Experimental Log on the Effects of a New Silicon-Based Virus on Apes

It was afternoon. The Skinners all hid in the shadows of the buildings, howling madly at the Brain Apes.

A group of Brain Apes wielded all manner of firearms, shooting continuously at the Skinners hiding within the buildings.

They did not enter those gloomy buildings, merely firing wherever their eyes could see.

In the blink of an eye, dozens of Skinners had fallen into pools of blood and found release. More, however, driven by biological instinct, fled deeper into the shadows.

"Kuafu, Skinners, disgusting! Kill them all!" shouted a Brain Ape on horseback. Beside him stood Kuafu, the bespectacled leader of the ape clan.

"Wuzhiqi, bullets limited. Too many Skinners. And they kill humans. Humans don't. We leave here," Kuafu said to his lieutenant, Wuzhiqi.

After the great human Stone Statue Disease catastrophe erupted, he had encountered Skinner monsters before. He knew full well how disgusting they were and even understood that these monsters had been transformed from former incinerators.

When Stone Statue Disease broke out, the Epidemic Prevention Center became the most important institution, recruiting millions of incinerators.

After all humans had turned into stone statues, every city had been left with vast numbers of Skinners—several thousand at the least, tens of thousands at the most.

These Skinners were the rulers of every city's ruins at night and the greatest threat the Brain Apes had ever faced.

After years of fighting, they had only cleared the Skinners from some cities. They were still far from eradicating them completely.

Wuzhiqi nodded, voicing his wholehearted approval.

"Kuafu, smart! We go! Roar!"

At that roar, the Brain Apes, who had already hunted more than a hundred Skinners, put away their guns and continued searching toward the next block.

Kuafu frowned tightly. A strange feeling stirred faintly in his heart. He suddenly raised his head and looked toward the top floor of the Epidemic Prevention Center, then shook his head and smiled mockingly at himself.

The Skinners' hatred for humans far surpassed their hatred for other creatures. If that human had truly entered the Epidemic Prevention Center building, the place would already have been filled with chaotic roars. At the very least, some Skinner corpses would have been left behind. It would have been impossible for him to enter unscathed.

He was being too suspicious...

Still, he had not seen a living human in far too long. There was only one explanation for this human's appearance: another stone statue had turned back into a person!

He withdrew his gaze and looked ahead. The corner of his eye swept over the human stone statues along the road, and an inexplicable irritation rose within him. Suddenly, he shouted, "Pass down the order. Tonight, hold the Fire-Passing Ritual. Continue searching for humans. Try to capture them alive!"

Upon hearing this, the apes present immediately let out a burst of delighted cries. They were clearly looking forward to the Fire-Passing Ritual.

Then, the Brain Apes bent down and picked up the human stone statues from the ground, placing them on horseback. Before long, a troop of ape cavalry swiftly departed, once again leaving behind empty streets and the roaring Skinners in the surrounding buildings.

In the top-floor laboratory of the Epidemic Prevention Center building, Shen Feng, hidden behind the blinds, watched the Brain Apes leave. At last, the heart hanging in his throat settled.

The instant that bespectacled Brain Ape had looked up, their gazes had met. Shen Feng's heart had suddenly raced, and for a moment, he had thought he had been discovered.

Fortunately, the other party had ultimately left again.

Through the surveillance system installed in the laboratory, he had also heard the Brain Apes' conversation and finally learned the other party's name.

Kuafu!

That Brain Ape had actually named himself Kuafu—the giant from ancient Chinese mythology who drank the Yellow River dry and died chasing the sun!

Heh. What lofty ambitions!

Shen Feng could not help but sneer.

It could now be confirmed that this Kuafu was the leader of these Brain Apes.

As for this so-called Fire-Passing Ritual, it was truly puzzling.

Now was not the time to dwell on it. Since he had temporarily fooled these Brain Apes, he needed to act as quickly as possible.

He immediately returned to the computer and began searching through the various files stored within it.

The Epidemic Prevention Center had its own independent archive system, with an enormous volume of data accumulated within. Although some data had been lost, the remaining records were still as vast as an ocean.

Using apes as his search term, Shen Feng obtained more than ten thousand files.

After all, the many vaccine and virus experiments conducted after the outbreak of Stone Statue Disease had used apes as test subjects. Since they were primates like humans, their responses would be similar.

Shen Feng searched for a long time without finding anything useful. Then he suddenly recalled the Brain Apes' full name, "Silicon-Based Half-Brained Apes," and immediately added the word "silicon."

Very soon, only a little over three hundred files remained, most of them experimental logs.

The dates on these experimental logs were actually all from before Stone Statue Disease appeared!

<Forwarded from the Capital Academy of Sciences Virus Center: <Experimental Log on the Effects of a New Silicon-Based Virus on Ape Test Subjects>>

"Log No. 0001. The Xianglong Arctic Expedition Team obtained an entirely new silicon-based virus sample from beneath the Arctic ice sheet. Under a microscope, it resembles rows of stone statues, and it was therefore named the Stone Statue Virus.

This is an unprecedented discovery. It overturns the foundations of countless academic theories and reveals the dawn of human evolution! If nothing unexpected happens, it will surely earn a place in the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine within a few years.

Animal experiments are now being conducted using a mutated form of this virus.

Test Subject No. 'Kuafu,' with the spirit of chasing the sun, opens a new chapter for heaven and earth! Haha, excuse my boasting.

Beginning injection of Stone Statue Virus Variant No. 2, which I have named the 'Pangu' Virus. Doesn't that sound evocative..."

"Log No. 0078. Test Subject No. 1, 'Kuafu,' and the fifty later test subjects have all displayed varying degrees of change. They have become smarter.

According to IQ tests, their IQs have reached around eighty, a dramatic increase over their original levels. They can even perform simple reading!

And this has only taken half a year! It is simply unbelievable!

Brain scans have yielded a major discovery. Their brains are showing a honeycomb-like trend, somewhat similar to the morphological effects of the prion responsible for mad cow disease.

Logically speaking, brain atrophy and brain damage should cause intellectual decline. Why have these chimpanzee test subjects gained intelligence instead? It is truly inconceivable..."

"Log No. 0167. I have gathered every primate test subject the Academy of Sciences could mobilize. After being injected with the Pangu Virus, only chimpanzees were able to undergo dramatic mutation and intellectual enhancement.

This mutation may be related to baseline brain capacity and intelligence. The higher the baseline, the greater the enhancement.

If it were used on humans, would superhuman intelligence emerge? Haha, I can hardly wait to give myself an injection. But everything must wait until the animal experiments have been completely finished.

Following the dissection of two chimpanzees, their brains showed a honeycomb-like trend, while some of their brain cells had become silicon-based. Perhaps this is the reason for their increased intelligence.

In a sense, they have already become half silicon-based and half carbon-based lifeforms."

"Log No. 0293. A major problem has arisen in the experiment. All Stone Statue Viruses are continuously undergoing iterative mutation!

Stone Statue Virus No. 2, the Pangu Virus, is merely its form at a certain point in the mutation process!

Most of the Pangu Virus samples I preserved can no longer maintain their original properties and have turned into something new!

Other experimental groups have reported similar findings. It seems that all Stone Statue Viruses are mutating toward the same objective!

It is as though they are organisms with a shared purpose!"

"Log No. 0364. The experiment has completely failed.

No matter what I do, I cannot stop the Pangu Virus from continuously mutating. I cannot preserve it unless it directly combines with a living organism.

I gave myself an injection. The final remaining dose was preserved in liquid nitrogen; only at that temperature could it truly be retained.

What a pity...

The two thousand chimpanzees used as experimental subjects have completely finished mutating and possess intelligence comparable to humans. But that is all. This trait cannot be passed on to the next generation. Perhaps they will be the loneliest chimpanzees in history—pitiful beings awakened millions of years too early from ignorance.

My skin seems to be a little itchy..."

Upon seeing the final sentence, Shen Feng could not help scratching his arm. His skin was a little itchy too, and it was beginning to harden...