These Ape-men had green or reddish-brown fur, behaving like both humans and monkeys, leaping around on the ground and occasionally letting out ear-piercing screams.
These Ape-men also wore crude clothing, and some taller Ape-men had their bodies covered in iron plates as protective gear.
Most Ape-men held polished rebar or iron pipes as spears, or simple bows and arrows made from wood, constantly throwing and shooting them at the two.
Several pieces of rebar flew through the air, embedding directly into the concrete wall.
These Ape-men took turns providing cover, throwing rebar at Feng Jun and Li Lu; they even understood cross-cover, with the tall, hairy Ape-men charging forward, while some Ape-men with bows and arrows hid behind them, continuously shooting arrows at Feng Jun and Li Lu to provide cover for those in front.
Seeing this, Feng Jun immediately thought of the movie series "Planet of the Apes," which tells the story of how, after humanity's demise due to nuclear war, a group of apes evolved high intelligence, while humans degenerated due to the nuclear war.
Ultimately, apes ruled the Earth, establishing a new civilization, while humans degenerated into wild animals akin to monkeys.
This group of Ape-men holding tools perfectly matched the image of apes in the movie; although their tools were very crude, they already knew how to use tools and projectiles, and understood how to cooperate in battle.
"Hey! What are you spacing out for? Do as I do. Use your shoulder-mounted rocket launcher!" Li Lu shouted at Feng Jun.
Feng Jun immediately snapped back to reality.
After shooting down several Ape-men charging forward, he activated his shoulder-mounted miniature rocket launcher.
The auxiliary targeting system quickly locked onto the continuously jumping Ape-men.
Li Lu fired first, launching ten miniature rockets towards the Ape-men.
Feng Jun's mechanical exoskeleton and Li Lu's mechanical exoskeleton had a wartime information sharing system.
After Li Lu locked onto her targets, Feng Jun also locked onto another group of Ape-men on the other side, and his shoulder-mounted miniature rocket launcher fired.
The rockets exploded among the Ape-men, causing countless casualties.
Although they possessed a certain degree of intelligence, when encountering humans with modern weapons, they were only destined to be slaughtered.
Large numbers of Ape-men were blown to bits, and some Ape-men began to panic, with a few timid ones abandoning their companions and fleeing.
Seeing that the Ape-men's formation had been broken, Li Lu began to pick off the fleeing Ape-men one by one with her rifle.
Although Feng Jun's marksmanship was not as good as Li Lu's, at such close range, he still managed one shot, one kill.
Soon, more than half of the Ape-men who had rushed into the factory building were killed by the two, with only a small portion escaping.
Seeing the Ape-men scatter, Li Lu finally emerged from behind her cover, with Feng Jun following beside her.
After this battle, the factory building was covered in Ape-men corpses, blown-up chunks of flesh, and bright red internal organs splattered everywhere.
Although it was a battle, Feng Jun felt it was quite easy, and he unconsciously rested his gun on his shoulder.
Li Lu, however, had a serious expression, her delicate brows tightly furrowed.
Seeing Feng Jun's somewhat nonchalant attitude, she spoke, "Stay vigilant, Ape-men are a very troublesome presence here."
Feng Jun shrugged, but after Li Lu spoke, he re-energized himself and resumed a vigilant stance.
The original group of Ironhorn Goats were still huddled in the corner of the factory building; they had nowhere to run earlier, as there was only one exit, and the recent engagement had taken place near it, so the goats could only stay put obediently.
An Ape-man with both legs blown off crawled out from among the corpses, letting out a mournful shriek, but its companions had long since fled.
Feng Jun walked forward, examining the Ape-man with interest.
Its fur was brown, its face had distinct monkey features, but its canines were more prominent.
It wore clothes made of rags, and its arms were visibly twice as thick as a human's, no wonder it could throw rebar with such terrifying destructive power and speed.
Upon realizing it had been abandoned by its companions, it stopped screaming and turned to look at Feng Jun, who was approaching it.
Seeing Feng Jun observing it, the Ape-man immediately retracted its protruding canines, widened its eyes, and feigned fear as it looked at Feng Jun, tears seemingly welling up in its eyes, and it even made a begging gesture towards Feng Jun.
Seeing the Ape-man in this state, Feng Jun became even more interested and decided to get closer to see if he could communicate with it.
"If I were you, I wouldn't get any closer to that Ape-man.
Its one hand is pressed under its body; once you get close, it could easily leap up with its powerful arm," Li Lu warned from behind.
Hearing Li Lu's words, Feng Jun immediately took two steps back.
After Li Lu's reminder, he immediately noticed that the Ape-man's right hand was indeed pressed under its body, and considering the Ape-man's terrifying arm strength, there truly could be danger if he approached suddenly.
The Ape-man was originally still lying on the ground, looking pitiful, but upon seeing Feng Jun take two steps back, it immediately revealed an angry expression, opening its mouth and continuously roaring at Feng Jun, but its only response was a cold bullet.
After confirming the Ape-man was dead, Feng Jun walked forward and kicked its body aside, revealing the left hand that the Ape-man had kept pressed under its body.
The Ape-man's left hand was tightly gripping a sharply ground piece of iron.
Seeing this, Feng Jun felt a chill down his neck; with the Ape-man's arm strength, it could absolutely have severed his neck the instant he got close.
Thinking of this, Feng Jun immediately felt a surge of fear; he hadn't expected this Ape-man to be so insidious.
Li Lu also walked over at this point, and seeing one or two Ape-men still alive, she immediately shot them, ending their struggles.
"Isn't it shocking? Monkeys have actually evolved intelligence," Li Lu said to Feng Jun.
Feng Jun nodded, "I never thought monkeys would evolve; I find it a bit hard to accept.
After all, in my world, monkeys are still kept in zoos and fed."
Li Lu chuckled softly, "There's a lot more you haven't thought of; on this wasteland, only your imagination limits what's possible.
You haven't ventured deeper inland yet; the world there can only be described as fantastical."
"Alright, from what you say, it's full of danger here, so we should quickly get into our power armor and leave."
Feng Jun was about to turn back to his power armor, but just as he turned, the corner of his eye caught something flashing outside the workshop door.
Li Lu had walked two steps further and was now standing near the door.
Realizing something was wrong, Feng Jun was about to open his mouth to warn Li Lu when he saw a nearly transparent object suddenly accelerate and rush behind Li Lu.
Before the words "Look out behind you" could even leave his mouth, he saw a transparent humanoid creature already behind Li Lu.
"Pfft ~" The sound of flesh being pierced came.
Li Lu had already sensed something was wrong behind her from Feng Jun's expression and movements, but she was still a step too late.
A rebar pierced Li Lu's back and exited through her chest, blood gushing from her chest like a spray.
"No ~" Feng Jun's blood pressure instantly surged.
The rebar had pierced her heart; no one could survive in such a situation.
In that moment, time seemed to freeze, and in his vision, there was only the rebar and Li Lu's painfully twisted face.
A mist of blood bloomed in the air.
Li Lu twitched a few times and then went still, the blood mist also revealing the shape of the assailant who had pierced Li Lu.
It was an Ape-man, two meters tall and unusually robust, wearing a hooded optical camouflage that could simulate ambient light, achieving a partial invisibility effect.
This Ape-man had successfully ambushed Li Lu precisely because of this garment.
Pulling back the hood, it revealed a ferocious face.
This Ape-man provocatively bared its canines.
With a flick of its left hand, it tossed Li Lu and the rebar it held aside.
"Roar ~" The tall Ape-man let out an angry roar towards Feng Jun.
It pounded its chest with its hands, then directly tore off the optical camouflage it was wearing.
This tall Ape-man was clearly different from ordinary Ape-men; it wore a set of black armor, which was distinctly different from the common iron plate armor worn by ordinary Ape-men.
The gaps between the armor plates were tight, and although the armor's surface showed many abrasions, it still looked solid.
The Ape-man carried a huge warhammer on its back.
After its roar, the Ape-man reached back and took the giant hammer, then walked towards Feng Jun with a sinister grin.
Feng Jun didn't care how this Ape-man was different; at this moment, his heart pounded violently, each beat seemingly roaring, and the flames of anger burned within him, as if to consume his reason entirely.
"I'll kill you!" Feng Jun roared, his eyes already turned a terrifying blood-red.
Li Lu was dead!
She had been stabbed to death with rebar by this Ape-man right before his eyes.
He wanted to dismember this Ape-man and devour it alive.
The shoulder-mounted laser cannon and miniature rocket launcher instantly popped out, unleashing full firepower, all ammunition directed at the Ape-man.
The laser cannon hit the Ape-man first; with the auxiliary aiming system, the laser cannon automatically locked onto the Ape-man's head, but the emitted lasers were blocked by the Ape-man raising its right arm.
Miniature rockets followed closely, dense rocket projectiles hitting the Ape-man's body and causing violent explosions.
The flames and thick smoke from the explosions enveloped the Ape-man's figure.
Even Sawtooth would be injured by this level of miniature rocket impact.
Suddenly, that familiar sense of threat struck again.
Feng Jun pushed back, using the power of his mechanical exoskeleton to leap high backward.
The Ape-man's massive figure leaped out of the thick smoke, its giant hammer smashing down heavily on the spot where Feng Jun had just stood.
"Such fast speed, completely mismatched with its size."
Although Feng Jun was filled with hatred, he had not completely lost his reason.
This Ape-man not only had a huge physique, but its attack speed was also very fast.
If Feng Jun's backward leap had been even slightly slower, he would have taken that hammer blow squarely.
The giant hammer fell, directly cracking the ground, and a deep hole was smashed where the hammerhead landed.