According to the DF-41’s design specifications, it could carry ten nuclear warheads. With a publicly announced maximum range of 14,000 kilometers, a launch from Asia could reach the skies above London in as little as sixteen minutes, and Washington in twenty-one.
Reaching closer regions like New Delhi and Mumbai would be even faster, taking just over ten minutes without a problem.
Therefore, by Shen Feng’s estimate, he would know the results of the missile launches in about half an hour.
Shen Feng sat on a tire, drinking water. A few nearby Ape Cavalry, their faces full of reverence, offered him some apples and other fruits—their rations.
With humanity gone, the world of the Stone Statue Apocalypse was incredibly abundant. The canned goods alone, which could be preserved for a long time, were more than enough for the two thousand-odd Brain Apes. For them, this world was practically Heaven.
Because of this, the lives of the Brain Apes were quite comfortable. At the very least, fresh fruit was in abundant supply. Under Kuafu’s leadership, they had even built several orchards in the heart of the city’s ruins.
Shen Feng didn’t hesitate. He picked up an apple, wiped it casually on his clothes, and took a huge bite.
The sweet, slightly tart juice burst in his mouth and trickled from the corner of his lips.
Without bothering to wipe his mouth, Shen Feng took another huge bite. Two bites and nearly half the apple was gone. He chewed with his cheeks full, squinting at the Gray Tide in the distance as it continuously devoured the stone statues.
At that moment, Kuafu plopped down beside Shen Feng, offering a cigarette.
"Want one?"
Shen Feng shook his head.
"I have lung lesions. I can’t smoke."
Kuafu was taken aback. Although he didn’t know what Shen Feng meant by "lesions," he figured it wasn’t anything good.
He struck a match, lit a cigarette for himself, and took a deep drag. Closing his eyes in satisfaction, he exhaled a plume of smoke and said:
"Humans are truly fascinating creatures. Just this thing, cigarettes, leaves us of the Ape Race in the dust. Tsk tsk. Back in the forest, who would’ve ever thought you could light leaves on fire and stick them in your mouth? How many years of evolution do you think it takes for an ordinary primate to go from seeing a forest fire to learning how to smoke?"
Shen Feng gave a wry smile and said:
"The first people to smoke were the Indians. It didn’t spread to Europe until the sixteenth century. Then, as the Indians were gradually slaughtered and driven toward extinction, tobacco spread throughout the world. Strictly speaking, humanity’s history of smoking is only a few hundred years old. It’s still very short."
Kuafu nodded slightly and sighed.
"Indeed, much shorter than I imagined... Still, I’m probably the first of the Brain Ape Race to smoke."
Shen Feng turned to look at the eyepatch-wearing Brain Ape. He understood that Kuafu’s sudden monologue was just a way of asking for an answer.
He turned his head back to the distant Gray Tide and said:
"I know what you want to ask... The issue of reproductive isolation. As of now, it’s still unsolvable. The evolution of the Brain Apes was a kind of extreme mutation. It wasn’t just a change in your brain structure; you are in the middle of a direct transformation from carbon-based to silicon-based life. Actually, we’re the same in that regard. This transformation, in a way, is like a malignant tumor—a pathological change. That’s why this trait can’t be inherited... In other words, while you can have offspring with ordinary apes, there’s a natural intellectual isolation... which is, in effect, a form of reproductive isolation."
Hearing Shen Feng’s words, the light in Kuafu’s eyes swiftly dimmed.
He had, to some extent, been prepared for this result.
During the days Shen Feng was away, Kuafu had been frantically combing the library for books on biology and genetics, even starting from scratch, trying to understand how the Brain Ape Race could pass on its intelligence.
But the answers he found were all brutally direct.
The intellectual mutation of the Brain Ape Race simply couldn’t be inherited, because it was, in itself, a transformation akin to a disease.
If they wanted other apes to possess superior intelligence, there was only one way: time.
After their current enlightenment, it would take hundreds of thousands, even millions of years to retrace the evolutionary path that Homo sapiens once walked, until they became a new, intelligent ape species.
But a time span of millions of years was simply too long. For the Brain Ape Race, this was effectively a form of extinction.
Kuafu understood all the facts Shen Feng had laid out. He also knew that if Shen Feng truly had a way to help them pass on their intelligence, he wouldn’t just stand idly by.
But to hear the Savior say these words with his own ears... Even though Kuafu had mentally prepared himself, his cigarette-holding hand still trembled uncontrollably. He could only forcefully suppress the despair and sorrow in his heart.
After taking a few deep breaths, Kuafu turned to Shen Feng and forced a smile.
"Mr. Shen, thank you. I know you must have done your best. But there are things in this world that even humans can’t do... However, please, you must keep this secret for me. The other apes cannot know, or else I’m afraid they’ll go mad with despair."
No matter how intelligent these Brain Apes became after gaining their semi-silicon-based brains, no one could endure the knowledge that their people had no future, that everything they were would turn to dust.
The very meaning of their existence would be obliterated.
Kuafu took a sharp drag on his cigarette, finishing the remaining half in one go, then pulled out another, lit it, and said with a wry laugh:
"At least this way, I can smoke as much as I want. Maybe even drink some good liquor."
Shen Feng looked at the Brain Ape before him, sadness flickering in the depths of the ape’s eyes, and asked:
"I’m sorry. The problem of reproductive isolation is completely unsolvable right now... What do you plan to do next?"
Kuafu had by now recovered from his earlier despair and sorrow, at least on the surface. He grinned, looked into the distance, and said:
"If that’s the case, I plan to go to the ends of the earth before everything is completely destroyed. I want to see the ruins of that once glorious human civilization, the past submerged in dust and time... I heard there are still communities of mountain gorillas in places like Uganda. I could pay a visit to my former kin, go back to being a real, primitive ape..."
He leaned lazily against the wreck of a nearby vehicle, and paradoxically, seemed as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
As the wiseman of the Brain Ape Race, he had shouldered the future and hope of his entire people. Now, understanding that hope never really existed, it was as if his spine had been ripped out.
A corner of Shen Feng’s mouth lifted as he said:
"It’s not that there’s no way at all. The problem of reproductive isolation can’t be solved, but your descendants can still possess intelligence. There’s always a Plan B. I just don’t know if you can accept it."
Hearing this, Kuafu, who had been on the verge of collapse, suddenly sat bolt upright. His eyes widened as he stared at Shen Feng, and he said in a trembling voice:
"Mr. Shen, Savior, please speak! If it’s really possible... if it’s really possible... I’m willing to do anything!"
Looking at the solemn-faced Ape Race wiseman before him, Shen Feng no longer kept him in suspense and said with an equally solemn expression:
"First, let me ask you a question. The question is this: What is a Brain Ape? Is it an ape, or a human?"
Kuafu answered without hesitation:
"Of course it’s..."
But before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly stopped.
This question, if one thought about it carefully, was truly not easy to answer.
What is a Brain Ape?
From the perspective of intelligence and habits, the Brain Apes had long since departed from being ordinary, beast-like apes and had evolved into beings with higher intelligence.
They possessed thought patterns and an intelligent civilization inherited from humanity.
But to call the Brain Apes human... their appearance was completely different from humans. And in terms of self-identity, they still saw themselves as apes—not like their beastly kin, but as superior Brain Apes.
’Or perhaps, a Brain Ape is simply a Brain Ape. A Brain Ape is the consciousness carried within its semi-silicon-based brain!’
Seeing the difficult expression on Kuafu’s face, that this highly intelligent Ape Race wiseman had now fallen into a philosophical labyrinth, Shen Feng couldn’t help but smile faintly.
Then, he no longer dwelled on the question. His expression turned serious as he said to Kuafu:
"The plan is both difficult and simple. Since the Silicon-Based Brain trait of the Brain Ape Race cannot be inherited and you cannot produce offspring with higher intelligence, you just need to replace your bodies with ones that *can* produce intelligent offspring. Reproductive isolation can’t be overcome, but organ replacement technology is far more mature. Rejection reactions aren’t an issue either."
Kuafu’s whole body shuddered. Although he had anticipated the shocking nature of the plan, he was still so stunned that he didn’t even notice the cigarette in his hand burning his fingers. He stammered:
"You’re saying... you’re saying... for the Ape Race to abandon their ape identity, and replace..."