DipNovel Chapter 47 We Are Too
Chapter 47 We Are Too
Meanwhile, in Taro Tanuki Country, Kyoto.
Massa stood outside the courtyard, holding a kerosene lamp in his hand.
The lights shone on the courtyard ground.
After "replacing people," "bullets are useless," "you dig," and "fire," the upright ape presented a complete sentence today.
It's not a phrase, it's not a symbol, it's a sentence.
The sentence is complete with subject, verb, and object, and is grammatically correct. It describes how white pebbles are arranged in a neat row on dark gravel.
"You seek the answer underground; the answer is in your own eyes."
Massa's kerosene lamp flickered.
Professor Yamamoto stood behind him, his voice extremely low:
"It's talking to us, not recording, it's having a conversation."
Massa crouched down and looked at the line of text.
The handwriting is neat, with equal spacing between each character, like it was printed.
The upright ape squatted beside the pebbles, clutching a twig in its hand, looking at Massa with its clear black and white eyes.
Then it lowered its head and wrote a few more words on the ground with a twig.
It wasn't made of pebbles, but of twigs, with smooth strokes, written in one go.
"So are we."
……
August, 5914 of the Blue Star Calendar, the forty-third day since the arrival of alien creatures.
Kerry's telegram arrived in the early morning.
When Lu Cheng was dragged out of bed by Jia Li, it was still dark outside.
"Oh, Carrie, let me sleep a little longer."
"President Kerry sent an urgent telegram, saying that you must see it in person."
Lu Cheng walked to his office in his pajamas and opened the telegram.
Kerry's handwriting was very neat, each stroke precise, as if he had measured it with a ruler.
"Brother Lu, the mighty Dragon Kingdom wants to make an attempt—to communicate with that upright ape in Kyoto."
Lu Cheng was half awake.
"It's not observation, it's not a test, it's a dialogue. Sit across from it and communicate with it in its own way. It uses pebbles to spell words, so we use pebbles to spell words too. It uses twigs to write words, so we use twigs to write words too."
"I know this idea sounds crazy, but look at the report Prime Minister Massa sent—the sentences that the upright ape presented, 'You look for the answer underground, the answer is in your eyes,' 'We look for it too.' It's not just instinctive imitation, it's conscious communication. It's trying to tell us something, or rather, it's trying to know something from us."
"Since it wants to communicate, then we will communicate. There's an old saying in the mighty Longguo: 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.' Talking to the enemy is not surrendering, it's understanding. Understanding what it wants, what it fears, and where its bottom line is. If it's willing to tell us the weaknesses of the pseudo-humans, we've gained. If it says nothing, we haven't lost anything either."
"Brother Lu, this matter requires Prime Minister Massa's cooperation. The upright ape in Kyoto is in his courtyard. If you agree, I will personally go to Kyoto and meet that upright ape face to face. If the president of the mighty dragon kingdom were to sit opposite an upright ape and spell words with pebbles, the entire Blue Star would say I'm crazy. But on Advent Day, the whole world would say I'm a traitor, and now they're drinking the bone soup of the water dragon beast I chose."
After reading the telegram, Lu Cheng leaned back in his chair.
The Great Dragon Kingdom is the largest country closest to the Taro Tanuki Kingdom.
President Kerry is going to Kyoto to play chess with the upright ape.
This isn't a metaphor; it's a real act of placing pebbles face-to-face.
Carrie placed a cup of hot tea beside him: "What are you planning to say back?"
Lu Cheng remained silent for a moment, then picked up his pen and began writing a reply telegram.
"President Kerry, I agree. But on one condition—the entire dialogue must be recorded by camera, with every frame transmitted simultaneously to all signatory nations. This isn't just your business; it's a matter for the entire planet Earth. Let the whole world see the president of the mighty Dragon Nation sitting across from the upright ape, let the whole world see how the upright ape responds."
"If it is truly communicating, then it is no longer an animal. If it is an intelligent being, then replacing humans is not about predation, it's about war. War has its rules, and we need to know who our enemy is."
Kerry took off from Weiqianglongguo at noon that day.
The steam-powered airship traversed the entire continent, flying towards Kyoto, the capital of Taro Tanuki Kingdom.
Besides the crew, the airship carried only Kerry, a camera operator, a box of blank stone tablets, and a bag of white pebbles.
The stone slabs were carved overnight by stonemasons from the powerful Dragon Kingdom and polished smooth, just like the dry landscape garden gravel floor used by the upright monkeys in the gardens of Kyoto.
The white pebbles were picked up from the South China Sea beach of Weiqianglong Kingdom; each one was smooth and rounded by the seawater.
When Massa picked up Kerry at the Kyoto official residence, the two stood outside the courtyard, looking at the upright ape through the bamboo fence of the wall.
It was crouching on the ruins of the dry landscape garden, with a line of stones forming a sentence in front of it: "You search for the answer underground, and the answer is in your eyes, and so are we."
"Did it move today?" Kerry asked.
"I moved it once this morning. I moved 'We too' to the very beginning," Massa said, pointing to the line of text.
Now the order of the pebbles has changed—so has ours. You search for the answer underground. The answer is in your eyes.
Kerry looked at the new order of the sentences and remained silent for a long time.
"It emphasizes 'we are too.' We are also searching for answers, we are also observing, we are also recording. It places itself alongside us."
Kerry pushed open the bamboo gate and stepped into the courtyard.
The camera operator followed behind, his lens pointed at the upright ape.
The upright ape raised its head and looked at Kerry with its clear black and white eyes.
Kerry walked to the opposite side and squatted down.
A human and an ape squatted facing each other, separated by a row of white pebbles.
Kerry took a stone slab out of the box and placed it in front of him.
He grabbed a handful of white pebbles and placed them next to the stone slab.
He didn't speak or make any gestures.
They just put the stone slabs and pebbles there.
The upright ape stared at the stone slab and pebbles for a long time.
Then it lowered its head, picked up a pebble from Kerry's pile of pebbles with its front paws, and placed it on Kerry's stone slab.
The stone was placed very gently, and it made a crisp clinking sound as it landed on the stone slab.
Then it picked up the second one and placed it next to the first one.
The third one, the fourth one...
It laid out a line of words on Kerry's stone slab.
The handwriting is neat and the spacing is even.
"You've arrived."
Kerry's hand tightened slightly.
The camera operator's breathing could be clearly heard behind the lens.
Kerry picked up a pebble from the pile and placed it below the line of words arranged by the upright apes, thus creating his answer.
"I am coming."
The upright ape stared at the words Kerry had written for a long time.
Then it picked up a pebble and continued placing it under the sign "I'm here".
"You are the king of the mighty dragon kingdom."
Kerry declared, "I am the president of the mighty Dragon Kingdom, not a king."
The upright ape tilted its head slightly.
This action sent a chill down Kerry's spine—it was so human-like.
It's not imitation; it's a natural, subconscious action during thought.
The upright ape picked up a pebble.
"President. King. You elected them. We elected them. They're the same."
Kerry's finger paused on the pebble for a moment.
The upright apes understood the difference between election and hereditary succession, and they juxtaposed "those you elected" and "those we elected".
It is saying—we have a king, and we also have our own king.
"Who is your king?"
The upright ape put down the pebble and looked at Kerry.
Those clear, black and white eyes held no ferocity, only a quiet, scrutinizing gaze.
Then it lowered its head and used pebbles to spell out two words.
"memory."
Kerry frowned, staring silently at the two words.