The monkey leader, seeing me clutching my backpack, glared at me with an expression like a merciless landlord squeezing a poor tenant.

Seeing my reluctance, Xiao Shu quickly zipped up the backpack and hoisted it back onto his shoulders. He stood up with a limp, waved at the monkeys, and commanded, "Go, go, go..."

Indeed, these Golden-Haired Great Monkeys by the Sea of the Dead were smarter than ordinary monkeys. After Xiao Shu appeased them, and with a gesture telling them to move on, the group immediately turned cooperative, walking ahead while occasionally looking back. Seeing us following them, supporting each other, they were certain the compressed biscuits in the backpack were within their grasp, and so they ceased their aggressive behavior.

"Should we head to the Sea of the Dead first to fetch some water and treat your wound?" I asked, watching the blood still welling up from Xiao Shu's scraped knee, concern evident in my voice.

"No need. If we lose track of them, we might never find them again. In these deep, old mountains, even a map might not be useful." As he spoke, Xiao Shu pulled out a small handful of pebbles from his pocket and tossed one toward a conspicuous spot.

"You were prepared?" I asked in surprise, looking at the pebbles on the ground. I reached into his trouser pocket and felt a bulging mass—a whole packet of small stones. No wonder his knee was hit by a stone earlier; the one embedded in his flesh must have fallen out from there.

"Heh heh, I collected these on the riverbank while you were asleep. The forest floor is mostly soft earth; pebbles are rare, so these are perfect for making markers," Xiao Shu said with an embarrassed smile.

A true chess master excels at long-term strategy; others calculate three moves ahead, but they see seven. That is the difference between Xiao Shu and me. While I was deeply asleep, he wasn't resting; he was assessing the surroundings, preparing tools for marking the trail, and even planning a ruse of feigned surrender, leading an oblivious and bewildered me toward the monkeys' territory. If there were an award for the ' Best Fool,' I would surely win it. In front of him, I was little more than a brainless brute.

"Alas, why didn't you wake me up to help you gather stones last night? Two people could have managed a bigger collection," I laughed, trying to mask my embarrassment. I suddenly realized I was still wearing the jacket Xiao Shu had taken off last night. I thought that if I hadn't put on his jacket, he wouldn't have kept the stones in his trouser pocket, leading to the fall that injured his knee.

"I saw how exhausted you were, so I didn't wake you," Xiao Shu replied.

Looking at his injured knee, a wave of guilt washed over me. I couldn't say another word. Silently, I took off the jacket and draped it over him, then took one of his arms, draped it over my shoulder, and helped him limp forward.

The monkey leader, seeing the captives follow obediently, strutted at the front like a victor, head held high, tail curled upward. The two White-Haired Great Monkeys that had been leading us now acted as overseers, flanking us on either side. On the surface, Xiao Shu and I seemed to have gained the upper hand, transitioning from kneeling prisoners to standing guests. In reality, we both knew this preferential treatment stemmed entirely from the allure of the compressed biscuits. Had Xiao Shu not decisively taken the backpack, they might have targeted the food and acted as outright bandits. This precious sustenance could not be sacrificed so easily.