Seeing this made me even more confused. What on earth was Top up up to?
I left those chestnuts there so they could get them to eat on their own, but now it's putting the chestnuts away. What's going on?
Something's fishy going on. There must be something fishy about Top. There must be something I don't know about.
After the monkeys had caught a handful and put them into their baskets, they, led by Top, began to run west into the mountains. They seemed quite happy and eager to go.
I took my spear and blowgun and followed them down the tree, starting to follow the sound of the golden bell around Top's neck.
Even as they ran on the branches, they were completely unaware of the person following them from afar. Their focus seemed to be entirely ahead, and the monkeys paid no attention to what was happening behind them.
I chased after them closely. Luckily, I've been running around in this wilderness a lot these past few months, and my physical fitness has improved a lot. Otherwise, I really would have been exhausted by these bastards.
After running for about twenty minutes, the monkeys began to slide down from the trees one by one.
What the heck? What are they doing on the ground? Are you telling me this whole bunch of monkeys came all this way just to have a meal?
Impossible! This brat is so smart, how could he possibly do something so pointless?
Just as I was thinking that, I saw two monkeys appear on the open ground of that hill, each carrying a banana leaf.
The monkey spread banana leaves on the ground, and then Top emptied all the chestnuts from his basket and placed them on the banana leaves.
When I saw this, I was dumbfounded. Holy crap, is Top really here for a party? And they even laid out banana leaves. They've really learned how to put on a good show.
I squatted down and watched, and saw that they had all gone to the corner of the hill, which was my blind spot, so I had no idea what they were doing.
Just then, monkeys, all wet, kept running over from the corner, grabbing a handful of chestnuts, and then quickly running back to the corner.
Seeing this made me even more confused. It's just eating a chestnut, why make it all so mysterious? Top, are you trying to use this chestnut to make an elixir of immortality?
Curiosity made me stop hiding; I had to go and see what Top was up to.
I tiptoed up the hill and then circled around to the corner where they were hiding.
Through the bushes, I could see that the area was shrouded in mist, and I could hear the gentle murmur of a mountain spring.
In a small pit, a group of monkeys huddled together, their faces flushed as if they were all drunk.
Their eyes were slightly squinted, and their mouths were constantly moving back and forth, so they looked like they were eating chestnuts.
Goodness, they're too lazy to even peel off the shells; these little rascals must be having such a comfortable time.
I tested the temperature of the running water with my hand, and it was a bit higher than my normal body temperature, probably around 40 degrees Celsius.
Alright! So you little rascals actually came to the hot springs behind my back! You didn't even tell me about this great thing, and I even shared so much good stuff with you guys.
I swaggered up to the monkeys. Hearing the noise, the monkeys immediately opened their eyes, but when they saw it was me, they closed their eyes again and continued to enjoy this rare moment of peace.
I……
I was speechless; I was completely ignored by a bunch of monkeys.
When Top opened his eyes and saw me arrive, he was startled at first, but then he grinned at me.
At this point, Top chased a monkey aside, then pointed to the empty spot, indicating that I should also come down and try.
I looked around at the pebbles; they looked like holes dug by the monkeys with their hands. The water looked very clear and had a sulfurous smell.
I looked into the corner of the hill and saw a steaming spring gushing out. It turned out to be a sulfur spring.
"Haha, that's great, what an unexpected bonus." I laughed as I looked at Top, not knowing what to say about this monkey.
This sulfur spring has played a lot of important roles in my life. Bathing in it is very good for the skin, as it has antibacterial, antipruritic, and mite-removing effects.
Additionally, its water contains sulfides, which can be used for some industrial purposes. One industrial use I know of is: one part saltpeter, two parts sulfur, and three parts charcoal.
Of course, purifying the spring water and mixing it to make sulfur soap is also a good option. This is a genuine medicated soap, and there's no deception involved.
Seeing me laughing so happily, Top grinned even more broadly. When I first saw it, I noticed a flicker of panic in its eyes, like a child caught red-handed by its parent.
I don't intend to blame Top; after all, I have a fur coat to keep warm, while they don't. Finding this treasure trove is a blessing for these monkeys.
The pit is still too small; it's a bit crowded for all the monkeys to bathe together, let alone for me to soak in as well.
I plan to go back and get some tools to direct the monkeys and me to expand this pit a bit more, so that everyone can soak more comfortably.
I pointed to the pit where Top was taking a bath, then squatted down and pointed to myself, then made a digging motion.
Top's eyes lit up at the sight, and it grinned and squeaked. It clearly understood that I wanted to help it enlarge the pit, and it seemed very happy.
Twenty minutes later, I returned to the pit with a hoe. This hoe was not the one with the gold nugget on the stone as before. It was a genuine iron hoe with a gold nugget on it.
With the tools in hand, the work became much more efficient. I kept digging into the soil, while Top directed the monkeys to throw out any movable stones they could lift.
Some of the larger stones were the ones I had to carry out myself.
The monkeys knew that this was for their own benefit, so they worked exceptionally hard and efficiently.
After two hours of expansion, the pit, which was originally small and less than knee-deep, was enlarged more than three times, with the deepest part of the water reaching my waist.
Actually, this spot is a deep pit that I dug for my own use. Right now, I can sit in this pit, and the water level will naturally rise to my chest.
Looking at the roughly completed earthen pool, my tech-savvy self felt that the uneven edges of the pool needed to be smoothed out, otherwise it would be uncomfortable and prickly to lean against the pool wall.
Then I picked up a relatively flat stone and started patting it against the uneven pool wall. After being patted, the loose stones were compacted again.
I looked at the smooth pool wall, took off my clothes and put them aside, then couldn't wait to sit down.
Hmm... I need to take it...
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