Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse-Chapter 661 - 448: So you’re the gatekeeper…
The group kept walking downwards.
After getting familiar with the prison, Lou Fei’Er also understood its structure and the sturdiness of the prison. She realized that the bugs here could not harm her.
"Hmph, this disgusting bunch, locked up and still trying to attack me?"
She immediately relaxed, kicking a bar on a nearby cell with a resentful expression: "Your kind really got me into trouble!"
Before she could retract her foot, the giant mantis inside the cell, which was already crazily crashing against the bars, swung its huge scythe-like claws through the gaps in the bars!
Lou Fei’Er, being fast, instantly pulled back her foot, a slight smirk on her face: "You can’t hit me..."
Then, she widened her eyes.
Not only her, but even Xu Xin and the others were taken aback.
In the instant the mantis pulled the scythe out from between the bars, an extremely bright light flared between the metal bars!
"Zzzt!"
The dazzling light made everyone squint their eyes slightly.
This brightness was comparable to the glaring arc of a welding torch!
As the somewhat piercing sound rang out, the giant mantis’s wings trembled rapidly, emitting a dreadfully miserable insect screech.
The giant mantis’s cry, along with the "zzzt" sound, made the cries of the other insects nearby become weaker.
It seemed to give them a sense of threat.
However, just for an instant, they went berserk again.
Apparently, to them, Lou Fei’Er was a stronger temptation.
Even if the prison posed a threat to their lives.
The air was instantly filled with a burnt BBQ-like smell, and a faint black smoke drifted by.
On the ground outside the cell lay half of the giant mantis’s scythe.
Inside the cell, the giant mantis had already retreated to a corner with its remaining half scythe.
"This prison, does it have such a function?" Xu Xin was a bit surprised.
Indeed, these insects lost their senses only upon seeing Lou Fei’Er, but when they saw others coming out from the control room, they were very cautious and fearful.
It was clear that they could use the prison’s functions to carry out punitive attacks on the insect giants inside.
...This prison now looks a bit like...
A beast taming prison?
What on earth are those underground creatures being imprisoned here for?
Wen Guixin looked curiously at the bugs crashing against the bars in the cells: "If we reach in, will we get shocked too?"
"Who knows, but I definitely wouldn’t try it." Zhao Xiaochuan stepped back half a step from the cells, afraid of touching them.
"If this works on us too, wouldn’t it cut fingers and arms clean off..." Lou Fei’Er picked up the fallen scythe.
"This scythe is purple-grade material," Xu Xin remarked, looking at the scythe emitting a purple glow in her hands.
"Huh?" The other three were surprised, "Purple-grade?"
Lou Fei’Er handed the scythe to Xu Xin.
[Mutant Mantis’s Scythe (Purple): The scythe is the hardest part of the mantis, can be used as a substitute for metal blocks to make purple-grade weapons. Weapons made will have the scythe’s properties!]
Hmm?
The introduction of this material made Xu Xin’s eyes light up slightly.
Scythe’s properties?
What does that mean?
A special purple-grade material, will weapons made from it have fixed traits?
The purple-grade materials sliced from those mutated creatures before didn’t seem to have such an introduction.
Exclusive to underground creatures?
"Alright, let’s hurry up and find the warehouse! Where did Wang Lei go?" Wen Guixin urged while quickening her pace.
"Did he run to the other side?" Zhao Xiaochuan said, "That guy sure dares to move about on his own!"
Continuing forward, they soon saw the first empty cell and looked inside.
Since it’s similar to the control room, it indicated that the warehouse was likely hidden behind a secret door in an empty cell.
Otherwise, it’d be too troublesome for the managers to access the warehouse.
Xu Xin touched a bar, and the introduction was still the same.
From the introduction, nothing about this room seemed special.
However, after seeing the arcs that easily sliced the purple-grade scythe of the giant mantis, everyone hesitated to grab the bars.
"...Let me try. I still have an extra life." Lou Fei’Er didn’t mind, grabbing the bars and pulling hard.
Nothing happened, no effect.
"...Let’s continue down and check."
The group kept descending, trying the same with each empty cell.
In the end, they walked straight to the beasts but found nothing.
Nor did they find any keyhole on the walls inside.
Instead, Lou Fei’Er’s presence caused the two giant beasts there to become very restless, prompting the group to search quickly and make a hasty retreat.
Soon, they returned to the control room to check the screen.
At the bottommost position on the other side of the cell, Wang Lei’s green dot was there.
"Why is that guy just standing there?" Wen Guixin wondered, "Forget it, let’s hurry over."
The group immediately started moving to the other side.
Following their previous approach, they quickly checked each empty cell.
They were about to reach the end, with only the giant beast’s cell ahead, but still had no discoveries.
"Wang Lei? Wang Lei?"
"Wang Lei, are you up ahead?"
Both Wen Guixin and Zhao Xiaochuan were getting anxious.
Because, until now, they hadn’t found Wang Lei, who just suddenly decided to act alone.
Xu Xin’s expression also grew grave.
Even though the underground creatures were agitated due to Lou Fei’Er, Wang Lei still hadn’t shown up.
And...
Even with heightened hearing, he couldn’t catch Wang Lei’s sound.
Wasn’t Wang Lei’s green dot here earlier?
Ignoring the cell, they quickly ran to the passage’s end, but still found no trace of Wang Lei.
Wang Lei, disappeared?
"What’s going on?" Wen Guixin frowned deeply, "Where did Wang Lei go? Is there another exit in this corridor?"
"Did he find the warehouse?" Zhao Xiaochuan looked around, "That’s not right, the key is with us, even if he found it, he couldn’t enter!"
"Just now, wasn’t Wang Lei’s position here?" Lou Fei’Er glanced at the interior of the survivor’s cell, finding it empty, "He should have been at the entrance to the survivor’s cell, right? Speaking of which, why is this secret door closed?"
Exactly, the secret doors in each cell, which were originally wide open, were now closed.
But, that’s not the main point right now, because Wang Lei is missing.
The watches can’t communicate, now they can’t contact each other.
"You two, go up and check." Xu Xin told Lou Fei’Er and Zhao Xiaochuan, "Quickly go and return, see where Wang Lei is now."
With Wang Lei missing, it’s too dangerous to act alone; better for two people together.
"Alright." The two quickly rushed up.
"Could there be traps around here?" Wen Guixin looked around.
Xu Xin touched each bar of the empty cells, still finding no special indications or ways to open them.
Meanwhile, his sharp hearing tried to capture sounds around.
But due to the chaos of the underground creatures, it was too noisy to catch any subtle sounds.
At this moment, the two who went up safely returned.
"Wang Lei’s green dot has disappeared!" Lou Fei’Er gasped slightly.
"That’s right, the map only shows four of our green dots now!" Zhao Xiaochuan anxiously added.
"Damn, this guy insisted on acting alone!" Wen Guixin punched the cell’s bars, but his face was full of worry.
Xu Xin’s expression also turned heavy.
The warehouse wasn’t found, and they’ve lost a person!
"Keke, wake up." Xu Xin firmly rubbed Keke’s head, "Quickly check if there’s anything unusual around!"
"...Whimper?"
Keke, who could sleep even in such a tumultuous environment, was roused by Xu Xin’s rubbing, and nuzzled against his embrace.
It then covered its ears with its little paws.
"Whimper..."
"Didn’t find anything?" Xu Xin reached to remove its paws, shook them a bit, and waved the warehouse key before its eyes.
"Whimper...?" Keke shook its head, woke up a bit, and looked at the warehouse key, gradually widening its eyes.
"Whimper!" It jumped out of Xu Xin’s arms and ran towards a giant beast’s cell.
The group exchanged glances and quickly followed suit.
Keke was now standing before the cell.
"...Keke, are you sure about this cell? Is there something inside?" Xu Xin’s mouth twitched slightly.
"Whimper!" Keke pointed inside, nodding its little head.
"Huh?" The other three stared dumbfounded at the cell.
With gritted teeth, Xu Xin extended his hand to touch the bars.
[Lower Cell (Gold): A special giant beast cell, holding a powerful beast, which also seems to be guarding something.]
"Roar——!"
Inside the cell, the lion with two heads suddenly roared, causing the four present to shiver and hold their noses immediately.
Indeed, they held their noses.
The engine-like roar was certainly shocking, but the overwhelming stench was more than they could handle.
"Whimper!" Keke, frightened, quickly climbed back into Xu Xin’s embrace, burying its head, peeking at the two-headed lion.
The two-headed lion didn’t become agitated due to Lou Fei’Er’s presence but stood up calmly and glared at Xu Xin and the others.
"Seriously?" Xu Xin looked at the lion in the cage, swallowed hard, and muttered, "Turns out, you’re a guarding lion huh..."
