"But why are you here at this time?" Sugel asked them.

The old man told Sugel about another group of people who had come to the village, and added, "That group of people came looking for 'you.'" The old man gestured with his chin, implying something.

This was clearly not the first time Sugli had encountered something like this. Human social relationships were similar to theirs, so they never liked to 'exchange' with humans in this way, as it always brought many negative consequences. After thinking for a moment, he asked him directly, "What do I want to do?"

The old man chuckled softly, a sound that was strangely grating. "What else is there in these mountains besides these trees? Cliffs, isn't it?"

Sugel nodded thoughtfully.

"Tomorrow, we'll do this..." The old man gestured for Sugel to come closer. "Tomorrow, I'll have them go up the mountain under the guise of a sacrificial ceremony. You'll come too. Trick them into drinking it, then pick a few good ones to keep, and push the rest down the mountain!"

The two men, one speaking and the other responding, displayed a natural cruelty in their indifference, as if they were discussing not life, but a commodity, their expressions even showing excitement.

Xu Qian was getting impatient. He finally managed to hold back until they finished discussing tomorrow's plans. The old man called out to the little girl that he had to go back, and Su Geli also said he would go check the dungeon again, just in case.

When Su Geli mentioned the 'dungeon,' Xu Qian suddenly felt a surge of excitement. He thought he might be able to see Sang Zi again, and hoped he was alright...

Xu Qian changed his target to Su Geli, then glanced at the time. It was 4:30, and he still had half an hour before his shift. If he could get back within half an hour, he wouldn't need to explain so much. If he couldn't get back in time, he might as well find a reason to lay it all out and make them more vigilant.

With this information in mind, Xu Qian confidently followed Su Geli.

The so-called 'dungeon' was indeed underground, with each one like a honeycomb, densely packed. The only way down was by vines that went down from top to bottom, as sturdy as an arm. Sugel was very agile and jumped down the vines in no time.

Xu Qian saw Su Geli dive straight into a 'nest' and jumped down without saying a word.

Once inside, they discovered what a completely different world it was. It was a very strange 'container', covered by a layer of translucent green mucus that was still flowing. It was called a 'container' because inside lay a monkey, a severely injured monkey whose upper limbs were completely severed and twisted in an unbelievable way. In Xu Qian's opinion, the monkey was only alive because of that layer of mucus.

Xu Qian noticed that Su Geli suddenly touched his arm, his expression one of relief, but then turning somewhat ferocious as if he had remembered something. Xu Qian could easily imagine that the monkey lying inside was probably Su Geli himself; in other words, the monkey that was about to die was very likely... Sangzi.

As Xu Qian approached, he saw that the monkey's eyes were open, bloodshot, as if it were unwilling to accept its fate. Xu Qian didn't know how long it had been open, but he knew that it must have endured unimaginable pain.

Sugel only came down to check on the situation, and seeing that the monkey was still doing well, he went back up after a short while.

After Xu Qian and the others had completely left, he deactivated his invisibility and directly asked the monkey in the 'container,' "Are you Sangzi?"

The monkey blinked, as if it had heard something unbelievable. Xu Qian was certain once again from its eyes that this monkey was indeed Sangzi!

"I'm here to save you," Xu Qian said.

Sangzi just looked at him like that, and a glimmer of hope shone in her heart for a moment.

Xu Qian took out a healing pill and fed it to Sangzi. It was the pill with the largest healing amount that he could make, and it should work for monkeys as well. As it turned out, it did work. Sangzi's health bar increased by more than half, and her expression improved a lot.

"Squeak—" The moment the sound came out, Sangzi froze. This must have been a huge blow to him.

Xu Qian said to him, "Today is the last day, you can still exchange them back."

These two sentences rekindled Sangzi's hope; yes, there was still a chance.

Xu Qian asked again, "How can I help you? Would taking you away work?" He still didn't understand how this 'exchange' was conducted. Although the person had come in, he was still completely confused and only hoped that Sangzi could know something.

"Squeak—" Sangzi got excited.

"..." Xu Qian sighed. How could he have forgotten this most important question? He couldn't understand monkey language. "I'm going out to find someone to ask about the situation. You wait here for me. I'll be back soon."

"Squeak squeak squeak?" How are you going to ask that?!

"I'm leaving now." How to ask? Of course, I'll have to rely on the Heart-Relieving Pill. Unfortunately, the quantity is limited. Every pill used is one less available. I want to make some, but I don't have the materials. It's really troublesome.

Xu Qian reactivated his invisibility and climbed up the vines he had come down from earlier. Even though it was a 'dungeon' for a group of monkeys, there were still monkeys guarding it like sentinels. However, these were not Xu Qian's target. He needed to find a 'person' who could speak human language.

Xu Qian, in his stealth mode, moved freely through the monkey cave. Finally, he set his sights on a 'woman'. She was short, thin, and inconspicuous. He could easily take her away for questioning without attracting any attention.

Just as Xu Qian was about to step forward with the Illusionary Light Step, his target was stopped by a voice. Xu Qian looked up and saw it was Anda.

"Mina, come here."

“Yes, Father.” The woman nodded slightly.

Wait, wait, wait! That woman is Anda's daughter?!

Xu Qian stopped. For some reason, he didn't want to confront the man named Anda, perhaps because there were too many unknowns about him. In a sense, Xu Qian was a very cautious person, probably because he had been hurt by the 'Heavenly Way' in the past, and he would think more carefully about things he was unsure of.

Seeing that he had reached his target, Xu Qian had no choice but to squat down at another one. Fortunately, his efforts paid off, and he spotted another lone 'woman'.

[Fearful Hidden Punishment], commonly known as disarming, is the perfect tool for home and travel.

Xu Qian dragged the person to the tree hollow he had chosen beforehand. Before the other person woke up, he mentally reviewed his three questions again. He needed to ask some practical questions; if the other person gave an "I don't know" answer again, he would really cry...

—How can we stop the 'exchange'?

"What exactly are you?"

—Why do we need to 'exchange'?