Chapter 497 (1/2)

Hidden in plain sight under the complex material world, there were many things that far exceeded human comprehension. What the naked eye could see was only the insignificant camouflage of the other world. In the vision of the soul, the other world was much more complicated than what was manifested.

Since Tannagost was ravaged by a supernatural catastrophe, the planet had been completely transformed. Its material aspect may have been daunting, but the hidden part of it was even more horrifying. Innumerable restless, ancient souls roamed the planet. The tide of energy and information produced by the the First Born had been surging on the planet for 10,000 years, leaving behind countless visible as well as invisible supernatural footprints. The memories of the Tannaeans were divorced from their bodies. They floated along the tide of the planet, distorting and entangling themselves with other information as they became indescribable monsters. However, at certain nodes, the ancient souls, which were still capable of thinking could still be contacted, as long as one was gifted with a certain talent.

When Hao Ren reached his hand into the distorted air, for a moment, he felt as if his consciousness was being pulled out. At the same time, a massive spiritual force was pouring into his mind and interrupting his perception of the outside world. He felt like he was standing in a vast void, surrounded by chaotic gray haze, and a… No, countless shadows were standing in the depths of the haze, watching him.

Hao Ren awakened from the shock and instinctively focused on escaping from the experience. He had mastered the mental power to resist spiritual invasion. Just as he was about to make a move, a voice suddenly called out amid the phantoms, “Please don’t be nervous, strangers. We are not malicious.”

“Who are you?” Hao Ren asked while he looked down at his body. As expected, only his conscious was floating in the chaotic dimension. He could still feel his body in the real world, it was just temporarily disconnected. This reminded him of the experience he had with the gigantic brain creature.

“We are the aborigines of this planet,” the phantoms in the haze spoke. Hao Ren did not know whether the voice was of a male or a female. He could not really perceive the distance from which it was coming from as well. He even had no idea if it was a shadow or an infinite number of overlapping shadows speaking. He could only feel a series of echoes. “We are the Tannaeans.”

Hao Ren was stunned for a moment before he calmly replied, “I expected as much. I thought only mad, vengeful spirits existed on this planet.”

“Indeed, only mad souls exist here,” the phantom said steadily. “All the spirits have lost themselves. Strictly speaking, the group of ‘us’ in front of you are only a set of data. We can no longer call ourselves life forms… We are the memory of all Tannaeans.”

“I know about your change of form.” Hao Ren did not pursue the distinction between “memory” and “soul”. He felt his connection with the chaotic field weakening. Perhaps, Tannaean psychic ability had difficulty connecting with the minds of humans on Earth. “What went wrong? Why couldn’t you escape despite your change in life form? How did you become senseless monsters?”

“We thought that by getting rid of the body, we would be able to escape the ecological disaster. Little did we know that the slaughtering in the material world was only the mildest form of the entire disaster. After leaving the material world, we faced even more terrible distortions and chaos,” said the floating phantom. Hao Ren felt another spiritual force approaching. “Stranger, please see for yourself.”

This force was not invasive. It was only showing a memory. After knowing it was safe, Hao Ren began to calm down and look at the ancient memory from 10,000 years ago.

He discovered that he was standing on a magnificent city wall, surrounded by a magnificent city built with gold. The wind was whistling in his ears. Numerous tall, semi-transparent figures were running around him and shouting, “The third protective wall has been shattered! The robot couldn’t stop the tentacles!”

“Medics, we need medics here. The wounded from the protective wall need medical attention…”

“Earthquake, there’s an earthquake again!”

“The tentacles have penetrated the foundation and the protective walls are cracking…”

Hao Ren realized that this was a scene from those 10,000 years ago. He was looking at it from the perspective of a soldier, who was standing on the wall.

He discovered “his” perspective slowly moved past the city walls and he looked out the city quiveringly. The trembling revealed an incomprehensible fear in him.