"You must answer every question I ask truthfully and in detail. You can't hide anything." After saying that, Zhao Xun repeated his earlier question. "Do you know why the Frog Prince was sealed here?"
"They say it was too evil. The Mages hunted it down and worked together to seal it here." Sure enough, the Macaque Boss immediately gave him an honest answer.
The other macaque underlings looked astonished when they heard the Macaque Boss's response.
They couldn't understand why the Macaque Boss, who had refused to answer no matter how they asked just moments ago, was suddenly answering every question.
But the Macaque Boss was the tallest and strongest among them, and none dared defy or question him. After their brief surprise, they all chose to remain silent.
Zhao Xun didn't care what those macaques were thinking. He continued, "Was the Frog Prince going around killing people?"
The Macaque Boss nodded. "Probably. I heard it killed lots and lots of people."
"Then do you know who the Frog Prince originally was?" Zhao Xun asked.
"I don't know." The Macaque Boss shook his head. "I never heard the Mages mention it."
Zhao Xun wasn't disappointed by the lack of a definite answer. He continued, "Did the Mages ask you to stand guard here?"
"We already lived here," the Macaque Boss explained. "After that frog was sealed here, the Mages learned we lived here and asked us to help keep watch."
"You're not responsible for guarding the Frog Prince, are you?" Zhao Xun glanced behind the Macaque Boss. "You're guarding the fireflies."
He wasn't asking. He was stating a fact.
During their brief conversation, he had already spotted two blinking fireflies drifting slowly through the depths of the woods.
At night, with the trees blocking the moonlight, the fireflies' glow stood