Chapter 297: Silly Monkeys Have Lots of Fun

When Qi Dada appeared, Zheng Tan was already prepared; and when he heard some noises approaching from afar around him, he didn't just stand there staring at Qi Dada.

Outnumbered, not running is stupid.

Qi Dada originally planned to strike another more flamboyant pose, but in the blink of an eye he saw the black cat sprint away.

In Qi Dada's impression, Zheng Tan was ferocious, hard to get along with, had a bad temper, and would lash out at the slightest provocation; therefore, Qi Dada always thought Zheng Tan would bravely fight him and his summoned little companions in a one-versus-many battle, but the current situation left Qi Dada stunned.

Two seconds later, Qi Dada came to his senses and hurriedly gave chase; although his little companions hadn't arrived yet, after all the cat had finally reached his true turf, and not taking revenge would leave him unsatisfied. Chase!

Zheng Tan ran very fast, while also paying attention to the surrounding terrain so as not to run blindly and lose his way. He couldn't run back now, because those monkeys were back there, so Zheng Tan kept going forward.

Large areas of the mountain were covered in dense forest, and below there were various thickets.

Zheng Tan ran on the ground, throwing the sounds behind him farther and farther away, with only Qi Dada staying relatively close. However, Qi Dada wasn't idle while chasing; he emitted a series of sounds, presumably continuing to summon his companions.

Er Mao had said earlier that he hadn't seen many monkeys on the mountain, but now Zheng Tan fully realized that this place indeed had a lot of monkeys in the mountains.

Although the pursuers behind hadn't caught up, Zheng Tan heard movement ahead as well.

Monkeys within earshot of Qi Dada's voice were all gathering this way, and Zheng Tan felt a jolt. From the sound he could tell there were quite a few monkeys—estimated at twenty or thirty, maybe even more.

He could handle two or three, but too many would be beyond his capability, especially since this was the monkeys' home turf.

Some monkeys were already approaching from the side.

Smack!

Something like a pine cone hit the ground beside Zheng Tan's foot; he merely glanced at it with his peripheral vision, paid it no mind, and kept running.

Smack smack!

A succession of unknown objects were thrown at him; apparently these monkeys often threw things in daily life, so their aim was pretty good—if Zheng Tan hadn't been running but stayed in place, the monkeys would have had a hit rate of over ninety percent.

Zheng Tan was also hit a few times on his body. It didn't hurt, but it was annoying, and combined with Qi Dada's triumphant-sounding calls from behind, it made Zheng Tan furious.

Ahead there was an interception, behind there were pursuers, and to the side there were attacks. Zheng Tan leapt up, jumped onto a large tree nearby, and instead of continuing forward he used the rebound to change direction, running past from the tree.

The few monkeys on the side who had picked up something and were preparing to throw it at Zheng Tan, seeing this, were greatly surprised; for a moment they didn't know what to do, keeping their throwing posture while their gaze followed Zheng Tan's silhouette.

The closely pursuing Qi Dada, upon seeing the figure leaping down from the tree straight ahead, let out a cry that cut off abruptly, grabbed a branch to stop himself, and was astonished as to why that cat could leap about in the trees as agilely as the monkeys; moreover, seeing the oncoming figure, Qi Dada inexplicably felt timid, but upon glancing around and seeing a few of his own companions still present, his earlier shrinking courage swelled back up, and he shouted at Zheng Tan.

Regardless of whether it was showing off or swearing, Zheng Tan indicated he couldn't understand a word. Fu Lei used to pick out the person he hated most and beat him badly when fighting, and Zheng Tan intended to do the same; since he couldn't avoid encountering that monkey troop, he also couldn't avoid a group battle, and right now he just wanted to give the most deserving target—Qi Dada—a good beating.

Qi Dada dodged Zheng Tan's incoming kick, but couldn't dodge his slap, and thus this guy was directly swatted down from the tree.

After all, it was a monkey, and on its home turf it also had an advantage; Qi Dada grabbed a branch, landed steadily on the ground, stepped back, rubbed the shoulder that had just been slapped, shouted at Zheng Tan who had landed three or four meters away, then casually picked up a pine cone that other monkeys had thrown earlier and flung it at Zheng Tan.

When Zheng Tan saw Qi Dada's eyes glance sideways at the ground, he knew what he was about to do; although he had originally intended to dodge, he noticed a branch about three centimeters in diameter and roughly half a meter long at his feet, so he grabbed it, clasped it tightly with both paws, aimed at the incoming pine cone, and swung.

Smack!

The pine cone was struck back by the branch and hit Qi Dada's forehead.

When Zheng Tan had just gripped the branch, he wasn't yet in the right state, and his swing lacked proper force, so the pine cone bounced back a bit high; he managed to hit Qi Dada's forehead because Qi Dada was watching the pine cone soar high and then fall, and apparently got so entranced he forgot to react, getting nailed in the forehead by the falling pine cone.

Several monkeys perched in the trees around saw this and shouted aloud; some looked as if they were happily hopping about, and one even clapped its hands.

Zheng Tan: '……' Qi Dada got hit—what's with these monkeys' excitement?

Qi Dada was also dumbfounded now; although his companions lacked knowledge, culture, and common sense, he considered himself a worldly-wise intellectual among monkeys, having seen plenty of cats, but never a healthy cat walking on two legs like this, and moreover, the black cat before him was clutching a branch that thick—could a cat really have that much strength?!

Qi Dada suddenly had a bad feeling.

This mountain forest area has several outposts, intended to deal with sudden situations; if tourists here encounter accidental injury or other problems, they can also receive timely aid. Besides assisting those tourists, these outposts also guard against poachers, prevent forest fires in the dry season, and of course keep an eye on the monkeys on the mountain.

At this moment, a staff member on duty at a nearby outpost saw the sound waveform diagram displayed on the screen for a certain region and was startled; they had been working here for several years, able to correlate the monkeys' vocalizations with their expressed emotions for analysis, and some people from the research base had even given them counseling. Seeing those waveforms, the staff member hurriedly nudged his fellow employee who was taking a noon nap.

"An abnormality!"

The person who had just woken up yawned, but didn't dawdle. They worried that someone might come again with designs on those monkeys.

They couldn't accurately discern from the equipment's somewhat distorted, noise-laden audio feed exactly which call the monkeys were making; even alarm calls come in several varieties. Generally speaking, if poachers or certain large beasts posed a serious threat to the monkeys, the monkeys would emit alarm calls tinged with fear and vigilance. Their materials list a specific alarm call that macaques make during intense conflict; when they make that sound, the monkeys accompany it with standoffs, retreats, trembling, fearful glances all around, always ready to flee. If they encountered such a waveform, something must be happening, and the duty staff would rush over immediately—but now…

"Are those monkeys excited?" These sounds and waveforms left them puzzled.

In order to make a more accurate judgment, the duty staff took out a waveform chart provided earlier by a professor who had studied local wild macaques. It showed what kind of waveform corresponded to what monkey mood; although it couldn't be said to be a hundred percent accurate, over the past few years it has mostly been correct. It has important reference value.

"Yes. Those monkeys are indeed excited."

"Then should we go take a look?"

"No need. Those monkeys probably just found something fun again."

"I'll go have a look, just to be safe." The duty staff member printed out a waveform from the instrument as a record and said.

"Never mind. I'll come along too; if something really happens I can still lend a hand. Sigh, looking after monkeys is no easy task."

Zheng Tan didn't know anyone was paying attention here; he had just knocked back whatever fruit Qi Dada had thrown at him again, and these few attempts hadn't hit Qi Dada mainly because that guy was on guard, quick to dodge, and Zheng Tan also couldn't fully control where his strikes landed—at best he could only knock things in the general direction of his target, but he didn't necessarily have the luck and accuracy of the first time.

Of course, to the onlooking monkeys around, accuracy didn't matter; what mattered was that Zheng Tan was knocking things away.

Zheng Tan finally understood what the monkeys were happy about. He spotted a few familiar-looking monkeys; perhaps to humans all monkeys look alike, but Zheng Tan could still discern some differences, and those few familiar monkeys were the ones he had seen with Er Mao and the others when they went up the mountain to the base, where those monkeys had been watching the base students play soccer, and he'd heard that students often played badminton and exercised with fitness balls, which also attracted many monkey onlookers, who sometimes cheered—just like those monkeys had loudly cheered when Zheng Tan knocked back the pine cone Qi Dada had thrown at him.

This left Zheng Tan speechless; he had prepared for a tough battle, but hadn't expected it to turn out like this. Moreover, Zheng Tan had imagined these monkeys as too dangerous—after all, this is a tourist area; although these monkeys are wild, they come into frequent contact with people and have grown milder, so even if they occasionally get mischievous and play pranks, they won't attack people or other animals; indeed, quite a few villagers keep cats, and it's probably similar; although they came in response to Qi Dada's summons, they hadn't developed much hostility toward Zheng Tan, and besides, Zheng Tan was now wielding the branch skillfully, much like the base students playing badminton, so this troop of monkeys instantly shifted from warriors to clowns.

What should I say? How can I say it?

Look at Qi Dada, then look at those monkeys around.

Sigh!

In literary terms, that's 'near ink turns black'; in plain terms, that's 'birds of a feather flock together'—otherwise how could we say the companions of the silly monkeys are all silly?

Silly monkeys, endless fun.

Suddenly, a monkey noticed some movement not far off, called out a few times, and the other monkeys also looked in that direction.

It was those two duty staff members.

Zheng Tan also realized someone was coming over, tossed the branch in his hand, and darted away.

After Zheng Tan left, an adult monkey that often came to the base to watch climbed down from the tree, picked up that branch, and right beside it a companion threw a pine cone.

The monkey holding the stick pursed its lips and swung!

Smack!

Although it took some effort, and the swing wasn't aimed at Qi Dada, remarkably the pine cone was struck and flew straight toward Qi Dada, hitting his unprepared leg.

The monkeys around were slapping tree branches and slapping their legs, jumping up and down, shouting happily.

Qi Dada: "......" really wanted to cry.

Over there, Zheng Tan, who had slipped away, had originally intended to go straight back, but he caught a whiff of a scent that was somewhat familiar, yet not entirely familiar.

The lifted foot changed direction, and Zheng Tan headed over there. (Not yet complete, to be continued..)