Sudden Turn of Events

After the Bald Monkeys finished throwing the fruit, they left together. Du Ke waited about a minute, listening until the sounds of the monkey troop faded into the distance before revealing himself from the wall and heading to the stalactite platform. Imitating the monkeys, he scooped up a handful of sediment from the water. It looked somewhat like fermented rice, and if he sniffed carefully, he could even catch a faint scent of wine. With that in mind, he filled an entire jar with it.

He planned to take it back to the sea of flowers first and ask the flower fairies to test whether it was edible—though it should not be a problem, considering the monkeys ate it.

He was just a little suspicious that this stuff might have aphrodisiac properties, after all...

Just as he was about to turn and leave, he suddenly spotted a skinny Bald Monkey at the cave entrance. It seemed to have slipped back in to steal some food and happened to run into Du Ke.

In that instant, Du Ke raised a hand and materialized a Crossbow bolt. Then, without making a sound, he pulled the trigger and fired at the monkey.

But he was already too late. The Bald Monkey let out a shriek sharp enough to rupture eardrums, then casually waved a hand. A faint earthy-yellow glow flashed, and a shield wall made of rock appeared before it, blocking the bolt. Afterward, the Bald Monkey continued screaming, and its companions answered from afar. Their urgent cries, high and low, rapidly drew closer to the cave.

"Damn it!" Du Ke knew things had gone wrong. The Crossbow bolt immediately extended and transformed into a Vulcan Cannon.

Ratatatatat!

The headlights switched on, flames burst from the barrel, and bullets poured down, shattering the rock shield before the skinny monkey. The monkey nimbly darted out of the cave, leaping between trees outside the entrance to evade the Vulcan Cannon's fire. Du Ke knew he could not afford to delay. He put away the Vulcan Cannon and immediately sprinted away—this was a troop of magical beast monkeys that could use magic. If they pinned him down, he would be in serious trouble.

Unfortunately, he was already too late. With a boom, earth spikes erupted along his escape route. It was Earth Magic cast by the monkey troop.

A huge net woven from vines blocked the way around him. The only passage was obstructed by earth spikes as well. Seeing that he could not escape quickly, Du Ke gritted his teeth, materialized High-explosive grenades, and continuously hurled them in every direction.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The enormous explosions echoed through the mountain forest at night, and flames were already rising. But Du Ke could not care whether he might start a forest fire. The Bald Monkeys flashed with earthy-yellow light one after another, then donned rock-like armor. Like stone giants, they charged through the explosions straight at him. Their heavy Rock armor did not sacrifice their agility, and they quickly surrounded Du Ke.

"Dumdum bullet Vulcan Cannon—want a taste?!" Du Ke stood his ground, set up the cannon mount, and the Vulcan Cannon spun wildly as Dumdum bullets poured out around him like rain.

"Roar!"

"Eek eek!"

The Bald Monkey troop nimbly bounced between the tree trunks. Even when struck by Dumdum bullets, they merely lost a layer of Rock armor. But their counterattack quickly arrived. It was still Earth Magic, the Earth Spike Technique, erupting continuously from beneath Du Ke's feet and jolting his mounted cannon back and forth, causing the Vulcan Cannon to lose its aim. After a few breaths, Du Ke gave up on the useless attack.

He retracted the cannon mount, and the Titanium Alloy Nano Armor rapidly expanded mechanically, transforming into a massive mech over two meters tall.

This was the combat armor he had personally designed using the Nano Armor as a prototype and drawing inspiration from mechanical armors like Iron Man, Gundam, and Pacific Rim. He named it the Nano Mech. Its strength was that it was heavy and tough; its weakness was that it sacrificed some mobility. At the same time, two five-meter-long greatswords rapidly materialized. With the Nano Mech's boosted power, the sharp blades directly severed the large trees blocking the way.

He forcibly hacked out a passage, preparing to flee rather than keep fighting this group of Bald Monkeys head-on.

Boom!

Another Earth Spike Technique.

But it only staggered the Nano Mech and failed to break through its defenses.

Watching Du Ke carve out a kilometer-long path through brute force and escape, the Monkey King, who had been directing the monkey troop's battle all along, finally became enraged. He roared and leaped down from a tree.

As he fell, countless clumps of soil rose from the ground and gathered around his body. By the time he landed, he had become a five-meter-tall mud giant. Earthy-yellow light flashed again, and a thick layer of Rock armor coated the mud, turning him into a six-meter-tall rock giant. As the rock giant ran, the entire hill shook, yet he was incredibly fast.

After catching up to the Nano Mech, he threw a heavy punch.

Bang!

The two-meter-tall Nano Mech was ultimately no match for the six-meter-tall rock giant and was knocked flat with one punch. Du Ke tried to roll over, but the surrounding monkey troop simultaneously cast another Earth Magic—the Rock Throwing Technique. Massive boulders came crashing down on him, knocking him to the ground again and again. Then the rock giant stomped down, forcibly driving him into the earth.

It was not as though Du Ke did not fight back. He threw several High-explosive grenades, but the blasts only blew a layer of rock off the giant. Then earthy-yellow light flashed, and the fallen Rock armor replenished itself.

This can't go on. The Mind Armor is consuming too much energy, and I'm getting a concussion too. The Nano Mech's defenses were strong, but its energy reserves were dropping rapidly.

He watched as the rock giant raised one foot again.

Du Ke swiftly shouted, "Fuck your grandfather! Just you wait!" Then he directly activated the location coordinates within the Mind Armor. It was as if time had stopped. His thoughts crossed an infinite distance and locked onto his bedroom in his Earth villa.

Energy insufficient. Unable to carry more items.

Must discard some items!

The ten cocoons of the Bomb Caterpillars can't be discarded. Neither can the one and a half pounds of Spore Powder. I don't want to discard the seeds summoned by Azo Azo either. Some of the magical beast slime I collected can be discarded, along with that jar of fermented rice I just packed...

Selection complete.

He directly abandoned some of the collected samples, then chose to travel through space.

Time resumed. The next second, he returned from the Fantasy World to Earth. The deformed Nano Mech was still covering his body, but its exterior, which had originally been contaminated with mud, was now clean as new—aside from things deliberately selected, the Mind Armor would not bring any items from the Fantasy World along during travel—because the Nano Mech was too large, it had crushed the big bed in his bedroom flat.

"Ugh!"

"I planned for a month-long trip to the Fantasy World, yet I came back after only one week. Who would have thought that I, Du Ke, would be defeated by a monkey sneaking back to steal food!" If that skinny Bald Monkey had not slipped back in to steal food, Du Ke would have successfully left and continued exploring the Fantasy World. He would not have been forced to return like this, without even having time to say goodbye to the flower fairies.

"Forget it. I can go back anyway... Life on Earth still has to continue, and so does the research on the Long-Haired Battery. I'll call Professor Tao first and ask whether my published paper caused any reaction."

Fantasy World.

The rock giant stomped down. When he lifted his foot again, there was only a huge pit beneath it, completely empty otherwise. A group of Bald Monkeys dug around the pit, but found nothing. Finally, the Monkey King let out a roar, seemingly declaring that he had eliminated the enemy. The monkey troop erupted in cheers, and amid their chaotic cries, he smugly returned to the mountain.