The Zoo, the Monkey Mountain exhibit.

The atmosphere was heavy.

Chen Ze and Hu Haodong, dressed in full protective gear and holding electric prods, emerged from inside Monkey Mountain. They shook their heads at Jiang Kai and Zhao Dalong, who were waiting outside.

"Chief, we’ve searched it inside and out, every nook and cranny, three times. Nothing."

Chen Ze took off his protective hood, wiped away his sweat, and said, "We checked all the hiding spots—the crevices in the rockeries, behind the water trough, inside the treehouse. Great Sage really isn’t in there."

"How could he not be here? Impossible!"

Liu Fei’s face was deathly pale, his lips trembled, and his voice was frantic. "Before the park closed yesterday, I clearly checked every cage door and locked them all tight. I had the keys on me the whole time. Great Sage... he couldn’t have gotten out!"

"But he’s gone now, isn’t he!"

Jiang Kai’s face was ashen. He let out a low bark, suppressing his anger, and turned to Zhao Dalong. "Lao Zhao, what’s the status on the security footage? Did they find any video of Great Sage leaving Monkey Mountain?"

Zhao Dalong did as asked and picked up his walkie-talkie. "Security room, have you spotted Great Sage on any of the cameras around Monkey Mountain or in the related accessways?"

A reply quickly came back over the walkie-talkie.

"Chief Zhao, we’ve reviewed all the surveillance footage for the Monkey Mountain area from closing last night to opening this morning. We haven’t found any video of Great Sage leaving the exhibit."

Nothing? 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Their hearts sank.

"How strange."

Chen Ze took off his protective suit, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Great Sage is such a big monkey. Even if he really did manage to slip out, with all the cameras outside, one of them should have caught a glimpse, right? Don’t tell me he can turn invisible."

"Right, he couldn’t have just vanished into thin air."

Hu Haodong, also taking off his protective suit, chimed in, "Unless he can dig a tunnel or grew wings and flew away."

"Impossible... Impossible..."

Liu Fei was already in a daze, muttering to himself repeatedly, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

The Monkey King was missing, and it was a responsibility he couldn’t possibly bear.

Jiang Kai shot him a glare. Suppressing his fury, he exhaled sharply and said to Zhao Dalong, "Lao Zhao, the park just opened and there aren’t many visitors yet. Notify all available staff to spread out across the grounds and search."

"Alright..."

"Holy shit!" Just then, Chen Ze, who had been looking around, suddenly cried out. He pointed into the distance, exclaiming excitedly, "Brother Qi is incredible!"

’Brother Qi?’

’Yang Qi?’

Hearing this, Jiang Kai casually replied, "Great Sage is missing, he doesn’t have any psychological or behavioral problems. Bringing Yang Qi here won’t..."

Before he could finish, Hu Haodong, beside him, also widened his eyes and pointed in the same direction, shouting excitedly, "No, Minister Jiang! Brother Qi brought Great Sage back! Brother Qi is incredible, a living legend!"

Hearing this, Jiang Kai and Zhao Dalong quickly turned to look in the direction they were pointing.

Sure enough, they saw Yang Qi striding quickly along the path leading to Monkey Mountain.

At his side, Great Sage followed closely, occasionally looking around and scratching his ear, acting like a monkey without a care in the world.

"Minister Jiang, Chief Zhao."

Yang Qi walked up, nodded to the two leaders, and then acknowledged Chen Ze and Hu Haodong.

"It’s you! Was it you who secretly took Great Sage out?"

Before anyone else could speak, the pale-faced Liu Fei suddenly pointed a finger at Yang Qi and shrieked.

"What?"

Yang Qi was stunned by the sudden accusation.

"What the hell are you talking about!" Chen Ze said angrily, taking a step forward and glaring at Liu Fei.

"You failed to watch the monkey, and now that something’s happened, you want to pin the blame on someone else? What kind of person are you!" Hu Haodong said with a look of utter contempt.

Zhao Dalong’s expression darkened. He stared at Liu Fei, his tone serious. "Liu Fei, you need evidence to make claims like that! What makes you say Yang Qi took Great Sage?"

"It must be him!"

Liu Fei seemed possessed, insisting through gritted teeth, "Only him! Only he can approach animals without a sound and make them obey him! It must have been him who took Great Sage out and is now pretending to have found him!"

"..."

Yang Qi couldn’t help but laugh out of sheer exasperation.

’For a moment, I wasn’t sure whether to "thank" this colleague for his "high praise" of my abilities, or to tear into him.’

"Shut your mouth!"

Jiang Kai snapped at Liu Fei, cutting him off. "Use your brain! Does Yang Qi have keys to Monkey Mountain? Could he get Great Sage out without damaging any of the facilities? Did the security cameras catch him anywhere near Monkey Mountain? You’re talking nonsense!"

The string of questions left Liu Fei speechless, his face turning even more ashen.

Jiang Kai ignored him and turned to Yang Qi, his tone softening a little. "Xiao Yang, where did you find Great Sage?"

"On the back mountain."

Yang Qi told the truth. "I took Ta Xue to the back mountain today to see her mother. I was surprised to find Great Sage there too, being chased by a mother clouded leopard. I was worried something might happen, so I brought him back first."

As he spoke, he gently nudged the Monkey King with his foot. The monkey was squatting by his leg, scratching himself as if this serious business had nothing to do with him.

"Go on, get back home."

Great Sage chittered twice, seeming to understand. He gave Yang Qi a proper wave of his paw, as if saying goodbye.

Then, he hopped over to the iron gate at the entrance of the Monkey Mountain access tunnel, patted it with his paw, and turned his head to screech a few times at the still-stunned zookeeper, Liu Fei.

[Hurry up and open the door.]

Liu Fei remained frozen, not reacting.

"Useless fool!"

Jiang Kai cursed, strode forward, and snatched the keychain hanging from Liu Fei’s belt. He walked quickly to the gate and unlocked it with a CLICK.

Great Sage deftly slipped inside and ran down the familiar path of the tunnel toward the interior of Monkey Mountain.

Jiang Kai immediately closed and double-locked the iron gate.

[Task Complete]

[Reward: Entanglement Technique]

’Entanglement Technique?’

’Condense Magical Power to form invisible threads and bind a beast’s limbs?’

Yang Qi’s heart skipped a beat, and the corners of his mouth curved up slightly.

’This Magic is really practical. It gives me another tool for self-defense or for controlling animals.’

"Xiao Yang, thanks."

Jiang Kai walked back and thanked Yang Qi solemnly. "If you hadn’t found him in time, it would have been another incident. If Great Sage had really been... by the clouded leopard... that would have been a huge problem."

[Sincere gratitude from the Spirit Beast Hall Master. Contribution Points +15]

"It was nothing."

Yang Qi smiled.

’Time for another lottery draw!’ he thought.

Just then, an electric tour cart sped over and stopped outside the Monkey Mountain exhibit.

Huang Zhongmu got out of the cart, asking as he walked, "How is it? Have you found Great Sage?"

"We found him, Director. Xiao Yang brought him back," Jiang Kai reported as he stepped forward.

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Huang Zhongmu’s gaze shifted to Yang Qi.

"I was just lucky. I happened to be on the back mountain today and ran into him," Yang Qi explained simply.

Huang Zhongmu said nothing. He walked up to Yang Qi and clapped him on the shoulder, a gesture that said it all.

Then, he spoke in a grave voice.

"We must get to the bottom of how Great Sage got out of Monkey Mountain and how he ended up on the back mountain!"

"The security measures at Monkey Mountain, the zookeepers’ work procedures—everything must be re-examined. This can never happen a second time!"

"Yes, sir!" Jiang Kai and Zhao Dalong replied at once.

’They really do need to get to the bottom of this.’

Yang Qi nodded in agreement.

On the way back, he had asked Great Sage several times, but the Monkey King either played dumb, chittering nonsensically without answering, or changed the subject.

’This little guy,’ he thought. ’Has he gotten too clever for his own good?’