Strange Falls on Level Ground

"Let's go." Xiao Xiao was the first to step away. He actually felt a little regretful—if only he had brought the black notebook with him. Then he would have known what kind of monster this was.

Xiao Xiao glanced back once more. Amid the gorgeous crimson maple leaves, the monster had almost blended into the Maple Tree. Only its blue-green beak revealed its location.

Oh, and that brightly colored tail feather hanging down between the branches.

Its fine down gleamed beneath the morning sunlight, exceptionally splendid.

By chance, Xiao Xiao met the monster's eyes. A thin layer of crimson covered those glass-like eyeballs, which moved slightly with a strange stiffness.

Xiao Xiao did not know why, but the corners of his lips curled up slightly. Perhaps he had seen the faint, mist-like innocent curiosity in the monster's eyes.

Or perhaps it was simply because, on Fragrant Hills in the early morning, amid maple forests stretching over the mountains, encountering such a beautiful yet strange monster was truly an interesting and delightful experience.

It gave him an inexplicable sense of having stepped into the world of a storybook.

Xiao Xiao and the others spent the entire morning at Fragrant Hills.

By the time they headed down the mountain, the strange and beautiful monster was gone from that Maple Tree. Xiao Xiao deliberately searched the surrounding area, but found nothing.

He could not help feeling a little disappointed.

But when he remembered that he could summon this monster through the black notebook, that bit of disappointment faded away.

When they reached the mountainside, Xiao Xiao looked into the distance. By then, the sky was already bright, and every maple leaf seemed coated with a thin layer of oil, glossy and translucent, their vivid hues carrying a lingering tenderness.

A burst of commotion drifted faintly from ahead.

After they took a few more steps and rounded a bend, their view suddenly opened up. They saw a large crowd gathered ahead, pointing and talking, though it was impossible to make out what they were saying.

Gradually, a few scattered phrases reached them.

"Serves him right, who told him to..."

"...the mountain god has revealed himself..."

"Seriously?... This guy's going to get famous."

Xiao Xiao and the others moved closer, but there were so many heads packed in front of them that they simply could not see what was happening inside.

Zhuge Yun nudged the person beside him, a Young Man wearing black-rimmed glasses.

"Hey, brother, what happened? Why are so many people gathered here?"

Before the Man with glasses could answer, a middle-aged Uncle with a protruding belly turned around. He had been straining on tiptoe to look inside, and now began talking enthusiastically, practically spraying spittle.

"Now that you mention it, this is really a bit uncanny." The middle-aged Uncle gestured vigorously with both hands, his tone carrying a hint of mystery and barely contained excitement.

"The person inside has no manners at all. Fragrant Hills is so beautiful, and the maple trees are so lovely—how could he bear to damage them?"

"Even if you're in a bad mood, you can't take it out on a tree, right? Don't you agree?" The middle-aged Uncle seemed to have finally found someone he could pour his heart out to. He went on and on, his voice rising and falling with great emotion, just like a storyteller.

Zhuge Yun was practically tearing his hair out. Could he keep it brief? Could he?

The point, the point!

After all that talking, the listeners still had no idea what had actually happened inside. They only knew that someone had apparently damaged some trees.

But if that was all, what was there to watch?

Had people become so bored these days?

Fortunately, the Man with glasses could not stand it any longer. Catching a pause in the middle-aged Uncle's speech, he slipped in quite naturally.

The perfectly justified expression on his face made him look utterly innocent.

The Man with glasses gave a concise explanation of what had happened.

It turned out that a Young Man had argued with his girlfriend and, in a fit of poor taste, taken out his anger on the trees. Not only had he viciously kicked a maple tree several times, but he had also snapped off many branches and even torn strips of bark from it.

Someone had been unable to watch any longer and said a few words to him, only to be harshly rebuked by the Young Man.

They had nearly gotten beaten up, too.

So the other tourists had kept their distance from that lunatic.

But then something strange happened.

The Young Man had been walking perfectly fine by himself when he suddenly tripped and fell for no reason.

Falling once could be called an accident, but falling over and over as he walked was clearly a problem.

The Young Man was obviously furious. He was currently inside the circle of onlookers, cursing loudly.

The things he said were as vile as could be.

"Why go that far? He was the one at fault to begin with. Young people being hot-blooded and quick-tempered is understandable, but he can't be so unreasonable." The middle-aged Uncle sighed with feeling.

"See? Even heaven can't stand to watch anymore."

"Really?" Zhuge Yun stared in stunned disbelief.

"As if I'd lie. So many people saw it—he fell after taking just one step. He could barely move an inch."

"Fuck!" Zhuge Yun couldn't help blurting out a curse.

Zhang Bo and Zhao Luzheng were equally dumbfounded, unable to say anything for a moment.

The world was truly full of wonders.

They had actually run into something this bizarre.

They definitely had to see it!

Zhang Bo rolled up his sleeves, took a deep breath, and resolutely squeezed into the crowd.

Zhuge Yun and Zhao Luzheng followed close behind.

"Third Brother, keep up." Zhao Luzheng didn't forget to tug Xiao Xiao, who had started spacing out again. His expression carried a hint of worry: Third Brother is getting more and more absentminded. What am I supposed to do?

Naturally, Xiao Xiao had no idea about Zhao Luzheng's "tangled worries." He had caught the scent of a monster again.

At some point, he had somehow become able to distinguish the scents of monsters.

Was it because he had seen and smelled too many of them?

Xiao Xiao thought absentmindedly, while his eyes roamed everywhere, as though he were seriously searching for something.

Zhang Bo lived up to expectations and forcibly "carved" out a path, leading his dorm brothers through the crowd to the very front.

Inside stood a young man slightly older than them. He was dressed head to toe in designer brands, and it was obvious that he came from a well-off family.

Yet he looked extremely bedraggled at the moment.

He was covered in dust, and even his face was crisscrossed with injuries.

Faint abrasions could also be seen on Young Man's palms.

The young man's brows were tightly furrowed. He looked like a trapped beast—tense, restless, resentful, and gloomy. Yet deep in his pitch-black eyes, there lingered a trace of terror and fear he could not suppress.

Born into wealth and privilege, he had always gotten whatever he wanted, and it had fostered a selfish, domineering, and reckless nature.

He had originally come to Fragrant Hills with his new girlfriend to see the red maples.

He simply couldn't understand what there was to see in a mountain full of trees.

He couldn't remember how he had started arguing with his girlfriend. In any case, it had been over some trivial nonsense.

Naturally, they had parted on bad terms.

His mood had already been awful. Having to get up so early just to look at some stupid trees had filled him with rage. He had held it in before, but once his girlfriend left, the fire in his heart seemed to have been doused with oil, instantly spiraling out of control.

After venting for a while, he had finally calmed down a little, only to run into this cursed misfortune.

The first time he fell, he had been completely bewildered.

He wasn't a child anymore. How could he not know how to walk?

Besides, the path beneath his feet was neither full of potholes nor uneven. How had he even fallen?

At first, he had thought it was just an accident. Who would have expected that afterward, he would practically fall with every step—and every time, on level ground?

His face flushed bright red. He felt utterly humiliated.

What a damn Fragrant Hills. He really shouldn't have come!

But as the people around him began to notice what was happening and whispers reached his ears, all color drained from his face, leaving it so pale that he almost looked pitiful.

What mountain god? What heavenly punishment?

What era was this?

And besides, what kind of joke was that? He hadn't done anything!

He cursed at the top of his lungs, but he could not suppress the fear in his heart.

Who was it? Who the hell was trying to harm him?

A flash of viciousness and hostility passed through the man's eyes.