Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo -
Chapter 458 - 428 Paradise
Chapter 458: 428 Paradise
The Record of the Peach Blossom Spring?
If I remember correctly, this seems to be an article written by the ancient literati Tao Yuanming, expressing the author’s dissatisfaction with real life and pursuit of a dream-like vision. However, the entire text is only a little over three hundred words, insufficient to make a book.
Considering that it was the book Xiaoqiao saw in the horror story event, it’s very likely just a guise using the name of The Record of the Peach Blossom Spring, with content vastly different. Besides, I think I’m not overthinking it. The four words "The Record of the Peach Blossom Spring" remind me of Taoyuan Village, one of Luo Mountain’s three major woes.
Actually, the mysterious male’s origin that I suspect is also Taoyuan Village.
Let’s first talk about the information on Taoyuan Village that I found during this time at Luoshan Headquarters. After all, Taoyuan Village might become a force I need to face in the future, and the Taoyuan Village Master once attempted to take action against me at the Human Bureau’s main base. Since I have the time and energy, I certainly need to investigate carefully.
As the name suggests, Taoyuan Village is an organization that collectively pursues "Paradise."
This organization has one thing in common with Buddhism, which is the belief that the real world is filled with various troubles and pains. People drift in a sea of desires and a realm of suffering, only finding redemption on the other shore.
But while Buddhism’s pursued other shore requires realization that material desires are illusions to reach a spiritual state, Taoyuan Village’s pursued other shore is a deeper level of illusion, meaning a world within dreams.
In other words, they want to fulfill all their desires in a dream world they weave with their own hands. Money, power, beauty, fame, health... anything is obtainable in dreams, even eternal life.
To spread their ideology and expand their organizational force, the believers of Taoyuan Village will have their target first experience the world in dreams to lure them in.
The targets of inducement and co-optation are not just ordinary people; there are also many demon hunters.
Sometimes, believers of Taoyuan Village may narrate a story, play a piece of music, or offer a book for the target to read. During this process, the target is hypnotized by Illusion Technique, being invited into a dream like Paradise.
In that dream, the target may mend past regrets, perhaps fulfill lifelong unachievable wishes, encounter a lover parted by death, or meet someone unreachable in the real world, and enjoy carefree happiness unavailable in reality.
In the dream, one might even possess wisdom, courage, dignity, and other virtues like kindness, tolerance, and selflessness that reality’s self lacks yet longs to uphold.
The more pessimistic one feels about life, the more prone to be ensnared by a beautiful dream. Thus, after leaving the dream, to return to the sweet dream, they’ll do anything, for, in their view, that world is the true reality, while the current reality is an unbearable hell.
At first glance, it may sound hard to empathize with, but putting oneself in their shoes—if one day I suddenly "wake up" and find that everything since meeting Mazao to now is false, that no thrilling and magical adventures exist in the world, that I possess no superpowers, never met Mazao, and lack the courage to explore the strange and embrace adventure, even forgetting the resolve to face death and despair calmly, only to be an utterly boring ordinary person—how would I feel then?
Honestly, I can’t easily imagine that version of myself, but it must not be a pleasurable experience.
After verifying that the mysterious male’s background is Taoyuan Village, to reaffirm my knowledge, I narrated all I knew about Taoyuan Village to Zhu Shi.
She nodded, saying, "Taoyuan Village’s ’Paradise’ is said to still be under construction at this stage; it can also be said to be the big pie drawn by the Taoyuan Village Master for all believers.
"To truly complete this ’Paradise’ and join it upon successful planning, all believers are extremely fanatic, willing to do anything to fulfill the orders from above."
"However, there’s something I don’t understand..." I said. "If it were just ordinary people, it would be one thing, but why do so many demon hunters believe in the existence of ’Paradise’ and join this organization?"
The dream world created simply by Illusion Technique has its limits.
The believers of Taoyuan Village pursue a long and fulfilling life in the dream world, and they have very high demands for it. Whether it’s the materials encountered in the dream world or the spirit and power oneself possesses within, they must strive infinitely close to reality, at least not detectable by themselves.
Achieving such a thing is nearly impossible. Generally speaking, even with Illusion Technique, making someone live a lifetime in a dream merely results in a feeling of "as if living a lifetime."
Taking ordinary dreaming as an example, many people have experienced spending months or even years in dreams. Yet with cursory discernment, one can see that the "experiences" supporting those months or years in dreams are just a few dream scenes, at most a dozen or so. It’s like reading a short story at most a few thousand words; even if it describes a protagonist’s life from childhood to old age, it definitely cannot be said that readers truly follow the protagonist’s entire life.
To truly spend a lifetime in Illusion Technique Dreams, such Illusion Technique must hold the "quantity of information of a human lifetime." Considering that believers of Taoyuan Village want eternal life in dreams, just allowing one believer to realize their wishes requires at least the injection of information equivalent to living thousands or tens of thousands of years.
Some may wonder what happens to the body in reality while one spends thousands or tens of thousands of years in a dream. Taoyuan Village assures its believers that even if their envisioned ’Paradise’ spans close to eternity, and believers live there until they no longer wish to, it would be but a fleeting moment for the external world.
Thus, once "Paradise" unfolds successfully, even if Luo Mountain attempts to attack, it would already be too late. Even if "Paradise" unfolds fleetingly, the objective of all believers is achieved.
Conversely, this means "Paradise" can generate information equivalent to tens of thousands or even tens of millions of years of experiences for all the believers of Taoyuan Village within a mere instant.
If the one performing "Paradise" is Yinyue, revered as paralleled only by historical masters of Illusion Technique like Impermanence, and restrictions limit the target’s number to one or two, accomplishing this might still be feasible. Even if challenging to achieve shortly, with more preparation, it could be possible.
As I know, before the Fantian incident, Taoyuan Village had a membership of only a few thousand. Afterward, the organization’s numbers began to surge, increasing more year by year. As of last mid-year, Luo Mountain’s estimates suggested that Taoyuan Village might have surpassed over 100,000 members, with its influence reaching everywhere, casting shadows even within the government and Luo Mountain’s upper echelons.
Targeting so many people with "Paradise," even switching to Yinyue demonic horns and all, I don’t think it’s attainable. Even if we reduce the number of people by two zeros, it’s not achievable.
"This relates to why Taoyuan Village develops so many believers... Didn’t you investigate this during your research?" Zhu Shi puzzledly asked.
"Researching Luo Mountain’s materials is too difficult," I said.
Luo Mountain Headquarters still lacks modernization in document management, with most archives only in paper format. Although there is an electronic database, the content seems incomplete, the pages aren’t user-friendly, reminiscent of some poorly designed government websites.
"You didn’t use that electronic database, did you? Actually, Luo Mountain has a demon hunter forum; you just need to post a bait thread there to get the information you need. Rest assured, in this area, your junior disciple is experienced; I’ll teach Senior Brother you the correct way to fish for information online!" Zhu Shi revealed a mysteriously confident look and patted her chest.
I find it increasingly difficult to recall the image of Zhu Shi in a grand manner.
Zhu Shi added, "Moreover, you can have Lu Chan organize that information for you, Senior Brother Zhuang. You still aren’t used to delegating tasks; many things you don’t have to personally handle."
"I’ll remember that. So, what’s the answer to the previous question?" I asked.
"The answer is the amount of material," Zhu Shi said. "The consciousness and memories of those entering ’Paradise’ can provide informational material for ’Paradise.’ The more people enter, the greater the amount of material for this ultimate Illusion Technique known as ’Paradise.’
"Humans cannot imagine things they’ve never seen, so in dreaming, it’s just regurgitating the memory information one holds; but if millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of human thought information are pooled together, the dream can continually provide fresh information to the individual.
"Countless combinations and permutations of information can form nearly infinite possibilities. According to analysis from some in Luo Mountain, if each dreamer is considered a neural node, the resulting super dream network formed could even become a consciousness universe capable of independent thought and imagination, endowed with life..."
Upon hearing Zhu Shi explain this, I suddenly felt this concept seemed somewhat familiar.
She paused for a moment, then said, "In a sense, this could also be seen as the creation of another real universe."
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