"We didn't have those kinds of problems. During the several times humanity faced extinction, we hid deep within the Earth. We had always worked hard to build ourselves up and recuperate, striving to advance our civilization. We were simply very low-key and had never displayed our civilization to the outside world."
Her words gave me a better understanding of the Underground Lizardmen.
"Also, you call us Underground Lizardmen, but we don't actually accept that name, because we aren't Lizardmen at all. We are indeed different from ordinary humans, but you could call us snake people, because our true form is human above the waist and snake below it. Of course, after all these years of evolution, we can now control our snake tails and turn them into two human legs. As long as we aren't affected by external forces, this transformation is generally very stable. But under special circumstances, a snake tail can also be extremely useful."
Human heads and snake bodies.
The Underground Lizardmen were actually snake people!
I had suspected that long ago.
"Were humanity's ancestors also human-headed and snake-bodied?"
"That's right. Nuwa, Fuxi, and many of the so-called deities from your ancient era were our ancestors. More precisely, we share the same ancestors as you. Later, you lived on land for a long time, so you completed the evolution from snake tails to two legs ahead of us. Though calling it evolution might not be accurate, because your evolution instead left you unable to adapt to certain special environments. For example, our people can swim from the moment they are born. We don't need to learn, and swimming doesn't consume nearly as much stamina for us as it does for you. We can even breathe underwater through our skin. That is another ability your humans have degenerated