Chapter 191-2: A place many would call paradise
Next, Yang Chen made use of voice control to flip through several more photos. All of the images portrayed the way the tribe lived. Their clothes didn’t cover their body, wore paint all over their faces, and everybody had black skin. They ate badly mutilated charred meats.
One of the pictures made Tangtang blush, as it showed these tribal people working to reproduce their next generation outdoors.
This was a tiny society which seemed completely detached from the modern world. They seemed to be like a community that was abandoned by the rest of the world, as humans from thousands of years ago had already left them in the dust.
Flipping to a picture that showed the inside of a thatched hut, a female villager laid on a bed made of stone and hay. On her body was a skinny baby that looked like he had been born not too long ago. He lied on his mother’s chest, while a little girl sat on the side sucking her thumb, her dark eyes were wide open as she stared at her mother and younger brother.
“Uncle… what is this?” Tangtang cautiously asked.
“This woman is a widow in the village, her husband had been bitten to death by a cheetah, and she had just given birth to that boy. However, it hadn’t been two months before this woman caught cholera, and had constant diarrhea. Her body became skinny like a mummy. When I took this picture, that woman had already died. But her baby boy didn’t know that his mother had died. He was hungry, and wanted milk, so he lied on his mother’s chest to suck milk. But how could an empty female corpse have anything left to feed her child?
The little girl by the side of the bed was her daughter, she was very hungry because no outsiders would feed them. However, she knew that her mother was dead, so she was staring blankly by the bed as her little brother continued sucking, while she sucked her own finger.”
Tangtang hadn’t heard it all, but her eyes had already turned red, “Uncle, what happened to them after that? Did they die from hunger?”
Yang Chen shook his head, his eyes showed sadness, “They didn’t starve, before they starved to death, the villagers who realized that their mother had died dragged them out of the hut. These siblings became the food of the village that day. Everyone was happy that they got a piece of meat, including their grandfather and grandmother.”
“Ah!”
Tangtang cried out in fright. Covering her mouth, she couldn’t help but tear, “How could they do that, can… cannibalism!?”
“To them, children without their parents are like defenseless cubs, they could be turned into food at any time.” Yang Chen bitterly smiled, he knew that Tangtang would be saddened, but he didn’t expect her to be innocent to the point that she started to cry.
Tangtang turned away to wipe her tears while waving towards Yang Chen, “Don’t say anymore, Uncle. Close it, I don’t want to look at this anymore……”
Yang Chen nodded, and logged out of the system. The computer returned to it’s original state, as if nothing had happened.
“Uncle.” Tangtang turned around and asked, “Although I don’t know why you went to a place like that, why didn’t you save them? They just died like that, they were so young, so pitiful.”
“Save? How am I supposed to save them? Do you know that I was younger then than you now? Do you expect me to carry the two children out of the savanna? Perhaps I could carry the little girl, but her younger brother was still in the breastfeeding phase……” Yang Chen shook his head and sighed, “Besides, how am I going to save all of them? A situation like that practically happens on a day-to-day basis there.”
Tangtang became silent. She sobbed for a while, then said, “Uncle, why did you show me these, it has made me really sad.”
Yang Chen slightly smiled, “I wanted to give you a comparison. Compared to them, how have you lived your life?”
“Compared to me?” Tangtang pouted and said, “How can they even compare? Although my parents aren’t together, at least I’ve always had both my mother and father. Besides, I don’t lack money, and can buy whatever I want.”
“That’s right. Compared to them, you’re truly fortunate. They can’t be like you, they can’t run away from home and bump into a generous person like me, who treated you to McDonalds.” Yang Chen teased, then continued, “You think that your life is tiresome, you don’t have a happy family. But have you thought about how many children are still facing a tragic end like them?
Even I who stand right before you. Do you think a guy who isn’t even eighteen who is loved by his family would be in a shitty deserted place like that for half a month? There’s someone who loves you dearly, provides for you, and sends you to school. But because of a tiring month of studying, you say your mother is strict with you and is looking for another man. You got into a quarrel with her and ran away from home. Do you know that the home you ran away from is a place many would call paradise?”