Tang Mo was someone who knew how to adapt to the circumstances. When the power gap between her and her enemy was wider than the Milky Way, she had absolutely no qualms about backing down.

She peeled Xiao Hua off her, held the little ape in one arm, and used her other hand to pull a few bottles of milk from her backpack.

"Here’s the milk. Can I go now?"

It was obvious she wasn’t going to get any useful information out of this troop of chimpanzees. Slipping away now would be for the best.

"No, don’t want."

Xiao Hua saw the milk bottles Tang Mo had taken out, but she just hugged Tang Mo’s neck tighter and refused to let go.

Seeing this, the first chimpanzee to arrive had a conflicted expression. He thought for a moment, then decided he didn’t want to make his little princess sad.

’I won’t kill this human for now,’ he thought. ’I can just take her back as a toy for Xiao Hua.’

And so, surrounded by a troop of chimpanzees, Tang Mo was escorted into the deepest part of the forest, holding Xiao Hua in one arm and the milk in the other.

The best habitat for apes wasn’t the rainforest, but the mountains.

After being brought down, Tang Mo was led through the initial rainforest and followed the apes onward into an even more expansive forest.

At the edge of the forest were several mountains that weren’t too high. They were dotted with caves, and from a distance, she could faintly see flashes of black fur.

That had to be where the apes lived.

Beyond the mountains lay something Tang Mo couldn’t see, and she was very curious about it.

But considering her current awkward position as a babysitter, she swallowed her questions. She would wait until she had a bit more say in things.

This strange geography would have been impossible before the apocalypse, but in the current situation...

Even if there were a vast ocean in the middle of the rainforest instead of just another forest beyond it, Tang Mo wouldn’t have been the least bit shocked.

The apocalypse was not something that could be understood with pre-apocalyptic logic.

After heading up the mountain, the apes returned to their own caves one by one, while the leader—the one who had first arrived—led Tang Mo all the way to the very top.

Unlike the densely packed caves on the mountainside, there were only two caves up there.

Clearly, this ape was the leader of the troop.

Tang Mo obediently played the part of a babysitter and followed him to the mouth of the cave.

Upon entering the largest cave, she discovered it was a whole different world inside. The entrance looked small, but the space within was quite wide.

There was a bed for sleeping, a table for eating, and a few stone stools—it had just about everything.

Tang Mo recalled learning from books that the biggest difference between humans and animals was the ability to use tools.

Based on the scene before her, there wasn’t much of a difference anymore.

’Oh, wait,’ she corrected herself. ’They aren’t animals. They’re mutant beasts that can talk.’

Inside the cave, an ape slightly smaller than the large one saw them enter. She immediately came forward and took Xiao Hua from Tang Mo’s arms.

"My little princess, you’re finally back! Where did you run off to this time?"

The voice was gentle. It was a female ape—Xiao Hua’s mother.

Tang Mo had no way of telling the apes’ gender from their build or appearance, but thankfully their voices were distinct, which made things much easier for her.

"Why did you bring a human back again! Wasn’t last time’s lesson enough?!"

The female ape shot Tang Mo a dirty look, scolded the large male ape, then turned her back on him, cuddling her daughter and ignoring him completely.

The large ape’s massive frame seemed to deflate instantly. He hung his head without a word, like a child who had done something wrong.

But out of the corner of his eye, he saw Xiao Hua wink at him, and he immediately understood.

’My daughter likes her! Besides, the human I brought back this time is female, so what happened last time definitely won’t happen again. A little scolding from the wife is fine.’

In that short exchange, Tang Mo understood everything.

This big ape wasn’t just a doting father but also a henpecked husband. ’Turns out life isn’t easy for males of any species,’ she thought.

Since Tang Mo was a "toy," the large ape confiscated her backpack and her Wind Breaker to prevent her from escaping.

Without food or a weapon, she wouldn’t be able to get far even if she did manage to run off into the forest.

Tang Mo accepted the confiscation willingly, without the slightest bit of resistance.

She couldn’t help but feel relieved that she had held something back; the milk had come from her backpack, not from her Space.

She still had some weapons in her Space. While they weren’t as easy to use as Wind Breaker, they would do in a pinch.

Tang Mo was assigned to stay in the adjacent cave, which was the room of the ape’s older daughter, Da Hua.

The first time Tang Mo saw Da Hua, the ape’s expression and movements almost made her forget she was looking at a long-furred black ape and not a teenage girl in the prime of her youth.

Inside the cave, Da Hua was sitting on a stone stool, carefully fiddling with the fur on her head, trying to weave it into little braids.

What clearly set her apart from the other apes was the cloth dress she was wearing.

Although it was obviously a modified piece of men’s clothing—crude and unattractive—it was still a world away from the other apes’ near-nudity.

Besides Xiao Hua, Da Hua was the most excited about Tang Mo’s arrival.

She didn’t mind sharing her bed at all and pulled Tang Mo over to ask endlessly about the outside world.

Tang Mo was patient. Following the principle of "more friends, more paths," she told Da Hua all about the outside world, describing it so vividly and with more patience than a kindergarten teacher.

Not only that, but Tang Mo also played to her interests, taking out a beautiful, sparkling diamond hair clip she had gotten from a supermarket and giving it to Da Hua. She even helped her clip it to the top of her head. Da Hua was so happy she danced with joy, her grin stretching from ear to ear.

Friendships between women, if you want them, are always the quickest to form. As long as you go along with their topic of conversation and give them a small, well-chosen gift, their favorability toward you will shoot up faster than a rocket.

In less than half a day, Da Hua had already declared Tang Mo her best friend.

Tang Mo also learned a lot of useful information from Da Hua. For example, the large male ape was named Da Mao, and he was the leader here.

Da Hua’s mother was named Ah Li, and she was the true head of the household.

Their troop had lived in this forest since before the apocalypse. The sudden onset of the apocalypse had caused many changes in their bodies.

For example, they had gained more Strength, the ability to speak, and some simple reasoning skills.

The surrounding Illusion Realm had changed drastically, but their troop had never thought of leaving, so the impact on them hadn’t been too significant. They still lived their lives much as they had before.