A muscle-packed giant ape as tall as a two-storey building followed timidly behind Luo Yuan. It was quite a sight. Noticing that Luo Yuan, who was walking in front of it, had suddenly stopped, the giant ape started shaking. It thought he was going to beat it up again, and it almost covered its head and squatted down. It was obviously afraid of him. It knew Luo Yuan could easily defeat it just by extending his hand. The ape had lost all desire to attack.
There was a story behind that. In the ape’s eyes, that small human was no different from the Devil. He was scarier than any mutated beast it had ever encountered. The two of them reached the rocks they’d been moving earlier and stopped. Luo Yuan looked at the giant rock and pondered. He’d beaten up the giant ape instead of killing, not just to teach it a lesson, but also so it would help him move this heavy rock.
Getting to keep it as his Battle Beast had been unexpected. The only trouble now was training it to listen to him. Hand signs were a new language to the mutated beast. Even though it was not easy, Luo Yuan had prior experience. Although the giant lizard couldn’t entirely understand all the gestures and words he used, it could still grasp some of the instructions that were used often.
All Luo Yuan needed was sufficient time to train the ape, but time was exactly what he didn’t have. He could only hope that this high-IQ beast could surprise him. Luo Yuan thought for a while, and then started teaching his new beast how to work with him.
"Push!" he said loudly, making a rock-pushing sign. He patiently repeated the same thing a few times, looking at the giant ape in anticipation. The ape looked at Luo Yuan and then at the giant rock. It scratched its head, looking lost. At first, it was focused, but soon it became distracted. Luo Yuan shouted at it, but the ape only stopped and looked at him anxiously. It looked like it was in shock.
Luo Yuan sighed. He was disappointed in the ape’s ability to understand him. Remembering that the giant lizard had been even dumber than this though, he patiently repeated the sign again and said, "Push!" The giant ape scratched its head and looked away once again. Luo Yuan controlled his temper and tried a few more times, but the ape still wouldn’t get it.
"Weren’t you mimicking how I moved that rock earlier?" Luo Yuan couldn’t take it anymore. Pissed off, he walked over to the giant ape. He wanted to beat it up, but looking at his fearful eyes and shaking body, he gave up. "It’s okay, perhaps beating you is useless. After all, it’s unrealistic to expect to make a mutated beast listen to you in such a short period of time. The giant lizard took a week to understand my first instruction."
Suddenly, the giant ape looked revived and started walking towards the rock. Luo Yuan saw it and shouted, "Yes, move that rock!" Listening to Luo Yuan’s encouragement, the ape stood up straight and quickly walked up to the rock. Using its palms, which were as big as baskets, it leaned forward and lifted the six-ton rock. The ape looked at Luo Yuan in anticipation.
Luo Yuan was speechless.
His face was warm, but he managed to hide his emotions and give the ape a thumbs-up. He finally understood why the ape hadn’t been able to get his instructions and why it had been looking around instead of moving the rock. It had not been distracted. Asking it to look for a rock similar to its size had been ridiculous as it could carry a rock like that easily using its bare hands. Luo Yuan’s instructions had made it feel lost.
What the giant ape did next surprised Luo Yuan even more. The intelligence of the primitive mutated beast had exceeded his expectations. The ape could understand basic hand signs really fast, and could grasp those that were slightly complicated by repeating them after Luo Yuan.
Its performance was similar to a human’s. Perhaps given a little more time and patience, it could even understand spoken language. Eight Intelligence points weren’t low by any means. Some mentally handicapped humans were basically on the same level. Luo Yuan was afraid of intelligent creatures, but the giant ape did not bother him. Intelligent creatures in organized civilizations with infinite potential were a threat to humans, but an individual ape couldn’t do them any harm.
With the help of the strong, giant ape, Luo Yuan managed to gather all similar rocks in the area in one place in less than two hours. To be safe, he even expanded the range to five kilometers. The time was almost 5 a.m., and a dim orange-yellow light started to shine in the dark. The rise of the sun made the temperature rise as well. The beasts were slowly leaving the forest. The beach was empty, but there was still some noise around.
When the first ray of sun appeared in the east, countless giant birds flew from the nearby forest. Suddenly, the sky turned black with birds spreading their 20-meter long wings. Even Luo Yuan was stunned by the scene.
One of them was extraordinarily big with 100-meter long wings. It had colorful feathers on its back and fur as white as snow on its abdomen. It was like the king of all birds. None of them dared fly within three kilometers’ distance of it. The huge bird flew low above Luo Yuan’s head, giving off a strong sense of oppression. Luo Yuan almost felt like running away.
It was the biggest bird he had ever seen in his life. Perhaps it could carry a rock weighing even 1,000 tons. When it was far away from Luo Yuan and invisible to the naked eye, Luo Yuan realised his back was soaking wet. The giant ape beside him looked even worse. It was shaking on the ground.
Luo Yuan did not dare stay out in the open. He walked to the center of the rocks and buried himself in the sand. He only left his eyes and nose uncovered. Enlightened, the ape dug a hole using its hands and buried itself like Luo Yuan had just done. The only difference was that it buried its eyes and nose as well. Luo Yuan was worried that the sand would go into its nose when it breathed, but apparently he shouldn’t have worried. Half an hour had passed, and the ape had not even moved. The sand was nothing to it.
Initially, Luo Yuan had wanted to chase the giant ape away because he had been afraid that it might affect his hunting journey, but looking at how good it was at hiding, he did not mind it anymore. Time was passing, and the sun was shining. The temperature on the beach was gradually rising, and the air seemed distorted with steam. The sand had already reached 80 degrees. Luo Yuan believed that if he placed an egg in it, it would be cooked instantly.
He felt like he was being cooked himself. His body was boiling hot. He didn’t have to look to know that he was red. His +14 Physique was useless. His body was only getting hotter and hotter. Even the energy enrichment agent in his heart was burning out, the body restoration function not working.
Sweat dripped down his body like water, a sizzling, wet sound surrounding him. Looking at the noon sun, he licked his dry lips. The tip of his tongue was filled with sand. His vision was getting blurry, and his brain would stop functioning anytime now. The only thing keeping him together was his Will, but he felt like he was reaching his limits.
"Isn’t it coming? If that’s the case, I will have to wait for next time," he thought to himself. Although he could hold up to two hours, by that time he would have lost all his strength. He thought he would wait for another 10 minutes before giving up.
Suddenly, he saw a green shadow fly by with the corner of his eye. It aimed at a giant rock and pluged its body forward like an arrow. The target was near, and everything happened unexpectedly. Luo Yuan cleared his mind and held on tight to the spear buried next to him in the sand. His eyes were half-closed to avoid looking at the creature. He didn’t want the strange bird to sense what was happening. Luo Yuan adjusted his body quietly. His knees were completely bent, his hands were placed on the sand, and his muscles were tense.
The atmosphere had become unbearable.