Alien creatures destroy homes? Start by killing upright apes!

Chapter 68 Circle

Kerry was silent for a moment. "Who did you want to see the two lists you engraved on the back of the mirror?"

The upright ape wrote: "Let those who look behind the mirror see. The front of the mirror reflects ourselves, the back reflects the other. What we give to humanity, and what humanity gives to us, is all on the back. What we hold is not a hand, but a list. Exchanging lists is a handshake. After the handshake, everyone goes their own way."

When Kerry came out of the yard, Massa was standing outside the bamboo fence with a roasted sweet potato in his hand.

He broke the roasted sweet potato in half and handed one half to Kerry.

"It says each should live their own life. Previous civilizations tried for three thousand years and failed. Does it think it can succeed this time?"

Kerry took the roasted sweet potato: "It said the previous civilization failed because both sides wanted to turn the other into themselves. This time it didn't want that. It carved the list on the back of the mirror, meaning—we give these, you give those. After the exchange, we go our separate ways."

"Can the entire list be changed?"

"We can't finish replacing them all, but at least we've started."

Bertswana, that afternoon.

-

Old Chief Mosse squatted under a mango tree at the village entrance, with three upright apes that had migrated from a neighboring country squatting in front of him.

They drew circles on the ground with twigs, while Mossé arranged pebbles in circles on the ground.

Each person draws their own picture and arranges their own picture.

After finishing the drawing, the upright ape looked at the circle that Moses had made, and Moses looked at the circle that the upright ape had drawn.

They're not exactly the same, but they're both circles.

Captain Zhao squatted down to take pictures.

Moser glanced back at him: "Why are you taking pictures of this?"

"Send it to Governor Lu, who is collecting all records of communication between humans and hominids."

Mossé placed a small pebble next to the circle drawn by the upright ape: "Tell him that communication doesn't need a translator; the circle is the translator."

Captain Zhao sent the photo and the message to Lu Cheng.

The Winners' Kingdom, the government.

When Lu Cheng received Captain Zhao's telegram, he was in the backyard watching Carrie harvest honey.

Carrie, wearing a mesh hat and holding a smoker, was taking honeycombs out of the beehive.

The honey dripped down the honeycomb and into the basin below.

A swarm of bees buzzed around her, but she didn't even blink.

"Mosel said that communication doesn't need a translator; the circle is the translator." Lu Cheng read the telegram to her.

Carrie placed a piece of honeycomb into the bowl: "Circles are their language. Humans have been drawing circles for tens of thousands of years, from pottery jars to door frames, and upright apes also drew circles. The two species use the same symbols, so there's no need for translation."

"Mosel placed a pebble next to the circle drawn by the upright ape. He didn't make his own circle, he just placed a pebble next to it. The upright ape looked at the pebble, then drew another circle and enclosed the pebble inside."

Carrie put down the smoke generator and took off her veil: "The pebble got trapped inside?"

"It's inside. The upright ape used its circle to enclose Moser's pebbles. Moser said, 'This isn't an attack, it's acceptance. It's treating him as part of its circle.'"

"and then?"

"Mosel picked up the pebble and placed it outside the enclosure. The upright ape looked at it but didn't put the pebble back inside. Mosel said it understood. The inside of the enclosure was its own territory, and the outside was its territory. Placing the pebble outside the enclosure meant each going its own way. An upright ape, in less than an afternoon, understood the concept of each going its own way."

Carrie picked up the honey basin and walked towards the kitchen: "They are better than Namibi's 30,000 men. It took them more than ten days to get into Angula."

""

That night, dawn broke.

Summary of Day 85 of the Extraordinary Creatures' Arrival

[Current Status of Ten Exotic Creatures:]

[Upright Ape: Phase 3 camouflage progress average 91%. Tactical cooperation has been established with the Grimoire, a predation guidance relationship with the Tyrannosaurus Rex, a venom collection relationship with the Millipede, a sonic command relationship with the Anomalocaris, and a directional guidance relationship with the Lyssagitta. Taming of the Giant Nautilus has been terminated for unknown reasons.]

[Graceful Beasts: Domestication complete. They can now execute collective commands from the upright apes. All Graceful Beast herds in the Ivan Bear Kingdom's mining areas and the Far Eastern wastelands have been incorporated into the upright ape command structure.]

[Tyrannosaurus Rex: Orientation Phase. The three Tyrannosaurus Rex herds on the Waiemin plains have been split and reorganized, each now guided by Homo erectus for predation. Giant dragonflies are the primary targets.]

[Giant Millipede: Stable harvesting phase. Venom collection points cover the main areas of the Black Forest. The upright apes have mastered the venom dilution formula and are supplying it to the Hanscat Kingdom's army.]

[Anomalocaris: Sound Command Phase. The Anomalocaris colony at the Yakjit spawning grounds in Port-London has fully responded to the tapping commands from the Homo erectus.]

[Tyrrell smelt: Migration guidance phase. Tyrrell smelt schools in the Thales River, New York, have been guided away from the main channel.]

[Giant Nautilus: Domestication Ended. Homo erectus has ceased guiding and collecting giant nautiluses, the reason confirmed to be the availability of a suitable replacement technology for barb powder.]

[Giant Dragonfly, Antiomon: Contact level, no significant progress.]

[Waterdramon: Direction Guidance Phase. The upright ape guides the Waterdramon's digging direction using fecal markings. The Waterdramon does not resist.]

[System notification: The domestication strategy of Homo erectus towards exotic creatures exhibits a clear utilitarianism. They adopt what is useful and abandon what is not. The giant nautilus was abandoned because its function has been replaced by artificial materials.]

[System Supplement: Human adaptation strategies to upright apes have diverged. Ivan the Bear Kingdom, Sam the Eagle Kingdom, Hans the Cat Kingdom, ...]

The countries of Yakjich and Giuseppe tend to learn the techniques of the Homo erectus while remaining vigilant; Bertswana tends to coexist with traditional practices.

Approximately 110,000 people throughout Namibia and along the Angula border have irreversibly transformed into the "Seven-Finger People."

[System final notification: Twenty days remain until the hundredth day since the alien creatures descended.]

The light curtain went out.

Lu Cheng stood on the balcony when Jia Li came out with a glass of honey water and handed it to him.

The honey was just harvested today, and after diluting it with warm water, it's just the right amount of sweet.

"The system says there are still twenty days. What will happen after twenty days?"

"I don't know, but the growth of upright apes is accelerating, and humans are diversifying. Twenty days is enough time to carve hundreds more circles on the doorframe of Bertswana, and enough time for the gray line of Namibi to be pushed forward by hundreds of kilometers."

Carrie took a sip of her honey water: "Which side are you on?"

"I'm standing on the side where there's honey water to drink."

Carrie smiled, her eyes crinkling.

In October of the year 5914 in the Blue Star calendar, on the ninetieth day after the arrival of the alien creatures.

Lu Cheng was woken up by the aroma of Carrie's coffee in the morning.

It wasn't an urgent telegram or a celestial announcement; it was just the simple aroma of coffee.

The coffee beans harvested in the backyard of the government building were roasted by Carrie herself, ground to the perfect fineness, and the aroma of the brewed coffee filled the entire floor.

When he walked into the office with his coffee, he found seven reports already laid out on his desk.

The seven reports came from seven different countries, and each one had the same title on the first page: "Report on Abnormal Behavior of Homo erectus".

0

Lu Cheng put down his coffee and picked up the first cup.

From the Kingdom of Ivan Bear, sent by Vladimir.

The upright ape formation in the Ural mining area simultaneously ceased all activities at 3 PM yesterday.

Sixty Gorgons and sixty Homo erectus, who were conducting a formation exercise, suddenly stopped.

The upright ape dismounted from the back of the Glossy Tooth, and the Glossy Tooth lay on the ground. The two remained there motionless for a full forty minutes.

It returned to normal after forty minutes, but its behavior changed afterward.

The drills ceased, and they began moving ore to the edge of the mining area.

In his report, Fraser's intelligence chief wrote: "It's like we received some kind of instruction, but we monitored all known communication bands and found no signal."