Chapter 330: Humans or Monsters

“Meng Chao, your maturity and calmness has repeatedly exceeded my expectations,” Ye Xiaoxing said. “You’re right. Even though the current Dragon City still possesses all sorts of problems, compared to the great development over the past half a century, these problems are inconsequential.

“Dragon City’s achievements and conflicts can be likened to an elephant and an ant. The black sheep among the superhumans and the greedy among the normal people are bound to only be a small number. They can’t signify most of the prideful, rational, and united humans.

“Besides, we’ve never avoided mentioning the problems to the people. We believe wholeheartedly that Dragon City is facing a major change that human civilization has never encountered over the course of ten thousand years worth of history.

“In this era filled with turmoil and a bleak future, each citizen has the right and responsibility to think about Dragon City’s future. No matter how childish the problems or solutions they present, they have the value of being explored and carried out.

“You mentioned before that there are plenty of discussions regarding the problems and future of Dragon City.

“There are even more high-end and fierce discussions in universities, research centers, industries, the Supernatural Tower, the Red Dragon Army, and the Survival Committee. They hold these discussions every day, and everyone argues to the point that their faces turn red. It’s all because they want to figure out a way for Dragon City to flourish.

“And there is a most fundamental requirement for the birth of these thoughts and exchanges. All of us sincerely want Dragon City to become stronger and even more glorious. We want Dragon City to continue developing and solve the problems while it’s being developed.

“Let’s talk about you and Siya. Even if you perceive certain problems from different angles, at the very least, both of you hope that Dragon City can be prosperous and continue improving day by day, right?”

Meng Chao exchanged a glance with Lu Siya, and both of them spoke simultaneously. “Of course.”

“That’s the spirit. As long as everyone fights for the future of Dragon City together, we will be seeking common ground and we will be able to figure out a solution for all conflicts.”

Ye Xiaoxing sighed. “But that’s not the case for some people with ulterior motives. They hide in the dark and fan the flames to worsen the conflict. They don’t do this for the development of Dragon City, much less to provide benefits to normal people. Instead, they want to throw everything into chaos and destroy Dragon City.

“Lin Chuan and Gao Ye were youths with a lot of potential. Given time, they could have turned into pillars of strength for Dragon City.

“Their thoughts and problems they mentioned are not entirely illogical. If they were willing to trust the Supernatural Tower and the Survival Committee and discuss the problems as well as solve them in an upright manner, perhaps they might have been able to push Dragon City to a brighter future.

“Unfortunately, they were bewitched by people with ulterior motives. They were controlled by the mind attacks of the abnormal beasts and found themselves in a dead end.

“Because of it, they became puppets of the abnormal beasts in terms of their thoughts. In the end, with their beautiful dreams, they did things that were detrimental to Dragon City’s interests and the interests of tens of millions of citizens.

“Lin Chuan and Gao Ye aren’t the only ones like that, either.

“Over the past year, we’ve found that the abnormal beasts have penetrated deep into Dragon City and many citizens have been bewitched by them. Lin Chuan and Gao Ye are just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a scheme that is even more dangerous brewing in the dark.

“In fact, we believe that the existence who created the White Spirit and the person who bewitched Gao Ye are related to each other. They’re hiding in the dark and are a large organization with a stringent structure.

“This organization’s goal is to use the internal conflicts in Dragon City to tear apart the social strata and the interest groups so that we will be destroyed from within without them having to do anything.

“The main task of the special group I’m in charge of is to uncover this organization and completely dissolve the enemies’ scheme.

“We don’t have a lot of clues right now. This organization is also very skilled in bewitching and controlling normal humans. It’s difficult to find and deal with this organization by relying on brute strength. Even if we had five Deity Realm elites, it would be up to avail.

“But people like you, who have... a unique intuition, have more hope of finding clues through other paths, even if your cultivation realm isn’t high right now.

“So, I asked Siya to bring you here. I hope that you can lend us your strength.

“Due to the unique nature of the special group, the needs of the investigations, and the fact that you have not graduated yet, you can’t be considered to have officially joined the abnormal beast research department.

“But I will fight for how you should be paid, regardless of whether it’s in terms of what you need for your cultivation or the development of the Ultimate Style and Superstar. It’s just as I’ve said just now. We’re willing to see a hero who is loyal to Dragon City and human civilization be in control of more power and authority.

“Naturally, you have the right to make your own choice. We still don’t know the scale and ability of our enemy. But based on Lin Chuan and Gao Ye’s cases, the enemy is incredibly mysterious and dangerous. Once you’ll be categorized as their enemy, I won’t be able to guarantee your safety.

“You still have time to get out of this. All you need to do is sign a confidentiality agreement, and I will have Siya send you back.”

Meng Chao was silent for a while.

Kindling shone at the corner of his eyes.

After talking with Ye Xiaoxing, the progress for the Mystery of the Supernatural Entities had actually increased by 1%.

When he noticed the increase of his contribution points as well as the pleasure of spirit energy flowing through his spirit meridians, he answered firmly. “Captain Ye, I swore to Lin Chuan that I will find the mastermind and will continue protecting Dragon City in his place.

“I’m a superhuman, so there has never been a guarantee that I’ll forever be safe. I’m willing to join your group and investigate the organization hidden behind Lin Chuan, the White Spirit, and Gao Ye.

“The problem is, can you tell me precisely as to who our enemy is?”

Ye Xiaoxing was stunned for a moment, then he said, “Thank you for contributing selflessly to Dragon City, Meng Chao, but we don’t have a lot of information in our hands and don’t know the true nature of our enemy.”

Meng Chao stared at Ye Xiaoxing. “At the very least, you should tell me whether our enemy is an abnormal beast or is another group of humans.”

Ye Xiaoxing and Lu Siya looked at each other and sank into silence together.

After some time, Lu Siya asked, “Meng Chao, you think that our enemy is another human?”

“The three holes on the White Spirit’s spine is a human way of modification from more than ten years ago,” Meng Chao said. “And while Lin Chuan and Gao Ye’s beliefs were extreme, they had circular logic. Unless the mastermind had deep knowledge of human civilization and understood the various conflicts at the different social strata of our society, it would have been impossible for them to poison their thoughts to this extent.

“I can accept the fact that monsters possess intelligence. It’s not strange for a monster to be able to solve sudoku puzzles or win against a human Go player in a Go tournament after training.

“I can also accept Apocalyptic Beasts living in the wild gradually understanding the properties of human weapons and how humans work together to create strategies against us. Perhaps they can even come to understand human language.

“But I can’t wrap my head around how a monster would be able to infiltrate the various social strata in Dragon City without any obstacles and poison the thoughts of elites like Lin Chuan and Gao Ye. No matter how developed its brain is and how many mind-related skills it has, how could it understand the concept of civilization without human help? And how would it learn, evolve, and disguise itself as a human?

“So, there must be someone helping it. Captain Ye, if you want me to help you find more clues, you should at least tell me whether our enemy is a monster or a human.”

Ye Xiaoxing tapped his office desk silently.

Half a minute later, he said with slight difficulty, “Meng Chao, forgive me for hiding it from you. One of the reasons is because we just don’t have concrete proof and all of it is just speculation. The second reason is because what I’m about to mention next is a core secret of Dragon City. If you hear it, you will really have no chance of getting out of this anymore.”

“I’ve never intended to back out. So, is our enemy really human?” Meng Chao asked.

“I don’t know.” Ye Xiaoxing shook his head slowly. “We don’t know whether their current selves are humans or monsters.”

“Their?” A thought popped up in Meng Chao’s head. “Are you saying... that there are more people like Gao Ye? Though I suppose I should refer to him as Professor of Sandworms now.”

“No. They might be even more terrifying than Gao Ye.” Ye Xiaoxing stayed quiet for a while. “Meng Chao, have you read a really famous sci-fi novel from Earth that has a plot like this? For some reason, a few spaceships from Earth had to flee to the deep-sky. They were unable to return to Earth even after thousands of years and became a pure spaceship civilization.

“The problem is, they left in a hurry, so none of the spaceships had enough resources to sustain the humans to reproduce in the dark and cold universe for thousands of years.

“The moment the crew noticed this problem, they had no other choice but to open fire on the other spaceships.

“Once they defeated the other spaceships, they killed all the people there and took all their resources. After they gathered the resources from all the spaceships on one single spaceship, they could guarantee the continuation of the spaceship civilization.

“Have you read this novel before?”

It was indeed a very famous sci-fi novel.

Besides, it provided some guidance and inspiration for thoughts about human civilization as well as how they might solve problems they faced after Dragon City transmigrated.

When many of the Dragon Citizens lived in lairs and could only endure the roars of zombies and monsters outside, they spent their time reading various novels.

Meng Chao had read this novel before, and he had even discussed the plot Ye Xiaoxing mentioned with his classmates.

“Since you’ve read this novel before, you should know that from the moment this spaceship civilization was created after the spaceships destroyed each other, it moved in a completely different path compared to the civilizations on Earth. The people who survived by killing most of their kind were no longer Earthlings. In fact, they no longer had the right to be known as humans.”

Ye Xiaoxing stayed silent for half a minute before he said with great reluctance, “But have you ever thought about whether Dragon City might be a super large spaceship that had been fired in haste into the Other World?”