“Don’t talk nonsense. The monkey spirit has its own merits—it’s not for playing with.
As long as this monkey spirit can be successfully bred, we’ll be able to breed thousands upon thousands of them in the future. Train them well, and they’ll be invincible on the battlefield, sweeping away all enemies!”
“A brilliant insight, Young Master! Speaking of which, humans can’t even compare to a monkey. The monkey and the black ape have already produced several monkey babies, but those women who’ve been with the black ape always miscarry—every pregnancy ends in a stillbirth, not a single live one.”
“No matter. The witch doctor said it will succeed sooner or later.
Once we have these beasts on the battlefield, who will still remember the Bai Family Army?
When the time is right, I’ll report my merits to the Emperor—and slaughter those arrogant Bai family members while I’m at it!”
Bai Li listened, her entire worldview cracking apart!
What kind of ancient world was this? How could anyone be running biochemical experiments here?
Was this about to become an ancient version of a zombie apocalypse?!
Looks like she needed to find a chance to meet this witch doctor and see who exactly he was!
The voices had already reached the door. Bai Li turned to leave.
“Take me with you, Master!”
……
The door creaked open, and a pale yellow lamplight shone in.
“Xiao Fuzi, did you hear anything just now?”
“In reply to Young Master, this servant heard nothing.”
“That’s not right. It sounded like the Black Eagle.”
Zhao Yuntian strode over to the Black Eagle’s birdcage in a few big steps. The Black Eagle croaked out hoarsely, “Master.”
“Has anyone been here?”
“No, no, absolutely not!”
“Keep a good watch on the gate, or I won’t mind letting you try breeding with the black ape!”
“No! Master!”
Watching the Black Eagle trembling all over, Zhao Yuntian smiled with satisfaction.
“Young Master, the Black Eagle and the black ape are both black. What shade of black would their babies come out as?”
“We’ll only know by trying.”
“Thud!”
The Black Eagle fainted—from fright.
“Young Master, the golden-haired monkey seems to be giving birth!”
“Let me see!”
Zhao Yuntian left. Bai Li flicked her hand, and the Black Eagle vanished on the spot, into her spatial dimension.
Watching the master and servant scurrying ahead like rats in a sewer, Bai Li frowned slightly. Then a flash of inspiration—she had an idea.
Using her supernatural ability to turn invisible, she quietly slipped past them and headed toward the chimpanzee’s cage.
Zhao Yuntian saw the golden-haired mother monkey wailing in pain and excitedly told his attendant, “Quick, go fetch the witch doctor. The monkey spirit is about to be born!”
“Young Master, I’ll be off then?”
Xiao Fuzi felt a chill down his spine, his heart uneasy.
But Zhao Yuntian’s full attention was on the golden-haired monkey, and he waved his hand impatiently.
“Go. Why are you so slow?”
Seeing his master about to lose his temper, Xiao Fuzi dared not say more. He handed over the lantern he was holding and turned to leave.
By this time, the gorilla’s cage was already open. Bai Li poured a bit of potion into her palm and held it under its nose. Before long, it woke up.
Bai Li patted the cage’s exit and darted aside to hide.
The black ape, having been inexplicably attacked earlier, was seething with anger. Its nose caught a scent, and seeing the exit, it immediately bolted out.
“Black Ape, why did you come out?”
The next second, Zhao Yuntian was stunned by the black ape’s expression—that was—the expression the black ape only had when drugged and facing a female monkey!
“No! Don’t come over!”
Zhao Yuntian tossed aside his lantern and turned to run!
“Roar!”
The black ape swatted the lantern away with its big hand and chased relentlessly after Zhao Yuntian.
“Ahhh!!”
“Roar roar roar!!”
Haha!
Bai Li, who had been secretly causing trouble, laughed until her stomach hurt.
Zhao Yuntian, go ahead and “enjoy” the big gift I’ve sent you!
Imagining Zhao Yuntian pinned down beneath the black ape, Bai Li felt all her frustration melt away.
“Strange—could the original owner have actually liked Zhao Yuntian?”
Sensing the changes in her heart, Bai Li found that the inexplicable emotion had vanished. There was no longer any abnormal feeling in her mind; her body and emotions were completely under her control.
So the original owner must have had feelings for Zhao Yuntian after all.
This was no place to linger. She turned to leave.
In the darkness, her sleeve was tugged, and a “squeak squeak” sounded by her ear.
It was the golden-furred mother monkey—she had actually understood its cry for help!
Zhao Yuntian had made too much of a commotion, and quite a few people in the distance were hurrying this way.
Afraid of getting tangled up and unable to escape, Bai Li planned to slip away.
But her sleeve was held fast by the golden fur, so she had no choice but to store it into her spatial dimension, opening the cage door holding the mother monkey along the way, then darted outside.
The mother monkeys, no longer suppressed by the black ape, all scrambled out the moment the cage door opened.
The main gate stood wide open, and they followed the light and ran out.
“Quick! The monkeys are all escaping! Hurry and catch them!”
The people rushing over arrived just in time to see the mother monkeys scattering in all directions, and Bai Li took the chance to slip away.
What a pity—she’d wanted to see this so-called witch doctor for herself. But afraid that any delay would implicate her family, she had to retreat first.
With a few flying leaps, Bai Li left the Zhao Residence.
Listening to the chaos inside, she imagined the scene when they discovered their storerooms were empty—her mood couldn’t have been better.
Since she was already here, why not collect from a few more households?
The whole street was lined with court officials, and their homes were overflowing with wealth.
Besides, most of these officials’ fortunes were ill-gotten gains squeezed from the common people. Emptying their storerooms could count as doing a good deed on their behalf.
Bai Li swept through the mansions along several streets in one go. By the time she returned to the Bai Residence, it was the darkest hour before dawn, when people were at their most exhausted.
So from her departure to her return, not a single person noticed anything.
Bai Li sat back down in her previous spot, closed her eyes to rest, and sent her consciousness into the spatial dimension.
The moment the black eagle saw her, it bombarded her with questions, hopping up and down in excitement.
The golden fur had been frightened earlier and had difficult labor, but surprisingly, right after entering the spatial dimension, she gave birth. Now she was holding a little golden, shimmering cub, glaring warily at Bai Li.
“Oh my, gave birth so quickly?”
Bai Li couldn’t resist reaching out to tease the little cub, but the golden fur swatted at her with a slap. Only her quick reflexes saved her—she nearly got hit.
“Quite the protective mother, huh!”
The mother monkey bared her teeth, glaring at her with fierce eyes.
She looked ready to fight to the death if Bai Li dared reach out to snatch her cub.
Bai Li shrugged and gave up on teasing the little monkey.
The little cub poked its head out from the mother monkey’s arms, gazing at her curiously with a pair of moist, glistening eyes, utterly fascinated.
“Little… hmm, I need to give you a name, to make things easier when I give you orders later.”
“Stop glaring at me. I’m your savior, you know. From now on, you’re all my adorable pets.
You’ll be called Golden Fur, and this one… let’s call him King Kong!”
“My name is Black Eagle!”
Afraid of being left out, Black Eagle hurriedly flew over and landed on Bai Li’s shoulder to make his presence known.
“Fine—Golden Fur, King Kong, Black Eagle. From now on, I’m your master, and you all have to listen to me!”
After saying that, Bai Li felt quite pleased with herself—she, someone hopeless at naming things, had actually managed to name a monkey. How impressive.
The golden-furred monkey seemed to understand her words, gradually relaxing and no longer resisting as much.