Sometimes Being Dumb Is a Compliment

"The soil, environment, and climate here are all excellent. We can expect more and more people to settle here in the future..."

"Even if it's nothing but wasteland right now, in the future, it'll be worth far more than currency like shells, which is bound to be phased out."

Whenever money and assets were involved, Cang Xuan's pupils practically turned into the square holes of copper coins.

"...What does that have to do with us? We came here to protect this world, not to enjoy ourselves."

Chi Yuan asked in confusion.

Cang Xuan glanced at Lianshan beside her and said, "Chi Yuan, you need to understand that all of us will eventually grow old and die... but you're different."

"Your constitution will keep you young forever. You'll be guarding this world alone for a very long time..."

Xu Yanwu weakly raised his hand. "Um... I'm actually pretty long-lived too... Cang Xuan, are you really not counting me...?"

Not counting the fifty thousand years he had spent in the hibernation pod, Xu Yanwu had also been in this world for a long time, yet there was still no sign of his lifespan running dry...

"...Shut up, you shameless old pervert. I'd be even less at ease leaving Chi Yuan to you!"

"That's so cruel..."

After scolding Xu Yanwu, Cang Xuan returned to the previous topic. "So, Chi Yuan, do you understand what I mean?"

Chi Yuan's gaze was firm. "I understand. I'm not afraid."

"...No, you completely misunderstood what I meant."

A small abacus suddenly appeared in Cang Xuan's hand—one she had asked Xu Yanwu to make. She clattered away at it. "Do you know how much money food, clothing, housing, and transportation over several centuries—or even more than a dozen centuries—would cost in total?"

"Huh?"

Chi Yuan froze, stumped by Cang Xuan's question.

"Then there's the possibility of inflation, currency depreciation, and so on in the future. If you don't plan properly, with that dumb brain of yours that can't do business, are you planning to earn money through hard labor?"

Lianshan, standing nearby, already had spirals in his eyes. His ancient knowledge base simply wasn't enough for him to understand any of this...

Xu Yanwu silently raised his hand again. "I can steal electric scooters... Cough, cough, I mean, earn money to support Chi Yuan. Don't let my appearance fool you, I can actually make quite a bit of money..."

Smack!

That was the sound of the abacus hitting Xu Yanwu in the face.

"Xu! Yan! Wu! Will you die if you don't talk?!"

That was Cang Xuan's furious voice.

"Don't pinch my kidney! And Cang Xuan, your character setting has collapsed! It's collapsed, aaah!"

That was Xu Yanwu's miserable scream.

"Pfft..."

That was the sound of Lianshan and Chi Yuan failing to hold back their laughter.

The scene immediately descended into chaos.

After all that commotion, Xu Yanwu finally managed to exhaust Cang Xuan with his unusually tough body, leaving her sitting on the beach without any desire to get up. Xu Yanwu even had the spare attention to direct Lianshan to bring the shells the two of them had collected back to the tribe...

After all, what came next was something Lianshan, as a human of this Civilization Era, could not participate in...

The burial of the Quantum Computer, containing the pinnacle of humanity's technology at this moment, could not be known by anyone else...

What if Lianshan found it fun someday and dug up the Quantum Computer to use as a ball?

Xu Yanwu helped Cang Xuan, who was resting on the beach, to her feet and smiled. "Cang Xuan, shouldn't we bury that Quantum Computer or whatever now?"

"How did you know?"

Cang Xuan looked at Xu Yanwu warily.

"...Haven't you been saying lately that you were dealing with the Quantum Computer? I only had to make a little guess to figure it out, right?"

"You have that kind of intelligence?"

In Cang Xuan's impression, Xu Yanwu had always gone hunting alongside those tribal warriors...

Xu Yanwu wore an utterly exasperated expression. "I'm a warrior who survived the previous Civilization Era just like you guys, okay?

Was I really that pathetic in your eyes?"

Complaints aside, the Quantum Computer that needed burying still had to be buried...

Let's congratulate Mr. Xu Yanwu on once again taking up the role of manual laborer!

An hour later, inside the huge pit they had dug...

"I was mining not long ago, and now I'm digging holes again..." Xu Yanwu spat into his palm, rubbed his hands together, then picked up the shovel and resumed digging. "Sure enough, I'm just destined for a life of hard labor..."

Feeling utterly miserable, Xu Yanwu shoveled dirt while singing along to the rhythm of his digging.

"Holding a steamed bun in my hands..."

"Not a single drop of oil in my dish..."

"Two streams of tears... keep flowing without end..."

"Every step leaves a pain in my heart..."

Xu Yanwu sang so miserably that Chi Yuan, who had been keeping Cang Xuan company, couldn't help crouching by the edge of the pit and asking him.

"Xu Yanwu, how about I help you...?"

Xu Yanwu's voice returned to normal in an instant. "Ah, no need. I'm just singing for fun. Don't trouble yourself. Leave hard labor like digging pits to me..."

Just as Chi Yuan thought Xu Yanwu was about to say something nice, she heard him add, "If you use an inch punch and collapse the pit, I'll have to dig it all over again..."

"...Inch punch!"

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, don't... Urgh!"

Before Xu Yanwu could leap out, he was buried alive beneath the earth and rocks from the side of the pit that Chi Yuan had punched down...

Elsewhere, Cang Xuan was lying by the sea admiring the sunset. Hearing the commotion, she turned back to look, then said to the furious Chi Yuan as she returned, with a hint of helplessness, "Chi Yuan, I told you not to bother with him. He's just that irritating."

"I know, but I didn't expect him to be like this every single time." Chi Yuan spoke with a little resentment. "Even I get angry."

Cang Xuan rarely smiled, but she withdrew it before Chi Yuan noticed. "Though he is irritating, he really is a good person... if not for the peeping."

Chi Yuan fell silent. "It feels like he's hiding something from us."

"Indeed. Even Danzhu noticed that there was something he hadn't told us. And during these past two years of tribal life, he's been constantly guiding the people of this Civilization Era to improve. In some areas, he's done even more than we have, as though he's preparing for something."

Cang Xuan paused. "Also, he seems to have been familiar with us from the very beginning. It doesn't seem at all like he had only just awakened before our Civilization Era was destroyed."

"I suspect Xu Yanwu really knows some things about the future, but wants to hide them from us and deal with them alone."

Chi Yuan couldn't help asking, "But Fire Moth extracted his energy for decades. Wouldn't he bear a grudge because of that...?"

"Do you think Xu Yanwu is that kind of person?"

Cang Xuan looked toward the pit, and Chi Yuan followed her gaze.

Over there, Xu Yanwu had just crawled out of the dirt. He gulped down fresh air, then lay on the ground without wanting to move.

Cang Xuan spoke softly.

"He's just... a pretty good idiot..."