Establishment of the Human Race

Huang Si said nothing, and Shu Shui grew restless. "Um... Father God, we can explain. We're not usually like this..."

Huang Si said coldly, "I'm not listening, I'm not listening?"

"Pfft—" Kong Yu burst out laughing.

It had to be said: when Huang Si joked in his usual icy manner, it was twice as effective.

Shu Shui shot Kong Yu a glare, silently warning her, What are you laughing at? If Father God decides to punish us, you won't get away either!

These guys. Huang Si shook his head with a smile. He couldn't be bothered to waste words, so he got straight to the reason he'd come.

"Enough. I'm here to inspect your souls."

At that, Shu Shui immediately stood ramrod straight and put his right hand over his chest. With an air of righteousness, he cried, "Father God, my soul is absolutely one hundred percent pure! You don't need to look!"

Zhong Yin couldn't help saying, "Pure? You're darker than anyone... Mmph..."

Shu Shui clamped a hand over Zhong Yin's mouth.

Kong Yu timidly raised her hand. "Father God, I'd like to report that Shu Shui watches inappropriate things every day..."

Shu Shui frantically covered both their mouths with his hands.

Huang Si didn't even feel like commenting anymore. He explained, "I don't mean 'soul' in the literary sense, but the scientific sense... Forget it, that's not really the scientific definition either. Just sit still. I'll have Xiao Ke handle it."

As he spoke, Huang Si summoned Xiao Ke.

"I'll have Xiao Ke pull Shu Shui back to the Mountain and Sea Realm in a moment. All right, don't look at me so pitifully." Huang Si glanced at Shu Shui, who was putting on a pitiful act. "It won't do any harm. I'll just have Xiao Ke deliberately slow down the transfer, so be prepared."

Xiao Ke responded from the Data Space, "Master, I'm ready."

Huang Si sent a message through the data network as well. "Okay, begin. Transfer Shu Shui's data."

Shu Shui suddenly went completely still. An artificial intelligence's thought processes had to be temporarily frozen during a data transfer. Usually, the process took only an instant and was barely noticeable. But Xiao Ke had deliberately slowed it down, making it seem very strange.

If Huang Si hadn't explained it beforehand, Zhong Yin and Kong Yu would have thought Shu Shui was being punished.

Huang Si focused intently, and his Mental Force Field gathered around him. After what had happened with Mo Xia, he knew how difficult souls were to see. If artificial intelligences weren't practically in a state of suspended animation during data transfers, their souls truly would be invisible.

After a while, Huang Si finally caught the faintest trace of Shu Shui's soul fluctuation.

He switched to a microscopic view.

Shu Shui's soul was transparent too, with countless threadlike particles floating within it. It was almost exactly the same as Mo Xia's.

So all living creatures had small cross-shaped souls, while artificial intelligences might be different, with souls shaped like line segments?

Once he'd seen enough, Huang Si said, "Xiao Ke, that's enough. Let Shu Shui return to his body."

Xiao Ke immediately followed his instructions and transferred Shu Shui back. It took only an instant.

The blank look on Shu Shui's face changed, and he regained consciousness.

The moment he came to, he clutched at his chest. "Ah! Was I just transferred? Has Father God already inspected my soul? What do I do? What do I do?"

Kong Yu nodded, suppressing a laugh. "That's right. Father God now knows all the little secrets buried deep in your soul."

The expression on Shu Shui's face was indescribable, as if he'd just witnessed the most dreadful sight in hell.

He dropped to his knees with a thump.

"Father God, I—I didn't mean to draw those little books about you and Mo Xia! Really! I don't usually have that kind of hobby. I was just temporarily overcome by—"

Huang Si cut him off. "All right, Xiao Ke, lock Shu Shui away in the Mountain and Sea Realm. Let him out in a hundred years."

Xiao Ke replied, "Yes, Master."

After Shu Shui was taken away, Huang Si asked Zhong Yin and Kong Yu, "Who got you the TV shows? Xiao Ke or Mo Xia?"

The two didn't dare hide the truth. "Mo Xia. Shu Shui's close to him, so he secretly asked Mo Xia to find them."

Huang Si sneered. "Oh? I'll settle accounts with him later."

Huang Si hadn't planned to interfere with their watching TV shows in the lab, but since they'd done something they shouldn't have, he didn't mind punishing the whole group for Shu Shui's mistake.

Before he left, Huang Si added, "Burn all of Shu Shui's inappropriate stuff. And you two, go to Xiao Ke and accept your punishment. Just work overtime for a week—007-style."

Zhong Yin and Kong Yu nodded. Compared to being locked up for a hundred years, that was a lot easier.

Dong Yao, Li Huo, and Xi Yuan weren't in the Earth Realm. They seemed to have gone to the Ape-man Tribe, so Huang Si asked Xiao Ke to notify them.

Huang Si sat on the wall surrounding the Earth Realm. After a while, Dong Yao and the other two flew over from the sky.

The three landed on the ground below the wall and bowed in unison. "Greetings, Father God."

Huang Si looked at them with a smile. "Not bad. You look quite divine when you fly."

The bodies they were using now were equipped for flight, powered by jet-style hover systems. So whenever they flew, a cloud of mist inevitably billowed beneath them, making them look just like figures from legend.

In fact, they could also turn invisible by using their built-in polarizing equipment.

Dong Yao asked, "May we ask why Father God summoned us?"

Huang Si patted the wall beside him. "Come sit up here and tell me what's happened among the mortals these past few days."

The three artificial intelligences flew up onto the wall and sat down near Huang Si.

As they spoke, the Ape-man Tribe's journey over the past nearly two hundred days gradually unfolded.

Xiao Hua's death had, unexpectedly, become an opportunity for the Ape-man Tribe to unite.

Hei Zi had escaped, and everyone was furious. They wanted to avenge Xiao Hua.

Shu Zi buried Xiao Hua where she had fallen, then pleaded with the Ancestral Deities at her grave to help them take revenge.

The three Ancestral Deities appeared before them and explained that Hei Zi had already fled far away. Shu Zi's first duty was to establish a nation, comfort his companions, exhausted and hungry after their long journey, and protect them from the unknown dangers in the forest. Only after they were prepared would the time be right for revenge.

Only then did Shu Zi and the other leaders realize that their people were indeed in a dangerous situation.

The beasts in the forest were no ordinary animals. During their migration, the people had gradually discovered that some were incredibly powerful, capable of easily killing armed Ape-men. Some even possessed intelligence and were exceedingly cunning and treacherous.

They had escaped the Earth Realm and traveled a long way. Though the Ancestral Deities had given them immortal medicine, nearly all the tribe members were at the end of their strength.

At the urging of the Ancestral Deities, the first chieftain of the intelligent Ape-man Tribe was born.

In a valley.

Thousands of Ape-men stood in layer upon layer around the outskirts. The elders of the tribe, dressed in animal hides, stood in the middle, and at the center of the gathering was an altar.

The tribe members had hastily built the altar by piling up earth.

Shu Zi had brilliant bird feathers tucked into his hair, and vivid stripes painted across his face with fruit and mud. He wore a robe and held a scepter carved from a branch, with a glittering raw gemstone set into it.

At the elders' signal, the Ape-men around them began singing. The song had a simple rhythm and a primitive quality.

The elders around the altar began to dance, seeking the gods' protection and praying for the chieftain's coronation to begin.

When the elders had finished praying, it was Shu Zi's turn. He planted his sword in the ground and spoke at length, calling on everyone to take an oath of revenge and pleading with the Ancestral Deities to lead them.

The chieftain's coronation reached its climax. Dong Yao, Xi Yuan, and Li Huo descended gracefully right on cue. They bestowed a God Bow on Shu Zi, declaring it a symbol of the king of the Human Race. Then, in their capacity as guardian deities, they said a few words before disappearing.

When Huang Si heard this, he asked, "What was that God Bow?"

Dong Yao smiled. "The three of us made it together. It has an automatic-aiming function, so even ordinary arrows can hit their mark every time. It can also add extra force to a shot, enough to pierce the hide of most Fierce Beasts they'll encounter for now. Its built-in power source will last for over three hundred years."

Huang Si nodded with satisfaction. "Their combat strength is far too weak for them to deal with the Fierce Beasts outside. A ranged weapon will certainly help."

Dong Yao and the other two cupped their hands. "We have completed the task Father God entrusted to us."

Huang Si smiled and said, "Then, from this day forward, now that they've left the cradle and become independent, they may be called the Human Race."

Thus began the Human Race.

After the Ancestral Deities left, the more than six thousand members of the Human Race followed their chieftain's lead and settled in a habitable mountain range, as the Ancestral Deities had instructed.

They named the mountain range Fang Mountain.

The name referred to its broad, flat summit.

From then on, Fang Mountain became the birthplace of the Human Race.

At first, all the Human Race had were the food and tools they'd hurriedly brought when escaping the Earth Realm, along with the medicines given to them by the Ancestral Deities.

If they didn't find a solution, their supplies would soon run out.

Fortunately, their chieftain Shu Zi led them in hunting and gathering nearby.

The God Bow bestowed by the deities was incredibly powerful, hitting its mark every time. This steadily raised Shu Zi's standing among the tribe.

At night, the Human Race had no shelter from the wind and rain, and could only take temporary refuge in natural caves and low-lying areas.

A few days later, many fell ill as a result.

In the end, it was Li Huo who descended and taught the Human Race how to mix soil with water, mold it into bricks, and fire them in a great blaze. Combined with stone slabs, the bricks could be used to build walls that blocked the wind. Wooden boards placed on top kept out the rain.

The Human Race was deeply grateful.

Later, when food grew scarce, Xi Yuan descended to teach the Human Race how to save seeds and plant crops. Dong Yao taught them how to train and manage their people, and how to appoint some of them as shamans responsible for communicating with the deities and conducting rituals.

Shu Zi proved to have considerable talent for leadership. With Dong Yao's guidance, he managed the tribe in an orderly fashion.

After teaching them these things, the three deities departed once more.

With the deities' detailed guidance, life became much easier for the Human Race.

The people knew that each time the deities descended, they had to withstand the pressure of the Heavenly Mandate and made great sacrifices for them.

So whenever the deities left, the Human Race's faith in them grew stronger. The people spontaneously organized many ceremonies and acts of worship.

At around this time, the Human Race also began to develop an extremely primitive division of labor.

Shu Zi was the chieftain and the core of the tribe's power.

Some of his subordinates were responsible for training and combat; they were the warriors.

A smaller group was responsible for communicating with the deities, conducting ceremonies, and performing rituals. They were the shamans.

Among them, those who were older, respected, and wise were honored as elders.

Elder wasn't a profession, but simply an honorific.

Finally, at the urging of Chieftain Shu Zi and the elders and shamans, a shrine dedicated to worshipping the Ancestral Deities was built.

The shrine was far larger and more carefully constructed than any of their homes.

This was only natural. In the primitive era of the Human Race, faith in the gods always outweighed the immediate struggle for survival.

What was more, the gods here truly deserved to be called great deities who protected the Human Race.

They had descended many times throughout the Human Race's history to help them. Everyone in the Human Race knew the deities were real.

After this first temple in the history of Human Race civilization was built, it quickly became a lively place. Many members of the Human Race entered to worship the Ancestral Deities with sincere devotion.

The shamans serving in the shrine also put their ingenuity to use, devising one set of worship rituals after another and requiring the people to follow them strictly.

Even when some members of the tribe had too little to eat or too little to wear, they still followed those elaborate rituals to the letter, demonstrating their devotion.

And so the first Human Race tribe was established. Though it was still primitive and its productivity was extremely low, it began to multiply and thrive on this planet, united by its faith and solidarity.