Alien creatures destroy homes? Start by killing upright apes!

"Before it rains, ants move food from their nest to higher ground. No one teaches them, but they know it. It's an instinct ingrained in their genes."

Lu Cheng took a sip of tea.

"The evolutionary direction of upright apes is towards intelligent brains. The essence of intelligent brains is not intelligence, but learning ability. If a creature possesses super learning ability, its first reaction when faced with an unfamiliar environment will not be attack, but observation. The second reaction is imitation, and the third reaction is surpassing."

"This isn't a guess, it's logic. If you throw a tiger into an unfamiliar environment, it will bite. If you throw a creature with a super learning ability into an unfamiliar environment, it will first observe you, then learn from you, and eventually surpass you."

Kerry fell silent. His explanation was flawless.

What Lu Cheng didn't say was...

This logic was indeed deduced, but once it was deduced, he knew it must be correct.

Because he had seen it before.

I've seen it in a history book from another world.

"So," Kerry said, looking at the last glimmer of light on the horizon, "you know how it ends."

"I don't know the ending," Lu Cheng shook his head. "I only know the process—observation, learning, imitation, and transcendence. Right now, the upright apes are still in the imitation stage. When they enter the transcendence stage..."

He didn't finish speaking.

The celestial canopy system suddenly lit up.

It's not the white light screen from before.

This time it's red. Blood red, like a wound that stretches across the sky.

In one hundred countries around the world, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at the sky.

[Evolutionary Assessment Report of Exotic Creatures in Phase One]

The following species have reached the evolutionary threshold and entered the second stage.

[Tyrannosaurus Rex: Bite teeth - Initial strengthening complete. Second stage: Skeletal strengthening.]

[Giant Millipede: Gland Stimulation - Initial Enhancement Completed. Stage Two: Neurotoxin.]

[Terrell fish: Initial strengthening of the grinding mouth is complete. Second stage: Jaw expansion.]

The text on the screen paused for a full ten seconds.

[Upright Ape - Intelligent Brain: Basic Enhancement Completed.]

[The following abilities have been detected in Homo erectus: tool making, rudimentary language, social organization, information transmission, inter-regional migration, enemy situation prediction, and reverse engineering.]

[Second Stage Evolutionary Direction]

The text on the screen flickered.

[Unnamed.]

[System notification: The evolutionary path of the upright ape has deviated from the preset model, and the third stage form cannot be predicted.]

The light curtain went out.

The whole world fell into a deathly silence.

The balcony of the government building in the Winner Monkey Kingdom.

Carrie gripped the railing tightly, her fingertips turning white.

She recalled what Lu Cheng had told her before he left: "By the end of the first phase, the whole world will know what a hominid is, but by then it will be too late."

The first phase is now over.

The second stage of the hominid cannot even be named by the system.

On the rooftop, Kerry put down his teacup and turned to Lu Cheng.

"Brother Lu, what's the next step?"

Lu Cheng looked in the direction where the sky disappeared, his tone as calm as if he were describing tomorrow's weather.

"Wait! Wait until the four big gangsters can't hold on any longer. They'll come looking for me, and then I'll set the terms."

He turned and walked towards the stairwell, but stopped after a few steps.

"By the way, President Kerry. Have your men continue digging into the Water Dragon's underground cave system. Dig as deep as you can, dig as far as you can."

"underground?"

"The ground is the battlefield of the upright apes, and the underground is ours."

Lu Cheng's figure disappeared at the top of the stairs.

Kerry stood alone on the rooftop, looking at the myriad lights of the mighty Dragon Kingdom in the night.

Beneath those lights, ten million water dragons were digging unseen tunnels deep underground.

Meanwhile, in those countries that chose the hominids, a hundred million hominids are learning everything about humans on the ground.

observe.

imitate.

Beyond.

Kerry picked up the now-cold tea and drank it all in one gulp.

……

July, 5914 in the Blue Star Calendar.

The alien creatures have arrived on the fifteenth day.

There was something new on President Kerry's desk.

A telephone specifically designed to receive regretful calls.

It was red, steam-powered, and its bell sounded like a train whistle.

This was a gift from Lu Cheng before he left, saying, "It's specifically for picking up those who used to criticize you."

Kerry thought it was a joke at the time, but now he thinks it's a prophecy.

the phone is ringing.

Kerry picked up the microphone, but before he could even speak, the other end erupted in cheers.

"President Kerry! I am Lee from South Korea! I beg you! Let me say one sentence to Brother Lu! Just one sentence!"

Kerry held the microphone a little further away: "Go on."

"The upright apes dismantled the bronze lions at the gate of my palace this morning! Two of them! One on the left and one on the right! They took them down to copper plates, strips, and nails! They were stacked up neatly! By the time my guards arrived, they had already taken them down to the base of the lions!"

Kerry paused for two seconds: "Why are they dismantling the bronze lion?"

"How should I know!" Li's voice trembled with tears. "They took everything and left, without taking anything! All the copper coins, strips, and nails were left behind, stacked like a military parade! They weren't after anything; they were just practicing!"

Kerry thought for a moment and said, "Then you should be glad that at least they didn't demolish the palace."

"How do you know they didn't tear down the palace? Yesterday they dismantled the side gate of the Hall of Diligent Governance! They took off the copper hinges from the door hinges and studied them for an hour, then put them back together perfectly! My chief guard saw it with his own eyes, and he was so scared he could barely hold his sword!"

Kerry tapped his fingers three times on the table.

"Um?"

"When you chose the upright ape, didn't you say in the newspaper that 'the upright ape is the safest choice, and those who chose the lystrom are out of their minds'?"

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

"Can you take back what you said?"

"cannot."

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

"You've already done it."

Li hung up the phone.

Kerry put down the microphone, picked up a pen, and drew another stroke in the notebook next to him.

This is the fifth one.

Lion Country, India, Australia, and South Korea—four little cockroaches lined up to call and cry.

The four major thugs remained silent, but Kerry knew it wasn't that they didn't want to fight, but that they couldn't bring themselves to do it.

……

John Bull, Fog City, 10 Sugar Lane.

Prime Minister David hasn't slept well for three days.

It wasn't because of government affairs, but because of those upright apes outside the window.

The searchlights in the Royal Park illuminated the lawns as if it were daytime, and tens of thousands of upright apes sat neatly and motionless inside the enclosure.

But the ground beneath their feet has changed.

The lawn is gone, replaced by a huge pattern.

It was drawn with twigs, pebbles, and mud, covering the entire park.

David stood by the window, holding a glass of whiskey, the ice cubes inside trembling.

"What pattern is that?" he asked.

The intelligence officer stood behind him, his voice hoarse:

"Reporting to the Prime Minister, our surveyors took panoramic photos from the air using an airship... The pattern is a map."

"map?"

"The Blue Star Map includes the geographical outlines of seven countries: John Bull Country, Jacques Chicken Country, Giuseppe Wolf Country, Taro Tanuki Country, Ivan Bear Country, Sam Eagle Country, and Great Power Dragon Country. The scale is slightly off, but the outlines are correct."