Passing the Flame

Aside from silicon-based components, the human stone statues also contained some organic fibers. They were somewhat like coral polyps, or perhaps more like honeycomb briquettes.

That was precisely why they could burn in fire.

Once they had burned away, they turned into silicon powder.

The Brain Apes had found a large amount of degraded fuel throughout the city and poured it over the stone statues to feed the flames.

Though the fuel was no longer suitable for vehicle combustion engines, it could still be ignited without much trouble. It just produced a little too much black smoke.

Tens of thousands of human stone statues were piled together into an enormous bonfire. It blazed fiercely, and many of the statues within had already been burned red, like lumps of glowing charcoal.

The billowing black smoke rose straight into the stars, as though it were the souls of those stone humans, finally freed from the statues' restraints and granted true transcendence.

A huge platform had been built beside the bonfire, and it was actually made from stacks upon stacks of paper books!

There were over a hundred thousand books, seemingly enough to empty out the Radiant City Library.

The Brain Apes sat in a circle around the bonfire, each holding a heavy book. Though Shen Feng could not make out what the books were, every one of them was a large volume with a gilded hardcover.

One Brain Ape stepped out from the crowd and stood atop the platform made of books.

Shen Feng took out his binoculars and looked over. He immediately recognized it as Kuafu, the bespectacled Brain Ape!

Kuafu was holding a book as well, speaking solemnly to the gathered Brain Apes.

Then he sat cross-legged and shouted several more lines.

More than a thousand Brain Apes responded in unison. Their voices drifted over on the wind, allowing Shen Feng to hear the words clearly:

"The human race was steeped in sin and destroyed by fate. Earth's civilization has withered, while only the ape race prospers! We are the chosen apes, and the flame of civilization shall continue through us! The world belongs to us, and the future belongs to the ape race!"

The Brain Apes shouted loudly, repeating those words over and over. Their eyes were filled with madness, and the way they looked at Kuafu brimmed with fanatical devotion.

Shen Feng was equally shaken by what the Brain Apes were doing.

These highly intelligent Brain Apes had already come to see themselves as the inheritors of human civilization, as the rulers of Earth!

No wonder they had hunted Shen Feng so frantically upon seeing him, as if they had encountered the most heinous being imaginable.

Shen Feng's existence itself denied their status as civilization's inheritors. It could shake their confidence and threaten their very existence!

Deep down, they were afraid—afraid that humanity would awaken and revive once more, stripping them of their position as civilization's inheritors!

Yet after reviewing a vast amount of information, Shen Feng understood that these Brain Apes had no future at all.

The intelligence they possessed could not be passed down through reproduction. Their offspring would be nothing more than ordinary chimpanzees.

Therefore, once these Brain Apes died, the ape race would likewise sink into the darkness of civilization. Earth's entire civilization would fall into a long night lasting hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of years, until a new group of primates or some other species evolved highly developed intelligence.

Once he understood this, Shen Feng looked at Kuafu with an added measure of respect.

Perhaps this Brain Ape leader already understood that as well. Everything he was doing must have carried another, deeper meaning.

After the chanting ended, the Brain Apes quietly sat down, opened the books in their hands, and actually began reading aloud by the fire!

Their books covered all sorts of subjects, yet once they began reading, joyous and peaceful expressions appeared on the ape faces, as though they were drawing near to some supreme truth.

Shen Feng sighed inwardly. What a bunch of studious little apes...

Just then, roars rose from the darkness beyond the firelight. Thousands upon thousands of Skinners surged toward the Brain Apes in groups, prowling through the shadows and howling madly.

Though they did not know what the apes were doing, the Skinners' muddled consciousnesses found these creatures utterly repulsive.

They hated them even more than they hated Shen Feng, a human!

More and more Skinners gathered. Though they feared the scorching flames, they had reached the limits of their restraint and were ready to pounce at any moment.

Kuafu, who had been reading with his head bowed, slowly raised his head and looked toward the Skinners nearby. Excitement flickered in his gleaming eyes.

He tossed aside the book in his hand, rose to his feet, and drew a curved saber. Its gleaming edge flashed in the firelight as he roared:

"Hooh! Warriors of the ape race, the ghosts of the old humans still wander! Civilization needs the ape race's protection! Draw your blades, bury these ghosts of the old humans, and defend the honor of civilization's inheritors!"

The Brain Apes who had been reading threw down their books, drew their sabers, and turned to face the Skinners prowling in the firelight. They bared their fangs, unable to conceal their excitement.

"Purge them!" Kuafu swung his saber, and the Brain Apes immediately swarmed forward, pouncing on the howling Skinners!

The Skinners likewise shrieked and charged at the creatures they loathed!

Like two crashing tides, the two sides collided violently beside the immense bonfire of stone statues, sending up a rain of blood!

The Brain Apes were immensely strong, and with sabers in their hands, they were slaughtering the unarmed Skinners in a completely one-sided massacre!

"We are civilization's inheritors!"

"Humanity has perished! The future belongs to the ape race!"

"Kill them! Kill all humans! Purge this world!"

The bloodthirsty Brain Apes grew even more excited. As they screamed madly, they hacked off the Skinners' limbs and smeared their faces crimson.

The patricidal urges buried deep within them, along with their hatred for memories of once being enslaved, were completely unleashed here!

So what if humans had once been their creators?

They were nothing but fleeting smoke, nothing but a group of lifeless stone statues!

The Skinners fell like wheat beneath a scythe. Though their madness injured quite a few Brain Apes, such wounds were hardly worth mentioning to these former beasts. They only further stirred their ferocity!

The Skinners' corpses formed a circle around the bonfire of burning human stone statues. Kuafu cleaved down a Skinner with one stroke, a satisfied smile on his face.

There had been nearly ten thousand Skinners in all of Radiant City, and by now they had killed more than half of them!

This city was about to be purged. Finding that last human would not be difficult either.

He raised his head and looked toward the Epidemic Prevention Center building nearby, his heart filled with anticipation.

Most of the Skinners in the building had already been lured out. Once the purge was complete, they could enter the Epidemic Prevention Center building, which still had electricity, and search for the thing he desired.

Other than himself, none of the ape race understood that the human in Radiant City was not his most important objective. He had something else in mind...

Skinners continued rushing in from every corner of the city. The ape race's steel blades had been hacked dull, and in the end, exhaustion forced them to use guns.

Gunshots rang out everywhere. The Skinners had no way to resist, and before long, only scattered remnants remained, nearly all lying in pools of blood.

Kuafu threw away his broken saber, pounded his chest with both fists, and roared toward the sky, "Hooh—"

"Hooh—"

"Hooh—"

"Hooh—"

More than a thousand apes responded in unison, basking in the glory of the ape race amid the ring of Skinner corpses.

They were the chosen apes, the inheritors of civilization, the rulers of this planet!

Standing atop the platform of stacked books, Kuafu pointed toward the Epidemic Prevention Center building and shouted:

"Take that building!"