Unease and the Monkey

"Listen to him."

As Liu Zhi finished explaining the details of the next stretch of their journey, Perkin's voice came from behind them.

Everyone turned and saw Perkin flipping through something that looked like a notebook.

When he saw Liu Zhi turn around, Perkin smiled at him. "I knew inviting you along was the best decision I ever made."

Liu Zhi stared at the notebook in Perkin's hands. He hesitated, then gave up on asking to examine it. It was probably a clue to the plant he was searching for. Liu Zhi didn't want anyone to know what he was after, and Perkin presumably didn't want anyone to know the purpose of his own journey.

When Perkin saw Liu Zhi glance at him and then look away, he nodded in satisfaction. He had brought out the notebook on purpose. It was actually the ship's logbook, and there was nothing of importance written in it. The information they really needed was all in Perkin's head. He had only wanted to test Liu Zhi's attitude.

After all, the map was in Liu Zhi's hands now, and Perkin wasn't sure whether he was secretly up to something.

It would be bad if Liu Zhi had his eye on Perkin's precious plant and deliberately led them into a dead end.

Liu Zhi's attitude satisfied him, so he nodded and began to explain where they would go next.

While Liu Zhi and Perkin studied the map, the ship easily found the huge rock Liu Zhi had described, shaped like a snake's head. Half of it was submerged in the river. If the female knife-thrower hadn't had such sharp eyes, they might have passed it by.

"Everyone, keep your eyes on the left bank. If you see anything that looks like a whale, stop the ship and take a closer look. Don't go barging in!" the captain shouted.

The ship belonged to the captain's family, and they didn't bother distinguishing between captain and crew. The captain and his three sons handled everything on board: some managed the sails, others steered, and between them they took care of it all.

Even traveling upstream, they had kept the ship remarkably steady the whole way. Liu Zhi had managed to pick up the Secondary Profession of Transcendent Sailor, so he knew just how difficult it was to do that.

At the captain's call, everyone rushed to the left side of the ship and carefully scanned the riverbank. Whenever they spotted a large rock or tree, they studied it closely to see if it looked like a whale.

Liu Zhi shook his head helplessly. If a whale-shaped landmark were so easy to find, the records wouldn't have described it so vaguely.

Of course, Liu Zhi searched carefully too. His own journey depended on finding it.

Just then, the guide Perkin had hired came over to Liu Zhi.

He was a local tribesman with slightly reddish skin, his body painted with all kinds of white and blue-green patterns.

He looked Liu Zhi up and down. "I see traces of a curse on you. You've been cursed by a god."

Liu Zhi tilted his head and glanced at the guide's neck. He saw a few pendants made of stone and teeth hanging there. After examining the patterns on them more closely, he shook his head and said,

"The curse on me has nothing to do with you."

The guide's expression darkened after Liu Zhi shut him down like that.

But as Liu Zhi had said, even if he was cursed, it had nothing to do with the guide. The curse hadn't been laid by one of the guide's ancestors, so the guide had no good reason to ask any more questions.

The irritated guide shot Liu Zhi a glare and went over to the jungle expert.

The jungle expert wore long sleeves and trousers, with every inch of himself covered. A backpack was slung over his shoulders, and all kinds of little tools hung from him. He looked like the sort of person who could survive for a long time in the wilderness.

When the guide came over, the jungle expert quietly asked, "Well?"

"He won't tell me anything, but I can say for certain that he's cursed. The curse probably has something to do with Emperor Atahualpa."

"The Golden City? No wonder he won't let us see the map. If I had a lead like that, I wouldn't show anyone the map either." The jungle expert immediately figured out Liu Zhi's goal.

"So should we..." the guide murmured.

"Keep an eye on him for now. We need to stick with this lead first. We can't hedge our bets and end up with nothing on either side." The jungle expert thought it over, then replied.

Just then, the jungle expert felt as if something were watching him.

Thinking that someone might have seen him talking with the guide, he turned toward the direction of the gaze.

But he didn't see anyone watching him. Instead, a monkey sat in a nearby tree, grinning at him.

"Good thing it's only a monkey. But what's a monkey doing here?" As an expert in surviving in the jungle, he knew what animals lived nearby. This kind of monkey wasn't supposed to come to the riverbank. It was far too dangerous for them here.

"Something's wrong. There's something off about that monkey." The jungle expert tried to get a closer look, but suddenly he shoved the whole matter out of his mind and shouted, "I see the whale! Everyone, come take a look!"

At his shout, everyone rushed over. They followed the expert's pointing finger and saw a huge rock underwater. The tree's reflection on the surface overlapped with the rock, and the ripples bent the image until it really looked like a whale about to break the surface and spout water.

Liu Zhi and Perkin took a look and both nodded in confirmation.

"Trim the sails! We're turning!" the captain shouted.

The captain's sons hurried to grab the sails. The ship made a sharp turn on the spot and slipped into a nearby channel.

Just then, the jungle expert remembered the monkey. He turned to look where he'd first seen it, but it had already disappeared.

Seeing the jungle expert's expression, the guide asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just feel a little uneasy."

"Really? If you feel that way, be sure to tell me ahead of time. This jungle is full of curses, and some people with sharp senses can feel them coming."

The jungle expert nodded firmly. "Don't worry. I'm an expert at surviving in the wilderness. I won't let my guard down."

As they spoke, Liu Zhi looked puzzled too. He didn't think they'd taken a wrong turn, but for some reason, he always felt uneasy when the ship entered this channel.

It was like facing an oncoming truck with no way to escape.

Even when the Fishman seer attacked him last time, he hadn't felt this way.

"Something's wrong. There's something off about this place."