Cunning, Savage Beasts

So that was it...

Shen Feng narrowed his eyes inside the building and began moving quickly.

The Skinners in the Epidemic Prevention Center building had all been drawn away by the firelight and slaughter. Most had left, leaving only several hundred on the lower floors.

There was no trace of any Skinners left on the top floor where Shen Feng was.

He stepped out of the laboratory. The corridor outside was utterly empty, with only a few stone statues still standing.

Shen Feng quickly entered the elevator and descended to the underground warehouse of the Epidemic Prevention Center building.

All Epidemic Prevention Center buildings had been built and modified to the same specifications, so the places where weapons and ammunition were stored were quite similar as well.

The weapons and ammunition at the Radiant City Epidemic Prevention Center were likewise kept in the underground warehouse.

He took more than a dozen grenades and two anti-personnel mines from the warehouse, carried them back to the top-floor laboratory in a backpack, then used wire to hang the pull rings of several grenades from the inside door handle. After closing the door again, he tightened the wire with thread.

After thinking for a moment, he casually hung the former director of the Epidemic Prevention Center's ID card on a stone statue. Only then did he enter the elevator again and head for the underground parking garage.

By then, gunfire and howls were already drifting in from outside the Epidemic Prevention Center building. The Brain Apes were clearing out the remaining Skinners around the center.

To Kuafu, victory was already assured. He was in no hurry to send his kin charging inside, instead wanting to maintain an elegant bearing.

An elegance resembling that of humans.

Shen Feng's mind was exceptionally clear at that moment. After witnessing that bloody slaughter, he should have felt rage, fear, and all sorts of other emotions, yet his heart remained utterly still.

When the first Brain Ape entered the Epidemic Prevention Center building, Shen Feng had already silently slipped into the underground parking garage without even triggering the sound-activated lights, like a ghost.

Soon, the footsteps of Brain Apes began sounding continuously, but this time their movements seemed far more reverent.

In the memories of many Brain Apes, the first time they had gained self-awareness was inside an Epidemic Prevention Center building.

This was where their memories of wisdom had begun, the holy land within their hearts.

More than a thousand Brain Apes did not even shout again. Even their exchanges with one another were kept extremely quiet, as though they feared disturbing this sacred place buried deep within their hearts.

The Epidemic Prevention Center—their Eden, their blissful pure land, and also their hell.

"Wuzhiqi, Stone Eye, Longhair, each of you take three hundred soldiers and cleanse the remaining Skinners in the building." Wisdom gleamed in Kuafu's eyes. "Feifei, you're responsible for external security. The rest of you, come with me!"

"Remember, don't damage anything in the Epidemic Prevention Center! This is the land of hope for the rise of apekind!"

"Yes, Kuafu!" A group of Brain Apes answered in unison. They had always deeply revered their tribal leader.

At first, the Brain Apes had slaughtered and attacked one another. It was Kuafu who had united them all, teaching them the dignity and terror of wisdom and giving them the concept of an ape race.

Later, Kuafu gave them the identity of inheritors of civilization, helping them understand the meaning of survival. Only then did the light of life finally shine upon them.

Although the elevator was still operating, Kuafu was extremely cautious and did not take it. Instead, he led several hundred Brain Apes directly up the stairs to the laboratory outside the top floor.

Looking at the sealed doors of the laboratory, Kuafu's heart surged with excitement.

He had previously examined materials in laboratories at other still-operating Epidemic Prevention Centers and learned that what he needed was in Radiant City!

Now, it was finally within his grasp!

A Skinner's corpse lay in the corridor, but Kuafu paid it no attention and began inspecting the standing stone statues.

Very quickly, he found an ID card on one of the statues. It was the ID card of the person in charge of the Radiant City Epidemic Prevention Center!

Picking up the ID card, Kuafu let out a long breath, calming his slightly tense emotions. He walked to the side of the alloy door and inserted the card into the slot.

"Senior Researcher, Jin Hui."

The dust-covered scanner suddenly lit up, displaying the portrait of an old man with white hair and beard—the owner of the ID card.

Kuafu's brow suddenly furrowed. Something was wrong. The stone statue from which he had taken the ID card had clearly been a middle-aged woman...

The alloy door suddenly swung open. Along with a crisp series of dings, something seemed to have been pulled free.

The Brain Apes crowded at the entrance filed in, charging into the laboratory they had long awaited.

"Something's wrong! Get down, get out!" Kuafu shouted, throwing himself heavily over a young Brain Ape beside him and pressing himself to the ground behind the cover of the alloy wall.

Boom! More than a dozen grenades and two Claymore mines detonated at once. Over a hundred thousand steel pellets and fragments poured forth like rain, inflicting horrifying damage in the narrow laboratory and corridor.

The tightly packed Brain Apes did not even have time to scream before they were blasted into sieves, just like the Skinners they had hacked to pieces!

Not one of the dozens of Brain Apes who entered the laboratory escaped unharmed. Some were directly blasted into pieces, while nearly every Brain Ape in the corridor was wounded. Several of the severely injured wailed without end, turning the place into a hellscape.

A steel pellet grazed the corner of Kuafu's eye, leaving blood streaming down his face. He slowly rose to his feet and stared at the hellish scene before him, fury blazing in his eyes!

With a grim face, he walked into the laboratory. Ignoring his shattered glasses and the chunks of flesh and severed limbs scattered across the ground, he opened the damaged freezer and began searching for what was inside.

Soon, he found a shriveled metal cylinder marked "Liquid Nitrogen." It had been completely torn apart by the explosion and was utterly empty inside.

Only a broken label remained, bearing the word "Pangu."

"Humans..." Kuafu clenched his teeth and forced out the word through the gaps between them. He was suddenly consumed by regret that he had not done everything in his power to hunt down that human.

That opponent had not only dealt the ape race a devastating blow, but had also stolen his last hope!

That man knew about the Pangu Virus—and had taken the Pangu Virus away!

It was as though that man were mocking him. Humans were the most cunning and savage beasts on this planet!

"Treat the wounded! Notify all apes immediately—hunt, hunt the human at any cost! Even to the ends of the world! Roar!!!" Kuafu bellowed.

"No, I'll kill him myself. I'll crush him into paste with my own hands!"

As he spoke, he quickly walked to the elevator that had been overlooked earlier. He entered it with two guards after pressing the button.

As the smartest of the apes, he had already calmed down quickly. The Epidemic Prevention Center possessed a huge stockpile of weapons. He would use them to arm the ape race to the teeth and tear that human to pieces!

Soon, they arrived at the underground parking garage.

Their heavy footsteps caused the remaining sound-activated lights to flicker on one by one, revealing the various vehicles stored there.

The most conspicuous was a Defender-3 armored vehicle!

This was it!

That human's earlier actions had instead reminded him that the armored vehicles here could still be used.

Kuafu strode up to the armored vehicle, opened the hatch, and climbed inside. This roaring steel warhorse far surpassed any other mount. Today, he would use it to hunt down that evil human!

At that moment, the black barrel of a shotgun emerged from the darkness and pressed against his forehead.

"Don't move," Shen Feng said.