"Miss Hexia, do you know about the regression of civilization?"

In the winter house, the firewood in the fireplace burned quietly, and the pewter teapot hanging above continuously bubbled, the liquid inside boiling, and a slight fragrance wafting with the steam.

"Regression?" The girl seemed to have heard this term in psychology.

"Yes, it refers to civilization abandoning its originally advanced lifestyle and turning to primitive ways of living." Sigismund stood up, took the heated teapot down, then poured the boiling hot water into the cups in front of the two of them.

He placed the teapot on a nearby iron bench, sat down again, and recounted the events on this planet.

"To the east of this land live many wild tribes, outnumbering the settlements and tribes around Shilin Mountain Castle."

"You must be curious about how those wild tribes came to be."

"Indeed." The girl nodded.

"The ancestors of those wild tribes were actually just like us, all once newborn races on this planet."

"Why do they look completely different from us now, even seeming like another species, is greatly related to their living habits."

"As we all know, unpolluted places on this planet are rare, and safe food is the best hard currency. So what happens if a group eats polluted food for a long time?" He picked up the teacup, held it in his palm, and slowly rotated it.

"Mutation, disease, short lifespan, intelligence loss." Tilan recalled various research reports from the Four-leaf Crystal Star Domain.

"That's right, these will occur initially and cause panic within the group."

"However, the issues you described are not unacceptable problems for animals."

"Rabbits' lifespans are far shorter than humans; even if they live only 10 years, many don't reach adulthood. As for diseases, it's a luxurious death in the face of hunger and various predators."

"For intelligent creatures, the greatest fear is losing intelligence, becoming dull and stupid creatures; this deprivation of intellect is equivalent to completely twisting the individual's cognition and rationality."

"However, for those who have already lost their intelligence, they instead do not feel this pain and discomfort because of their dullness. At this point, instinct begins to take over the body, and what is called happiness becomes simple and direct."

"Many natural plants and foods have been polluted, harboring toxins. We, as sentient beings, instinctively avoid them, but those wild tribes have completely twisted and regressed, hence will not have such rational troubles."

"Death is nothing; they bear several offspring at once. Mutation is also fine; being ugly is not a concern for their kind as long as they can survive and find food. Premature death is common and indifferent; even if 1 out of 10 children survive, it's fine. After all, the children who die early become food, just like raising chickens, ducks, pigs, and sheep as reserved food." Sigismund stated a certain cruel fact with a calm tone.

"Living is just finding food, mating, and then finding food again, reproducing offspring; this is all their life."

"They don't possess high intelligence; most are extremely sluggish, with intelligence no higher than cats and dogs. Luckily for them, their opponents are even more foolish and stupid; those animals polluted by toxins on the land have brains corroded, reacting slowly, resembling zombies."

"Gnawing on numb and bitter plant roots, eating sour and rancid flesh, drinking heartily from muddy water filled with maggots, they won't spare the corpses of their kind. This is the life of those wild tribes in the Eastern Wilderness." Sigismund drank the slightly cooled tea.

"Originally, as descendants of the newborn races, they possessed various talents and abilities far surpassing the old humans. However, as the confusion of bloodline and genetics intertwined and various mutations caused destruction, they lost many abilities they should have had, even starting to develop thick body hair, and their skin became dark."

"With no clothes to wear, thick body hair helps in keeping warm and enduring winter; without knowing where to hide from the scorching sun, the secretion of melanin can resist UV rays, so the skin becomes darker."

"Thus, in merely hundreds of years, after countless selections, their traits began to diverge significantly from normal humans."

"This advantage is that when we have conflicts with them, we can kill these former kindred with a lighter psychological burden."

"Every winter or after years with abundant rain, when the land they live on cannot support large populations, these wild tribes will attempt to migrate and spread to surrounding areas, often causing conflict and combat."

"In past years, wild tribes occasionally attacked nearby settlements, but without intelligence, these folks are easy to deal with; slightly luring them into traps or more directly poisoning them would eliminate many of these wild tribes."

"Occasionally, it is only when more powerful wild tribes with some wisdom appear that they cause more significant trouble, but as long as their leaders are killed, they easily become scattered sand."

"For hundreds of years, it's been minor troubles, but they've largely been passed peacefully."

"However, this time, the fall of our eastern outpost demonstrates that although a large number of wild tribes were involved, the commander was undoubtedly an intelligent human, proficient in firearms and fire, aware of silencing witnesses and moving all food away."

"I'm not sure by what means they controlled the wild tribes, but this is definitely not a good sign; if this method can be replicated and spread, it means those previously harmless wild tribes in the eastern region will become formidable enemies for the local living clans."

"Either our settlements and outposts are overwhelmed by them, leading us to regress as well, or we use our full force to exterminate the wilderness wild tribes, no longer coexisting peacefully as before."

"Can't we just eliminate the ringleader?" The girl pondered.

"That would be very lucky if his methods and technology haven't spread at all when we eliminate him."

"As long as someone secretly notes and spreads it, this method of driving the wild tribes will eventually be utilized by every ambitious person, repeatedly deploying these wild tribes to battles and conflicts."

"Instead of being forced to kill later, it's better to take action early and reduce crisis risks."

"We're not cruel; rather, it's a life-or-death struggle between species. If the other side were the victor, they would do similar things." Sigismund knew the girl's character, hence explained ahead.

"I understand." The girl looked at the amber-colored tea in her cup, her heart full of sentiments, as back then this was precisely what the Federation did.

The war between the newborn races and the original humans had long been a fight to the death, with no room for negotiation.

This world is so beautiful yet brutally cold.