Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

"Phew..." Looking at the scene before him, Xu Xin let out a gentle breath and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

He had finally entered the underground world once more.

This time, it was far more thrilling than the last.

Being merely less than a hundred meters away, observing these giant creatures deep underground was truly astonishing!

But, why did they suddenly come to this place?

Why did that room have such mechanisms that separated the six of them, then brought him here?

Xu Xin glanced behind him, this "elevator" resembling a corner contained nothing.

It seemed he could only go out and take a look.

Just as he thought this, suddenly, that mysterious voice came to his ears.

And the content of the voice made his spirits lift!

[Congratulations, survivor, for triggering the Underground World Escape Activity!]

[Next, the content of the activity will be introduced, please listen carefully, survivor.]

This is...

A trigger event!

He actually triggered an event in this underground world!

[Here is the underground world hidden in the deepest part of the world.]

[In this underground world, there exist numerous gigantic terrifying monsters. Presently, before these monsters, you have no ability to resist.]

[Your only chance of survival is to find the secrets of this area, and then escape back to the surface by relying on these secrets.]

[You and your five partners have been scattered in different corners of this underground world and cannot contact each other.]

[But remember, even if you cannot contact each other, you are still mutually entrusted with each other’s lives as partners in this activity.]

[This activity’s duration is within 24 hours after survivors officially participate.]

[Friendly reminder: This activity is a trigger event, survivors can choose to participate or refuse to participate]

[If you choose to participate, please be sure to complete the activity, that is, find the secrets of this area and bring them out from underground, otherwise, you will forever leave this beautiful world.]

[Of course, you can also choose to refuse participation. Remaining refusal chances: 3 times.]

[But please note, refusing this activity means that you are prepared to live in the underground world, meanwhile, your refusal will also cause certain negative effects on your partners.]

[Please survivors think carefully!]

[Will you participate in the Underground World Escape Activity?]

[Please decide within 20 seconds, or it will be considered an automatic waiver.]

How could he refuse!

He definitely doesn’t want to live in this underground world forever!

"Accept!" Xu Xin immediately said.

"Eh?" Keke tilted her little head to look at him.

Presumably, the other five people have also heard this voice and accepted the task by now.

[Survivors’ participation in the Underground World Escape Activity confirmed, activity timer starts!]

[Please find the secrets of this area within twenty-four hours, survivor!]

[Friendly reminder: The sky of the underground world is very beautiful.]

At this point, the mysterious voice stopped.

Xu Xin also let out a breath.

Find the secrets of this area?

This kind of ambiguous activity goal, who knows what they’re supposed to do...

He thought of the scene in Ji Chaoyang’s prophecy, and... Xue Lan.

What does this secret have to do with the Chang Yin Family?

Also, saying that the six of them are still important partners in this activity, refusing will affect other partners...

Could it be that their previous speculations about partners were correct?

It really leaves one puzzled.

However, fortunately, there’s a friendly reminder.

Underground world’s sky?

Where would the underground world have sky, isn’t the sky here...

Huh...?

Wait a moment...

Looking at the chaotic world outside the door, he suddenly felt very uneasy.

After careful observation, his eyes widened, finding the place that made him feel uneasy.

Originally, he thought he could see outside clearly because of the night vision ability gained after consuming the blue-level red fruit.

After all, the underground world shouldn’t have any light, it should be completely dark.

The only light should be the glow emitted by those car-sized "fireflies."

That’s the kind of appearance he discovered in the underground world last time.

But now, looking closely...

Outside is actually... bright?

Daytime?

Although far from the midday sunlight on the surface, it’s comparable to the brightness of a rainy morning.

???

What’s going on?

Why would the underground world have a light source illuminating the entire world?

He squatted at the doorway, craning his neck to look upward outside.

This underground world is at the same height as when he visited last time, approximately a thousand meters high.

Above about a thousand meters, he saw dense, densely packed plant roots.

They looked dense due to the distance.

Being able to distinguish them as roots from so far away means these roots must actually be about a meter thick.

Those might be the roots of the tree house.

From the map view, his current horizontal position is roughly ten kilometers from his tree house.

Judging by the range of roots overhead, they really do seem like his tree house’s roots.

However, that’s not the point.

The point is, he hasn’t found the light source illuminating the surroundings.

By looking at the direction of shadows from these plant vines ahead, he knows the light source is in the opposite direction of this door.

At the back.

He must leave this room to see it.

...Could it be the Snow Mountain Transmission Array he activated?

"Eh..." Sensing his intent to go out, Keke pushed his face with her little paws, expressing some worry in a soft voice.

Clearly, it could feel that outside wasn’t ordinarily dangerous.

But the little critter was smart enough to know that to make progress, he must leave here.

So, it simply cried out a bit worriedly but didn’t urgently stop Xu Xin like before.

"Don’t worry, Keke."

Xu Xin pulled out the Cloak of Concealment from his backpack and put it on.

"I’m still fine. I’m just worried about you now."

He rubbed Keke’s fluffy ears, his heart indeed somewhat anxious.

He could conceal himself, but what about Keke? Would Keke be noticed by the monsters outside?

Although when Keke stayed by his side before, she was basically not noticed by enemy units and never attacked, almost like a little invisible presence nobody cared about.

But down here, he couldn’t guarantee that Keke wouldn’t be noticed.

If they were noticed, those giant monsters wouldn’t be something he could handle.

If a giant monster attacked him, escape would be his only option. If he couldn’t escape, it meant death.

No matter what, he wouldn’t leave Keke here.

"Hmm!"

Seeing Xu Xin put on the cloak, Keke made a small sound, her ears moved, and she burrowed into Xu Xin’s arms, waving her little paws, "Hmm hmm hmm..."

Xu Xin understood what Keke was expressing and his eyes lit up: "Are you saying that while you’re in my arms, you can also benefit from the cloak’s effect?"

"Hmm!" Keke nodded her little head.

This couldn’t be better!

Xu Xin rubbed Keke’s little head, held her in his arms, and surveyed the situation on both sides of the entrance.

After confirming there was nothing unusual, he stepped outside.

"Bang!"

"Hmm...!"

A giant foot suddenly stomped down just ten meters ahead of him!

The sudden appearance of a giant foot caused the ground to tremble slightly, and made Keke let out a low cry of surprise.

She quickly covered her mouth with her little paws, her eyes blinking twice.

Xu Xin gasped, holding his breath, not daring to move as he stared at the seaweed-covered foot just a short distance away.

So close!

Too close!

How could a foot suddenly appear?!

His enhanced hearing didn’t pick up any sound around, though?

A bead of sweat ran down his forehead.

The foot in front of him was called a foot purely because it was attached to a leg.

Looking at it alone, one would think it was a gigantic seaweed-covered ball!

Goodness, he had seen this giant creature before!

Wasn’t this the foot of the monster draped in seaweed?

Back then, Xu Xin saw it tearing vines into its mouth!

He was quite confident in his hearing. Since he didn’t hear this thing moving, it meant...

The owner of this foot had been here all along, without moving!

If it moved even a little, he should have heard the rustling sound from the seaweed-like material on its body!

Could it be...

His conversation and Keke’s cries wouldn’t have been heard already, right?

He couldn’t have already been targeted, could he?

Xu Xin’s eyes slowly moved upwards, looking at the owner of the foot.

He saw a pair of enormous, scarlet eyes staring directly at him.

This monster was crouching down looking at him!

A body covered in deep green, intertwined seaweed, with a small horn protruding from amidst even denser seaweed on its head, marked with blood-colored patterns, clearly showing it had the Blood Pattern Bloodline.

Of course, "small" is relative to this giant creature; the horn is over a meter in length.

Suddenly, he held his breath, not daring to move, only feeling sweat streaming down his cheeks.

Keke behaved quietly in his arms, only slightly trembling.

Time seemed to stand still.

Xu Xin and these eyes locked gazes, already drenched in sweat.

His luck was truly remarkable!

Should he run?

Couldn’t outrun it...

Better stay still.

Fortunately, the owner of those eyes didn’t do anything to him.

Perhaps the cloak’s effect took hold, or maybe this giant creature wasn’t interested in him at all.

The enormous seaweed monster blinked slowly and then slowly stood up.

Covered in its ghillie-suit-like seaweed, it took steps away.

Step by step, it walked into the distance.

Each step caused a slight tremor in the ground.

Under Xu Xin’s gaze, it reached an area dense with vines, stretched out its seaweed-covered hand, pulled out a vine nearly half a meter thick, and stuffed it into its mouth.

Xu Xin exhaled long and deeply.

It seemed the giant creature wasn’t interested in him.

He wasn’t part of the monster’s diet.

It made sense.

Based on previous information from the giant’s skull and deduction, the monsters here should originally be creatures of this world.

They underwent blood pattern mutations, but after awakening their awareness due to the beast bloodline, they were abandoned underground by the Blood Pattern Race.

So these monsters have actually mutated from regular creatures.

Looking at it, ordinary creatures of this world are not much different from those on Earth.

And on Earth, horned creatures are generally herbivorous.

This seaweed monster had a horn.

From its wild consumption of vines, it’s evident.

It’s herbivorous.

Thus, it’s normal for it not to be interested in Xu Xin.

Generally, as long as you don’t provoke herbivorous creatures, there won’t be any major issues.

Unless a threatening opponent intrudes into their territory.

But Xu Xin was not on the same level as it, so it wouldn’t think a small human like him was invading its territory.

In short, the situation seemed relatively safe.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Xu Xin held Keke and turned to look at the "elevator" he had just stepped out of.

"Whoa..."

Xu Xin’s expression froze slightly, retreating a short distance while observing.

The appearance of the "elevator" and the scene behind it came into his view.

"So that’s how it is?" Xu Xin muttered to himself.