Because of our preconceptions, when we first saw the woman, we were convinced she must be some kind of monster.

But only after staring blankly for a good while, and the woman remaining completely unresponsive, did we begin to sense that she might not be human.

At that moment, Nie Chuan whispered to me, "Looks like another dummy. Want to go check it out?"

I knew what he meant; we absolutely could have bypassed her, but leaving without investigating felt like leaving a nagging worry unresolved.

However, Da Xiong had just seen a minor spirit, making him terrified. He grabbed my sleeve and pleaded, "Maybe we shouldn't go over and check. Let's call out to her a couple of times first, see if she responds."

I thought Da Xiong had a point. Rushing over blindly could be walking into a trap, and that wouldn't be a laughing matter.

So, I took a deep breath and shouted, "Hey! Woman! What... are you doing here?"

Sure enough, my voice carried, yet the woman showed no reaction.

I glanced at Da Xiong and remarked, "Most likely a fake. Look at her clothes, they're faded. Who knows what kind of trick this is."

Just as I finished speaking, I saw the arm of the woman in the tattered kimono twitch slightly.

But she didn't turn her head; instead, from around her waist, a dark little head popped out.

All three of us froze. The small head was covered entirely in black hair, looking exactly like a monkey.

Yet, this little monkey was oddly dressed in a light-colored kimono, creating a bizarre spectacle.

Seeing the little monkey’s ugly appearance, we couldn't help but feel a wave of disgust.

The little monkey, sensing our reaction, became visibly enraged, baring its teeth and making all sorts of strange faces at us.

Da Xiong had always detested monkeys since birth. He claimed it was because he was born plump, so he naturally disliked lean animals.

Upon seeing the monkey's grotesque appearance and its snarls directed at him, Da Xiong completely forgot what the woman was, bellowing at the monkey, "Hey, you little hairy ape! You dare act wild in front of your Lord Xiong? Watch as I wipe you out today!"

As he spoke, he began snatching up stones from the ground, intending to throw them at the monkey.

The monkey, seeing Da Xiong gathering stones, immediately retracted its head into the woman's embrace, hiding away.

Da Xiong grew agitated. Clutching a stone the size of a brick, he charged forward.

Seeing Da Xiong’s impulsiveness, I figured he was transferring the lingering resentment from the earlier pebble-throwing incident onto this monkey.

But before we could ascertain the woman's true identity, I managed to grab hold of Da Xiong.

Unexpectedly, even while I held him back, Da Xiong angrily hurled the stone in his hand toward the woman.

The stone struck the woman squarely in the back, and immediately we heard a strange, muffled cry—the woman dissolved into a cloud of black fur that drifted into the air.

Before we could make sense of it, a dark shadow flashed overhead, and the bizarre monkey swooped down from the sky toward Da Xiong.

Da Xiong instinctively threw up his hands to ward it off, but the monkey managed to clamp onto his arm and bite down hard.

Da Xiong shrieked in pain and frantically tried to grab the monkey with his other hand.

Just then, a sudden, powerful gust of wind rushed over our heads, and a massive, grotesque black bird swept past.

Startled by the giant bird, Da Xiong momentarily lost focus, allowing the monkey to bite him again. Then, with a light leap, the monkey secured itself onto the bird's leg and was carried skyward.

Da Xiong clutched his arm, cursing, but could only watch as the great bird carried the monkey away, vanishing into the depths of the distant dense forest.

"Are you alright? Quickly rinse that wound with water!" Nie Chuan rushed over to examine Da Xiong's injury.

I knew that wild monkeys consume everything and often carry various germs and toxins in their mouths; a bite from one was nearly as dangerous as a snakebite. Even if it wasn't venomous, rabies was a real possibility.

Da Xiong shook his head, insisting he was fine. He pulled a bottle of strong liquor from his waist, poured it over the wound while gritting his teeth, and then rinsed it with clean water.

I saw only a few deep puncture marks on the wound and didn't dwell on it too much.

"What exactly was that thing? It looked human, so how could it suddenly turn into feathers? And what was that giant bird?" Da Xiong asked.

I shook my head. "I don't know. I've never heard of any such yokai in Japan. But I suspect that bird was the woman herself."

Nie Chuan nodded in agreement. "I think so too. Maybe it wasn't human at all, just a type of bird that resembles a person while wearing a kimono."

As we walked to where the woman had been standing, we indeed found a piece of a tattered kimono amidst a pile of feathers on the ground.

"That thing has wings and flies in the sky. It might have been injured by us, and it will surely return. I don't think we should linger here; let's leave quickly," Nie Chuan urged.

I nodded, having no desire to stay either, and led the way toward another direction.

But shortly after we left that spot, we suddenly heard a rustling sound above the bamboo grove, suggesting something was flying overhead.

We quickly looked back and saw that the monstrous bird had indeed returned. It landed on the ground, snatched up the kimono in its beak, and took off again.

We were too late to stop it, and truthfully, we hadn't considered trying to stop it; we just watched it happen.

The bird let out a few sharp cries, seemingly in defiance, before quickly disappearing above the bamboo trees.

Seeing it gone, we didn't hesitate and continued forward, eager to exit the bamboo forest quickly.

But after only a few more steps, the rustling sound overhead began again, so intense it seemed as if every bamboo stalk was shaking in a hurricane.

Then we heard strange squeaking noises directly above us, and the monkey-like creatures in kimonos began to rain down—the sheer number was astonishing.

Da Xiong cursed, "Damn it, did we offend the daycare workers? Why are so many monkeys here for revenge!"

As he finished speaking, he instinctively touched his wound, baring his teeth.

I noticed that although Da Xiong's wound had been disinfected, it was swollen, looking like a freshly split pomegranate, still oozing black blood. Suspicion immediately struck me.

After a few seconds of thought, I realized instantly: these things weren't monkeys at all, but countless zongzi [mummified corpses]! And Da Xiong's injury wasn't ordinary; he had been poisoned by the corpse venom.

The black fuzz on these little zongzi wasn't monkey fur; it was corpse hair.

To be honest, I hadn't seen many zongzi—this was only the second time counting this encounter—but I never imagined I would witness so many at once.

There were about fifteen or sixteen small zongzi descending from the sky. Some landed on the bamboo stalks, screeching at us, while those that hit the ground immediately lunged forward.

I kicked one flying, and several others charged toward us.

Da Xiong, one hand still clutching his injured arm, stomped and broke the limbs of two little zongzi before shouting, "We can't hold them off! Run!"