novelsite Chapter 3 You really chose that ugly thing?!
Chapter 3 You really chose that ugly thing?!
Everyone looked at each other.
"Like... a monkey?" the Minister of Agriculture asked tentatively.
"Yes, it looks like a monkey." Lu Cheng nodded. "What you see is that it's only 1.5 meters tall right now, holding a branch in its hand. Did you notice what the labels on the other nine creatures say?"
The defense minister flipped through the records: "Anomalocaris has spring-like claws, giant nautilus has coiled arms, Tyrrellus has a grinding mouth... all of them are organ specializations."
"What about the label of 'Homo erectus'?"
"Intelligent Brain"
Lu Cheng turned around, placed his hands on the table, and scanned everyone with his eyes.
"The other nine species evolved only their body organs. Only the upright ape evolved its brain. What do you think this means?"
The finance minister stubbornly retorted, "Does that mean it has a big head?"
"Big head?" Lu Cheng laughed. "If there were a creature so weak it couldn't even beat a hunting dog, but its evolutionary path was all about the brain, how would it survive?"
No one answered.
"Use your brain," Lu Cheng answered himself.
"The other nine creatures, no matter how strong, are still just beasts. Beasts can be killed with guns and cannons, blocked by city walls, or left to die of old age. But what if there is a creature whose evolutionary path is towards intelligence... It can observe, learn, use tools, make weapons, cooperate, coordinate tactics, and even—"
He paused.
"They will replace us."
The meeting room was so quiet you could hear your own heartbeat.
Carrie sat in the corner, looking at her husband's profile, his exquisitely handsome face filled with admiration.
She liked Lu Cheng just the way he was. He was usually sloppy and like a shut-in, but when it came to a crucial moment, he was like a sword drawn from its sheath.
The Minister of Agriculture swallowed hard. "Your Excellency, aren't you being a bit... alarmist? That thing looks so weak..."
"Weak?" Lu Cheng chuckled, a smile that carried a profound meaning that only he himself understood.
You should know that in the history of another world, there was a creature that was extremely similar to it. It came down from the tree and spent millions of years killing off all the large animals on the entire planet.
Mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and giant ground sloths—all became extinct.
He looked up, his gaze piercing through the walls of the conference room, as if he were seeing a distant world he could never return to.
He shook his head, sat down again, picked up his coffee, and took a sip.
"Don't forget, we are human beings. Whether it's the upright apes we see now or the other nine exotic creatures, they all share a common characteristic—their blood vessels are black, and the blood flowing from them is also black. This is proof that they do not belong to this world, and it is also a mark of their exotic nature. Even if the upright apes become Homo sapiens, they will not consider the humans on Earth as their own."
"So you believe..." Carrie began softly. As a special advisor to the cabinet, she shouldn't have spoken in such a formal setting, but no one was stopping her. "That upright apes would evolve into another... Homo sapiens?"
"It's not 'will,'" Lu Cheng's voice was so deep it seemed to come from underground, "it's 'definitely will.'"
"It will evolve, it will become stronger, and it will learn everything about us."
"Then--"
Lu Cheng slammed his coffee cup down on the table.
"This is none of our business."
At this moment, a message suddenly popped up on the screen:
[Hans Cat Kingdom, due to timeout, has been randomly assigned an exotic creature: a giant millipede. Good luck to them.]
Another collective gasp filled the conference room.
Hans Cat Kingdom randomly encountered a giant millipede—a huge arthropod that is over three meters long and covered with stimulating glands.
They originally had the opportunity to select upright apes.
【Please select: Winner Monkey Kingdom.】
A cold voice echoed throughout the entire government building.
All eyes were on Lu Cheng.
The finance minister clasped his hands together and muttered something, probably praying that Lu Cheng would change his mind.
Lu Cheng took a deep breath, stood up, and said in a clear and firm voice:
"Winner Monkey Kingdom, choose the Water Dragon Beast."
[The Winner Monkey Kingdom has selected the Water Dragon Beast and allocated ten million of them.]
[Waterdramon has eight remaining selection attempts.]
Next country to choose: Australia.
The meeting room exploded like popcorn.
"Consul!!!"
"You really chose that ugly thing?!"
"The water dragon has fangs! The upright ape doesn't even have teeth!"
"You'll regret this!"
"The upright ape still has four chances!"
Lu Cheng raised a hand, and as the commotion gradually subsided, he slowly spoke:
"The label of the Water Dragon is digging claws, and its evolutionary path is burrowing. Burrowing animals at most damage crops. The evolutionary path of the upright ape is an intelligent brain—you can think about it yourselves, which is more dangerous. I know you don't understand, but it won't be long before you thank me for the decision I made today."
Nobody can tell the difference.
Everyone's face screamed, "The governor has taken the wrong medicine today."
Lu Cheng didn't explain, but pulled Jia Li out of the conference room and onto the roof of the government building.
Outside, tens of thousands of people gathered in the government square, looking up at the sky.
The expression on their faces changed from initial fear to confusion, and then to anger.
Because they saw that their country had chosen not the seemingly safest upright ape, but the water dragon with huge fangs.
The crowd erupted in cheers.
"Lu Cheng, step down!"
"We want upright apes!"
"Why did you choose that ugly girl?!"
"Lu Cheng betrayed The Wynners!"
A few rotten tomatoes flew out from the crowd and exploded on the rooftop railing.
Carrie took Lu Cheng's arm; she didn't say anything, but she had already made her stance clear.
Lu Cheng looked at the angry crowd in the square, at the upright apes that were being frantically snatched up by various countries on the sky, and at the cold text: Remaining number of times upright apes can be selected: four.
He knew that for some time to come, he would become the laughingstock of the entire planet Earth.
John Bull, Jacques Chicken, Giuseppe Wolf, Taro Tanuki, Ivan Bear... These most powerful nations on Earth have all chosen the upright ape.
The ruling party of their small, tenth-ranked country chose a monster whose name no one had ever heard of.
But it's okay.
When those upright apes begin to evolve, the entire planet will understand that those seemingly harmless little apes are actually the most terrifying of the ten alien creatures.
……
On the sky, the last four opportunities for the upright apes to choose were snatched up by India, South Korea, Australia, and the Lion Country.
One hundred million upright apes were distributed among ten countries, with ten million in each country.
The last message popped up on the screen:
[Ten exotic creatures have been distributed; release countdown: 24 hours.]
At that time, every inch of land will be a hunting ground for the propagation and evolution of life.
Best of luck to you.
The curtain of light slowly disappeared, and the sky returned to its normal color.
But Lu Cheng knew that from this moment on, the world was different.
He turned and walked back to his office, picked up a pen, and wrote a few lines on a piece of white paper:
"The Upright Ape Observation Project:"