Chapter 146: Chapter 146: Innate Stealth
Jiang Si was wearing a mask and goggles. They found her figure familiar, but they couldn’t be certain that the person before them was their former coach from the club.
Brother Qiu had previously expressed his affection for Jiang Si, but she had rejected him.
After Jiang Si quit, he even went out of his way to ask President Zhang about her.
He had planned to go after her and try again, but then the world’s electromagnetic fields suddenly vanished, and they lost any chance of contacting each other.
Suddenly seeing such a familiar-looking woman before him, he couldn’t help but stare for a few extra moments.
In his daze, he suddenly felt a glacial gaze, like a laser, fixed on his face.
Brother Qiu snapped back to his senses just in time to hear a familiar voice suddenly call out their names, "Lao Er, Brother Qiu."
Brother Qiu and Lao Er glanced at each other, suddenly growing excited. "You’re Jiang Si?" they asked in disbelief.
’She’s actually still alive!’
It was incredible.
The apocalyptic disaster had been so terrifying. So many of them had barely survived, fighting against all odds to make it through.
Looking at Jiang Si’s complete and comfortable attire, it was obvious she was doing much better than they were.
Taking a closer look at how close she was standing to Qin Shen, a flicker of disappointment crossed Brother Qiu’s face.
He assumed Jiang Si had attached herself to Qin Shen to live such a good life.
Jiang Si was perceptive and could see right through them, knowing exactly what they were thinking.
She had no intention of explaining. In fact, she was happy to let them think that.
If they tried to leverage their past relationship to make unreasonable demands, she could use Qin Shen as an excuse to shut them down completely.
After a long moment, Brother Qiu finally spoke. "What are you doing here? And who is this?"
Jiang Si smiled and suddenly grabbed Qin Shen’s hand. "My fiancé."
Suddenly promoted to fiancé, a flicker of joy, invisible to the others, appeared on Qin Shen’s face. His gaze on Jiang Si, however, grew more fervent with anticipation.
Jiang Si turned and gave an order to someone. "Get them out of there!"
Number One and Number Two acted quickly. At their command, the monkeys brought over a wooden ladder.
The monkeys set down the ladder, but Lao Er and Brother Qiu just stared with wide eyes, their faces full of disbelief.
Jiang Si could actually command a troop of monkeys.
They climbed out of the trap, utterly baffled. The monkeys didn’t retreat. Instead, they stood guard around Jiang Si and Qin Shen like little soldiers, holding guns.
They had also just seen how agile the monkeys’ reactions were. Their marksmanship was comparable to that of specially trained soldiers.
Surrounded like this, they didn’t dare get too close to Jiang Si to speak.
Jiang Si had no intention of inviting them onto the boat and got straight to the point. "What are your plans for coming here?"
They were old acquaintances, and there was no bad blood between them. In her current, stable living situation, Jiang Si was willing to offer them some simple help.
The underlying meaning in Jiang Si’s question was that they weren’t exactly welcome here.
Lao Er and Brother Qiu chose their words carefully. "We want to settle down and find a way to survive."
They hoped that, for the sake of their past relationship, Jiang Si wouldn’t drive them away.
Jiang Si turned her gaze to Qin Shen, as if he were the one who had to make the decision.
Qin Shen stared at the two of them, making them feel increasingly flustered, but they gritted their teeth and didn’t offer to leave.
Because they had a gut feeling that Qin Shen wouldn’t kill them, on account of his relationship with Jiang Si.
Like a fatuous emperor from ancient times, Qin Shen took Jiang Si’s hand and asked her, "What do you think?"
Jiang Si was amazed at his ability to get into character so quickly. Not to be outdone, she feigned a hint of fear toward him. "I... I think we could let them settle down temporarily, a little farther away, as long as they don’t bother us."
Lao Er and Brother Qiu’s eyes lit up. They looked at Qin Shen like slaves awaiting their master’s decree.
Jiang Si didn’t feel this was a violation of their dignity. The prerequisite for helping others was ensuring that her own safety wasn’t compromised in the slightest.
Letting them fall into the trap and see the monkeys obeying her commands was a deliberate move. It was to make them understand that even though her group only had eight people, the fifty-plus monkeys combined could easily annihilate them.
As for why they might be suspicious about the monkeys’ obedience, Jiang Si wasn’t worried at all.
’As long as you have food, what animal won’t obey you?’
’It’s just that none are as thoroughly obedient as these.’
Qin Shen’s gaze shifted between them as if he were pondering something. Finally, he asked, "Is it just the two of you?"
Lao Er and Brother Qiu’s voices suddenly caught in their throats. They were terrified that if they mentioned the dozens of other people, Qin Shen would see them as a threat and refuse to let them stay.
Lao Er thought for a moment, then hastily said, "There are about thirty more of us, but they’re mostly women, elderly, and children. We won’t be a threat. All we ask is to be allowed to settle far from you, near the hot springs, so we can fish in the sea."
’It’s better to be honest than to be caught in a lie.’
Jiang Si and Qin Shen exchanged a glance, seemingly satisfied with their attitude.
Just as Qin Shen was pretending to consider their request, the monkeys suddenly issued a warning cry.
Lao Er and Brother Qiu were instantly alarmed.
They were afraid that President Zhang had brought people to rescue them, which would only anger this mysterious, noble-looking man.
Qin Shen waved his hand, and the Monkey King suddenly led the troop into action.
Lao Er and Brother Qiu watched, dumbfounded.
He, just like Jiang Si, could also make the monkeys obey.
’How on earth do they do that?’
While they were still baffled, they saw the Monkey King lead his troop to disappear into the curtain of snow as if they had turned invisible.
At a glance, they couldn’t distinguish the Snow Monkeys from the snow itself.
Part of this was due to the light refracting off the snow, which their eyes hadn’t adjusted to yet.
But it was mostly because the Snow Monkeys’ natural stealth was unmatched.
Zhang Aihua and his men advanced cautiously and quietly toward the large boat.
They were already very close, but they failed to notice the silently creeping snowballs.
Zhang Aihua had just taken a step when something suddenly grabbed his calf.
In a panic, he tried to fire his gun, but a monkey that lunged out of nowhere snatched it away. By the time he thought to draw the bayonet on his leg, the monkey troop had already subdued the rest of his men and tied him up with a rope along with them.
’Tied up by a bunch of monkeys.’
They hadn’t been given a single chance to react.
This was too terrifying.
His men looked at Zhang Aihua in a panic, shouting, "President Zhang, these are mutated monkeys! What do we do? What do we do?"
Their first thought was the same as Lao Er and Brother Qiu’s: the monkeys were going to eat them.
Zhang Aihua forced himself to remain calm. "Don’t panic," he told them. "See if anyone can draw the knife on their leg and cut the ropes."
Just as they were looking around to see whose leg-knife was easiest to reach...
...something cold was suddenly pressed against their heads.
Everyone looked up and saw a particularly burly Snow Monkey holding a pistol to their heads.
If it hadn’t been so real, they would have thought they’d been transported into some bizarre cartoon.
