Chapter 560 - 269: What? The Cliff Is Faster Than the Monkeys?
The Monkey King moved extremely nimbly, traversing the rock wall as if it were flat ground, quickly reaching a vine not far from Li Younan, hooking his body onto it and shouting at him.
Seeing that Li Younan was unmoved, the Monkey King showed an expression of anger and shame, tentatively lunging at him, getting within a few meters of Li Younan.
At this time, Li Younan used binoculars to observe the core habitat of the monkey troop up close but did not find any trace of the hard drive.
Meanwhile, the Monkey King was incessantly chattering over there. Unbothered, Li Younan shifted slightly towards a farther direction.
Seeing the intruder driven away by himself, the Monkey King immediately became proud, roaring for a while with satisfaction before retreating.
...
Li Younan was now hanging in the middle-upper section of the rock wall in a relatively open area.
At this moment, he could truly appreciate the scenery from a traveler’s perspective.
Looking down, the bottom of the canyon narrowed, and a tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo River became a slender, sky-reflecting bright strip.
The woods they passed through now appeared like a dark green carpet with neat edges.
Looking up, the rock wall continued to extend, but the contour of the mountain ridge was already in sight.
The weathered rocks displayed layers that alternated between greyish-white and ochre.
Leveling his gaze, the parallel mountain body seemed almost within reach, with visible ravines and shrubs stubbornly poking through the cracks. Occasionally, birds flew across the mountain waist opposite, and he could clearly see the motion of their wing flaps.
The rock wall he occupied had sparse vegetation, only some lichens and drought-resistant shrubs clinging closely to the rocks. The rock surface was rough, riddled with cone-shaped holes and deep vertical cracks, providing ample grip points for him.
The drone was still hovering in the air.
Li Younan had already observed the monkey troop’s territory from several angles, almost completely scanning their habitat with no blind spots, yet still obtained nothing.
It seemed that the monkeys, having played enough with the hard drive and other items in the bag, had likely discarded them randomly.
If that were the case, then further searches below the rock wall were necessary, a task that would have to be handled by the police themselves.
At this thought, Li Younan felt he had climbed enough and admired the scenery, and thus considered descending.
However, just at this moment, Li Younan’s sight was drawn by a sudden intense commotion.
...
A raven was launching an attack on a young monkey.
Despite being physically smaller than the monkey, its assault carried a sense of determination.
Without circling and probing, it swooped down almost straightly like a black spear from a height, wings tucked, darting rapidly to pierce the top of the monkey’s head.
At the brink of impact, it sharply opened its wings to adjust its position, its hard beak striking fiercely.
The monkey cried out in pain, sweeping its arm backward, claws cutting through the air sharply.
The raven didn’t completely evade this time. To deliver an effective peck, its wing edges almost brushed past the monkey’s claws. Several black feathers were instantly caught by the gust, drifting down.
It didn’t linger, ascending using the bouncing force of this attack, though the flight path appeared hasty, demonstrating the risks undertook in the previous assault.
The raven was considerably smaller than the monkey, entirely black, its wings reflecting a metallic blue-purple sheen under sunlight.
It swooped down again, aiming its beak at the back of the monkey’s neck or the top of its head, pecking swiftly.
Apparently enraged, the monkey hooked one hand in a rock crack to steady its body, while the other hand swung fiercely upward, trying to fend off the raven.
Although the monkey seemed somewhat embarrassed, frequently shifting its position across the rock points, it ultimately seized the chance to grab the raven’s foot.
What ensued was a chaotic flapping of wings and a monkey nearly losing balance and plummeting.
In the end, the monkey let go, and the raven awkwardly flapped a few times in the air, no longer attacking the monkey, and flew away.
...
Li Younan’s gaze continued following the raven but saw that it did not fly far. Instead, it flew down along a steep cliff, landing on a platform.
Li Younan noticed where the raven descended, and suddenly his eyes flashed, comprehending instantly what had transpired—there on the platform, lay a small figure, a raven chick, covered in some feathers but clearly had not started molting and was unable to fly.
Thinking of something, Li Younan lifted his head again and found, approximately thirty to forty meters from him, a nest on a pine tree growing out of the cliff.
This nest seemed to have marks of being damaged.
Seeing this scene, combined with the raven’s fearless attack on the monkey, Li Younan instantly understood: the monkey must have raided the raven’s nest, possibly causing a raven chick to fall out and land on that platform.
People who frequently follow Li Younan’s life know that owls hold grudges fiercely, and compared to owls, ravens are not far behind in this respect. Ravens can even recall being shot with a slingshot years ago and seize every chance to madly retaliate.
Besides this trait, the most notable label for ravens is intelligence.
Studies have even suggested that ravens are among the smartest birds.
Their intelligence level is comparable to a 7 to 8-year-old human child!