"Save us, Brother?" Sorry, but I am not the big brother that you offended.
That smile gave Captain Li a bad premonition.
Dumby went walking straight towards Gao Peng.
Captain Li did not even blink as he stared at the scene.
Dumby knelt down, and gently placed the small female ape onto the ground, right in front of his master. Then, his large hand gently caressed the small female ape. Using Red River Ape speech, he uttered, "Don't be scared, Papa will protect you."
The female ape's eyes widened. Papa? Skeleton? She took two deep breaths, then her eyes fell shut as she simply fainted.
Poor child…
Gao Peng knew that the small female ape would need some buffer time to properly digest such news.
Captain Li fell into desperation after witnessing the scene.
They're on the same side!
Up in the air, Flamy was flapping its wings, circling above their heads. It was not hiding its Commander tier aura at all. All the monsters that had dared to venture close were all driven away.
It was indeed as the old sailor had said. Along the banks of the Red Sand River, Commander tier monsters were extremely rare.
Dumby took large strides towards the Iron-Backed Wolf on the ground. It was right below Captain Li's tree, hence he was getting closer and closer to Captain Li.
Captain Li covered his nose, slowed his breathing, and dared not even look at Dumby.
A pity…
Unless he had no heartbeat, it would make no difference. With his Blood-Thread Heart, no living creature with a beating heart could hide from Dumby.
Captain Li's position was currently over a dozen meters off the ground. After the cataclysm, trees had become much larger and stronger than before. All around the base city, trees that were forty to fifty meters tall were everywhere.
Dumby threw a vicious punch at the tree trunk.
This tree that would have taken two grown men to hug around it shook violently.
Showers of leaves fell from the treetop.
Captain Li was almost shaken off the tree, and he instinctively hugged his branch tightly. Beads of sweat began to emerge on Captain Li's forehead as he swallowed in fear. He could only pray that this giant skeleton could not climb trees.
Dumby raised his head. His line of sight went through all the leaves and landed straight on Captain Li's body.
He let out a furious roar. Climb trees? Of course I can climb up.
But I don't need to. I just need you to feel terror. And repent!
Dumby's left and right fists drew arcs as he tirelessly attacked the tree trunk like a roaring pile driver. The sharp bone spurs on Dumby's fists pierced into the tree bark, shredding the tree trunk and sending bits of wood flying.
The tree shook and seemed about to fall.
Such mental torment made it even worse for Captain Li.
I'd rather you end me with a single stab of a knife.
Following a long creak, the large tree fell to the ground with a crash. The branches broke as they tangled with one another, making crisp cracking sounds.
Captain Li felt a vicious impact in his chest.
His heart almost ruptured from the impact. He felt intense pain in his ribs, which should have been caused by the impact from the fall.
Before he even had time to react, he felt something tighten around his throat. A large cold hand held him by the neck, and in the next moment, he felt his feet leave the ground as he was picked up into the air.
Captain Li looked straight into Dumby's eyes. It was the first time he had ever locked eyes with a ghoul-type monster at such close proximity. The living would always have a natural fear towards the dead, stemming from the fact that death was the end that everyone would eventually meet.
Carrying Captain Li, Dumby took large strides towards the center of the area. Dead Red River Apes lay on the ground and up in the trees, their corpses giving off a cold aura.
Also, there were injured Red River Apes, clinging to tree branches in panic, their eyes filled with fear.
Crash!
Captain Li was viciously thrown by Dumby, right next to the corpse of a Red River Ape. Captain Li's head hit the ground, knocking him dizzy. By the time he recovered his senses, he found himself face to face with a dead Red River Ape, staring at him with unblinking dead eyes.
Even a man like Captain Li, who had seen plenty of death, could not help having his hair stand on end.
In the empty clearing, all that was left was Dumby's silent figure.
Then, Dumby went to each and every tree, not punching them down this time, but agilely climbing up the trees and capturing every member of the monster hunting squad, before tossing them all together like rubbish.
Stripey slowly crawled over, spewing its spider silk and holding all the prisoners in place.
At this point in time, there was no way that Captain Li had not figured out that Dumby was Gao Peng's familiar. With a face full of snot and tears, Captain Li pleaded, "Spare me, please spare me. My mother is already seventy and my father is seventy-two. My older and younger brothers both died during the cataclysm. Right now there's only me in the family. Without me, my parents and my thirteen-year-old child will starve to death."
"We're all humans, don't kill us. We will do anything for you, even be your slaves."
"Please, mercy!"
All the captured squad members joined in the pleading.
Gao Peng remained silent.
As though sensing something from Gao Peng's silence, a glimmer of hope flashed in Captain Li's eyes. "Killing is against the law, big brother, and we can do anything for you. From now on, we can be your most loyal servants. Even if you tell us to kill, we won't even blink or hesitate!"
At the same time, Captain Li swore bitterly to himself, "You won't have things your way all your life. Just wait 'til I find the chance; I'll have you begging for death."
Seeing this bunch of people pleading profusely but secretly plotting to harm him, Gao Peng suddenly smiled. "What's your name?"
"My name is Li Fangxu." Captain Li squeezed out a smile on his face.
"Captain Li, why are you killing all these Red River Apes?"
Captain Li was stunned. You're doing all this for the Red River Apes? You must be mental! Just for this bunch of monkeys!
"Because the Zhou Family's second daughter has a Black Gold Leopard that likes to eat the organs of Red River apes, especially the hearts. The family is offering high prices to buy them, or else we wouldn't have come to hunt them; they aren't worth much otherwise," said Captain Li softly.
So that's why.
Gao Peng nodded, now that he understood the reason. Captain Li didn't matter; if he did not take care of the problem at the source, then tomorrow it might be a Captain Zhou or a Captain Wang coming to hunt the apes.
"Dumby, you take care of this as you see fit. We'll wait for you by the river," instructed Gao Peng. Then, he patted Stripey on the head, indicating for Stripey to leave.
Captain Li's face turned ghastly pale. "You can't do that! I told you everything! You're not honoring your word!"
Gao Peng shook his head. "Captain Li, you're already an adult. You should know that in the world of adults, there's no right or wrong. Those who argue about who's right or wrong are children. How are you so naïve at such an old age?"
Captain Li's eyes showed despair, which turned to hatred, and then finally bitter loathing.
Dumby did not act directly, but instead motioned for all the Red River Apes up in the surrounding trees to come down and gather.
The Red River Apes looked at one another, hesitating for a long while. Finally, two daring Red River Apes hopped down from the trees and carefully approached Dumby.
Dumby gathered the rifles of all these hunters and ground them to bits. Then pointing to the group of hunters securely held to the ground by spider silk, he gave a few commands.
Afterwards, Dumby left without even turning his head. He was no longer the king of these apes. They would have to rely on themselves to carry on in the future.
After Dumby was far away, the Red River Apes looked at one another. After a short moment of silence, a few apes which were hurt by the hunters before could no longer hold back. Their expressions turned to rage as they bared their fangs and approached Captain Li and his men…