Chapter 161 Black Pine Forest's History

Hao Ren had stopped caring about the reality or illusion of the Black Pine Forest, for he realized that concepts like reality and illusion were meaningless here.

He knew that Lahrien had experienced destruction and rebirth once, but he could infer that the doomsday experienced by this planet was far more than just the one ten thousand years ago. This was the Dark Domain, a fragment of a universe, the only fragment left after a universe was destroyed by the Lord of Madness. Everything that remained in the Dark Domain had experienced another apocalypse.

Destruction and rebirth had occurred more than once, so any kind of alienation on this planet had become a matter of course. Hao Ren suspected that the Black Pine Forest might be the "distortion focus" formed by this planet after the apocalypse.

In this special place, all kinds of things were piled up together, including not only the old world, but also the possible future of this world, the possible future of the old world, the unfulfilled historical fragments, the history that had been realized but erased by the "God's Dream," the history that had never appeared but emerged in the "God's Dream," and even some absurd worldline fragments with only a one-in-ten-thousand possibility.

Everything was piled up here, forming the Black Pine Forest.

However, mortals could not observe the truth inside the Black Pine Forest. Their eyes could not simultaneously observe a world in multiple dimensions, so they could only enter the "outermost layer" of this forest, which was a dense jungle with dens, monsters, traps, and even some things that looked like ruins. These superficial things were enough to confuse travelers and make them think they had successfully crossed this jungle, but in the depths of the mist, this forest was far from simple.

Because there was a god in the team—albeit only in the form of a holographic projection—Hao Ren and his group were not affected by the superficial forest at all, and went straight into the true interior of this jungle.

What they saw should be the initial historical record of the Black Pine Forest, or rather, the part that served as its material foundation.

The city in front of them, interwoven with reality and illusion, existing as a tangible entity, was the proof.

Liya's eyes scanned the surroundings. Wherever her sight reached, the old illusions collapsed one after another, restoring the city to its true appearance. The magnificent buildings turned into rubble all over the ground, the running warriors turned into a handful of dust in the soil, and more places could only see vines growing wildly. These strange vines seemed to be wriggling out of the dark cracks in history, entwining on this city full of mysteries.

But Liya did not completely end the illusions here. In fact, she only cleared a small section of the road in front of the convoy, and after the convoy passed, she would restore those illusions—this was to give Hao Ren a chance to record more clues from those illusions.

So, it was as if a small "reality barrier" had formed around the three vehicles. Outside the barrier, the city still stood, resisting the enemies that had invaded countless epochs ago, but around the convoy, everything collapsed into the desolate truth after destruction.

Aiwaina opened her eyes wide, looking at everything around her with surprise and slight unease. The silver, advanced, and elegant ancient turrets were still firing constantly a second ago, but the next second they became a few fragments on the ground, and the next second they returned to their original state, with soldiers constantly passing by the vehicle, but their formation was intermittent. Whenever Liya scanned over, the soldiers would disappear, but when Liya moved her gaze away, the illusions would replace the reality.

This would probably become the most unforgettable experience in this princess's life.

"Can you still feel the bloody smell?" Hao Ren leaned towards Vivian and asked in a low voice.

"Yes, and it's very obvious," Vivian sniffed. "Not only can I sense it, but this time I can really smell it."

Lily also sniffed, "Yes, yes, I can smell it too! It's right in front..."

Illusions would not have smells. The bloody smell could only come from a real individual—who would it be, hiding in this ancient and illusory forest?

Hao Ren did not think it would be some wild monster.

The three vehicles stopped.

There was no road ahead. Although it looked like an open avenue, and various war chariots were driving on the road, when Liya focused her sight on the front, the avenue was replaced by a collapsed building ruin and a fallen black pine trunk. There were only very narrow gaps between the ruins for passage. People could pass, but vehicles certainly could not.

Although it was entirely possible to blast the ruins open, or directly let the black technology vehicles open a road, that would inevitably cause some noise, and the bloody smell that Vivian sensed was already within a thousand meters ahead. To avoid startling the snake, Hao Ren decided to leave the vehicles and check the situation.

"You can stay in the vehicles," Vivian said to Aiwaina and Charlemagne. "The vehicles have shield systems and emergency call devices. You will be safer in them."

"Will we be a burden?" Charlemagne asked seriously.

"Not really." Hao Ren shrugged. He was not comforting them, but had privately confirmed the strength of these siblings. They were more than capable of protecting themselves in this world, and even if there was some danger beyond comprehension in the Black Pine Forest, Hao Ren and his companions could easily cover the entire field, so they would not be a burden.

"That's good," Charlemagne touched the sword at his waist. "We are also curious."

"Then everyone get out of the vehicles and follow," Hao Ren nodded. "But be careful to hide, take care of yourselves, and do not act alone."

The team left the convoy and walked into the depths of the ruins under Vivian's guidance. Hao Ren and his group took the lead, Aiwaina and Charlemagne followed behind, and the soldiers Charlemagne brought followed on both sides, acting as extra lookouts.

In Hao Ren's opinion, the strength of these soldiers might not be worth mentioning, but in this place, a few more pairs of eyes were always good.

They passed through the collapsed ruins, and a plaza appeared in front of them, and in the center of the plaza, stood a pyramid-shaped building.

Half of the building was still intact, but the other half had been reduced to ruins. On the intact part, some of the former gorgeous decorations could still be seen.

Liya closed her eyes.

The entire plaza, pyramid, and surrounding scenery were instantly replaced by fragments of the past.

The edge of the plaza was filled with soldiers in silver armor. They faced the outside of the plaza, shoulder to shoulder, forming walls of people. The energy shields in the soldiers' hands were connected to each other, resonating and turning into layers of protective barriers. Behind the human walls were rows of ion impact cannons—this was the temporary name Hao Ren gave to this kind of cannon that used plasma clusters to attack.

Further back were armed civilians.

And the pyramid-like palace stood in the very center of these flesh and blood bodies. It radiated a light like the sun, and a viscous, almost substantial stream of energy flowed from the spire. A surging force—the power of life—was spreading from the pyramid to the surroundings.

The enemy finally rushed into the inner city.

The defensive turrets throughout the city were firing frantically, but they still could not stop the enemies that swarmed in from all directions (and from near-Earth orbit). The mutated monsters destroyed the outer walls of the city, destroyed layers of defense networks, and the buildings around the plaza collapsed like sand castles. The ugly creatures shrouded in smoke finally appeared in the sight of the guards.

The final battle began.

Laser beams and plasma clusters cut through the air and landed in the black tide, followed by the close combat of lightsabers and rotten flesh.

The corrupting power weakened the shield system, the energy barrier began to flicker, and gaps appeared. The monsters took advantage of the gaps, invading the plaza like flowing mud, and the flesh and blood of the guards were rapidly consumed in this mud.

The power of life that poured out from the pyramid building quickly healed the wounded soldiers on the plaza, allowing them to stand up again and again to fight against the invading enemies.

Each time they stood up again, the bodies of the soldiers were more broken than before, and the silver armor became more tattered.

The soldiers finally had gaps, and then the ion impact cannons were destroyed.

Now it was the turn of the armed civilians.

The power of life emanating from the pyramid became more and more powerful, even powerful to the point of... near madness.

Hao Ren heard the almost insane guards shouting loudly. Some of the shouts were chaotic and disorganized, but he could also hear some meaningful words.

"Protect the Great Hall!" "Protect the Holy King!" "Buy time! It's about to start! It's about to start!" "Hold on for two more quarters, hold on for two more quarters!!"

Aiwaina seemed to be frightened by this tragic and crazy scene. Her face was pale, her lips trembled, and she followed closely behind Charlemagne—she could not understand why these people could do this, and what exactly were the enemies they were fighting against?

She could not help but think of her mission, and these associations made her lips even paler.

Liya walked at the very front of the team with her eyes closed, but she could clearly "see" everything that happened around her. As she passed by the constantly falling guards, she could not help but sigh softly: "The power of... mortals..."

The group walked through these past illusions, and the gate of the pyramid palace was right in front of them. A team of soldiers stood in front of the gate, gripping their weapons, waiting for the arrival of the enemy.

Hao Ren passed through the human wall formed by these soldiers, and before entering the palace, he looked back.

He saw that at the edge of the plaza, the warriors who had fallen first stood up again. Their bodies had been so broken that they could not maintain their human form, and the armor on their bodies had even burned into their flesh and blood. They struggled to stretch out their hands, their dry and broken limbs twisted and shriveled like scorched wood.

The power of life pouring out from the pyramid was still constantly pouring into their bodies, forcing their bodies, which could no longer be repaired, to stand upright. The warriors maintained this upright posture, their figures becoming more and more upright, their arms stretching out more and more, their angry hair spreading out, intertwined into layers of branches, their feet took root, plunged into the earth, and their skin wrinkled into bark, gradually spreading to their entire bodies.

They turned into black pines.