Chapter 194: Light at the End of the Tunnel

Chapter 194: Chapter 194: Light at the End of the Tunnel

Compared to the time and effort it took to communicate with the koala, interacting with the little monkey was noticeably easier. At the very least, Liang He no longer needed to gesticulate wildly to help it understand her.

"SQUEAK SQUEAK! SQUEAK SQUEAK!" The little monkey thought for a moment before suddenly jumping up and down. It bounded over to the riverbank. Just as Liang He worried it might fall in and stepped forward to stop it, the ensuing scene froze her in place.

"Is... is it performing?"

Beside her, Hoder clearly hadn’t seen this kind of spectacle either. His eyes were wide open, staring unblinkingly at the little monkey’s every move.

"More accurately, it’s imitating." Liang He recalled a monkey’s natural trait: they were adept at mimicking humans. Since it couldn’t speak, it could only answer Liang He’s questions this way.

The two of them stared intently at the little monkey. Liang He even turned on her Light Brain’s video recording function so she could review it repeatedly later and prevent missing any details.

"SQUEAK!"

Seeing this, the little monkey simply started its act from a distance. On all fours, it peeked cautiously from behind a tree, its vigilant gaze observing the surrounding movements.

"Is it imitating that person’s sneaky behavior?" A guilty conscience, coupled with the fear of being caught on camera, would indeed make someone act so covertly.

"But why is it on all fours?" The little monkey was capable of walking on two legs like a human. Why did it look more like it was mimicking an animal?

"Let’s keep watching first." Compared to the question-filled Hoder, Liang He was more accustomed to watching with complete concentration before analyzing things.

The little monkey continued to approach the riverbank on all fours. This time, its demeanor became self-assured. It swaggered confidently, seemingly unafraid of being discovered.

"Why is there such a massive contrast? What gave that person such confidence?" Liang He muttered to herself, though she didn’t forget to keep observing.

Upon successfully reaching the riverbank, the little monkey looked left, right, front, and back, as if saying it hadn’t spotted any anomalies. Then, it laid its body flat and submerged its chin into the river.

"Weird. That doesn’t look like drinking water either. Who drinks with their chin?" Hoder found it truly baffling. Was this little monkey just messing with them?

When the little monkey climbed up from the riverbank, the fur on its chin and neck was completely wet. It excitedly began to gesticulate, pointing at its own neck while hopping up and down, trying to make Liang He and Hoder understand.

"Are you saying they wore something on their neck?"

"SQUEAK SQUEAK! SQUEAK SQUEAK!"

Hearing Liang He guess the correct answer, the little monkey became extremely thrilled. And thanks to its series of performances, Liang He vaguely formed an unbelievable hypothesis.

"What thing? Liang He, you understood that?" Hoder’s Combat Power was quite good, but he really hated using his brain. This might have actually been too difficult for him.

Liang He patiently explained it to him. "From our perspective, the little monkey is just resting its chin in the water. But from a bird’s-eye view—meaning the surveillance camera’s angle—it looks like it’s drinking normally, just a bit lazy and preferring to lie down."

A different angle would yield a different conclusion. If the little monkey’s imitation was accurate, it meant the culprit was pretending to be an animal drinking water, using the opportunity to let the poison worn around their neck dissolve into the river.

"However, does such a realistic animal suit even exist?" Liang He looked at the riverbank in confusion, then glanced up at the surveillance camera. No matter how severe a visual illusion could be, it shouldn’t be enough to pass off a human in a costume as a real animal, right?

But upon hearing her explanation, Hoder’s body jolted. He seemed to have figured out the crucial point, though he didn’t mention it to Liang He.

"Liang He, since we’ve already gotten our clues, let’s head back first. If we stay out too long, it’ll be easy for others to spot us."

"Alright." Liang He placed the koala back onto the eucalyptus tree where it originally stayed. Then, she took out some food from her bag and gave it to the little monkey to express her gratitude. "I’ll bring you guys more delicious food in a couple of days. Thank you."

Since she hadn’t known she would encounter a koala, Liang He hadn’t prepared any eucalyptus leaves. She could only wait a couple of days to deliver them.

Receiving the food, the little monkey’s eyes shone brightly. It already knew Liang He wasn’t a bad person, so it happily snuggled up to her, even letting Liang He pet its head.

"Okay, I need to go back now. Pay attention to your safety, protect yourselves, and don’t drink the water here, got it?"

After habitually instructing them a few times, Liang He finally mounted the Mojin King Tiger, which had been waiting for a long time, and headed towards the service area. By the time they safely returned to the dormitory, it was already three or four in the morning.

"ROAR~"

"SCREECH~"

Seeing Liang He return, the Platinum Giant Lion and Canglan Hunting Eagle immediately surrounded her, circling her with concern to confirm she was safe.

"Alright, alright, I’m fine. You guys go back to sleep. I’m sleepy too." Liang He climbed onto the large bed and glanced at the Iron-eating Beast, who was still unconscious. Seeing no abnormalities, she simply lay down beside him to catch up on her sleep.

Meanwhile, the Mojin King Tiger and Mengji Snow Leopard stood obediently at the door. They dipped their paws into the basin of warm water Hoder had fetched, then cooperatively wiped the mud off on the towel spread out on the floor. Once they were wiped clean, they also hopped onto the bed, found comfortable spots, and went to sleep.

As for Hoder, after pouring out their footbath water, he retreated to the bathroom and began reporting the investigation’s findings to Huo An.

"Are you saying the monkey told Liang He that an animal poisoned the water?" Huo An knew they were making a move tonight, so he had stayed up waiting. However, the news he finally received caught him somewhat by surprise. But with Hoder’s subsequent theory, the fog seemed to gradually clear, revealing a corner of the truth.

"I suspect it might be a Beastman." Other than that, Hoder couldn’t think of any other possibilities.

If it were a simple animal being used by the Rebel Army to drop poison, it wouldn’t consciously try to evade the surveillance cameras. Nor would it be afraid of accidentally drinking the tainted water, deliberately lying down and only letting the water touch its chin to fake drinking.

"A Beastman..." Huo An pursed his lips. Hoder’s guess wasn’t unreasonable.

Previously, due to conventional thinking, they had been tracking human footprints. But if it were a Beastman appearing in the forest in their Beast Form, it certainly wouldn’t attract any attention.

"The vast majority of Beastmen are registered, but there are always those who slip through the net. Not to mention, it’s not like the Federation hasn’t had defecting Beastmen before. It’s completely normal for them to be recruited by the Rebel Army."

Human hearts were hard to read, and the same applied to Beastmen. Their innate strength inevitably made them the sharp blades of the Federation, though the Federation generally operated on a voluntary basis. If one didn’t wish to join the Federation Army, they only needed to regularly attend the Beastman Association’s registration follow-ups to verify they were still controllable.

However, there was a faction of Beastmen who craved fame and fortune but were cowardly and afraid of death. They would desert at the crucial moment; such individuals were required to face trial at the Federal Court.

"Indeed, we’ve all overlooked this point until now." Huo An nodded in profound agreement. In recent years, the Rebel Army’s primary offensive force had always been the Fierce Beast Army. This caused them to subconsciously ignore the possibility of Beastmen being involved. It was truly an oversight in their work. "I’ll inform Kerry about this and have him investigate along these lines. Liang He didn’t get suspicious, did she?"