King Kong swiftly climbed a tree, its figure disappearing into the leaves in no time. Zhuang Rui, below, couldn't see what it was doing and could only slowly ascend, his nerves on edge, wary of a venomous snake attack.
Most islands have snakes, which are natural enemies of seabirds. They are relatively rare in the foothills, but after entering the forest, Zhuang Rui found at least two snakes with colorful markings. He didn't know if they were venomous.
"Awooo!" King Kong leaped down from the tree, clutching a handful of cherry-sized, black fruits in his hand. He stuffed some into his mouth and handed a handful to Zhuang Rui.
What is this?
Zhuang Rui had never seen this thing before, but seeing how happily Jin Gang was eating it, he picked one up and put it in his mouth. Instantly, a sour and astringent taste reached his taste buds, and Zhuang Rui quickly spat it out.
"Ho ho!" Seeing Zhuang Rui spit out the fruit, King Kong was a little unhappy. He grabbed a handful of fruit and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing it vigorously, while constantly gesturing to Zhuang Rui that the fruit was delicious.
Unable to refuse such hospitality, and besides, the sourness could quench his thirst, Zhuang Rui followed Jin Gang's example, grabbing five or six fruits and chewing them.
At first, it tasted a bit sour, but as the flesh was chewed up, Zhuang Rui felt his mouth was full of sweetness. This taste was very unique. Zhuang Rui, who had eaten hundreds of kinds of fruit, had never encountered it before.
After finishing the dozen or so fruits in his hand, Zhuang Rui looked at King Kong; these things were really delicious.
"Hmph," King Kong was very happy to see that Zhuang Rui had listened to him. After hmphing a few times, he gave Zhuang Rui the remaining fruit in his hand and hopped ahead to lead the way up the mountain.
After passing through this mountain forest, the terrain became slightly higher, and the mountains were mostly covered with shrubs, with very few tall plants.
The mountain surface has many caves. When passing through these caves, some startled small animals would occasionally emerge from them, and King Kong would excitedly chase and play with them for a while. It didn't want to eat these things; it just found them fun.
After walking for nearly an hour, Zhuang Rui realized that he had only climbed halfway up the mountain, and apart from some seabirds and small animals, there were no secrets on the mountain that Zhuang Rui wanted to know.
"King Kong, where did you used to sleep at night?"
Zhuang Rui pulled Jin Gang back and gestured as if he were sleeping.
"Oh, oh," King Kong pointed forward with his arm, the excitement he had felt while climbing the mountain vanished instantly, replaced by a hint of sadness in his eyes.
After walking for another ten minutes or so, Zhuang Rui saw Jin Gang standing in front of a rock, suddenly stopping in his tracks. He was a little surprised and asked, "Jin Gang, what's wrong?"
Jin Gang did not answer Zhuang Rui's question. Instead, he stood by the rock and pushed it forcefully. The rock, which seemed to be rooted in the ground, slowly began to move, revealing an opening behind it.
"Damn, what's that smell...?"
As soon as Zhuang Rui approached the cave entrance, he was forced to back away by a putrid stench.
King Kong didn't enter the cave; he just stood at the entrance, letting out a mournful cry. Zhuang Rui could see clearly that tears were sliding down King Kong's face.
"This...this is the gorillas' graveyard?"
The smell in the cave was so unbearable that Zhuang Rui simply used his spiritual energy to look inside. What he saw shocked him: the cave, which was thirty or forty meters deep, contained the skeletons of dozens of gorillas of various sizes.
The closer the skeleton is to the inside of the cave, the smaller it is and the more decayed it is, revealing the stark white bones. As the order changes, the size of the gorilla increases.
The two outermost ones are almost as good as King Kong, and their bodies are not badly decayed, their fur is still intact, so they must have been dead for a short time.
These two should be King Kong's parents. Judging from the size of the gorillas in the cave, King Kong's size may be due to mutations caused by inbreeding and changes in the living environment.
Zhuang Rui now understands that King Kong runs up the mountain every day, perhaps to remember his parents, and that in his generation, he has become the only gorilla on this deserted island.
"King Kong, come on, let's go play in the mountains..."
Seeing King Kong's sad appearance, Zhuang Rui couldn't bear it. He quickly used his spiritual energy to nourish King Kong and then spoke to divert its attention.
Chapter 836 The Pirate's Treasure (Part 1)
Zhuang Rui's trick usually works well, but it failed this time. Jin Gang, who was only making whimpering sounds, suddenly sat down on the ground and started crying loudly, beating his chest and stamping his feet, behaving just like a child.
"Damn it, I'm even upset now..."
Seeing Jin Gang's condition, Zhuang Rui was overcome with grief. He had been stranded on this deserted island for almost a month. Judging by the time, his wife was probably already in labor. Thinking of his family, Zhuang Rui burst into tears.
Although their motivations differed, both were longing for their loved ones. The two primates sat on the ground and burst into tears.
After a long while, King Kong was the first to stop his grief. He stood up and moved the large rock back. On this island, no one but him could move the rock and disturb his family.
However, Zhuang Rui couldn't hold back anymore. Thinking that he might never see his mother, wife, and children again in this life, and would have to stay on the deserted island as a wild man, Zhuang Rui couldn't stop his tears from falling down his face, which left Jin Gang a little at a loss.
"Ho ho," King Kong pulled Zhuang Rui with his hand, raised his arms, made a few gestures, and then pointed to the mountain, as if to tell Zhuang Rui that there were fun things there.
Suppressing his grief, Zhuang Rui stood up. He couldn't think about this; if he did, he wouldn't be able to go on living. He was already very lucky to have survived the ocean waves.
Seeing that Zhuang Rui had stopped crying, Jin Gang was overjoyed and shouted excitedly. He took the lead and ran up the mountain, turning back to signal Zhuang Rui to follow.
To be honest, Zhuang Rui had lost all interest in sightseeing at this point, and there was no need to continue exploring this extinct volcano. He was only following behind King Kong because he didn't want to upset this big guy whose intelligence was only that of a five or six-year-old child.
After walking for more than ten minutes, they were not far from the top of the mountain. About seven or eight meters in front of Zhuang Rui, a dark cave entrance appeared.
The cave entrance wasn't very large, only about a meter square. However, Zhuang Rui glanced at it with his spiritual energy and found that the cave was extremely deep, so deep that even with his spiritual energy detection range of 500 meters, he couldn't see the end.
Although the cave was pitch black, it did not prevent Zhuang Rui from probing with his spiritual energy.
The cave floor was uneven and initially seemed a bit narrow, but the further you went in, the wider the cave became. At a depth of two or three hundred meters, it was already more than ten meters high, and many branches branched out, leading in all directions, like a maze.
Inside the cave, there is a stream, and many stalactites with strange shapes grow on the cave ceiling. If this were to appear in China, it would definitely become an excellent tourist destination after development.
However, during the process of releasing spiritual energy, Zhuang Rui felt that the released spiritual energy was constantly decreasing, which made him a little strange, so he quickly withdrew the spiritual energy.
"Could that sheepskin be a map of the cave?"
Zhuang Rui, having withdrawn his spiritual energy, was still pondering the winding terrain inside the cave when suddenly a thought struck him. He remembered the piece of leather he had found in the wooden house; the messy lines on it bore a striking resemblance to the complex network of lines in the cave.
The more Zhuang Rui thought about it, the more it seemed likely. The leather had no markings, only winding lines, which were very likely a map of the cave.
This discovery excited Zhuang Rui. Pirate treasure is an irresistible temptation for anyone in the world. For hundreds of years, countless people have excavated on some famous pirate islands in an attempt to uncover the treasures that famous pirates mysteriously disappeared.
Although Zhuang Rui was not short of money, he would not complain about having too much. Even though money was useless on this deserted island, Zhuang Rui was still so excited about his discovery that he wanted to run into the cave as soon as possible.
For others, entering this cave is like entering a maze, especially since it's pitch black inside. Even with a torch as a marker, you might not be able to find your way back when you turn around.
But none of this is a problem for Zhuang Rui. Even if he goes out of the spiritual energy's field of vision, Zhuang Rui has a way to get out, and he can also find the fastest way to the depths of the cave.
"Awoo!" King Kong didn't know what Zhuang Rui was doing, but when he saw Zhuang Rui trying to crawl into the cave, he jumped to the cave entrance and waved his arms to stop Zhuang Rui from going in.
"King Kong, what's wrong?"
Zhuang Rui found it a bit strange. He had just used his spiritual energy to check the cave, and there didn't seem to be any danger inside. The most likely scenario was that he would get lost inside, but that was not a problem for him at all.
"Hehe..."
King Kong looked a little anxious. He picked up a fist-sized rock from the ground, then glanced furtively into the cave before swinging his long arm and smashing it into the cave.
The stone struck the rock wall with a dull thud, but what followed left Zhuang Rui speechless, as the once quiet cave began to boil with the sound of the stone.
From the cave entrance, one could see a large number of dark shadows suddenly appear inside the cave, flying around and covering the entire cave. Some of the shadows even flew outside the cave entrance.
"Holy crap, a bat?"
Zhuang Rui now knew why the spiritual energy had inexplicably decreased; it was all being absorbed into the bodies of these bats. The bats hanging upside down from the cave ceiling hadn't caught Zhuang Rui's attention at the time; he had mistaken them for some protruding rocks.
Looking at the dense, dark shadows inside the cave, Zhuang Rui couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine. Although bats feed on mosquitoes, vampire bats do exist in the world, and this is not a legend, but a real creature.
Zhuang Rui didn't know if the bats in the cave were vampire bats. If they were, it would cause great trouble for his cave exploration.
Bats are naturally drawn to the night. Several bats that flew out of the cave immediately screamed upon seeing the sunlight outside, and the sound was extremely unpleasant.
However, King Kong, who was waiting outside the cave, was very excited. Before the bats could fly back, he swung his hand and slapped them down one by one.
King Kong's arms possessed the strength of a thousand pounds; the bats he struck were instantly reduced to a bloody mess, clearly beyond saving.
What King Kong did next made Zhuang Rui feel disgusted. King Kong grabbed a bat on the ground with his palm and stuffed it into his mouth. Red blood dripped down King Kong's big mouth.
"Awooo..."
Seven or eight bats wouldn't even be enough to fill a gap in Zhuang Rui's teeth, but this guy hadn't forgotten Zhuang Rui. He actually saved the last one and put it right in front of Zhuang Rui's mouth.
"Go away, I'm not eating this..."
Upon seeing the bat that resembled a rat, Zhuang Rui quickly pushed King Kong's hand away, but snatched the bat away instead, wanting to see if it was a vampire bat.
Zhuang Rui learned in biology class that vampire bats are not very big, with the largest not exceeding 9 centimeters in length, and their tails, which are not exposed, are mainly dark brown in color.
Vampire bats are easily recognizable by their appearance. They have a U-shaped groove on the tip of their nose, triangular ear tips, long and sharp canines, and well-developed, slightly triangular, and razor-sharp upper incisors that can pierce the protruding parts of other animals to feed on them.
"Thank goodness, it wasn't a vampire bat..."
After carefully examining the dead bat, Zhuang Rui felt relieved. It was a common big-eared bat that feeds on mosquitoes and insects and would not attack humans.
However, the swarms of bats in the cave were also a headache for Zhuang Rui. He was completely naked, and if he were accidentally scratched by these bats, he could very well contract a virus.
Using fire and smoke to drive them away? That's simply not realistic. This cave must be at least 500 meters deep. How much firewood would that require?
Moreover, he didn't know if the cave had another exit. If he finished his work and there was still air circulation in other places, wouldn't Zhuang Rui be devastated?
"King Kong, how about we go inside and have some fun?"
After thinking for a long time, Zhuang Rui still couldn't come up with a solution, so he immediately set his sights on King Kong. This guy has thick skin and flesh, so the bats shouldn't be able to do anything to him, right?
"Ho ho!" King Kong's reaction was somewhat unexpected by Zhuang Rui. The guy shook his head repeatedly and put his hands behind his head, looking very afraid of the cave.
Zhuang Rui didn't know that when King Kong was young, he mischievously ran into a cave, but was chased out by countless bats, which almost blinded him.
From then on, King Kong only dared to throw stones at the cave entrance and catch a few bats to eat to vent his anger. He would never dare to let it enter the cave again, even if it were beaten to death.
Zhuang Rui was somewhat unwilling. That map made him itchy to go inside and take a look; he probably wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully at night.
Seeing Zhuang Rui pacing back and forth at the cave entrance, Jin Gang's eyes darted around. He grabbed Zhuang Rui, pointed to the cave, and then pointed towards it.
"Can we get in from other places too?"
Having spent so much time with King Kong, Zhuang Rui's understanding of gorilla body language is definitely no less than that of a scientist who has studied gorillas for decades.
"Ho ho," King Kong nodded repeatedly.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go..."
The cave did indeed extend upwards, and there might even be an entrance at the top of the mountain. Zhuang Rui excitedly followed Jin Gang up the mountain.
The gentle slope of five or six hundred meters was climbed in just over ten minutes. The mountaintop was very open, about three or four hundred square meters in size, and there were still traces of the volcano. It was sunken into a pit four or five meters deep, where nothing grew.
King Kong did not stop at the top of the mountain, but ran to the other side and ran down for only two or three minutes, at most a hundred or two meters, before stopping in front of a rock wall covered with vines.
"Hey, is this your hideout?"
Zhuang Rui saw that King Kong had parted the vines to reveal a cave entrance, and he couldn't help but laugh. He had already used his spiritual energy to check the cave, and there were many sugarcane stalks inside. King Kong must have lived here before he met him.
The cave appeared to be only a dozen meters deep, but Zhuang Rui used his spiritual energy to discover that behind the innermost rock in the cave, there was actually a hole about fifty or sixty centimeters in diameter.
Behind the hole, the scene was exactly the same as what was seen on the other side of the mountain: a winding, labyrinthine mountain maze.
Zhuang Rui wasn't in a hurry to check the situation inside the maze, but instead followed King Kong into the cave.