Alien creatures destroy homes? Start by killing upright apes!

Chapter 73 A Hundred Countries Are Empty

The reporter asked him why he had one set of photos on the front and one on the back.

David said, "On the front is etiquette, on the back is survival. I respect etiquette, but I must protect myself in terms of survival."

This is not a contradiction; this is reality.

George of the Kingdom of Jacques did not reply to the telegram.

However, he ordered the entire Toulon fleet to be placed on high alert.

The reporter asked him if he was preparing for war.

He said, "It's not about preparing for war, it's about preparing to draw a line. The Lu administration is right, we can't share the same table. Toulon is my table, and the Anomalocaris has already been put to sleep by them. I can't let them take my table away."

Masa from Taro Tanuki Kingdom replied.

He personally wrote a telegram with only one line: I agree, and the upright ape agrees too. This morning it laid out a line of words with pebbles—Lu Cheng was right. We and you are different from the bloodline. Admitting the difference is more honest than pretending to be the same.

Lu Cheng placed the telegram next to the blank circle.

Carrie came in with a cup of coffee, glanced at the telegram, and then at the empty circle.

"Does that upright ape in the kimono agree with you?"

"It agrees with me because it knows I'm telling the truth. It studied human civilization in Kyoto for over ninety days and came to the same conclusion as me—if our blood is different, we can't share the same table."

"Then why is it still staying in Kyoto? Why doesn't it run away?"

"Because it made a pact with Massa, it used its eyes as a ruler to measure the rate of gray diffusion. Now the gray diffusion is suppressed by the Mbekifa and Mossefa, but it hasn't disappeared. It's still measuring, it says it won't run away, because if it runs away, no one will have the energy."

Bertswana, that evening.

Old Chief Mossai sat under a mango tree, with three upright apes squatting in front of him.

Captain Zhao squatted down to take pictures.

Mosel didn't carve circles today; instead, he brought a bowl of water.

The water was freshly drawn from the well at the village entrance.

He placed the water bowl between himself and the upright ape, then stretched out his hand and placed it on the left side of the water bowl.

Five fingers, rough palm lines.

He pointed to the right side of the water bowl, indicating that the upright ape should also put its hand on it.

The three upright apes looked at each other.

The oldest one stretched out its front paw and placed it on the right side of the water bowl.

Five fingers, black nails.

Two hands, one red and one black, separated by a bowl of water.

I didn't touch it with my hand.

Mo Sai said to Captain Zhao, "Take a picture and send it to Governor Lu. Tell him that you can put one hand on the same table as the other, as long as there's a bowl of water between you. The water is transparent, so you can see the other person's hand. If you can see it, you don't need to guess. If you don't need to guess, you don't need to fight."

Captain Zhao asked, "Can we shake hands?"

Mossé said, "No, if we shake hands, the water will spill. If the water spills, the table will get dirty. If the table gets dirty, no one can eat. So we can put our hands down, but we can't spill the water. The best way to avoid spilling water is not to shake hands."

Captain Zhao sent the photo and Mo Sai's words to Lu Cheng.

That night, dawn broke.

[Day 96 of the Exotic Creatures' Arrival - Announcement of Niche Boundary Confirmation]

[System confirmed: The ecological niche overlap between humans and Homo erectus remains at 94%, and the physiological incompatibility between red and black blood cannot be eliminated through behavioral imitation. Homo erectus can imitate all external forms of human civilization—economic, legal, religious, social, etc.]

Politics—but it cannot change the rigid ecological niche of black blood.

[System prompt: Clearly defining the boundaries between the two sides helps reduce the probability of misunderstanding-based conflicts. However, clear boundaries also formally confirm the zero-sum nature of niche competition.]

[System Update: In the past 24 hours, six major countries worldwide have explicitly stated their opposition to coexistence, four countries tend to maintain the status quo but do not deny the border, and the attitudes of the remaining countries are unclear. Regarding the Homo erectus, tribes in the Ural mining region and individuals in Kyoto have expressed their acceptance of the border through symbols or text.]

[System final message: The boundary has been drawn. The ownership of the table has not yet been determined.]

The light curtain went out.

Lu Cheng stood on the balcony.

The water dragon beast in the square finally chewed up and swallowed the bone ball that it had been holding in its mouth for who knows how many days, then stood up and shook off the dirt on its body.

It rubbed the ground with half of its broken fang, then slashed at the plaza with its claws.

It started digging a hole again.

No overtime, just regular digging.

It was as if nothing had happened.

Lu Cheng watched it digging in the soil.

The plaintext telegram he sent a few days ago was incomprehensible to the Water Dragon Beast.

The behavior of the global hominids is abnormal, and the Lystrosaurus does not participate.

Whether the boundary is drawn or not, who owns the table, or whether hands can be held, has nothing to do with it.

It only cares about whether the soil is loose or not, whether there are enough bone balls, and when the broken fangs will grow back.

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

There are protests all over the world.

In the foggy city of New York, more than 100,000 people gathered on Whitehall Street, completely blocking the street.

The organizer of the parade was a high school teacher named Emily, who was blonde and blue-eyed and had excellent oratory skills. She stood on a makeshift platform and gave a speech to the crowd.

She wrote her speech in her living room last night, until 3 a.m., while she was writing and she was crying.

"Why should we go to war? They paid for the bread! They gave tips! They went to school with our children!"

-

Yes, there's one at St. Mary's Elementary School in the eastern part of Chongqing. It sits in the last row, never raises its hand to answer questions, and always passes tests but never gets high marks because it doesn't want to attract attention. You say we should go to war with such a creature?

The crowd erupted in a thunderous roar of response.

Someone was holding up a sign that read, "The color of blood is not a sin."

Someone held up a banner that read, "They are more civilized than us."

Someone is holding a child whose face is painted with black tears, representing sympathy for the upright apes.

At the Prime Minister's residence at the end of Whitehall Street, David stood at a second-floor window, looking through the gaps in the blinds at the surging crowds below.

The Navy Minister stood behind him, holding a newly printed poll report.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, according to the latest poll, 61% of Chongqing residents oppose war, 17% support it, and the remainder are undecided. More than half of the opponents believe that Homo erectus are intelligent beings with whom coexistence is possible," 30% believe "negotiations should be conducted first," and 12% believe that humans are the aggressors."

"Humans are the invaders?" David thought he had misheard.

"Those 12 percent of people believe that the Homo erectus were forcibly introduced to Earth by the system, and that they themselves are victims. When humans chose the Homo erectus, they thought they had chosen a pet, and now that the pet has become smarter, they want to start a war. This is a case of starting something and then abandoning it."

David closed the blinds, turned to look at the First Lord of the Navy, and remained silent for a full five seconds.

"What happened to the bakery owner? What did he say?"

"The bakery owner was found drowned in the Taywus River last night. It wasn't the upright apes who did it; he fell in while drunk. But the organizers of the march have already included this in their anti-war propaganda. They say the bakery owner drank because he felt guilty, because he had said he wouldn't invite the upright apes to dinner, which hurt their feelings."

David pulled back the blinds and looked out at the angry, righteous, and tearful faces.

The vast majority of them had never seen a hominid, never stood face to face with a hominid, and never had their houses demolished, military ports blocked, mineral veins emptied, or water sources polluted by a hominid.

Their anger was based on newspaper photos and speeches.