Chapter 411: Mental Communication
There was something else that bothered Meng Chao a lot.
If he were the Demonic Abyss Eye, he would definitely race against the clock and flee as far away as possible once his scheme was revealed.
So why was it staying here?
It had to know that the humans’ top-cla.s.s fighters and the army were searching for it in the area!
Meng Chao’s mind raced. Based on the fact that the creature had unhesitatingly eaten Zhou Tianshui, he came to a plausible conclusion.
It was hungry.
It was at its weakest point. Its strength was drained, and it was really hungry!
Meng Chao had once dissected a lot of Demonic Air Ripping Eyes, which were all monsters skilled in mind attacks, so he understood their structure very well.
Even though they were known as Demonic Eyes, aside from the huge air sac that allowed them to float in the air, their bodies were similar to a large ma.s.s of brain tissue. They were not a huge eyeball.
Brain tissue used up a lot of energy and released heat when it was used at high speeds. The amount of energy used and heat released were three times above the amount released by muscles of the same weight and volume.
The Demonic Abyss Eye was similar to the ultimate evolved form of the Demonic Air Ripping Eye, so Meng Chao believed that they had similar structures and physiological functions.
And it did not seem like it could levitate in the air. This meant that it did not have an air sac in its body, just a gigantic ma.s.s of brain tissue.
The superbrain allowed it to control the insects and perform mind control, but the amount of energy it used had to be astronomical.
To Meng Chao and all Dragon Citizens, the night was an exhausting, sleepless event.
It was the same case for the Demonic Abyss Eye.
It had to release powerful and precise brain waves to control millions of insects at the same time and suppress their base instincts to turn them into an army that would execute every order without fail and adhere strictly to the orders it gave them so that they would fight against the humans with their wits and bravery. To do all of this, the Demonic Abyss Eye had to release countless orders every second and perform multiple micro-controls.
Meng Chao believed that the entire night’s worth of extreme controls had already drained it of its strength.
That was why it had to take the risk of stopping for a while in the abandoned train station. It needed to eat and restore its stamina and ability to perform mind control.
To the humans, the flesh of superbeasts was undoubtedly the best food.
To the monsters, strong humans who possessed a lot of spirit energy would help them recover quickly and regain their vitality as well as brutality.
Zhou Tianshui had not died even after taking hundreds of punches. He had quite a lot of spirit energy, but moments earlier, he had become high-calorie nutritional fluid for the Demonic Abyss Eye.
Just as expected, Meng Chao sensed the Demonic Abyss Eye’s temperature increasing by 0.5 degrees Celsius compared to earlier.
After humans ate, their digestive systems would begin working, and their temperature would increase a little.
The Demonic Abyss Eye’s brain was really big, so it released a lot of heat when it worked at full capacity. The wrinkles on the surface and its fearsome tentacles required great heat radiation capacity.
However, there was no way anyone could have everything they needed. Since the creature had a huge brain, its body was bloated and clumsy.
Its mental attacks were one thing, but when it came to physical strength, the Demonic Abyss Eye should be the weakest among the Nine Great Supernatural Ent.i.ties.
And just yet, the Nine Great Supernatural Ent.i.ties had not reached their fully developed forms, like what they had done in his previous life. So the Demonic Abyss Eye should be even weaker physically than what he knew.
Meng Chao discreetly but nervously searched for the enemy’s weakness while he a.n.a.lyzed it.
At that moment, the Demonic Abyss Eye seemed to fully absorb and digest Zhou Tianshui.
But it did not seem to be satisfied. It flung its tentacles and crawled to one of the humans hanging upside down in the tunnel.
Meng Chao felt anxious.
He could not just watch the Demonic Abyss Eye eat his human kin.
On one hand, he was not sure just who these hostages were and whether there were other controllable transmigration technology experts among them. The only person he was certain was not a transmigration technology expert was Zhao Feixuan, but he was an elite citizen.
On the other hand, he was worried that the Demonic Abyss Eye’s stamina and strength would recover further after it ate a few of humanity’s best. At that time, even if Lu Siya came with the reinforcements, there was a high chance that the creature would make use of all sorts of strange techniques to flee.
‘No! I have to stop it from eating! But what should I do? I need to stall for time and stop it from hurting more humans... What exactly can I do to accomplish this?’
When the tentacles had already wrapped around a hostage, Meng Chao came to a decision and started struggling viciously.
He decided to turn himself into bait and take the gamble that the Demonic Abyss Eye would not kill and eat him.
After all, he was the key person who put a stop to the abnormal beasts’ plans at the hotel.
If one looked at it from a certain position, the Demonic Abyss Eye had even lost to him.
Since the Demonic Abyss Eye had captured the person who defeated it, it should want to interrogate him, humiliate him, brainwash him, or vent its anger. So the possibility of it trying to kill him swiftly was rather low.
Hence, Meng Chao gritted his teeth and used the contractions of his muscles to cause his hanging body to sway.
In the meantime, he stimulated a small amount of spirit energy and sent it to his brain, so it would look like he just woke up and was attempting to overburden himself with the circulation of spirit energy after he understood the situation. If he burned his brain and entered spirit energy deviation, he could kill himself and avoid being humiliated or revealing any information.
Just as he expected, the Demonic Abyss Eye noticed his actions.
The huge eyeball released a light that could capture souls and let go of the hostage that had nearly turned into its food. It tossed its tentacles until it reached the area above Meng Chao’s head, then jumped lightly and arrived in front of him. There, it started swaying at the same rhythm as him.
Both of them were now close to each other.
A huge eye with a diameter of more than two meters stared deeply at Meng Chao.
Even if he had seen countless aberrant and terrifying monsters and strange creatures in the Other World in his nightmares, this bizarre thing was still something he had never seen before.
The Demonic Abyss Eye tossed two tentacles covered in thorns and stretched them slowly toward him.
Meng Chao did his best to hold back his desire to bring out all of his spirit energy and tear through the coc.o.o.n so that he could fight to the death against this creature.
It was not yet time for him to pummel the giant eye with one punch.
He sucked in a deep breath and spat at the huge eyeball, like he would not surrender even if he had to die.
Even so, he allowed the two tentacles to touch his temple.
It stung a bit, and a bewitching light shone in the depths of the huge eye. Then a voice spoke in Meng Chao’s mind.
“Calm down. We bear no ill-will.”
Meng Chao felt his skin crawl.
It was not just because the Demonic Abyss Eye could speak in his mind directly, but because its words showed that it possessed great intelligence. The word “we” also revealed that the monster civilization was already taking shape.
But most importantly, even though the Demonic Abyss Eye had a monstrous and ugly appearance, its voice belonged to a delicate girl. It sounded like a very young and innocent young girl.
Honestly speaking, if its voice had been like a large bell, as hoa.r.s.e as rusty gears slowly turning around, or like sharp weapons scratching at gla.s.s, Meng Chao would have found it easier to accept it.
But one of the Nine Great Supernatural Ent.i.ties spoke in a voice that sounded like a female middle schooler. It was really grotesque, and it disgusted him so much that gooseb.u.mps broke out all over his skin.
However, the creature did not eat him straightaway, so Meng Chao knew that he had made the right bet.
Next step was to use his exceptionally good acting skills.
“No ill-will?” Meng Chao glared at it as if he had heard a joke. He then thought in his mind, ‘You killed so many humans, and you say that you bear no ill-will?’
He intentionally thought about it in his heart but did not speak it with his mouth.
As a result, he sensed a power that caused him slight discomfort surge into his temples. It felt like a wet tongue licking at his cerebral sulci.
Soon, Meng Chao heard the young girl’s voice again.
“If you accidentally killed a bunch of ants beneath your foot, it doesn’t mean that you have any ill-will toward the ants.
“If you kill and eat a group of chickens and ducks for the sake of survival, it doesn’t mean that you have any ill-will toward the chickens and ducks.”
It sure knew how to distort logic.
But that was not the main point.
The main point was that Meng Chao had learned two things through this small “test”.
First, if he focused his attention and thought or recited certain information in his mind, the Demonic Abyss Eye might learn of it.
Second, he could sense it if it read his mind, so he should be able to focus his mind and ward it off.
But Meng Chao did not do it.
He just used a lot of things that had nothing to do with the current situation and large amounts of redundant information to hide his true thoughts. It was all to stall for time. With a pale face, he said, “You... What are you?!”
The Demonic Abyss Eye was silent for a long time, to the point that Meng Chao thought that it would not answer him and would just kill him or run away with him.
Then, the girl’s airy voice spoke in his mind again. “I don’t know.”
This answer stumped Meng Chao a little.
He had thought that it would say something as messed up as “the lords of the Other World and existences surpa.s.sing humans”.
He could not help but laugh. “You don’t even know what you are?”
The Demonic Abyss Eye spoke calmly and morosely. “Yes, I do not know. Do you know what you are?”
“Of course. We’re humans from Earth!” Meng Chao replied pridefully.
“The term ‘humans’ is just a label. Just like how the term ‘monsters’ is just a label. What are our true selves hidden behind these labels?” the Demonic Abyss Eye asked faintly.
“If the answer as to who you are can be answered as easily as humans from Earth, why did you come to the Other World out of nowhere? Why do you share so many similarities with the creatures on this planet? Why can you make use of the runic symbols in the ancient ruins? Why can you unlock the mysterious supernatural powers and turn from carbon apes with no power in your hands into existences that seem like deities? Why can you transfer your consciousness to monsters?”
The series of questions dazed Meng Chao for a moment.
Once he registered what it said, he could not help but suck in a sharp breath. He did not expect that the monster’s understanding toward humans would have already reached this extent.
“We were originally ignorant beasts that abided by the rules that only the strongest survived and those who adapted to the environment could live. We fought endlessly on this planet, but even though survival was brutal and painful, we were never plagued by puzzlement and frustration,” the Demonic Abyss Eye continued.
“Then, you Earthlings arrived. You joined the game of survival where the only rule was the survival of the fittest. Your bodies are weaker than those of many monsters, but you possess the weapon known as wisdom. Yet this weapon wasn’t just your hope for survival. It also brought with it endless worries for us.
“Who are we? Where did we come from? Where do we go from here? As we continued fighting against you humans, we gradually awakened to our sense of self and gained intelligence. We also noticed that even the humans who enlightened us do not have answers to these questions.
“Perhaps we can work together and explore Earth, the Other World, life, and find the ultimate answer to everything.”