novelsite Chapter 62 9-Nation Express
Chapter 62 9-Nation Express
Chapter 62 Nine Kingdoms Express
Carrie pulled a photograph from her pocket and placed it on the table: "In the Ivan Bear Kingdom mining area, the taming of the upright apes by the Gyrodonts has entered the assembly stage."
In the photo, twelve Gyrodonts are lined up in two neat columns, each with a bipedal ape perched on its back.
The upright ape gripped the mane of the Glyptodon with its forepaws, and the Glyptodon moved in perfect unison, like a cavalry formation that had been trained for ten years.
"From riding to forming ranks, it took less than ten days, whereas it would take humans a year to train a cavalry phalanx," Carrie said.
Lu Cheng picked up the photo and stared at it for a long time: "Why are they practicing marching drills?"
"Patrol. A group of wild Tyrannosaurus Rex appeared on the outskirts of the mining area. The upright apes led a formation of Gyrodonts and drove the Tyrannosaurus Rex away."
"The Tyrannosaurus Rex—was driven away by the Gliodon?"
"The twelve Gyrodonts simultaneously made a sound with their cutting teeth, and the Tyrannosaurus Rex turned tail and ran away. The head of Fura's intelligence bureau saw it with his own eyes."
Lu Cheng put down the photo and leaned back in his chair.
The upright ape rode the Gyrodon and drove away the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Among the three exotic creatures, the upright ape stands at the very top—not at the top of the food chain, but at the top of the command chain. They don't need to be the strongest, they just need to be the best at commanding.
Meanwhile, in Sam Eagle Country, on the Waimeming Plain.
Wood crouched on an abandoned railway bridge pier, his binoculars revealing a group of Tyrannosaurus Rex and a group of upright apes.
Unlike the last time when they traded metal tools and dinosaur meat across the railway, this time the upright apes came empty-handed.
They brought nothing with them, but simply squatted at the edge of the Tyrannosaurus Rex's territory and tapped at the Tyrannosaurus Rex for a long time with a rhythmic tapping sound.
The leader of the Tyrannosaurus Rex herd was a giant beast with a body size of nearly sixteen meters after its skeleton was strengthened.
It lowered its massive head and stared with its vertical pupils at the upright ape that was pounding the ground.
The upright ape did not retreat and continued to knock.
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Then the Tyrannosaurus Rex leader did something that almost made Wood drop his telescope—it turned around and led its kin westward.
To the west lies the territory of another group of wild Tyrannosaurus Rex.
"They're using the knocking sounds to guide the Tyrannosaurus Rex's migration," Wood said to the defense secretary beside him. "Last time it was a transaction, this time it's guidance, next time—it'll be command."
"Mr. President, what should we do?"
"Let's put aside the proposal to outsource the mining area to them for now, and wait until we figure out what they really want to do."
Hanscat Kingdom, on the edge of the Black Forest.
King William's iron boots trod on the clearing ground gnawed bare by the giant millipede, and in front of him was an upright ape crouching next to a venom collection point.
The collection points were built by the upright apes themselves.
The trench was carved out from a tree trunk that had been gnawed by a giant millipede, and the bottom of the trench was lined with a layer of rubber taken from a steam engine conveyor belt so that the venom would not leak in.
A giant millipede lay on the edge of the tank, its dark green venom, secreted by its stimulating glands, flowing down the tank wall into the rubber trough and filling half of it.
The upright ape scooped up the venom in a clay pot, sealed it, and placed it aside.
More than thirty cans have already been stocked.
King William crouched down to look at the upright ape, which looked up at him and then continued scooping up venom.
They didn't consider him a threat at all.
"How much does it collect each day?" King William asked.
The accompanying biologist opened his notebook: "An average of forty canisters a day. A giant millipede secretes about two canisters of venom per day, which means that at least twenty giant millipedes come here at fixed times to secrete venom. They are not forced to come; they come voluntarily."
"voluntary?"
"The venom of giant millipedes is so concentrated that it corrodes their mouthparts, affecting their ability to eat. The upright apes help them expel the excess venom, making them feel better, while the upright apes get the venom. Both sides feel they've gained something."
King William stood up, his tin boots clattering on the ground. "The question is, what will the upright apes do with all this venom? More than thirty cans of giant millipede venom are enough to poison the entire city's water supply system."
Jacques Chicken Country, Licheng Port.
George squatted on the edge of the dock, in front of a group of Anomalocaris spawning grounds.
After the Anomalocaris evolved its spring claws in the second stage, it sank more than 400 ships, and the fishermen of Licheng Port no longer dared to go out to sea.
But in the past two weeks, the Anomalocaris' spawning grounds have quietly shifted south by about three kilometers.
It wasn't Anomalocaris that shifted on its own; it was Homo erectus that guided it.
The upright apes dumped a large amount of metal scrap in the sea three kilometers south of their nesting site.
Copper pipes, iron plates, and rivets salvaged from the wreckage of a steamship sunk by Anomalocaris.
Anomalocaris needs metal scrap to reinforce its spring claws; if it follows the scrap, its spawning grounds will be off-center.
After veering off course by three kilometers, the waterway at Licheng Port is now safe.
George's fisheries minister was overjoyed, saying that the upright apes had inadvertently helped him a great deal.
George didn't think it was unintentional.
"They're using metal scrap as bait to lure the Anomalocaris to where they want to be. It's not helping us clear the waterways, it's concentrating the Anomalocaris in places where it's easier to collect the metal scrap."
Zhu Sailang Kingdom, Luocheng Port.
Vito stood beside the shipping lane blocked by a giant nautilus, holding a newly translated record of the symbol for the upright ape.
The hominid tribe outside the port has carved symbols on an entire wall with copper sheets over the past ten days, and linguists have deciphered a portion of them.
The content is about a method for maintaining the barbs on the tentacles of a giant nautilus. One method is to apply a certain kind of mucus made by upright apes to the barbs to prevent seawater corrosion.
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The upright ape taught this method to the giant nautilus.
No one saw exactly how he was taught, but the result was clear:
The tentacles of those giant nautiluses outside the harbor are all coated with this slime, which improves the corrosion resistance of their barbs and makes them less likely to break when wrapped around propellers.
They wrapped themselves up even more vigorously.
"The upright apes are maintaining the weapons of the giant nautilus, and then the giant nautilus uses those maintained weapons to continue blocking our shipping lanes. So, what do the upright apes get in return?" Vito asked.
The intelligence officer pulled out a photograph:
The old barbs that the upright ape shed from the giant nautilus were collected, ground into powder, mixed with clay, and fired to make a type of pottery with extremely high hardness.
They are making pottery using the powdered barbs of giant nautiluses.
"It's not about maintaining the weapons of the giant nautilus; it's about using the giant nautilus as a tool to produce barb powder."
Vito frowned.
The Presidential Palace of the mighty Dragon Nation.
Kerry spread the reports from various countries out on his desk, one by one.
Ivan Bear Kingdom: Upright ape riding a beautiful-toothed beast.
Sam's Eagle Kingdom: Homo erectus guides Tyrannosaurus Rex migration.
Hans Cat Kingdom: Upright apes collect giant millipede venom.
Yak Chicken Country: The spawning grounds of Anomalocaris guided by the upright ape.
Zhu Sailang Kingdom: Upright apes obtain giant nautilus barb powder.
Five reports, five exotic creatures, the same pattern—Homo erectus domesticating them.
It's not about domesticating them by putting them in cages, it's about making them think they've gotten the better deal.
The Grimogonia thought it was mining together, the Tyrannosaurus Rex thought it was trading metals, the giant millipede thought it was detoxing, the Anomalocaris thought it was collecting scraps, and the giant nautilus thought it was getting a pampering treatment.
They all felt they had gotten a good deal.
They are all unaware that they are being domesticated.
Kerry stacked the five reports together and said to his secretary, "Send a telegram to Brother Lu and tell him that the domesticated hominids are not limited to nine exotic creatures; they are also domesticating humans."
"How can humans be tamed? How is that even possible—"
"The border guards of Namibi thought they saw seven fingers, the mining commissioners of Ivan Bear Kingdom thought they made a profit by outsourcing the mining area to the upright apes, and the fisheries minister of Licheng Port thought the upright apes had unintentionally done them a great favor. Every human who thinks they have gotten a good deal is being domesticated."