Tears and Death

"Follow the Ape-man Tribe, but remember: your actions must shift from overt to covert. If you don't quite understand, you can brush up on the ancient Earth mythology materials I sent you," Huang Si instructed.

According to Huang Si's plan, the three AI teachers would henceforth become the secret guardian deities of the Ape-man Tribe, rather than their overt divine mentors. If the ape-men did not learn to survive independently in the outside world, they would never grow up or become true humans.

At this moment, the Ape-man Tribe, having finally dragged their families to safety, was undergoing a shift in power.

Because Shu Zi had performed a great service that allowed the entire tribe to escape, he had earned the admiration of everyone.

Coupled with the fact that Shu Zi had originally intended to seize leadership of the tribe, he stood upon a high platform and shouted loudly to the ape-men below.

Shu Zi declared that the three Ancestral Deities were the only true gods they should worship, and that those followed by Hei Zi were merely false idols. Only the true gods could save them. He, Shu Zi, would lead them to honor the Ancestral Deities and survive together in this new land. Those who wished to follow him should acknowledge him as their chieftain and come with him.

Shu Zi already held considerable prestige, and since many other ape-men had witnessed the Ancestral Deities helping them break the stone tablets, they believed his words.

The number of people following Shu Zi grew, and the majority of the ape-men who had previously been neutral now leaned toward him.

Shu Zi raised a wooden spear tipped with a sharp stone and shouted, his arm raised high. Below the platform, thousands of ape-men roared in response. Standing before them, Shu Zi looked like a monarch wielding a scepter.

In the distance, a pair of venomous eyes watched the scene.

It was Hei Zi.

Hei Zi had assumed that once they escaped the Earth Realm, it would be his prime opportunity to lead the ape-men. He had not expected that the grace of finding the secret path to escape would be overshadowed by the greater debt of saving the entire tribe. Now, the ape-men were either kneeling to thank the Ancestral Deities or gathering around Shu Zi.

As for Hei Zi, he was left with only a few dozen Small Fry.

Hei Zi was filled with hatred. He hated that the deities who had once saved him would no longer help him. It was clear that he was the one truly chosen by the Heavenly Realm, while Shu Zi was merely an opportunist who had hogged the spotlight. Why did he deserve such a following?

"The Ancestral Deities are afraid of the Heavenly Realm too! Haven't you noticed that they refuse to mention the Heavenly Realm?" Hei Zi roared. "Follow Shu Zi? Only a fool would follow him. Didn't you see that half of the three hundred people who followed him this time died?"

He had conveniently forgotten that he had once ordered his own subordinates to die for him, which was why he had so few people left by his side.

As soon as Hei Zi said this, it backfired; those foolishly loyal followers began to show signs of doubt.

After all, when they had first followed Hei Zi, there had been hundreds of them!

Seeing that he could not deceive these believers, Hei Zi was furious. He shouted:

"Enough! You don't need to do anything. Just carry me!"

Whether it was Hei Zi, Shu Zi, or their respective followers, they all headed in the direction away from the Earth Realm.

They were terrified of that place now and only wanted to get as far away as possible.

By the time evening arrived, most of the ape-men were exhausted, so they stopped to settle down and rest.

As a leader, Shu Zi was highly disciplined. He led by example, giving the best resting spots—such as caves or areas near streams—to the injured members of the tribe. Consequently, the many young ape-men he led followed suit.

But even with good places to rest, the condition of many injured ape-men remained critical.

The wounded and the elderly knelt on the ground, crying out in prayer to the Ancestral Deities.

As if by a miracle, the three Ancestral Deities descended from the sky in response to their prayers.

The Ancestral Deities produced divine medicine, treating the injuries of the ape-men one by one, while also praising the actions of Shu Zi and his followers.

This solidified the prestige of Shu Zi and his group even further.

For a time, the Ape-man Tribe was filled with harmony.

They treated the wounded throughout the night, and it was not until dawn that the three Ancestral Deities finished their work.

"After today," the voice of the Eastern God Emperor, Dong Yao, resonated in all directions, "we shall return to the Heavenly Realm. In the future, we will no longer be able to provide direct assistance as we have now. However, we three will continue to protect you, the human race."

Xi Yuan and Li Huo also spoke to the ape-men before departing together.

The ape-men were filled with mixed emotions; they were saddened that the deities were returning to the Heavenly Realm and might not be able to help them often, but they were happy to know they remained a race protected by the gods.

The ape-men discussed the events among themselves before eventually finding places to rest. After all, most of them had stayed awake all night watching the deities heal the wounded.

Shu Zi and Xiao Hua took their children to an open space.

Xiao Hua had long since cut plenty of grass and woven it into a simple mat.

They tidied up the area and prepared to sleep.

However, not far away, a pair of malicious eyes was fixed upon them.

Hei Zi had made his followers find a way to carry him up a tree, where he had crouched for most of the night, waiting for the Ancestral Deities to leave.

In just that one night, almost all of his followers had run off to where the Ancestral Deities had descended.

Hei Zi's heart was filled with monstrous hatred. He was waiting for an opportunity.

Then, just as Shu Zi lay down and Xiao Hua was tending to the children, Hei Zi pulled a weapon he had hidden for a long time from his chest.

It was a Long-barreled Gun. Before escaping the walls, he had seen the small robot's weapon knocked down by the ape-men, so he had secretly picked it up and hidden it until now.

Hei Zi was quite clever. He had watched the small robot use the gun, so he had tried it himself. After wasting two bullets, Hei Zi learned how to fire it and confirmed that it was an incredibly powerful weapon, far superior to stone knives or axes.

Hei Zi raised the Long-barreled Gun and aimed it at Shu Zi.

His heart was pounding with excitement. Kill the leader! Kill Shu Zi, and all the glory would belong to him, Hei Zi!

No, wasn't the leadership, and the favor of the gods, something that belonged to him, Hei Zi, by right?

Hei Zi pulled the trigger.

The bullet let out a thunderous roar as it whistled through the air.

The speed of this bullet did not actually exceed the speed of sound, so Xiao Hua, who was still sitting there tending to her child, heard the noise coming from the nearby thicket.

Her head happened to be turned toward the direction the bullet was fired from, and she saw the flash of fire in the bushes, as well as the dark glint within that spark.

Almost instinctively, Xiao Hua twisted her body, using her own frame to block the unknown threat.

Xiao Hua let out a short cry, and then, she looked down at her chest.

A hole had appeared there—a very deep hole.

Shu Zi heard a blast, followed by his wife's cry for help, and only then did he realize something was wrong. He jumped up from the ground and looked at Xiao Hua with anxiety.

However, Xiao Hua's body had already gone limp.

"Someone help! There's a monster in the woods killing people!" Shu Zi shouted, clutching Xiao Hua.

The ape-men resting nearby all stood up and gathered around, cautiously probing toward the woods.

Hei Zi panicked and fired another shot, but because of his alarm, he didn't hit anyone.

This shot served as a slight deterrent to the ape-men, but after realizing there was no follow-up movement, they moved closer to the woods again.

Xiao Hua felt very dizzy. She saw the hole in her chest bleeding; she tried to cover it with her hand, but no matter what, she couldn't stop it.

Someone brought Shu Zi some medicine left behind by the Ancestral Deities, but no matter how Shu Zi applied the powder and cloth patches to Xiao Hua's wound, he could not stop the flow of blood.

This was because Xiao Hua's body had been pierced through by the destructive bullet; the spinning projectile had opened a gaping, penetrating hole directly through her body.

Xiao Hua's consciousness grew increasingly blurred. Her chest had hurt at first, but later, it didn't seem to hurt at all. Her whole body felt light, as if she were about to float away.

Am I dying? Xiao Hua thought. No, I don't want to go. I can't bear to leave Shu Zi and the child.

Xiao Hua's hand groped desperately forward. Shu Zi quickly grasped it, yet she still struggled to grab onto something.

Finally, Shu Zi understood. He picked up the child who was crying on the ground and placed him into Xiao Hua's arms.

Held by her husband and cradling her child, Xiao Hua's expression finally turned peaceful.

She lay quietly in Shu Zi's arms, slowly closing her eyes, as if she had simply fallen asleep.

When Hei Zi was finally dragged out of the bushes by the enraged ape-men, he was met with the scorn of everyone.

In the eyes of the ape-men, the fact that Hei Zi had used a monster's weapon against his own kind was an unforgivable crime.

The group punched and kicked Hei Zi, wishing they could beat him to death right there.

Hei Zi knew he likely wouldn't escape, but he was not resigned. Although his body was fat, his small eyes darted around rapidly.

Suddenly, taking advantage of an old ape-man standing too close, Hei Zi grabbed him and pressed the barrel of the gun directly against the old ape-man's neck.

"Let me go, or this old guy is dead!" Hei Zi roared.

The old ape-man was not very strong, and once grabbed, he was completely powerless to resist.

The crowd of ape-men feared the power of the gun and dared not step forward. They looked back at Shu Zi, waiting for him to make the call.

Shu Zi, holding Xiao Hua, said, "Let him go. No more people should die."

Thus, Hei Zi held the old ape-man hostage, threatening the crowd not to approach, and walked slowly to the edge of the resting area. He then dropped the hostage and fled in a panic.

Only then did the ape-men return to look after Shu Zi and Xiao Hua.

Shu Zi held Xiao Hua quietly. Xiao Hua's body was covered in all sorts of medicines, yet all efforts were in vain. Beneath the three of them, the blood had already pooled into what was almost a small pond.

A long, long time passed—so long that Xiao Hua's corpse began to grow heavy and Shu Zi could barely hold her anymore—yet he stubbornly refused to let go.

Several ape-men wanted to persuade Shu Zi, but then, they saw him cry.

The youngest and most promising leader of the Ape-man Tribe, who had never cried before, sobbed silently while holding the family member who would never move again.

Several kilometers away, in the Earth Realm.

After Hei Zi fired the shot, Huang Si sensed something. He looked toward the direction where the Ape-man Tribe was stationed and notified Dong Yao and the others through the network: "Something happened. Go take a look."

Although Huang Si's Mental Force Field could just barely cover that area when expanded to its maximum, he did not keep his Mental Force Field at full range at all times while in the Green World, as it was unnecessary.

When the first murder in the history of this Green World occurred, Huang Si did not perceive it at first. It was only when Xiao Ke monitored the use of firearms there via a network camera and immediately notified Huang Si that he realized something was wrong.

His Mental Force Field descended in an instant, and Huang Si saw Xiao Hua on the verge of death.

His mental force could only destroy, and his Creation Power could only create; neither possessed the ability to repair or alter.

Of course, if Huang Si were willing, he could still use modern technology to try and save Xiao Hua. It wouldn't matter that her body was broken; he could directly lift Xiao Hua with his mental force, transport her into the Earth Realm, insert oxygen tubes and a circulatory machine into her neck to maintain brain activity, and then perform major surgery to replace the damaged internal organs. He could start by replacing them with artificial organs, then cultivate spare organs using her genetic material, and transplant them once they were grown.

In this way, he could save this ape-man.

But it was meaningless.