From Robinson Crusoe

The dagger was still lodged in the native warrior's eye socket.

The sun gradually disappeared into the horizon, and the once noisy and bustling forest returned to its silence.

The blood and stench from the corpses attracted carrion-eating insects, which in turn attracted birds and omnivorous rodents, which competed fiercely for food, circling and chirping.

The wind blew, and some leaves floated down gently, landing on the painful and hideous faces of the natives, and falling into the small gullies separated by the plank-like roots.

He will rot here and become sustenance for the earth.

……

Chen Zhou always felt that there was a bloody smell on his hands that was difficult to wash off.

He tried crushing the petals and breaking open the leaves of the plant to wash his hands with the juice inside, but to no avail.

On the way back to the beach, he kept replaying in his mind the moment when the dagger pierced his eye socket, the blood gushed out, and the final desperate wail of the indigenous warrior.

He knew that he had killed many people today, so this one wouldn't be a big deal.

He also knew that if he didn't kill the native warrior, that guy would definitely take his life and Lai Fu's life if he got the chance.

He kept convincing himself - you were just making the right choice out of self-defense.

But there was always another voice in his heart questioning him, why he could rescue the other two natives but not let this native go, he was also a life.

As they were all indigenous people, there didn't seem to be much difference between them. The two rescued indigenous teenagers might have also killed and eaten people.

They are all like wild beasts, all worthy of being tamed, so why are some of them alive and some dead?

Chen Zhou wanted to tell himself that what he killed were enemies, and what he left behind were servants, people who could serve him.

However, this cannot perfectly solve the question in my heart - instead of killing the native warrior, I can tie him up and take him home, and use him as a slave.

The native who was bitten by Lai Fu at that time had obviously lost the ability to resist, and he could capture him alive if he wanted.

“When did I become so cruel when I only slaughtered livestock?
Was it an impulse, was it because he was worried that Lai Fu would get hurt, or was it because he had too much anger and resentment built up inside that he took the opportunity to vent it?"

This time, Chen Zhou, who has always been very self-aware, did not find the answer.

He broke off another thick leaf, squeezed out the juice and rubbed his hands that had already turned green. Then he raised his head and tried his best to keep his facial expression unchanged.

The beach has arrived.

……

The sky was almost dark blue, and the moon was high in the sky.

The sea tide is surging, and the light of stars and moon is shining on the waves.

The fire in the sand pit had long been extinguished, leaving it like a pile of dark and terrifying charcoal. The two canoes were lifted up by the sea water and swayed slightly.

The native boy and the skinny captive had dark skin, but they still stood obediently under the shade of the tree waiting.

Chen Zhou was still in a trance due to the murder. When he arrived not far from the shade of the trees, he did not see the two men. He thought they had taken the opportunity to escape, so he even pulled out his revolver and attempted to chase them all night.

Fortunately, Lai Fu barked at the two people under the tree in time, reminding him, which allowed him to see the two people.

……

The clay pot still lay on the sand, and all the water inside had been drunk.

The aboriginal boy carefully held the remaining half of the chocolate in his hand, nervously watching it melt due to the high temperature. He looked at the forest, then at his companion sitting next to him, seeming extremely at a loss.

The wait is too long.

He told his companions in detail how he survived the sacred sacrifice, went to the abode of the gods, and witnessed the miracle of resurrection.

Due to his lack of understanding of muskets, he added many details on his own when telling the story and further exaggerated the fighting power of the "God".

In the story he told, Chen Zhou didn't even need to pick up the "weapon that could make thunder". He just needed to hold it and look at the enemy. Wherever he looked, accompanied by thunder, those brave indigenous warriors fell one after another.

After easily defeating all the enemies, the "God" sprayed flames from his hands and ignited the divine fire.

He did not seem to like these "sacrifices" or the dances presented to him by people from the hostile tribe, and was completely different from the "god" described by the priests.

Of course, the boy had already given an explanation for these behaviors that were contrary to the "God" mentioned by the priest.

He believed that the gods had their own food, which was completely different from what the natives had originally thought.

For example, he believed that the melted chocolate in his hand was a food unique to the gods. This food tasted extremely sweet and could give people great power.

The water that the gods drink has the power to bring the dead back to life.

As for the god himself, he possesses extraordinary power.

He was taller and stronger than any brave warrior, like a huge mountain that people had to look up to;

His expression was always so calm, his face so handsome, totally different from these mortals;

He was clothed in celestial armor, invulnerable to swords, spears, water, and fire;

He raised a golden beast, with a necklace forged from human skulls and blood around its neck;

He lived in an impenetrable dwelling made of stone, and his house was of transparent bricks made of the morning light;
The weapon of the god was a spear made of some kind of solid stone. That spear was longer than any wooden spear and seemed sharper than any wooden spear...

The native boy was simply unable to fully describe the god's bravery, power, and might.

He could only try his best to attribute all the beautiful words in the tribal language about God's nobility, holiness, power, strength, kindness, etc. to Chen Zhou.

……

The skinny prisoner who had just woken up heard his narration and saw his expression of sincerity and reverence that he could not fake, and he could not help but admire the god who saved his life.

He had tasted the chocolate himself and knew very well how sweet this strange food, which had never been seen in the tribe, was.

Moreover, after waking up, his memory was still stuck on the moment before he was tied up in the canoe and fell into coma.

I had always felt that I was weak and about to die.

After being rescued from heatstroke, he really thought he had come back to life. While he was grateful for the mercy of God, he was also uneasy about whether he could bear this favor.

During the communication with the indigenous boy, as the sun set and the gods had not returned, he became more and more uneasy and asked the boy many times whether the gods had abandoned them.

The young man had no answer in his heart. He could only comfort his companions, look anxiously at the forest, and wait there.

As the sun was about to set, the younger and more impatient boy even suggested taking the skinny captives into the forest to look for any traces of the gods.

At the critical moment, the skinny prisoner kept his composure and dissuaded him in time, allowing the two to wait until Chen Zhou returned.

……

In the hostile tribe, they could only eat a few fruits every two days, which was enough to sustain their lives and ensure that they were still alive when participating in the sacred sacrifices.

The two young men were waiting under the shade of a tree, already starving.

The smell emanating from the pile of burning corpses in the distance was particularly tempting to the two men. The skinny captive tried several times to leave the shade of the tree and go to the beach to get human flesh to eat, but was stopped by the young man.

Based on Chen Zhou's performance in killing people and burning corpses, as well as his expression when facing the burnt corpses, he judged that the gods did not like to eat human flesh, so he did not want himself and his companions to anger the gods because of their extraordinary behavior.

Faced with the threat of death, the skinny prisoner finally suppressed his appetite and sat obediently under the tree to continue waiting.

During this long period of time, he only drank a few sips of water mixed with salt.

The boy wanted to give him the remaining chocolate in his hand, but he refused.

The priests in the tribe once told them that the gifts from God cannot be shared. Once given, the recipient must bear it. If shared, they will be punished.

His father, a brave warrior, was punished by having his ears cut off for sharing the food given by the gods with his family. For the skinny captives, "god" was not a merciful character most of the time.

On the contrary, in the mouths of priests, gods often symbolize death, reproduction and punishment.

He had an elder sister who did not pick enough fruits. As punishment by the gods, she was given to several strong warriors to satisfy their lust and later died in childbirth.

In his opinion, there is always a price to pay to accept God's reward.

Although this "true God" walking among humans was different from the God spoken of by the priests, and he had witnessed his father's ears being cut off and his sister being taken into the thatched hut, he did not dare to rashly accept his companions' kind sharing.

……

Pat Lai Fu's head and remind him to stop barking.

Chen Zhou was slightly surprised at the extremely abnormal behavior of the two natives.

He thought that these two skinny monkey-like guys, no matter how honest they were, would wander around, look for some fruit-bearing trees, climb up on them to get some food, or even go to the sand pit to steal human flesh to eat. It was not impossible.

They never expected that they would actually wait there until dark.

……

Seeing the two well-behaved and reserved natives quietly waiting for his return, Chen Zhou's bad mood improved a little.

I silently complained in my heart.

"If Tang Seng had been as obedient as you two, Sun Wukong would have saved himself a lot of trouble."

As he was about to walk under the tree, he subconsciously raised his hand and smelled it. He felt that the smell of blood seemed not so strong. He walked to the two natives with a stern face and motioned the young native to pick up the clay pot filled with water and follow him.

Although the young native was not as smart as Friday in the original book, he was a smart man who grew up in the tribe. He immediately put away the chocolate in his hand and picked up the pottery jar.

……

The skinny captive regained consciousness and understood how he had "come back to life". He finally saw the "god" who saved his life again. He hurriedly got up, crawled on the ground, and came to Chen Zhou's side, asking him to put his feet on his head to show his submission.

Chen Zhou felt particularly uncomfortable with the unique "etiquette" of the natives.

It was difficult for him, who had received modern education, to accept that a naked child as thin as a skeleton was being stepped on by him.

Every time he put the sole of his boot on the head of the native, he would inexplicably feel that he was an unforgivable invader, a ruler of feudal society who oppressed the people, or even worse than that -

After all, the ruler only asked his subjects to kowtow three times and nine times, but he did not step on their heads and look down on them.

……

He gently rubbed the back of the skinny prisoner's head with the sole of his boot, fearing that he would be crushed to death if he stepped on him too hard.

After a brief gesture, Chen Zhou immediately retracted his feet, bent down, grabbed the skinny prisoner's shoulders, and pulled him up.

"Follow me."

Knowing that the native boy couldn't understand what he was saying, Chen Zhou waved his hand while speaking.

Hand gestures are the original language of mankind. The native boy holding the pottery jar and the skinny captive understood what he meant. They lowered their heads and followed Chen Zhou.

……

It was already dark and visibility was poor.

Chen Zhou originally wanted to go up the mountain along the shortest route, but he remembered that there were many spike traps buried on the mountain road. He was afraid that the two natives behind him would accidentally step on the traps and get injured, so he took a longer detour.

Lai Fu never thought that he would see a human being other than his master again one day. On the way, he always circled around the two natives curiously, sniffing their scent.

I heard from my companions that this sturdy beast was a sacred animal raised by the gods, and that there were merits tied to its neck by human bones. It was unknown how many soldiers it had killed. Whenever Lai Fu approached, the skinny captives looked extremely nervous.

The boy holding the pottery jar was equally nervous, but he was more restrained.

After all, he was holding the tableware of the gods, which contained the "holy water" that could bring the dead back to life.

No matter how scared he was, he had to keep his hands steady. If he spilled the water, he would lose his life.

……

Chen Zhou had no idea of the natives' intentions, and he had no idea of their admiration for him.

He now couldn't trust the two natives at all. On the way back to the cave, he kept thinking about how to tame them and how to teach them to speak Chinese.

The most important thing is to make them understand how to do those complicated and boring physical labor.

If he can't do this, his life won't change much at all.

Maybe it would be even worse because there would be two more mouths to feed.

Communicating with people, understanding their thoughts and managing them is far more complicated than dealing with machines.

Not to mention the long-term issues, even the question of where to place the two natives tonight took Chen Zhou a long time to consider.

……

When formulating the plan to rescue the native captives, he took into account the possible result of rescuing two captives.

To this end, he specially built two wooden houses on both sides of the farmland, far apart from each other, so that the internal conditions could be observed from the watchtower.

The reason why it was built so far away was because he didn't want the natives to have a chance to communicate.

A person may not come up with many ideas when he is alone, but when two people get together, they will inevitably generate more ideas.

Moreover, many things cannot be done by one person alone and require collaboration - such as escaping.

If everything went according to plan, after bringing back the two prisoners, he should have placed them in two different cabins.

But looking at the appearance of these two natives, Chen Zhou felt that the chances of them escaping seemed low.

If they wanted to escape, their best option would be to try to push the canoe into the sea or hide somewhere else while he was in the forest in the afternoon.

Since they did not run away at that time, it means that they did not have much desire for freedom and hoped to return to the tribe.

……

Looking back at the process of Robinson rescuing Friday and Friday's subsequent performance, Chen Zhou felt that these natives did not seem to be able to look at things from the perspective of ordinary people.

When they were captured and enslaved, they did not yearn for freedom and to be out of control like a sane human being would.

Living in tribes since childhood and growing up with scarce resources have made them naturally more dependent on the collective rather than individual strength.

If they were not tortured harshly, made to suffer unbearable pain and forced to the point where they could not stay any longer, they would most likely not take the initiative to break away from control and escape at the risk of death.

This unique performance should be more obvious in the indigenous teenagers who have not experienced any hardships.

……

He turned his head slightly and glanced at the two natives behind him.

Looking at them following him tiredly, one after another, Chen Zhou thought he could test them and let them sleep together first to see their reactions.

He had experienced too many things today, too many bloody things, and he was in such an upset mood that he probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep for a while.

It was a good opportunity. Taking advantage of my insomnia, I sat on the courtyard wall, enjoyed the breeze, and observed through the window whether the two natives had any unusual behavior when they were alone.

Thinking of this, Chen Zhou suddenly thought of himself being placed on an isolated island by the Space-Time Administration to participate in a challenge, and couldn't help but laugh at himself.

"It seems that no matter how advanced a civilization is, there will always be people who enjoy spying on others to bring themselves pleasure." (End of this chapter)