1958 The Phantom’s Choice

Meng Chao’s mind was in turmoil.

Countless immersive scenes and painful emotions gushed out from the deepest parts of his brain cells.

In an instant, it was as if he had returned to the time when he was connected to the monster mastermind. Whenever this happened, he would experience the ancient war from an ancient beast’s perspective.

However, this time, he was not connected to a single monster.

He embodied billions of monsters on billions of stars throughout the ages.

Meng Chao felt like he had become a threatening monster while he was in a trance. To survive and inhale fresh air for even one more second, he had no choice but to squeeze out all the power in his body and engage in the most intense battle against foreign species or his own kind. He had to evolve infinitely in the endless battle.

He morphed into another monster and temporarily occupied a slightly more stable position in the food chain. Therefore, he plundered plenty of resources and tried his best to reproduce. That way, he could spread his seed across the earth, the ocean, the sky, and the sea of stars.

At the same time, he transformed into a plant that had embedded its roots deep into the ground and a parasitic fungus on a plant. In fact, he did not know whether the plant or the fungus was the true form of the creature. He had no idea if the plant and fungus’ interaction had brought this creature into existence and gave it the spark of wisdom.

There were even more animals and plants, as well as strange life forms that could not be identified.

Flowers bloomed and withered, there was birth and aging, sickness and death—it was the survival of the fittest.

Even more species appeared after what seemed like the big bang. They shone their own short-lived but infinitely wonderful light on the dancing food chain.

Other species either heroically, tragically, or abruptly went extinct after a period of prosperity.

In many cases, the slaughter of many species was so brutal that they could not even form a stable food chain or ecosphere. It was as if an irregular Brownian motion was happening on a huge scale and the creatures were suspended in eternal chaos.

From such chaos, perfect products that stood at the peak of evolution were often bred. They expanded the breadth and depth of carbon-based intelligent life greatly.

From the never-ending chaos of the infinite lives, Meng Chao sensed a civilization that was completely different from the civilization that Zero had described. It was a civilization with absolute order.

He could not even tell which civilization was more in line with the true meaning of life, the Phantom’s or Zero’s.

These scenes were like burning iron, which left a deafening mark in the depths of his soul.

The Phantom was a supreme being that was on par with Zero. The massive amount of information allowed Meng Chao to instantly understand its beliefs and what it had been pursuing for billions of years.

“Birth, aging, sickness, and death are the laws of nature. The smallest germs and the civilizations that span the entire universe will all die one day.

“Instead of dying, they sealed their fate by using the so-called Future Prediction System. Such an approach could not save civilization. It only turned the great civilization of the past into a rigid specimen, a dead puppet that’s full of strings!

“There’s only one way to save a civilization that’s destined to decline, and that is to destroy it completely and turn its corpse into a seed that will fuse with the earth. Then, countless new civilizations of all shapes and sizes will be born from the earth. These new civilizations will then be forced to fight for survival and decide a new generation of overlords. They will be the most qualified to enjoy the entire universe and the billions of stars!

“Life originates from chaos, and only from endless chaos can new possibilities that are greater than civilization, life, and even the universe itself be born endlessly. It operates on the principle that nothing can be established without destruction!

“Absolute order will only bring about absolute rigidity. Zero’s approach isn’t to save civilization at all but to fill every corner of the universe with her puppets, thereby killing the possibility of any new life and civilization!

“Meng Chao, even you realize that Zero’s actions are a little off, right?

“That’s why you subconsciously blocked the Kindling’s existence. You don’t like having Zero in your head.

“That’s right. You and your clansmen are the masters of your own fate. If you keep following someone else’s direction, how can your journey be meaningful and gratifying even if you reach the end?

“If you succumb to Zero’s will, you and your people will become mindless puppets and chess pieces without free will. In a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, or even billions of years from now, your civilization will be peaceful and uneventful. However, it will be impossible for you to create anything out of the ordinary, because Zero would have decided your fate and the fate of your children’s children long ago!

“Do you really want Zero—a machine, a database, and a set of logical algorithms—to decide how your children and grandchildren should live? They are healthy and lively people made of flesh and blood. Should Zero determine how they work, learn, fight, and explore the strange, unpredictable, and infinitely wonderful universe above your head?”

This was strange.

In the past, when Meng Chao heard the voices of the Apocalyptic Beasts and the monster mastermind, they would sound like wailing ghosts and howling wolves. Seeming hysterical, they would be indescribably shrill and terrifying.

However, the information resonance that the Phantom had stirred up in the depths of his soul was filled with an indescribable bewitching power.

Meng Chao subconsciously asked in his mind, ‘What about you?

‘Zero can give me a stable future. What can you give me?’

It laughed.

“I’m afraid I can’t give you anything,” the Phantom said.

“I can’t give you a gorgeous appearance or great power. I can’t guarantee that you and your clansmen will have the last laugh in the eternal battle for survival.

“After all, only the fittest will survive. Those who need to wag their tails and beg the gods for mercy to become victors have no right to survive in the first place.

“I don’t want to lie to you. Even if you do choose me, your civilization will not march on the path of triumph and victory in an instant. You will still have to fight to the death in the arena of survival as glorious gladiators.

“In the process, you may be changed beyond recognition. You may suffer endless pain. You may violate all the laws and rules of heaven. It’s even more likely that you will suffer defeat and die without a burial place after paying such a terrible price.

“There’s nothing we can do about it. Survival has never been something that’s naturally easy to obtain. Life is sacred and cruel.

“The only thing I can promise you is freedom. You can have complete control over your own destiny and create a wonderful future without any restraint. You will have unparalleled freedom!”

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