Chapter 2002

Earth Long An.

「hu~bomm！hu~boom~！」

Five-colored spiritual energy light illuminated the entire warehouse; above the equipment piled up like a mountain, a huge black dragon snored loudly as it slept.

Waves of snoring reverberated like sonic booms throughout the warehouse, which spanned a kilometer, shaking the spiritual energy rice grains on the ground into dancing.

At the metal gate entrance, a squad of third-rank Long An soldiers, after skillfully registering their personal information, couldn't help but look at the great black dragon with admiration.

「Black Dragon Lord really can sleep... 」

「Every time I come to pick up supplies, this one is always sleeping. Honestly, lying on a pile of weapons, doesn't it feel uncomfortable? 」

Although they had seen the black dragon many times before, the youth following behind Liang Shaoguang still couldn't help complaining.

As the most important equipment warehouse of Long An, the black dragon is the guardian here. Of course, whether it is protecting the supplies or just likes to lie on top and sleep, that is unknown.

「Keep it down, this one isn't actually asleep. 」

「If you don't believe me, try taking another piece of equipment; last time a fourth-rank took the wrong equipment and almost got whipped into space by its tail. 」

Walking in front, Liang Shaoguang helplessly glanced at his own team members and whispered a reminder.

Don't look at the black dragon sleeping every day; it lies limp on the 「Gold Mountain」 like a mascot, refusing to budge.

But as one of the earliest followers of Lin An, he knows how violent the black dragon can be when it gets angry. Moreover, this dragon is infamous for its greed.

Upon hearing the sound, the team members shrank their necks in fear; no one knows the true strength of Lord Lin An's 'beloved pet' now.

But can a fourth-rank really be flung into the air by a single tail swipe? That would practically blast him to pieces on the spot!

After respectfully saluting the black dragon and presenting their pickup information, several people, regardless of whether the dragon noticed them, put away the documents and began working.

According to the New Earth Plan, Long An will soon relocate and renovate; to save on system processing fees, some of the supplies here also need to be moved manually.

Soon, just as several people had finished organizing the supplies to be moved, a sudden burst of violent pressure erupted from above.

With a loud 'Boom!' the entire alloy warehouse was like a level-ten storm kicked up, instantly freezing several people in place.

The raging winds unleashed the Shen Yuan dragon clan's exclusive high-rank pressure, which cracked the ground as if it were tangible!

Especially for the few Awakened Ones who had just joined Long An, they felt their breathing hitch, and an immense dragon might pressed down on them, immobilizing them on the spot!

What's going on!? Could it be that they moved too much, provoking the black dragon's wrath!?

Everyone was greatly startled.

At the same time, Liang Shaoguang, as if thinking of something, strained to raise his hand above his head and hurriedly shouted at the black dragon to stop!

「Black Dragon Lord! 」

「It's me! Did we move too much stuff!? Please calm your anger! I'm Old Liang! 」

As an elder, Liang Shaoguang was startled by the black dragon's reaction, but fortunately he had watched the dragon grow up; if they had mistaken something, he still had confidence to calm the black dragon down.

However, before Liang Shaoguang could shout again, the next second the black dragon suddenly flapped its wings, and a flicker of astonished anger flashed in its huge, lantern-like dragon eyes!

In less than a second, it instantly burst through the warehouse, turning into a black afterimage that vanished into the horizon.

「Liang Team!? Uncle Liang!? This... this!? 」

「How did the Black Dragon Lord fly away!? 」

The black dragon's sudden change quickly drew the attention of all of Long An within an extremely short time.

Around the warehouse, the fourth-rank Awakened Ones tasked with guarding rushed over; one team instinctively pursued the black dragon, while another flew to Liang Shaoguang's front, urgently inquiring.

「What's happening!? What did you do!? Old Liang? Is it you? 」

They didn't have time to notice that among the rushing fourth-ranks were people they knew.

Liang Shaoguang also looked bewildered, completely unaware of why the black dragon had flown away.

Just watching the direction in which the black dragon disappeared, he instinctively blurted out:

「That direction seems to be Linjiang City!? 」

「We didn't do anything! The black dragon seems to have discovered something and then suddenly flew off! 」

「Roar!!! 」

A metallic-sounding roar echoed throughout the skies over Linjiang City.

As Linjiang City had been swept clean multiple times, only a few scattered mutants and zombies remained in the ruined urban area; sensing the dragon's might overhead, these monsters lurking in the darkness instinctively howled and fled like mice.

At the same time, inside a row of buildings on Fengming Road, a man wrapped in a long robe, sealing himself off airtight, shuddered all over.

He instinctively looked at the dust sifting down from above and hastily tightened his breath.

But soon, as if he had thought of something, he smashed the oil lamp in his hand and slammed it hard to the ground.

With a bang, a flicker of guilt and hesitation crossed the man's eyes; taking advantage of a slight spatial fluctuation, he turned and leapt backward out of the second floor.

A few leaps later, before a sudden black mist appeared, he left the room.

「Roar!! 」

「Boom!! 」

Above Linjiang City's urban area, the black dragon's roar rang out again, this time not surprise but fury.

At this moment, the black dragon seemed to catch a scent it could never forget from its very bones, its huge pupils filled with panic.

「Dad...! 」

「Dad...! 」

The dragon wings flickered, kicking up a storm at low altitude, while the Long An fourth-rank rushing from behind hurried to the dragon's side at top speed, urgently asking:

「Black Dragon Lord!? What's wrong with you!? 」

Although the black dragon rarely appears, everyone in Long An knows it is Lin An's pet. Faced with such an abnormal reaction from the black dragon, they naturally dare not be careless!

However, facing the inquiry of the Long An fourth-rank behind it, the black dragon seemed not to trust outsiders at all; after a low growl, it shot up into the sky again and instantly flew toward Long An's inner city.

It couldn't find where 「Dad」 was!

Then it would go look for other people under Lin An, others it knows!

Shen Yuan...

It smelled the aura of Shen Yuan!

Ghost Skull Scene.

They sat opposite each other, gazing at one another.

Between Lin An and Andre, a huge, double‑faced eyeball, like a specimen, hovered silently between them.

"Lin An, which of the five human senses do you think is the most important?"

"Hearing."

"Smell."

"Touch."

"Taste."

"Sight."

"If we ignore other perceptual systems and let you keep only one of the basic five senses, which would you choose?"

His eyes flickering, Andre didn't wait for Lin An to answer and began to answer himself.

"You'd definitely choose sight, right?"

"The eyes are our most important sense for gathering information; people often say, the eyes are the window of the soul…"

In the brief silence, Lin An did not refute Andre's words.

"Exactly."

"If he were turned back into an ordinary person, 99.99% of people would choose to keep their sight."

"Without hearing, people can still communicate via text and images; without taste or smell, survival is hardly affected."

"Even lacking touch, in low‑level combat and most situations it can be a good thing—just as adrenaline released in a life‑or‑death struggle blocks pain signals, preventing touch‑induced pain from causing a loss of fighting ability."

"What do you want to say? That eyes are far more important than other sensory organs?"

Lin An asked coldly.

Andre was deliberately guiding his thoughts; each story was like a puzzle, unfolding around that ultimate secret.

Every piece of information Andre mentioned, intentionally or not, stopped short of the truth, like a blank space deliberately left empty.

Andre would not place the final puzzle piece until the very last moment, nor would he let him grasp the ultimate truth beforehand.

It was like assembling a time bomb.

Before the gunpowder and fuse are assembled, the bomb will never be pressed.

Reason told Lin An to leave, but he couldn't. Deep down he sensed that if he walked away now, he might never get another chance to learn these things.

Sooner or later he must face it; to resist the system, to end the Apocalypse, he must confront certain truths, even actively seek them!

Perhaps it's foolish courage, but this is also what sets Lin An apart from the fugitives and the Alien Species—allowing him to have come this far.

If he feared the truth and the unknown out of greed for life, he would have fled the moment he first encountered the Meme!

"Exactly."

"But Lin An, have you ever wondered why, though sight is clearly the most important sense, we evolved it so late?"

"Just as evolution moved from invertebrates to vertebrates, from soft bodies to limbs."

"Every biological evolution, or rather adaptation, is for better survival—against the environment, to live; the more powerful the organism, the more it develops in two directions."

"1: How to obtain more energy to sustain itself."

"2: If it gains more information, it can avoid danger."

"Of course, these two points are essentially the same: more information leads to more energy; foreknowledge of danger allows better self‑preservation."

"A worm crawling on the ground can't see a bird ten meters away, but a hawk soaring in the sky can spot a rabbit burrow on the earth."

"The struggle between living beings is essentially a struggle for information: whoever controls more information gains more resources and occupies a higher ecological niche."

"Take Earth as an example: the more complete an organism's self‑awareness and the higher its intelligence, the more likely it possesses sight."

"But if this organ is so important, why did it appear only last?"

Facing Andre's question, Lin An's heart jumped.

He had pondered this question before, especially when Andre suddenly brought it up, which instantly reminded him of the incident he experienced in the Heiyu.

"Because humans shouldn't have eyes?"

"Eyes are something alien to human nature; are you suggesting their existence isn't a natural evolution but a sudden appearance at some point in time?"

In the Heiyu, Lin An clearly remembered how huge the shock was when he saw that researcher's notebook.

How similar!

(That crystal skull… eyes… the mad researcher?)

Lin An's heart lurched; an unbelievable guess flashed through his mind and vanished.

If he remembered correctly, that researcher went mad for much the same reason—having glimpsed the truth! Could it be…!?

No wonder Lin An is now linking the Ghost Skull Scene with the scene in the Heiyu—one is a place accessible at First Level, the other a mutating scene that even Fifth Level cannot solve!

However, before Lin An could subconsciously connect the two in his mind, the next second he saw Andre glance at him with some surprise.

"It looks like you've come into contact with similar information."

"Heiyu… what did you think of? Is it similar to this place?"

Midway through speaking, Andre noticed Lin An's eyes turn cold, as if he were deliberately hiding his thoughts from being read. Seeing this, he merely shrugged and gave a faint smile.

"Well, it seems you really do know some secrets about the eyes. But it doesn't matter—what I'm about to say will surely differ greatly from what you know."

"Lin An, just as you've encountered before, human eyes are like an alien parasite: not only does their structure completely violate physiology—for instance, the image we see through our eyes is actually inverted, requiring the brain to process it twice to perceive the world as it is; in the immune system, our bodies also reject the eyes, as if their existence confers no benefit and must be eliminated."

"This is unreasonable; behind every unreasonableness lies the true cause."

Andre paused slightly, extended two fingers, and said seriously:

Before I tell this story, you can think along with me, or simply remember these two questions.

1: The image seen by the eyes is inverted; why? What inverts the image?

2: Why is vision extremely important to us, even called the key that unlocks human wisdom, yet our bodies fear it?

In the photography studio, you can actually find an ancient book. This book was brought to him by the photographer's friend.

You should have noticed, that photographer suffers from being unable to take the photos he wants; he always feels that the mechanical lens cannot interpret the world as he sees it.

And in that book, he saw such a story, and this is also the reason he would gouge out his eyes...

Even in ancient times, people wondered why we can see things. Countless sages and scholars painstakingly sought the answer. Some believed our eyes are like mirrors, so they thought the image is projected onto the eyes.

Some thought it was divine inspiration, a ability granted by God. These conclusions each had their own contradictions, until one day a scholar, while in his study, observed the Tyndall effect, seeing what light looks like in dust.

Of course, people at that time still did not understand what light is, but a completely new hypothesis occurred to him.

He excitedly announced to the people of his time that he knew why humans can see things.

Because the human eye emits 'light', it shoots out a kind of ray called vision! Just as touching something with your hand, when the ray emitted by the eye contacts an object, one naturally can 'feel' what it is!

Different people's eyes emit different visual rays, so everyone's vision varies; if the eye is damaged and cannot emit light, then one cannot see anything.

This theory is actually quite close to modern visual theory; of course, this hypothesis has been overturned. Humans can see things because of light refraction, not because the eye can emit detection particles. Just as when a person closes their eyes, even though they cannot emit visual particles, they still have a sense of light.

But what I want to say is.

Perhaps this old and foolish theory is actually correct.