Chapter 12: The Way to Leave

Ye Luo’s pupils contracted slightly.

These few monkeys were the strongest in the troop—their size alone set them apart, noticeably larger than the others. The banana peels in their hands told another story. Undoubtedly, these four frenzied monkeys were the victors in the fight for food.

Suddenly, Ye Luo understood.

That staff member had run so fast because he’d anticipated the monkeys would go mad!

The crazed monkeys cackled wickedly, lunging toward the two of them. Clearly, even with numbered tags, once the monkeys went mad, they would attack indiscriminately.

“Run!” Ye Luo didn’t hesitate for a moment, turning on her heel and fleeing.

She and Lin An sprinted desperately, but the frenzied monkeys were much faster. Two of them circled through the hills and appeared ahead of the pair in no time.

“Turn back,” Ye Luo said.

They tried to retreat, but the other two monkeys loomed behind them, watching like predators. They were surrounded by the mad monkeys.

The monkeys attacked simultaneously.

Ye Luo gritted her teeth and quickly flung a banana.

The monkeys, previously targeting them, instantly shifted their focus upon seeing the fruit. All four reached for the banana, then fell into a violent brawl.

Ye Luo and Lin An seized the opportunity to escape.

Yet Ye Luo didn’t go far. After running a short distance, she hid behind a rock and observed.

The four monkeys soon settled the fight. The strongest one ate the banana, and the red in its eyes gradually faded.

Ye Luo narrowed her gaze.

So, the rule about feeding animals when they go mad was true. Yet, she suspected there was a hidden clause—the first part. If you fed a normal animal, it might cause them to go mad.

She looked at the remaining three aggressive monkeys. After two rounds of fighting, they were exhausted; one had even lost a large chunk of flesh. Blood dripped steadily from its body, yet in its frenzied state, it seemed oblivious to its injuries, still searching violently for something to attack.

A chilling thought flashed through Ye Luo’s mind.

If she made these monkeys fight one more time… would a monkey die?

Ye Luo decided to test it.

She picked up a banana and prepared to approach carefully.

Lin An whispered, “Ye, are you planning to throw another banana?”

Ye Luo nodded. “I have a hunch that if a monkey dies, something will happen.”

“I’ll do it,” Lin An said without hesitation. “I’m a little faster, after all.” He felt guilty always winning by following her lead.

Ye Luo glanced at him, then quietly said, “Throw the banana and run immediately.”

With a banana as bait, the risk was low. She could see Lin An wanted to contribute, so she let him go.

He nodded.

Banana in hand, Lin An crept forward cautiously.

When he entered the frenzied monkeys’ alert range, three pairs of red eyes turned to him.

Lin An didn’t hesitate. He threw the banana high, then turned and ran at full speed.

As expected, the monkeys had no intention of chasing him.

The three monkeys erupted into another war.

This time, the heavily wounded one finally couldn’t take it. Amid the chaos, it let out a painful howl and collapsed.

The other two ignored it, continuing their battle until a final winner emerged.

The sole victor ate the banana and gradually returned to normal.

The defeated frenzied monkey charged violently into the forest.

Ye Luo and Lin An waited a while longer. When they sensed no danger, they approached carefully.

The corpse of the frenzied monkey lay quietly on the ground.

Its body was torn and bloody; half its skull had been clawed away, brain matter spilled out, making Lin An feel physically ill.

As he struggled not to vomit, Ye Luo calmly stepped forward and inspected the corpse.

Lin An forced down the urge to retch. He couldn’t appear weak in front of the leader—otherwise, even if she didn’t abandon him, he’d be too embarrassed to follow.

Ye Luo turned the monkey over.

And there, beneath the body, she found a numbered tag.

It was tag number 9.

Ye Luo immediately realized this was the fashionable woman’s number.

Suddenly, everything was clear.

The so-called exchange of tags with monkeys was a lie. The real way to leave was to kill a frenzied monkey—only then would it randomly drop a player’s numbered tag.

As for the tags of already deceased players, whether they would drop was unknown.

If they did, then among their ten players, they’d need to kill ten monkeys at worst to recover all their tags.

But—

The rules strictly forbade directly harming monkeys.

Yet Ye Luo’s method—inciting mutual slaughter—did not violate the rules.

However, it had cost them two bananas to kill just one monkey.

Between Ye Luo and Lin An, only two bananas remained.

Using this method to retrieve both their tags was nearly impossible.

Almost instantly, Ye Luo realized:

This challenge required cooperation!

If everyone had two bananas and coordinated well, dropping ten numbered tags would not be difficult.

But now, at most, eight people remained.

If their numbers dwindled further…

Ye Luo’s expression darkened.

“Come on, let’s find the others,” she said quietly.

To clear the challenge, everyone had to work together.

Ye Luo knew this would be hard, but she had no choice.

By now, a quarter hour had passed.

Only a quarter hour remained until the thirty-minute mark.

Perhaps it was her imagination, but the howls drifting over Monkey Mountain seemed louder.

This gave her a sense of foreboding.

The only advantage of this mountain was its manageable size.

With Ye Luo and Lin An searching, they soon found the first group.

Ye Luo wasted no time, quickly sharing her theory.

“I used bananas to make the monkeys fight. When one died, tag number 9 dropped.” Her words came fast. “You should go find the staff in red to get bananas, then search for others. No matter how many you find, everyone must gather here in ten minutes. Then, I’ll lure some monkeys and we’ll use bananas to incite a mass brawl, aiming for casualties. We must cause enough deaths to guarantee everyone’s escape. Do you understand?”

The two newcomers had encountered neither danger nor clues. Now, Ye Luo delivered so much information so quickly, they were stunned.

How long had it been? Ye Luo had already found the way out?

“We’ll keep looking for others. If you run into anyone, relay my instructions. This time, everyone must cooperate.” She paused, then informed them of the two deaths already: “I don’t know if there have been casualties elsewhere, but in the best scenario, only eight of us remain. We have just fifteen minutes left. Move quickly!”

This time, the pair snapped to attention, responding nervously before hurrying away.

They had to notify the others and find the staff member in red—the clock was ticking.