Alien creatures destroy homes? Start by killing upright apes!

The mountain people of Wakanda recognize this plant as "heartbreak grass," and cattle and sheep that accidentally ingest it die within half an hour.

Humans wouldn't eat it because it tastes extremely bitter.

But the upright ape mixed the bitter herb with another sweet plant and boiled it to neutralize the bitterness.

They spent half a month finding the formula, three days brewing the first batch of venom, and one night pouring the venom into the water source of the capital of Wakanda.

The next morning, a third of the population in the capital began vomiting.

On the third day, the person who vomited began to have convulsions.

On the fourth day, the first group of people died.

Kagamo stood beside the water source, his hands trembling as he looked at the reservoir where the poison had been poured in.

How do they know where the water source is?

No one answered.

Because the answer is chilling.

In the first month after their arrival, the upright apes ostensibly squatted by the roadside looking at things, but in reality, they memorized the location of every well, every canal, and every reservoir in the capital of Wakanda.

They are not docile; they are scouting.

Following the poisoning incident, Kagamo ordered a full-scale search of the mountains.

The entire army was mobilized, but the forty-seven upright apes disappeared again.

This time, instead of escaping into the deeper mountains, they dispersed into seven small groups and infiltrated the capital from seven directions.

Then they started poisoning—not water sources, but grain warehouses, livestock water troughs, and food stalls in markets.

The location of the poisoning was different each time, and the poison formula was improved each time.

The first time it was poisonous plant, the second time it was snake venom, and the third time it was the venom of rotting animals.

They turned the capital into a poison testing ground.

Kagamo's army fought a month-long campaign to annihilate them.

Of the forty-seven upright apes, they killed eleven.

The remaining thirty-six became smarter the more they were fought.

They learned to avoid patrol routes, to identify plainclothes soldiers, to operate at night, and to set traps using the carcasses of dead upright apes.

The army stepped into a trap set by upright apes with sharpened wooden stakes, and seventeen soldiers died in one go.

Kagamo stood beside the pit, looking at the corpses of soldiers impaled by wooden stakes at the bottom, and uttered a sentence that sent chills down the spines of everyone present:

"They are fighting, fighting using our methods."

Then came the last day.

Thirty-six upright apes appeared simultaneously in seven directions from the capital and set ablaze the haystacks that had been prepared in advance.

The fire spread simultaneously from seven directions toward the city center.

Most of the buildings in the capital of Wakanda are made of wood, making them difficult to control once a fire starts.

Residents rushed into the streets, and the upright apes mingled with the crowd in the chaos.

They wore clothes stripped from the dead, smeared their bodies with mud to change their skin color, and with their heads bowed and backs bent, they looked exactly like human refugees in the thick smoke.

When the fire was extinguished, all thirty-six upright apes had disappeared.

It didn't die; it blended into the crowd.

Among the 200,000 refugees in the capital of Wakanda, there are 36 upright apes.

Kagamo never found them before he died.

Louis remained silent for a long time after listening to the Wakandan soldiers' account.

"What about Kagamo?"

The soldier shook his head: "There's been no news since the fire in the capital. Some say they saw him leading his guards into the fire, others say he committed suicide. Wakanda has no government now. A nation of three million people, destroyed by thirty-six upright apes."

Louis sent Lu Cheng an urgent telegram that evening.

The telegram was very long and detailed the entire course of the Wakanda incident.

The last line is Louis's own words: "Lord Lu, you said attacking the upright apes would trigger radicalization. Kagamo attacked, killing 70,000, and the 47 that escaped evolved into an army. In a month, they learned the art of war that humans had spent thousands of years on—reconnaissance, infiltration, poisoning, traps, arson, and camouflage. Now they wear our clothes, blending into our refugees, and no one can tell them apart. The nation of three million in Wakanda is gone. The Kingdom of the Bulbul borders Wakanda, and those upright apes that have infiltrated the population could cross the border at any moment. What should I do?"

When Lu Cheng received the telegram, he was watching the water dragon beast digging a hole in the backyard of the Executive Government.

After reading the telegram, he folded the paper, put it in his pocket, and said to Carrie:

"Help me retrieve the telegram records of all the signatory countries, from Advent Day to now, and see if any country has attempted a large-scale extermination of Homo erectus."

Carrie flipped through the pages for an hour and then came back.

"No. None of the four major powers, none of the United States, none of the Hanscats. None of the South Koreans, Australia, India, or the United States. All the countries that chose the upright ape are either observing or fighting against other alien creatures. No country has ever tried to exterminate the upright apes, except for Wakandan."

"Yes, except for Wakanda, which happens to be outside our intelligence network."

After Lu Cheng finished speaking, he stood up and walked to the map.

Of the one hundred countries on Earth, ten were chosen from the Homo erectus: the Four Rogue States, Ivan the Bear, the Boer Antelope, India, South Korea, Australia, and the Lion Country.

These ten countries are all within the intelligence network, and they exchange telegrams daily.

But what about the remaining ninety countries?

Those smaller countries ranked lower in the list had no steam railways, no telegraph network, no airships, and no channels of communication with the outside world.

What exotic creatures did they choose?

What countermeasures did they take?

Did they attempt a massacre like the Wakandans?

Did any upright apes escape after the massacre?

What did the escaped upright apes evolve into?

"This was my oversight," Lu Cheng said in a low voice.

"I've been keeping a close eye on the four major powers and the signatory states because they have the largest populations of Homo erectus, the strongest industrial bases, and the most severe consequences if something goes wrong. But I've overlooked the smaller countries. While they may have fewer Homo erectus populations, their ability to cope is also weaker. If something goes wrong, it could be a national catastrophe like Wakandan. And after that, those evolved Homo erectus will spread to neighboring countries. The Boulder Country will be the first to be affected, and it won't be the last."

He turned to Carrie: "I need to send a diplomat to all the small countries that haven't signed the treaty. Not to sign, but to get a head start. To find out what species they've chosen, what measures they've taken, and whether a Wakandan-like incident has occurred. If so, establish a buffer zone immediately."

"Who should we send?"

"First Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Li Wei. He served as an ambassador to the Great Power Dragon Country for eight years. He speaks seven languages, can ride horses and walk, and can send messages back even in places without any modern communication."

Li Wei is one of the most senior diplomats in the Winners Kingdom. He is forty-two years old, as thin as a bamboo pole, and his eyes are always squinted, as if he hasn't woken up yet, but Lu Cheng knows that those eyes have seen more than anyone else.

He was compiling a symbol table for the upright ape in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs archives when he received the order.

"Consul, how many men do I need to bring?"

"You're alone; smaller countries will be wary of more people. Your task is to gather information, not to negotiate. In each country you visit, find out three things—which species they've chosen, whether they've attempted to exterminate them, and the current status of the hominids. Once you've figured it out, immediately send a telegram back; if there's no telegram, use a messenger."

Li Wei nodded and turned to leave.

"Wait a minute." Lu Cheng took an automatic pistol from the drawer and placed it on the table.

"The upright apes of Wakanda have learned to poison, trap, set fires, and disguise themselves. If there is a problem in the country you go to, they will blend in with the crowd and you won't be able to tell them apart."