Chapter 59: Monkey Army

It was noon.

The faint aroma of rice filled the air inside the air-raid shelter beneath the city library.

Maya and Lana sat together, each holding an enamel bowl as they carefully sipped warm white porridge.

It was the first hot meal they had eaten since the water and electricity went out after the apocalypse began.

"Wow, this porridge smells so good!"

Lana licked the corner of her mouth, her eyes narrowing into happy crescents.

Penny sat nearby, watching her two younger sisters eat with obvious satisfaction. A complicated feeling settled in her chest.

For the first time in days, they looked like normal children again.

Not survivors hiding from zombies.

Not frightened children waiting for someone to break through the shelter door.

Just two little girls enjoying a warm meal.

A small generator hummed quietly in the corner of the shelter.

That morning, when Ethan had somehow produced the generator, rice cooker, and other kitchen supplies out of thin air, the three girls had been completely stunned.

"Is Ethan a god?"

Lana had tugged on Ethan’s sleeve, staring at him with undisguised admiration.

Ethan had smiled and ruffled her hair.

"Pretty much. I’ve got a treasure pouch that can produce whatever I need."

Maya and Lana had believed him without hesitation.

"Ethan is amazing!"

Their excited cheers had echoed through the shelter.

Penny, however, had immediately seen through the lie.

Treasure pouch?

There was no such thing.

Ethan had clearly awakened a space-related Ability.

But she never exposed him.

If her sisters wanted to believe he was some kind of miracle worker, she had no reason to ruin it for them.

The apocalypse had taken enough from them already.

If a little harmless hope could make their lives easier, she would let them have it.

Penny had wanted to leave the shelter with Ethan that morning, but he had refused.

Instead, he had told her to stay behind and get some sleep.

"Who wants to sleep..." she had muttered.

Still, she had eventually leaned against the bedding.

She had spent the entire night awake, watching Ethan.

She had been terrified that he might try something with her sisters while they were asleep.

But Ethan had simply leaned against the wall and slept through the night.

He hadn’t even looked in their direction.

He really didn’t touch us.

Penny quietly exhaled.

Relief washed over her, followed by a strange sense of awkwardness.

When Ethan had told her yesterday that he wasn’t interested in "little kids," she hadn’t paid much attention to his words.

Now she finally understood what he meant.

I’m eighteen. I’m just skinny. How does that make me a little kid?

She glanced down at her own thin frame and immediately felt discouraged.

"Hmph. He’s treating me like I’m invisible."

She folded her arms and turned her face away.

Meanwhile, Ethan was nowhere near the shelter.

He was fighting a Mutant Golden Snub-nosed Monkey behind the city library.

He had barely stepped outside when the creature appeared.

It stood roughly half the height of an adult human, its body covered in long golden fur. Its claws were sharp enough to tear through flesh, and it was gripping a two-meter-long iron rod in both hands.

If someone dressed it in ancient armor and handed it a staff, it would look almost identical to the Monkey King from the old stories.

But the strangest part wasn’t its appearance.

It was its eyes.

Its pitch-black pupils were filled with intelligence and cunning.

Ethan’s Spatial Cut swept toward its hind legs.

The monkey reacted instantly.

It twisted sideways with an almost human-like movement, dodging the attack before swinging the iron rod straight at Ethan’s head.

Ethan’s expression hardened.

Even more strangely, his Gravity Control had no effect on it.

"Damn. Did this thing actually become a demon?"

He stepped aside.

The iron rod smashed into the ground where his head had been a moment earlier.

Bang!

The pavement cracked beneath the impact, sending broken pieces of concrete flying.

The force behind the attack was ridiculous.

Could it have awakened some kind of Ability that counters gravity?

Ethan narrowed his eyes.

The monkey was faster than an ordinary Speed Ability user, and its intelligence made it even more dangerous.

It didn’t simply attack blindly.

It used its surroundings.

It knew when to retreat.

It knew how to exploit openings.

And worst of all, it had already noticed Ethan’s injured shoulder.

Every time it attacked, the iron rod deliberately aimed for the same spot.

"You’ve got no sense of fair play!"

Ethan cursed as he narrowly avoided another swing.

The monkey suddenly opened its mouth.

Then, to Ethan’s disbelief, it formed letters with its lips.

SB.

Ethan’s expression went blank.

Did that damn monkey just insult me?

The fight continued for more than twenty minutes.

By the end of it, three deep claw marks had been torn across Ethan’s back.

The monkey wasn’t unscathed either.

Half of its tail had been severed by Spatial Cut.

It now crouched on a tree branch several meters away, baring its teeth and releasing low, threatening growls.

The noise had attracted attention.

More than a dozen survivors had gathered nearby.

None of them dared approach, but their eyes constantly shifted between Ethan, the monkey, and the things scattered around the battlefield.

Some looked frightened.

Others looked greedy.

Farther away, more than twenty zombies were slowly stumbling toward the area.

Ethan glanced at them.

This needs to end now.

He tightened his grip on his sword.

Then he suddenly charged toward the tree.

He deliberately exposed his right side, making himself look vulnerable.

The monkey fell for it.

With a sharp screech, it launched itself from the branch.

The iron rod came straight toward Ethan’s throat.

At the last possible moment, Ethan dropped his body.

His left hand gathered spatial energy.

But instead of attacking the monkey, he slashed toward a nearby fire hydrant.

Bang!

The hydrant split open.

A powerful stream of reddish-brown water exploded from the broken pipe and struck the monkey directly.

The creature screamed as the water soaked its fur.

For half a second, its movements slowed.

That was enough.

Ethan stepped forward.

His sword drove straight into the monkey’s eye socket.

"Squeak!"

The monkey let out a shrill, agonizing cry.

Its body convulsed several times before going limp.

Ethan pulled his sword free and immediately split open its skull.

A golden Core, roughly the size of a walnut, rolled onto the ground.

"Finally."

He picked it up and stored it inside his Survival Space.

Then he heard the unmistakable sound of a rifle being cocked behind him.

Click.

"Kid. Long time no see."

The sinister voice made Ethan turn around.

Five men wearing black tank tops stood several meters away, rifles aimed directly at him.

Ethan recognized them immediately.

They were Max’s men, the same group he had encountered at the stadium the previous day.

The rifles in their hands were military-grade.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

"Max really thinks highly of me. He sent this many people just to throw their lives away."

His fingers tightened around his sword.

He could teleport away immediately.

But he didn’t want to.

He wanted to deal with these men.

The problem was the guns.

If he charged them head-on, he would be giving them an easy opportunity to riddle him with bullets.

He needed to create an opening first.

The man standing in front sneered.

"Enough talking. Max wants you alive or dead. He doesn’t care which."

He raised his rifle slightly.

"Be smart and surrender. Otherwise, we’ll shoot you where you stand."

Before Ethan could answer, strange squeaking sounds suddenly came from every direction.

Both Ethan and the leader instinctively looked up.

Ethan’s expression changed.

Hundreds of Mutant Golden Snub-nosed Monkeys had appeared on the surrounding rooftops, trees, and balconies.

Their golden bodies filled the branches.

Their black eyes were all fixed on the dead monkey lying on the ground.

Low, angry growls echoed through the street.

Shit.

Ethan’s heart tightened.

The five gunmen panicked as well.

They quickly raised their rifles toward the nearest monkeys.

"Get lost!"

"Come any closer and we’ll shoot!"

But no one pulled the trigger.

Several larger monkeys descended first.

They surrounded the corpse and carefully lifted it from the ground.

The largest one stared at the rifles in the men’s hands.

Its black eyes narrowed.

Then it suddenly released a piercing screech.

"Squeak!"

The entire troop moved.

Hundreds of monkeys surged forward at once, pouring through the streets and across the rooftops like a golden wave.

Some leaped directly at the gunmen’s faces.

Others grabbed at their arms.

Several went straight for the rifles.

The five men managed to fire only two shots.

Then the monkeys were on them.

Their screams disappeared beneath the frenzy of claws, teeth, and furious screeching.

"Damn it!"

Ethan immediately used the chaos to his advantage.

He activated Teleportation twice in rapid succession and appeared on the second floor of a nearby residential building.

He crouched beside a window and carefully looked outside.

What he saw made his scalp prickle.

The monkeys weren’t simply attacking.

They were learning.

One monkey had grabbed a rifle.

It clearly had no idea how to pull the trigger, but it had already figured out that humans carried the weapon over their shoulders.

It swung the rifle like a club.

Bang! Bang!

The weapon smashed repeatedly into one of the fallen bodies.

Another monkey was crouched nearby, awkwardly poking at the trigger with one claw.

It didn’t understand how the weapon worked yet.

But it refused to stop trying.

Ethan’s face grew serious.

Are these things turning into a monkey army?

Mutant creatures having intelligence wasn’t necessarily the most frightening thing.

What truly worried him was their ability to learn.

They were watching humans.

Copying humans.

Adapting.

And now they were beginning to understand human weapons.

Several minutes later, the gunshots stopped.

So did the screams.

The five men from Max’s group were dead.

Several nearby survivors who had failed to escape were dead as well, their bodies reduced to little more than scattered bones.

The monkeys gathered around the corpse of their fallen companion.

They stood unusually quietly, surrounding it from every direction.

It almost looked like a strange funeral ceremony.

Ethan had originally planned to wait until the monkeys left and then retrieve the rifles.

But when he saw them gathering the weapons into one place, with the largest monkey standing guard over them, he immediately abandoned the idea.

Not worth it.

He slowly stepped away from the window.

Then he froze.

The largest monkey suddenly raised its head.

Its pitch-black eyes locked directly onto the window.

Onto him.

Ethan’s breathing stopped for a moment.

It had found him.

The monkey stared at him through the glass.

Then its lips slowly pulled back.

Sharp teeth appeared.

It almost looked like the creature was smiling.

Ethan’s expression turned grim.

The monkey reached down and picked up one of the rifles.

Then, with surprising steadiness, it raised the weapon.

The barrel pointed directly toward Ethan’s window.

His heart jumped into his throat.

It knows I’m here.

And judging by the way it was holding the rifle...

It might actually have learned how to use it.