I became the King of Ryukyu

Zheng Yi wasn't in a hurry and continued walking slowly until he reached an inconspicuous cage in the far corner.

A gray-haired macaque sat in the cage, slightly smaller than its companions, with a small notch on its left ear. Unlike the other monkeys, it didn't jump around or stare at him warily. Instead, it sat quietly in the corner, its bright black eyes fixed on Zheng Yi, its gaze carrying an indescribable... spirituality.

A different message popped up on the panel:

[Should I spend 40 action points to recruit the intelligent macaque?]

[Success rate approximately 35%]

Zheng Yi was overjoyed.

You are the one.

He'd accumulated a ton of unused action points over the past few days and was worried about what to do with them. A 35% success rate wasn't high, but he could keep trying.

The first attempt failed. The macaque tilted its head and ignored him.

The second attempt failed. The macaque turned around, its rear end facing him.

The third attempt failed. The macaque yawned and started scratching itself.

The fourth time—

Congratulations on successfully recruiting the talented and intelligent macaque!

You have acquired its hidden talent: a mastery of human nature.

[Mastery of Human Nature: Your ability to perceive malice has been enhanced]

[Name: Human-like Macaque Level 1]

【Intelligence: 24】

[Strength: 21]

[Politics: 20]

Commander-in-Chief: 88

【Charm: 70】

Loyalty: 70

[Position: Inspector of the Warehouse]

[Monthly salary: 0 yen]

Zheng Yi naturally renamed it Sun Xiaokong.

Sun Xiaokong's intelligence is only slightly lower than that of Cheye Xiaopang. I really don't know whether to say he's smart or that Cheye is indeed an incurable idiot, and that studying is just a waste of Ryukyu's taxes.

However, when Zheng Yi saw that the monkey's combat strength was 21 points, he fell silent.

Before I started training, my combat strength was actually the same as this skinny monkey...

As for Commander 88?

Just like humans, some people are born to be leaders, but if they come from humble backgrounds, they may be extremely lucky to become workshop directors or contractors their whole lives.

However, some people are actually complete idiots, but they come from prominent families, and their lower limit is the ceiling that ordinary people can only dream of.

For a monkey troop, someone with leadership skills but a weak physique is simply not a suitable leader; this is a mismatch of abilities.

But now that Sun Xiaokong has become a military general under Zheng Yi's command, its weakness has been made up.

Reaching out to open the cage door, Sun Xiaokong hesitated for a moment, then extended its paw and gently placed it on his palm.

Zheng Yi lifted it out and put it on his shoulder. Then he picked out nineteen macaques that looked the most energetic from the other cages and put them into the four large transport cages provided by the technician.

The four cages stacked up to almost chest height were filled with squeaking, jumping, and shouting inside. Zheng Yi tried to lift them—but they wouldn't budge.

The combined weight of twenty adult macaques is at least over 100 kilograms, which is impossible to move by human power.

"Boss, could I borrow a handcart?"

The technician was quite helpful; he pushed a flatbed cart from the warehouse and helped him stack and tie up the four cages.

Zheng Yi pushed the trolley out of the laboratory gate, went around to the parking lot, opened the trunk and rear door of the Highlander, and stuffed cages into it one by one. There were two in the trunk, two in the back seat, and the gray-haired macaque—Sun Xiaokong—was squatting in the passenger seat.

He closed the car door, removed the Osaka-accented uncle's face, reverted to his original appearance, started the engine, and drove away from the university area.

The car drove south for about twenty minutes, then turned onto a secluded coastal road and finally stopped beside an abandoned breakwater. The area was overgrown with weeds and littered with jagged rocks; there were hardly any people, not even stray cats to be seen.

Zheng Yi turned off the engine and got out of the car. After confirming that no one was around, he took out two pills that he had just refined that day from his pocket, and then took out an ordinary macaque from the back seat.

"Here, try this." Zheng Yi handed the pill to the cage.

The ordinary macaque sniffed it, hesitated for two seconds, then opened its mouth to take it, chewed it twice, and swallowed it.

Then, it froze.

The macaque's body suddenly stiffened, its limbs rigidly stretched out, its tail held straight up, and then—it began to hop. It exhibited the exact same symptoms as I had last night, like Koyuki, with its eyes wide open and making "chirping" sounds as it bounced on the breakwater in an extremely bizarre way.

Zheng Yi covered his face.

really.

He glanced again at the gray-haired macaque—Sun Xiaokong—squatting in the passenger seat. It was tilting its head, looking at the bouncing fellow monkey with an expression that seemed to say, "My lord, are you out of your mind?"

Fortunately, after jumping around for about two minutes, the macaque gradually calmed down and eventually returned to normal. It squatted on the ground, shook its head, and then scratched its ear with its paw, its eyes showing a kind of confusion as if it had just experienced something, but it was conscious and moved freely.

Zheng Yi squatted down and observed carefully for a while. After confirming that there were no obvious aftereffects, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He opened the game panel, found Bai Ling Shangren's avatar, and sent a message: [Bring the General of the Vanquishing Army's Seal over. I'll send you the coordinates. Bring a few extra ropes.]

A moment later, a golden light, invisible to others, flashed, and Master Bailing appeared on the breakwater, holding the general's seal in his hand. He glanced at the densely packed monkey cages inside the Highlander, then at the gray-furred macaque on Zheng Yi's shoulder. Even the old monk, with his vast experience, couldn't help but be taken aback.

"My lord... are you going to open a zoo?"

"What kind of zoo is this?" Zheng Yi put the gray-haired macaque down from his shoulder, pointed at it, and said to Bai Ling Shangren, "This one is called Sun Xiaokong, and he's their leader. You take all these monkeys back to Shadow Island, find a place on the mountain to pen them up, and let Sun Xiaokong manage them. They'll be useful for farming, patrolling, and keeping watch in the future."

Master Bailing looked down at the gray-furred macaque, which looked up at him with a calm gaze, carrying a composure that was not typical of ordinary wild beasts.

"...My lord, this monkey seems to be quite intelligent."

"Nonsense, otherwise why would I buy it?" Zheng Yi waved his hand. "By the way, give its nineteen underlings some random names too, I'm too lazy to come up with them one by one."

Master Bailing pondered for a moment, then put his hands together in prayer: "I will go back and look through 'Journey to the West: The Tale of Exorcism'."

Zheng Yi remained silent for two seconds.

Is the perverse sense of humor in choosing one's own name so obvious?

Master Bai Ling bent down and picked up four cages, then waved to Sun Xiaokong.

The gray-haired macaque glanced back at Zheng Yi, then leaped and landed steadily on Bai Ling Shangren's shoulder.

With a flash of golden light, the man and twenty monkeys disappeared into the shadows of the mangrove forest.