City of Light

As Wisdom Tree described it, a city suddenly emerged within the semi-transparent light and shadow—a city glittering with golden radiance.

"I was utterly bewildered. How could this girl, who had endured humanity's most brutal tortures and tasted its darkest sufferings, still possess such pure faith and so unwaveringly believe in the existence of light?"

Wisdom Tree said, "I posed the question to Jin Qianxi. She opened the deepest reaches of her brain, allowing me to see a city."

Meng Chao asked, "A city? What kind of city?"

"A magnified, upgraded version of the Peach Blossom Paradise Town you saw—a tranquil and peaceful city, filled with birdsong and flowers, exquisitely beautiful, with laughter and cheerful voices everywhere."

Wisdom Tree said, "A city without deceit, enslavement, or oppression; a city where everyone is equal, with no distinction between high and low, noble and base; a city where everyone enjoys safety and freedom; a city where people need not sharpen their wits to climb upward, nor be consumed by anxiety when they can climb no farther; a... true City of Light."

Meng Chao frowned. "Could such a city really exist in this world?"

"That was my question as well."

Wisdom Tree said, "I asked Jin Qianxi whether such a perfect city could truly exist. If it did, why had they not gone there? Why had they instead come to this foreign realm to mingle with zombies and monsters?

"Jin Qianxi said that this city did not yet exist. She had imagined it—but it was not an imagination without foundation. It was a fusion of the finest aspects of every city on Earth, the place future humanity ought to inhabit and the life they ought to live.

"Jin Qianxi said that Blood Alliance had forced her to explore the Depths of Ancient Ruins, where