novelsite Chapter 13 The Silence of the Rogue
Chapter 13 The Silence of the Rogue
Finally, it was Fraa who broke the silence.
How long will their evolution last?
"It won't stop." Lu Cheng's voice was calm. "The evolutionary direction of upright apes is towards intelligent brains. As long as the brain is functioning, evolution will not stop. The first stage is imitation, the second stage is creation, the third stage is organization, and the fourth stage—"
He paused.
"The fourth stage is confrontation."
"When will we enter the confrontation phase?" Kerry asked.
Lu Cheng picked up the chalk and drew a timeline on the blackboard.
The starting point is day one, and the ending point is day one hundred.
He drew a circle between the thirtieth day and the hundredth day.
"In about thirty days, the upright apes will have accumulated enough tool-making skills, and around the hundredth day..."
He turned around and faced everyone.
"Homo erectus will begin to disguise themselves as humans. Their body shape, posture, and behavior patterns will all become similar to humans. At that point, if a homo erectus stands in front of you, it will be very difficult to tell with the naked eye whether it is a homo erectus or a human."
"That's why I call them—pseudo-people."
The temperature in the conference room seemed to drop ten degrees instantly.
George jumped to his feet, his chair sliding back a considerable distance: "Disguising yourself as human? Are you kidding me?"
"Prime Minister George, what do you think the upright apes are doing right now?" Lu Cheng pointed to the photo on the blackboard.
"They hoard food, make tools, establish tribes, transmit information, and learn to use human objects. All their actions point to the same goal—to understand humans and then replace them. They are alien creatures with black blood flowing in their veins. They don't see us as their own. In their eyes, we have only two identities—objects of learning and obstacles that must be cleared."
Wood suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse: "Then why didn't you say so sooner?"
"I already said that." Lu Cheng looked at him. "On Advent Day, I sent a telegram to the Great Dragon Nation, and President Kerry received it."
All eyes turned to Kerry.
Kerry nodded.
"Then why don't you send it to everyone?" David's voice was very low, but every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.
"First, there isn't enough time. The countdown for the priority selection is only sixty seconds, and the time it takes me to send a telegram is only enough to notify one country." Lu Cheng held up one finger, then a second one.
"Secondly, would you believe me if I posted this? On Advent Day, the whole world was scrambling for the upright apes. The four major Rogue Nations were at the forefront; did you even ask for my opinion when you were grabbing them?"
The four major rogue states remained silent.
This is a fact.
On Advent Day, they snatched the upright apes faster than anyone else, afraid that if they were even a second late, someone else would take them away.
John Bull was the first to snatch it, Jacques Chicken was the second, Giuseppe was the third, and Taro Tanuki was the fourth.
They used their abilities to secure the right of first choice, and then unanimously chose the upright ape.
No one asked Lu Cheng, no one asked anyone else.
"The issue now isn't who was right or wrong back then," Fula tapped his pipe. "The issue now is—how to resolve it."
"Kill them," Wood said. "Kill them all before they finish evolving."
"Have all the Tyrannosaurus Rex in the United States been killed?" Wilhelm II interjected coldly.
Wood was speechless.
"Unless we kill the upright ape at the start, but it's too late now, it's probably difficult to kill it now." Lu Cheng shook his head and explained:
"Tyrannosaurus Rex's stress response mechanism was to become stronger after being injured, while Homo erectus's stress response mechanism may be more dangerous. Their evolutionary direction is towards the brain, and if subjected to large-scale attacks, the brain's evolutionary rate may accelerate in response to stress. The faster you kill, the faster they evolve."
"What should we do then?" David's voice finally carried a hint of anxiety.
Lu Cheng walked to the window and opened it.
Outside, in the square, a group of water dragons were lazily lying in the sun.
One of them rolled over, belly up, its large fangs sticking out of the ground, its round body resembling a potato with teeth.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the Water Dragon Beast I chose evolves into the Digging Claw, and all they do is dig burrows. In ten days, they helped my country turn over three million acres of farmland, dig through a mine, and even connected the entire underground cave system of the country. Their meat is barely edible, their hides can be used to make leather, and their excrement can be used as fertilizer."
Lu Cheng turned around.
"And the hominids you chose learned to line up, make tools, establish tribes, transmit information, and use human objects in ten days. Perhaps in a hundred days, they will be able to disguise themselves as humans. So there is only one way—to find a way to control them before they complete their evolution. Not to eliminate them, but to control them."
Silence fell again in the conference room. The representatives of the four major powers exchanged glances.
David from the Kingdom of John was the first to speak: "How do we control it?"
"I need observational data on Homo erectus from all countries." Lu Cheng returned to the table, placing his hands on the surface.
"Everyday behavioral changes, every subtle improvement, the formation and evolution of every tribe. All the data is gathered here, and I analyze their evolutionary trajectories."
"And then?" Massa looked up.
"Then find the key nodes in their evolutionary path! Every evolutionary process has an acceleration period, and the acceleration period of Homo erectus must be related to the awakening of some kind of ability in the brain. Find that node, and you can find a way to control them."
"What if we can't find it?" George asked.
Lu Cheng looked at the representatives of the four major gangsters and said, word by word:
"If we can't find them, in a hundred days or even less, the ten countries that have chosen upright apes—John Bull, Jacques Chicken, Gisele Wolf, Taro Tanuki, Ivan Bear, Boulder, India, South Korea, Australia, and Lion Country—will turn your one hundred million upright apes into one hundred million pseudo-humans. They will infiltrate cities, factories, and armies. They will learn your language, master your weapons, understand your tactics, and then…"
Lu Cheng didn't finish speaking.
But everyone understood.
After the meeting, the delegates left the conference room one after another.
King William stopped at the door and glanced back at Lu Cheng.
"Lu is in charge."
"Um?"
"Although the Hanscat Kingdom was lucky enough not to choose the upright apes, the giant millipedes are driving us crazy." Wilhelm II's voice carried a hint of bitterness.
"Those insects eat everything—wood, cloth, leather, rubber—they even gnawed the conveyor belts of the steam engine. Our army fought for seven days, but the number of insects didn't decrease, and the factory was about to shut down."
He paused.
Then he glanced at the four representatives of the hooligans who were still in the conference room.
"But at least we can still shoot them. What they're facing... guns might not be effective."
After King William left, Kerry walked up to Lu Cheng.
"Brother Lu, tell the truth."
"Um?"
"Is 100 days really enough time?"
Lu Cheng did not answer immediately.
He walked to the window and looked at the last rays of the setting sun on the distant horizon.
"It took human ancestors millions of years to learn to walk upright after leaving the trees, while upright apes did it in a day. It took humans hundreds of thousands of years to learn to use tools, while upright apes did it in three days. It took humans a hundred thousand years to develop a language system, while upright apes did it in seven days."