For a long time, the Ape-men's entire world consisted of tens of square kilometers of land, visible with fruits or various roaming beasts hunted by bone weapons and traps.
But suddenly, the entire land underwent earth-shattering transformations.
Thick clouds converged above, and in a moment, everything between heaven and earth blurred, as torrential rain poured down.
The Ape-men panicked and hid in caves or tree hollows. They had never seen such a fierce rain, and the rainwater glimmered with an indescribable pale color.
Rainwater hammered the uneven ground, and the Ape-men tended to the natural rock wall fires, anxiously communicating with each other. Clouds and Lightning flashed among the layers of clouds, gale-force winds surged, and the pale rain exploded onto the ground as if something was bursting and spilling from midair!
This prehistoric downpour lasted for ninety days and nights.
During that time, not a single day passed without darkness enveloping the land. It seemed as though the springs they had known could not be restored, and the rainwater that fell everywhere accumulated in the soil, starting to emit a foul odor.
The ancient giant trees on the ground underwent strange transformations under the erosion of the rainwater. Slowly, they grew into bizarre shapes, producing a horrifying touch, and a sort of faint consciousness emerged from those ancient roots.
The Ape-men witnessed the transformations of these giant trees and worshipped the flames that brought them warmth and light even more.
In the first few days, they hid in tree and cave hollows from the torrential rain, but with scarce food, they were forced to brave the storm to hunt.
The rain changed them, though they were not yet aware of it.
For instance, beneath their thick hair, their ears slowly became pointed and elongated.
After ninety days, the torrential rain ceased.
The Ape King sighed in relief, seeing that the storm had passed and quickly summoned his tribe to worship the flame.
The Ape-men surrounded the flame, waiting for the Ape King's command to honor the flame collectively with various gestures.
Just then, a panicked scream erupted among the Ape-men.
"King, my fur, my fur!"
The voice came from the Ape King's brother. All eyes turned to him as he saw his brown fur continuously falling off, his legs looking stronger and slimmer than before, as he cried out in terror.
After his fur fell off, smooth, white skin was revealed.
The Ape King stared at his brother in utter shock.
As the plight of the Ape King's brother unfolded before all of the Ape-men, panic-stricken screams erupted from nowhere once again.
Another Ape-man began shedding his fur.
By the blazing fire, after the two Ape-men's fur fell off, more and more Ape-men started shedding their fur continuously.
Screams rose and fell, and the Ape King watched in dismay as one after another, his tribe members' fur dropped to the ground, revealing smooth, white skin, and their appearances gradually became unfamiliar.
More and more Ape-men lost their fur, and their naked bodies were exposed under the light of the fire. At some point, the Ape King surprisingly found that his own fur was also rapidly shedding.
A day later, not a single Ape-man's fur survived in the entire tribe.
Atop the high mountain.
Chen Yi looked distantly at those panicked Ape-men.
"That rainstorm... changed the vast majority of life on this earth."
Over the ninety days and nights, countless creatures on the land perished in the storm. Those who survived, bathed in the pale rainwater and corroded by its power, miraculously evolved in an unimaginable direction at an incredible speed.
Savage tree spirits emerged from the ancient trees, winged tigers arose among the saber-toothed tiger clans, gentle herbivorous deer grew three eyes...
In short,
Everything on the land was transformed.
Chen Yi saw that group of Ape-men.
The power within the rainwater changed their form of life, causing these Ape-men to evolve in an unknown direction.
Despite the distance, God still felt the language-versed Ape-men panicking and fearing.
They collectively knelt before the flame, continuously praying for their fallen fur to return to their bodies.
God looked at them, these beings who had been given language and had shed their fur.
These lives of the Prehistoric Era, whom all rational beings would later originate from, now out of fear, wished to return to the ranks of the beasts.
God stretched out a hand.
Children must learn to walk upright,
and cannot forever stay in the cradle.
These creatures of the Prehistoric Era were not born to remain on all fours.
Once again, Chen Yi's figure appeared on the stone platform, with flames flickering behind Him.
"Fire!"
"Fire, fire!"
"King, the fire has descended, the fire has arrived!"
All eyes saw Him.
The Ape-men, stripped of their fur, looked up at the figure before the flames, crying out in excitement as if that figure would help them retrieve their fur.
The Ape King raised his head, his brother kneeling by his side, they and the people looked up at the figure before the flames.
"Fire, grant us our fur!"
The Ape King shouted, his head bowed low.
With the Ape King's cry, the entire tribe of Ape-men humbly pleaded in succession:
"Fire, grant us our fur! I pray, just as You grant us speech, grant us our fur!"
God silently watched this group of Ape-men who had shed their fur.
Perhaps they could no longer be called Ape-men, they could use language, their fur had fallen off, their ears had become pointed, and their legs had become strong, enough to support them in walking upright.
They had only known what language was a few years ago and still did not understand the meaning of reason.
He would guide these people.
The language could not be complicated, otherwise these people would not understand; what He had experienced, these people had not, what He knew, these people were unaware of.
Thus, He informed everyone:
"Those who wish to remain beasts shall grow fur on their bodies."
Silence.
The pleading cries abruptly halted before the roaring firelight.
Just now, those who had bitterly pleaded for their fur were now silent as cicadas, as if once the words of that figure fell, they would become reality, unstoppable by anyone.
To return to being beasts, they would have to lose their language.
Not a single person wanted to lose the language that they currently relied on for survival, to return to being yelping beasts.
The Ape King looked up tremblingly at the figure before the flames.
The first Ape King to master language, from that day on, had harbored a certain thought in his heart.
What He wished to bestow, would be bestowed.
What He wanted to take back, would be taken back.
The Ape King looked up at the figure, well aware that no one in the tribe wanted to return to being beasts.
But...
In his heart, since the day he was bestowed with language, a question had lingered.
Whenever he worshipped the fire, whenever he was alone, that question would resurface.
No matter how much he pondered and meditated, he could not understand.
He realized his world was limited, and thus he sought answers from the eternal fire.
"Fire,
if we are not to be beasts, then what are we to become?!"
"Be yourselves,"
God told him:
"Establish your own kingdom."