Chapter 870: The Wonder of Evolution
"You killed someone," Xu Huo reminded her.
"So what if I did?" the female player said. "The host never said we couldn't kill during the mission. At worst, I fail the instance. I didn't want to swallow that anger anyway!"
The moment that woman tried to abandon her and Xu Huo to leave, it meant there could be no friendship between them.
Speaking of which, could anyone who came in here truly have friendships?
The two followed the monkeys to find the next entry-exit hatch. The female player added, "This instance wants us dead. In the game, what pure friendship is there?"
Add a modifier, and the difficulty multiplies exponentially.
"The boat will straighten itself out when it reaches the bridge. No need to be so defeatist," Xu Huo said.
The female player scoffed. "Failing the instance isn't the end of the world. It's not like I'm completely giving up."
The two advanced through the dense forest. They walked for a long time without receiving any location prompt for the entry-exit hatch. After another ten minutes, Xu Huo stopped, first releasing a few monkeys before warning the female player, "Something's coming."
The female player immediately pulled out an electric whip, glaring at the monkeys with hostility. "They deliberately led us here!"
"Squeak squeak!" These evolved monkeys were extremely clever. They chirped at her twice before quickly scattering in all directions. Their small frames vanished in an instant, and the female player had no time to deal with them, because ahead, the grass and trees were being flattened—clearly a mutant animal of considerable size.
But Xu Huo was more perceptive. He spotted the giant beast first, but there were no other predators chasing it. This giant beast was running at full speed, changing direction several times along the way, as if fleeing in panic. Now that the distance had closed, he heard another sound—a faint, dense noise covering a much wider area, seemingly blanketing the entire jungle floor!
Realizing what this might be, he leaped into the air on the spot, grabbing the kite string to lift himself out of the jungle.
Once he had some distance from the ground, the fleeing mutant animal also reached this area. It was a beast three times the size of a normal cheetah, which scrambled up a nearby tree in panic.
Coincidentally, that tree was also where the white monkeys were hiding. When it climbed up, several white monkeys quickly jumped to other trees. But this was the tallest tree nearby, and the leading white monkey didn't want to give up its territory. It confronted the mutant leopard in the tree. However, soon the tree began to sway without any wind.
At first, it was a slight tremor. A few seconds later, it tilted to one side.
"What the hell is that?!" The female player, holding a propeller-like prop, stared at the dense black mass at the base of the tree in shock.
"It looks like some kind of ant," Xu Huo said vaguely. In truth, those things no longer looked much like ants. The colorful ants the female player had caught earlier were strange in size and color, but at least they were clearly ants. These things had evolved a pair of mantis-like grasping legs, bodies the length of a finger, and their mouthparts had grown abnormally large. In seconds, they could gnaw down a large tree.
Their target was the living creatures in the tree.
After the tree fell, the ant swarm quickly changed direction, heading straight for the mutant leopard.
Mutated animals had increased intelligence and abilities. The mutant leopard bolted the moment the tree fell, but the monkey was pinned beneath it.
The main force of the ant swarm astonishingly sped off to chase the mutant leopard, leaving only a small group to crawl toward the tree.
"Squeak squeak! Squeak squeak!" The remaining white monkeys scratched their ears and cheeks in panic on the tree. One of them spotted Xu Huo, imitating a human by kneeling on a branch and kowtowing to him.
"These monkeys are pretty smart..." The female player cut herself off mid-sentence, then said in surprise, "You're not actually going to save a few beasts, are you!"
The kite string landed precisely on that white monkey. But the prop didn't necessarily work on animals. Xu Huo thought he wouldn't be able to pull it up, but the white monkey actively grabbed the kite string and screeched at him.
Xu Huo dragged it out. The little thing was probably terrified. It climbed two meters along the string on its own, tail tucked, dangling in midair, screeching and looking down.
The ant swarm took three full minutes to pass completely. They caused little damage to the plants but devoured many small animals, leaving bones scattered messily in the grass.
"Evolution is terrifying." The female player picked up an animal bone. "There are bite marks all over it. In another two years, they might even eat the bones clean."
Xu Huo was more interested in the monkeys.
Primates were intelligent, but not to the point of independent thought. They usually relied on imitation or could be trained through fixed methods. These white monkeys actually knew to beg him for help, showing they had surpassed animal intelligence and learned some human ways of expression.
He wondered how far these animals would evolve given time.
He placed the white monkey back on the tree and waved. "Goodbye."
The monkeys crouched in a row, staring at him. Then the leader pointed in a certain direction before leading its companions away through the trees.
Xu Huo decided to head in the direction the monkey had pointed.
But the female player disagreed. "Who knows if those monkeys deliberately led us to the ant swarm earlier. That direction might also be dangerous. The jungle is huge—can't we find another entry-exit hatch?"
Xu Huo pointed at the sky. "It's getting dark."
Although players could use other means to see at night, nocturnal hunters were especially agile. Since the dangers encountered during the day were still within control, it was best to get out while they could.
"Let's check it out first. If not, we'll search along the way." Xu Huo judged the direction. "My entry-exit hatch isn't far from here."
The female player thought that made sense and said nothing more.
The two hadn't gone far in the direction the white monkey had pointed when they received a prompt. But by the time they sped up to reach the spot, someone had already arrived.
The person had already peeled away the bark used to conceal the hatch and was trying to open it.
"Did you two complete your missions too?" That player spotted them and turned around happily. "This entry-exit hatch seems broken. I can't open it."
The two didn't approach. The female player said, "A damaged entry-exit hatch will automatically seal shut. If you can't open it, you'd better not break it. Maybe someone will come to repair it later."
"I see." The player said helplessly, "I can't open it anyway. Why don't you two give it a try?"
"Careful," the female player warned.
Although he said they should try, he didn't step aside. If he had truly completed his mission, he wouldn't need to do that.
Xu Huo saw through it too. But to avoid being cut off, he used "Straight Line Distance" to teleport to the hatch door while simultaneously activating "Same-Sex Repulsion."