Chapter 166 - 163: Kidnapped by Monkeys
Although Cui Ying’s attention was mostly on the monkeys, she still spared a glance for the items in the hands of the Mo Family siblings.
Unlike the Mountain-Cutting Saber that Lü Bing, their leader, occasionally used to clear the path, these two were clearly decorative blades, with wooden sheaths instead of leather ones.
"You two aren’t going to tell me you’re Martial Arts Masters, are you?"
The Count had also noticed what the siblings were holding and teased them.
"Haha, my family taught us some sword-fighting moves. We just have good eyes and a steady hand!"
Mo Shaoge explained, and Mo Qingxue added from the side.
"To put it bluntly, we’re just good at cutting people down. Our hands don’t shake when we swing a blade, and our aim is true!"
That certainly didn’t have the air of a Martial Arts Master. The image that popped into the Count’s head was a butcher hacking away at a meat stall.
"Stay alert. We can’t see the campsite anymore."
Lü Bing reminded them, then swung his Mountain-Cutting Saber to make two cuts on a tree trunk as a marker.
They were in a region of low, rolling, forested hills.
Only after leaving the mountain path did they realize how much lusher the vegetation in the forest was than they had imagined.
It wasn’t strange for a rarely trodden mountain to be overgrown with weeds, but not only was the vegetation here dense, there were hardly any dead or withered plants. As far as the eye could see, everything was a vibrant, dripping green, almost like a tropical rainforest, suffused with a powerful Life Force.
This made the going extremely difficult for the six of them, and their pace slowed again and again. Lü Bing’s Mountain-Cutting Saber was now constantly swinging left and right in front, clearing a relatively walkable path for those behind him.
"Captain, when was the last time we came to this part of the Northern Neighbor?"
Mo Shaoge asked Lü Bing in disbelief. Their group often traveled through mountains and rivers together, and Lü Bing, who had the best memory, was usually their leader.
Lü Bing was also quite bewildered. Previously, they had always stuck close to the mountain paths where it was rockier and more people walked, so it hadn’t been as apparent.
Now, the deeper they went, the more ridiculously overgrown the vegetation became. Every single plant was lush and leafy, vibrantly green and not the least bit wilted despite the sweltering heat.
After just half an hour of walking, it felt as if they had entered an entirely different forest.
’Did all the plants in the Northern Neighbor eat Golden Fertilizer or something?’
"Forget the last time we came together. Even just a few months ago when I brought some officials into the mountains, it felt... uh, but maybe it was just because the weather was cooler back then!"
"OOH! AHH! OOH OOH AHH!"
The cries of the monkeys periodically sounded from overhead, and by looking up, the group could faintly make out their silhouettes.
The terrain here was too much of a hindrance to their Visual Sense, and they could no longer keep track of the monkeys’ movements at all times.
"Maybe we should turn back?"
Lü Bing was starting to have second thoughts.
"Here, Captain, give me the Mountain-Cutting Saber. I’ll take over for a while. I’m not ready to go back just yet, and I bet Reporter Cui would really throw a fit~"
As someone skilled with blades, Mo Shaoge could see that Lü Bing must be tired after hacking away at the front for so long.
As he said this, Mo Shaoge turned back to shoot a flirty wink at Cui Ying, who felt a sense of helpless exasperation toward this clown.
"Alright!"
Lü Bing didn’t argue. He handed over the Mountain-Cutting Saber and fell back to rest.
The Count muttered under his breath from the back, "You know, you could have stuck to your guns a little longer. I’m very easily convinced..."
The three reporters had never experienced an environment like this; it was completely different from watching a forest documentary on TV.
Looking back, the path they had taken was completely gone. Their phones had lost signal long ago, but thankfully, they had been leaving markers, and the GPS was still functional.
At some point, the sky above had darkened considerably. The harsh sunlight that had occasionally pierced the canopy now seemed to be blocked by overcast clouds, causing visibility within the forest to drop several notches.
"Holy shit! Is it fucking fogging up? At a time like this!"
Mo Shaoge couldn’t help but curse out loud.
Only then did Lü Bing and the others suddenly realize that the distance was growing hazy with a shimmering white.
The vegetation before them was so dense that it had been constantly obstructing their line of sight, so they had no idea when this thin mist had begun to roll in.
"Crybaby Cui, I think this is that fog you were so curious about..."
The Count said uncertainly, his heart pounding with unease.
"I’m afraid so... It’s neither morning nor night. Fog wouldn’t just appear for no reason..."
Lü Bing responded, glancing over at the pretty female reporter. ’Is this girl’s luck incredibly good or incredibly bad?’
"Everyone, stop! Follow the markers back! Forget about the monkeys!"
He yelled to the front. The other five heard him and stopped as well; they had had enough of this difficult trail.
"OOH-HOO! HOO! AHH AHH!"
"Oooohhh... HOOO!"
The monkeys’ screeches rose and fell overhead again, as if they were agitated that the humans had stopped moving.
"Ignore them! We’re heading back!"
This time, not even Cui Ying objected. After all, they had underestimated the situation, and safety was more important.
THWACK!
A branch struck Lü Bing hard across the face, making it sting with pain. He looked up to see a monkey perched on a tree directly in their path of retreat.
"Don’t tell me a monkey threw that?"
The others behind him also saw Lü Bing get hit by the branch, but they hadn’t seen exactly how it happened.
But they soon had their answer. Unlike the seven or eight monkeys from before,
more monkeys had appeared from out of nowhere. The forest was now filled with the dense chatter of their calls. A large number of them were positioned ahead on the path back, and several were throwing rotten fruit and branches down at them.
"Holy shit! Captain, did we just poke a monkey’s nest!?"
The Count cried out dramatically.
The air all around them was a cacophony of chittering and screeching. There was no telling how many monkeys were hidden in the thin mist.
"Are there really this many wild macaques on Baiyun Mountain?"
Mo Shaoge asked in disbelief, then, as if remembering something, he glanced at the GPS hanging from Lü Bing’s small shoulder bag.
"Damn it! It’s acting up again, like it’s gotten wet!"
’Forget the phones; they lost signal the moment we entered the mountains.’
"Forget the GPS! These monkeys are clearly not going to let us turn back. Does anyone have a plan?"
"What other plan could there be? We charge!"
Mo Shaoge took the lead. He returned the Mountain-Cutting Saber to Lü Bing and switched his sheathed Longsword from his left hand to his right, wielding it like a baseball bat.
"Charge!"
He had sharp eyes and could still make out where they had left their markers.
The six of them began to run back, moving even faster than they had on their way in.
The trees were filled with a cacophony of monkey calls and the constant creaking of branches as countless monkeys moved even faster than them, getting ahead.
After the group had charged for a few dozen meters, a barrage of CRACKS and THUDS forced them to a halt.
Even though he had swung his sheathed sword to block, Mo Shaoge was still pelted countless times. Everything but his face was covered in rotten fruit pulp, twigs, weeds, and mud.
The other five, while in better shape, were also in a sorry state.
Fortunately, whether due to the weight or because the monkeys had some semblance of a moral bottom line, none of them had thrown rocks. Otherwise, the six of them would have been left with broken, bleeding heads.
"Have these monkeys really become spirits?"
As the Count asked this, dumbfounded, Cui Ying’s mind instead drifted to the words Tao Xingzhi had quietly spoken back when she was under house arrest at the Shen City Public Security Bureau.
Seeing that the humans had stopped, the troop of monkeys, after another bout of clamor, fell strangely silent.
The standoff, with the humans below and the monkeys in the trees, lasted for a dozen or so seconds.
Then, a few monkeys started chattering again. Several of them even scurried over to where the group was originally headed before they tried to turn back, letting out a series of "HOO! HOO! HOO!" calls.
Even a monkey could understand what that meant, to say nothing of a human.
"These monkeys really have become spirits!!!"
He said the same words again, but this time, the Count’s tone was one of affirmation and shock.
And so, after a brief discussion, the six of them—some reluctantly, others with a hint of excitement—resumed following the troop of monkeys, continuing to leave markers as they went.
The scene looked just like a troop of monkeys herding a group of bedraggled humans forward.
PS: Friday’s first Chapter.