The southern mountains of Yuzhou are numerous, with one peak connected to another, forming a very rugged terrain. Thus, forests are abundant, and so are mutated beasts within the mountains. At the center of the encirclement, hundreds of thousands of mutated beasts were lying on the ground, sleeping. Previously, they had been driven relentlessly, leaving them utterly exhausted. Now, with the golden snub-nosed monkeys using pollen to induce sleep daily, the multitude of mutated beasts had finally obtained a rare period of rest.
Of course, this precious rest was effective for the large mutated beasts. For smaller mutated beasts, such as rabbits or mice, they were already at the bottom of the food chain in the mountains. After the beast tide stabilized, mice and rabbits remained the most easily preyed upon species.
For mice and rabbits, before the army arrived, you ate me; after the army arrived, you still ate me. Had the army not come in vain?
Shen Feng and his two companions were rapidly approaching the small mountain where the golden snub-nosed monkeys were located. Previously, he had only killed one golden snub-nosed monkey, which had exposed their actions and caused the monkeys to become vigilant, retreating to the small mountain. This, however, facilitated Shen Feng's plan. He didn't need to search everywhere for the golden snub-nosed monkeys; as long as he could find their hiding place, he could wipe them out in one fell swoop!
As they walked, Shen Feng quietly instructed Qin Kewe behind him, "Sister Qin, later, you need to protect my flanks. We are on the mountain now, and your abilities can clear paths, which will be a great help to us. You must withstand the pressure!"
Qin Kewe nodded and earnestly replied, "Shen Feng, don't worry. With me behind you, your flanks will be safe. As long as we can find the enemy, I will help you kill all the golden snub-nosed monkeys."
Shen Feng and the other two arrived at the small mountain. Although there were many mutated beasts on the mountain, such as cats, dogs, wild boars, and even mutated cattle and sheep, there was no sign of the golden snub-nosed monkeys. If the three of them hadn't seen the golden snub-nosed monkeys rushing towards this side of the mountain before, and hadn't seen the current scene, they would have suspected that there were no mutated golden snub-nosed monkeys on the mountain at all.
"Where have these golden snub-nosed monkeys hidden? They couldn't have run away, could they?" Shen Feng frowned and said.
Li Keyi quickly shook her head and said, "These monkeys are not particularly fast runners, so it's impossible for them to have all fled in such a short time. I think these monkeys must be hiding in some secret place, either in the mountains or in the woods."
If they had escaped, there would be no trace of them anywhere. Now, there was only one explanation: they were hiding.
Shen Feng nodded and began searching the mountain.
Qin Kewe spotted a yellow object next to a rock in the distance and quickly said, "Look, isn't that a cymbal?"
Shen Feng and Li Keyi looked towards the rock and found a cymbal on the ground. It seemed this was the tool the golden snub-nosed monkeys used for communication. They wondered whose funeral it was that the cymbal had been stolen by the golden snub-nosed monkeys, otherwise, their production capabilities wouldn't be able to produce cymbals.
Shen Feng thought for a moment and said to Qin Kewe, "Sister Qin, it's up to you now. Quickly use your abilities to see if there are any caves."
Qin Kewe nodded, squatted down, placed her hands on the ground, and began to use her abilities to sense the ground. She successfully discovered a hidden cave entrance on the mountain and immediately led the others to the cave mouth. It was blocked by a large rock. The three of them had passed this spot before but hadn't noticed anything unusual. Now, it seemed the entrance had been deliberately blocked.
The cave entrance was several meters wide, with a large rock blocking the outside. To enter the cave, the first thing to do was to move the large rock.
Qin Kewe was about to step forward to move the large rock blocking the cave entrance. For her, a fifth-tier ability user, moving rocks weighing tens of tons was possible.
However, Shen Feng saw faint yellow powder on the ground and immediately realized that with so much pollen on the ground, it meant the golden snub-nosed monkeys had stored a lot of pollen, and entering rashly could be dangerous!
"Don't rush, let's put on our oxygen masks first. Be careful, the golden snub-nosed monkeys might ambush us inside!" Shen Feng quickly warned.
Qin Kewe and Li Keyi did not dare to underestimate the golden snub-nosed monkeys, as they had already learned to transmit messages. Ambushing them while hiding was very possible, so being prepared, all three of them put on their oxygen masks. Their vision was immediately affected, with many blind spots, and the inhaled oxygen was somewhat turbid, but their safety was ensured.
"Ka ka..." Qin Kewe began to move the large rock at the cave entrance, wondering how the golden snub-nosed monkeys managed to move such a large stone to block the entrance.
As soon as a gap was created in the large rock, just enough for one person to pass through, two furry arms suddenly extended from the cave. These were covered in black fur, making them look disgusting!
These arms were holding a plastic bucket filled with pale yellow pollen. Immediately, a golden snub-nosed monkey splashed the hypnotic pollen out. Qin Kewe, who was moving the rock, could not dodge in time and was drenched in pollen. Fortunately, she was wearing an oxygen mask, so she was not successfully hypnotized.
Shen Feng quickly stepped forward, drew his long sword from his waist with a "clang," and slashed down. The furry arms were severed on the spot, with the hands and forearms falling to the ground, blood gushing out.
"Squeak..." The golden snub-nosed monkey hiding in the cave immediately let out a scream. It had not expected its sneak attack to be so easily foiled, and its hands had been extended, resulting in its arms being completely gone except for the upper part.
Shen Feng wasted no time and said to Qin Kewe, "Move aside, I'll do it!"
Qin Kewe quickly moved aside to avoid being accidentally injured by Shen Feng.
Shen Feng gritted his teeth and condensed three thousand wind blades around him, sending them all flying into the cave entrance. Since there were indeed mutated golden snub-nosed monkeys hiding in the cave, there was no need to kill them one by one. With a single volley of wind blades, he didn't believe the golden snub-nosed monkeys in the cave could survive.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..." The wind blades continuously flew into the cave. The three people outside the cave entrance could constantly hear the sounds.
"Pfft," was the sound of the wind blades piercing flesh; "Squeak..." was the scream of the injured golden snub-nosed monkeys, a piercing sound that made one feel agitated; "Ding ding dang dang," was the sound of the wind blades hitting the walls after missing their targets.
As the wind blades continued to be shot into the cave, the monkeys' screams gradually disappeared, while the "ding ding dang dang" sounds from the cave persisted, indicating that the golden snub-nosed monkeys ambushing at the entrance had been killed one after another by the wind blades.
At this point, all three thousand wind blades had been fired. Seeing that there was no more sound from the cave, Shen Feng said in a deep voice, "Follow me, let's go in and see!"
Qin Kewe kept patting the pollen off her body. She knew this stuff was bad and wanted to expel it to avoid being hypnotized.
Li Keyi followed Shen Feng into the cave first. The cave was not dark at all, as there were many oil lamps on both sides of the cave walls. Most of the oil lamps had been shattered by the wind blades, but a few were still burning.
The burning oil lamps left black smoke on the walls, a consequence of incomplete combustion. And on the cave walls, there were many blackened areas, indicating that the golden snub-nosed monkeys had even learned to light lamps!
"These golden snub-nosed monkeys have truly begun to evolve. I suspect these monkeys might have learned to use fire!" Li Keyi also said in a muffled voice.
Speaking with oxygen masks on would be affected. A normal voice would change its vibration when passing through an oxygen mask, making it sound much more muffled.
The first ten meters of the cave passage were straight. On this path, more than a dozen ugly golden snub-nosed monkeys lay dead. Their bodies were riddled with holes, clearly having died from the wind blade attacks.
Qin Kewe also briefly cleaned the hypnotic pollen off herself and followed the two inside. She then said, "The path ahead will go downwards. It seems the golden snub-nosed monkeys' lair is underground. I really don't understand why these monkeys live in caves instead of forests!"
Li Keyi explained as they walked, "This shows that these monkeys are on the same evolutionary path as us. Hiding in trees is safe, but they cannot walk upright or obtain more food. Living on the ground, although it seems dangerous, allows them to find shelter and establish settlements! These monkeys also use fire. If they are given hundreds of thousands of years, perhaps these monkeys could even replace humans!"
The importance of fire to humans is self-evident. While humans are not the only animals that can use fire, they are at least the most perfect primates in its use. When fire appeared, human civilization emerged.
Now, Li Keyi had discovered that golden snub-nosed monkeys had begun to evolve in the cave, and she felt a sense of tension. It seemed monkeys were embarking on the same path as humans. If they had enough time, these monkeys might actually catch up to humans!
Shen Feng was unconcerned and directly said, "Aren't there still hundreds of thousands of years? By the time these monkeys evolve to our current level, we will have certainly evolved to be even stronger!"
Li Keyi, however, said sternly, "We cannot think like that. Primates are always primates. If these monkeys suddenly develop a huge brain capacity, what will happen to us humans? Won't we be caught up by monkeys in a very short time? Therefore, do not underestimate the evolution of other species!"
Shen Feng nodded and patted his chest, saying, "Don't worry, they are just a bunch of monkeys! Watch me eliminate them all! Then we'll see how they can evolve. If they want to evolve, they can do it in their next life!"
Li Keyi thought for a moment and did not stop Shen Feng's decision. She knew that this Earth was not vast enough to accommodate two intelligent species. Zombies could not, and mutated beasts were the same!
Therefore, destroying mutated beasts that were evolving might seem unkind, but for the development of humanity, it was not possible to allow other species to evolve carefree. Destroying the evolutionary path of other species was the most appropriate course of action.
The passage in the cave began to descend. There were many messy footprints in the passage, some bare feet, and some wearing shoes. It seemed that the evolution of the golden snub-nosed monkeys first involved learning from humans. As primates, golden snub-nosed monkeys could also recognize which species were the most powerful, and that was naturally humans.
Even though humans were currently in a sorry state, being pressured by zombies, and many cities had not even been reclaimed, this did not negate the fact that humans were still the masters of the Earth. This was because when humans truly engaged in war, mutated beasts were still defenseless. This was the advantage accumulated by millions of years of human brain evolution.
Thus, the golden snub-nosed monkeys began to imitate human behavior, not only imitating human dress and appearance but also learning human communication, immediately reporting danger when encountered, and then retreating. They also learned to use fire. Such actions were almost following humans on the evolutionary path again; no, they had already embarked on the evolutionary path.
The three walked down hundreds of meters into the cave. It was estimated that they were already deep underground. The surroundings were all rocks, appearing to be naturally formed caves.
There were many oil lamps on the walls. Walking through the passage, all three felt a sense of wonder. It had always been humans bringing light to other animals, but now, in the cave, it was the oil lamps of the golden snub-nosed monkeys illuminating the path forward.
Not far ahead, firelight appeared at the end of the passage. The three quickly approached. Shen Feng walked at the forefront. If there was danger, he would instantly use "Wind King's Barrier" to protect the two behind him. However, until Shen Feng reached the passage entrance, he did not detect any danger.
Shen Feng boldly rushed into the cave. It was a large hall, quite spacious. In the center of the hall, a bonfire was burning fiercely. Upon closer inspection, it was a large karst cave, tens of meters high, with stalactites on the ceiling and stalagmites on the ground, looking very impressive.
And in a corner of the karst cave, a colossal figure stood tall. It was a giant golden snub-nosed monkey, fifteen meters high, covered in black fur, with its eyes emitting a cold glint, staring at the enemies who had intruded into its domain!
Seeing this scene, Shen Feng immediately thought of a movie: King Kong. Such a massive golden snub-nosed monkey looked incredibly robust, its body covered in muscles, its fur standing on end like steel needles. If it opened its mouth, it would be a true gaping maw.