Savage Civilization, Cowardly Barbarians

Huang Si sat quietly beside the corpse for a while, mourning the member of the Human Race he had once cared for and saved.

Being able to send him off at the very end felt right to Huang Si.

However, that tranquility was soon broken.

The squad led by Shu Zi appeared at the foot of the cliff. Seeing a stranger inexplicably standing beside Hei Zi, he grew tense and shouted, "Who are you! What are you doing here! Hand Hei Zi over to me!"

Shu Zi still remembered that Hei Zi had been saved by a god and returned to their settlement by that monster.

So, could it be that this person dressed in strange clothes...

Although Shu Zi's tone was harsh, he didn't dare approach for the moment, as he had no idea who the other party was.

Huang Si glanced at Shu Zi and his group, then vanished instantly.

Shu Zi stood stunned in the night wind for a long time before finally coming to his senses and leading his companions to examine Hei Zi's body.

That person's gaze had sent a chill deep into his soul.

There was no hostility in that look, not even a trace of emotion; there was only an endless, profound indifference.

Yet, for some reason, that very indifference felt more terrifying to Shu Zi than any hostility.

Fortunately, the man had left.

Shu Zi and his companions carried Hei Zi's body to the center of the Ape-Man Tribe, where a massive bonfire was burning.

Many of their fellow humans stood guard by the fire, while the corpses of numerous ape-men lay scattered about.

Additionally, several hundred ape-men were crouching on the ground, clutching their heads, guarded by humans wielding weapons; most of them were women and children.

"We have killed Hei Zi! We have avenged Xiao Hua!" Shu Zi used the string of the God Bow to saw off Hei Zi's head, then held it high.

The surrounding humans responded with a roar.

Shu Zi still felt a lingering chill in his heart, so to bolster his courage, he continued to shout loudly:

"Hei Zi can no longer wreak havoc upon us! Because the evil god behind him was also frightened away by our bravery! He will never return! We have all done well!"

"The evil god has been driven away!" the tribesmen around him echoed.

Shu Zi went quiet for a moment, waiting.

Nothing happened, and so, Shu Zi knew that they were truly safe.

"We won!" he cheered joyfully.

Huang Si watched the jubilation among the humans from the air nearby. An evil god? That concept wasn't bad; he would find a suitable artificial intelligence to take over that title later.

Where there is light, there is shadow.

Where there is justice, there is evil.

Where there are gods, there are demons.

This world could be no exception.

Otherwise, humans without a sense of crisis would never strive for progress.

The Human Race's expedition was a complete success. They had not only killed Hei Zi but also many of the ape-men who had acted as his accomplices, leaving only the women and children behind.

At first, the humans had spared them simply because they didn't want to kill so many people, but they soon found themselves in a dilemma: how should they be dealt with?

A man named Gouwei, who often ran errands for the elders in the ancestral hall and possessed a shrewd nature, came up with an idea.

Gouwei said, "The women and children are weaker and easier to control. Why don't we leave some of our people here to supervise them while they work for us?"

Shu Zi shook his head. "A woman's labor is not as good as a man's, and we already have children and women of our own to feed. What could they possibly do? It would be good enough if they could feed themselves; what could they provide for us?"

Gouwei was also stumped. Shu Zi was right, and these people were clearly stupider than their own, making it unlikely they would be productive.

"How about this," Gouwei said, making a chopping motion with his hand, "we keep the young and strong women, and kill the rest along with the children! That way, they won't waste our food."

Shu Zi hesitated. "What if we just let them go?"

Another older man shouted, "That must never happen, Chief! We burned their land and killed their people; if we let them go, they will all be our enemies, and sooner or later, they will return for revenge."

Shu Zi wavered for a long time, discussed it with the others, and ultimately decided to follow Gouwei's plan.

Except for Shu Zi, almost every man picked a woman, and a few of the stronger ones even grabbed two.

The others tried to force Shu Zi to pick one as well, but he refused point-blank.

Finally, once everyone had made their selections, Shu Zi gave the order to act.

In an instant, cries of agony shook the air, and the ape-man settlement flowed with blood.

The captured women trembled, no longer daring to harbor any thoughts of resistance.

The course of civilization is often accompanied by bloodshed and brutality.

In the years that followed, the Human Race, led by Shu Zi wielding the God Bow, traversed the territories of every Ape-man tribe, large and small, in the surrounding lands.

The weak and those with a gentle attitude were brought into alliances, intermarried with, and subtly brought under their rule.

The strong and those with a hardline attitude were made examples of, their paths cleared with blood.

In the past, the Ape-man tribes had been extremely hostile toward the Human Race for possessing language and intelligence; whenever a human was sent to an Ape-man tribe, they would be ostracized and bullied.

But now, they had no choice but to either respectfully treat the humans as honored guests or be reduced to ashes under their military might.

Times had changed, and the Ape-man tribes regretted their past actions.

Today, members of the Human Race had become highly sought after.

If an individual from an Ape-man tribe formed a partnership with a human, or even just left behind a descendant, their status within their original community would change drastically.

Civilization had conquered barbarism, and it was also eroding it.

One day, the Ape-men in the true sense of the word would vanish completely due to their backwardness.

Huang Si's consciousness arrived at the Signal Tower near Fang Mountain, the main stronghold of the Human Race, gazing out at the bustling and busy temple.

The temple enshrined the three Ancestral Deities, and a constant stream of people flowed through it, with many devout believers kneeling inside.

Huang Si's spirit pierced through the temple walls and saw Shu Zi kneeling in the front row.

Every autumn, the season in which Xiao Hua had died, Shu Zi came to the temple of the Ancestral Deities to offer sacrifices.

The Human Race did not yet have a true calendar, so they could only rely on the changing of the seasons to estimate time.

The content of Shu Zi's prayers was always identical: he begged the deities to resurrect his wife.

"It's been five years, why hasn't this Shu Zi remarried yet?"

Huang Si was not being sarcastic; although his true body was sitting in his living room eating a Snow Mochi, he had only split off a sliver of consciousness to check on the situation.

Seeing Shu Zi in this state, Huang Si found the man somewhat annoying.

Five years had passed, and he was still praying for a resurrection. Although Huang Si had been overly optimistic at the time and had indeed let the three Ancestral Deities promise that if he were pious and achieved great merit, they would return his wife to him.

However, five years in the Green World was only one week to Huang Si. In that week, he still hadn't found a way to undo the soul assimilation.

This man was too impatient.

It would be one thing if he were an ordinary person, but the problem was that Xiao Hua was also the wife of the Human Race's chieftain.

He still hadn't figured out what kind of chaos would ensue if he returned her.

Huang Si made a decision in reality: there was a 323-fold difference in the flow of time between the two places. If Shu Zi still insisted on having his wife back by the time he finished eating his Snow Mochi, then he would send her back, regardless of the consequences.

As the chieftain of his tribe, it was inevitable that others would find it unbearable for him to refuse women.

Sure enough, after the sacrifice, elders kept coming over to persuade him.

Shu Zi brushed them off, saying that he already had a son, and as long as he raised his son, his line would not die out.

But how could one be enough? What if the child died prematurely? A group of elders still tried to persuade Shu Zi with earnest words.

However, Shu Zi's attitude was exceptionally firm; he would not accept any woman unless Xiao Hua was resurrected.

"The dead cannot come back to life!" others urged him.

Shu Zi only replied, "The Ancestral Deities promised it. If it hasn't happened yet, it must be because I am not sincere enough, or I haven't done enough. As long as I..."

Originally, Huang Si had been holding the small wooden fork, delaying eating the last bite of the Snow Mochi.

He wanted to wait.

But after hearing Shu Zi's superstitious words, Huang Si finished the last bite with a cold face.

I will let you get what you wish for.