Chapter 057: The Invisible Overlord of Changbai Mountain
"What should I do?"
Seeing this situation, no matter how tough Gu Weinan was on weekdays, he panicked at this moment and quickly asked his younger brother beside him.
Gu Weibei didn't know what to do, and he was so angry that he started to curse his sister:
"You won't die if you don't seek death. There are so many wild fruits in this mountain, but you don't want to pick them. Instead, you insist on robbing people's nests. Don't you deserve it?"
At this moment, the boy was so righteous that he seemed to have forgotten who was the person in front of him who was trying to empty the squirrel hole of the pine nuts with a basket.
Gu Weinan was so angry that he picked up the hunting rifle on her back, pulled the safety and was about to fire at the tree.
Ye Qing's eyes turned black, and he was so angry that he almost beat up the naughty kid on the spot.
She grabbed Gu Weinan's arm:
"Are you crazy? Look carefully at how many squirrels are on this tree! We only have a few bullets. Can you kill all these squirrels?"
While Ye Qing was cursing, he put the basket of pine nuts on his back and shouted at Gu Weinan:
"Where's that squirrel hole you dug?"
Gu Weinan was stunned for a moment, but still pointed her in the direction she came from:
"Go straight over there for about three or four hundred meters, and you'll find it under an old camphor tree."
Ye Qing pointed to the baskets on the ground, then to the fire next to him, and said without question:
"Now, put out the fire quickly. Don't leave any sparks in the mountain. Then carry your things and walk in the opposite direction. Wait for me about 400 to 500 meters ahead!"
"Especially Gu Weinan, you can't come over here anymore. You've already offended the public. If you go over here again, you'll irritate these squirrels. If they all rush over and attack you, you'll be in trouble. Do you understand?"
Gu Weibei became anxious when he heard Ye Qing's words:
"You want to return these pine nuts by yourself? No, I'll go. There are so many squirrels. It's too dangerous for you to go alone!"
Ye Qing raised his head and looked at Gu Weibei:
"What will you do when you go there? Will you use the wooden box in your hand like your sister?"
"Don't be stupid, just go! I have a box of needles in my hand. I'm not afraid to brag to you. If these squirrels really riot, I can just needle them one by one and kill them all in this forest!"
"Bringing any of you with me will only hinder me, understand?"
Ye Qing's words were straightforward enough. After realizing that they were all burdened, the three people present lowered their heads in shame.
"Don't be dazed, hurry up, I'm trying to stabilize these guys here, you guys retreat quickly!"
Ye Qing urged anxiously.
The three of them did not dare to delay any longer, fearing that they would slow down Ye Qing's progress, and quickly began to act as Ye Qing requested. They put out the fire skillfully, quickly carried the basket on their backs, and after taking all the things with them, they carefully retreated to the other end of the forest.
Ye Qing carried the basket of pine nuts on his back as a target throughout the whole process, and even deliberately shook the pine nuts to make a clanging sound to attract the attention of the squirrels.
Sure enough, the squirrels swarming on the tree all focused their eyes on Ye Qing, the conspicuous figure, and didn't pay much attention to Gu Weinan and the other two who were packing up or even evacuating.
After Ye Qing took charge and confirmed that the three people had successfully broken through and escaped from this dangerous encirclement, she breathed a sigh of relief. Then she carried the basket of pine nuts and ran towards the direction of the old camphor tree that Gu Weinan pointed out.
When she ran, the squirrels thought she was going to run away with the food, so hundreds of squirrels became angry and followed her in unison.
These squirrels moved extremely fast in the woods, jumping quickly between pine branches, and squeaked and cursed extremely loudly as they chased. Hundreds of squirrels played a game of speed and passion with her, and the chase scene was simply spectacular and exciting, making one's adrenaline surge instantly.
If this happens a few decades later and all kinds of advanced video recording and shooting equipment are available, if they just take a few frames of this spectacle and release them, it will probably cause a sensation on the entire Internet, and it will immediately become the number one trending search on all major platforms. Even "Animal World" and "Green Planet" will have to lag behind!
Ye Qing was like a gust of wind in the woods. Every time a squirrel was about to catch up with her, she would swing the whip in her hand onto the tree, use the force of the vine to pull her body up and fly out, swinging quickly in the woods.
The squirrels chased after him relentlessly and bit him very hard, but they always fell just short. They were so angry that they cursed even more, but they couldn't do anything to Ye Qing.
Ye Qing rushed through the woods without losing her direction. After a few minutes, she finally found an old camphor tree and saw a hole at the root of the tree.
It was obvious that the area around the hole had been turned over by someone. There were piles of new dirt next to it, as well as dead branches and leaves that had been pulled apart. It was obvious that Gu Weinan had done it!
Ye Qing bent down and looked into the hole. Sure enough, she saw a lot of pine nuts hidden inside. She immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
He quickly put down the basket he was carrying and was about to pour the pine nuts in the basket into the hole, but at this moment, the squirrels that had been chasing him closely finally caught up with him.
A group of forest dwarfs jumped down from the trees in unison and surrounded Ye Qing, the southern dwarf. They bared their teeth and danced with joy, all expressing their anger and dissatisfaction towards Ye Qing.
Especially the squirrel in the lead, whose home was stolen. It should be on the verge of going berserk now. Judging from its posture, it will rush up and fight with Ye Qing.
Ye Qing quickly raised his hand to beg for mercy:
"No, no, brother, can't I call you brother? Violence can't solve any problems, can we talk it out? It was wrong for us to steal your pine nuts, but I have returned all the things to you, how about we just forget about it?"
But it was obvious that the trick of surrendering didn't work on this social squirrel. Ye Qing's eyes blurred and she felt that the pine tree suddenly jumped onto her.
Ye Qing's heart tightened, fearing that the squirrel's claws would scratch her face. To protect herself, she subconsciously took out her silver needle box from her bag and prepared to fight back.
Unexpectedly, she moved in such a hurry that a peanut fell out of her bag.
After the peanut was taken out of the bag, it unexpectedly fell right in front of the squirrel's feet.
Then a strange scene appeared.
The squirrel froze, and its violent mood came to an abrupt end.
Its eyes fell on the inconspicuous peanut at its feet.
The next moment, the guy bent down and picked up a peanut, then jumped off Ye Qing in a few seconds, grabbed the peanut, sniffed it, picked up the peanut and started eating it.
After peeling the peanut and eating the first one, this guy's already round black eyeballs almost popped out of his eye sockets.
As if he was afraid that his companions would snatch them away, the guy looked around vigilantly, then quickly stuffed the remaining peanuts into his mouth, chewing them quickly and eating them all by himself.
After eating the peanut, it seemed to feel unsatisfied and looked straight at Ye Qing - the bag on his body.
Ye Qing was at a loss for words, but she was in a desperate situation. In order to appease this irritable gangster, she opened the bag, took out the few handfuls of peanuts inside, and handed them to the squirrel brother.
She had put the peanuts in her pocket when she went to the town post office to look for Sister Xu. She had never expected that they would help her handle a crisis public relations incident at such a critical moment and successfully resolve a life-and-death battle. This was truly beyond Ye Qing's expectations.
When Brother Squirrel saw the handful of peanuts that Ye Qing took out, he was suddenly overjoyed. He rushed over impatiently and stuffed all the peanuts into his mouth until he could no longer hold any more.
Then the guy quickly jumped onto a nearby old pine tree, crawled into an inconspicuous tree hole in the middle of the trunk, and ran back after a while.
When it came back, its bulging cheeks had sagged, and it was obvious that it had put all the peanuts back into the nest.
Then, after giving Ye Qing a deep look, the guy squeaked a few times at the group of squirrels that formed a circle behind him. After a while, the squirrels that came to help all quieted down.
Then this social squirrel brother jumped in front of Ye Qing and started to make gestures and call out, pointing at the hole in the ground, and then pointing at the basket next to Ye Qing.
Ye Qing thought that her brother wanted her to pour the pine nuts in the basket into the cave, so she hurriedly did as he said, preparing to return the things intact to Zhao.
The squirrel was confused as he didn't expect Ye Qing to do this.
A few seconds later, it started chirping and jumping around, blocking Ye Qing's movements, scratching its ears and cheeks in anxiety.
Finally, it was forced into no other choice and simply jumped into the hole that Gu Weinan had dug. After a while, it jumped out with its gills bulging.
Then the guy jumped onto Ye Qing, stood on the palm of Ye Qing's hand, and kept digging, eventually pulling out a whole palm full of pine nuts.
Ye Qing was stunned:
"This is for me?"
The squirrel tilted its head, and seeing that Ye Qing didn't understand what it meant, it turned around and squeaked a few more times at its companions.
Then, after hearing the instructions from this gangster, the group of squirrels that had been swearing and shouting about fighting and killing suddenly jumped down from the tree, went into the hole in the ground, and quickly ran out of the tree hole with their cheeks bulging.
Then, just like the squirrel brother before, these squirrels all jumped onto Ye Qing's basket and kept taking out the pine nuts in their mouths until the basket was filled to the brim with pine nuts.
Ye Qingjian was stunned. Only then did she realize that she seemed to have misunderstood.
She pointed at the tree hole in disbelief, then tentatively reached her hand into the hole in front of the squirrel and carefully took out a handful of pine nuts.
Surprisingly, the squirrel wasn't angry at all. He even jumped and danced with his eyes shining brightly, obviously very happy.
If Ye Qing still doesn't understand what this means, then she would be a fool.
My goodness, this social squirrel brother is really generous. Just because she gave him a handful of peanuts, he even gave her all the pine nuts in the tree hole as a return gift!
Ye Qing almost dropped his jaw in shock, and his mouth was about to open wide.
He turned his head to look at the backpack full of pine nuts, and then looked at the generous and magnanimous Squirrel Brother in front of him. It took Ye Qing a while to digest this fact.
"Ha ha ha ha--"
Thinking of the funny scene of her escaping from the wolves and monkeys in the woods carrying the basket a few minutes ago, and comparing it with the current bizarre scene, Ye Qing found it so funny that she couldn't help but hold her stomach and laughed out loud on the spot.
The squirrel brother stood not far away and looked at Ye Qing several times with his head tilted, not understanding what Ye Qing was laughing at.
Ye Qing laughed for a long time before she stopped. Looking at the huge group of furry creatures in front of her and the pile of pine nuts that formed a small hill at her feet, an idea suddenly came to her mind. She lowered her head and rummaged through her bag, and found the last three peanuts.
Then I found an empty place and planted all the peanuts in the soil.
With the catalysis of supernatural powers, the peanuts soon took root, sprouted and grew into three peanut seedlings. After they bloomed and bore fruit, clusters of fruit clusters grew underneath.
Ye Qing pulled up the three peanut seedlings by their roots and dug out about three or four pounds of peanuts from the peanut seedlings and the soil.
These peanuts were used as seeds for the second catalysis. Peanut seedlings were planted all over the mountains around the area where the squirrel's home was. The whole process took less than ten minutes and all the peanut seedlings were mature. The peanuts underneath broke out of the soil, each one full of grains. The white and plump appearance of the gourd was particularly tempting just by looking at it.
Brother Squirrel had been stunned when Ye Qing was catalyzing the peanut seedlings. When he found that peanuts were growing all over the mountains near his home and the fruits had a special sweet smell, which was the same as the smell of the peanuts that Ye Qing took out of his bag earlier, the squirrel instantly fell into madness.
The other squirrels were not stupid either. After smelling the tempting scent of the peanuts underground, they realized that these peanuts must be good stuff and immediately became restless.
Ye Qing didn't need to explain; the squirrels started a melee for the peanuts. Even the big squirrel who had just raised his arm and attracted the whole tribe's response quickly joined the melee, scrambling frantically for the peanuts.
Originally, it was Ye Qing who catalyzed the creation of the pine nuts and gave them to the group of squirrels. Of course, whoever had the fastest hands would get the peanuts. Ye Qing didn't care who dug the most peanuts afterwards. She looked at the pile of pine nuts on the ground and felt that she shouldn't let down the kindness of the squirrel brother.
So after a little thought, she used her supernatural power to weave a rattan basket and put the remaining pine nuts in it. After all the pine nuts in the entire cave were emptied, the two rattan baskets were just full.
However, she certainly could not carry two baskets as a backpack, so she could only find a stick as thick as a bowl in the forest to use as a shoulder pole. After tying the two baskets together with vines, she directly carried them on the shoulder pole.
After carrying the shoulder pole and leaving the forest, they finally returned to the place where they had made a fire and roasted sweet potatoes before. Ye Qing recalled the thrilling scene just now and was still frightened.
Fortunately, she took the peanut out of her bag in time, otherwise she would have had enough to drink a whole bottle of wine after the fierce battle with the squirrels today.
After heaving a long sigh of relief, Ye Qing hurried to meet up with Gu Weinan and the other two. Just as she was about to head to the place she had agreed to meet with the three of them, she heard footsteps coming from the woods.
"Master, is that you?"
As soon as Ye Qing heard Gu Weinan's voice, he immediately responded:
"Yes, it's me. Why are you guys coming back?"
The ones who ran out from the woods were Gu Weinan and his two companions.
They had originally followed Ye Qing's arrangement and went to wait in the other side of the woods, but half an hour had passed and Ye Qing had not returned yet. The three of them became more and more anxious as they waited, fearing that something had happened to Ye Qing, so they turned back the same way.
Seeing Ye Qing come out safe and sound, the three of them finally felt relieved.
Gu Weinan quickly asked, "Master, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"
Ye Qing smiled and shook his head:
"No, I'm fine, not a hair is missing."
"What about those squirrels? How did you get rid of them?"
Gu Weibei looked back, and it was obvious that he had a psychological trauma from the scene of being surrounded by the group of squirrels.
Ye Qing chuckled and started talking nonsense again:
"Oh, I used a little trick to make them submit to me. Now, not only did the ground squirrel not pursue the matter of us stealing its food, but it also gave me all the pine nuts it had stored."
As she spoke, Ye Qing put down the burden on her shoulder and pulled aside the dry grass covering her backpack, revealing two baskets filled with pine nuts.
When they saw the pine nuts, Gu Weibei and the other two's eyes widened. They couldn't believe that these pine nuts were given by those vicious squirrels.
"Master, are you kidding me? Those squirrels wanted to kill me to vent their anger, how could they change their attitude so quickly and give you the food they had saved for the winter? Could it be that you really used silver needles to kill all those squirrels?"
Gu Weinan looked Ye Qing up and down with suspicion and didn't believe a word of what Ye Qing had just said.
Her speculation was immediately recognized by Gu Weibei and Meng Jia. Apparently, the three of them felt that Ye Qing must have gone to show his might during the half hour he was away.
After all, this guy had killed five wild boars in a row not long ago because of a disagreement, not to mention just killing a group of weak squirrels.
Even if the group of squirrels were not killed all at once, at least a few of them were killed as an example to others. Otherwise, those squirrels would not have offered so many pine nuts to Ye Qing. It was obvious that they were scared by Ye Qing, the female demon from hell!
Seeing that these three people were staring at her with the same eyes, obviously they all thought that she must have just gone on a killing spree, which made Ye Qing's mouth twitch.
"Believe it or not, the crisis has been resolved. It's getting late now. We have obtained so many spoils. It's not appropriate to stay in the mountains any longer. Why don't we stop looking for the remaining medicine today and go back directly?"
Ye Qing asked several people for their opinions.
The other three people certainly had no objection. The scene of being surrounded by squirrels just now had already frightened them to death. They were still feeling scared and wanted to go back to sleep to calm down their fear.
There were two large baskets of pine nuts. Ye Qing had carried them out of the pine forest earlier with the help of vines. Now that there were outsiders present, she could no longer cheat.
Fortunately, Gu Weinan and Gu Weibei were quite perceptive. Seeing that Ye Qing was struggling to carry the two baskets of pine nuts, they immediately took over the burden. The brother and sister planned to take turns to be porters.
After carrying the remaining things, the four of them started walking down the mountain.
They had not walked a few hundred meters when they suddenly saw a black shadow swiftly shuttle between the red pine trees, swinging with one hand hanging on the branches. In a short while, it jumped in front of the four people and blocked their way.
"What, what the hell is this?" Meng Jia's voice was filled with tears.
She had just come back to her senses from the nightmare of being attacked by a group of squirrels, and now she was blocked by a scary creature of unknown origin. She had been working in Kaoshantun for two years and had been to the mountains before, but none of them had been as eventful, thrilling and exciting as today!
However, at this moment, not to mention Meng Jia, even Gu Weinan and Gu Weibei had dazed expressions.
The guy blocking the road in front of me was completely black, and his face looked a bit like a monkey or an gorilla, but his lips and nose were red, and he had orange whiskers on both sides, making him look like a big clown.
He has a big head and extremely long arms. When he stands up straight, he is almost one meter tall. His appearance looks very strange and scary at first sight.
"What is this? Why have I never seen it before?"
Gu Weinan was born and raised in Changbai Mountain for seventeen years. She had gone into the mountains to hunt many times with Gu Zhenxing and Yang Dazhi, but she had never seen the animal standing in front of her in the mountains before.
Gu Weibei, who had been silent, stared at the dark-skinned guy in front of him and pondered for a long time before suddenly uttering two words:
"Mandrill!"
These two words frightened Gu Weinan so much that he couldn't speak clearly:
"What!? This thing is, is, a mandrill?"
Ye Qing didn't understand why Gu Weinan turned pale with fear after hearing the word "mandrill":
"What is a mandrill? Any questions?"
Gu Weinan turned his head and looked at Ye Qing in horror:
"There is an old saying in Changbai Mountain, 'It is better to encounter jackals than to mess with mandrills.' Just from this saying, you can know how scary mandrills are."
"Since I was a kid, I've heard the elders mention all kinds of legends about mandrills. They say this thing is a mountain monster that looks as ugly as a ghost, but runs faster than a leopard and can tear a female insect apart with its bare hands. It's more powerful than the fox fairy and is considered the invisible overlord of Changbai Mountain!"
"But in fact, after living for 17 years, this is the first time I have seen what a real mandrill looks like! To be honest, its appearance is really not flattering, no wonder it is named mandrill."
Ye Qing looked at the creature in front of him that looked like both a monkey and a baboon. He did not feel scared, but rather found it somewhat strange and novel.
Judging from its appearance alone, this mandrill should be a type of primate.
However, what is strange is that, based on Ye Qing's knowledge of geography and biology, most primates should live in tropical and subtropical regions. The temperate mountain climate of Changbai Mountain, whether in terms of geographical location or ecological environment, is not suitable for the survival of any primate.
So why did this mandrill appear in Changbai Mountain?
A hint of doubt flashed through Ye Qing's mind.
But she didn't have time to think too much, because at this moment, the mandrill that was blocking the road started to dance and jump towards them, slapping its chest in strange movements, and making baboon-like "oh oh ah ah" sounds from its mouth. Looking at its expression, it seemed that it was very irritable and anxious.
Several people were confused and scared, and had no idea what the mandrill's series of strange actions meant.
Gu Weinan's heart was lifted up:
"Is this thing looking for a fight with us? The old people in the village said that if it gets angry, even tigers and leopards will have to retreat. I don't know if it's true or not. Why don't we shoot it to scare it away? Otherwise, if we really fight it, I'm afraid that even the four of us combined may not be its match!"
Thinking of this, Gu Weinan panicked a little, and subconsciously took off the wooden basket on her back and aimed at the mandrill.
"etc!"
Ye Qing quickly stopped Gu Weinan and Lu Mang's actions, and said thoughtfully,
"You said you've never seen this mandrill before, which means it definitely doesn't live in the forests where the villagers usually hang out. It can only have come down from the main peak, which is at a higher altitude!"
"No matter how strong this thing is, even if it can beat tigers and leopards, it may not be a match for jackals and wolves that live in groups. Besides, there are bears roaming in the mountains. With its size, can it beat bears?"
"So why did it come down from the main peak? Looking for food? This is not its comfort zone for hunting!"
Gu Weibei agrees with this statement:
"Yes, for no reason, it didn't stay in the deep mountains and dense forests it was familiar with, but had to run to an unfamiliar place and block us. It must not be just for food!"
Gu Weinan frowned: "Your brains are better than mine, so what do you think it's for?"
Ye Qing thought of the fox she met in the morning. Just because it smelled the special aura of the sweet potatoes on her body, the fox had been following her stealthily from behind.
Thinking about how she had used wood-related abilities several times in this forest today, an idea suddenly flashed through Ye Qing's mind.
She suspected that this mandrill might have been attracted here by her wood-related ability.
However, the forest near Kaoshantun is quite far from the main peak. How could this mandrill smell the scent of wood-type supernatural power on her so quickly and chase her from such a distance?
Gu Weibei was also lost in thought. He didn't know that Ye Qing had supernatural powers, but after a while of brainstorming, he suddenly thought of something and spoke hesitantly:
"Could it be that when I shot that stupid roe deer this morning, the noise of the gunshot was so loud that it attracted this mandrill from the main peak?"
This hypothesis suddenly made Ye Qing's eyes light up, and she immediately snapped her fingers, thinking that it made sense.
The mandrill must have heard the sound first, followed the sound of the gunshot to the forest, and then smelled the scent of her using the wood-based supernatural power, so it chased after her.
"I suspect it's asking for help. Otherwise, it can't explain why it ran down the mountain and provoked people. It must have encountered some difficulties that it couldn't solve, so it ran down the mountain to find help regardless of its own safety!"
Ye Qing speculated.
After these words were spoken, Gu Weibei and Meng Jia thought more and more that it made sense, and they also seemed to understand the mandrill's anxious jumping movements a little bit.
"What should we do then? Should we go down the mountain?"
Gu Weinan scratched the back of her head. To be honest, she had never heard of a mandrill asking humans for help. This was really unbelievable.
Ye Qing looked at the sun still hanging in the sky, and then looked at the mandrill scratching its ears and cheeks anxiously. After hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and decided:
"Let's go and follow them and take a look!"
However, it was obviously not suitable to hurry with so many backpacks on their backs, so under the leadership of Gu Weibei, several people hid the backpacks in a nearby cave, covered the things tightly with dry grass, and then went into the battle lightly with hunting rifles on their backs, bravely following the mandrill into the deep forest.
The mandrill hurriedly led the way, constantly weaving and weaving among the coniferous and broad-leaved trees. Its extra-long arms gave it a huge advantage in climbing, and soon it was swinging far away.
Afraid that they might get lost, it would bark in the woods after running a certain distance, and would turn around from time to time to look for people, making it obvious that it was acting as a guide for the four people.
After seeing the performance of this mandrill, several people felt more and more that Ye Qing’s previous guess was probably correct. This mandrill must have encountered some trouble and asked them for help!
They walked in circles in the woods, hurriedly and slowly, for more than an hour, so long that they were all panting and drenched in sweat. They were so tired that they were about to collapse on the ground and were about to give up, when the mandrill stopped.
At this time, several people realized that they were led by this mandrill to a cliff. They were at the top of a dangerous peak. Not far away from them was a dangerous and steep cliff. If they walked two steps forward, they would see a cliff hundreds of meters high.
As soon as the mandrill arrived at its destination, it rushed to the cliff in front, stretched its neck to look down, and made anxious calls.
Several people were wondering what this guy was doing, but unexpectedly, at this moment, the same anxious cry came from the bottom of the cliff, as if responding to the cry of the mandrill above.
At this point, everyone was stunned.
Ye Qing quickly took a few steps forward and looked cautiously down the cliff.
When she saw this, she was immediately shocked.
Below them, there was a cliff that was hundreds of meters deep and had no end in sight. About ten meters away from the peak where they were standing, there was a protruding rock platform. On the platform, which was only half a square in size, there was a small black mandrill trapped inside.
At this moment, Ye Qing suddenly understood.
After all this time, it turned out that this mandrill went down the mountain to call for help to save its baby!
The other three people also looked over the edge of the cliff and saw the little mandrill trapped on the rock.
The little mandrill probably came to this dangerous peak for fun, but was unfamiliar with the surrounding environment and accidentally missed a step while climbing the edge of the cliff and fell off.
Fortunately, after falling off the cliff, the little guy did not fall directly into the abyss of hundreds of meters, but landed on a stone platform protruding from the edge of the cliff.
But the sad thing is that although it managed to save its life, it was hit by the falling rocks when it missed its step and fell.
The rock hit it and stuck it on the platform, making it unable to move at all. Apart from calling for help, it could do nothing else.
This female mandrill must have run down from the main peak to look for her child after she realized that her child was missing, and found that her child was stuck under the cliff.
Unfortunately, the cliff here was extremely smooth, and there was no place to step on or climb. The mandrill couldn't go down, and seeing the cries of its children below becoming weaker and weaker, it had no choice but to go down the mountain to seek help.
It happened that Ye Qing and his companions went into the mountains to collect herbs and left Mu Cang behind. The mandrill was attracted by the sound of the gunfire and chased after them to the woods.
"It turned out that its child fell down. No wonder the mandrill is so irritable and anxious. But what should we do? The cliff is so high that even if we come to find it, we can't get down!"
After seeing the situation clearly, Gu Weinan couldn't help but mutter.
Ye Qing was still staring intently at the mandrill on the platform.
Her eyesight was better than that of most people, so she could naturally see that something was wrong with the little mandrill. It was probably because one of its legs was broken when it was pressed by the big rock. The mandrill struggled hard in pain, but the more it struggled, the worse it got. The wound was rubbed by the sharp rock and was bleeding profusely.
"This little mandrill has probably been trapped for a few days. I guess the mother mandrill had been looking for her child and only found it on the cliff today. It hasn't eaten or drunk water for a few days, and it has a broken leg and other external injuries. It feels like its vitality is rapidly draining away, and I don't think it will last much longer."
Speaking of this, Ye Qing couldn't help but sigh.
"If we don't rescue it, it's going to be in danger."
After hearing what Ye Qing said, the three people beside him fell silent, with a look of pity on their faces.
But they were not fools. This cliff looked dangerous, and they had no tools. They couldn't risk their lives to save an animal, could they? If they really risked their lives, it would be too much of a loss.
Gu Weibei looked at Ye Qing and sighed:
"Survival of the fittest, the weak are preyed upon by the strong. This is very common in the mountains. Our abilities are limited, and we are powerless even if we want to save them."
Although Gu Weinan and Meng Jia didn't say anything, from their expressions one could tell that they had the same idea as Gu Weibei.
Ye Qing didn't respond.
She had hundreds of years of foresight and knowledge more than these three people, and she knew more about the development and evolution of species on Earth, and she also had a deeper understanding and feeling.
At least as far as she could remember, even before all living things were swept by the apocalyptic natural disaster, she had never heard of the species "mandrill". This thing seemed to exist only in ancient books about strange beasts such as "Classic of Mountains and Seas".
But now, this legendary species has become concrete. Ye Qing even suspects that this thing only lives in the Changbai Mountain area. Even in this undeveloped primitive jungle, there are only a handful of them left.
In a few decades, Changbai Mountain Tianchi will be included as a world-class scenic spot. After over-development, this species will disappear in the long river of history.
This can explain why, in the following decades, the animal "mandrill" no longer appeared in any geographical and biological books or various documentaries in the country, and not even any biologist had captured any signs of this species living in Changbai Mountain.
This means that mandrills had become an endangered species in Changbai Mountain in the 1970s.
To make a bolder guess, it is even possible that the two mandrills before our eyes are the only two left in the world.
If this is true, then the little mandrill trapped on the cliff below is extremely precious. It may even be the key to the continued reproduction and survival of this species. Once this little mandrill dies, the extinction of this species will become inevitable, and everything will be irreversible.
This guess might be a bit exaggerated, but Ye Qing didn't dare to bet on it, so she absolutely couldn't watch this little mandrill die under her nose.
"You guys wait here, I'll go find something!"
After Ye Qing said this, he turned around and walked into the woods.
After entering the dense forest and making sure that the three behind her had not caught up with her, she took out a vine from her bag and began to catalyze the growth of a thick and long vine like a hemp rope. She then dragged it towards the cliff.
"I found a vine in the mountains. It's very thick and strong. It should be useful. You can find a thicker tree or a rock to help me fix the vine. I will hang down with the vine and try to see if I can reach the platform!"
Seeing Ye Qing was about to tie the end of the cane around his waist, those people suddenly became anxious and started to speak:
"Master, why don't I go?"
"I've been climbing trees in the woods to get bird eggs since I was a kid. I'm not afraid of heights. Let me do it!"
"Gu Weibei, stop trying to steal the limelight here. It's useless to know how to dig out bird nests. This is rock climbing. No matter how good you are at climbing trees, it's useless!"
Gu Weibei: “…”
Seeing these three people arguing over who should go down, Ye Qing was helpless:
"Alright, stop arguing. No matter who goes down, it's better than me. I'm the shortest and lightest here. Although this vine looks strong, it may not be able to bear your weight."
"Besides, the little mandrill must be seriously injured. You don't know how to use a needle, and you won't be able to provide professional first aid to it. If you accidentally cause secondary injuries during the movement, then even if you bring the little mandrill up, it may not be saved."
"So it's not appropriate for any of you to go down. Only I can do this."
This reason immediately left the three of them unable to refute.
"Then Master, you must be careful when you go down there! Don't worry, the three of us will definitely tighten the canes up there, and there will be absolutely no problems!"
Knowing that Ye Qing's decision would not allow them to question it, the three of them could only compromise. Afraid that the vine was not long enough, Gu Weinan and Gu Weibei simply did not look for any tree trunks or stones, and directly tied the vine around themselves. Both siblings were big guys, and tying a piece of wood would be quite heavy, which was definitely more than enough to drag a small guy like Ye Qing.
Both of them had been trained by Gu Weidong and had mastered the military knot-tying method. They quickly tied one end of the vine around their waists. The knot was so tight and secure that it could not be untied without a sharp knife.
The vines were modified by Ye Qing using supernatural catalysis, and are as tough and strong as hemp ropes, so Ye Qing doesn't have to worry about it breaking in the middle.
After making sure that all preparations were in place, Ye Qing tied the end of the vine around his waist, tied a knot, and then carefully slid down the cliff, pulling the vine.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
