The Natives of This World Are Fierce

The vegetation was so dense that despite the monkeys’ racket, the group’s pace was actually slower than a casual stroll.

The Count shook his now-empty water bottle, swallowed the last mouthful, then crushed the plastic and stuffed it into his backpack.

They were traveling light and hadn’t brought the large packs, but the smaller backpacks the three men carried were starting to feel heavier and heavier. In this oppressive heat, they were losing fluids fast, and the water they had brought was running low.

"How much longer do we have to walk? We’re going to die of thirst if this keeps up!"

This was the third time the Count had complained about their dwindling water supply. His small backpack held three more bottles of water—the last of their entire group’s supply.

In the nearly two hours since they had left their temporary camp, they had already consumed the six bottles of water each of them had been carrying.

"Sip it slowly... Who knows where these monkeys are taking us?"

Lü Bing lifted the flap of the Count’s backpack to check. There were only three unopened water bottles, some chocolate, and a few packs of crackers. His own pack, meanwhile, contained emergency first-aid supplies. Besides gauze and disinfectant, it also held fast-acting painkillers and antibiotics.

As for Mo Shaoge, his backpack held a folded waterproof tarp, a fire starter, and some other portable tools.

The troop of monkeys overhead erupted into another commotion. They couldn’t tell what the fuss was about, but it happened like this every ten or twenty minutes.

"I really thought since these monkeys are so clever, they might bring us some fruit or something..."

Mo Shaoge glanced at the fruit pulp stains on his clothes, trying to guess what kind of fruit it was.

"ROAR~~~"

A massive roar echoed from the distance.

It startled birds into flight from the distant woods and instantly tensed up the six of them, who had just started to relax.

Upon hearing the sound, the monkeys’ chattering grew even more frantic.

"What was that sound?"

Cui Ying asked the three veterans uneasily.

"There aren’t any large predators in these woods, are there? It’s not a tiger, is it?"

"Bullshit. How many wild tigers are even left in Hua Country? There definitely aren’t any here. Besides, that’s not what a tiger sounds like!"

The fog had dissipated at some point, but the sunlight still couldn’t penetrate the canopy to reach the forest floor.

It was as if this part of the forest was on a whole new level. The trees seemed much larger, but the path, paradoxically, had become easier to walk.

They followed the monkeys onward, their nerves on edge, but the roar was not heard again.

The path grew easier and easier to navigate. It seemed that as the shrubs and weeds competed for nutrients, the victors grew larger but also sparser.

The group’s pace quickened as well.

After roughly another hour, the Count, Cui Ying, and Little Sister—the three who weren’t used to outdoor activities—were nearing their limit.

They repeatedly complained of exhaustion.

"The sound of water?"

Up ahead, Mo Shaoge suddenly motioned for everyone to be quiet.

The group fell silent, and filtering out the monkeys’ clamor, they could indeed hear the sound of flowing water. They could even feel the air growing cooler.

A few more minutes of walking and the view ahead suddenly opened up, revealing a clearing and a mountain stream.

The temperature seemed to drop several degrees at once, and a cool breeze felt incredibly refreshing to the six of them.

"OOH-OOH~ AAH-AAH~"

"OOH~~~ ROAR~~~"

"ROAR~ ROAR~ AAH~"

...

Most of the monkeys in the trees leaped down and scurried off in one direction.

It was only then that Cui Ying and the others noticed a simple, thatched shelter built near a large boulder by the stream.

"Holy crap! Don’t tell me the monkeys built that."

"Let’s go take a look and we’ll know!"

The stream gurgled with a crisp sound. As they drew closer, they saw a large, brown-furred monkey lying inside the shelter.

"ROAR~~~"

Just then, a tremendous roar erupted from within the shelter. The surrounding monkeys scattered with frightened CHITTERS before slowly gathering back around the hut.

The six of them cautiously approached the shelter. When they were about ten meters away, they saw that the Great Macaque’s eyes were shut tight, and it was lying perfectly still.

"The Monkey King! It’s passed out?"

Lü Bing recognized the great monkey’s identity at a glance. It was a full size larger than the other adult macaques, and its fur had a healthier sheen.

"Well, from the troop’s reaction, it doesn’t look like it’s just sleeping," Mo Shaoge replied. Cui Ying and the others had already taken out their phones and opened their camera apps.

"So these monkeys brought us here because they want us to help this big one?"

They spoke as they drew nearer. The surrounding monkeys all backed away, but not too far. It was impossible to tell if their stares were wary or hopeful, but being watched like that made everyone feel uneasy.

A quick scan revealed at least a hundred monkeys. Under the circumstances, the group was extremely cautious with every move.

The Mo siblings even put their swords back in their packs, afraid of being mistaken for "assassins."

Cui Ying, however, was bolder. She was the first to approach the unconscious Monkey King and carefully examine its entire body.

"I don’t see any wounds. Could it be food poisoning?"

"That’s possible..."

"Even if it is food poisoning, there’s nothing we can do. We have anti-diarrhea medicine and antibiotics in the bag, but you’d really need a vet to make a proper diagnosis, right?"

As they started discussing it, their tension began to fade.

"Wait, try turning its head the other way! I think there’s something on its neck!"

Cui Ying felt the way the Monkey King’s neck was bent in its unconscious state was awkward, so she asked everyone to help adjust its position.

Seeing the humans touch their king, the monkeys at the side all shrieked loudly, but not one of them stepped forward.

"Hold its body down. I’ll turn its head. Be gentle, don’t wake it up!"

Lü Bing instructed Mo Shaoge as he moved toward the Monkey King’s head.

"All together now!"

The Monkey King’s body trembled slightly as they moved it, and a continuous, low whimpering sound came from its mouth.

When they saw the Monkey King’s neck, they noticed a pitch-black line, about three inches long, lying on it like a centipede. A closer look revealed it to be a gash.

"Look... Watch out!"

Mo Shaoge barely got the words out before Lü Bing’s agonized scream rang out.

"AGHHH—MY NECK!!"

Lü Bing instantly let go of the Monkey King’s head, clutching his own neck as he began to roll around on the floor of the thatched shelter.

Just a moment ago, he had only seen the black line on the Monkey King’s neck. Then, the blackness near the wound seemed to squirm, and after a flash, an excruciating pain shot through his own neck, making it impossible to even stand.

Then, after only ten or twenty seconds, Lü Bing’s face went deathly pale, and he passed out cold.

The remaining five people panicked, but for a moment, none of them dared to go near him.

"Dammit, what the hell is going on?!"

"What was that thing? I couldn’t see it at all! Was it a parasite?"

None of them dared to look at what was on Lü Bing’s neck, terrified they would be next.

"Holy shit, the Monkey King is spurting blood!!"

While everyone’s attention was fixed on Lü Bing, the black line on the Monkey King’s neck vanished. A moment later, blood burst out in a massive spray.

The monkey troop instantly flew into a frenzy. They leaped up and down, their shrill cries so loud they made everyone’s eardrums ache.

"The artery must be severed! Out here in the middle of nowhere, there’s no way to save it!"

"Do something, quick! Or the monkeys are going to tear us apart!!"

The Count looked at the frenzied monkeys, not caring whether the Monkey King could be saved or not. He carefully unstrapped the backpack from Lü Bing, who was still on the ground.

"Don’t touch Lü Bing yet. I have a feeling his situation might be the same as the Monkey King’s."

Mo Shaoge pulled out a large gauze pad and pressed it onto the Monkey King’s neck, getting sprayed with dark red blood in the process.

The large pad was soaked through with red in just two or three seconds.

If an artery in the neck is ruptured, you can’t use a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. The only thing he could think to do was apply firm pressure to the wound.

The Monkey King began to convulse violently.

"Hold it down!"

"Lift its head! Elevate it, elevate it!"

Cui Ying and the others rushed to help, wrapping roll after roll of bandages around its neck.

"OOH~~~ ROAR~~~"

"ROAR~ ROAR~ AAH~"

"AAH~ AAH~"

The monkeys shrieked in agitation, many of them grabbing branches and beating them against the ground.

Unable to take it anymore, Cui Ying shot to her feet and rushed outside.

"SHUT UP~!!"

The piercing female voice shot out, making the eardrums of everyone inside the shelter tingle.

And bizarrely, the troop of monkeys actually fell silent.

"Now what? Are we just going to watch this monkey bleed to death? Will the troop let us leave? And Lü Bing, his neck..."

The Count was deeply worried. He could only stand to the side, lending a hand by passing supplies and pouring fresh water for cleaning. Meanwhile, Mo Qingxue and Little Sister kept a wary eye on the monkeys.

"Huh?"

Mo Shaoge let out a sound of confusion. The hand he had pressed on the gauze could no longer feel the gushing of blood.

’Did it bleed out?’

He signaled for Cui Ying to stop wrapping the bandages. He then gently used scissors to cut away the bandages they had haphazardly wound around it before carefully peeling back the gauze.

Blood was still seeping from the wound on the Monkey King’s neck, but not in large amounts. The color, however, seemed vastly different.

"It looks... brighter, doesn’t it?"

"Suture it!"

He took a needle and medical thread from the first-aid kit and began to stitch up the gash, which was about three centimeters long.

As he worked, he could feel how tough the monkey’s hide was. He had to use a great deal of force just to get the needle through. If it hadn’t been for his years of sword practice, someone else might have had a hard time piercing it at all.