"Kuafu! Your time is over! The future belongs to me!"
Stone Eye bellowed, raising his rifle. He strode forward, laying down suppressing fire that pinned Kuafu down.
Beside him, several other apes advanced, also laying down suppressing fire.
They were all part of Stone Eye's inner circle. Lured by his promises, they were now deep in a killing frenzy.
To these ordinary apes, Kuafu had always been a godlike figure. The thought of taking down such a powerful being made them tremble with excitement.
"Stone Eye, you are traitors to the Ape Race! Wuzhiqi and Changmao will be back soon, and they'll execute every last one of you! Warriors! Don't let Stone Eye deceive you! If you pledge your allegiance to me now, I will overlook your past actions and punish only Stone Eye, the ringleader!"
Kuafu shouted from behind a few stone statues.
Hearing his words, Stone Eye's men couldn't help but hesitate.
They were all well aware of Wuzhiqi's reputation for brutality.
Stone Eye snorted. "Kuafu, you're at death's door and still trying to bewitch them. Rest assured, you'll be killed by, the human. It will have nothing, to do with us!"
Then he berated his men, "Kill him immediately! No ape, will know! Otherwise, he won't, spare you!"
Spurred on, Stone Eye's men regained their vicious expressions and riddled the stone statues in front of Kuafu with bullets, sending fragments flying everywhere.
Kuafu's eyes narrowed. Glancing at the corridor's smooth metal wall, he saw the reflection of the densely packed enemy soldiers. He immediately swiveled his gun and fired several shots at the wall.
"AHH—"
"I'm hit!"
"It's... a ricochet!"
Several apes cried out in pain, having been hit by the ricocheting bullets!
Fortunately, the ricochets' power was greatly reduced. They were only wounded and not hit in any vital spots.
"Push the statues! Forward!"
Stone Eye roared, hiding behind a stone statue. Along with a few of his men, he pushed a row of statues, closing in on Kuafu.
Kuafu fired repeatedly through the gaps in his cover. His Shotgun pitted the surfaces of several stone statues, but he could not stop their advance.
The moment he opened fire, he drew a concentrated barrage. In an instant, a bullet pierced his right arm, forcing him to hold his gun with his left.
"Aren't you done yet? You think a funeral crashed by a bunch of apes is going to look like a circus?" Kuafu yelled at Shen Feng behind him, still firing.
Shen Feng didn't answer. His mind was racing, desperately trying to recall the access control system from the Qi City disease control center and comparing it to the one before him.
The two systems' wiring was only fifty percent similar; there were many sections he still had to figure out.
The wiring was incredibly complex. One wrong move, and the heavy blast door might be sealed forever.
Meanwhile, the side effects of the Skin-Stripping Potion were rapidly manifesting. It wasn't just his skin; his entire body, including his brain, was overheating. Wisps of white steam rose from his body as the water inside him rapidly evaporated!
'Open... open... open... open...'
Shen Feng's bloodshot eyes widened. He pushed aside layers of wiring, found two wires, and yanked them out.
A shower of sparks erupted from the circuit board, followed by a puff of black smoke. The blast door shuddered once, then went still.
'Not those two!'
Shen Feng immediately reconnected the wires. His mind became unnaturally calm, focused on a single thought. 'Open the door!'
'Open the door! Which damn wire is it!?'
"CLICK-CLICK..." The sound of a pistol dry-firing came from behind him. Kuafu had used up his shotgun shells, and now his last pistol had run out of bullets.
'No more ammo!'
"He's out of, bullets! Charge!" Stone Eye shouted gleefully, still cowering behind the stone statue as he waved his hand forward.
His men toppled several stone statues with a shout. A dozen shadows darted out, and the wolf pack behind them charged!
"This isn't a trick, I'm really out of bullets! Aren't you done yet!?" Kuafu yelled as he staggered to his feet, pulling a dagger from his belt.
'Open, open!'
Shen Feng grabbed two wires. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his brain, and in the next instant, it was as if a beam of light shot out from the crown of his head. A massive stream of data flashed through his consciousness, and the heavy alloy door rumbled open!
With no time to think, Shen Feng and Kuafu rushed into the research lab.
Shen Feng was about to close the door when shadows streamed past the stone statue cover, rushed into the lab, and pounced toward them.
It was Stone Eye's wolf pack!
"GROWL..." A golden shadow let out a low growl and leaped at Shen Feng, only to stop abruptly in the next instant. "...Ruff?"
Shen Feng looked closely and instantly recognized the vicious wolf. One of its ears was half-missing, and it wore a tattered collar. It was Golden Mane, the wolf he had met in Qi City!
"It's you?" Shen Feng asked with delight.
"RUFF!" Golden Mane suddenly let out a sharp bark. The wolves charging at Shen Feng and Kuafu froze, turning to look at their king.
Golden Mane sniffed at Shen Feng, a look of happiness flashing in its eyes.
'It's that human!'
'The human I've been looking for!'
"Kuafu, the wolves will, tear you to... Why did they... stop!?" Stone Eye walked in with a smirk, but he froze at the sight, his face clouding over as he roared.
He had encountered this pack a week ago while hunting Kuafu in the wastes. The alpha was remarkably intelligent; after Stone Eye shot two of its wolves, the alpha had immediately led the pack in submission, much to Stone Eye's delight.
He never expected the alpha to halt and disobey the order to kill.
Golden Mane looked up at Shen Feng, then turned to the newly arrived Stone Eye, its eyes flashing with ferocity. It suddenly threw its head back and let out a wild howl. "AWOOO—"
In the next instant, before Stone Eye's shocked eyes, the wolf pack followed Golden Mane and lunged at Stone Eye and his apes!
"The wolves, they're mad! Kill them! Don't use your guns!" Caught off guard, Stone Eye was tackled by Golden Mane and sent rolling out of the research lab as he roared the order.
They were too close, and the corridor was too narrow. Using guns would inevitably lead to friendly fire; they had to fight hand-to-hand!
Seeing his chance, Kuafu snatched up the broken arm of a stone statue and charged out, pouncing on Stone Eye.
With the wolves and apes locked in a chaotic brawl, Shen Feng dashed deeper into the research lab.
The intense burning had already cracked his skin, turning him into a bloody figure. He had to find the vaccine now!
There weren't many human stone statues in the research lab, only a single one standing in the center.
Shen Feng rushed past it, then abruptly stopped and doubled back, staring at the statue.
The statue was of a surprisingly innocent-looking young woman in an oversized white lab coat. She looked nothing like a senior researcher from the National Academy of Sciences' disease control center.
But here she was.
What shocked Shen Feng the most was an ID badge on her chest that read: "National Academy of Sciences Senior Researcher Ji Jiuyun."
He had seen the name Ji Jiuyun before, in that file: *Forwarded from the Capital Science Academy Virus Center: Experimental Log Regarding the Effects of a Novel Silicon-Based Virus on the Ape Race*.
Ji Jiuyun was the creator of the Pangu Virus!
'To think it was just a young girl!'
Shen Feng's gaze followed her right hand. He saw she was holding a syringe, poised to inject her own arm.
But before she could administer the injection, the Petrification Disease had clearly erupted, freezing her in that final moment.
'Could she be the one who finally developed the Stone Statue Disease Vaccine?!'
Shen Feng didn't dare to hesitate. He immediately pulled the syringe from the statue's hand, jabbed it hard into his own arm, and pushed the plunger.
The pale yellow liquid entered his body, and a cool sensation gradually spread through him. And then... nothing.
'This isn't it? Or has it been so long that the vaccine has expired?'
'It has been so many years. Without a proper storage environment, it's only natural that it would have expired.'
Shen Feng couldn't afford to delay. He rushed toward a storage cabinet in the corner of the lab. Before he even reached it, a puff of cold air was released as the temperature-controlled cabinet opened automatically, revealing rows of virus samples and various solutions.
Pulling out syringes one by one, Shen Feng had no time to think. As long as it wasn't labeled as a virus, he immediately injected it, then moved on to the next.
In the blink of an eye, he had injected every solution inside!
At the same time, a numbing, itching sensation spread across his arm. In the next instant, his skin began to rapidly turn into grayish-white stone!
...
"THUD!" With a muffled impact, Stone Eye kicked Kuafu to the ground, simultaneously kicking away the injured Golden Mane. He spat out a mouthful of bloody foam.
Blood trickled down his arm from a wound torn by Golden Mane.
Golden Mane's mouth was bloody. It struggled to get up but couldn't move for the moment.
Kuafu, with a crippled leg and a stab wound in his abdomen, couldn't get up either.
Stone Eye panted heavily, spat at Kuafu, and said grimly:
"Poor, great, Kuafu. Don't worry. After I kill, this dog, it'll be, your turn."
With that, he walked toward Golden Mane, dagger in hand.
'This mutt is infuriating. The pack is acting insane. Killing it is the only way to break their morale!'
"Pathetic Stone Eye. You're unworthy of the dignity of a beast. Haha, the Ape Race will go extinct in your hands."
Kuafu cursed loudly, but he was too weak to rise.
Stone Eye snorted, stepped on Golden Mane's neck, and cursed viciously, "You lowly stray! In what way, are we inferior, to humans!?"
He raised the dagger and brought it down!
A chilling voice, as if from the depths of the Nine Netherworld Hell, suddenly echoed in Stone Eye's ear. "Let... it... go!"
A black shadow shot out of the research lab like lightning. A pair of large hands gripped Stone Eye's neck like iron pincers, lifting him into the air.
"You..." Stone Eye's eyes filled with terror as he squeezed a single word from his throat.
"CRACK..." The owner of those hands suddenly tightened his grip, snapping Stone Eye's neck.