Yang Chen stood up, wiped his greasy hands with the serviette, and said,
Alright, come with me.
Where to?
Tangtang was worried that Yang Chen would force her to go home.
Let’s go to an internet cafe that is high grade.
Internet cafe?
Tangtang beamed with happiness,
Uncle you’re really nice, you fed me lunch, and even want to bring me to an internet cafe!
Yang Chen chuckled,
Relax, I don’t intend to let you play games, I want to show you something.
Ignoring the puzzled Tangtang, Yang Chen took the initiative to leave McDonald’s.
Tangtang stuck to his side on the way, and after walking for a short while the two managed to find an internet cafe that was part of a large franchise.
When they entered the internet cafe, Yang Chen asked for the most expensive isolated single booth for web surfing. Tangtang who stood beside him became increasingly curious as to what Yang Chen wanted to show her that he even had to opt for an isolated booth.
Uncle, it can’t be that you want to… do that with me in an internet cafe, right?
Tangtang couldn’t help but shyly ask.
Do what?
Yang Chen didn’t understand what she meant.
Tangtang blushed,
To do that kind of intimate thing… geez! Why choose an internet cafe? Even if it’s a single room, I’d still be embarrassed. Uncle you’re really bad, to think that you have that sort of fetish……
Yang Chen finally understood what Tangtang meant, and directly poked this brat on the forehead,
What are you letting your imagination run wild for!? Am I that sort of pervert!?
You look like one……
Tangtang weakly responded.
Yang Chen ignored this eccentric brat who seemed to have reached the age getting in heat. He walked into the small booth, and started using the computer.
Tangtang patiently stood behind Yang Chen and stopped cracking jokes.
Yang Chen opened the browser, entered a URL, hit enter, and an extremely strange image showed up on the screen.
The whole screen turned black, then two round object that was dull gold colored appeared in the middle, splitting into an inner and outer layer.
Yang Chen clicked on the outer ring-shaped object, and began entering various alphabets and numbers.
Tangtang who stood behind was stunned, because she realized that what Yang Chen had entered had already become a string of ‘
and she couldn’t tell what he had typed, but it was over twenty characters long.
Even more terrifying was, the amount of characters needed for the inner circle was way over a hundred characters, it had also all become
symbols, it was clearly some sort of password.
When Yang Chen was done entering the password, the two ring shaped objects began to spin, to a point where it seemed like it had been completed, and they disappeared from the screen.
Uncle, that’s too cool! This account password of yours has at least a hundred characters! How are you able to memorize it!?
Tangtang found this unbelievable.
Why would I need to memorize it? With the way my brain is, a glance is all that’s needed for a thousand characters……
However, he simply explained,
It’s easy after some practice.
Oh… now that the screen is black, what do you actually want me to see, Uncle?
Tangtang was looking forward to see it.
Yang Chen looked around, and found the complimentary earphones and mic. He hooked it up to the computer, then said to the microphone,
Picture!
The moment he said that, the darkness on the monitor screen scattered, revealing a photo album. There were many separate folders, and every folder had a different album.
Yang Chen spoke another word, but this word wasn’t English or Chinese. When Tangtang heard it, it sounded like an obscure language, but she wasn’t sure as to what language it actually was.
After saying that word, a picture of a native tribe’s village appeared. There were totems of multiple colours and thatched huts. There was a bonfire in the centre, while the heads of wild beasts were hung outside the huts. A towering ice-capped mountain stood far away, and there was an endless savanna.
Uncle, where is this?
Tangtang asked. She was already attracted by the strange picture.
Yang Chen had a nostalgic expression as he answered,
This is an African tribal village called Diyalaku. They live on a savanna in Central Africa. Although they live in a territory of some African country, it is practically a primitive area with no one to govern. This village and other tribal villages close by still live in slave-like conditions primitively. They fought wild beasts, endured scorching summers and frigid winters, and would often go through days without any food. They also have to go through bloody fights to secure a water source when their own dries up. The mountain god they worship has never protected them. When someone amongst them falls ill, they would directly be thrown into the uninhabited wilderness for beasts to feast on, because they’re afraid that the sickness would spread, and also because they also had no way to provide medical treatment.
Tangtang became entranced by this story,
They’re so pitiful, how can there be such a place in the world? Uncle, why would you have a picture of that place? Where have you been?
It was about six years ago. Due to some matters, I had to stay in that region for half a month. Because there wasn’t much to do while I waited, I used a special camera to take some photos.
Said Yang Chen. Six years ago, he wasn’t even eighteen yet.
-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?
