Alien creatures destroy homes? Start by killing upright apes!

Chapter 71 Showdown

"Gentlemen, the upright apes buy bread, go to work, attend Mass, go shopping, participate in town assemblies, and write diplomatic letters. Their level of impersonation as humans has reached a critical point—not just in appearance, but in behavior, language, and social norms. They know that bread requires payment, that employment requires filling out forms, that Mass requires kneeling, that shopping requires wearing clogs, and that new residents must attend town assemblies—they know everything."

The envoy from the Kingdom of Oxford raised his hand: "They also give tips."

"Yes, they even tip. For a three-copper-coin loaf of bread, they gave five copper coins and two copper coins in change. This means they have understood the monetary system, transaction rules, change-giving logic, and tipping culture. The market economy rules that humans spent thousands of years establishing were learned by them in ninety-three days, and they use them better than most humans," Lu Cheng said.

The envoy from the Kingdom of Jacques Chicken said, "That upright ape working in the textile factory is three times more efficient than the other employees. The HR manager asked it why it was so efficient, and it said it was because it doesn't chat. Human employees spend two hours a day chatting, but it doesn't."

The envoy from the Kingdom of Jusel said, "The one wearing the monk's robe received communion but didn't eat it; it merely participated in the ceremony, not truly believing. But it respected the ceremony, even more than many believers."

The envoy from the Land of Tanuki said, "The old ape in the kimono bought persimmons to share. It said the persimmons were very sweet, so it bought some for you too. It's started giving gifts now; gift-giving is a social behavior, not a survival behavior. It's building social relationships."

The envoy from the United States of the Eagle Kingdom said, "The one that attended the town assembly asked a legal question: whether the regulations apply to all new residents or only to humans. It's challenging our legal system, challenging us with our own legal texts."

The envoy from the Ivan Bear Kingdom said, "That creature in the Ural mining region wrote a diplomatic letter in copper coins. The salutation was proper, the text clear, the signature complete, and the date marked. It mastered the format of diplomatic documents, and it wasn't a declaration of war, but an appointment. An appointment for the order ten days later."

After everyone finished speaking, Lu Cheng stood up, walked to the front of the blackboard, picked up the chalk, and wrote a line of large characters.

"Ninety-three days. The upright apes went from crouching on the ground clutching twigs to sitting in the last row of the town hall, dressed in suits. The entire system of human civilization—economics, law, religion, social interaction, politics—they learned it all, participated in it all, and began to use it in reverse. They weren't learning from us; they were becoming us. And when they completely became us, what was the difference between us and them?"

The silence in the meeting room lasted for a full ten seconds.

Then the envoy from Taro Tanuki Kingdom spoke up: "The difference lies in the blood; ours is red, theirs is black."

"Yes, blood." Lu Cheng drew a red dot and a black dot on the blackboard. "Blood determines ecological niches. Red blood and black blood cannot share the same table. This conflict will not disappear just because they gave tips, filled out job forms, received communion, bought persimmons, or attended town hall meetings. These actions will only create more and more illusions in humans: that they are no different from us, and that coexistence is possible."

The envoy from the United Kingdom of New Zealand said, "To be honest, the bakery owner who gave the tip already thinks coexistence is possible. He said in a newspaper interview this morning that the upright ape was the most polite customer he had ever encountered."

"That's the problem," Lu Cheng turned around. "Ninety-three days of camouflage training, plus the mutually beneficial guidance of the past few weeks," the upright apes successfully convinced a significant portion of humanity that they were friendly. The mining committee of Ivan Bear Kingdom believed it, the fisheries minister of Yak Chicken Kingdom believed it, the military doctor of Hans Cat Kingdom believed it, the 30,000 people of Namibi believed it, and the bakery owner believed it. The more people who believed, the more people opposed to war. And when war actually became necessary, these believers would probably say: "Why fight them? They gave us a tip."

The envoy from the Ivan Bear Kingdom coughed: "Premier Lu, I'm just confirming, do you—really believe that war is inevitable?"

"Definitely." Lu Cheng placed the chalk in the blackboard tray. "It's not that I want to fight, nor that they want to fight, it's that blood wants to fight. Red blood and black blood cannot share the same table, and this conflict won't disappear just because they've learned to tip. You can nod and smile at a bipedal ape in front of a bakery counter, but it can't eat at your house, and you can't eat at its house; you can never share the same table. A civilization that can't share a table will inevitably crack sooner or later."

"When will it crack?"

"It's coming soon. They're stockpiling venom, settling Tyrannosaurus Rex, playing lullabies for Anomalocaris, lining up, and writing diplomatic letters to schedule order for ten days from now. They're preparing for a war they don't even remember, without even realizing it themselves."

He picked up the copper coin from the Kingdom of Ivan Bear and read the sentence on it aloud.

"The last time this happened, neither side was in order, so they both perished. This time we have phalanxes, and you have armies. If both sides maintain order, perhaps they won't both die."

Lu Cheng put the copper coin down.

"It said 'maybe,' not 'certainly,' but 'maybe they won't both perish.' But it didn't say 'maybe there won't be war.' It promised order ten days from now, not peace ten days from now. Order and peace are two different things. Peace means neither side uses force; order means there are rules when both sides do use force. It promised rules, not a truce."

The conference room door was pushed open, and a communications soldier rushed in carrying a telegram, shoving it into Lu Cheng's hand without even saluting.

Lu Cheng's lips twitched slightly after reading the telegram.

"What's wrong?" several envoys asked at the same time.

"This is from Captain Zhao of the mighty Dragon Kingdom. Chief Mossai of Bertswana carved the fourth circle on the door frame this morning." Lu Cheng placed the telegram on the table. "He said the fourth circle is nothing, neither a welcome nor a farewell, neither eyes closed nor eyes open. Just a circle, an empty circle."

"What do you mean?"

He said there were only three carving methods passed down from his ancestors, and the fourth one was his own idea. An empty circle, not given to anyone, not waiting for anyone.

Horizontal lines represent closed eyes, vertical lines represent open eyes, and an empty circle represents eyes that are neither open nor closed. He said that when the eyes are neither open nor closed, it's when he's holding a knife.

Lu Cheng walked to the window and looked at the water dragon beast in the square outside.

It remained lying on the ground, its ears pressed against the earth, with the bone ball it had been holding in its mouth for several days.

"Mosser said that the empty circle is neither hoping for nor giving up, neither hoping for peace nor giving up preparations."

He turned around.

"Gentlemen, I agree with this stance. We do not hope for peace, nor do we abandon our preparations."

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

Lu Cheng sent a plaintext telegram, the kind that can be received globally.

"The Kingdom of the Wynners opposes any form of coexistence with Homo erectus. Red blood and black blood cannot share the same table. Whoever thinks it's possible should first invite a Homo erectus to their home for a meal. Don't talk about coexistence if you haven't invited one."

The world was in an uproar.

Sergei, the mining commissioner of the Ivan Bear Kingdom, who was the one who outsourced the mining area to the upright apes and ended up having the mines emptied, sent a letter out of the quarantine camp and published it in the Ivan Bear Kingdom's newspaper.

The letter contained only one sentence: I also oppose coexistence. They didn't invite me to dinner; they just took away my mine.