Chapter Five: The Outsider

Once more entering the incarnation of the oak tree, it was already noon in the Bana Rainforest.
Because the sun was so fierce, Ji Yu saw few tribespeople beneath the trees.
“These tribespeople rarely witness a ‘miracle,’ yet they aren’t holding some grand, fervent ceremony? That’s surprisingly rational of them.”
“But this is good, it won’t disturb my peaceful cultivation.”
Ji Yu chuckled to himself, then slipped again into a meditative state.
Time passed in silence.
He awoke again by dusk.
The glow of twilight faded at the horizon.
Beneath the oak tree, crowds had gathered.
Large and small bonfires were lit, and several enormous black pigs, raised by the tribe themselves, were being led over.
The wild pigs’ cries mingled with the festive faces of the tribespeople, creating an exotic scene unlike any other.
Women sharpened knives and prepared ingredients, while men arranged the celebratory space.
On either side of the stone pathway, the branches of the oaks guarding the ‘Sacred Tree’ were wrapped in brightly colored cloth strips.
Moreover, unlike the morning, Ji Yu noticed the number of tribespeople had suddenly increased.
The moment he awoke, his gaze fell upon the outermost edge of the pathway, where many figures carrying firearms had appeared.
No, calling them tribespeople wasn’t accurate, for these newcomers were markedly different from the original inhabitants.
They wore synthetic clothing and trousers only seen in civilized societies, some even sported baseball caps.
The original tribespeople, by contrast, were clad in loincloths made from animal skins; proper clothing and trousers simply did not exist.
Yet, despite this stark contrast, in this tribe, the contest between civilization and barbarism was clearly won by the latter.
The reason was simple: Ji Yu saw an original tribesperson in a loincloth berating several of the ‘outsiders’ with guns, who bowed their heads humbly, not daring to utter a single word in protest.
Furthermore, these outsiders could only linger at the pathway’s outermost edge, which spoke volumes about their status.
“How intriguing,” Ji Yu mused, watching with curiosity. He also noticed, beside the tribe’s elder, a single robust young man wearing a complete set of clothes and trousers.
The elder’s face was wreathed in a smile, while the young man leaned intimately toward him, chatting as if about family matters.
Could this be the chief’s son sent out into the world, or perhaps his grandson?
Was this primitive tribe a sacred site for their clan, preserved to maintain tradition and purity?
Did they keep their lifestyle primitive for the sake of heritage?

Ji Yu pondered, beginning to speculate about the relationship between the tribe and the so-called outsiders.
During his observation, he felt the frustration of not understanding their language.
“Couldn’t they speak a few words in a common tongue?”
For example, the global lingua franca, ‘Western Union Speech’—Ji Yu couldn’t fully understand it, but could catch thirty or forty percent.
“But not understanding anything at all is just dull.”
Finding it boring, Ji Yu stopped paying attention to the chief and his kin’s rambling.
He counted the number of outsiders present.
“One hundred thirty-seven?”
Not many, but not few either—and who could say if that was all? It would be hard for so few to support a tribe of nearly five hundred people.
Why support?
The answer was clear: compared to genuine traditional tribes seen online, this tribe’s people were far too spirited and clearly not lacking food or clothing.
Under a primitive hunting system, such abundance was unreasonable.
Following this logic, Ji Yu realized much of the tribe’s food likely came from these ‘outsiders.’
Although the tribe did its utmost to reject outside products, Ji Yu could still spot traces of external food and spices.
“No wonder I always felt something was off about this tribe!”
“Now it makes sense.”
As a closed primitive tribe, there were too few elderly.
Aside from the chief and a dozen or so respected elders, nearly everyone else was young women, strong men, and healthy children and youth.
Not a single sick or frail person—was that reasonable?
“So, many of this tribe likely live normal lives elsewhere.”
Ji Yu reached his conclusion and felt convinced.
After all, the people with guns had appeared.
“So, judging by all this, the place where I am, these oak groves, and the pathway likely hold strong symbolic or hereditary significance for the tribe.”
“Otherwise, there’s no explaining why they insist on living here in the most primitive manner.”
——————
Night fell, and the sacrificial ritual began.
Under Ji Yu’s gaze, the largest wild pig was dragged howling onto the stone altar beneath the oak by several burly men.
A long knife stabbed a terrible wound in its neck, and blood gushed forth.
The wild pig’s cries continued, but as its blood drained, they weakened until it fell silent at last.

Blood streamed down the altar, collecting in a stone trough beneath the oak, forming a pool at its base.
Watching this, Ji Yu couldn’t help but sigh at the waste.
“If they made blood pudding, how many meals would that be? What a waste!”
“Truly a feast for the flies and maggots.”
The scene of slaughter reminded Ji Yu of his childhood, when his family butchered pigs—he felt a rush of nostalgia.
Though there was some physical discomfort, childhood memories soon made it feel familiar.
One wild pig after another was driven onto the sacrificial platform, their blood steadily pooling.
The not-so-large trough beneath the tree was nearly overflowing.
After the ninth wild pig was slaughtered, the blood sacrifice finally came to an end.
Naturally, the tribe’s elder, wearing a feathered headdress, began a lengthy chant.
Then, with all the original tribespeople and outsiders bowing in reverence, the prelude to the ritual was complete.
But just as everyone stood, the tribe’s elder stepped toward the base of Ji Yu’s ‘Sacred Tree.’
He took a curved blade handed to him by another elder.
Grasping a patch of green, the elder swiftly cut it away with the blade.
At this moment, Ji Yu was puzzled.
“Wait, that’s not a branch from my own tree, is it?”
Ji Yu saw clearly that what the elder had cut was a cluster of sapling-like plants.
These weren’t growing from the earth and winding around the oak, but sprouting directly from the oak’s body and growing like small shrubs.
Looking closely, Ji Yu noticed there were many such plants on his oak tree.
They were short, clustered, parasitic on the oak’s trunk.
“???”
“When did these things start growing here?”
Ji Yu distinctly remembered his branches had been bare yesterday—except, of course, for his own leaves.
Thus, Ji Yu felt both puzzled and uneasy.
He planned to ‘log off’ soon and search the internet for answers, then turned his attention back to the tribe elder’s actions below.