[Little Blackarms is really growing up well! Is it because he eats multiple times the amount of food that a regular monkey does? Now that he is back in the pink of health, he seems to be much stronger than other wild monkeys. Earlier today, he accidentally struck Old Li’s kid a little too hard, and the poor child ended up with a broken arm. I really need to start thinking about how to teach him to control his strength.]
[Little Blackarms did it again... This is already the third time this week that he has injured another child. The other villagers are starting to get their kids to stay away from Little Blackarms. I will prove to them that my child is not dangerous!]
[I don’t know what to do. I already told Little Blackarms not to steal food from the neighbours, but he is simply not listening! Do I really need to put him in a cage like the villagers are suggesting? But he is not just any wild animal! He is my child!]
[I did my best, didn’t I? I tried to tell Little Blackarms to control his strength, and to be content with what he has instead of stealing from others. But why? Why does he never listen? I am getting really tired of dealing with the other villagers!]
[It was heartbreaking to have to stand by and watch as the villagers ganged up on Little Blackarms, forcing him into a cage like that. But there is really nothing I can do. I could still cover for him in the past, but now that he has gone and heavily injured Old Qi, even I have no way to defend him any longer. At least I managed to convince them not to put him down. Now, I can only hope that the villagers’ anger subsides soon, so that I can return him his freedom as soon as possible.]
A chance to feed it.
A chance to poke it with sticks.
A chance to splash water on it.
A chance to throw sticks, small pebbles, and even big rocks...
The number of people recorded in these receipts was staggering.
Zhao Yunxiao stole a glance at Madam Xie, who was simply standing there and watching him, waiting for him to be done reading.
This is our fate! It is karma! It is inevitable! We are all going to die!
He did not know about the second half, but she might actually be onto something for the karma part.
Zhao Yunxiao let out a chuckle in sheer disbelief.
Same physical appearance, an appetite that was far beyond that of regular monkeys, as well as an unnaturally strong physique...
One could not help but draw a link between this Little Blackarms in the records and the monkey demon that was currently plaguing East Stream Village.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
In fact, chances were slim that the two were unrelated.
But if this Little Blackarms was truly the same creature as the monkey demon, then just about the entire village would be guilty of torturing it for entertainment in the past!
It was no surprise then that the monkey demon had returned for revenge.
In Madam Xie’s words, this would be karma.
“Did you invite me into the house just to show me this?” Zhao Yunxiao asked. “Who wrote this? Is it your son?”
Madam Xie nodded.
“What happened after this?” Zhao Yunxiao continued to ask. “Is it true that they died to wild beasts?”
The other villagers mentioned that Madam Xie had lost her son and daughter-in-law to wild beasts decades ago.
But could it be that they had lost their lives to the very same creature that they had rescued in the past?
All while trying to release it, no less.
Zhao Yunxiao did not know for sure, but there was definitely that possibility.
Madam Xie looked at him for a good few moments, then walked out to sit on a chair in the front hall.
Her eyes had lost the light of determination from earlier, and were glazed out once more, as though she had fallen into deep thought.
“May I take these with me?” Zhao Yunxiao asked with a sigh.
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***
“So, what have we got?” Mo Mian asked as everyone convened in his room that night.
“I will start,” Gui Longcan said. “I joined the fishing team today. Be it fortunate or not, the monkey demon did not show up this time. However, some of the fishermen are witnesses to past incidents, so they did tell me what they know about this demon, including how it looks and how it acts.”
“I went to check out the smith to look at the weapons that the guard team is using,” Pu Feixiang followed up. “They might be rather crudely crafted, but they are definitely sharp enough to be lethal. To be able to shrug off attacks from such blades means that the monkey demon is truly as tough as we had thought.”
“We have to keep that in mind when devising a plan to take it down,” Mo Mian reminded everyone. “What about you, Junior Martial Brother Zhao? Did you manage to find anything interesting?”
“Mm,” Zhao Yunxiao nodded solemnly.
With a flick of his wrists, a stack of paper appeared in his hands.
“What is this?” Mo Mian asked while receiving the papers from Zhao Yunxiao.
“Just some past records of the village,” Zhao Yunxiao said. “Specifically, this is the story of a strange monkey that used to stay in the village. Oh, and it happened to have black arms as well.”
Everyone’s expressions changed.
“Are you saying...?” Pu Feixiang asked.
“Read for yourself,” Zhao Yunxiao gestured towards the stack of paper.
And read, they did.
Before long, a solemn silence had fallen over the party as they tried to internalise what they had just read.
“If this is true, does that mean the villagers have been deliberately hiding this from us?” Gui Longcan was the first to ask.
“Perhaps they will say that it is because we didn’t ask,” Chu Han answered.
“How convenient,” Pu Feixiang sneered.
“Where is this from? Is it to be trusted?” Gui Longcan continued to probe.
“The village head will have to be the one answering those questions,” Mo Mian replied in place of Zhao Yunxiao.
At the same time, Zhao Yunxiao could see a fierce light flashing across his eyes.