Future Pet Shop

Chapter 330: Chapter 330: Caught That Easily?

"EEK, EEK!" The monkey swung from a branch with a single paw, landing steadily on top of the rock. If this were an Olympic high bar event, it would have been an absolutely perfect landing.

Before Shen Yibin could even ask, the monkey pulled out a plump, round peach—white with a blush of red—from behind its back. It held the peach over its head with both paws and offered it to Shen Yibin, as if inviting him to eat it.

"EEK! EEK!" Seeing that Shen Yibin wasn’t reacting, the monkey grew anxious and began scratching its head. It pushed the peach forward again, then pointed at the hiking backpack on Shen Yibin’s back.

Shen Yibin finally understood what the monkey meant. "Oh, you want to trade this peach for an energy bar?" ’Looks like it really likes the taste of those,’ he thought, his worry subsiding. He took the peach and handed it to Hah’Er. "Here, this is for you!" Then, he reached into his backpack for an energy bar. After a moment’s thought, he unwrapped it and handed the bar directly to the monkey.

"Go on, eat up! It tastes the same as the last one." After handing over the energy bar, Shen Yibin slowly backed away. ’This monkey is a wild animal, after all,’ he thought. ’Who knows if it might suddenly attack. It’s better to be cautious for both my and Hah’Er’s safety.’

However, the monkey didn’t start eating right away. Instead, it suppressed its drool, nodded at Shen Yibin in thanks, and leaped back into the trees. Clutching the energy bar tightly in one paw, it swung from branch to branch with the other, moving farther and farther away. Judging by the direction it was headed, it was going toward the monkey troop. This made Shen Yibin a little curious. ’Is it going to offer the energy bar to the Monkey King?’

"Hah’Er, eat faster! We need to follow it as soon as you’re done!" According to the pet radar, the monkey was heading right for the location of the orange dot. They had to hurry. ’If those monkeys eat and then run off up the cliff face using the trees, I’ll have to take a huge detour to catch them. Who knows how much time that would waste.’

"Mmm! Mmm!" Hah’Er took huge bites of the peach, sending juice flying everywhere as it nodded enthusiastically. It seemed the peach was quite delicious. Shen Yibin felt a twinge of regret. ’I should have tried it first before giving it away.’

After finishing the peach, Hah’Er tossed the pit to Maphario, who gnawed it completely clean. Then, Maphario carefully tucked the pit into the small pocket on Hah’Er’s chest and zipped it up to make sure it wouldn’t fall out. Only then did it scramble onto Hah’Er’s head to follow Shen Yibin through the undergrowth at the bottom of the valley, heading toward the part of the jungle where the monkeys were.

Don’t be fooled by how quickly the monkey arrived—it had taken the high road through the treetops. Shen Yibin, on the other hand, was stuck on the low road, where the difficulty was more than doubled. Tangled vines and thorns were everywhere, there was no path to follow, and he even had to watch out for venomous snakes hiding in the grass. The journey was arduous and wore Shen Yibin to a frazzle. Hah’Er had it a little easier; once Shen Yibin cleared a path, it could just tumble along behind him. Maphario had the most carefree trip of all, sometimes climbing onto Shen Yibin’s backpack, other times hopping onto Hah’Er’s head, never having to walk a single step.

Of course, Shen Yibin wouldn’t have dared let the little guy run around on its own anyway. ’Who knows what natural predators for rodents are lurking in this jungle,’ he thought. If it were accidentally swallowed by some wildcat or snake, there would be no one to hear his cries.

’Sigh,’ Shen Yibin complained inwardly as he swung his machete to clear a path. ’Since you’re running a pet shop like this, why don’t you offer any items to make these outdoor excursions easier? I’d be willing to pay any price! You’re the one telling me these Mutant Animals are out in the wild, so you should at least offer some convenient tools, shouldn’t you?’

But no matter how much he cursed out the Future Pet Shop, it was no use. He still had to trudge forward one grueling step at a time. Fortunately, he had the physical foundation that Shi Gaofei had helped him build. After the arduous trek, he finally reached the vicinity of the monkey troop. If this had been before his training with Shi Gaofei, he probably would have collapsed from exhaustion halfway there.

Back when he was searching for Egg, the journey was less than half this long, and Shen Yibin had nearly collapsed. He was even less fit than Sylvie with her military training.

"Alright, we’re finally here. Let’s rest... rest and drink some water!" Shen Yibin plopped down on a rock by the stream, twisted open a bottle of mineral water, and gulped down a few mouthfuls before passing it to Hah’Er. Hah’Er was also covered in patches of green and black, panting heavily and clearly exhausted as well.

While Hah’Er drank, Shen Yibin took out his phone, opened the pet radar, and began comparing the display to his surroundings, searching for any sign of the Mutant Animal.

He zoomed the map all the way in, shrinking the search radius to his immediate area. Shen Yibin immediately noticed something strange. The monkeys before him were restlessly jumping all over the place, so why was the orange dot on the radar completely stationary, not moving from its position at all? ’What in the world is going on?’ he wondered. ’Could the target animal not be a monkey?’

He immediately forgot about resting and scrambled to his feet. He began walking along the base of the cliff, intending to use triangulation to pinpoint the animal’s location. The method wasn’t difficult: the radar showed the distance between him and the target. He would first record his position and the distance, then move to two other spots and record the new distances. By drawing three circles using these three points as centers and the corresponding distances as radii, the target’s location would be revealed at their intersection.

’Sigh, other people use this method to track down cute girls on WeChat or Momo, and here I am using it to find an animal. It’s truly depressing,’ Shen Yibin griped to himself while using his phone’s map to lock onto the target’s position. He quickly found it. The target animal was in the largest tree at the base of the cliff.

Looking up, he saw a somewhat small and scrawny monkey lying on a branch, fast asleep and snoring. Even from this distance, Shen Yibin felt like he could hear its snores. It must have been sleeping incredibly soundly. ’It probably wouldn’t even notice if I swaggered right up to it,’ he thought.

’All I have to do is walk over there and pop the pill into its mouth, and that should do it, right? Can it really be this easy to bring the target animal home this time?’

At this thought, Shen Yibin couldn’t help but crack a smile. It seemed his long and arduous journey hadn’t been for nothing. He was finally on the verge of success.

However, before Shen Yibin could make his move, the nearby monkeys suddenly began to shriek in unison. Their cries were filled with terror as they scrambled frantically up the cliff face to escape. And yet, the target monkey remained on its branch, still snoring away, apparently oblivious to the approaching danger.