Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 612 - 573 Saving the World’s Crossroads

Chapter 612: 573 Saving the World’s Crossroads

The purpose of the Evangelical Institute is to eradicate almost all of the old humanity, as well as all technology, culture, and traces of existence related to old human history, retaining only a minimal number necessary for the race to propagate, thereby restarting the history of the new humanity.

On the other hand, the purpose of Taoyuan Village is to bring as many humans as possible into the dream world, using its endless memory information materials to create a brand new dream space-time "Paradise," while sublimating its network into some ultimate existence, with the Taoyuan Village Master becoming the brain of the ultimate existence.

If the former symbolizes the destruction of human history, then the latter represents the crystallization of human history. The achievement of the former implies the failure of the latter, while the achievement of the latter would pose a major obstacle to the former.

Once the ultimate existence entity that the Taoyuan Village Master dreams of is born, even with the combined power of Luo Mountain and all the Gods from the Evangelical Institute, it is feared that they would be unable to defeat it. It could very well exist as a mobile universe in an unknown form of life, incomparably separate from Impermanence in a different dimension, perhaps even incapable of comparison with the Impermanence that has pushed open the third door.

Why would the Evangelical Institute collaborate with the Taoyuan Village Master?

Little Bowl handed me the documents, and after carefully reviewing them, I slowly understood the reason behind it.

This document is Huang Quan’s analysis and speculation of the "Paradise," and the first sentence was written like this:

"The ’Paradise’ of the Taoyuan Village Master, Meng Zhang, was discovered by me as the second solution to save the world after countless setbacks."

So it turns out the Taoyuan Village Master is called "Meng Zhang"... This should not be a real name but a nickname. The Azure Dragon of the Four Symbols, after being anthropomorphized, becomes "Meng Zhang God." The formal name of the seed of the heart is also the "Meng Zhang’s Original Seed."

Given that I hadn’t found this name during previous research in the Luo Mountain database, it’s possible that the name "Meng Zhang" is only circulated in small circles, or perhaps it’s a nickname given by Huang Quan privately.

Huang Quan continued to write:

"The key to the ’Paradise’ lies in absorbing the soul consciousness of countless humans. In becoming its residents, they simultaneously become its materials.

"A single human’s dream is merely a random combination of self-experience and knowledge and cannot provide truly new information, like a stagnant pool of water. However, when the experiences and knowledge of countless people converge, it can provide each person with an endless stream of new information. Although the total amount of information does not change and remains a random combination of established information, the scale is large enough to transform from a stagnant pool into a vast ocean, forming an immense self-circulating ecosystem internally.

"This resonates with our similar conclusion at the Evangelical Institute. If only a few humans are left in the world, the descendants will quickly face a survival crisis due to genetic diseases caused by close kin fusion and the inability to maintain genetic diversity; but if there are hundreds or thousands of people, things would be entirely different... This is a typical case of quantitative change leading to qualitative change.

"Once the ’Paradise’ reaches the scale desired by Meng Zhang, it will no longer be a self-enclosed dream prison, but instead become a brand new real universe, possibly touching the great undertaking of the Great True Spirit. Simultaneously, this made me aware of another possibility—

"What if all humans were transferred to this new universe?

"Of course, first, one must discern a point. Even if they escape into the new universe, the apocalypse will still descend like a shadow. Because the source of doomsday is the flawed human history. As long as humanity continues to inherit this flawed worldview, the process of annihilation is destined not to cease.

"Conversely, as long as humanity is driven into other universes, the apocalypse will not befall the original world.

"We could initially reserve the number of humans necessary for race propagation and erase all memories and traces proving the existence of old human history, while simultaneously transferring eight billion humans to be sealed in the dream universe. Ultimately, the eight billion humans will perish along with the universe constructed by their own consciousness activities, without affecting us in the slightest.

"What difference does this approach have from the human slaughter plan? Although many benefits can be listed, such as using the temptation of beautiful dreams to make most humans, unwilling to endure the harshness of reality, willingly walk into the trap, the greatest benefit lies in this method allowing all humanity to meet its end amidst happiness.

"I have seriously studied Meng Zhang’s plan, and though I haven’t been able to truly empathize with him until now, one thing is certain: his ’Paradise’ can indeed create an eternally blissful dream for a vast number of humans within the dream. Even in the last second before doomsday fully descends, it can bring unimaginable joy to its residents.

"However, if following my expectations and plan, the word ’eternal’ in ’eternal happiness’ in the ’Paradise’ has to be removed. Just as the lifespan countdown of Ming Zhuo is calculated according to their subjective awareness of time and adapts to changes in the fast-flowing time of Different Space, the end of the world, closely related to human consciousness activities, will also exhibit the same phenomenon.

"Therefore, even accelerating the time of the ’Paradise’ to billions of times faster than the outside world would be to no avail. The doomsday process would also accelerate. All humanity enclosed in the ’Paradise’ is destined to face extinction in less than ten years.

"Although it is unknown whether Meng Zhang himself has noticed this issue, at the very least, this route is far more moderate compared to the human slaughter plan.

"I call it the ’Euthanasia Plan.’

"Surely, if this plan is presented right away, many who deem themselves kind will oppose it, based on my understanding of Fa Zheng, he would certainly do so. But if the human slaughter plan is proposed first, followed by this plan, even Fa Zheng may contemplate joining us."

As we viewed this document, No. 7 also walked over. She held the hair of an achieved realm cultivator in her hand, seemingly intending to multitask by reading memories while viewing the document.

Upon seeing this part, she seemed to encounter something extremely tricky, her expression sour as she said: "Euthanasia... The essence of this approach, and the human slaughter plan is identical, both push all humans other than themselves into a dead end, but..."

Under the approaching footsteps of doomsday, the upper echelons intending to make decisions for humanity’s future are bound to bear enormous psychological pressure.

Is it to continue betting hope on "searching for a perfect path whose existence is unknown" or to swiftly execute the "cruel plan that has already been researched"... If hesitated, both options might slip away.

When the achieved realm cultivator said "no other way," although he was caught by No. 7, revealing their mindset of not caring about countless human lives, there was at least a sliver of genuine sentiment in those words.

The document had more to it, so I continued reading.

"In addition, although still needing to be based on the ’Paradise,’ there might be a third path.

"If indeed it is possible to let all human consciousness enter the new universe, then afterward, simply changing the consciousness of all humanity itself could completely escape the erroneous old human history—Meng Zhang certainly possesses such authority.

"Discard all accumulated knowledge, technology, culture, history of past human civilization, as well as personal memories, emotions, values, social relations, and things like languages, ideologies, national and ethnic stances, allowing eight billion humans to become blank Homo sapiens inhabiting the ’Paradise,’ redeveloping a brand new civilization history starting from the Paleolithic era... This is still a solution.

"Since such feats are already achievable, why can’t the mistakenly fused histories be separated in the ’Paradise’? Of course, I’ve also considered this solution, but it’s unattainable.

"Although the fused world could be separated into the common sense world and the abnormal world, both appear as water-tight histories, yet it isn’t just about crudely dividing these two histories to avoid historical contradictions.

"Myths and traditional customs of the common sense world contain a vast amount of the abnormal world’s shadows; meanwhile, the thoughts and cultures of demon hunters are heavily grounded in the common sense world. These two circles are like yin and yang, seemingly in black-and-white opposition, yet they are intertwined. At this point, we have no way to restore what the original histories of both worlds truly looked like; they must all be discarded.

"Regrettably, this route requires being acknowledged by Meng Zhang, and ironically, those ’incorrect old human history information,’ which we have no use for, is precisely what Meng Zhang considers an indispensable resource.

"Perhaps I should propose another way that doesn’t reject their importance:—

"What if all humans transferred their consciousness to this new universe?

"Of course, it is crucial to clarify one thing. Even if we escape into the new universe, the doomsday will still descend. For the source of doomsday lies in the flawed human history. As long as humanity continues to inherit this flawed worldview, the process of destruction will inevitably continue to grow.

"In other words, as long as humans are driven into other universes, doomsday will not descend on the original world.

"We can reserve the necessary number of humans to propagate the race and erase all memories and traces that can prove the existence of the old human history, while transferring and sealing eight billion humans within the dream universe. In the end, the eight billion humans will be annihilated along with the universe constructed from their consciousness, without it affecting us in the least.

"What’s the difference between this approach and the human massacre plan? While one can enumerate many benefits, such as persuading most humans unwilling to endure the harsh reality to willingly give themselves up through the temptation of pleasant dreams, the greatest advantage still lies in the fact that today speaking of our ’Euthanasia Plan,’ it can surely bring about the end of humanity in happiness.

"Based on my research into Meng Zhang’s plan, even though I still cannot truly empathize with him, one thing is for certain: his ’Paradise’ could create an eternally happy dream for a vast number of humans within the dream. Even if it were seconds before the Apocalypse fully descended, it could bring joy unimaginable in reality to its residents.

"The only thing is, according to my expectations and plan, the word ’eternal’ in the ’eternal happiness’ of the ’Paradise’ must be removed. Just as the lifespan countdown of Ming Zhuo calculates time according to their subjective consciousness and adapts to changes in the fast-flowing different space, the doomsday, which is inextricably linked to human consciousness activity, will undergo the same phenomenon.

"As such, even accelerating the time of the ’Paradise’ to billions of times the speed of the outside world would be unhelpful, and the progression of doomsday would accelerate accordingly. Humanity, trapped within the ’Paradise,’ is doomed to extinction within less than a decade.

"Although I don’t know if Meng Zhang himself is aware of this issue, at least this route is far more moderate than the human slaughter plan.

"I call it the ’euthanasia plan.’

"If I proposed this plan at the outset, surely there would be many who pride themselves on their goodness who would oppose it. Based on my understanding of Fa Zheng, he would definitely do so. But if the human slaughter plan is proposed first, and then this plan is brought up, who knows, maybe even Fa Zheng might consider joining us."

As we were reading the document, No. 7 also came over. She was holding the hair of an achieved realm cultivator in her hand, seemingly intending to multitask by reading memories while observing the document’s content.

When she saw this part, she seemed to encounter something extremely troublesome, and said with an unpleasant expression, "Euthanasia... The essence of this approach is the same as the human slaughter plan, which is to push all humans other than oneself into a dead end, but..."

Under the constantly approaching footsteps of doomsday, those in power intending to make decisions for humanity’s future will inevitably bear immense psychological pressure.

Is it to continue betting hope on "searching for a perfect path whose existence is unknown" or to hastily implement "the plan already developed" despite its cruelty... If we hesitate, we might end up losing both options.

When the achieved realm cultivator said "there’s no other way," despite being called out by No. 7, as they were privately holding onto secrets about it, they were right about some things.

The document had further content, and I continued reading.

"Additionally, although it is still based on the foundation of the ’Paradise’, after all that is said and done, there might be a third path.

"If it is truly possible to insert all of humanity into this new universe’s consciousness, then afterward, simply modifying everyone’s consciousness itself could completely rid us of the fallible old human history—Meng Zhang surely holds such a belief—

"To discard entirely all those old human problems—the inaccurate past human historical information—that Meng Zhang considers invaluable.

"Perhaps, what I should propose is what differs from the path we don’t need:—conceptual erasure from the material world for all human consciousness... No, it cannot end just like that, but even so, the consciousness of every human can be at least delineated by preserving them in a neatly arranged body based on this aspect.

"But in a world purely composed of consciousness, bleaching all of humanity’s consciousness so thoroughly, what emerges in the dream afterwards will not be those original people, but new humans pieced together using those resource consciousnesses..."

One would typically use the saying "like a pot calling the kettle black" to describe matters analogous to this.

Although No. 7 expressed it this way verbally, her expression was quite serious. Even if it is fifty steps laughing at a hundred steps, with her eyes she watched the document’s content closely. Even if opposing forces against the Evangelical Institute might have their position shaken by the potential possibilities discussed in these "world-saving" documents.

Additionally, I noticed some other matters.

Although these documents discuss "saving the world," not a single word mentioned the divine seal itself.

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