A Common Primate Malady

The sound of hoofbeats drew nearer, urgent and rapid, soon reaching the street beside the zoo.

Kuafu sat inside the iron cage and could even hear the ape cavalry talking:

"...Annoying... zoo..."

"...Humans should... go to the big cities..."

"...Strange... stink..."

"...Hurry up, don't waste time..."

Kuafu's eyes widened inside the cage. He opened his mouth, then immediately closed it again. Finally, he took a deep breath and calmed down.

The ape cavalry outside quickly left, their voices fading into the distance. A trace of relief appeared on Kuafu's face, and he lay down to sleep.

In the cage beside him, Shen Feng moved his finger off the trigger and went to sleep as well...

Early the next morning, Shen Feng got up, washed up, roasted some wild boar meat, and shared it with Kuafu. Then he led out the two horses and continued toward the capital.

This time, Shen Feng avoided every town and traveled through the wilderness. He slowed down and remained extremely cautious along the way.

The pursuers had already caught up. If the capital was the apes' stronghold, then they might encounter ape forces stationed along the way. They had to be careful—more careful than ever.

Ever since Shen Feng had revealed his identity to Kuafu the night before, the ape leader had remained silent for a long time, seemingly contemplating Shen Feng's words.

By now, they both understood that words alone could never make them fully trust one another.

Everything required more trust.

The wormwood in the wilderness stood taller than a man, but with warhorses, it was no longer a problem.

Over the next few days, Shen Feng led Kuafu around towns of all sizes scattered across the wilderness and continued onward.

Although their pace had slowed, the odds of encountering pursuers had dropped drastically.

The closer they drew to the capital, the more ape pursuers they encountered. Sometimes, they could even spot ape cavalry from afar. Shen Feng relied entirely on cutting down clumps of wormwood and draping them over the warhorses to disguise themselves.

Kuafu, meanwhile, remained silent. He neither called for help nor attempted to escape.

After traveling in a wide circle for roughly ten days, they finally saw the capital's landmark buildings in the distance and reached the outskirts of the ruined city.

The human stone statues here were far denser than anywhere else.

When the Stone Statue Disease epidemic entered its late stage of spread, countless infected people had broken through quarantine and flooded into the capital, seeking their final salvation.

What they received, however, was not salvation, but collective extinction.

Riding between human stone statues, Shen Feng gripped his gun vigilantly and stared ahead.

This was the apes' stronghold. They would definitely have defenses in place. Though most of the tracking apes had spread out across the wilderness, some of them had likely returned to the capital.

That was the main reason he had kept Kuafu as a hostage all this time.

Now that they had reached the capital, Kuafu's expression grew even more solemn, as if he had already made some kind of decision.

Shen Feng rode ahead to scout the way. Suddenly, rustling came from the grass beside him. He whipped his head around and saw a leopard pouncing toward him like a bolt of lightning!

Shen Feng snorted coldly. The shotgun wrapped in several layers of rags in his hand fired instantly.

With a muffled boom, the leopard's body halted in midair as blood burst from it, then it crashed heavily to the ground.

Shen Feng let out a breath, but another leopard suddenly sprang from the grass on the other side, lunging straight for his back!

Its dagger-like claws gleamed in the sunlight. If it landed that pounce, he would be severely injured even if he survived, not to mention the tearing bite that would follow!

Just as Shen Feng had nowhere left to dodge, Kuafu, on the horse behind him, widened his eyes and let out a furious roar. He leaped into the air and landed on the leopard, knocking the vicious beast aside!

Ape and leopard rolled to the ground and began fighting savagely. Kuafu straddled the leopard, raised his rope-bound fists, and smashed them down on its head like iron hammers.

The leopard's claws tore several wounds across his body, but they did nothing to stop Kuafu's frenzy.

Under blow after crushing blow, the leopard's head was reduced to a bloody pulp. Its skull cracked open, and it soon stopped struggling, its life extinguished.

Still unsatisfied, Kuafu continued hammering away until the leopard's head had been completely flattened. Only then did he stop, lift his blood-smeared face, and look at Shen Feng with deep eyes.

Satisfaction filled Shen Feng's gaze as he drew out the submachine gun he had hidden beneath his arm.

The instant that leopard had attacked, he had already swung the muzzle around. If Kuafu had not acted, the submachine gun would have riddled the leopard with bullets.

But no matter what, the gorilla had saved him.

"So, you believe me now?" Shen Feng asked calmly.

Kuafu rose to his feet, his expression equally calm. "I hope everything you said is true, and that you can truly keep your promise... cunning human."

He had seen the submachine gun in the other man's hand and instantly understood that his actions had merely been a test from this human.

He had thought a great deal over the past few days. If this human was telling the truth, if he truly came from a world that still possessed a complete scientific research system, then the intelligent apes' only hope of reproduction might lie with him.

What Shen Feng had done earlier—obtaining research materials out of thin air—also made it impossible for Kuafu not to believe him.

Most importantly, whether the human's words were true or false, this was already the intelligent apes' only lifeline. He had to cling to it tightly.

Even if it was all merely this human's scheme, until it was proven otherwise, he had no choice but to accept it.

Shen Feng nodded and continued, "I can make that promise to you, but I also need the loyalty of your entire race. Through you, I want to control this world."

From the very beginning, what he wanted had not merely been to complete the mission and leave. He wanted this apocalyptic world with its endless resources!

Kuafu nodded as well. "Agreed. You will become our sage, our god. In the face of survival, apes do not care about so-called dignity. That is merely the vanity you humans possess."

Shen Feng extended a hand from atop his horse. "Then, here's to a pleasant partnership."

Instead, Kuafu looked relieved. He mounted his horse as well, reached out, and clasped Shen Feng's hand.

"Here's to a pleasant partnership."

At that moment, hoofbeats sounded in the distance as dozens of ape cavalrymen rapidly approached them.

Though the gunshots had been muffled, they had still drawn the apes' attention.

The ape cavalry had already spotted Kuafu and Shen Feng from afar. They soon rode to within a few dozen meters of them and reined in their horses in unison.

The eyes of the leading ape shone with delight. It was Stone Eye, the general under Kuafu's command. He shouted, "Kuafu, are you all right?"

The instant Kuafu saw the ape, his brow furrowed slightly. Then he smiled and said, "I'm fine. I have reconciled with the human. It was all a misunderstanding."

Stone Eye exchanged looks with the ape cavalry around him and shouted, "Kuafu, you're injured?"

The apes were still relatively unskilled at controlling their emotions, and something strange showed in their eyes.

Shen Feng frowned and quietly asked Kuafu, "Why are they loading a grenade launcher?"

Stone Eye held a grenade launcher in his hands. Even as he spoke, he continued loading it.

That thing was tremendously powerful. Once fired, both Shen Feng and Kuafu would be caught in the blast.

Kuafu kept smiling at the ape cavalry as he quietly said, "Stone Eye is the most ambitious among the ape generals. Normally, I can suppress him, but now... a primate's desire for power can overwhelm everything. Apes are primates too."

Shen Feng instantly understood what was happening and quietly said, "I'll count to three. Throw it immediately, then we run left. One... two..."

As he spoke, he used his sleeve to conceal the movement and slipped a grenade into Kuafu's hand.

Kuafu continued smiling as he called out, "Stone Eye, I didn't expect your squad to return early. I just ran into Wuzhiqi and Longhair. They'll be here soon. Catch this."

With that, he casually tossed out the grenade, which he had smeared with a layer of blood.

Hearing the names Wuzhiqi and Longhair, Stone Eye froze. Then he saw a red object flying toward them through the air. One of the apes beside him instinctively reached out to catch it.

"Three!" Shen Feng barked.

Man and ape simultaneously turned their horses toward the nearby street and bolted away.

At the same time, Stone Eye's subordinate caught the grenade. With a thunderous boom, the ape and his warhorse were blown to pieces, while the surrounding apes were instantly wounded as well.

As the smoke and bloody rain dissipated, Stone Eye stood with blood covering his face and venom in his eyes. He roared, "Kill them!"