The cold barrel pressed against Kuafu's forehead. His keen sense of smell could even detect the scent of gunpowder and congealed blood.
"Hu...man..." Kuafu forced the word out through gritted teeth, his eyes filled with rage and hatred.
'I was far too careless. I never thought this human would be so cunning, secretly hiding in this armored vehicle, waiting for me to arrive!'
'How did this human know I'd be so consumed by rage that I'd want to drive the armored vehicle myself to continue the pursuit?'
'The cunning and deceit of humans is truly terrifying!'
As the faint light from outside illuminated the ape in the glasses, Shen Feng felt a flicker of surprise.
He had originally hidden here intending to capture whichever ape came to drive the armored vehicle and use them to sneak out.
He never expected to land such a big fish—the biggest one of all, in fact!
"Don't make a sound. If you yell, I'll kill you," Shen Feng said in a low voice. "And don't give me any speech about how your death is no great loss. If you die, your people will fall into disarray. I have yet to see any other ape with your leadership abilities."
"You..."
Before Kuafu could say more, Shen Feng shoved the barrel forward and continued speaking:
"Besides, if your people knew you couldn't pass your intelligence on to the next generation, that you would be the one and only generation of intelligent apes, what would they think? Would they kill themselves in despair? ...Kuafu?"
Hearing this human speak his name, on top of everything else he'd said, Kuafu's eyes widened behind his glasses. He looked as if he'd been struck by lightning, utterly and completely shocked.
'This vicious human had instantly found the Ape Race's greatest weakness—a vulnerability that could tear them apart and drive them into absolute madness!'
He fell silent for a moment, staring at Shen Feng with a blank expression for several seconds. Then, a slight smile appeared on his face, and he spoke calmly.
"Human, I must admit, I underestimated both your intelligence and your malice."
Just then, the Ape Guard outside finally noticed something was wrong. Kuafu was standing motionless, blocking the hatch. One of them asked nervously:
"Kuafu, is there, danger? What, happened?"
Kuafu looked at the human in the shadows and spoke slowly.
"It is nothing. I want to be, alone. Long Teeth, all of you, spread out. Do not, come in."
The Guard captain, Long Teeth, furrowed his brow, but decided to obey the order. He replied loudly:
"Yes!"
He then gave a hand signal, and the dozen or so members of the Ape Guard fanned out across the underground parking garage.
'Their leader has the heart of an ape, too,' he thought. 'That last scene must have been very hard on him. He probably just needs some time to recover.'
"Good. Close the hatch and get in the driver's seat," Shen Feng said, nodding.
Kuafu did as he was told. After sitting down in the driver's seat, he turned to look at the human who had outmaneuvered him at every turn.
It was only then that he realized, with some surprise, that this was just a human cub—no, a human teenager!
"Human, even if you've captured me, you're still going to die. You have no way of escaping."
Shen Feng gestured with the shotgun in his hand.
"That's not your concern. Start the armored vehicle and get me out of Huicheng. Now."
Kuafu turned his head and looked Shen Feng straight in the eye, his expression full of sincerity. He said:
"The armored vehicle is out of fuel. It won't start. Everything that's happened was just a misunderstanding. I give you my word on my honor as the leader of the Ape Race—we can reach an accord. If you leave now, the apes will not harm you in the slightest."
By now, he had already noticed that the human before him seemed to be alone, with no accomplices.
This fact put him much more at ease.
"My actions were wrong. On behalf of the Ape Race, I apologize. After all, humans are the creators of the intelligent apes. We should never have acted like this. I am truly sorry..."
As he spoke, Kuafu's eyes even began to glisten with moisture.
Shen Feng was secretly astonished. 'The intelligence of this Ape Race leader, Kuafu, is truly remarkable.'
The depth of his scheming was so profound that Shen Feng felt as if he were staring into the Abyss. If he hadn't witnessed the madness of the Ape Race's fire-transmission ceremony, and their slaughter of the Skinners, Shen Feng might have actually believed him.
But as it stood, he had no doubt that if he actually let Kuafu go, the ape would tear him to shreds in an instant.
'To this leader, the only thing that truly mattered was the future of the Ape Race. Everything else was irrelevant!'
Shen Feng tossed him a coil of rope, his face devoid of expression.
"Tie yourself up. And don't worry, I've already filled the vehicle with fuel. As for your 'accord'... every scheme you've used comes from humans. Don't imagine you can trick me."
As he said this, Shen Feng suddenly jammed the barrel of his shotgun into Kuafu's mouth, flicked off the safety, and even squeezed the trigger ever so slightly.
Kuafu's eyes bulged as a wave of mortal terror washed over him.
Shen Feng let out a cold snort, yanked the barrel out, and jutted his chin towards the rope.
Kuafu's gaze turned instantly glacial. His former expression vanished, and he began to tie the rope around himself.
'Deceiving this human is proving difficult,' he thought. 'For now, I can only obey his commands and see what he's really up to.'
He quickly finished tying himself. Shen Feng inspected the knots, then added several loops of iron wire around Kuafu's arms and legs for good measure before finally taking the driver's seat himself.
"Kuafu, the outside, old humans have been, almost cleared. What are, the next orders?" an ape general called out, striding into the garage and yelling toward the armored vehicle.
It was Wuzhiqi, the very general who had been sent out on the purification mission.
Shen Feng motioned with the shotgun barrel. "Tell him you're going out to clear your head," he said to Kuafu. "And have them tie two horses to the back of the armored vehicle."
With that, he abruptly started the engine, activated the external speaker, and rested his finger on the trigger, his eyes fixed on Kuafu.
Kuafu gave Shen Feng a long, hard look, then said in a clear voice:
"I am going out. To the zoo, to clear my head. Give me, two horses. You all, wait here."
Wuzhiqi froze. A nearby Ape Guard quickly explained Kuafu's earlier behavior, suggesting their leader had suffered some sort of emotional blow and needed to unwind.
Wuzhiqi's brow wrinkled. "Kuafu, is everything, alright?" he asked loudly.
Kuafu replied, "It is, nothing. I will be back, soon."
Not daring to disobey Kuafu's command, the apes brought over two horses and tied them to the back of the armored vehicle.
The armored vehicle roared to life and drove toward the exit.
The group of apes watched, stunned, wondering what on earth had happened to their leader.
In their minds, Kuafu was an ape forged from steel; he was simply incapable of a weak emotion like sadness.
Then again, since gaining intelligence, the Ape Race had never suffered such a major setback.
Over two hundred apes had been killed or wounded—more than a tenth of their entire remaining population.
Shen Feng drove the armored vehicle out of the underground garage, where his path was immediately blocked by a squad of fully armed Ape Cavalry.
"It is I," Kuafu said from under the gun.
The Ape Cavalry quickly let them pass. Shen Feng drove the armored vehicle toward the outskirts of Huicheng and casually switched on the vehicle's sound system.
The long-dormant player whirred to life, producing a cheerful song as the screen flashed the title and lyrics:
"
Sweet, sweet, a lollipop treat
Melting inside my mouth
That warm, gooey feeling slides right to my heart
Oh, my heart~
It goes BOOM-CLANG-BANG and just won't stop
Your smile's a big banana
Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah
..."
Listening to the absurdly appropriate lyrics, Shen Feng couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing on the empty street. Beside him, Kuafu's face was livid as he stared at the rear hatch of the armored vehicle, as if his gaze could burn straight through the steel.
「In the underground parking garage of the Huicheng Disease Control Center.」
Several ape generals had gathered. Stone Eye looked at Wuzhiqi with a puzzled expression and asked:
"Where is Kuafu?"
Wuzhiqi replied, "Kuafu said, he was going out to, clear his head. He drove off by, himself."
"Clear his head?" Stone Eye's brow furrowed. He had never heard Kuafu express such a need before. "Did he say, where he was, going?"
"Kuafu said, to the zoo to, clear his head. He took, two horses," Wuzhiqi replied.
Stone Eye's eyes flew open. He said grimly, "This is not, good. Kuafu, has been kidnapped! After them, now!"