Chapter 774 - The Girl Who Surfaced
Chapter 774: The Girl Who Surfaced
A self-mocking smile appeared on the girl’s face on the Tree of Wisdom.
The monsters in the translucent light were originally as clear and translucent as glass artifacts.
However, as human memories, emotions, and thoughts were continuously instilled into them, they were like clear water that had been injected with a large amount of used paint. Gradually, they became colorful and unpredictable.
“Some of the monsters learned to go against the natural order and conserve their strength. When faced with the human steel defense line that was armed to the teeth, they no longer fought head-on. Instead, they secretly crouched behind and watched coldly as other monsters went up to die. Then, they proceeded to take advantage of the situation.”
The Tree of Wisdom helplessly said, “Some of the monsters learned to hide crystals, heavenly materials, and earthly treasures. They even slaughtered their own kind to obtain crystal cores and nerve spheres of the same nature as themselves to speed up their training and evolution.
“You know that most of the monsters don’t like to attack their own kind, but since they’ve been injected with the minds of human beings, they have been devouring their own kind more and more without hesitation and softhearted. They can even get an intense pleasure from devouring each other.
“Some of the monsters are growing larger and larger. Their brain regions are becoming more and more complicated. They are as deep as swamps and often leave my neural network. When my tentacles reach for them, the only thing I can feel is the moving mist.
“There were a few times when my main body was even attacked by monsters!
“When I was just born, I was also attacked by many monsters, but those attacks were only normal foraging. The monsters only wanted to fill their stomachs and survive. The attackers didn’t have any malice toward me, and they couldn’t even understand what ‘malice’ was.
“However, during these attacks, I clearly sensed the undisguised malice and ambition of the attackers.
“They knew very well that I was the center of the neural network. Their purpose was clear. They wanted to destroy me, the center, to get rid of my control, and even seize my identity as the ‘controller of the neural network’ and become the ruler of the entire jungle!
“I was greatly surprised by all these things.
“Thinking about it carefully, everything that happened in the jungle and in Peach Blossom Town was exactly the same, right?
“It turned out that I had been watching the absurd drama in Peach Blossom Town coldly. When the curtain was about to close, I realized that I was the clown!
“That was quite reasonable.
“My civilization was a replica of the civilization of mankind in the first place.
“All your flaws and shortcomings have been perfectly replicated by me.
“What happened to you will eventually lead to your destruction. How could it not happen to me?
“I was greatly disappointed and depressed by this discovery.
“You should know that the destruction of human beings has never been my goal.
“Neither Peach Blossom Town nor the war with Dragon City was meant to completely destroy human civilization. It was only meant to learn from you, develop and perfect my civilization, and eventually create a perfect, or at least powerful, civilization.
“However, if this civilization was born with the genes that were destined to be destroyed, then I had no choice but to stop and think whether or not I had taken the wrong path.
“Therefore, I ordered the beast tide that was ready to attack to retreat and silently disperse into the depths of the jungle, leaving Peach Blossom Town some breathing space.
“I wanted to see if Peach Blossom Town would usher in a new life when the pressure of survival was temporarily relieved.
“The result shocked me again.
“The human beings did indeed regard the beast tide’s retreat as a great victory. They thought that they had completely defeated the monsters and become the dominators of the forest.
“But instead of reconciling with each other, they continued to colonize the outside world, collect and utilize more resources, and build their civilization.
“On the contrary, they became even more aggressive and started killing each other without any scruples!
“Originally, although the leaders, the high-level experts, the ordinary townspeople, and the low-level warriors occupied a corner of the town and were hostile to each other, there were still so many monsters eyeing each other outside the town after all. It was impossible for them to take out 100% of their strength to deal with each other.
“Even if they had irreconcilable grudges against each other, they were all in the same boat. If they wanted to die, they would die together. No one could escape.
“Now, however, since the external threats have been neutralized, the internal conflicts have become the only problem that needs to be resolved.
“Both sides have mobilized 100% of their strength in an attempt to eliminate their opponents and become the only dominators of Peach Blossom Town, the Hidden Mist Domain, and even Monster Mountain Range.
“Their methods against their own kind are a hundred times crueler than against monsters. Perhaps, in their eyes, their opponents have become truly evil, ugly, and contemptible monsters that are even more vicious than the snakes, insects, rats, ants, wolves, tigers, and leopards in the forest.
“I realized that my good intentions seemed to have accelerated the destruction of Peach Blossom Town.
“Originally, faced with the threat of the monsters surrounding the town, the human beings could have held their noses and cooperated with each other for a longer period of time.
“However, by withdrawing the monster tide with my good intentions, the internal strife of the human beings was intensified. Seeing that the bell of death had rung in Peach Blossom Town, the human beings were about to strangle themselves to death. They took the initiative to lie in the coffin, nail themselves, and burn themselves into the raging flames.
“Such an outcome made me even more confused.
“Civilization shouldn’t be like this. I don’t want my monster civilization to repeat the mistakes of human civilization.
“But if the path of Peach Blossom Town is wrong, what should the right path be? I have no idea, and I can’t imagine it.
“Just as Peach Blossom Town was about to be destroyed and I was deeply confused as well as unable to find any clues, one day, I picked up a person from the Red Dragon River…”
In the translucent light and shadow that the Tree of Wisdom created using the electric current of its biological nerves, images of torrential river water that surged up and down appeared.
The detailed images indicated that the matter that was about to be discussed was very important to it.
“As the internal strife in the peach blossom town became more and more intense, many humans were killed by the hostile forces every day or thrown into the roaring river water alive before being picked up by me. This was originally not a big deal.”
“But this person is different,” the Tree of Wisdom said. “Because she is hiding in the stomach of a tigerfish.”
In the translucent light, a big fish more than five meters long, with golden scales and black stripes all over its body, appeared. It looked like a fierce tiger.
It was not afraid of the wind and waves. It swam and jumped in the river, fighting against the torrent and going against the current.
Especially when it jumped out of the water and into the air, it opened its four huge fins from the beginning to the end, like gliding wings, allowing it to fly for a long distance.
“The tigerfish is a very fierce aquatic monster. It used to live in the upper and lower reaches of Raging Tiger River—right, ‘tigerfish’and ‘Raging Tiger River’ are names that humans came up with. The two seem to have a certain relationship. Humans first discovered the tigerfish and then named Raging Tiger River after it. And as the source of the Tiger Raging River and Red Dragon River merged together, many tigerfish also migrated to Red Dragon River.”
The Tree of Wisdom said, “However, the tigerfish that migrated to the Red Dragon River still retained their inherent habits. Every breeding season, they had to withstand the impact of the rapid river water, swim upstream, and return to the upper reaches of the river to lay eggs—it seemed that only after a harsh trial could the tigerfish produce strong enough offspring.
“It was the breeding season of the tigerfish at that time.
“This tigerfish came back from the middle and lower reaches of the Red Dragon River. How could there be a human-shaped thing hidden in its bulging stomach?
“I didn’t think too much about it. I thought it was a fish that slipped through the net that I didn’t intercept.
“You should know that mountain torrents and mudslides often break out, causing the river water to be extremely muddy. Too many human corpses were thrown into the river during those days. I gradually grasped the secrets of human civilization. I didn’t pay much attention to the ordinary corpses, so it was not surprising that I missed a few.
“When the corpses were washed to a place where the water was slightly calmer by the rushing river, they were discovered and swallowed by the Tigger Fish upstream. Before they were fully digested, they were brought back to the upper reaches of the Red Dragon River. It must be like this, right?
“I didn’t intend to discover anything extraordinary from the incomplete corpse. I just extended my tentacles out of habit to peek into her brain. Who knew that –”
The image of the wisdom tree appeared in the translucent light.
Meng Chao noticed that the wisdom tree at this moment had already taken the shape that he had seen in the center of Peach Blossom Town. It had become a towering tree that was dozens of meters tall.
The tentacles that were hanging down from the branches covered the space within a few kilometers. They were like a large group of dancing octopuses and jellyfish that were emitting colorful lights that illuminated the dark and deep forest.
These tentacles fished up a big tigress from the surging river. They poked the brain through the tentacles and controlled the nerves. Soon, the tigress gave up struggling and spat out the food from its abdomen.
It was a sticky human figure.
Although the limbs were incomplete, it seemed to only have a head and part of its chest.
After washing away the Tigress’mucus, one could see that the head was mostly intact. Some of her features were even delicate and pretty, as if she had been soaked and eroded for a long time. It did not damage her appearance at all.
Seeing the face that was sleeping quietly and looking somewhat familiar, Meng Chao took a deep breath and swallowed the exclamation.
The face of the person in the fish looked exactly like the face of the girl that had appeared on the wisdom tree.
“Jin Qianxi!”
A bolt of lightning flashed across Meng Chao’s mind, connecting all the clues together.
According to “Martial god”lei zongchao and “Underground Emperor”Jin Wanhao, in the battle to overthrow the evil rule of the Blood Union, Jin Qianxi was attacked by the leader of the Blood Union before her death. She was severely injured and fell into the Red Dragon River, and her fate was unknown.
Even if she was lucky enough to survive at that time, she should have been washed downstream along the surging river and even into the ocean.
How could it be related to the hidden fog domain and the monster civilization at the source of the Red Dragon River?
This was a question that Meng Chao, Lu Siya, Ah Ji, and Lei Zongchao could not figure out.
So it was because of tigress and fish!