Fight to survive!

Terror froze Xiao Zhou's blood. Everything feels like a dream to him. "This must be a nightmare, I am dreaming now, I will wake up anytime soon," he thought to himself.

The red arm ape roared, bringing him back to reality. Its maw splits open to reveal a terrifying array of fangs. 

The primal scream ripped from his throat, jolting him out of his paralysis. 

("Move! Move! Move!")

Xiao Zhou pushes himself away at the brick moment the red arm ape slams its big arm down to his previous position, breaking the log like a fragile twig. 

Before he could recover from his tumbling, the Red arm ape leaps for another pummel strike, packing more force this time.

Xiao Zhou managed to scrambled away just as the ape's massive fist slammed down, creating a crater on where he had been huddled moments before.

The force was so great that it sent Xiao Zhou tumbles even further backward. The assault may not yet injure him now, but it will do more than just hurting if he continues to expose himself on the ground.

Still gasping air and panicking, he immediately turns back and dashes away with every might he possesses. 

The red arm ape gave chase, running with its two legs and two big arms on the ground, roaring in furious. 

Xiao Zhou never knew where he could go. His mind filled with fear. He could only run and run, pushing his legs to the limit as he tried to get away from the raging monster behind him.

Rocks and low tree branches were on his way. He pushes them through by shoving away carelessly, getting small cuts over his arms and face in the process. Compared to him, the red arm ape behind just smashes through everything that was in its way, effortlessly closing the distance.

Xiao Zhou ran until there was no more path in front. He forces himself to break at the edge of the cliff, leaning away from it and falls to the ground. 

A dizzying drop plunged into a bottomless chasm, filled with swirling mist and the distant cries of unseen birds. Panic clawed at his throat. He had no idea how he'd reached such a perilous height.

"That was too close!" still breathing rapidly, his heart hammering against his ribs as he peered over the edge.

("When did we travel to such a high up place?!")

The height of the place he was in doesn't make any sense to him as he didn't remember climbing or hiking any mountain. 

His fleeting moment of confusion was blown away as his predator emerged from the trees, its arms pulsing with red fiery energy, eyes glinting with hunger for utmost violence to inflict this small prey for running around. 

Cornered, with nowhere left to run, the dread of despair sinked in. 

("I am going to die. Can't escape. I am going get slam into a mincemeat by those giant arms.")

Perhaps knowing its prey was as good as dead, the Red arm ape slowly approached Xiao Zhou, growling and cracking its big knuckle.

Life flashes before him. Memories from when he was spending his time working with his father, rowing their boat slowly and taking in the dusk scenery, eating a heartful dinner at his small yet comfy house. 

"Don't be the fish, Xiao Zhou."

A line from his father in his memories emerges. It was just like any usual day with nothing much going on, his father pointed to the fishes they just caught.

"See this fish?"

Xiao Zhou nodded his head, curious what his father was trying to express.

"It stops fighting for its life."

Xiao Zhou looked again, he saw the basket that the fish was in.

"Because it has been caught and there is no way to escape," he answered, as it is the most natural response to him.

"Is that so?" his father responded, hinted a bit of disappointment in his tone.

"What do you mean, father?" Xiao Zhou scratches his head, trying to figure out his father's question.

"Look again. This time, look at the fish, not its surroundings."

Still confused about what his father was about, Xiao Zhou follows his father's instruction. He took a long look at the fish, checking the fish with every angle. 

Then, he meets the fish's eye.

There was the black pupil as expected from any normal fish. Yet, as Xiao Zhou continued to stare deep into its eyes, he felt something, even if the fish was still alive, the life in it, the will to live, was not there. The spark of hope was not there. 

"Now, do you see it?" his father asked in satisfaction.

"Don't be the fish, Xiao Zhou."

The line echoed in his mind until the memories stopped recalling, pulling him back to reality, where he was about to get ripped apart by the wild beast in front of him.

"Haha…" he chuckled.

"That is such a bad analogy, father."

He took a deep breath, forcing his body to stop shaking too much in fear and regain his breathing rhythm.

"But…thanks a lot!"

Though nothing seems to change, he was still a normal kid that didn't have any fighting power, still shaking in fear, and the enemy was a few times bigger and stronger than him, he did recover something, the will to survive. 

It was also at the moment that he noticed something just an arm distance away. It was black tortoise shell, not too big, not too small, just enough for him to hold it with one hand.

A thought formed in his mind, and he decided to bet everything into this crazy plan that he had formed. 

It is going to be a hell of a gamble. Hit it, he may live, miss it, he dies. 

Adrenaline coursed through Xiao Zhou's veins, momentarily overriding the fear of getting pummeled into minced meat. He needs to be focused and calm to make everything work.

Finally decided to deliver the killing blow, the Red arm ape charged. At the same moment, Xiao Zhou snatched the black tortoise up.

The ape lets out a monstrous roar echoing through the canyon as it charges. 

Xiao Zhou steels himself and braces the roar, not letting himself weaken and flatter. 

("Not yet. Not yet.")

He was waiting for something.

The ape was getting closer, every step shaken the soil beneath. 

("Closer. Closer.")

Xiao Zhou did not panic. His mind was focused for that moment.

The ape lifted its massive red arm, charging in craze, winding up its strength, and was about to drop it onto the small weak body standing in front of it.

In those split seconds, Xiao Zhou found it, the moment he had been waiting for.

"Now!"

Xiao Zhou hurled the black tortoise shell with all his might, towards the place he had been aiming for. Simultaneously, he threw himself forward, away from the cliff. 

The shell flew towards the ape's left eye. The moment it struck, the force was so strong that it sent the ape spinning in the air, followed by a pulse of energy waves bursting out. 

Because of the inertia force from how it was charging forward, and the force of getting knocked by the shell, the ape got sent spinning and flying off down the cliff. 

The force also blasted Xiao Zhou away, fortunately, away from the cliff.

A monstrous roar let out by the ape as it fell, getting further and further away as it fell, until there were only echoes, and finally no more. 

He lay there for a moment, gasping for breath, the world spinning around him. Slowly, he sat up, taking in the silence that had replaced the ape's roars. He was alive.

Xiao Zhou gets back up from the ground, still in disbelief at what had just happened. 

Though his plan worked, he didn't expect his throw would be so powerful.

So powerful that it blew off the ape's eyes. He slowly approached the eye that was laying on the ground. The red eye was still covered in blood, still pulsing with fiery energy, and the gaze from the eye was as if it was crazily mad on how the table turns. 

"Good riddance," Xiao Zhou turned his attention away. 

He shifted his focus on the black object not far away from the eye. He walked towards the black tortoise shell, picked it up and carefully inspect it.

"What are you?" caressing and softly knocking around the shell as he checked. 

He knew it was impossible for him to produce such destructive force, so much that it even blew off the ape's eye. Imagine if he aim at the ape's body, it will definitely puncture its heart. 

Xiao Zhou checked the inside, only to see a black void. Literally pitch black and nothing inside. 

"What a strange little thing you are," Xiao Zhou said as he jungled it around. 

"But thanks to you, here I am, still living and breathing." 

Xiao Zhou took a deep breath, fully enjoying the air of the living, as well as the freshness of it. 

"Such a wonderful feeling to be still living," he thought to himself.