Picking fruit (2)
Jian Tanxi walked back to her teammates and told them how to communicate with the animals.
Professor Pan frowned and said, "How could this be... These monkeys are definitely not ordinary monkeys. Ordinary monkeys wouldn't think of eating human brains... Let's finish our mission quickly and leave this place."
So everyone quickened their pace and reached the mountainside.
There is a huge cave halfway up the mountain, and many monkeys are playing and frolicking at the entrance of the cave.
The players believe this is the monkeys' camp.
So Professor Pan stepped forward and said to the monkeys, "We have come to deliver peaches to the Monkey King. Please take us to see the Monkey King."
Several monkeys glanced at the players, their eyes seemingly cold and mocking. This wasn't the look of a normal animal; it seemed these monkeys were no pushovers.
After a while, several old monkeys waved to the players, signaling them to follow them inside.
The group entered the cave and found it well-furnished, even containing some human furniture.
There were more than twenty young and strong monkeys standing guard, holding weapons, looking very majestic.
Deep inside the cave stood a strangely shaped solid wood bed. Its shape was indeterminate, as if it had been carelessly sawn by a clumsy craftsman. A velvet blanket covered it, its edges also irregular, draping over the bed's edge.
A young, strong black monkey sat on it, with several skulls under its feet, it was unclear whether they were human skulls or monkey skulls.
It was drinking water from a cup, but the cup was strangely shaped like a whale, with the whale's tail as the handle and an opening in the whale's head filled with water for drinking.
It wore a sapphire crown on its head, but the crown was not a regular circle, but a polygon, and there were two particularly long peacock feathers inserted on the left and right sides as decorations, which looked very abrupt and not good-looking.
She wore a pearl necklace, but none of the pearls were round; some were flat, some were long, some were scallops, and some were trumpets. No two were the same.
The black monkey's eyes gleamed fiercely as it bared its teeth at the players.
Qu Chen was so frightened that he hid behind Qin Man. Although the adult players didn't retreat, they were still terrified.
After all, people usually see cute monkeys in zoos, where have they ever seen one so fierce?
Sun Chenyuan mustered his courage and asked, "Excuse me, are you the Monkey King?"
The black monkey nodded, but didn't speak. It probably couldn't speak human language.
Sun Chenyuan said, "We picked some peaches for you, please take a look."
Everyone took the peaches they had picked and brought them up.
However, the Monkey King looked at each one and threw them away, and he couldn't find one he was satisfied with.
Jian Tanxi quickly explained, "Look at this peach, it looks just like a little monkey... And this peach, doesn't the red part look like a landscape painting? And this peach, it's so big and round, it's the sweetest peach in the orchard..."
However, the Monkey King ignored Jian Tanxi's explanation and pushed her aside.
Then, it angrily ordered its subordinates to arrest the players.
Jian Tanxi quickly said, "Wait a minute! There are six of us, but we've only offered five peaches. This child hasn't picked any peaches yet. Why don't we let us go down the mountain and let this child pick a peach and see if it satisfies you? If you're still not satisfied, we'll do whatever we want with him."
The Monkey King looked at the peaches thrown on the ground; there were indeed five, so he nodded.
The monkey soldiers stepped aside and stopped grabbing the player.
At this moment, Jian Tanxi suddenly asked the Monkey King, "What kind of peaches do you like?"
Jian Tanxi naturally did not expect the Monkey King to answer, but instead directly used his mind-reading ability to read the Monkey King's mind.
The Monkey King's inner thoughts were: "Of course it's the most special. These damned humans, don't they know I can't speak human language? Why are they asking me?"
That's all.
Jian Tanxi and the others went down the mountain and returned to the orchard.
Jian Tanxi relayed the Monkey King's thoughts to everyone, saying, "Its thoughts are as good as nothing. What is truly special? The peaches we just gave it—some look like monkeys, some have patterns like landscape paintings, and some are exceptionally large—aren't they special? So what exactly is the special thing it wants?"
Fan Siqi said, "It doesn't want anything too sweet, but it certainly won't want anything too bitter, right? It's a pity we only have one chance left, and we can't afford to make a mistake."
Qin Man said, "Have you noticed that all of the monkey king's things are strangely shaped? Its bed, blanket, water cup, necklace, and crown are all different from what we usually see. Judging from this, it actually wants something unique. Other aspects are not important; what's important is that no one else has it. So, how about we find it a peach with a particularly strange shape, one that doesn't look like a normal peach at all?"
Fan Siqi said, "I think I did see a peach that was extremely ugly, so ugly that it was unbearable to look at, completely different from the peaches next to it."
Qin Man: "Let's go take a look first."
Fan Siqi then led everyone to the area under the ugly peach.
The peach was exceptionally large, but its shape was strange; it wasn't round or flat, but rather resembled a tumor. It had various cracks and was a pale white color, making it look unappetizing.
But looking around, you really can't find any peaches like it in the entire orchard. The other peaches are mostly round and bright, making them look very appetizing. Unlike this ugly peach, it makes you lose your appetite.
So, Fan Siqi picked up Qu Chen and let Qu Chen pick the ugly peach.
Professor Pan and Sun Chenyuan stood on either side, blocking the other peaches to prevent Qu Chen from picking the wrong one.
Fortunately, Qu Chen successfully picked the ugly peach, and then the group headed towards the sunrise again.
On the way, Sun Chenyuan asked, "What if this peach still doesn't satisfy the Monkey King?"
Fan Siqi said, "Then we have no choice but to fight. We can't just wait to die. If they want to eat our brains, they'll have to ask the sword in my hand first."
Therefore, everyone prepared for a fierce battle.
To everyone's surprise, after they got up the mountain, the Monkey King actually really liked that ugly peach.
It placed the ugly peach on the fruit plate, then waved to the players, indicating that they could leave.
Just as everyone was about to leave, the monkey soldiers brought over a human girl and pinned her to the ground.
The human girl looked to be only in her early twenties. She was wearing a black fitted dress, her hair was disheveled, and she had wounds on her face and body. It seemed that she had been locked up for several days and had been tortured.
The Monkey King stepped forward, picked up a chisel, and gestured towards the girl's head, seemingly intending to chisel it open.
The girl struggled and screamed desperately, but to no avail. Several monkey soldiers held her down tightly, and she couldn't move at all.
This girl must belong to the previous batch of players. She lost the game and was left here. Now the Monkey King wants to eat her brains.
Jian Tanxi and her teammates exchanged glances, and their eyes all conveyed the intention to save the person.
Therefore, Jian Tanxi activated her supernatural ability of "overcoming strength with softness," softening the chisel in the Monkey King's hand and the weapons in the hands of the monkey soldiers.
The limp weapons had no offensive power, enraging the Monkey King and several monkey soldiers, who leaped towards the players, their claws outstretched in an attempt to attack.
Their claws are very sharp and gleam coldly; if you were scratched by one, it would probably hurt quite a bit.
Seeing the monkeys jumping very high, Jian Tanxi quickly took out her prop—a black palm—and placed it 1.9 meters above the ground.
The black palm can prevent people or animals within a certain range from exceeding its height.
Jian Tanxi had calculated correctly. Fan Siqi, the tallest player, was 1.9 meters tall. Placing the black hand at the 1.9-meter mark would not affect the player.
However, the monkeys jumped more than two meters high, then suddenly fell down and crashed to the ground.
Taking advantage of the situation, Jian Tanxi pulled out a 40-meter-long broadsword and attacked them. Professor Pan and Fan Siqi also drew their weapons and attacked the other monkeys that swarmed towards them.
Sun Chenyuan pulled a silver rope from his bag, wrapped it around the girl in the black dress, and pulled her close.
Then, Jian Tanxi took out the magic carpet and had Sun Chenyuan take the girl on it, flying towards the orchard.
According to Jian Tanxi, the orchard belongs to the farmer and should be separate from the monkeys. She has been there for several hours and hasn't seen any monkeys running around in the orchard, so it's possible that monkeys are prohibited from entering the orchard.
So, as long as they escape to the orchard, the girl in the black dress will be safe.
Sun Chenyuan took the girl on a magic carpet and quickly escaped into the distance.
Jian Tanxi and the others remained in the monkey cave, fighting and retreating. Qu Chen was held in Fan Siqi's arms, and Fan Siqi fought the monkey troop with one hand, holding her own.
After a fierce battle, the players descended the mountain.
Once they reached the foot of the mountain, the monkeys behind them stopped chasing them and simply stood on the hillside, yelling and shouting at the players.
It seems Jian Tanxi was right; the monkeys are not allowed to enter the orchard.
After examining their wounds, everyone except Qu Chen was found to have sustained injuries to varying degrees.
Qin Man received a lot of healing pills as a reward in the previous game, so she took out a few and shared them with everyone.
After everyone recovered, they continued walking towards the orchard.
Not long after they left, they saw Sun Chenyuan waiting under a peach tree with the girl in the black dress.
Once everyone had reunited, Sun Chenyuan returned the magic carpet to Jian Tanxi. Qin Man also gave a healing pill to the girl in the black dress.
The girl in the black dress thanked her, saying, "Thank you... You're players too, right?"
Jian Tanxi said, "Yes. Were you one of the previous batch of players? Are any of your companions still alive?"
The girl in the black dress nodded sadly: "That's right, I was in the previous batch of players. My name is Wei Simin. All my companions are dead, I'm the only one left... Those monkeys were terrifying, they ate brains..."
Jian Tanxi comforted her, saying, "Don't be sad. Stay with us for now. There's a long road ahead, so cheer up."
Wei Simin said, "Yes, thank you for saving me..."
At this moment, the referee, the farmer, appeared: "Congratulations on passing the first level. Now, let's move on to the second level—picking pomegranates for the dog king."
The Dog King, who lives on Sunset Mountain in the west, loves to eat pomegranates. Players are asked to pick a pomegranate with 622 seeds for him, one more or one less, and you cannot break it open to look at it.
If you don't meet the requirements, the Dog King will tear you to pieces.
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