Sudden Arrival

The bald monkeys finished throwing fruit and left together. Du Ke waited for about a minute, listening until the sounds of the monkey troop faded before appearing from the wall and arriving at the stalagmite platform. He imitated the monkeys, scooping up a handful of settled impurities from the water. The impurities looked a bit like fermented rice, and if he smelled them carefully, he could detect a faint aroma of wine. Thinking of this, he filled a jar with it.

He planned to take it back to the Sea of Flowers first and ask the Flower Spirits to check if it was edible. Actually, it should be fine, since the monkeys ate it.

He just wondered if this stuff might have an aphrodisiac effect, after all…

Just as he was about to turn and leave, he suddenly noticed a skinny bald monkey appear at the cave entrance. The monkey seemed to be trying to sneak back to steal food and ran right into Du Ke.

In that instant, Du Ke gestured, and a crossbow bolt materialized. He then silently pulled the trigger, shooting the bolt at the monkey.

But it was too late. The bald monkey let out a loud yell that could shatter eardrums. It also casually waved its hand, and a faint earth-yellow light flashed, forming a shield wall of rock in front of it, blocking the crossbow bolt. After blocking it, the bald monkey continued to yell, and its companions' responses could be heard from a distance – rapid calls, high and low, quickly approaching the cave.

"You son of a bitch!" Du Ke knew things were bad. The crossbow bolt directly extended and transformed into a Vulcan Cannon.

Brrrrt!

The spotlight turned on, fire spewed out, and bullets rained down, shattering the rock shield in front of the skinny monkey. The skinny monkey, with agile movements, ran out of the cave and leaped among the trees outside the entrance, dodging the Vulcan Cannon's attack. Seeing this, Du Ke knew he couldn't delay. He retracted the Vulcan Cannon and immediately began to sprint – these were magic-using magic beast monkeys, and getting entangled with them would be hell.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Boom! Earth spikes erupted from the path he was fleeing, a result of the monkey troop casting Earth Magic.

Around him, vines wove into a large net, blocking his path. The only passage was further obstructed by earth spikes. Seeing that he couldn't escape quickly, Du Ke gritted his teeth, materialized high-explosive grenades, and threw them around him repeatedly.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The huge explosions echoed through the forest at night, and flames began to rise. But Du Ke didn't care if it caused a forest fire. The bald monkeys, one by one, glowed with an earth-yellow light before donning armor resembling rock, like rock giants, and charging at him through the explosions. Despite their thick rock armor, their agility was not sacrificed, and they soon surrounded Du Ke.

"Vulcan Cannon with dumdum bullets, want a taste!" Du Ke stood firm, setting up his cannon. The Vulcan Cannon spun wildly, and dumdum bullets rained down in all directions.

"Roar!"

"Chirp chirp!"

The bald monkey troop leaped nimbly between tree trunks. Even when hit by dumdum bullets, they only shed a layer of rock armor. But their counterattack came quickly – still the Earth Spike Technique, constantly erupting from the ground beneath Du Ke's feet, causing his cannon platform to wobble and the Vulcan Cannon to lose its aim. After a few breaths, Du Ke gave up this useless attack.

He retracted the cannon platform, and his Titanium Alloy Nano Armor rapidly extended mechanically, transforming into a massive mecha over two meters tall.

This was a combat armor he had personally designed based on his nano armor, referencing Iron Man, Gundam, and Pacific Rim mechas. He named it the Nano Mech. Its characteristics were heavy armor and durability, with the drawback of sacrificing some mobility. Simultaneously, two five-meter-long greatswords materialized. With the auxiliary power of the Nano Mech, the sharp greatswords directly cut down the trees blocking his path.

He forcefully carved out a path, intending to escape and avoid a direct confrontation with these bald monkeys.

Boom!

Another Earth Spike Technique.

But it only made the Nano Mech stumble; it didn't breach its defenses.

Seeing Du Ke carve out a kilometer-long path through sheer force to escape, the Monkey King, who had been directing the monkey troop's battle, finally became enraged. It roared and leaped from the tree.

As it fell, countless clods of earth rose from the ground and gathered on its body. Upon landing, it had become a mud giant five meters tall. The earth-yellow light flashed again, and a thick layer of rock armor was plated over the mud, turning it into a six-meter-tall rock giant. As this rock giant ran, the entire small mountain trembled, and its speed was surprisingly fast.

After catching up to the Nano Mech, it delivered a heavy punch.

Thump!

The two-meter-tall Nano Mech was ultimately no match for the six-meter-tall rock giant and was knocked to the ground with a single punch. Du Ke tried to get up, but the surrounding monkeys simultaneously cast another Earth Magic – Rock Throwing Technique. Huge rocks rained down on him, knocking him down again and again. At this point, the rock giant stomped down with its foot, forcibly stomping him into the ground.

Du Ke didn't fail to retaliate. He threw several high-explosive grenades, but the explosions only managed to blow off a layer of rock from the rock giant. The earth-yellow light flashed, and the fallen rock armor was replenished.

I can't keep this up. The Mind Armor's energy consumption is too high, and I'm also a bit concussed. The Nano Mech's defense was strong, but its energy depletion was also significant.

Seeing the rock giant raise its foot again.

Du Ke quickly roared, "Fuck your ancestors, you wait for me!" Then he directly activated the positional coordinates within the Mind Armor. Time seemed to stop, and his consciousness traversed infinite distances, locking onto his villa bedroom back on Earth.

"Insufficient energy, cannot carry additional items."

"Must discard something!"

"The ten cocoons of Bomb Caterpillars can't be discarded, nor can the pound and a half of Spore Powder. I also don't want to discard the seeds summoned by Azo Azo. Some Magic Beast mucus I collected can be discarded, and that jar of fermented rice I packed earlier can also be discarded..."

Selection complete.

He directly abandoned some of the collected samples and chose to teleport.

The time-stop ended. The next second, he returned from the Fantasy World to Earth. The transformed Nano Mech was still on him, but its exterior, originally contaminated with mud, was now pristine – except for the deliberate choices, the Mind Armor wouldn't carry any items from the Fantasy World through the teleportation. Because the Nano Mech was too large, it had flattened the bed in his bedroom.

"Sigh!"

"My planned month-long trip to the Fantasy World, and I'm back after only a week. I never thought I, Du Ke, would be defeated by a thieving monkey!" If that skinny bald monkey hadn't snuck back to steal food, Du Ke would have succeeded and left, continuing his exploration in the Fantasy World. He wouldn't be forced to return like this, not even having time to say goodbye to the Flower Spirits.

"Oh well, I can go back anyway... Life on Earth must continue, and the research on Long-Haired Batteries must also continue. I'll call Professor Tao first to ask if my thesis publication has caused any reaction."

Fantasy World.

The rock giant stomped down. When it lifted its foot again, there was only a large pit beneath it; everything else was gone. A group of bald monkeys dug around the pit but found nothing. Finally, the Monkey King roared, seemingly announcing that it had annihilated its enemy. It then received cheers from the monkey troop and, amidst the chaotic monkey calls, proudly returned to the mountain.