Alien creatures destroy homes? Start by killing upright apes!

Chapter 50 Prehistoric Reliefs

Lu Cheng continued:

"The first nine exotic creatures and the upright apes all have overlapping ecological niches with humans. They either eat what humans eat, occupy human-occupied territory, or learn human technologies. Only the water dragon lives deep underground, eats organic matter from the soil, and secretes mucus to reinforce the cave walls. All its needs are underground, completely different from the surface ecological niche of humans."

After finishing the soup, the water dragon licked the bottom of the bowl clean, looked up at Lu Cheng, its eyes devoid of any intelligence, only filled with anticipation for the next bowl of soup.

……

Taro Tanuki Country, Kyoto.

Kerry entered the courtyard for the second time.

This time he didn't bring the slate and pebbles, but he brought a mirror.

It was round, set in a wooden frame, and the mirror surface was polished to a shine.

He placed the mirror in front of the upright ape, then squatted down.

The upright ape looked at itself in the mirror.

It stared at the mirror for a long time, then stretched out its front paw and touched the mirror.

The upright ape in the mirror also stretched out its front paw to touch it.

Its head tilted slightly, and its reflection in the mirror tilted slightly as well.

Then it did something that almost made Kerry stand up—it turned around, put its back to the mirror, and then suddenly turned around.

It was looking back in the mirror too.

It's confirming that the person in the mirror is themselves.

Self-awareness test: Human babies can pass at one and a half years old, and chimpanzees need training to pass. However, the Homo erectus from the Exotic Plains figured it out on its own in just three minutes using a mirror.

It turned back, looked at itself in the mirror, then lowered its head and wrote words on the ground with its front paws.

It wasn't made of pebbles; it was made by scratching the sand with your fingernail.

"This is me."

Kerry's palms were sweaty.

"Do you know that the person in the mirror is you?"

"Know."

"Then you know you and I are different."

The upright ape raised its head and looked at Kerry with its clear black and white eyes for a long time.

Then it lowered its head and began to write.

"We know our blood is black, and your blood is red."

Do you know what black blood means?

The upright ape paused for a moment.

Then write.

"It means we don't belong here, it means we'll die if we eat your food, it means you'll die if you eat our food, it means—"

Its hand remained still for even longer.

Then write the last line.

"It means we share the same land, but we can never share the same table."

When Kerry came out of the courtyard, the camera operator's hands were shaking so badly that several photos were blurry.

Massa took the mirror; its surface bore the imprint of an upright ape's forepaw—a small, five-fingered handprint.

"It knows what it is, it knows what black blood means, and it knows it can't share a table."

Kerry nodded: "It knows everything. The previous civilization coexisted with them for three thousand years, and finally discovered that black blood and red blood cannot share the same table. After three thousand years of trying, the result was mutual destruction. It read this result from the underground ruins, but it is still talking to us. Because it wants to know—this time, can it be different?"

That night, dawn broke.

[Day 47 of the Alien Creatures' Arrival - Survival Assessment Update]

[Progress of the second phase of enhancement for the first nine exotic creatures: Anomalocaris 68%, Giant Nautilus 71%, Tyrannosaurus Rex 74%, Giant Dragonfly 65%, Giant Millipede 82%, Antiodon 69%, Grimoire 77%, Tyrannosaurus Rex 85%, Lyssagitta 31%.]

[Water Dragon Beast Underground Network Coverage: The entirety of Winner Monkey Kingdom and Mighty Dragon Kingdom. Parts of John Bull Kingdom, Jacques Chicken Kingdom, Giuseppe Wolf Kingdom, Taro Tanuki Kingdom, Hans Cat Kingdom, Sam Eagle Kingdom, and Bulgan Kingdom. Initially established in Ivan Bear Kingdom, India Kingdom, Korean Kingdom, Kangaroo Kingdom, and Lion Kingdom.]

[Progress of the third stage of camouflage for the upright apes: John Bull Country 78%, Jacques Chicken Country 75%, Giuseppe Wolf Country 76%, Taro Tanuki Country 89%, Ivan Bear Country 71%, Boulder Country 79%, India 82%, South Korea 77%, Kangaroo Country 80%, Lion Country 83%. Enjoy reading "Exotic Creatures Destroy Homes? Start by Killing the Upright Apes."]

[System Notification: The self-awareness of the Kyoto Homo erectus individual in Taro Tanuki Kingdom has been confirmed. This individual is the first Homo erectus on Earth to be confirmed to have passed the mirror test.]

[System Supplement: Mirror Image Test Pass Rate – Human infants at 18 months of age have a pass rate of approximately 65%. Individual Homo erectus test duration: 3 minutes. Result: Passed.]

[System final notification: The Lesotho pseudo-human coexistence mode has been initiated. This mode represents the first observation of such proactive cross-species ordering behavior among upright apes on Earth. The system cannot predict its outcome.]

The light curtain went out.

Lu Cheng stood on the balcony of the Executive Government building, looking in the direction where the light screen disappeared.

The system used a new term – “pseudo-human coexistence mode”.

It's not a disguise, not an infiltration, not a replacement.

It is coexistence.

The false men of Lesotho did not establish a society of upright apes in the ruins, but rather an order in which humans and upright apes lived together.

The disaster victims called them Black Blood Bodhisattvas, because they helped them repair irrigation ditches, build houses, and distribute food.

This is not war; it is another form of replacement—making you willingly replace yourself.

Carrie walked up behind him: "The system said that the one from Taro Tanuki Kingdom passed the mirror test in three minutes. Human babies take a year and a half."

"Its intelligence surpasses that of a human toddler. What will it learn next?"

It placed the mirror flat on the ground, with the mirror surface facing upwards.

Then, white pebbles were arranged in a circle around the mirror.

Then an even larger circle was placed outside the original circle.

Two concentric circles.

Massa stood outside the bamboo fence, watching it sway.

Professor Yamamoto squatted down next to him, his notebook open but not a single word written.

"Concentric circles," Professor Yamamoto said in a low voice. "In the symbolic system of the upright apes, concentric circles represent coexistence. The core is the upright ape, and the outer core is the human. Or the core is the human, and the outer core is the upright ape. It doesn't say who is inside and who is outside."

After the upright ape finished arranging the concentric circles, it raised its head and looked at Massa.

Then it lowered its head and placed a row of pebbles between the two circles.

They were lined up in a row, neat and orderly.

"Who's inside? Who's outside? You choose."

Massa's kerosene lamp flickered.

It gave the choice to humankind.

……

The government of the Winner Monkey Kingdom is located 94 meters underground.

Lu Cheng squatted at the bottom of the hole that the water dragon beast had just dug, the light of the kerosene lamp shining on the cave wall.

A complete relief sculpture is carved on the 94-meter-long cave wall.

It's not the scattered engravings of before, but a narrative relief covering an entire wall.

Six images from left to right.

The first picture shows a group of humans and a group of upright apes standing face to face, with a circle drawn in the middle – an encounter.

The second image shows humans and upright apes building something together, each holding a tool – a sign of cooperation.

The third image shows humans and upright apes sitting around a fire, where food is roasting – sharing.

But there is a detail in the relief: humans are eating human food, and upright apes are eating upright ape food.

The fire was shared, but the food was kept separate.

Fourth image: Humans and upright apes stand back to back, each holding a weapon, facing different enemies—fighting side by side.

They are fighting against something together.

The shape of the creature was carved very vaguely, only its huge outline and many limbs could be seen—like a giant millipede, or a hybrid of anomalocaris and a giant nautilus.

Fifth image: A human and an erect ape stand face to face, with a crack drawn on the ground between them.

The crack extends from the lower left corner of the image to the upper right corner, splitting the entire image in two—a fracture.

The sixth piece was only half-carved.