Wolves, Apes, and Humans

"Kuafu! Your era is over! The future belongs to me!"

Stone Eye shouted, raising his rifle. He strode forward in great steps while firing controlled shots without pause, pinning Kuafu down so hard he could not lift his head.

Several apes beside him likewise advanced with their guns raised, firing controlled shots as they moved.

They were all Stone Eye's trusted followers. Having received all manner of promises from him, they had gone blood-mad.

Kuafu had once seemed like a god to ordinary apes. The thought of killing someone so powerful made them tremble with excitement.

"Stone Eye, you are traitors to apekind! Wuzhiqi and Longhair will be back soon, and they'll execute every last one of you! Warriors of the ape clan, do not let Stone Eye blind you. If you pledge loyalty to me now, I will forgive the past and punish only Stone Eye, the chief culprit!"

Kuafu shouted from behind several stone statues.

At his words, Stone Eye's subordinates could not help hesitating.

They had always known of Wuzhiqi's brutal reputation.

Stone Eye snorted. "Kuafu, you're at death's door and still trying to deceive people. Don't worry. You'll be killed by humans. It has nothing to do with us!"

He then berated those around him. "Kill him now! No ape can know! Otherwise, he won't spare you!"

Stone Eye's followers perked up, savage expressions returning to their faces as they blasted the statues before Kuafu into flying fragments.

Kuafu narrowed his eyes and looked toward the smooth metal walls of the corridor. He had already spotted the densely positioned enemy troops, and immediately turned his gun toward the side wall, firing several shots in succession.

"Ah—"

"I've been hit!"

"It's... ricochets!"

Several apes cried out miserably as the rebounding bullets struck them!

Fortunately, the ricochets had lost much of their power. They were only wounded, not hit anywhere vital.

"Push the statues forward!"

Stone Eye roared. Taking cover behind a stone statue, he and several subordinates pushed an entire row of statues toward Kuafu.

Kuafu fired repeatedly through gaps in the cover. His shotgun pocked the surfaces of several statues, but it could not stop their advance.

And every time he fired, dense gunfire immediately answered. In the blink of an eye, a bullet had pierced his right arm, leaving him able to hold his gun only with his left.

"Not done yet? Do you think a bunch of gorillas crashing a funeral would feel like a circus?" Kuafu shouted to Shen Feng behind him as he fired.

Shen Feng did not answer. His brain was racing as he desperately recalled the access-control system of the Qi City Epidemic Prevention Center, comparing it to the system before him and thinking at breakneck speed.

The wiring of the two systems was only fifty percent similar. There were many sections he still needed to figure out.

The circuits were extraordinarily complex. If he got even one wire wrong, the heavy protective door might never open again.

The side effects of the Skinning Agent were also rapidly appearing. Not only his skin, but his entire body—including his brain—was engulfed in extreme heat. White vapor rose from the surface of his body in streams as the moisture within him evaporated rapidly!

Open the door... Open the door... Open the door... Open the door...

Shen Feng's bloodshot eyes widened. He peeled aside layer after layer of wires, found two electrical lines, and yanked them free.

Sparks burst across the circuit board, followed by a plume of black smoke. The protective door shuddered once, then fell silent.

Not these two!

Shen Feng immediately reconnected them. His heart was still as water, and only one thought remained in his mind: open the door!

Open the door! Which wire is it!?

"Click, click..." Behind him came the empty clicks of a pistol. Kuafu had run out of shotgun shells, and now the last pistol had emptied its magazine as well.

He had no ammunition left!

"He's out of bullets! Charge!" Stone Eye cried joyfully. Still crouched behind a stone statue, he waved his hand.

His men had already shoved down several statues. With shouted cries, more than a dozen shadows darted out, and the wolf pack behind them surged forward!

"I'm not bluffing, I really am out of bullets! Aren't you done yet!?" Kuafu shouted. At the same time, he limped to his feet and drew a dagger from his belt.

Open the door, open the door!

Shen Feng gripped two wires in both hands. Suddenly, a sharp pain exploded in his mind. In the next instant, it was as if a beam of light shone out from the crown of his head. A massive stream of data flashed through his consciousness, and the heavy alloy door thundered open!

With no time to think, Shen Feng and Kuafu immediately rushed into the laboratory.

Shen Feng was just about to close the door when shadow after shadow slipped through the stone-statue barricade and charged into the laboratory, lunging at them.

It was the wolf pack tamed by Stone Eye!

"Grr..." A golden shadow gave a low growl and pounced toward Shen Feng, only to abruptly stop the next instant. "...Whine?"

Shen Feng focused his eyes and instantly recognized the vicious wolf before him. One of its ears was half missing, and it wore a damaged collar. It was Golden Fur, the wolf he had encountered in Qi City!

"How are you here?" Shen Feng asked in delighted surprise.

"Woof!" Golden Fur suddenly barked. The wolf pack charging toward Shen Feng and Kuafu instantly halted, all looking toward their king.

Golden Fur sniffed at Shen Feng, and joy flashed through its eyes.

It was that human!

The human it had been searching for all this time!

"Kuafu, the wolf pack will tear you to... Why did they stop!?" Stone Eye entered with a smile on his face, only to freeze at the sight before him. His expression darkened as he roared.

He had encountered this wolf pack a week ago while searching the wilderness for Kuafu. The lead wolf king had been extremely intelligent. After Stone Eye shot and killed two wolves, the wolf king had immediately led the pack into submission, leaving Stone Eye immensely pleased with himself.

He had not expected the wolf king to stop now instead of carrying out the hunt.

Golden Fur looked up at Shen Feng, then turned toward Stone Eye, who had just entered. Ferocity flashed in its eyes as it suddenly threw back its head and unleashed a frenzied howl. "Awooo—"

The next instant, beneath Stone Eye's stunned gaze, the wolf pack followed Golden Fur and pounced on Stone Eye and his men!

"The wolves have gone mad! Kill the wolves! Don't use guns!" Caught off guard, Stone Eye was knocked to the ground by Golden Fur and rolled out of the laboratory. He immediately roared.

They were too close together, and the corridor was too narrow. Guns would definitely cause friendly fire. They had to fight hand-to-hand!

Seeing this, Kuafu seized one of the stone statues' arms and rushed out as well, pouncing toward Stone Eye.

In an instant, the wolf pack and ape troop were locked in a chaotic melee. Shen Feng immediately rushed deeper into the laboratory.

The intense burning had already cracked his skin. He looked like a man drenched in blood. He had to find the vaccine immediately!

There were not many human stone statues in the laboratory. Only one stood in the center.

Shen Feng swept past it, then suddenly backed up and looked closely at the statue.

It was clearly the statue of an innocent-looking young girl. She wore an oversized white lab coat and did not look anything like an important researcher at the National Academy of Sciences Epidemic Prevention Center.

Yet she was here.

What shocked Shen Feng most was the ID badge hanging from her chest. It read: "National Academy of Sciences Special-Class Researcher Ji Jiuyun."

Shen Feng had seen the name Ji Jiuyun before—in the document titled <Forwarded from the Capital Academy of Sciences Virus Center <Experimental Log on the Effects of a New Silicon-Based Virus on Apes>>!

Ji Jiuyun was the creator of the Pangu Virus!

He had never expected her to be a young girl!

Shen Feng followed her right hand and immediately saw a syringe in it, poised to inject into her own arm.

But she had clearly not managed to inject it before Stone Statue Disease fully erupted, sealing everything away in stone.

Could she have been the one who finally developed a vaccine for Stone Statue Disease!?

Shen Feng did not hesitate in the slightest. He immediately pulled the syringe from the statue's hand and viciously plunged it into his arm, injecting its contents.

The pale yellow medicine quickly entered his body. A cool sensation gradually spread through him, and then... nothing.

Was it not this one? Or had the vaccine completely expired after so long?

After so many years without proper storage conditions, it was perfectly normal for it to have expired and deteriorated.

Shen Feng did not dare waste a moment. He rushed toward a storage cabinet in one corner of the laboratory. Before he even reached it, a wave of cool air was released, and the temperature-controlled cabinet opened automatically, revealing rows of virus samples and medicines.

He quickly pulled out syringe after syringe. There was no time to think. As long as it was not labeled as a virus, he immediately injected it into his body before moving on to the next.

In the blink of an eye, he had injected every last dose inside!

At the same time, an itchy numbness spread through his arm. The next instant, his skin rapidly turned into gray-white stone!

"Thud!" With a muffled impact, Stone Eye kicked Kuafu to the ground, then kicked aside the wounded Golden Fur and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

Blood slowly ran down his arm from a wound torn open by Golden Fur.

Blood stained the corners of Golden Fur's mouth. It struggled to stand, but for the moment, it could not move.

Kuafu was limping on one leg, with a stab wound in his abdomen. He could not get up either.

Stone Eye panted heavily, spat at Kuafu, and said grimly:

"Poor, great Kuafu. Don't worry. Once I kill this dog, it'll be your turn."

With that, he gripped his dagger and walked toward Golden Fur.

This dog was far too hateful. The wolf pack had gone mad. Only by killing it could he break the wolves' nerve!

"Pitiful Stone Eye, you don't deserve a beast's dignity. Hahaha, the ape clan will go extinct in your hands."

Kuafu cursed loudly, but he truly had no strength left to rise.

Stone Eye snorted, stepping on Golden Fur's neck as he viciously cursed, "Lowly stray dog, how are we inferior to humans!?"

His hand rose, then his blade fell!

"Let..." A cold voice suddenly sounded beside Stone Eye's ear, as though it came from the depths of hell. "...go!"

A black shadow shot out of the laboratory like lightning. Two large hands clamped around Stone Eye's neck like iron pincers and lifted him into the air.

"You..." Stone Eye's eyes filled with terror as he squeezed out a single word.

"Crack..." The owner of those hands suddenly exerted force, crushing Stone Eye's neck.

Kind and courageous humans, could you spare a recommendation vote?