By evening, my stone table was too full to hold all the dishes, so I found some banana leaves and laid them on the ground. Most of the dishes were then placed on the ground.

Today I let these monkeys have a meal. I even brought out some wine for them to enjoy. They had drunk a little before and didn't refuse the wine, which tasted pretty good.

The monkeys were happily eating on the ground, while Top and I sat at a stone table with bright green banana leaves in front of us.

The roasted beaver had already been torn apart by hand, and a large piece of beaver meat was placed in front of both Top and me.

Top seemed a little surprised that I wasn't eating from a golden bowl today. I felt that since we were eating hand-pulled mutton, we should use the most traditional method to eat it to get the right flavor.

I ate the meat in my hand with gusto, drank the wine in large gulps, and kept trying to chat with Top, only in this way could I try to keep my thoughts from wandering.

Top was a little puzzled as to why I had become so talkative today, and why I was drinking one glass after another.

But Top was just a monkey after all. Seeing me eating so happily, it was also very pleased and kept picking up the wine jug to pour me more wine.

We ate and drank for what seemed like forever until Top and I were both a little tipsy and we finally sat down at the table and dozed off.

What I never expected was that this simple dinner party would lead to a catastrophe for the Top community.

Wilderness is wilderness, and the rules will never change because of your personal ideas.

On New Year's Eve, we all had a big meal. The monkeys also drank alcohol, some quite a bit.

Just as I was dozing off with my eyes half-closed, one of the monkeys started squeaking.

Immediately, all the monkeys screamed in terror and scattered like birds, quickly darting up nearby trees.

The monkey's unusual scream startled me sobered me up considerably; I never expected something so strange to happen on the last day of the year.

By the light of the fire, I could see many dark figures rushing toward me. Some of the monkeys, perhaps from eating too much or drinking too much, were not as agile as before when climbing trees.

Soon, some monkeys cried out in pain, and Top screamed and ran toward the monkeys that had cried for help.

I grabbed Top and said, "Top, come up the tree with me, I'll chase those damn guys away!"

Top didn't insist and climbed the tree with me.

After climbing the tree, I took out my crossbow, and carried a full quiver of bolts on my back. I also lit two torches before reaching the wooden bridge I had built.

This spot offers a panoramic view of the area where the conflict just took place and is also the best vantage point for firing.

I tossed a torch down with a flick of my wrist, instantly illuminating the darkness where it landed. It seemed what had arrived was equally astonishing, its eyes wide with shock – it was my old adversary coming down the mountain!

As soon as the torch landed, before the animals in the darkness could run away, they were tearing at a monkey's anus, leaving the monkey's genitals covered in blood.

The newcomers were none other than the infamous Jackal, known for his anal-scratching skills; these guys must have come down from that mountain to the east.

Finding food in this frozen landscape is not easy. They must have been so hungry that they risked coming down the mountain to my vicinity to forage for food. Clearly, the smell of the food attracted them here.

This tragic scene was not isolated; several monkeys were dragged down by jackals for various reasons and could only let out helpless cries.

The monkey's shrill cries made Top, who was sitting nearby, restless, and he kept calling out sharply in the direction of the sound.

Hearing those cries now, I feel a pang of regret and a bad taste in my mouth. If I hadn't invited these monkeys to dinner, they wouldn't have suffered this fate.

These monkeys are like family to me now. How dare those damned jackals run wild on my territory? Well, leave as many of you here as you can today.

My anger and humiliation surged up instantly. I loaded a crossbow bolt into the slot, aimed at a jackal that was tearing at something madly, and pulled the trigger.

"Whoosh!"

A whooshing sound pierced the darkness of the night, and the next second the jackal, propelled by the immense inertia of the crossbow bolt, pierced its skull and fell to the side.

The jackal's limbs twitched symbolically twice on the ground before it was already dead.

These cruel beasts, whether from extreme hunger or something else, didn't scare the falling torch away; instead, they began to eat the monkeys' internal organs right before my eyes.

Now I truly understand what it means to be utterly vicious. When these starving beasts are threatened with their lives, the torches have absolutely no deterrent effect on them.

Damn it, you're asking for it!

Enraged, I quickly nocked arrows and fired them in quick succession, the bolts whistling through the firelight. One after another, jackals fell, struck by the arrows, but the remaining jackals refused to leave, continuing to devour their entrails.

As more and more jackals died, and they probably ate their fill, they became frightened and ran off towards the east side of the lake, carrying the monkeys in their mouths.

Seeing that the jackals had already run far away, I dared not be careless and climbed down the tree with my crossbow in my hand and a shotgun loaded with bullets on my back.

I picked up the torch that had fallen to the ground, and the scene before me was too painful to look at. In such a short time, some of the monkeys' bodies had been gnawed to pieces, and some uneaten offal was scattered on the ground.

The jackals that were killed were in no better condition; they were mostly shot in the head with crossbow bolts and died instantly.

Even so, before they died, a large amount of their internal organs and offal remained in their mouths and they refused to spit them out. What caused these creatures to suddenly become so ferocious?

I've dealt with these guys before. Last time, I only killed one jackal, and they ran away after a short while. This time, however, they've stayed put, which means they're starving.

But I know that if there are tigers in that area, there must also be corresponding prey, such as goats, muntjacs, and wild boars.

Even if jackals dare not attack wild boars, prey like goats cannot escape their clutches if they are surrounded. Has food become so scarce?

I know that a natural environment without human intervention can achieve a relatively balanced state. Something unusual is bound to happen, and the attitude these jackals are exhibiting now says it all.

There must be some other variable that caused a sharp decline in the number of prey in the mountains east of the lake. Otherwise, things would have been peaceful for the past few months, so why would such a large pack of jackals suddenly appear today?

Thinking of this, I recalled the lake monster I had previously discovered by the lake, and a bad feeling rose in my heart.

Could it be that those mysterious land creatures have also come here from other places to forage for food?