By linking my account to the check-in system, I became a leisurely traveler.

Chapter 272 What? Faster than a monkey on the cliff?! [Bonus chapter, 8000 words today! Requesting monthly votes!]

For Li Younan, helping Professor Zhang find the USB drive was not actually the most important reason.

The more important reason he decided to go up and take a look was actually... since he was already here, and his rock climbing skills had reached level three, climbing up the canyon wall to see the scenery might be an excellent experience.

In the process, it would be best if we could help Professor Zhang find clues, but even Li Younan didn't have high hopes.

When they reached the bottom of the canyon again, Sonam Dondrup asked, "How are the protective ropes set up?"

Li Younan smiled and said, "The protective ropes would restrict my movement and affect my flexibility, so I plan to climb up by hand."

The group was stunned by Li Younan's words.

Professor Zhang quickly said, "You can't joke like that; we still need to take certain protective measures."

Li Younan looked calmly at the rock wall, which was not bare but covered with vegetation growing haphazardly.

In Li Younan's eyes, the three-dimensional rock wall seemed to have become a two-dimensional plane, and psychologically, he felt no tension at all.

Li Younan smiled and showed the others the safety rope around his waist: "Once we get up there, I'll attach the safety rope in some appropriate places, so there won't be any problems."

“I’ve climbed a rather difficult rock face without any protection in Canada before, and I was carrying a sheep on my back at the time… There are even more difficult ones, like Mount Gongga, some of which are much harder to climb than this rock face.”

Hearing Li Younan's words, Professor Zhang said with emotion, "Professor Li, if you can't find it when you go up, don't force it."

Sonam Dondrup said earnestly, "Then you must be careful."

The drone had already taken off, and Liu Li and Tuan Tuan were waiting nearby.

Of course, there was a little incident here.

After all, Tuantuan, whom Liu Li was with, was a nationally protected owl, and several experienced police officers immediately focused their attention on Tuantuan.

Then, just as Solang Duncuo was about to say something, before he could utter his first sentence, Li Younan spoke up: "It's like this, I rescued this owl in the wild, and I went through all the legal procedures. It doesn't involve any illegal activities related to wildlife protection."

As he spoke, Li Younan proudly pulled out his proof.

However, this surprised Sonam Dondrup for a moment. After a brief pause, he shook his head with a somewhat strange expression: "Oh, Professor Li, you misunderstand. I didn't mean to question your legality in rescuing wild animals. After all, an animal expert like you certainly has the proper permits. I'm just a little surprised; this owl seems quite intelligent..."

This time, Li Younan felt a little disoriented, like he'd punched cotton; his boasting wasn't quite as satisfying as it could have been...

He glanced at Tuantuan with some displeasure. "Is she smart? This silly bird."

When it comes to intelligence, owls are certainly not considered low in intelligence among birds, but compared to birds like crows, African grey parrots, or even magpies, they are still somewhat foolish.

Tuantuan tilted her head, looking at Li Younan with a puzzled expression.

Li Younan began to climb upwards under everyone's gaze.

When his hand touched the protruding part of the rock wall, his body was like a flash of lightning, and he suddenly entered another state.

He was somewhat surprised at this moment.

He had already experienced the power of a level three skill in painting, but the impact of a level three skill related to physical function was even more pronounced.

Once his skill reached level three, his strength, endurance, and flexibility had reached their peak, exceeding the limits of ordinary people's understanding.

At this moment, his hand was resting on a protruding rock, but he had a very clear feeling that he didn't need to use the strength of his whole hand to grip it.

In rock climbing, there are corresponding difficulty levels. 9C and above holds are often only a few millimeters wide. Top climbers can support their entire body weight with a single finger and even perform fingertip jumps.

Li Younan is also capable of doing the same, and his endurance is even more astonishing than that of the world's top rock climbers.

He felt that even if he let go of his whole hand, leaving only one finger hanging on a small protrusion on the rock wall, it would be enough to suspend his entire body.

And the feeling was even more wonderful as he climbed up.

Yes, his core strength and body control had reached an unbelievable level; he ascended the mountain effortlessly without feeling any exertion.

If it weren't for the gravity below reminding me that the earth is beneath my feet, I might even have the illusion that I'm crawling along the ground.

Climbing without footholds is even easier. In fact, compared to professional bouldering competitions, the actual rock face here is less difficult because the protruding footholds are so easy to grip, and there are protrusions on the feet and hands that make it very convenient to exert force.

In a sense, he can now climb not just 90-degree walls with ease, but any naturally formed rock face, even one greater than 90 degrees, is no problem for him.

Li Younan's figure quickly disappeared among the vegetation on the rock face.

The crowd below stared in disbelief at Li Younan's posture as he went up.

Suddenly, Sonam Dondrup exclaimed thoughtfully, "This Teacher Li is a true traveler; he is no longer a traveler in the conventional sense!"

The higher Li Younan climbed, the more astonished he became; his muscle endurance was truly incredible.

He recalled a rock climbing legend who climbed a vertical rock face for 19 consecutive days, relying only on hanging plates and ropes for rest, demonstrating an endurance comparable to that of a marathon runner.

Li Younan naturally possessed physical qualities comparable to, or even stronger than, that endurance climber.

So for him, climbing this canyon wall, which was only a few hundred meters high, was incredibly easy.

At this moment, Li Younan even leisurely turned on the camera.

Strictly speaking, this was his first real rock climbing experience. Although he had climbed mountains before and there were places where he needed to climb, it was different from climbing hundreds of meters in one go.

During this process, Li Younan naturally did not forget the main purpose of this challenge, which was to search for the lost portable hard drive.

Although the range of the monkey troop's activity has been determined, Li Younan's climbing route is actually slightly different from the monkeys' climbing route.

Li Younan said to the video camera, "Macaques have a strong sense of territory and their usual activity routes. Can you see these monkeys? They are now very wary of me."

Li Younan leisurely raised the video camera and filmed the monkeys a few dozen meters away. The monkeys were all staring at him warily.

As Li Younan continued to climb, they retreated while baring their teeth and screaming, but not a single monkey dared to challenge him.

Li Younan said with a smile, "I have to be extra careful now. These monkeys will most likely react defensively if they see that I haven't left, so we need to keep our distance as much as possible."

In this video, Li Younan did not show that he was rock climbing to find the portable hard drive. After all, he needed to edit the video, and he would try to avoid sensitive content as much as possible.

As Li Younan's climbing route gradually distanced itself from the monkey trails used by the monkeys, the monkeys' reactions became less intense, but they still kept their distance from Li Younan while following him warily.

The vegetation on the canyon walls is very rich, showing a clear vertical gradient.

Not only do drought-resistant shrubs grow on it, but there are also some ferns, mosses and vines.

Li Younan took out his phone to take pictures, explaining as he went, "This is honeysuckle, and this is sweet vine..."

"These vines allow macaques to climb, and in the summer they will bear berries, which will be a good food source for the monkeys."

As Li Younan passed through another pine forest, he was once again exposed in front of the rock face, allowing the drone in the sky to successfully film him. His walkie-talkie then crackled to life.

"Li Younan, we can see you now. For a long distance ahead, we'll be able to see your movements from the drone. Please be careful!"

Li Younan smiled and said, "Okay, I will definitely be careful."

The drone can see him over this distance, which also means that there is little vegetation here, making it much more dangerous to climb than in the lush areas where there are many footholds.

Li Younan climbed and searched, but so far he had found nothing. However, he was also very clear that if the hard drive was still with the monkeys, it must be in the core area where they lived.

On the cliff, there are many naturally formed caves, rock crevices, and weathered depressions, which serve as natural shelters and provide protection from wind and rain.

Li Younan had already observed from below that the monkey troop's sanctuary was located in a large rock depression above. It not only had a wide rock platform, but the depression also contained narrow stone caves, where the monkey troop gathered.

A typical macaque troop is no more than 50 individuals. Li Younan had previously observed this troop in detail, and it numbered around 30, making it a medium-sized troop.

As Li Younan climbed higher, although he maintained a safe distance from the monkeys' core habitat, the monkeys began to get restless. They gathered around Li Younan within a dozen meters, constantly screeching and baring their teeth at him.

Li Younan ignored the monkeys and instead took out his high-powered binoculars to continue his careful observation.

Suddenly, a macaque that looked significantly stronger appeared in his binoculars and hissed at him a few times.

Li Younan put down his binoculars and then saw that on the core habitat platform of the monkey troop, the strong macaque was obviously restless and was moving towards him.

Li Younan immediately realized that this must be the monkey king of this troop.

The Monkey King's target was clear: him.

Li Younan remained calm and recorded the scene with his camera, saying, "The monkey king naturally has the highest status in the monkey troop, but rights and obligations are also commensurate. For example, if a natural enemy invades the territory, the monkey king has the obligation to come and drive it away."

The monkey king was extremely agile, moving across the rock face as if it were flat ground. It quickly reached a vine not far from Li Younan, hooked its body around it, and roared at him.

Seeing that Li Younan remained unmoved, the Monkey King, looking both embarrassed and angry, tentatively lunged at him, arriving at a position a few meters away from Li Younan.

Meanwhile, Li Younan used binoculars to observe the core habitat of the monkey troop up close, but found no trace of the hard drive.

At this moment, the Monkey King kept chattering away, but Li Younan was too lazy to pay attention to him and moved a little further away.

Seeing that the intruder had been driven away, the Monkey King became very proud. He roared for a while and retreated with satisfaction.

……

Li Younan was currently hanging in the upper part of the rock wall, in a relatively open area.

Only then was he able to truly appreciate the scenery from a traveler's perspective.

Looking down, the bottom of the canyon narrows, and a tributary of the Yarlung Tsangpo River becomes a thin, bright band reflecting the sunlight.

The grove of trees we came from now looks like a dark green carpet with neat edges.

Looking up, the rock face still extends, but the outline of the ridge at the top is already in sight.

The weathered rocks exhibit a layered effect, with gray-white and ochre intersecting.

Looking straight ahead, the parallel mountain opposite seems almost within reach. You can clearly see the gullies and shrubs growing tenaciously in the cracks of the rocks. Occasionally, birds fly over the opposite mountainside, and you can clearly see the way their wings flap.

The rock face he was on was sparsely vegetated, with only some lichens and drought-resistant shrubs growing close to the rock. The rough rock surface was covered with honeycomb-like holes and deep longitudinal cracks, providing him with ample gripping points.

The drone was still hovering in the air.

By this time, Li Younan had already observed the monkeys' territory from several angles, looking over their habitat almost without any blind spots, but still hadn't found anything.

It seems highly likely that the monkey got tired of playing with the hard drive and the other things in the bag, and then carelessly discarded them.

If that's the case, then the search can only continue in the area below the rock face, and further searching will have to be left to the police.

With this in mind, Li Younan, having already climbed the rock and enjoyed the scenery, began to consider going down.

However, at that moment, Li Younan's attention was drawn to a violent commotion.

……

A crow is attacking a young monkey.

It is vastly different in size from a monkey, but its attacks are resolute.

Instead of hovering and probing, it fell almost vertically from a great height like a black javelin, its wings tucked tightly, moving at an extremely fast speed, aiming straight for the monkey's head.

Just before they were about to collide, it suddenly spread its wings to adjust its posture and pecked down hard with its hard beak.

The monkey cried out in pain and swung its claws back with a fierce, sharp motion.

This time, the crow didn't completely dodge. To complete this effective peck, the edge of its wing almost grazed the monkey's claw, and a few jet-black feathers were instantly lifted by the strong wind and fell down. It didn't hesitate, using the rebound force of the impact to gain altitude, but its flight trajectory was already hasty, showing the risk it had taken with that attack.

Crows are much smaller than monkeys, are entirely black, and their wings reflect a metallic blue-purple luster in the sunlight.

It swooped down again, aiming its beak at the back of the monkey's neck or the top of its head, and pecked quickly.

The monkey was clearly enraged. It used one hand to hook onto the crevice in the rock to steady itself, and with the other hand it swung upwards in an attempt to drive it away.

Although the monkey looked somewhat disheveled, having to frequently change positions on the rocky outcrop, it finally managed to seize an opportunity and grab the crow's foot.

Then came the chaotic flapping of wings and the monkey nearly losing its balance and falling.

In the end, the monkey let go, and the crow flapped its wings in the air a few times, looking rather disheveled, before ceasing its attack and flying away.

……

Li Younan's gaze followed the crow, but he saw that the crow did not fly far away. Instead, it flew down a straight cliff and landed on a platform.

When Li Younan saw where the crow had landed, his eyes suddenly flashed, and he immediately understood what had happened—there was a small figure on the platform, a baby crow. Although it had grown some feathers, it was clear that it had not yet started molting and could not fly.

Thinking of something, Li Younan looked up again. Directly above the platform, about thirty or forty meters away from him, there was a nest on a pine tree growing from the cliff.

The nest appears to have been damaged.

Seeing this scene, and recalling the crow's reckless attack on the monkey, Li Younan immediately understood: the monkey must have attacked the crow's nest, and perhaps one of the crow chicks had fallen out and landed on the platform.

Those who frequently follow Li Younan's life already know that owls are extremely vengeful animals, and compared to owls, crows are no less so in this respect. They can even remember if you shot them with a slingshot years ago, and will take revenge on you as soon as they get the chance.

Aside from that, the most striking characteristic of crows is their intelligence.

Some studies even suggest that crows are the most intelligent of all birds.

Their intelligence level is comparable to that of a 7- to 8-year-old human child!

They not only make and use tools, such as bending wire into hooks to catch insects in tree holes and cracking nuts with stones, but they also place nuts on the roadside so that cars can run them over and eat them.

They also possess complex logic and memory; they can remember faces, distinguish between benevolent and malevolent people, and plan for the future, such as hiding food in advance, disguising the hiding place of food to confuse their kind, and even understanding cause and effect.

If owls are the huskies of the bird world, then crows are the border collies.
Crows would normally never be on the macaques' menu, but the macaques, lacking any sense of morality, will raid crows' nests, steal their eggs, and attack their young.

In terms of intelligence, crows and monkeys are about the same, but the monkeys clearly underestimated the crows' determination to take revenge. For a long time to come, the crows will continue to attack the monkeys.

However, that platform is not safe, because it is not a place that monkeys cannot reach.

It's clear that the monkey the crow attacked earlier was trying to ambush the baby crow that had landed on the platform.

At this moment, Li Younan noticed that another monkey was tentatively moving towards the platform.

After thinking for a moment, Li Younan quickly climbed towards that platform.

……

By this time, the crows' cries had taken on a mournful tone.

Crows are monogamous animals, and their pairings are extremely stable, lasting their entire lives.

Male and female crows build nests together, incubate eggs, feed chicks, and guard their territory together. They have a clear division of labor and are much more loyal in their love than humans.

However, at this moment, only one crow was guarding the fledgling that had landed on the platform. Its feathers were extremely disheveled, indicating that it had obviously been through many fights. So, pessimistically speaking, the mate crow had most likely died in the process of attacking the monkey in revenge.

The fledgling was also very weak. Although the fall from such a height did not cause much damage, it had been constantly attacked by monkeys and had not been eating, so it clearly had little hope of survival.

Just then, a monkey climbed down from above, and the large crow immediately took flight again and pecked fiercely at the monkey above.

Just then, a monkey suddenly crept onto the platform from the side. The crow panicked and quickly flew down, but the monkey, already on the platform, moved with incredible speed and agility to grab the baby crow.

Then, the monkey was picked up.

The monkey turned its head, somewhat bewildered, and saw a human face.

Li Younan tossed the monkey aside irritably and said, "Haven't you heard the saying, 'The big bully the small, and he'll die young'?"

The monkey came to its senses, both surprised and angry. Its fur stood on end, and it bared its sharp teeth at Li Younan, making a racket.

Then, he got a flick on the forehead.

The monkey was confused.

"Who are you trying to scare? Do you think you're the Monkey King?"

The monkey was completely speechless and ran away in a flash.

At this moment, Li Younan was standing safely on the platform. Looking left and right, there were cliffs all around. To be honest, it looked quite dangerous.

The sudden appearance of Li Younan made the crow equally nervous. It kept circling around its chicks and making warning cries, as if it would perish together with Li Younan if he dared to touch its chicks.

Seeing this, Li Younan found it amusing. He took out a biscuit from his pocket, crushed it, and scattered it in front of the fledgling bird, saying, "You probably don't understand what I'm saying, but you little thing can't fly, and there are monkeys all around you. You can't leave for long. If I don't intervene, this little thing will definitely die."

After saying that, Li Younan calmly sat cross-legged in front of the fledgling bird and patiently watched the crow.

The crow circled for a while, then landed next to the chick. It moved its body around the chick, tentatively pecking at the biscuit in front of it, and then looked up at Li Younan.

Seeing that Li Younan had no reaction, the crow gradually grew bolder, hopping and skipping closer to him, its wings slightly spread, ready to fly backward immediately should Li Younan make any aggressive move.

Li Younan smiled, then took out a piece of beef jerky from his pocket and threw it on the ground.

The large crow picked it up, ate it, and seemed to regain some strength.

Li Younan then slowly tried to move towards the cub. To his surprise, the large crow hopped back two steps, making room for him. Clearly, it not only understood Li Younan's goodwill but also quickly made a decision and responded.

Li Younan picked up the fledgling. At this time, the crow was smaller than a normal pigeon. Its feathers had not yet fully grown and its body was covered with gray and black down. Its eyes were open, but its beak was still soft. It could not stand steadily and could not fly on its own. It could only rely on its parents to feed it.

Li Younan carefully placed the cub into the pocket on his chest. Just then, the large crow suddenly took flight. Li Younan watched it fly upwards with some confusion. The crow was flying towards its damaged nest, the crooked pine tree that had grown out of the cliff face.

A while later, the crow flew down again, carrying something in its beak. Li Younan was completely stunned when he saw what the crow was carrying—it was a glittering silver object; upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a portable hard drive…

"what?"

Crows like to decorate their nests with shiny things, so how did it get this portable hard drive from the monkey? Li Younan was too lazy to think about it anymore, because what happened next was even more surreal. The crow tossed the portable hard drive in its beak to Li Younan.

Li Younan's lips twitched slightly as he picked up the hard drive. This portable hard drive was slightly larger than a regular USB flash drive, made entirely of metal, but not very heavy.

Li Younan said into the walkie-talkie, "The hard drive has been found."

There was a brief silence on the other end of the walkie-talkie, followed by a burst of noise: "What? Found it!"

"Great! Great!"

"Teacher Li, please be careful!"

Just as everyone was celebrating, Li Younan frowned and quickly turned the walkie-talkie volume down to the minimum, because the crows had moved again.

Seemingly relieved after entrusting the fledgling to Li Younan, the large crow cawed twice more and flew up towards a monkey overhead.

Seeing this, Li Younan sighed slightly.

The monkey was relatively small, clearly a young monkey that had just reached adulthood. It was pecked twice by the crow and cried out in distress.

But just as the great crow was about to launch its next attack, a figure suddenly swooped down from the sky and grabbed it tightly.

Li Younan immediately recognized it as the Monkey King.

The crow and the monkey king fell more than ten meters from the sky together. The monkey king grabbed a pine tree that was growing out of the rock wall. The pine tree was only a dozen meters away from Li Younan.

Then, in Li Younan's view, the Monkey King fiercely bit down on the crow.

This scene was also witnessed by the fledgling crow peeking out of Li Younan's chest pocket. The little crow cried out sadly twice. Seeing this scene, Li Younan felt sad, but he didn't intend to do anything. After all, it was natural selection, and from the monkey's perspective, there was nothing wrong with that.

However, after killing the crow, the monkey king bared its teeth and cawed at Li Younan a few more times, then held the crow in its mouth and turned its rear end towards Li Younan.

This immediately enraged Li Younan.

Without the slightest hesitation, his body acted before his thoughts.

His right hand shot out like lightning, his five fingers precisely digging into a crevice in the rock. With the force of his knuckles, he soared upwards for more than a meter.

With a light touch of his left toe on an almost invisible rock protrusion, his body rose again.

His movements were precise and fluid, like a shadow moving across a rock face.

As soon as the Monkey King turned around, he saw Li Younan chasing after him. He instinctively sensed danger, and with the crow's carcass in his mouth, he began to move laterally along the rock wall, trying to use the complex terrain to escape the pursuit.

Li Younan did not follow the Monkey King's route.

His eyes quickly scanned the rock face, instantly planning a shorter interception path.

It was a nearly vertical path, covered with slippery moss and loose gravel.

He went straight to meet him.

Grip the slippery rock edge with your fingers, press your body against the wall, and reduce the leverage.

The toes find support in tiny, moss-covered depressions, the core engages, and a stable torque is provided.

The loose rocks broke off after he used them to propel himself, falling into the deep valley, but his movements were not slowed or unbalanced in the slightest.

The monkey king was very fast, leaping and bounding across its familiar territory.

But Li Younan was faster. His movements were calm, efficient, and precise. Every exertion of force was just right, and every landing point was unwavering.

The distance is rapidly closing.

The monkey king turned around in alarm and saw the human figure rapidly approaching on what it considered an impassable route.

It accelerated its escape towards the nest platform above.

Li Younan spotted a protruding rock eave above the Monkey King.

He suddenly exerted force to the side and upward, his body detached from the rock wall, and he briefly stretched out in the air, his right hand barely grabbing the edge of the rock eaves.

With the strength of hanging from one arm, his core muscles tightened instantly like a bow, and his whole body swung upward like a pendulum, easily flipping onto the platform.

They blocked the path the Monkey King was taking as he fled.

The Monkey King suddenly stopped, still holding the crow in his beak, and stared at Li Younan with an expression of astonishment that humans could understand.

The monkey king, regaining its senses, put down the crow from its beak and continued to bar its teeth at Li Younan. But before its sharp teeth could even be revealed, Li Younan slapped it hard on the head.

The slap left the Monkey King completely stunned, and he didn't come to his senses for a long time.

Li Younan picked up the crow carcass from the ground with an annoyance and snorted, "Do you think you're the Monkey King? You dare to provoke me? He's the Handsome Monkey King, and you're just an ugly monkey."

This scene was captured clearly by a drone in the sky.

At this moment, several police officers gathered behind the drone operator, all of them dumbfounded and unable to calm down for a long time—they looked at each other, wondering what had just happened.

A human caught up with a monkey on a precipitous cliff.
(End of this chapter)