Chapter 52: Encountering a Monkey Girl in a World Fragment

World Fragment.

In Jiang Cha’s imagination, it was supposed to be something mysterious—shrouded in radiant, multicolored light, constantly emanating an aura of danger.

But…

“This is the world fragment?”

Looking at the small space gate floating in the void of space, Jiang Cha couldn’t help but marvel at the technological prowess of the witches.

Even with her level of knowledge, she could tell this so-called gate was essentially a kind of space anchor, forcibly fixing a world fragment—originally not located in this universe—into place.

“Time’s about right. You know what to do, right?”

After inspecting the status of the fragment, Motelle nodded and turned to ask softly.

“Mm-hmm.”

“Good. Go on, then. I’ll wait for you out here.”

“Okay~”

This world fragment that Motelle found for Jiang Cha was… unique.

It was a small piece of a high-energy world. Useless to high-level witches like Great Witches, but for someone in Jiang Cha’s situation, it was extremely effective.

Of course, the trade-off was that it was rather dangerous inside.

According to the knowledge Jiang Cha had dug up, while the beings inside a world fragment were incomplete and would lose power (or even dissipate entirely) if they left the fragment, within the rules of the fragment, they retained their “true form” strength.

A bit like projections—but not quite.

“As expected…”

The moment Jiang Cha stepped through the gate, she appeared in a sparse woodland.

On the surface, it looked idyllic: birds chirping, flowers blooming, mountains and streams—an absolute paradise.

But in Jiang Cha’s senses, this was a dead land.

Not decaying, not broken—just… soulless.

A lively little bunny crouched under a tree root, eyeing her cautiously. But the expression on its face was nothing more than a simulation by the will of the fragment itself.

At its core, it was just like the witches’ virtual reality tech—a fake shell.

“To trigger the collapse of the world fragment, I need to disrupt its ‘script’—make changes in an otherwise unchanging puppet show, cause cascading errors until the world’s simulated will crashes…”

“Guess I need to find the ‘Destined Protagonist’ of this world first…”

Based on what Motelle knew, this fragment came from a world originally classified as “xuanhuan” (Chinese fantasy), but the exact “storyline” playing out here was unknown—Jiang Cha had to figure it out herself.

She closed her eyes, spreading her spiritual power outward, trying to sense the trace amounts of “reality” in this artificial world.

The so-called “protagonist of destiny” was, in essence, no different from the fake bunny she’d just seen—just a being with a bigger role in the play. But they carried a stronger aura of world rules and consumed more computational resources of the fragment’s will, making them easier to detect.

“…That fast?”

Jiang Cha opened her eyes, a bit surprised.

She hadn’t cast her senses far when she found something unusual.

A monkey.

To be precise—a monkey girl.

Wearing a flower crown, her face had minimal fur and closely resembled a human’s. Her body, however, was covered in thick enough fur to be worn as clothing. She was sprawled out on a tree, napping lazily.

Now and then, like sleepwalking, she’d grab a peach and take a bite.

“Looks like my luck’s pretty good today.”

Jiang Cha smiled happily and walked casually toward her target, as if going on a stroll.

‘Fantasy world. Monkey.‘

‘Could this story be related to… that person?’

The extremely obvious déjà vu naturally triggered Jiang Cha’s caution. If her guess was right, then this world fragment might be far more dangerous than she expected.

But it wasn’t Motelle’s fault. With a Great Witch’s magic level, she couldn’t even enter this fragment without causing it to collapse outright.

It just meant… Jiang Cha’s luck maybe wasn’t so great after all.

“Could it really be…?”

But as she looked at the relaxed, totally unguarded monkey girl—who didn’t even react when Jiang Cha approached—she sighed. Her guess wavered.

After all, the legendary “Great Sage” referenced in witch records—aside from definitely being male—shouldn’t be so lazy and unalert.

Still, whatever the truth, this monkey girl was clearly the “protagonist” of the fragment. To fulfill her mission, Jiang Cha had to interact with her.

“Hey~ Little monkey, wake up, come on~”

She used spiritual magic and a communication spell. Though Jiang Cha spoke in Chinese, it would be automatically translated into a language the monkey girl could understand.

(Note: this wouldn’t work on animals without a language system. That’s a druid’s job.)

“Mmm…? Which blind fool dares wake your grandpa monkey from her nap…”

The monkey girl clearly had some grumpy wake-up habits. She started grumbling even before opening her eyes.

But then she looked up… and saw the girl with long black hair and red eyes, sitting beside her in the dappled sunlight—like an angel, or perhaps a devil.

Her words faltered.

She didn’t understand what “love at first sight” meant, but she knew her heart was racing.

In the countless repeated days of this world, this sudden change felt precious.

“Little monkey, have you heard of a place called the Water Curtain Cave around here?”

The girl asked with a cheerful grin, as if she didn’t notice the monkey girl’s changing expression.

“Why would a human girl like you be looking for that place? That area’s full of demons—better be careful you don’t get eaten!”

Water Curtain Cave… she’d heard of it.

Lately, some dumb monkeys on the mountainside had gathered there, but she wasn’t interested in competing. Fighting for dominance was just asking for scars.

Not worth it.

“Because it sounds fun!”

Jiang Cha spread her arms and spoke with bright-eyed excitement. Then she puffed up her cheeks indignantly.

“And don’t underestimate me! When it comes to weak demons, who knows who’s beating who!”

“You?”

The monkey girl eyed her up and down, confirmed she had no demon aura, no spiritual power, no cultivation—just a regular teen girl—and snorted in disbelief.

“Yes, me! So are you gonna take me there or not? I’ll even tell you where to find the best peaches!”

Jiang Cha, seeing she wasn’t convinced, hugged her arm and began to act clingy.

The slight swell of her chest pressed against the monkey girl’s furry arm, making her blush—and then quickly try to shake her off.

“Shoo, shoo, shoo. Ugh, fine. Just a Water Curtain Cave, right? Big Sis Monkey will take you!”