1870 Ancient Illusion

Even though it was absurd, Meng Chao treated the ancient ruins as a crystal giant that had been sleeping underground for billions of years. He believed that the ruins did not normally appear twisted, strange, and unpredictable.

Under normal circumstances, it should be an extension of the Ancients—crystal clear and straightforward.

It could be ruthless and destroy all creatures that did not conform to its expectations, but it should not be without any rules, like an unpredictable chaos.

What Meng Chao saw before him was a result of the “crystal giant” being infected, and it was now suffering from a disease.

More accurately, it was the result of the entanglement, struggle, and interaction between the ancient civilization and the ancient beasts that once occupied the entire planet.

‘If that’s the case, where did the power that summoned Master Lei come from?’ Meng Chao thought to himself.

‘Is it from the ancient civilization, or is it from the chaos that literally covers the entire planet’s surface? It can even build a tower that pierces through the atmosphere into the heavens by piling monsters on top of each other.’

While he was contemplating, a rumbling sound suddenly came from the darkness below.

Meng Chao lowered his head and looked down. The black fog under his feet was rising and falling at an extremely high frequency like a thick, black tide.

When the black tide rose, it was only inches away from Meng Chao’s toes. It was as if thousands of tentacles were about to reach out from the black tide and wrap around Meng Chao’s body.

When the black tide receded, it resembled a bottomless abyss that devoured all sound and light. No matter how much Meng Chao enhanced his vision, he could not see a single thing at the bottom.

The rumbling sounds, on the other hand, were comparable to the sounds of a mighty underground river that carried countless secrets that had been sealed for billions of years. They surged from below and flowed into the endless darkness.

Stimulated by the booming sound, the black tide rose and fell even more fiercely, as though a chaos beast was slowly awakening.

Deep within the black tide, colorful, intense ripples that were undetectable by regular human eyes were rolling up.

The five-colored ripples swept across everyone who was clinging to the rock wall.

All the rescue team members were in a dilemma as no one could escape the infiltration and touch of the colorful ripples.

Meng Chao frowned slightly. He was about to remind Lu Siya to be careful, but he suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

There was actually no one around him.

Lu Siya, Long Feijun, Shen Yupeng, Wu Haibo, all the disciples of Battle God Palace, the secret police of the adjudicator court, and the Black Horn Warriors of the Ancient Ruins Research Center had all disappeared into the colorful ripples raised by the black tide.

He was the only one left to face the boundless, mysterious, and dark underground world.

Meng Chao could not even confirm if he was still in the same spot because he suddenly realized that even the rock wall he was climbing had undergone a bizarre change.

The rocks had become… new.

The original rock wall had been worn down by mysterious forces over several hundred million years. It had long become mottled and bumpy.

There were bumps everywhere, as well as hideous cracks and twisted lumps. The dense holes in the wall also secreted sticky liquid, which made people feel nauseous. It looked like the stomach lining of a giant beast.

Yet, at this moment, the rock wall before Meng Chao’s eyes had become as smooth as a mirror again. It was crystal clear, and he could vaguely see the intricate but perfectly organized golden and silver threads embedded in it. They formed a pattern that resembled a three-dimensional circuit diagram.

Even the narrow, winding cracks that became compressed after a collapse had returned to their original appearance. They now formed a spacious, straight, and bright underground tunnel.

As far as Meng Chao’s eyes could see, there were at least a hundred crystal people. Their bodies were surrounded by spirit flames, and their flesh was translucent. They gave off an otherworldly and wise aura as they walked in and out of the tunnel.

One of the bald crystal men, who was more than three meters tall, walked out of a tunnel under Meng Chao’s feet. He stepped on air and passed through Meng Chao’s body as he slowly floated up.

Meng Chao’s pupils contracted to the size of two needles, but he did not sense anything unusual.

However, he soon realized that all the crystal people were illusions. This included the “brand-new ancient ruins” that he saw.

To be precise, it was a “record” from billions of years ago. At that time, the ancient ruins had just been built, and it was still being used by the ancient civilization.

‘Judging from the way the Ancients used the space, this place is certainly not a ruin but a laboratory, research institute, or academic hall.

‘It wasn’t until the ancient civilization and the Chaos Behemoth suffered heavy losses and could no longer sustain themselves on the planet that they were forced to seal this place. They were hoping that their descendants would inherit their cause billions of years down the line.

‘However, although the Chaos Behemoth was attacked by the space-based orbital weapons, and most of its body was burned, it did not die completely. Instead, it left behind many seeds of life that were known as Eggs of Chaos.

‘In the billions of years that followed, tentacles sprouted from several Eggs of Chaos, and they found a lot of laboratories or research institutes left by the ancient civilizations. They destroyed all the places until they became utterly unrecognizable and extremely dangerous.

Based on the information he knew, Meng Chao drew the outline of the truth.

“No, it’s not a mere illusion…”

Meng Chao blinked.

He realized that after the “illusion” of the bald crystal person penetrated his body, his senses underwent a subtle change.

His sight, hearing, and even touch were greatly improved. He could scan the information that the Ancients exchanged in the brand-new ancient ruins more clearly.

It was an incredibly mysterious feeling.

It was as if he had become one with the entire space and could look down on everything from an omniscient perspective.

He heard two Ancients communicating at the entrance of a pathway more than thirty steps away from him. Flames were circling them, and they were flickering at a high frequency of several hundred times per second. They were exchanging information that was a hundred times richer than human language.

He also noticed that in a laboratory surrounded by crystal walls, an Ancient man was operating a machine that was more precise and complicated than a clock. It was embedded with countless cranks, gears, and ratchets that were the size of rice grains. On top of that, it bore the carvings of even more subtle runes.

Meng Chao then saw an Ancient man above the rock wall in front of him. The man had an extraordinary aura as he walked on air with his hands behind his back. Light shot out of his eyes, and it left a complicated, indescribable symbol on the rock wall.