The King of Black Fog

Rumors of Zhao Feiyan dancing on the palm of the hand were of dubious authenticity, but the little baby before their eyes definitely could.

Although called a baby, it had actually reached adulthood, whether it was the face or the sexual characteristics, it was a complete miniature version of a human female.

But no matter who it was, no one would see it as human.

Even if one could overlook its palm-sized stature—after all, humans have been that small—climbing up a vertical cliff without any support was something no human could do at any stage.

"You, you..." Li Qianxia struggled to speak, staring at the dwarf macaque in shock.

Even Zheng Qing, the soldier, was momentarily lost in a daze, her mouth slightly open.

"Can I come over?" the dwarf macaque asked, its expressions and actions appearing very timid.

To the towering humans, surrounded by flames that even the most ferocious beast of the rainforest wouldn't dare touch, it was like humans beholding Superman with the sun behind him.

"I'm sorry, could I ask you a few questions first? You—" Yang Qinglan chose her words carefully, worried the other might not understand, "The game, everyone, very dangerous."

The dwarf macaque's intelligence far exceeded her expectations as it nodded in clear understanding.

"Yes, but some things I don't know, and I'm very cold."

The temperature was already approaching below zero.

"Don't worry," Li Changzhou spoke softly, "Just a few questions."

At the sound of his voice, the dwarf macaque quickly retreated, leaving only a face the size of a fist exposed to the light of the fire.

Li Qianxia nudged her brother with her arm, telling him not to scare the creature, finding the dwarf macaque rather adorable.

"Be careful," Zheng Qing hesitated before speaking up, still feeling the need to warn them.

"Which game is this for you?" Yang Qinglan asked with a soft tone.

"One qualifier, this is the second time," the dwarf macaque replied crisply.

"You are—" Yang Qinglan sized it up, "How did you become human? Do you know what a person is?"

"Are you talking about my body?" the dwarf macaque released its right hand that was clutching the cliff and looked at it closely.

"Hmm."

"I exchanged for this during the qualifiers, I selected everything that had the character 'human' in it, because it resembles an insect I like; when I woke up, I became like this."

Li Qianxia really wanted to ask what insect it was, but it probably didn't know the name, and even if it did, they wouldn't recognize it.

There are millions of insect species already discovered in the world, and the number is increasing by over a thousand each year.

Yang Qinglan continued to inquire, "What was your qualifying game like?"

"A big tree, a very large tree, red fellows, green fellows, and some that looked a lot like us, but bigger. Their voices were so loud, just like the fire in the sky!"

After this question, there was silence for two seconds before Yang Qinglan spoke again:

"How did you survive the qualifier?"

Everyone focused intently, how a contender survives in a value game matters a great deal, as it determines whether the contender is worthy of trust.

For instance, the "2D character" from the daylight seemed the type to cruelly and senselessly kill, or perhaps truly treated the value game as a game.

"Run, jump," the dwarf macaque said, "I kept running and jumping from one tree branch to another, then it ended."

Li Qianxia breathed a sigh of relief, it wasn't the brutal, slaughter type.

As for lying...

This monkey with a human appearance and innocent eyes, resembling a child, it was hard to imagine it could lie.

"What should we do, shall we let it come over?" she asked the other three.

Zheng Qing was torn.

As a woman, a human, it was difficult to turn away a "child" trembling with cold, but as a warrior, she was conditioned never to trust an enemy on the battlefield.

Fortunately, the decision didn't rest on her.

Yang Qinglan looked to Li Changzhou, using her eyes to ask his opinion.

"Let it come," Li Changzhou said with a smile.

Huh?

Li Qianxia immediately noticed something off about her brother.

Whether the two had untangled each other's umbilical cords in the amniotic fluid, they certainly spent time together there and had been close every day since leaving it, understanding each other deeply.

Yang Qinglan had a faint feeling.

Li Changzhou's previous glances at her held half admiration, half speculation; today, that half admiration was gone.

But neither of them dwelled on it, assuming he was being cautious.

'Control Dopamine'

Li Changzhou knew himself well, an ordinary college student unaccustomed to the ways of the world; he couldn't bring himself to be ruthless towards a being with the appearance of a child, even if it was a dwarf macaque.

To prevent himself from making a foolish mistake out of kindness, which could endanger himself and his sister, he suppressed his emotions, keeping himself absolutely rational.

Rationality isn't heartless; he still considered the feelings of his sister and Yang Qinglan, but at the slightest sign of trouble, he would not hesitate to shoot the dwarf macaque, with the appearance of a human and the size of a baby.

This posed almost no psychological difference from killing an actual baby.

The dwarf macaque shrank back further, watching Li Changzhou with vigilance.

"Do you dislike me?" Li Changzhou feigned a wounded expression and smiled.

(Has it noticed? Animals truly are sharp.)

"Come over here," Li Qianxia beckoned the dwarf marmoset warmly, "Come warm up by the fire."

But the dwarf marmoset was not afraid of her and, without any hesitation, took a detour along the wall, descended the cliff from a direction as far as possible from Li Changzhou, and approached the fire slowly.

Everyone else sat down too but maintained a distance from the dwarf marmoset.

"Are you afraid of him?" Li Qianxia asked curiously.

The dwarf marmoset was a little scared of the fire yet seemed reluctant to leave it behind, and also appeared curious.

Hearing Li Qianxia's voice, it looked up quickly at Li Changzhou and nodded vigorously: "Mhm!"

It looked at the other three people besides Li Changzhou, mimicked each of their poses—lying down, sitting with legs bent, sitting cross-legged—and finally chose to sit with legs bent.

It was only a tiny creature, hugging its knees, sitting there bent-legged like a radish.

Li Qianxia's eyes shined with excitement, as if she couldn't wait to hold it in her arms and cuddle it like a cat.

"How did you survive the day?" Zheng Qing inquired, as if conducting an investigation.

"Hm?" The radish little creature did not quite understand her meaning.

"Did you drink water? Did you encounter any enemies? Didn't you feel too hot to walk at some point in such hot weather?" Zheng Qing elaborated.

"Yes, it was really tough."

"So how did you endure it?"

"I kept crawling, kept jumping, I didn't know where to go, there was no tree sap, nor any bugs." The little radish clutched its legs tighter, its small face resting on its small knees.

"There's water here!" Li Qianxia pointed to the puddle by the rock.

"Really?!" The little radish jumped up like a monkey, just about to dash over, but then it spotted Li Changzhou in that direction.

Frightened, it climbed back up the cliffside in a rush, its apple-sized behind wiggling this way and that.

Once it reached a certain height, it turned back to look at Li Changzhou with a look of terror, as if it had just realized he was there.

"Is he really that scary?" Not just Li Qianxia, Yang Qinglan and Zheng Qing were puzzled too.

"Mhm, mhm, mhm!" The little radish nodded for dear life.

"Is it because of the gun?" Li Changzhou gestured with the AK in his hand.

"Mmm~mmm~mmm~!" The little radish shook its head vehemently, making a negating noise, as if afraid of shaking its head off.

"Then what is it? Could it be that even monkeys can sense your 'Illness of loneliness, fondness for beauty'?" Yang Qinglan said.

"Hahaha!" Li Qianxia laughed, clapping her hands.

"My fondness for beauty is principled; I like slender waists," Li Changzhou said with a smile, feeling no emotion inside, his attention entirely on the dwarf marmoset.

He asked the dwarf marmoset, "So what about me scares you?"

"Dark."

"What?" Li Qianxia was confused.

"He's very dark," the little radish said with the certainty of a child.

All three women were baffled.

Li Changzhou didn't play sports, nor did he have the money to run around, so his skin was very white, not to mention there being a Zheng Qing with brown skin at the scene.

"He's very frightening," the little radish said, "Instinct tells me so."

"Instinct?" Li Qianxia repeated subconsciously.

"What is your instinct?" Yang Qinglan asked softly.

"'Avoid Death and Prolong Life.'" The little radish stated without hesitation, "It's my good companion, telling me there's fire here, there's water, there's something here that can help me, but it told me to stay away from him, he's very—dangerous!"

It pointed at Li Changzhou, almost as though identifying a culprit, hoping everyone would rise up and attack him.

"Very—dangerous, how dangerous is that?" Li Qianxia asked with interest.

She didn't really care how dangerous her brother was.

"He will eat us all up!" the little radish affirmed with certainty.

"...Bro, you'd eat Qing Lan... or even Captain Zheng, but you wouldn't even spare your sister?" Li Qianxia turned in disbelief to stare at Li Changzhou.

The rational Li Changzhou was very clear that "eating" as said by her, and "eating" as said by the dwarf marmoset were not the same thing.

(Survived the qualification round, chose a 'human' related skill as a reward, participated in this game, and safely reached this point in the desert... 'Avoid Death and Prolong Life', an interesting instinct.)

"Swoosh!" The little radish disappeared, vanishing into the darkness.

"What happened?" Li Qianxia stood up abruptly, looking around in confusion.

Yang Qinglan turned to look at Li Changzhou.

"Miss Yang, please don't look at me like you're looking at a pervert; I am a law-abiding citizen," Li Changzhou tossed another stick into the campfire, terminating 'Control Dopamine'.

Zheng Qing seemed thoughtful.

The campfire's flame danced on Li Changzhou's handsome face, a human-shaped shadow stood behind him, its tall figure watching them as if watching a pot of soup ready to be served.