Alien creatures destroy homes? Start by killing upright apes!

He then turned around and looked at Kerry.

"At this rate, it's a conservative estimate that they'll learn to disguise themselves as humans in a hundred days."

Kerry remained silent for a long time, then asked, "Then why are you still so calm?"

Lu Cheng smiled, a smile that carried a certain certainty that only a time traveler could possess.

"Because I've seen things that are even more outrageous than this."

Kerry didn't understand, but he didn't ask again.

……

That evening, as the representatives from various countries were leaving the country, a new announcement suddenly popped up on the Sky Screen system.

[Progress Report on the First Stage of Exotic Creature Evolution]

[Anomalocaris: Spring Claw Enhancement Progress 17%]

[Giant Nautilus: Wrap Arm Enhancement Progress 15%]

[Terrell Fish: Grinding and Reinforcement Progress 19%]

[Giant Dragonfly: Cage reinforcement progress 14%]

[Giant Millipede: Gland Enhancement Progress 22%]

[Anteomon: Impact Bone Enhancement Progress 16%]

[Grimog: Cutting Tooth Enhancement Progress 20%]

[Waterdramon: Digging Claw Enhancement Progress 8%]

Tyrannosaurus Rex: Bite teeth enhancement progress 25%

[Homo erectus: Progress in enhancing its intelligent brain -]

The announcement paused for three seconds.

[Unable to assess.]

On the balcony of the government building in the Winner Monkey Kingdom, Lu Cheng held a coffee cup and looked at the words on the sky.

Unable to assess.

Because the system doesn't know to what extent the brain of the hominid can evolve.

Even the system can't explain it clearly.

The rate of evolution of upright apes differed across countries.

But it all happened very quickly!

Carrie walked over to him and draped a coat over his shoulders: "What are you thinking about?"

Lu Cheng took a sip of coffee: "I've been thinking, humans used to be the only species that contemplated the meaning of their own existence. Now that a second species has appeared on Earth, what are they thinking?"

Then, looking at the words on the sky, he slowly said, "They're thinking—how to become us. And then, how to replace us."

……

John Bull, the Foggy City, Royal Park.

Late at night.

The beams of searchlights swept back and forth across the lawn, and the patrol's footsteps were twice as frequent as yesterday.

Prime Minister David ordered the deployment of three additional infantry regiments, which completely surrounded the park.

But the pit in the very center of the park has increased from one to three.

Three upright apes were squatting in three pits.

They sharpened the stones in their hands to an even finer point.

Not one piece, but three pieces.

Every upright ape is grinding its own stone.

The grinding stone made a louder and more urgent sound than yesterday.

Outside the fence, a young sentry leaned against the railing and yawned.

His rifle was slung across his shoulder, muzzle pointing downwards.

He didn't notice that in the shadows inside the fence, an upright ape was staring at his rifle.

They weren't staring at him, they were staring at the gun.

Those clear, black-and-white eyes looked from the butt of the gun to the barrel, from the barrel to the trigger, and from the trigger to the sight.

I watched it seven times, from top to bottom and from bottom to top.

Then the upright ape lowered its head and drew a pattern on the ground with a sharpened stone.

It is a long strip, curved at one end and straight at the other, with a small arc protrusion in the middle.

It's that rifle.

The drawing is perfectly accurate.

……

July, 5914 in the Blue Star Calendar.

The twelfth day since the arrival of the alien creatures.

President Carey has received many phone calls in his life, but he has never received a call like this.

On the other end of the phone was Robert, the Prime Minister of Australia.

"President Kerry, please do me a favor and tell Governor Lu that our Kangaroo Kingdom wants to replace the Water Dragon Beast. Is it still possible to do so now?"

Kerry held the microphone a little further away, looked at it, and then brought it back: "What did you say?"

"I said I want to switch to the Water Dragon Beast!" Robert's voice trembled with tears. "I can't stand the upright apes for even a day! Do you know what they did today?"

"What did you do?"

"They ripped my telephone line! Not chewed it, they ripped it apart! The entire Heaney to Moreburn telephone line was dismantled into copper wire, nails, and insulation, neatly categorized and stacked! It took my communications officer six hours to find the stripped-down line, while they only took one night!"

Kerry paused for two seconds: "Then you should be glad, at least they didn't weave a net of copper wire to catch you."

"How do you know they didn't weave nets? They already did! The upright apes of Heaney Bay wove seventeen nets from salvaged copper wire and caught all the wild dogs near the harbor! Wild dogs! Those things run faster than people! They caught them with nets!"

Kerry moved the microphone a little further away because Robert's volume was almost screaming.

"What's even more terrifying is—" Robert's voice suddenly lowered, as if afraid of being overheard.

"They laid out a huge pattern with white stones on the cliffs of Heane Bay yesterday! My intelligence officer went to see it in an airship, and the pattern is exactly the same as the insignia of our Kangaroo Army. Exactly the same."

Kerry tapped his fingers three times on the table.

"Prime Minister Robert."

"Um?"

"When you chose the upright ape, I remember you even sent me a telegram saying, 'Kerry, you'll regret choosing the water dragon. The upright ape is the safest.'"

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

"Can that telegram be retracted?"

"cannot."

"...Then pretend I never made this call."

"You've already done it."

Robert hung up the phone.

Kerry put down the microphone and looked at Lu Cheng sitting in the chair opposite him.

Lu Cheng arrived in the Great Dragon Kingdom last night, bringing with him three boxes of observation data on the Water Dragon Beast.

The data is very detailed.

The digging claws of the Water Dragon Beast grow longer every day, but there are no other changes except that it can dig holes faster.

They dug extensively underground in the Great Dragon Kingdom and the Winner Monkey Kingdom, turning over millions of acres of farmland in the process. Then they lay down in their burrows to sleep, and when they got hungry, they would crawl out to gnaw on tree bark. Once they were full, they would continue digging.

"That's the fourth one," Kerry said.

"What, a fourth one?"

"The fourth one to call asking to exchange for the Water Dragon Beast. The first was the Lion Country, the second was the Korean Country, the third was the Indian Country, and the fourth was the Australian Country." Kerry counted on his fingers.

"These are all the countries that seized the last four opportunities to raise upright apes. They were all incredibly fast when they were seizing the chance, and now they all regret it more than the last."

Lu Cheng leaned back in his chair, his tone casual: "Where are the Four Big Thugs? Did they call?"

"No," Kerry shook his head.

"The four permanent members of the UN Security Council won't fight. Even if they regret it to the core, they'll still keep smiling. The day before yesterday, the Prime Minister of the United States, David, published a commentary in the newspaper titled 'The Ape: A Controllable Challenge.' Controllable? Ha! Ten million apes in his Royal Park have already learned to dismantle the patrol's rifles, and he calls that controllable."

"It's normal." Lu Cheng picked up his teacup and took a sip.

"The intelligence systems of the four major powers are not just for show. They understand the dangers of the upright ape better than Australia, but they cannot say so. If they do, it would be tantamount to admitting that their initial choice was wrong."

"So they're planning to hold out?"

"They intend to pretend that everything is under control, while secretly desperately searching for solutions."

Kerry was silent for a moment, then asked, "Brother Lu, tell me the truth. What will happen if the Four Great Gangs really can't control the upright apes?"