't have your own thoughts, that you're the only one who's sober when everyone else is drunk. In any case, you're the only one who has the right to become its partner and even become a part of it so that you can create a brand new civilization that is carefree and perfect."
Meng Chao's eyes and mouth widened. In the end, he could no longer hold it in and stuttered, "How did you know?"
"It's because I fell into the illusion a few days earlier than you did. I've long since gotten sick of hearing this nonsense," Lu Siya said with a cold smile.
"It even said that the mega corporations and peerless fighters are gradually turning into tumors that live on the civilization and monopolize all resources. Duh, the nine great mega corporations have gathered the smartest, strongest elites in Dragon City with the greatest willpower and creativity. It's only by gathering resources in the hands of elites like us that we can bring out the greatest value so that Dragon City's civilization can ride through the waves and advance triumphantly. We can get more resources from the outside world, and as long as we make the pie bigger, all the people in the city will be able to benefit from it.
"If we don't use the astronomical amount of cultivation resources properly, are we supposed to give them to the weak-willed, mediocre, and poor people who are just waiting for death to waste them? That's not just a reckless waste of resources, it's the greatest crime!
"It's such a clumsy attempt to sow discord and such a childish attempt to divide us. Only elementary school students would fall for it. Meng Chao, you can't possibly believe it, right?"
"That's …"
Meng Chao thought about it and said, "No matter how extravagant its claims are, I naturally have my own judgment."
"That's good. Railway Cannon Long Feijun and the others have also broken free of the wisdom tree's influence and realized that they've fallen into an illusion," Lu Siya said.
"No matter what, let's work together to break the illusion and reveal the wisdom tree's true colors!"
At that moment, the hundreds of explorers from more than ten exploration teams jumped out of the crazed dancing crowd.
Their gazes gradually became clear again, and their presences became as sharp as sabers again.
It was just as Lu Siya had discussed with Meng Chao before. This sort of large-scale illusion that could confuse hundreds of people at the same time was similar to group hysteria. It relied on the resonance of human brainwaves to create the effect of one person spreading it to ten people, and ten people spreading it to one hundred people.
As long as one human was confused by the illusion, his brainwaves would add fuel to the illusion and spread it to more of his companions.
By the same logic, as long as one human was the first to snap out of his daze and realize the weakness of the illusion, his brainwaves would stab into the others and wake them up, causing the illusion to collapse like an avalanche.
Those who had the right to join the explorers were all people with great willpower.
Even if they had been careless and fell into the wisdom tree's trap, once they sensed the brainwaves released by Meng Chao, Lu Siya, Long Feijun, and the other powerful fighters, they realized the problem and activated their brainwaves to the max to resonate with them.
Countless powerful fighters' brainwaves, spirit energy magnetic fields, and vitality magnetic fields gathered together to release a powerful resonance. The visible brainwaves turned from ripples to waves, and in an instant, they tore apart the paradise in front of them.
Everyone's ears rang with a "Bo" sound.
It was as if a crystalline, beautiful, but fragile soap bubble had finally burst.
"We escaped!"
Meng Chao felt that the world around him had instantly become different.
He instinctively tugged at Lu Siya to confirm that she was still beside him in the real world and was not an illusion created by the wisdom tree.
When he extended his hand, Lu Siya extended her hand as well.
When they sensed each other's warmth, both of them sighed in relief at the same time.
However …
The scene in front of them shocked them at the same time. It was as if a hole had been drilled through their skulls and a ladle of freezing water had been poured in.
Their guesses were right.
Such a large-scale Xanadu illusion could only be created by relying on reality.
This should be Peach Blossom Town in the real world.
There were collapsed buildings and charred, broken walls everywhere. They looked like tombstones that had fallen all over the place.
It was a pity that the ruins of the town were not covered with colorful flowers and vibrant green tides.
There was only a stench of fungi that looked like the livor mortis that grew on the corpses in the town.
The wisdom tree also stood tall in front of them.
It also did not have the colorful and fruitful appearance of the illusion.
Its true appearance was that of countless rotting and stinking venomous snakes intertwined with each other. There were also countless human and monster skeletons among them.
The branches that looked like the limbs of demons were stiff and twisted, and there were indeed some round objects on them. When the wind blew, they swayed like wind chimes.
When Meng Chao focused his gaze, he noticed that they were all air-dried skulls.
What was even more terrifying was that the ruins of the town were no longer surrounded by green mountains and clear waters.
Instead, it was a dark forest surrounded by fog.
The towering ancient trees in the fog were like the silhouettes of hungry demons.
There was an endless forest in all directions, and at the end of the forest was a curved rock wall that extended all the way into the clouds.
The unique terrain made Meng Chao realize that he had truly fallen into the depths of the sinkhole.
While everyone was shocked and bewildered, rustling sounds came from the forest around them.
Then, pairs of red eyes appeared in the fog, along with faces that looked like they had been chopped into pieces and stitched together in a simple and crude manner. Their facial features were not aligned, and their teeth were protruding out of their missing lips.
Even monsters would be so terrified when they saw these "stitched monsters" that they would run away with their tails between their legs.
This was because they had a name that was even more terrifying than monsters — undead!
Many of the undead creatures were surrounded by Blood Flowers and burning with ghostly phosphorescence. There were also some ferocious-looking zombies beside them.
Some of the zombies were even wearing clothes that had rotted long ago from Earth!
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