From Robinson Crusoe

The fog drifting along the mountain road always reminded Zhao Shu of the beam of light that shone down from the factory.

In class, he learned how plants grow, how cattle and sheep reproduce, how to express his thoughts with language and writing, or how to calculate the quantity of different items using numbers.

But no one ever told him what else, besides the sun, moon, stars, and fire, could emit such a bright and steady light.

It was only at this moment that Zhao Shu realized how little he knew about the leader.

Before this, he had always thought that the new chief was not much different from the chief of the original tribe, except that he knew more knowledge and lived in a more luxurious house.

That's why he dared to carry out that audacious plan.

Now, thinking of that pillar of light, what Sunday had said, and the temple built in the distance with its majestic statues, he felt uncertain.

……

It was early morning, and the sky was overcast, making the already gloomy temple even darker than usual.

Pushing open the thick wooden door and entering the temple, one can only see three points of red light flickering in the incense burner, and faintly smell the scent of burning wood wafting past the nose.

No one spoke during the journey.

All the indigenous people could feel a sense of oppression.

Those veterans who had witnessed the leader's methods had a premonition that someone might lose their life.

Anyone who has slacked off or made mistakes at work is now reflecting on what they have done in the past few days.

If it hadn't been explicitly stated on Sunday that today's events were related to the leader's cat, some people with weaker mental fortitude would probably have already knelt down and admitted their mistakes.

Let alone those who make mistakes at work, even if they haven't made any mistakes, the locals would inevitably feel nervous in such a situation, fearing that their good days are coming to an end.

……

After circling the temple, Sunday ordered everyone to line up and enter the temple one by one for testing.

The open temple doors opened and closed like a giant maw ready to devour people, swallowing the natives one by one and then spitting them out a moment later.

Everyone who entered the temple came out pale-faced, as if they had witnessed something terrifying. After leaving the temple, they stood quietly to the side without saying a word.

Chen Fu and Chen Lu supervised from the side, while Chen Shou and Sunday entered the temple together.

The four men monitored all the natives, observing their every move, which prevented Zhao Shu from making any unusual moves, even though he really wanted to know how the artifact in the temple knew whether a person was lying, and how to evade the test.

……

While standing at the back of the line, Zhao Shu considered sneaking away or finding an excuse to ask others about the test.

Unfortunately, his courage only grew when he shouldn't have; when faced with this situation of being closely monitored, he immediately lost his temper.

Even though he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, he could only imitate others, pretending that it had nothing to do with him, and quietly wait for the "judgment" to arrive.

Time passed second by second, and finally it was the person in front of them's turn to enter the temple.

Zhao Shu watched as the man nervously stepped into the dark place, listening to the creaking sound of the wooden door closing tightly.

He craned his neck slightly, wishing he could hear what was happening inside the temple, but the distance was too great, and there was the sound of mountain winds, insects chirping and birds singing. Even if he had another pair of ears, he wouldn't be able to hear the details.

Not long after, his companion walked out of the temple with his head down.

Zhao Shu almost wanted to grab his companion's hand, pull him aside, and ask him what had happened after entering the temple.

But under the watchful eyes of Chen Fu and Chen Lu, he dared not do anything out of line and could only obediently step into the dark temple that filled him with fear.

……

The interior of the temple was even darker than the exterior, with two flickering oil lamps illuminating the grotesque face of the statue.

The long incense sticks, carved from wood, emitted a faint fragrance. Sunday and Chen Shou stood on either side of the statue, like two guards.

Beside the futon, there was a dark object.

It was too dark inside the temple; even with Zhao Shu's eyes wide open, he couldn't make out the object's true form.

Following the procedure, Zhao Shu knelt on the prayer mat and respectfully kowtowed three times to Wang Lingguan before nervously approaching the object.

……

The temple doors were tightly shut, and the last few natives who had not yet been tested were still waiting anxiously when suddenly a desperate wail came from inside the temple.

The sound wasn't made in Chinese, but rather shouted in a native language—

"not me!"

Immediately afterwards, they heard a muffled thud from the temple door, as if someone inside was struggling to push it open.

However, the sound quickly stopped, as if someone had been pushed underwater and was making a muffled, hoarse plea for mercy.

About ten seconds later, the temple gate opened, and people saw Sunday and Chen Shou walking out with a native.

The native's face was covered in bloodstains, his hair was disheveled like a bird's nest, and his body was covered in countless shoe prints. His legs were bound, and it was clear that he had been severely beaten.

……

Sunday's hand was like an iron clamp, gripping Zhao Shu's wrist tightly.

Subduing this guy didn't take much effort at all. Zhao Shu, a weakling who had only been on the island for a short time and hadn't undergone any physical training, couldn't even disturb his breathing.

A piercing gaze swept over all the natives, whether they had completed the test or not, and Sunday cleared his throat.

“If there are people who conspired with him to beat up the leader’s pet, I advise you to come forward as soon as possible, so you can suffer less.”

Otherwise, I'll make you wish you were dead!

After saying this, Sunday stood still and waited quietly for a while. Seeing that no other natives behaved abnormally and no one stepped forward, he and Chen Shou escorted Zhao Shu to the factory.

……

Not long after the real culprit was identified, the natives, who had been woken up and made a fuss, were finally given the order to go home and rest.

Chen Fu called several honest old members to clean the temple.

After a tense "test," the other natives were all wide awake.

On their way home, they walked in twos and threes, discussing what Zhao Shu was thinking and where he got the audacity to beat up the leader's cat.

As for why Zhao Shu was exposed, they had no intention of exploring that.

The leader is inseparable from mystery; for the island's veterans, even more outrageous events are nothing to worry about.

It's normal for God to be able to know people's inner thoughts.

They were just amazed that Zhao Shu, who usually seemed so timid and not like a very courageous person, was able to do something like this.

Perhaps this is what Teacher Saturday meant by "You can know a person's face but not their heart"!

……

Even after being locked up in a cell, Zhao Shu still felt dazed.

Looking at the cold floor and the towering walls around him, he felt as if the past few days had been a dream.

A dream of instant success and meteoric rise to fame.

However, a dream is still a dream, and once it is brought into reality, it changes its appearance.

From the moment the idea formed to the moment he put it into action, he acted impulsively. Before he could even come up with a way to deceive the leader, he was inexplicably exposed and ended up here.

He feels regret now, deep regret.

He longed to go back two days, back to the moment when the thought still lingered in his mind.

However, everything he could touch at that moment told him—it was over, it was all over.

……

What kind of punishment will the cat that beats the leader receive?

While in prison, Zhao Shu kept thinking about this question.

He figured a beating was inevitable, and maybe even his ears or fingers would be cut off—

Such punishments are not uncommon in their tribe.

"So, which ear should we cut off, and which finger should we chop off?"

In the dimly lit cell, Zhao Shu stroked his ears and fingers, feeling extremely reluctant to part with one of them who was about to leave him forever.

Of course, he had also thought about "escaping" and breaking out of this cage.

But this cell is located on the first floor of the factory and was originally used as a small storage room. The walls are all made of reinforced concrete, and the door is made of thick wooden boards with metal edging.

Even if Zhao Shu were unarmed and his legs were tied, he wouldn't be able to escape anytime soon, not even if he had a small knife.

Having barely slept a wink last night, and then going through all that commotion and getting a beating in the early hours, Zhao Shu's mind became somewhat muddled as he thought about it.

A "dead pig doesn't fear boiling water" mentality gradually formed in his mind.
There are many people in the tribe who continue to live even after losing some limbs. Zhao Shu felt that at worst, he would just have to cut off his two ears. As long as he didn't lose his life, he didn't care what kind of punishment he was given.

Sleeping is the most important thing right now.

……

Rhythmic snoring could be heard from the cell.

Upon hearing this sound, Chen Lu, who was on guard duty, smiled helplessly.

He couldn't imagine what kind of mentality his companion, who had committed such a terrible mistake, had that allowed him to sleep peacefully in such a predicament.

At this moment, Zhao Shu, who was lying unconscious on the cement floor in his cell, had no idea that the punishment he was about to receive would be far more severe than cutting off his ears or chopping off his fingers.

……

The lights in the second-floor office were turned on again.

Looking at Sunday, who had come to report on her work, Chen Zhou asked for the third time.

Are you sure you haven't wronged him?

After receiving another affirmative answer, he sighed.

Before this, apart from the zebra, he had always thought that most natives were simple, honest, and obedient, and wouldn't do anything bad.

He preferred to believe that the tiger's head was scratched by another animal or injured accidentally, rather than want to know if the natives really had the guts to do such a thing.

The confirmation of the results meant that he could no longer view the natives in the same way he had before.

This further illustrates that the old ways of getting along are no longer suitable for islands today.

As subsequent capture operations are completed, the number of natives on the island will increase.

As the saying goes, nothing can be accomplished without rules.

After that, he had to develop a comprehensive, standardized, fair, and strict set of laws or rules so that the indigenous people could understand and learn them.

Besides the law, the era of bartering among the indigenous people could no longer continue.

This backward economic system is only suitable for primitive tribes. If you want to make various handicrafts and resources circulate, the use of currency is very necessary.

But Chen Zhou, a science major, knows almost nothing about law and is completely ignorant of economics. It would be quite difficult for him to design a legal code and build a monetary system.

The backlog of work had not yet been completed, and now these two rather challenging new tasks have been added.

Although he had not yet begun studying the law or considering what kind of currency to mint, he already felt a throbbing pain in his temples.

……

"What to do with him?"

Seeing that Chen Zhou looked somewhat tired, Sunday wisely prepared to end his work and asked one last question.

Chen Zhou leaned back in his chair, thought for a while, and then said.

"Call Zebra over later and have him find several good carpenters to repair the gallows."

Also, smash and burn the black box used to test the natives; we probably won't need it anymore.

After saying that, Chen Zhou waved his hand.

Seeing this on Sunday, he bowed slightly, turned and left the office, making sure to close the door gently behind him.

……

After leaving on Sunday, Chen Zhou pulled out a piece of paper, intending to first establish a simple legal framework. Thinking of the black box, he couldn't help but smile smugly.

Actually, the real culprit could be found through direct interrogation.

However, conducting a high-profile interrogation would not only disrupt work on the island, but might also alert the suspects and cause widespread panic.

If the native who injured the tiger's head gets the news and escapes into the forest, it could be a hidden danger.

By reviewing ancient Chinese detective stories and novels, Chen Zhou quickly found inspiration.

He had heard that Judge Bao once used "Heaven" to judge cases.

If you let a liar into a dark room and let them touch something, an honest person will dare to touch it, while a guilty person will not.

When the time comes, we can tell whether the test subject was lying by checking if their hands were stained black.

So he made a black box and put an iron bar blackened with charcoal inside it.

After deliberately adding an air of mystery and claiming that the object could test whether a person was lying, this unique lie-detection ceremony began under the supervision of Sunday, Fu Lu Shou, and others.

Things progressed more smoothly than he had imagined. The natives, who had never seen such methods before, assumed that the items in the black box could really see what they were thinking. During the test, some of them even confessed their "bad deeds" in advance due to panic.

Of course, the "bad things" these people mentioned were nothing more than secretly picking tomatoes, pulling up scallions, and cutting sugarcane to take home and eat. Compared to that native named Zhao Shu, they were practically great philanthropists.

……

Although the "bad things" done by other indigenous people did not affect the overall situation, they did serve as a wake-up call for Chen Zhou.

With the number of natives increasing, it was impossible for him and his trusted subordinates to monitor everyone.

What seems like a "small mistake" today could one day turn into a "big mistake," or even lead to extreme behavior like that of Zhao Shu.

In the past, rewards and punishments depended entirely on Chen Zhou's mood, and the natives couldn't find a clear way to receive rewards.

Even someone as adept at interpersonal relationships as Zebra can only pursue a higher status by getting close to people and becoming familiar with them.

With unified rules and clear reward and punishment regulations in place, such devious and unorthodox behaviors should decrease significantly.

He hastily scribbled a few lines on the paper, his thoughts drifting from "Judge Bao's Judgment" to the injured Tiger Head, a fierce glint flashing in Chen Zhou's eyes.

Once the laws are formulated and improved, such behavior will certainly not warrant the death penalty.

But the law is still at the "new folder" stage, and the entire island remains his personal fiefdom.

This person dared to disregard his dignity and do such a thing; he is doomed to die no matter what.

Moreover, if Zhao Shu doesn't die, there will always be another "Zhao Shu". (End of Chapter)