Ye Wenjie, watch my moves closely.

Chapter 26 Qin Shi Huang

Evans' expression froze; the corners of his mouth remained upturned, but his eyes suddenly dimmed.

Li Youyu hit the nail on the head.

From the Americas to Asia, Evans witnessed too many instances of human species going extinct, and those dying eyes became a persistent nightmare for him.

"When I was twelve years old,"

After a moment of silence, Evans began to speak: "One of my father's company's 30,000-ton oil tankers ran aground off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, spilling more than 20,000 tons of crude oil into the sea."

At the time, my family was at our vacation villa not far from the area where the accident occurred. That afternoon, I arrived at that hellish coastline and saw that the sea had turned black, and the waves were smooth and powerless under the pressure of the thick oil film; the beach was also covered with a layer of black oil.

Some volunteers and I searched for the seabirds that were still alive on this black beach. They struggled in the oil slick, each one like a black sculpture made of asphalt. Only their eyes could prove that they were alive. Those eyes in the oil slick still often appeared in my nightmares many years later.

We soaked the seabirds in detergent to try and wash off the oil, but it was very difficult. The oil and feathers were stuck together tightly, and the feathers would fall off piece by piece along with the oil if we applied too much force... By evening, most of the seabirds had died.

I was slumped on the black beach, covered in oil, watching the sunset over the black sea, and it felt like the end of the world.

Li Youyu stood by the window with his hands behind his back, his face showing heartache. Before Evans could speak, he said, "All life species on Earth are born equal."

Evans was startled; what this man said was exactly what he had been thinking!

To be precise, it was his faith!

Everyone thought he was crazy, a fool, including his father.

He rarely met like-minded people.

Li Youyu shook his head. "Strange new terms appear in this world every day, and they only serve the people who created them."

Li Youyu clenched his fist in disappointment and slammed it against the wall. Sand and gravel slid down the wall. "Two hundred years have passed, and we still haven't taken this step. Humans are such a selfish and hypocritical species!"

Li Youyu's heartfelt grief only amplified Evans' growing agitation.

The man's words perfectly matched his thoughts, as if they had been ripped directly from his head.

Evans felt a resonance on a spiritual level.

"What's your name?"

Evans, no longer cold, cautiously asked about Li Youyu's name.

"A name is just a label; just call me Qin Shi Huang."

"Qin Shi Huang,"

Evans clapped his hands. "I know him. The origin of all dynasties. In the West, he is a figure on par with Caesar and Alexander."

"My name is Mike Evans, and I'm American."

Evans reached out and shook hands with Li Youyu.

Li Youyu said, "Mike, it's a wonderful thing to be the savior of other species, but perhaps no one will understand you."

Mike is Evans's name, and only his closest relatives would call him that.

I haven't heard of Evans in about five years.

He kept looking at Li Youyu, feeling that Li Youyu possessed a fatal allure.

"Emperor Qin Shi Huang, I plan to continue planting trees. Would you like to come with me and become the savior of the swallows?"

"No, thank you."

Li Youyu said, "I still have my own things to do."

Evans asked curiously, "Can you tell me what you're doing?"

Li Youyu refused, saying, "Saving one person is Hinayana, saving all sentient beings is Mahayana. Mike, you need to think more about this."

Li Youyu gently tapped Evans' head, dipped his finger in water and wrote an address on the table, then left with his hands behind his back.

Evans stood there, stunned, watching the water stains on the table gradually evaporate.

---

As Li Youyu descended the mountain, the local production team leader emerged from the shade and grabbed him, saying, "You've been up there for so long, what, you speak a foreign language?"

I guess so.

The production team leader, as if he had met a savior, hurriedly said, "Could you please go and talk to him for us again? We need to discuss something with him."

"Is it related to trees?"

The team leader nodded. "Our village is called Beige Village. There's also a Nange Village next door. They and the county officials have come to check on us several times. They probably want to cut down the trees. The team wants to discuss transferring the trees to the village. That way, if others want to cut down the trees, they'll think twice."

The village will help him plant trees, but in return, they'll cut down some trees and take them with them. What do you think, help us go talk to him about this?

"You've already spoken to him, haven't you?"

Li Youyu asked.

"He said it once, but we don't understand foreign languages, so we used hand gestures. As soon as he realized we were going to touch his tree, he got angry and chased us away. Later, whenever we went up the mountain, he would throw mud at us. Several children from the village went up the mountain to play, and they were all scared to tears by him."

"Then there's no need to say anything more."

Li Youyu said, "If someone cuts down trees, then you should cut them down too. What kind of law protects foreigners who plant trees on Chinese hillsides without permission?"

The captain took a few puffs of his pipe, pondered for a moment, and said, "That makes sense, but planting trees isn't easy, so we'd better not cut them down ourselves. I'll go back to the village and tell someone to keep an eye on the thieves in Nange Village, and not let them get there first."

The captain seemed relieved and hurriedly left.

Li Youyu turned around and could vaguely see Evans squatting in the woods, fertilizing and watering the plants.

His expression was devout, like a priest praying in a church.

Li Youyu admires Evans for planting trees. He gave up a comfortable life and came to a remote corner of a foreign country just to realize his ideal.

Whether Evans was wrong or not, Li Youyu would not comment. He was just a middleman selling information. Businessmen only care about profits and don't care about their stance.

He has a very flexible moral bottom line.

Back in his cave dwelling, Li Youyu brought up the long-unused system. In the option to "modify character background," the name Mike Evans stood out prominently.

Back in the Red Shore era, Li Youyu had already unlocked Lei Zhicheng and Yang Weining in the system log, gaining two opportunities to modify their backgrounds.

Li Youyu drew Evans in one draw, but he hadn't figured out how to change it, so he just left it for now.

Now, he has more concrete ideas.

He manipulated his thoughts, bringing forward the time when Evans would receive his father's inheritance by three years.

After making the revisions, Li Youyu stayed in the village for almost half a month.

One day, during a casual conversation, the team leader mentioned that the people on the mountain had left. That very day, Li Youyu went to the nearest county town, withdrew three thousand yuan from his bank account, hired several farm tractors, and went door-to-door buying timber at high prices.

Another month later, a letter signed Mike Evans arrived in Li Youyu's hands:

"Come here and tell me how to survive."