Alien creatures destroy homes? Start by killing upright apes!

Chapter 31 The Great Power Digging Holes

"Whether it's too late or not, we'll only know after we dig." Wood squatted down, picked up the first water dragon cub from the rubble, and placed it on the ground.

"dig!"

The water dragon cub lowered its head and swung its claw at the ground.

The soil on the Waimeing Plain was very hard; the first claw only managed to dig a small hole.

The water dragon cub tilted its head to look at the small pit, then dug with its claw.

The pit is a bit deep.

Another claw strike.

Go deeper.

Wood watched the water dragon dig into the ground repeatedly and suddenly said:

"More useful than our heavy machine guns."

The defense minister didn't dare to respond.

……

Zhu Sailang Kingdom, on the outskirts of Luo City.

Vito stood in an abandoned quarry from ancient Rome, with twenty baby water dragons brought from the Kingdom of Winner Monkeys in front of him.

The quarry floor was made of hard limestone, and the water dragon's first claw only left a few white marks.

Vito's Minister of Works looked troubled:

"Prime Minister, the limestone is too hard; the water dragon might not be able to dig it out..."

Before he could finish speaking, the first water dragon cub tilted its head and looked at the limestone ground, then lowered its head, stuck its large fangs into the cracks in the rocks, and pried them open with force.

A piece of limestone was pried off.

Then it began to pry open the soil with its digging claws.

The Minister of Works shut up.

Vito crouched down and looked at the water dragon.

After the limestone was pried open, the soil underneath was much softer. The water dragon's digging claws dug out the soil bit by bit, piling it up into a small hill at the cave entrance.

They weren't moving fast, but they kept digging.

"It knew to pry with its teeth first and then dig with its claws," Vito said. "Our engineers did the same thing when they encountered limestone. A beast less than a month old figured it out on its own."

The Minister of Works wiped his brow: "Prime Minister, if this underground network is built..."

"It's not just about whether it's going to be built, it's about whether it's going to be built." Vito stood up and patted the dirt off his knees.

"The upright apes in the arena have learned basic metallurgy and copper tools... They've evolved from dismantling things to building them. The surface is for them, the underground is for us. This is what Governor Lu said, and it's also the only way out for the Kingdom of Zhu Sailang."

……

Yakji Kingdom, outside Licheng.

George stood on an alluvial plain on the banks of the Seine River, facing fifteen water dragon cubs brought from the Kingdom of Winner Monkeys.

The soil on the plain was soft, and the water dragon beast dug a deep pit with its first claw.

George, with a cigar in his mouth, finally lit it this time.

He watched as the water dragon cub burrowed underground at an astonishing speed, disappearing beneath the surface in less than ten minutes, leaving only a dark hole.

"This thing digs much faster than our sappers," George said, exhaling a puff of smoke.

"The alluvial soil along the Saina River is loose and suitable for digging tunnels. Inform the engineering department to lay underground network entrances along the river and utilize the river channel for natural ventilation."

After the engineering manager finished taking notes, he hesitated for a moment:

"Your Excellency, the hominids in Licheng started using bronze tools yesterday. Next to the stone eye in Notre Dame Square, there is a row of bronze plates engraved with symbols, some of which our linguists have deciphered."

"What do you mean?"

"The symbols on the bronze plates record the architectural structure of Notre Dame. They are not drawings, but written descriptions. They use symbolic language to completely record the structure of Notre Dame."

George's cigar stopped in mid-air.

"They are archiving, storing our proudest buildings in their archives with their own words."

The Minister of Engineering said in a low voice, "Linguists say that this behavior has a specific term in anthropology."

"What word?"

"Civilization records. When a species begins to record architectural structures in writing, it transforms from a biological species into a civilized species."

'

George remained silent for a long time, then took the cigar out of his mouth and looked at the hole dug by the water dragon.

"They are archiving civilization... while we are digging holes."

He gave a wry smile.

"But at least we still have holes to dig."

……

Hanscat Kingdom, on the edge of the Black Forest.

King William's iron boots trod on the clearing ground devoured by the giant millipede, and before him stood ten water dragon cubs that had just been transported from the Kingdom of Winner Monkeys.

The soil in the clearing was black, soaked in the venom of giant millipedes, and emitted a pungent odor.

The water dragon cub was placed on the black soil. With its first claw strike, a slurry of venom mixed with mud splashed onto its nose.

It sneezed, shook its head, and continued digging.

King William squatted down, dipped his finger in the black soil, and smelled it.

A red rash immediately appeared on my finger.

"What is the concentration of venom?" he asked.

The military doctor squatted down next to me and tested it with a test strip:

"Contact toxicity concentration: human skin will ulcerate after more than ten minutes of contact."

King William watched as the water dragon cub continued digging in the black soil, its nose, mouth, and claws covered in poisonous earth, but it showed no reaction.

He sneezed, shook his head, and continued digging.

"Immune to the venom of giant millipedes?"

"It's not immunity." The military doctor flipped through the water dragon's physiological report.

"The skin secretions of the water dragon form a protective film that isolates it from external stimuli. This is an adaptation it has evolved through long-term underground digging, and the venom of the giant millipede has no effect on this protective film."

King William stood up, his tin boots leaving a mark on the black soil.

"Ten aren't enough. Order another hundred from the Wynners Kingdom so they can dig underground in the Black Forest. The giant millipedes have eaten up all the forests on the surface, so we'll live underground and they won't be able to eat them."

……

The Kingdom of Boulante, outside the city of Jin.

Louis stood beside the original site of the Queen's bronze statue that had been torn down by the upright apes, with eight water dragon cubs brought from the Winner Monkey Kingdom in front of him.

The base of the bronze statue is still there, but the bronze plates on it have been removed, and the bronze nails have been taken out, leaving only a bare stone base.

Louis placed the first water dragon cub next to the stone block.

The water dragon cub tilted its head and looked at the stone block, judging that it was inedible. Then it lowered its head and began to dig at the ground next to the stone block.

"The underground network of the Golden City begins here," Louis said to the Minister of Engineering behind him.

"The site should be centered on the original location of the bronze statue, radiating outwards in four directions. The depth should be no less than fifteen meters, in accordance with the standards of the underground cave treaty."

After the engineering manager finished taking notes, he looked up:

"Prime Minister, the upright apes in town dismantled the boiler of the steam mill this morning. Not vandalism, but dismantling. After that, they used the dismantled parts to assemble something new in the open space next to the mill."

"What is it?"

"Our engineers didn't understand it. That thing had a boiler, pipes, pistons, and connecting rods, but the way it was assembled was completely different from the structure of a steam engine. The engineers said... it seems like the upright apes are trying to assemble a machine of their own design using parts from a steam engine."

Louis's hand tightened slightly.

"They are no longer learning from our machines."

"Yes, they are using our parts to build their own machines."

Louis was silent for a moment, then squatted down and looked at the water dragon cub that was digging a hole.

It had dug a pit half a meter deep, its round rear end sticking out, its hind legs kicking the soil hard, and its large fangs poking against the pit wall as a fulcrum.

"Dig," Louis said softly, "dig deeper, and learn faster than they do."

……

The Winner Monkey Kingdom, the basement of the government building.

Lu Cheng had a report on the introduction of the Water Dragon Beast, which had just been sent by the seven kingdoms, spread out in front of him.

Each report was accompanied by a photograph.

The renowned author Xiaowan Lahutang has joined Cola Novels with his new work, "Exotic Creatures Destroy Our Home? Start by Killing Upright Apes!"