Meng Chao stared at the lizard eating the insect in the crack. Then, he watched the snake eat the lizard.
His instincts screamed at him that Lin Chuan’s logic was wrong, and his emotions were off as well.
But Lin Chuan looked as if he was severely affected by the crystal mine. His vitality magnetic field jumped about like a bewitching flame, and he answered the question himself.
“No, it won’t. No matter how stupid this lizard is, it won’t trust the snake’s words. Vermin is vermin, lizards are lizards, snakes are snakes, Demonic Halberd Pigs are Demonic Halberd Pigs, and Crystalline Nine-headed Dragons are Crystalline Nine-headed Dragons. Each race has its own interests, and they treat each other as mortal enemies. There has never been an entity known as a monster!
“To Demonic Halberd Pigs, humans are terrifying, but they might not be as terrifying as Crystalline Nine-headed Dragons. After all, millions of years before humans transmigrated to the Other World, the Crystalline Nine-headed Dragon had already eaten countless Demonic Halberd Pigs, and even if Demonic Halberd Pigs and Crystalline Nine-headed Dragons group together to form the so-called monster civilization and defeat humans together, eventually killing the last human, will the Demonic Halberd Pigs’ fates change, and will the Crystalline Nine-headed Dragon not eat them because of it?
“So, if you’re a Demonic Halberd Pig and a Crystalline Nine-headed Dragon appears in front of you with a smile and invites you to contribute to monster civilization, you should definitely act fearlessly and without hesitation.
“But in your heart, you must understand that you’re fighting against the humans right now because you don’t want to be eaten by the Crystalline Nine-headed Dragon. You should fight for yourself, and at most, your kind. You should fight for the other Demonic Halberd Pigs, not the vermin, lizards, Iron-armored Rhinoceros, or the Crystalline Nine-headed Dragon. You must not fight for this ‘monster civilization’, because there is no such thing as monsters. Do you understand? There is no such thing as friggin’ monsters!”
“Big Brother Lin, you can’t just compare monsters and humans together… They’re two fundamentally different things.” Meng Chao scratched his head. “Vermin, lizards, snakes, Demonic Halberd Pigs, and Crystalline Nine-headed Dragons have great differences between them, and they aren’t the same creatures, but we’re humans. We have the same appearance, share the same language, and can understand each other.
“Based on your logic, if I’m a Demonic Halberd Pig, then everyone in Dragon City is also a Demonic Halberd Pig. Shouldn’t we fight and walk together if that’s the case?”
“Is that really the case?” Lin Chuan asked coldly. “Do you really think that all the creatures known as humans in Dragon City are the same species?
“Even the strongest and most fearsome leaders in Demonic Halberd Pig drove are simply known as Demonic Halberd Pig Kings. Their daily lives are similar to those of normal Demonic Halberd Pigs. I know that they enjoy living in the best nests in their drove, but it’s still just a swamp that’s slightly larger and prettier.
“What about the human world?
“Some people live in broken down, old, and narrow apartments. Their houses aren’t that much larger than a rat’s nest. They sleep in bunk beds with three levels, and they have to squeeze in with four or five of their siblings. Every day, they have to smell spirit energy that stinks of garlic, and when they eat, they can hear their neighbors peeing or pooping.
“You should know this very well.
“Oh, but your family is better off. You only have a younger sister, so you can empty out some space in the living room to call your own and retain the most basic human dignity.
“But I had four siblings. We lived like this since we were young, and I have no idea how I managed to get through my childhood.
“And my family’s condition wasn’t the worst. Among the tens of millions of Dragon Citizens, there are millions who are still living in the slums in shacks. They don’t even have their own kitchens, toilets, and plumbing!”
“Big Brother Lin, that’s all because of monsters,” Meng Chao said, interrupting him. “The monsters are the ones who destroyed our beautiful homes, which left countless people homeless. The Survival Committee is already doing their best to solve this problem, but we don’t have enough resources, and we lack space. We need to get through these difficult times before we can improve our situation and solve the problem.”
Lin Chuan cackled. “Heh, we lack resources and space? Then why is it that when millions of people are staying in shacks, there are those who live in Dragon City No.1? And Dragon City No.1 isn’t even where the most luxurious mansions in Dragon City are! You can’t even imagine the mansions in which Deity Realm elites live!
“The nests of the Demonic Halberd Pig Kings are at most twice as large as the nests of normal Demonic Halberd Pigs. They might also place some of their prey’s bones inside as a decoration, but there’s no difference in their nature. So, they’re the same kind.
“But when it comes to humans, the living space of someone strong can be dozens of times larger than that of the weak. The price for it is also hundreds of times higher. How can they be considered the same kind?
“I won’t talk about accommodation anymore. From food, clothes, accommodation, and transport, let’s talk about food now. What do the normal people in Dragon City eat? They eat luncheon meat that is made from monster organs and the meat of gigantified earthworms mashed together.
“But what do the powerful eat? Superbeast meat that has rich spirit energy. It can fill them with power and vigor. It can make them live longer, and it can even change the essence of their lives, allowing them to be far above normal people!
“I didn’t even need to mention it, did I? You should know just how different is the food eaten by the rich and normal people. Let’s talk about the food we’ve been eating during this mission. The value of one set of the high-calorie meal that Lu Siya provides is already higher than the monthly food and beverage expenses of a normal family!
“No matter how much a Demonic Halberd Pig King can eat, it’s impossible for it to eat ten times the food of a normal Demonic Halberd Pig. Their menu is not different in terms of its nature, so, they are still the same.
“When you eat instant noodles and luncheon meat, but can see other people enjoying good food in a luxurious hotel and know that you can only eat one of those meals if you spend half a year of your food and beverage expenses on it, can you really proudly say that you are the same as they are?”
Meng Chao could not say anything to that.
“Admit it. You don’t know what sort of lives the children from powerful families lead. They are destined to become superhumans and stand above other people since birth. You never even had the time to think about these questions.
“You only saw that they look similar to you and can speak the same language as you. And when rich ladies like Lu Siya lower themselves and come forward to recruit you by slapping your shoulder and saying that ‘we’re all friends’, you believe in her and think that you’re all the same.”
Lin Chuan narrowed his eyes, and veins popped up on his face. He gritted his teeth and said, “But I’m different. I’ve personally seen how the rich live daily, and I know very well that even if I can become friends with Lu Siya, I will never be the same as her.
“Did you know? That year, when Lu Siya’s father was fighting for the position of the general supervisor in the mining company, to create his character of someone who values his relationships, he deliberately brought me into his house on my birthday so that Lu Siya could celebrate my birthday with me.
“His house was at the top three floors of a luxurious apartment with more than thirty floors.
“For the first time, I learned that humans can have houses that are as luxurious as palaces. Even their nanny had a house larger than my entire family’s. They even had a borderless swimming pool built on the roof and a multi-purpose field. It could be used by their entire family of seven.
“I also saw a small swimming pool by the big swimming pool. I said that it’s a ‘small’ swimming pool, but it was twice as large as the kitchen and toilet combined in my house. Do you know what that small swimming pool was used for?”
Meng Chao shook his head and asked, “What was it for?”
A strange smile appeared once more on Lin Chuan’s face. “It was for the dog to swim. Lu Siya reared two biochemical hunting dogs that had been genetically modified. According to her, they had to swim every day to retain their mobility.
“By the way, those two biochemical hunting dogs daily got the two most tender tenderloins located at the back of Iron-armored Rhinoceroses. Before I arrived at the Lu family, no one in my family had ever eaten tenderloins of that grade. Not me, not my entire family, and not my ancestors.
“That was an incredibly perfect birthday party.
“All the people in the Lu family were high-class members of society. They were cultured and very polite.
“They put on the most sincere smiles when they surrounded me and treated me like I’m the main character. They asked me to blow the candles, cut the cake, and even hugged me gently. Then, they asked the reporters to take photos of me with the bald teddy bear.
“At that time, I didn’t think that there was anything strange about this. I was dazed and thought that I just had a good dream.
“But when I was sent back to Joyous Heavenly Garden by the Lu family’s elongated, luxurious car and got back home, I discovered what was strange about it.
“My youngest sister was curled up at a corner of the dining table while eating luncheon meat made of earthworms.
“Two of my older brothers argued nonstop because they couldn’t agree who should use the toilet first.
“I could hear heavy breathing and the sounds of someone knocking against the wall next door. But nothing could be done about it. The people who stayed in this sort of place were already used to this sort of life.
“And I couldn’t run, because the whole of Joyous Heavenly Garden was that way. Even if I escaped, my pores would still release an acidic and rancid smell left behind on me by low-grade crystals after they were activated.
“At that moment, when I watched my family eat earthworm meat and argue about who should use the toilet first while I listened to the disgusting sounds next door, I remembered what I saw a moment ago in the Lu family: Lu Siya placing her two biochemical hunting dogs into the swimming pool to play with water, her younger brother playing alone in a wide field, her mother lying beside the swimming pool while drinking a chilled beverage in the sun. At that moment, I felt a flash of lightning in my mind.
“For the first time, I began wondering about this question. Just what are humans? I believe that between Lu Siya and I, one of us is definitely not a human.
“If Lu Siya is not a human, then my family and I are definitely not humans. Instead, we are creatures who are even more lowly than her biochemical hunting dogs.
“If we are humans, then Lu Siya and her parents are definitely some sort of high-grade, super intelligent lifeforms. They’re gods or aliens, which is why they have the right to live a life that is practically a dream.
“Otherwise, I just couldn’t understand what I just saw. If we were all humans, why would our living environments be so different? Why would there be such a huge difference between us when compared to the difference between Demonic Halberd Pig Kings and normal Demonic Halberd Pigs?”