Chapter 10: Black Bird

"It's still pretending to be human."

"Still pretending to be human."

"The monkey's tail is showing."

"It's showing."

The crested myna burst into hearty laughter, visibly enjoying the joke. Another crested myna couldn't remember the grammar rules of monkey language, so it simply echoed along.

"Let's leave him be, he seems busy," said the crested myna, shouting at Yu Liang, "Monkey bro, see you, Monkey bro! We are the Master of All Things, we are in-the-know for a bag of feed."

"That's right, mutual aid without questioning origin, as long as you're stripped of your human status, we're good brothers."

The myna's words were laced with laughter. Yu Liang kept his head low, swiftly passing through the observation area of the mynas. Just as Old Du had warned, all the tourists in the group paid no mind to the noisy jokes of the mynas.

As he left the mynas area, he couldn't help but touch his backside, only relaxing when he verified he had not sprouted a monkey's tail.

To be honest, he was seriously afraid of being transformed into a genuine monkey by this zoo, because all animals they'd come across had shown him kindness, as if they were his kin.

This seemed like a good thing – he didn't appear to be the primary target of these strange creatures. But it was only seemingly a good thing.

While he was treated favorably, it would likely come with a price.

"Achoo!" Xiao Zhize suddenly sneezed, hugging himself, shivering all over. He glanced at the group, looking somewhat embarrassed, "Why did it suddenly become so cold?"

Yu Liang also tightened his clothes. He was dressed for autumn and the chill in the fog seemed to seep into his bones, making him shiver involuntarily.

At that moment, he was near the middle of the group. Ahead of him were Xiao Zhize and a strong man named Lv Xing. Most of the other six people around him were also huddling against the cold, wondering about the plummeting temperatures.

This is...

Flamingos?

The area upfront had fewer trees, unveiling a vista: a salt lake observation area with a large flock of long-legged, black-beaked, red-feathered birds, gathered together like a rolling red sea of flowers, creating a stunning spectacle.

The signpost described the flamingos: "Flamingos, large birds, possess crimson feathers, are passionate like fire, but contrary to their name, they fear the cold and need to be moved indoors when temperatures drop."

Passionate? Cold fearing?

Yu Liang looked towards the group of flamingos on the sandy beach, some strolling by the lake, some preening their feathers. One flamingo noticed his gaze and directly opened its white-and-red wings to him, fluttering its wings as if showing off its charm and asserting its status.

He noticed that although the flamingo fully extended its wings, they were awkwardly bent at a strange angle, as if deformed from birth.

Probably the zookeepers had clipped the major veins of its wings to keep these birds, capable of flight, caged within the observation area. This was a common method in zoos to confine large birds.

Observing for a while, he also noticed the crowded flock of flamingos showed no discomfort, seeming content instead.

Also, he felt the current temperature had dropped to below 10 degrees Celsius.

"So cold, so cold, so cold...So cold..."

A small bird with all-black feathers fell from the sky like a leaf, its left wing appeared wounded, and its flight erratic.

The bird flew quickly past Yu Liang, heading straight for Old Du at the front of the group. Suddenly, it lost control and dived straight for Lv Xing's back in front of Yu Liang.

It perched on Lv Xing's back, its obsidian beak gliding with a glimmer, pecking maniacally at Lv Xing's back, swiftly creating a large wound. It buried its head in the flesh and bone of Lv Xing's back, causing blood to spurt out, staining everything around.

Plunging its body further into the wound as if its opening was too small, the black bird's claw gripped the flesh tightly, its head and other claws wriggling, rapidly expanding the wound to reveal a spine.

Finally satisfied, the black bird buried its entire body into Lv Xing. The hot, crimson blood poured down from above, and it shut its eyes in contentment as its voice grew stronger.

"So warm, so warm, so warm..."

All this unfolded right in front of Yu Liang. He stopped walking, watching the gory scene as the strong smell of blood pierced his nostrils.

He was staring at Lv Xing, but he wasn't frightened at the terrifying sight; instead, he was browsing through the list of strange occurrences on his device.

Zoo…

Social Dependent Monkey...

No new strange occurrence was added.

In other words, only Lv Xing was affected?

"What happened?" Xiao Zhize jabbed Yu Liang's arm.

Lv Xing also turned around, his lips visibly pale from rapid loss of blood, he appeared puzzled seeing Yu Liang's gaze, "What? Is there something on my back?"

A blood hole the size of a head was torn open on his back, with blood flowing down and splattering on the ground, extending into a bloody trail in the woods. However, nobody saw any of it.

Including Lv Xing himself. Oblivious to the pain and fatigue as if a robot, he continued to follow the group into the woods, visibly weak due to rapid blood loss, yet clueless about his condition. It seemed as if he was still a regular human, as if nothing happened at all.

Only Yu Liang felt an intense bizarre sensation. It seemed that only he could see the gruesome truth, or perhaps he'd been abandoned by the world, having gone mad, perceiving hallucinations.

No, that's not right.

Everyone in the group felt the cold. That meant we had the same perception of temperature. Still, the supposed cold-fearing flamingos were freely active on the lakeside, so the anomaly seemed to affect only us.

Only I can see it because I am a "monkey," yet I also felt cold because I'm still human.

I'm not mad, not mad yet.

In his mind, these words echoed louder, he instantly snapped back to reality, as when one wakes from a midday nightmare, cold sweat drenched his back.

Something was tampering with my perception. Every bit of acceptance acknowledged towards monkey identity will be amplified tenfold.

It's trying to turn me into a monkey!