Another Peaceful Day

After eating the remaining crystal, the baby monkey looked at Iona with pity in her eyes, then she turned around and left without saying anything.

Iona still can't get over the fact that he was a thrash. Although he didn't really want to eat it, the fact that he really couldn't eat it was an entirely different matter.

Iona saw the baby monkey ate the crystal like candy, and shattered it in one bite, but on the other hand, he…

Iona was either too weak or that he was just a failure. He knew he was just a mob from the start, but he didn't know he was this, this…useless.

This made him question his existence very much.

Iona didn't even notice when the baby monkey left, but even if he did, he wouldn't care either way.

The baby monkey can leave whenever she wants, Iona can't stop her anyway.

When Iona returned to reality, he saw himself alone in the forest again, and the baby monkey was nowhere to be found. For whatever reason, although he didn't care, Iona still found himself disappointed.

He was dejected and felt depressed for a while, and once again doubted the content of his dream.

Maybe that great turtle wasn't him after all…

Iona sighed and was about to go back to his nest, when the baby monkey, who disappeared from who knows where, came back. She fell from the sky, and landed in front of Iona, blocking Iona's path.

Iona, who had dark clouds all over his head, raised his head slightly to glance at her.

He was in a bad mood and didn't really want to take care of her, and was about to bypass her, when the baby monkey handed him something.

―― it was a luminous crystal.

Iona hasn't reacted yet, and just foolishly stared at the baby monkey, not knowing what she was on about.

"I ate yours, so I went back to get another one for you. This is your share." The baby monkey said, "The monkey king said that everyone must have at least one crystal today."

"He said that the crystal is essential for us to continue growing stronger. Although the island's resources are enough for everyone, it will take a long time to grow from a single grain of sand to a stone to a boulder. These were the monkey king's exact words." Then she added, "He especially mentioned you as an example. You didn't grow at all after being nurtured by the island for many years."

"I grew up eating these crystals, but you aren't. So the monkey king wants me to give you one, maybe you'll grow a bit. They're really delicious, it's a pity not to taste them."

The baby monkey didn't wait for Iona to react, she put down the crystal in front of Iona, and left as if running away, leaving Iona stupid once again.

After a while, Iona finally snapped out of it, he lowered his head and looked at the crystal on the ground with some contemplation, then picked it up with his mouth, and walked towards his nest.

…

…

Morning came as usual, and Iona was woken up by the pleasant singing of the birds outside his tree hole.

He hasn't opened his eyes yet, but his consciousness was already awake, just a bit confused from sleep.

He came out of his shell, and walked out of his nest to bask under the sun for a while.

This is the forest, even though the big sun was shining hotly at the sky, it was still a bit dark, and the ray of sunlight seeping through the gap of the overgrown trees looked a bit like starlight in the night sky.

Still, this is the monkey king's spot. Around this huge tree, there weren't any other trees growing, therefore, it was like standing in the center of the spotlight.

Iona basked under the sun, and was particularly in a good mood. After a while, he went for a walk towards the monkey paradise forest to get to the stream.

Today seemed to be a good day to soak in the water and eat some fish.

Iona arrived at the stream. He went in, and stayed still for a while, pretending to be a beautiful green stone by the stream, and watched as the small fishes, which were startled away when he went into the water, gathered on the surface again.

The water flow of the stream was very slow and mellow. The fish in it could happily swim by to and fro, even against the flow.

Iona waited for a whole minute from the time the fish gathered, and suddenly opened his mouth to attack.

The fish that he caught went directly to his stomach. If it was Iona before, he still needed to rush to get these fishes, but now, Iona was so proficient at catching fish that he doesn't need to catch them anymore—— it was more like directly picking up the fish from the plate and eating it.

Iona became an expert at this now. Really, practice makes perfect.

After eating, Iona stayed at the stream for a while. He soaked in the water and almost fell asleep. In fact, he did fall asleep.

When Iona opened his eyes again, he was surprised to find that the big sun was already setting. He wanted to scratch his head in confusion, but his limbs weren't that flexible, so he stopped.

He just closed his eyes, he can't believe he slept for so long.

Iona got up, and was about to go back, when he glanced at the long stream up ahead.

Speaking of the stream, before he was abduc—, err, kidn—, umm...before he was brought to the monkey paradise forest, he wanted to go towards the end of the stream, thinking there might be another lake or pond there that would allow him to stay.

A few years had passed, Iona had explored some parts of the forest, but he never stepped out of it. He wondered if he could find some time to travel around the island.

Now that he knew that the animals on this island would never really kill or prey on anyone purposely, Iona felt that it was safe for him to walk around without an "escort".

Still, Iona thought it might be better for him to wait for a while, wait for himself to grow a bit bigger to try out his outing.

Iona walked back with this thought in mind.

He greeted the monkeys he passed by, some of them had Iona given the fruits in their hands, others went to pat his head and stroke his shiny turtle shell.

Except for the fact that he was being bullied by the baby monkey, and the bad attitude of the monkeys at the start, the moment Iona was accepted by the monkey king, Iona already belonged to the monkey paradise.

The monkeys were mischievous, especially the infants. They liked to ride Iona, treating him like a cart, they were the reason why Iona's flipper developed into feet much faster. They made Iona run around everyday.

It wasn't easy for Iona's flippers to walk on the forest land. With all those protruding roots and sharp rocks, all those days, Iona really felt aggrieved.

His flippers bled, and they were full of scratches and calluses. It was the worst if the calluses slit opened.

It stings to death!

Fortunately, Iona didn't have to suffer for so long. His flippers grew toes, and he can now stand on his four feet!

Walking doesn't hurt now, he can walk faster too.

He looks like a tortoise now, except that he still has his flat turtle shell, and that he still has to go soak in water everyday, or else he'll become a dried turtle.

Thinking about it now, living in this forest wasn't so bad after all.

When Iona got back, he was so full he couldn't walk anymore. It was unknown whether these monkeys ate the wrong medicine today, they were so enthusiastic, they stuffed Iona with food until they accumulated into a small hill. Iona couldn't carry them all, therefore, Iona ate some of them before he fled home.

Arriving at the monkey king's personal tree, Iona saw the monkey king squatting on a thick branch at a glance.

Since he woke up this morning, Ione felt weird somehow, and felt as if he was forgetting something or someone, seeing the monkey king, Iona finally remembered who he forgot―― the baby monkey, ah!

Iona looked left and right, but he didn't see any figure of the baby monkey, and thought in bewilderment: The monkey king is here, so where did that baby monkey go?

That's why it was so peaceful! There's no baby monkey around!

The monkey king saw him coming, and with Iona having to ask the question, the monkey took initiative to answer the question in his mind: "Have you eaten the crystal yet? Tsk, tsk, tsk, children should be greedy. Don't copy the baby monkey, she ate two crystals in one go, now she's in a coma."

"Stupid monkey! Although she grew up eating crystals, with her body, she can't eat so many at once."

The monkey king rumbled to Iona for a long time, as if wanting to vent his frustrations towards the stupid monkey to Iona since the stupid monkey was currently in a coma.

Iona could only sigh and waited for the monkey king to finish venting, and then went back to his nest.

Speaking of that crystal, after receiving it yesterday, Iona took it and just threw it somewhere inside his nest.

He didn't know what to do with it.

The baby monkey ate the crystal with relish, but Iona only saw it as an ordinary crystal. With much reluctance, he tried to eat it a second time before sleeping, but he still couldn't break it.

He thought of just swallowing it, but he was afraid of chocking so rejected that idea instantly.

In the end, he just left it there, and forgot about it.

Iona looked at the luminous crystal on the ground, thoughtfully.

He didn't have the urge to eat it, nor did he feel like he needed it, instead, for some reason, Iona wanted this crystal to decorate his body, like some kind of accessory.

If Iona still had his human hands, he could make this crystal a simple necklace with wire or threads, but Iona was a turtle now.

It was just his instinct.

Iona felt something would happen if he let this crystal close to his body.

Finally, Iona took the crystal with his mouth, and put it inside his shell.