Alien creatures destroy homes? Start by killing upright apes!

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Lu Cheng had the engineers hoist the iron cage up, and then he sat inside.

Carrie grabbed the cage door.

"I'll go down. The words carved on the stone wall might be hard to decipher; you can't understand the ancient Blue Star language," Lu Cheng said.

"I just don't understand as much as you do, not that I don't understand at all. Besides, I can tell how pale your face will be when you get down." Carrie sat in the cage, hung the kerosene lamp on the top, and put the mirror in her pocket. "I'm physically stronger than you. You hold the steel cable up there so I don't crash too hard when I get to the bottom."

Lu Cheng had no choice but to nod and tell Jia Li to be careful.

The winch turned, and the iron cage slowly descended.

The steel cable was lowered little by little, and when it was halfway down, Carrie's voice came up from the bottom of the cave.

"There are words on the cave wall! The writing is the same as on the stone wall above, and it's been carved continuously!"

"What's engraved?"

"We have closed our eyes, but closing our eyes is not enough. God can live without our gaze; He only needs a mirror. Anything that can reflect light—water, a copper sheet, an eye. As long as there is reflection, God can grow within it. So we buried the last mirror here, not so that you could find it, but so that it could not find it."

The steel cable continued to be lowered.

Carrie's voice rang out again.

"We buried the mirror 130 meters underground, a depth that no living creature could dig down."

The maximum excavation depth of the water dragon beast is 120 meters, while the people of the previous civilization buried the mirror at 130 meters.

If the water dragon beast cannot be dug up, then the god cannot be found.

Lu Cheng looked at the water dragon beast lying at the entrance of the cave.

It was gnawing at its forepaw with half a fang, completely unaware that it had already surpassed the previous civilization's claim that "one hundred and thirty meters underground, at this depth, no creature could dig down."

Because it bypassed the obsidian layer and dug an additional ten meters.

The iron cage has reached the bottom.

Carrie's voice came up from the bottom of the cave, echoing back.

"In the center of the cavity was a stone platform, and on the stone platform was a mirror."

"What material is it made of?"

"It's not glass, it's not copper. It's black, like obsidian, but smoother, and it's placed face down on a stone platform."

Lu Cheng's grip on the steel cable tightened slightly: "Mirror side down?"

"Yes, in the ancient civilization, it was placed face down. The mirror was against the stone platform, with the back facing up. There was a line of text engraved on the back—'Do not turn it over, God is in the mirror.' When the mirror is face down, it can only see the stone platform. When the mirror is face up, it can see the sky."

There was silence at the bottom of the cave for a while.

Then Carrie's voice rang out again, much lower than before.

"Lu Cheng, there are footprints on the ground around the stone platform."

"What footprints?"

"Human footprints, and hominid footprints. Side by side, from the edge of the cavity to the front of the stone platform, then stopping... footprints that did not turn back."

Lu Cheng closed his eyes.

The pre-civilized humans and upright apes walked together to the stone platform, placed the mirror face down on it, and then did not come out again.

It wasn't that they didn't want to leave; they chose to stay there and press their bodies against the mirror.

One hundred and thirty meters underground, there was no food, no water, and no light.

Two "people".

A person, an ape.

They sat side by side on the stone platform, used their last bit of strength to fasten the mirror, and then closed their eyes at the same time.

"Carrie, come up here."

"Aren't you bringing a mirror?"

"No! The ancient civilization used its life to hold it down, but when we turn it over, God comes out and lets it stay there."

Carrie's footsteps echoed from the bottom of the cave toward the iron cage.

Then it stopped.

"Lu Cheng, besides the mirror, there's something else on the stone platform."

"What?"

"A small stone slab, about the size of a palm, was placed on top of the mirror, probably to hold it in place. There were words carved on the stone slab."

"What character?"

"If you turn the mirror over—God has already appeared. Oh, there's another line of writing on the back of the stone tablet."

Carrie's voice paused for a moment.

"If God appears, do not look in a mirror, do not look at the surface of water, do not look at anything that reflects light. Make yourself invisible to everyone; this is the only way."

The Winner Monkey Kingdom, the Executive Government Kitchen.

Lu Cheng squatted in front of the stove peeling garlic, while Jia Li was cooking soup.

The two of them didn't talk much after they came up from the bottom of the cave.

The water dragon was lying at the kitchen doorway, gnawing on a bone with half of its fang.

It did a great job today, and Carrie rewarded it with three bones.

"The previous civilization believed that the limit for biological digging depth was 120 meters." Carrie took the soup pot down. "It dug to 130 meters."

"Because it bypassed the obsidian layer. When previous civilizations tested the limits, they may not have encountered the obsidian layer, or they may have encountered it but didn't have the technology to bypass it. The water dragon's digging direction is downward, but it will go around when it encounters hard objects. By going around and around, the total depth is exceeded."

After finishing gnawing on a bone, the Water Dragon Beast pushed the crumbs aside, looked up at Carrie, its eyes full of anticipation for the second bone.

Carrie threw another bone, which it grabbed and went back to chew on, making a crunching sound with its unbroken tooth.

"That mirror," Carrie said, placing the bowl of soup in front of Lu Cheng.

"Previous civilizations said that God was in a mirror, and if we held it shut, God couldn't come out. But what if God had already come out? The false people of Lesotho were teaching disaster victims to look in mirrors, and the refugees on the Namibian border each had a piece of broken glass—God had already come out."

Lu Cheng took a sip of soup:

"The mirror that the pre-civilization held captive may be the origin of Seven Fingers. But Seven Fingers can exist without relying on that mirror—it relies on the act of watching itself. The pre-civilization humans and hominids simultaneously closed their eyes, cutting off the gaze, and Seven Fingers was trapped in that mirror."

"But the later ones—we and the new upright apes—have now met again and begun to gaze at each other once more. With this gaze restarting, the Seven Fingers awaken from the mirror. The false teachers of Lesotho, who taught the disaster victims to look in the mirror, were not releasing the Seven Fingers, but opening a door for the Seven Fingers who had already awakened."

Li Wei appeared at the kitchen door, holding a new telegram in his hand, his expression even more bitter than before.

"The border barrier at Namibi was breached, not by refugees rushing across, but by the border guards themselves. The captain at the border post assembled the troops this morning and gave each man a piece of broken glass. He laid out a line of words on white pebbles at the post entrance—'We all saw it.'"

Lu Cheng took the telegram and read it once.

"The captain's transformation time, from contact to active transmission, took only five days, twice as fast as in Presotho."

"Because he was a soldier, Seven Fingers exploited the soldier's instinct to obey. Seven Fingers didn't need to instill fear in him; he only needed to make him feel that counting fingers in the mirror was a command."

……

Taro Tanuki Country, Kyoto, the same day.

When Kerry entered the courtyard for the sixth time, the upright ape was applying something in front of the mirror.

It dips its front paws into water scooped from the garden basin, mixes it with fine soil from the dry landscape garden's gravel, and mixes it into a grayish-black mud. Then, it dips its fingertips into the mud and applies it to the edge of the mirror.

Instead of covering the entire mirror surface, a gray line was drawn around the edge of the mirror.

Kerry crouched down and watched it draw.

After finishing the drawing, the upright ape wiped its front paws clean on the sand and then carved the words.

"The gray is painted on the frame, not on the mirror. If it's painted on the frame, the reflection in the mirror will have a gray edge. When God looks at us in the mirror, he doesn't see black and red, but black and red with gray edges. He will think that the gray has begun to spread."

Kerry stared at the gray line: "Will it fall for that?"

The upright ape carving reads: "Yes."

"Exotic Creatures Destroy Our Home? Start by Killing Upright Apes": Explosive word-of-mouth and rave reviews!

Lu Cheng took a sip of soup:

"The mirror that the pre-civilization held captive may be the origin of Seven Fingers. But Seven Fingers can exist without relying on that mirror—it relies on the act of watching itself. The pre-civilization humans and hominids simultaneously closed their eyes, cutting off the gaze, and Seven Fingers was trapped in that mirror."

"But the later ones—we and the new upright apes—have now met again and begun to gaze at each other once more. With this gaze restarting, the Seven Fingers awaken from the mirror. The false teachers of Lesotho, who taught the disaster victims to look in the mirror, were not releasing the Seven Fingers, but opening a door for the Seven Fingers who had already awakened."

Li Wei appeared at the kitchen door, holding a new telegram in his hand, his expression even more bitter than before.

"The border barrier at Namibi was breached, not by refugees rushing across, but by the border guards themselves. The captain at the border post assembled the troops this morning and gave each man a piece of broken glass. He laid out a line of words on white pebbles at the post entrance—'We all saw it.'"

Lu Cheng took the telegram and read it once.

"The captain's transformation time, from contact to active transmission, took only five days, twice as fast as in Presotho."

"Because he was a soldier, Seven Fingers exploited the soldier's instinct to obey. Seven Fingers didn't need to instill fear in him; he only needed to make him feel that counting fingers in the mirror was a command."

……

Taro Tanuki Country, Kyoto, the same day.

When Kerry entered the courtyard for the sixth time, the upright ape was applying something in front of the mirror.

It dips its front paws into water scooped from the garden basin, mixes it with fine soil from the dry landscape garden's gravel, and mixes it into a grayish-black mud. Then, it dips its fingertips into the mud and applies it to the edge of the mirror.

Instead of covering the entire mirror surface, a gray line was drawn around the edge of the mirror.

Kerry crouched down and watched it draw.

After finishing the drawing, the upright ape wiped its front paws clean on the sand and then carved the words.

"The gray is painted on the frame, not on the mirror. If it's painted on the frame, the reflection in the mirror will have a gray edge. When God looks at us in the mirror, he doesn't see black and red, but black and red with gray edges. He will think that the gray has begun to spread."

Kerry stared at the gray line: "Will it fall for that?"

The upright ape carving reads: "Yes."

Lu Cheng took a sip of soup:

"The mirror that the pre-civilization held captive may be the origin of Seven Fingers. But Seven Fingers can exist without relying on that mirror—it relies on the act of watching itself. The pre-civilization humans and hominids simultaneously closed their eyes, cutting off the gaze, and Seven Fingers was trapped in that mirror."

"But the later ones—we and the new upright apes—have now met again and begun to gaze at each other once more. With this gaze restarting, the Seven Fingers awaken from the mirror. The false teachers of Lesotho, who taught the disaster victims to look in the mirror, were not releasing the Seven Fingers, but opening a door for the Seven Fingers who had already awakened."

Li Wei appeared at the kitchen door, holding a new telegram in his hand, his expression even more bitter than before.

"The border barrier at Namibi was breached, not by refugees rushing across, but by the border guards themselves. The captain at the border post assembled the troops this morning and gave each man a piece of broken glass. He laid out a line of words on white pebbles at the post entrance—'We all saw it.'"

Lu Cheng took the telegram and read it once.

"The captain's transformation time, from contact to active transmission, took only five days, twice as fast as in Presotho."

"Because he was a soldier, Seven Fingers exploited the soldier's instinct to obey. Seven Fingers didn't need to instill fear in him; he only needed to make him feel that counting fingers in the mirror was a command."

……

Taro Tanuki Country, Kyoto, the same day.

When Kerry entered the courtyard for the sixth time, the upright ape was applying something in front of the mirror.

It dips its front paws into water scooped from the garden basin, mixes it with fine soil from the dry landscape garden's gravel, and mixes it into a grayish-black mud. Then, it dips its fingertips into the mud and applies it to the edge of the mirror.

Instead of covering the entire mirror surface, a gray line was drawn around the edge of the mirror.

Kerry crouched down and watched it draw.

After finishing the drawing, the upright ape wiped its front paws clean on the sand and then carved the words.

"The gray is painted on the frame, not on the mirror. If it's painted on the frame, the reflection in the mirror will have a gray edge. When God looks at us in the mirror, he doesn't see black and red, but black and red with gray edges. He will think that the gray has begun to spread."

Kerry stared at the gray line: "Will it fall for that?"

The upright ape carving reads: "Yes."

Lu Cheng took a sip of soup:

"The mirror that the pre-civilization held captive may be the origin of Seven Fingers. But Seven Fingers can exist without relying on that mirror—it relies on the act of watching itself. The pre-civilization humans and hominids simultaneously closed their eyes, cutting off the gaze, and Seven Fingers was trapped in that mirror."

"But the later ones—we and the new upright apes—have now met again and begun to gaze at each other once more. With this gaze restarting, the Seven Fingers awaken from the mirror. The false teachers of Lesotho, who taught the disaster victims to look in the mirror, were not releasing the Seven Fingers, but opening a door for the Seven Fingers who had already awakened."

Li Wei appeared at the kitchen door, holding a new telegram in his hand, his expression even more bitter than before.

"The border barrier at Namibi was breached, not by refugees rushing across, but by the border guards themselves. The captain at the border post assembled the troops this morning and gave each man a piece of broken glass. He laid out a line of words on white pebbles at the post entrance—'We all saw it.'"

Lu Cheng took the telegram and read it once.

"The captain's transformation time, from contact to active transmission, took only five days, twice as fast as in Presotho."

"Because he was a soldier, Seven Fingers exploited the soldier's instinct to obey. Seven Fingers didn't need to instill fear in him; he only needed to make him feel that counting fingers in the mirror was a command."

……

Taro Tanuki Country, Kyoto, the same day.

When Kerry entered the courtyard for the sixth time, the upright ape was applying something in front of the mirror.

It dips its front paws into water scooped from the garden basin, mixes it with fine soil from the dry landscape garden's gravel, and mixes it into a grayish-black mud. Then, it dips its fingertips into the mud and applies it to the edge of the mirror.

Instead of covering the entire mirror surface, a gray line was drawn around the edge of the mirror.

Kerry crouched down and watched it draw.

After finishing the drawing, the upright ape wiped its front paws clean on the sand and then carved the words.

"The gray is painted on the frame, not on the mirror. If it's painted on the frame, the reflection in the mirror will have a gray edge. When God looks at us in the mirror, he doesn't see black and red, but black and red with gray edges. He will think that the gray has begun to spread."

Kerry stared at the gray line: "Will it fall for that?"

The upright ape carving reads: "Yes."

Lu Cheng took a sip of soup:

"The mirror that the pre-civilization held captive may be the origin of Seven Fingers. But Seven Fingers can exist without relying on that mirror—it relies on the act of watching itself. The pre-civilization humans and hominids simultaneously closed their eyes, cutting off the gaze, and Seven Fingers was trapped in that mirror."

"But the later ones—we and the new upright apes—have now met again and begun to gaze at each other once more. With this gaze restarting, the Seven Fingers awaken from the mirror. The false teachers of Lesotho, who taught the disaster victims to look in the mirror, were not releasing the Seven Fingers, but opening a door for the Seven Fingers who had already awakened."

Li Wei appeared at the kitchen door, holding a new telegram in his hand, his expression even more bitter than before.

"The border barrier at Namibi was breached, not by refugees rushing across, but by the border guards themselves. The captain at the border post assembled the troops this morning and gave each man a piece of broken glass. He laid out a line of words on white pebbles at the post entrance—'We all saw it.'"

Lu Cheng took the telegram and read it once.

"The captain's transformation time, from contact to active transmission, took only five days, twice as fast as in Presotho."

"Because he was a soldier, Seven Fingers exploited the soldier's instinct to obey. Seven Fingers didn't need to instill fear in him; he only needed to make him feel that counting fingers in the mirror was a command."

……

Taro Tanuki Country, Kyoto, the same day.

When Kerry entered the courtyard for the sixth time, the upright ape was applying something in front of the mirror.

It dips its front paws into water scooped from the garden basin, mixes it with fine soil from the dry landscape garden's gravel, and mixes it into a grayish-black mud. Then, it dips its fingertips into the mud and applies it to the edge of the mirror.

Instead of covering the entire mirror surface, a gray line was drawn around the edge of the mirror.

Kerry crouched down and watched it draw.

After finishing the drawing, the upright ape wiped its front paws clean on the sand and then carved the words.

"The gray is painted on the frame, not on the mirror. If it's painted on the frame, the reflection in the mirror will have a gray edge. When God looks at us in the mirror, he doesn't see black and red, but black and red with gray edges. He will think that the gray has begun to spread."

Kerry stared at the gray line: "Will it fall for that?"

The upright ape carving reads: "Yes."

Chapter update reminder: Chapter 60, Hollow Cavity, available to read here.

Lu Cheng took a sip of soup:

"The mirror that the pre-civilization held captive may be the origin of Seven Fingers. But Seven Fingers can exist without relying on that mirror—it relies on the act of watching itself. The pre-civilization humans and hominids simultaneously closed their eyes, cutting off the gaze, and Seven Fingers was trapped in that mirror."

"But the later ones—we and the new upright apes—have now met again and begun to gaze at each other once more. With this gaze restarting, the Seven Fingers awaken from the mirror. The false teachers of Lesotho, who taught the disaster victims to look in the mirror, were not releasing the Seven Fingers, but opening a door for the Seven Fingers who had already awakened."

Li Wei appeared at the kitchen door, holding a new telegram in his hand, his expression even more bitter than before.

"The border barrier at Namibi was breached, not by refugees rushing across, but by the border guards themselves. The captain at the border post assembled the troops this morning and gave each man a piece of broken glass. He laid out a line of words on white pebbles at the post entrance—'We all saw it.'"

Lu Cheng took the telegram and read it once.

"The captain's transformation time, from contact to active transmission, took only five days, twice as fast as in Presotho."

"Because he was a soldier, Seven Fingers exploited the soldier's instinct to obey. Seven Fingers didn't need to instill fear in him; he only needed to make him feel that counting fingers in the mirror was a command."

……

Taro Tanuki Country, Kyoto, the same day.

When Kerry entered the courtyard for the sixth time, the upright ape was applying something in front of the mirror.

It dips its front paws into water scooped from the garden basin, mixes it with fine soil from the dry landscape garden's gravel, and mixes it into a grayish-black mud. Then, it dips its fingertips into the mud and applies it to the edge of the mirror.

Instead of covering the entire mirror surface, a gray line was drawn around the edge of the mirror.

Kerry crouched down and watched it draw.

After finishing the drawing, the upright ape wiped its front paws clean on the sand and then carved the words.

"The gray is painted on the frame, not on the mirror. If it's painted on the frame, the reflection in the mirror will have a gray edge. When God looks at us in the mirror, he doesn't see black and red, but black and red with gray edges. He will think that the gray has begun to spread."

Kerry stared at the gray line: "Will it fall for that?"

The upright ape carving reads: "Yes."