I Abandoned My Beast Cubs for the Protagonist... Oops?-Chapter 32: Welcome to Monkey Hell

Bai Yue’s stomach was somewhere back in the clearing, possibly being comforted by Zhāo Yàn, while the rest of her body was currently experiencing what could only be described as "aggressive aerial kidnapping."

"YOU NEED TO SLOW DOWN!" she shrieked, her fingers digging into the monkey’s furry arm. "I AM GOING TO DIE! I AM GOING TO FALL AND DIE AND BECOME A PANCAKE!"

"I do not know what...pancake means. But relax, shiny-female!" the monkey laughed, his voice far too cheerful for someone committing a felony. "We haven’t dropped anyone in at least... hmm... three days!"

"THREE DAYS?!"

"I am kidding! It was four!"

"THAT’S NOT BETTER!"

They swung through the canopy with terrifying speed, vines whipping past her face, leaves slapping her arms. The ground below was a distant, blurry nightmare, and Bai Yue made the executive decision to close her eyes and pretend she was on a very, very poorly designed amusement park ride. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

After what felt like a lifetime of gravity-defying terror, though the sun hadn’t even moved an inch, the gut-wrenching lurches finally began to stop.

Bai Yue cracked one eye open.

They had arrived at the Tangle-Root Heights, and it was unlike anything she had ever seen.

The "Over-Canopy," as the monkeys apparently called it, was a city in the sky. Massive Iron-Wood trees, each one thick enough to fit a house inside, stretched toward the clouds. Their branches, gnarled and twisted like ancient fingers, formed a natural scaffolding that supported an entire civilization.

Hanging from the thickest limbs were giant, hollowed-out gourds the size of small cottages, their insides glowing with soft firelight. Woven wicker pods swayed gently in the breeze, suspended by thick vines that creaked and groaned like an old ship.

And connecting it all was a dizzying network of vines and bouncy branches, a living highway that the monkeys navigated easily. Wow. How....wow.

"Welcome to Hóu-Tian!" the monkey holding her announced proudly. "The greatest city in the sky! Try not to fall off anything! If you do, you will actually....die!"

"NOTED!" Bai Yue wheezed.

In the distance, she could hear the roar of a waterfall. A massive cliff jutted out from the forest, and water cascaded down its face in a glittering curtain. The mist it created drifted through the trees, making everything slick and mossy and absolutely treacherous for anyone without monkey-level grip strength.

The monkey deposited her unceremoniously onto a wide branch, and Bai Yue immediately grabbed onto the trunk behind her, her legs shaking.

Don’t look down. Don’t look down. Don’t—

She looked down.

The ground was so far away it might as well have been on another continent.

"Oh no," she whispered, her face going pale. "Oh no no no—"

THUD.

Cāng Jì landed beside her with all the grace of a small panther cub. His golden robes were disheveled, his sunset hair was sticking up in seven different directions, and his expression could have curdled milk. In one word, he looked pissed.

"I," he hissed, his golden eyes blazing with barely-contained murder, "am going to kill every single one of them. Slowly. Starting with the grandfather."

"Good morning to you too, sparkles!" Hóu Xián dropped from a branch above, landing in a perfect crouch. He was still holding the Lumina-Stone, tossing it up and down in one hand with an infuriating casualness. "Sleep well? Oh wait, you didn’t sleep yet! It’s still morning! Teehee!"

Cāng Jì’s eye twitched. "Give. Me. The. Stone."

"Hmm, no!" The monkey grinned, holding it up to the light. "It’s so pretty! Look how it glows! I think I’ll keep it as a nightlight!"

Smoke began to pour from Cāng Jì’s nostrils.

Before he could incinerate anyone, a deafening sound shattered the morning air.

"OOOOH-AAAAH-OOOOH-AAAAH!"

It was a howl, one that seemed to come from everywhere at once. Bai Yue clapped her hands over her ears, wincing.

"What is that?!" she yelled over the noise.

"Morning call!" Hóu Xián shouted back cheerfully. "We usually wake up at the crack of dawn to scream at the sun! It’s tradition! We had to temporarily hold it off since we came to get you and the Dragon prince! So, we are starting off our day now!"

All around them, golden monkeys emerged from their gourd-homes and wicker-pods, joining in the cacophony. They howled, they screeched, they beat their chests and thumped on hollow tree trunks that boomed like drums.

The sound traveled through the forest in waves, an echo-network of pure chaos that made Bai Yue’s teeth rattle.

Cāng Jì looked like he was about to have an aneurysm. "This is terrible. I want to die," he whispered, his hands trembling. "I want to leave, I can not.... I am a Prince of the First Generation. I sleep on silk. I wake to the gentle music of crystal chimes. I do not—I CANNOT—endure this barbaric—"

"GOOD MORNING, CURSED FEMALE!"

Bai Yue jumped, nearly losing her grip on the trunk.

A group of female monkeys had gathered on nearby branches, their eyes gleaming with curiosity. They were whispering to each other, their voices carrying clearly despite the distance.

"It’s really her!"

"The one who abandoned her cubs!"

"I heard she tried to poison the Snow Leopard’s well!"

"No, no, I heard she set fire to the Elder’s hut because he wouldn’t give her extra meat!"

"She looks much smaller in person."

"She doesn’t look so terrifying."

"Maybe she’s sick? Cursed females usually glow with evil energy."

Bai Yue felt her face heat up. Great. Even the Monkeys were aware of the former Bai Yue’s evil ways.

"I’m... I’m reformed!" she called out weakly. "I’m nice now! I don’t try to kill anyone now! promise!"

"That’s what they all say!" one of them shouted back, though she didn’t sound particularly hostile. She mostly sounded entertained.

Hóu Wáng appeared then, swinging down from above. He landed on the branch with a solid thump, his vine-and-stone crown sitting crooked on his head.

"Our guests have finally landed! Good!" he announced, his voice carrying across the canopy.