Chapter 64

The two sides were in a stalemate.

Lu Chenyuan took a tentative step forward, and the Golden White Monkey immediately stood up, making a threatening sound from deep in its throat. Its sharp white teeth flashed with a cold light, and its powerful mental power almost materialized. Everyone felt the oppression.

This was a warning to humans for stepping into the territory of wild beasts, so everyone could only stay where they were.

Jiang Zihan looked around. The surroundings were poorly resourced. If any herds of animals had survived, they were likely out of reach of the wildfire. She untied her backpack and took a half-step when the Golden White Monkey bared its teeth. She dropped her bag and simply retreated.

The white monkey stared at them warily, its tail flapping nervously against the mountain wall, but a faint fragrance emanating from the small bag began to tantalize its thoughts. Strong mental strength also meant sharper senses, and its gaze could not help but remain glued to the small bag.

It hung there hesitantly for a moment, then tentatively slid down the cliff, slowly moving to the bag while keeping its eyes fixed on the crowd. It poked its head out to sniff, then couldn't help but unzip it, letting out a burst of fruity fragrance.

The white monkey's silver-gray eyes lit up, but he looked at them with half-belief and half-doubt. Jiang Zihan spread her hands innocently, stretched out her foot and drew a line on the ground, indicating that they would not cross that line.

The white monkey curled its lips in a humane manner, quickly threw its back, and disappeared into the stone forest with a few leaps.

Jiang Zihan stared at its back as it disappeared, unable to resist extending her mental power again. The white monkey faltered in its climbing motion, but this time it didn't try to stop her. She felt delighted; it seemed the bag of fruit was still useful after all.

In the stone forest atop the mountain, a group of fur balls quickly gathered. Not only were there monkeys from the same tribe, but there were also scattered other beasts. Spirit-type war beasts were much smarter than ordinary beasts, and they were indeed able to lead other beasts to escape when a wildfire burned the mountain.

Jiang Zihan breathed a sigh of relief: "Those beasts are all on the top of the mountain. As long as the rebels can't get up, they will be safe."

There are not many animals there, and the golden-tipped white monkey that came down the mountain should be the king of the monkey clan. With it around, the rebels should not be able to succeed easily.

Jiang Zihan: "I'll go up and check if there's enough food."

Lu Chenyuan grabbed her wrist and said, "It's too dangerous for you to go up. I'll go."

The researcher held the instrument and said, "I want to go up there too. The rebels have released a lot of vicious beasts since they moved here. I need to confirm whether these beasts have been infected by the mutated aberration virus."

Jiang Zihan shook his head: "The Monkey King may not let strangers get close. I'll go explore the way first."

The stone forest was tall and steep, with no paths to follow. Jiang Zihan could only climb up the stone wall, her fingertips rubbed red. When she finally reached the top, she looked up and met a pair of silver-gray eyes.

The Monkey King chewed non-stop, unmoved by her shambling appearance, a hint of sarcasm in his eyes. As the others climbed up, an invisible spiritual force suddenly passed by her, reverberating through the air like ripples.

Jiang Zihan's back stiffened, and she suddenly looked up, only to see a mental barrier that practically enveloped the entire stone forest. Her pupils suddenly constricted. No wonder the border troops hadn't detected any signs of life on the mountain before; it seemed the Monkey King had hidden it all.

The people following were instantly flung outward. Jiang Zihan's back stiffened, and she quickly looked down. Fortunately, they were experienced in battle and reacted in time, so they were not injured. She breathed a sigh of relief and cautiously turned her head to stare at the Monkey King, fearing that he would attack. With the skills he had just come down the mountain, she was no match for him.

The Monkey King stuffed all the fruits in his hand into his mouth, threw away the cores, wiped the excess juice on the stone wall beside him, and walked into the stone forest without looking back.

Jiang Zihan blinked her eyes. Does this mean that she is allowed to follow?

She hurried after him, seizing the opportunity to tell him about the dangers at the foot of the mountain. However, the Monkey King didn't even turn around, clearly showing no interest in these matters. The only sound in the open space was her mumbling. When they reached the resting area, she was simply left alone. The Monkey King acted as if she wasn't there, lying down on a large rock and not moving.

The herd of animals that had originally gathered in the open space in the stone forest immediately dispersed, leaving a vacuum zone around her.

Jiang Zihan wisely shut up and quietly observed the scene before him. There wasn't much fruit in the bag, so the cubs had to eat it first. The remaining adults could only nibble on the grass stems. However, the remaining plants were all deformed to varying degrees, and eating them would have an impact on the beasts.

Jiang Zihan crouched beside the twisted, mutated plant. If the environment here could be given a little time to recover, these beasts would have a chance to recuperate. A scalpel carefully peeled away the distorted nodes. Invisible black air emanated, and dark purple juice flowed from the breaches. However, the energy within the plant had calmed considerably. The system was still on the island, so she couldn't measure the current distortion level. But based on her mental feedback, it should be close to a safe level.

The tip of the scalpel was glowing, and the black and purple lines on the leaves were slowly fading. However, before she could breathe a sigh of relief, a rustling sound suddenly came from behind her, and a white-haired hand reached out, and the plant, which had just recovered a little, was instantly uprooted.

"Hey!" Jiang Zihan was startled, "What are you doing?!"

"Oh, oh, oh!" The Monkey King shook the plant in his hand, and quickly called a group of small animals to come and enjoy the food. A fresh plant was divided into several parts and swallowed up in an instant.

Jiang Zihan felt a little itchy at the roots of her teeth, but the Monkey King retreated leisurely, shaking his long black tail, not paying any attention to her protesting look.

The subsequent distortion processing turned into a tug-of-war. Every time she processed a batch of plants, a wild beast would immediately follow. If she was not careful, she would only see its back that ran away, leaving only the uneven roots and her disheveled body in the wind.

Jiang Zihan couldn't help but complain: "Can you guys eat slower? What are you going to eat after you finish eating all the plants?"

The Monkey King glanced at the bare rhizomes arrogantly, indicating that there were still some left.

Jiang Zihan gritted his teeth and couldn't help but poke its furry belly: "A bunch of bandits."

She turned away angrily. These guys had been hungry for too long and had never thought about sustainable development. They just treated her as a mobile canteen.

She learned from her mistakes and only processed half of the remaining deformed plants. Those open mouths stopped in mid-air. After confirming several times that this thing seemed to be inedible, they couldn't help but cast a few urging glances at her.

Jiang Zihan turned his head away, pretending not to see: "If you keep eating like this, in a few days you'll only be chewing stones."

As dusk deepened, Jiang Zihan stood up with the help of a rock and brushed off the grass debris on his clothes. "I'll bring someone else tomorrow. He'll help bring up some food. Remember to leave some space for me."

Although the Monkey King had disappeared, she knew that he was definitely still paying attention to this place.

When she reached the edge of the cliff, she couldn't help but look back. In the afterglow of the setting sun, dozens of pairs of bright animal eyes looked at her, like scattered stars.

Over the next few days, they used rope baskets to bring up some food, barely enough to satisfy the hungry beasts. However, this left the emergency center with very little food. Jiang Zihan finally managed to stop the predators from munching on the plants, giving the vegetation in the mountaintop stone forest some time to grow.

A few days later, when Jiang Zihan climbed up the stone forest again, the Monkey King did not stare at her for the first time. Instead, he squatted on a huge rock with a little monkey in his arms. He looked down at her condescendingly after hearing the sound.

It lightly jumped down and handed the little monkey to her. She was slightly stunned: "You want me to help?"

Jiang Zihan looked down. The cub had been under close watch for the past few days, so she hadn't had a chance to examine it closely. Now she saw its hair was falling out, its breathing was weak, and its skin was covered in purple-black pustules. It was obvious that the deformation had invaded its bone marrow. Even an adult war beast couldn't withstand it, let alone a monkey only a few months old.

The Monkey King did not let go immediately, as if he was considering whether he should trust this human.

"I have to remove the distortion. If you stop me, it will only make things worse," Jiang Zihan said solemnly. "The process will be painful. You have to make sure no one else affects me. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, it will most likely die."

Only then did it let go of its hand and stared closely at Jiang Zihan wrapping the cub tightly in his coat.

Jiang Zihan slowly penetrated the monkey's body with his mental power. The situation was dire; simply removing the distortion points was a massive undertaking. The scalpel materialized, and as the first abscess was cut open, a shrill scream rang out. The monkey king's silver-gray pupils nearly shrank to a line, but sensing the energy emanating from the scalpel, he could only restrain himself from moving forward to stop it.

The long tail flapped against the rocks anxiously, and every minute and every second was torture.

Jiang Zihan's forehead was covered with sweat. He had cut out more than a dozen deformed pustules on the front and back. The cub was already dying. If the Monkey King had not used his mental power to protect its vital points, it might have collapsed long ago.

Jiang Zihan sutured the last wound, and the cub's breathing slowly calmed down. Her vision was a little blurry, and she almost collapsed with the Monkey King. Both of them had highly mobilized their mental strength and were now exhausted.

The monkey king struggled to pick up the sleeping cub, combed its fur, and then turned around and handed it to another monkey.

This rescue brought Jiang Zihan and the Monkey King closer together. Soon, Lu Chenyuan and others were also put into the barrier. They began to cultivate and plant a number of fruit trees and other edible plants on the periphery, which could at least last for a while.

When Lu Chenyuan came over with a hoe, he saw several little cubs trying to cling to Jiang Zihan. He frowned. Wild beasts are not like war beasts. They may get out of control if they are not careful. So he wanted to stop them, but was warned by the Monkey King with bared teeth.

"Hey! Stop glaring." Jiang Zihan tried to reconcile with a stifled smile, "We're partners now, so don't be so aggressive."

Lu Chenyuan glanced at the Monkey King calmly. At that moment, his communicator suddenly rang. His expression changed drastically after he answered it. "The rebels are trying to break out of the starport. To prevent the passage from being blown up, we need to rush over to support them."

Jiang Zihan's heart moved. This process must be very chaotic, and it would be easy to overlook details.

She rolled her eyes around and turned to look at the Monkey King who was chewing a fruit: "Friend, do you want to do something big?"

The Monkey King spat out the fruit core, and a hint of doubt flashed in his silver-gray eyes.

That night, as expected, the rebels and the border troops exchanged fire near the starport. Then, from the darkness, where no one was paying attention, dark shadows surrounded them...