Chapter 39: Ominous Curse

  As I saw them leave, I was actually a bit panicked, but I absolutely would not give in. In the darkness, many dark shadows were swaying, dull and rigid, some of the dark shadows jumped up and down like cats. I avoided them and quietly followed the old men.

  The dark cave seemed endless, but when I touched the side, I found that there were stone walls everywhere. We were in a narrow stone path. The three people walking ahead would stop from time to time. They obviously discovered that I was following them, but they didn't turn around to stop me.

  I heard a child's voice: "Dad, how can you let him off, he bullied me."

  The little kid was very stubborn and tried to turn around several times, but the old man grabbed him and shook him hard, and the little kid immediately shut up.

  Before long, a cave entrance appeared in front of them, and the three walked out. After they disappeared, I rushed up with one breath. The bright light was a bit dazzling, I squinted my eyes and opened them again, only to see that this cave entrance was exactly the entrance where I entered the stone cave. And outside the stone cave, the old man and others had already vanished.

  A wave of loneliness surged up in my heart at this moment, but the most deadly thing was not loneliness, but hunger. Since being brought to this godforsaken place by the old man yesterday, I hadn't had a drop of water, and now my stomach was growling with hunger, my whole body devoid of energy.

  Driven by hunger, I started walking around. After a long time, the ground was left with only wild grass and trees, and insects. When a bird finally flew over, I was powerless. In the end, I gave up and picked up an ant on the ground to eat.

  But just as I was about to take a bite, I hesitated again. This thing is going to give me nightmares for the rest of my life if I eat it, so let's wait and see if I can find something slightly more palatable instead. Thinking that, I threw away the grasshopper.

  After walking for a while longer, I still hadn't seen anything edible, so I sat down on the ground and didn't want to walk anymore. Just then, my head hurt as if something had hit me.

  Turning around, a mountain monkey was squatting on a stone not far away. This mountain monkey I had seen before, it was the one that little kid used to teach me a lesson when I went up the mountain that day.

  The moment I saw the mountain monkey, the strength on my body suddenly came back. At this moment, the mountain monkey in my eyes had turned into a delicious dish.

  I rushed up, and the mountain monkey ran away. The opportunity only came once, I used all my strength. The mountain monkey was very fast, but I was not slow either. In the mad rush, I picked up stones from the ground with one hand and kept throwing them at the mountain monkey.

  At last, the mountain monkey was hit on the head by me and its body tilted to one side. And with this one move, I rushed up and caught the mountain monkey. The mountain monkey struggled and glared at me fiercely. I grabbed its feet and slammed it down hard. Finally, the mountain monkey fainted and lay still.

  I was already panting and plopped myself down on the grass with a thud.

  I've never been so miserable, and yet at this moment, because of hunger, I'm going crazy. Staring at the mountain monkey in front of me, actually I don't have any appetite, but not eating means death, and I don't want to die here.

  So I picked up a stone and was about to crack open the mountain monkey's head. I remembered that old people said that the mountain monkey's head is a great tonic, eating its head can make people smarter, and the monkey's head is very delicious.

  In the city, there is an even more bizarre way of eating. They fix a monkey in a round hole on the dining table so that it cannot move, and then use a hammer to crack open the monkey's skull. Finally, they use a spoon to scoop out the brain from inside the monkey's head.

  The monkey's skull is opened, but it doesn't die. At this time, the spoon scoops up some brain matter, and the monkey will let out another "ahh" cry. In short, that scene isn't something ordinary people dare to look at, not to mention eat.

  I picked up a stone and threw it hard at the monkey's head. The monkey struggled for an instant, and its head started bleeding instantly. I raised the stone again, ready to continue hitting, when someone suddenly called out to me.

  "Let go of it at once!" I looked up to see the little brat standing not far away, staring anxiously at the langur in my hand.

  When I saw him, I was delighted, especially when I saw how tense he was about this monkey. I put down the stone and asked the little kid: "Why should I let it go?"

  The little kid's expression looked like he was about to cry: "Can't you just grant me this? He's my friend, don't hurt him."

  I let out a sound and my heart skipped a beat. I said to the little brat, "I won't hurt it if you want, but look at me, I don't even have anything to eat, what am I supposed to eat if I let it go?"

  The child wiped his face: "Wait for me, I'll go get you something to eat, I'll be right back."

  The little kid turned around and ran away, after a while he really ran back, holding a large pancake in one hand and a piece of oil paper wrapped with meat food in the other. I beckoned to him and said: "Bring things over and put them down."

  The little kid put the thing down next to me and cried out: "Hurry up and let go of my friend."

  I smiled at him and said: "I'll definitely let go, but look at me, I don't even have a place to live, how can I consider others?"

  The child said: "I'll find you a place to live."

  He turned around, beckoned to me with his hand, and then walked forward. I followed him with one hand holding the monkey and the other holding food. Before long, we came to a cave entrance, which was very hidden and small, and if it weren't for the little kid pointing it out, I wouldn't have found it at all.

  The kid said to me: "You can stay inside, nobody will find you here."

  I frowned: "But if I let the monkey go, you'll immediately get your dad to deal with me again. Won't that be a waste of effort? No way, I won't let you take it away."

  "The kid got angry: 'Are you going to let me go or not?'"

  I grabbed the monkey and held it high, saying to the kid: "Get lost, remember to deliver food on time for me from now on. If you don't send any one day, I'll kill the monkey that day, you deal with it yourself."

  After finishing this sentence, I crawled into the hole. I found that the hole was very spacious and dry, and it was simply two worlds compared to the hanging stone cave. After entering the hole, I felt a wave of fatigue, so I lay down on the ground at will.

  After lying down for a while, I went outside the cave to find some dry grass and happened to weave a rope, with which I tied up the monkey. From now on, this monkey's life is tied to mine.

  After eating, I went outside the cave to find some sturdy grass and made some small mechanisms. These small mechanisms were what I learned when I followed Niu Gai and Er Gou to hunt in the mountains that day. The mechanism was mainly to prevent little kids from stealing monkeys.

  After doing all this, I fell into a deep sleep.

  Time flies, and it's been several days. I'm quite satisfied with this little kid, who comes to deliver food on time every day. Every time he finishes delivering the food, he wants to see my monkey. Of course, I won't refuse him, so I take out the monkey for him to see. This little kid even brought some food for the monkey, which is surprisingly better than what I eat.

  It seems this little brat has a deep affection for monkeys, which makes me feel a bit more favorable towards him.

  In the past few days, the monkey has been injured and hasn't been causing much trouble, so I've been at ease. However, I mustn't be complacent about the current situation. Even though I no longer have my magic weapon, I still need to cultivate some self-defense techniques for myself.

  I caught a grasshopper outside the house, then tied its hands and feet as well as its wings with a rope, making it impossible for it to escape. After that, I used an extremely eerie and sinister medical technique on the grasshopper.

  This kind of ghost doctor technique is defined as an evil art in the book. However, the book also says that there is no absolute truth. That means even if it's an evil art, sometimes using it in the right place can make it a legitimate technique. Medicine is the same way, a surgical knife wielded poorly can become a murder weapon.

  After tying up the grasshopper, I would recite a spell to it every day and drip my middle finger's blood into a bowl of water. Of course, if there was no bowl, I could only use leaves instead.

  This curse is called the Fierce Curse, and it's called that because this curse can make an ordinary, extremely docile animal become fierce and violent. Just like these few ants in front of me, I can make them more ferocious than vicious dogs.

  The several locusts in front of me, which had been chanting for days, actually grew teeth and often bared their teeth at me, extremely ferocious.

  I am very satisfied in my heart and work continues.

  After a few more days, this little brat started to get impatient. Every time he finished delivering food to me, he would drag the monkey around for half a day before leaving. His eyes were filled with hatred, staring at me fiercely: "If you dare to hurt it, I'll make you regret it."

  I looked at the little brat and smiled slightly: "Whether I hurt it or not is up to you, you decide for yourself."

  The kid turned around and left, but I knew he was not convinced and would definitely come back for revenge. To say that after so many days, the little brat still hasn't sneaked back to take revenge, my good impression of him has actually intensified a lot.

  However, due to my daily pressure, he will eventually be unable to withstand it one day.

  That night, he really came. After I had finished making a few cicadas, I lay down to sleep. But as soon as I fell asleep, my mechanism was activated and woke me up.

  As I opened my eyes, I saw two people standing at the entrance of the cave, one big and one small. Both were motionless. In that instant, my heart sank, it seemed he finally couldn't bear it and had brought his old man over. I couldn't help but let out a chuckle, but inside, a wave of anger surged up.

  He is challenging me, unfortunately he is doomed to fail.

  I grabbed the monkey, picked it up casually, and walked towards the entrance of the cave. As I got closer, I stopped because I found that the big man standing at the entrance was not the old corpse-playing guy.

  I was stunned for a moment, and that person rushed in violently, extremely ferocious. The child also rushed in at this time, making an effort to grab the monkey from my arms.

  At this time I pulled a rope with one hand and untied a tied locust.

  Suddenly, the cicada opened its mouth wide in mid-air and bit down on the child's arm, causing the child to let out a blood-curdling scream.