Chapter 21: Why is there a golden snub-nosed monkey in your backpack! (Part 3)

Qian Nuo looked at the person Wen Youning had brought along.

“Shi Jinchen, he’s here to help.”

Wen Youning whispered,

“He’s the one I mentioned on the phone.”

Qian Nuo quickly said,

“Hello, nice to meet you. I’m Qian Nuo.”

“Shi Jinchen.”

With time tight and the task at hand, Wen Youning patted his shoulder.

“Let’s go, we need to find the thief.”

“Wait a second, I have something for you.”

Qian Nuo held the key given by the director.

With the police leaving, the barricades had been taken down.

She took out the renovation blueprints she had prepared earlier.

“These are the blueprints for the Monkey Mountain dormitory and warehouse.

We can use these to avoid areas with people.”

Qian Nuo had specifically asked the director for these.

The original blueprints had become brittle with time, so she made three copies.

“These two are for you; one for each of you.

We’ll split up and search.

I’ll head to the dorm area.

The staff dormitories are all similar, so I remember the way.”

Wen Youning glanced at it, folded it up, and put it in her pocket.

It was inconvenient to carry around.

She said, “I’ll go to the warehouse ahead.

It’s closer to the indoor viewing area for the golden monkeys.”

She didn’t need to worry about the golden monkeys being startled and making noise.

Shi Jinchen pointed at the last path.

“I’ll take this one.”

After confirming their positions, the three of them dispersed at the entrance.

Wen Youning adjusted her coat and started walking toward Monkey Mountain.

The warehouse was the closest, and since the golden monkeys were resting indoors, Monkey Mountain was quiet and empty.

Click, click.

Click.

“Ugh,”

‘Delicious, delicious.’

‘This is sweet.’

‘Banana, banana, ugh… it’s spoiled.’

‘What a pity.’

Is this… the voice of the golden monkeys?

No, wait, at this time, the golden monkeys should be in the indoor park, right?

Wen Youning glanced at the sign above.

It was indeed the warehouse.

Wen Youning opened the door, and the light from her phone’s flashlight illuminated a few golden monkeys.

“Ugh!”

Before she could even see clearly, a small golden monkey crashed into her arms.

“Slow down?”

“Ugh…”

‘Did you come to find me?’

The little golden monkey had apple crumbs on the corner of its mouth.

Wen Youning picked up the little golden monkey and wiped away the marks on its mouth.

“How did you end up here? It’s cold here, aren’t you cold?”

The warehouse temperature was set very low to preserve freshness.

This warehouse, where the golden monkeys’ food was stored, was obviously not the place for keeping the golden monkeys.

“Ugh?”

The little golden monkey tilted its head, ‘Someone came to open the door, and we ran out.’

It ran out, grabbed a new apple, and came back, ‘Eat apple. Delicious.’

“Go ahead, eat it.” Wen Youning pushed the apple back toward it. “Did you see any strange people around here?”

The golden monkey blinked its big eyes, and voices echoed in its mind.

‘Didn’t see anyone.’

‘No humans.’

…

Slowly, the golden monkey, seeing the fruit she didn’t like, jumped out of Wen Youning’s arms,

placed the apple on the box, and began searching for other fruits.

The golden monkey beside her rolled up the banana peel it had finished and put it down.

Then, it reached out to grab the apple, but accidentally knocked it off.

The apple rolled and fell, hitting a box in the back row.

There was a ‘thud’ sound.

This sound…?

Wen Youning walked over and picked it up. It was an empty box.

She checked the box next to it. It was also empty.

“Only the row in front has fruit, the rest are all empty.”

Wen Youning gasped. No wonder the person in charge didn’t want them to check.

It turns out they were embezzling the zoo’s money meant for the golden monkeys’ food.

They didn’t want to be discovered, did they?

Now, she could probably guess who had opened the golden monkeys’ cage lock.

Wen Youning looked at the innocent golden monkeys eating fruit and smiled,

“You guys are helping balance the accounts.”

The person in charge is a real genius.

When this is discovered tomorrow, they can just say the door wasn’t locked properly,

and the golden monkeys came out and ate the 10 tons of fruit in the warehouse, eating and throwing it around.

Who would know how much they actually ate and how much was thrown away?

Who could have known that many of the boxes were already empty?

The person in charge of Monkey Mountain had pocketed so much money.

The golden monkeys would take the blame.

Wen Youning sent a message to the police.

The thief hadn’t been found yet, and with the actions of the person in charge,

they really deserved a visit to the police station for some tea.

She had enough reason to get the police to the scene.

“Ugh!”

‘Who’s there!’

‘Bad person…’

Wen Youning heard the voices and looked toward the corner where the golden monkeys were.

She quietly placed the slowly moving golden monkey down in her arms, “Be good.”

She opened her backpack, took out the pepper spray,

placed the backpack down, and tiptoed toward the corner.

“Come here, little one.

Sister is coming.”

Wen Youning walked over while holding the little golden monkey, placing them in a relatively safe spot.

Just before walking past the suspicious box, Wen Youning swiftly dashed toward it.

As she lifted the box, the pepper spray in her hand already released with a ‘pssst.’

“Ah!”

The man screamed as an unknown gas filled his eyes.

He staggered backward, knocking over a large pile of empty boxes.

“Quick, get out!”

At Wen Youning’s command, the golden monkeys behaved obediently.

Even though they didn’t know why, they hesitated for no time at all,

putting down the fruit they were holding and running out.

When Shi Jinchen finished his search in his area and came to find Wen Youning,

what he saw was golden monkeys running around everywhere.

“???”

The golden monkeys were free-range, sure, but this was too free-range.

Wen Youning squatted by the door, sending the last little golden monkey out.

Qian Nuo, seeing the situation, was also stunned. She caught sight of Wen Youning’s figure,

approached to ask what was going on, then saw the man in the corner, screaming.

Suddenly, he kicked a box on the ground and lunged toward Wen Youning.

In that instant, she almost screamed, “Teacher Wen, be careful!”

Shi Jinchen pushed her aside and rushed toward them.

Wen Youning remained calm, turning around.

As the man lunged at her, she landed a punch to his abdomen.

“Ugh—!”

As the man bent forward in pain, she quickly followed up with a punch to his face.

‘Bang!’

The man staggered back a couple of steps,

looking as if he were drunk, then collapsed slightly.

‘Thud, thud…’

Teeth, stained with blood, fell onto the floor.

Shi Jinchen, who had rushed to help, swallowed hard, his throat bobbing slightly.

No way, hey.

Didn’t know you had these skills.

Wen Youning brushed the dust off her hands and glanced at the man lying unconscious on the ground, drooling.

After being sprayed with the pepper spray, he was lying there obediently. She didn’t want to hurt anyone.

She said, “This should be the thief.”

Qian Nuo nodded dazedly,

“Hmm… I just saw the police outside. Did Teacher Wen call them?”

Wen Youning replied,

“Yes. The person in charge of Monkey Mountain embezzled the golden monkey food funds.

There are many empty boxes inside.”

“What?!” Qian Nuo couldn’t believe this.

She rushed in and started rummaging through the boxes, “I need to call the director!”

This was something the director had to know about!

Shi Jinchen hesitated about whether to tie up the person on the floor.

He felt like it might not be necessary, and teased,

“I thought you were a fragile animal doctor.

Didn’t expect you to be so strong.”

Wen Youning didn’t reply to that.

If she were really powerless, she would have already met her end playing with the tigers at the zoo,

taking turns taking pictures with them.

Big cats like to pounce on people as a sign of affection, wanting to play with her.

That’s how her skills were honed.

Now, the situation was like practicing boxing with Tyson,

and then entering a kindergarten’s small class boxing competition.

Wen Youning pulled the needle out of the thief’s body.

It was really hard to lose a fight.

“But… two teeth fell out.

That counts as a minor injury,” Shi Jinchen said, looking at the man, noticing some broken teeth.

It was hard to say exactly how many teeth had fallen out.

Wen Youning said calmly,

“It’s fine. There’s no surveillance.”

Shi Jinchen asked,

“How do you know?”

Wen Youning shrugged, “The person in charge wanted the golden monkeys to steal food to balance the books.

The surveillance here must have been deliberately destroyed in advance.

Otherwise, how could the golden monkeys have pulled out so many empty boxes?

That would have left evidence against themselves.”

Shi Jinchen looked at the corner of the warehouse where surveillance cameras would normally be installed, now only electric wires remained.

This works?!

…

The police arrived at the scene shortly after.

However… the police looked around and only saw a group of golden monkeys.

They stopped in their tracks,

“Is anyone here? Who called the police?”

“I did.” Wen Youning raised her hand under the cover of the golden monkeys,

“This person stole the egg of a swan, please investigate thoroughly.”

“Wasn’t it the park that called the police this afternoon?”

The police officer quietly asked his partner.

The partner nodded, “Yes.”

The police officer asked, “What evidence do you have that it was him? Without evidence, we can’t arrest anyone.”

Wen Youning: …

If I say the golden monkeys told me, would they believe it?

Shi Jinchen dragged the man out, so he wouldn’t stay inside and possibly freeze to death.

When they dragged him out and looked at his face, “Damn…?!”

The sound of footsteps suddenly echoed through the quiet corridor,

making everyone’s heart skip a beat.

Wen Youning asked, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s him,” Shi Jinchen said, pulling up a wanted poster on his phone.

After the official release, he had saved a screenshot as his phone wallpaper.

“Look! It’s the same. It’s definitely him!”

The clothes he was wearing were identical.

There was no time to change clothes while on the run. He looked extremely messy.

Wen Youning pursed her lips, “So does this count as a reason for arrest?”

“I’ll handle it.” Shi Jinchen stepped forward, saluted,

and took out his credentials to negotiate with the police.

Wen Youning stepped closer to look at the man’s face,

“Qian Nuo, where do you guys get the food for the animals at the zoo?”

“Ah?” Qian Nuo leaned against the wall,

“Over at City C. There’s a large agricultural market there with suitable farmers.

We need a lot of supplies, so we have them supply us.”

Wen Youning nodded, “No wonder.”

“What do you mean?”

Wen Youning said, “This person robbed a gold store in City C.

He probably hid in a vegetable delivery truck to escape from the city.

Since there were police checkpoints along the way, he didn’t dare get off the truck, and ended up coming through your zoo.”

There were a lot of surveillance cameras at the zoo, so he didn’t dare move around too much.

With crocodiles on the left and black bears on the right, and the swan eggs having become more agitated, Monkey Mountain was probably the safest place for him.

“Leave the egg theft for the police to question him about,”

Wen Youning said, “I didn’t see any swan eggs by the boxes, and he doesn’t have any on him either.”

Qian Nuo quietly replied, “Mm.”

“Do you think he knows the person in charge of Monkey Mountain?”

Wen Youning guessed that he didn’t know,

“The person in charge of Monkey Mountain probably didn’t want his embezzlement of the golden monkey food funds to be discovered.

He may not even know there was someone hiding here.

It’s probably just a coincidence.”

Qian Nuo: “…”

Everything just fell into place.

But all of them were bad people, none were good! It’s no surprise he got caught.

After talking with the police, Shi Jinchen came back and said,

“Let’s go. We’ll go to the police station and give a statement.

If everything checks out, we can go back.”

Wen Youning grabbed her bag, “Okay.”

After giving their statements.

It was nearly six in the morning by the time they left the police station.

The zoo director and the person in charge of Monkey Mountain had probably arrived at the police station just before them,

and they still hadn’t come out.

Since Shi Jinchen was the case officer,

he had arrested the person and had to conduct an interrogation, so he couldn’t leave yet.

Qian Nuo yawned,

“Ah… finally, it’s over. Thank you so much, Teacher Wen.”

She felt like she hadn’t been much help.

By the time she arrived at the scene, Wen Youning had already handled everything.

While in the car, Qian Nuo was already on the verge of falling asleep, trying her best not to doze off.

Wen Youning saw Qian Nuo nodding off and said,

“Drink some water to wake up.”

“Okay, thank you, Teacher Wen.”

Wen Youning opened her bag, but the miscellaneous items she had put inside earlier,

including the bottle of water, were all gone.

A golden furry head popped out first.

“?!!”

She quickly closed the bag, her eyes fixed ahead.

The feeling of drowsiness in Wen Youning’s mind disappeared in an instant,

and she became alarmingly alert.

I knew it! When I picked up the bag, it felt heavier than when I first brought it in.

I thought it was just a hallucination from staying up too late.

“Teacher Wen?”

Qian Nuo noticed that something was off with Wen Youning and asked suspiciously,

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s a problem.”

Wen Youning didn’t seal the bag tightly and left a small gap.

“Go on.”

Wen Youning said, “Well… if a tourist accidentally left their bag behind,

and then a golden monkey got inside and zipped up the bag,

and the tourist didn’t notice and walked out of the park with the golden monkey…”

Qian Nuo curled her lips,

“What? How is that possible?

Golden monkeys aren’t like cats that like to sneak into enclosed spaces.

How could there be a golden monkey in the bag…”

As her voice trailed off,

Wen Youning opened the bag again.

The golden monkey slowly poked its head out from inside, “Ooh!”

“Hug me!”

Qian Nuo: “?!!”

“Ahhh—?” Her voice, which had been calm, completely changed tone.

“How did a golden monkey get in your bag?!”