Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Gazing straight up at the sky a thousand meters behind him, Xu Xin felt a slight sting in his eyes.

Amidst the dense roots of the treehouses, there appeared an empty spot.

As for what was in that empty spot, Xu Xin did not know.

Because this space was emitting light.

Yes, the entire area was illuminated by this light!

And from this place, six straight bundles of vines, twisted together like hemp ropes, extended down diagonally in six directions.

And the end of one of these vine bundles, connected to the ground, was the "elevator" he had just exited from.

Within the vine bundles, vines several tens of centimeters thick plunged firmly into the ground, enclosing the "elevator" within and revealing an iron door.

So that’s how he came down!

A vine elevator?

However... this really did bring the six of them to six different locations!

But this shows that the distance between them doesn’t seem very far.

The drop points of the nearest two vine ropes seemed to be about ten kilometers or so from him.

But that’s not the point.

Xu Xin looked again at that glowing empty spot.

Apart from their six thick hemp-rope-like vine bundles, there was another vine bundle in the empty sky, straight down like a vertical axis, embedded in the ground directly below!

Moreover, this vine bundle was much thicker than the six surrounding them.

...Could it be, that’s the destination?

It must be.

If we need to find a place to return to the surface...

That’s the only way.

After all, besides the six vines they descended on, that’s the only place leading back to the surface!

It seems his target is now very clear.

Set out and advance towards the thickest vine bundle in the center!

Shifting his attention from these straight and thick vine bundles, Xu Xin began to take in the world before him.

Looking ahead, the true appearance of the entire underground world finally unfolded completely in front of him.

A fantastical world.

The vegetation in this underground world was particularly strange.

No ordinary trees, no normal lawns.

Only thorny vines spread across the ground, along with various wildly dancing giant mutated plants.

Between these plants, countless gigantic and misshapen monsters roamed, flew.

Despite the chaos, it all functioned smoothly.

This underground world seemed to have formed a stable, unique biome and food chain.

In the glow of the light, it didn’t feel eerie or terrifying; instead, it breathed vitality.

But...

Xu Xin swallowed.

This is still a bit too terrifying...

This terrifying gigantic underground world...

Perhaps even the bugs here are beyond his ability to handle!

If a firefly the size of a car came crashing into him, what else could he do but desperately dodge?

He could only be more cautious.

To traverse tens of kilometers through this demonic world is no simple task.

Saying that, the central position feels like it’s less than ten kilometers from him.

If he could ride the Silver King...

Wouldn’t that make the journey much easier?

The Silver King is a mutated creature, also with some giant beast lineage; theoretically, it should see these monsters as companions and not provoke much hostility from them, right?

It feels worth a try!

Xu Xin turned his wristband.

Immediately, the Silver King appeared in front of him.

But as soon as it materialized, it immediately assumed a highly alert posture!

Every hair on its body stood on end, even its tail seemed ready to explode!

"Ying! Yingying!" Keke cried out in a low voice the instant the Silver King appeared, pressing its little paws against Xu Xin’s chest.

There was a subtle shift in the monster noises constantly emanating from around him.

He immediately turned his head to survey the surroundings.

The giant kelp monster that had just passed by was now turning its head to look at him.

The car-sized fireflies, which had been swirling around a giant Cannibal Flower, now hovered in the air, their enormous eyes seemingly looking his way.

Besides them, various creatures within his sight all turned to look in Xu Xin’s direction.

Or rather, they were looking at the defending, growling Silver King.

Suddenly, they were surrounded by what had been a chaotic mob of monsters.

Red eyes were everywhere, surrounding them!

At this point, one of the smaller dinosaur-like beasts was the first to act, launching off its hind legs and charging at Xu Xin!

Its movement instantly triggered a chain reaction!

Every monster around, regardless of size, shrieked and charged at them!

The ground began to quake violently as if in an earthquake!

"Yingyingying!" Keke was terrified, its little paws constantly scratching at Xu Xin’s armor.

The Silver King still bared its fangs, its growling even more pronounced.

"Damn!" Xu Xin cursed for the first time in a long while, without a second thought, quickly recalled the still-growling Silver King into his wristband, grabbed Keke, and dove headfirst into a nearby tangle of vines.

Then he didn’t dare move an inch.

What was happening?!

Fortunately, as soon as he recalled the Silver King into his wristband, the pace of the surrounding giant beasts slowed down.

However, they still gathered slowly around.

The gigantic kelp monster, tens-of-meters-long pythons, and some giant creatures similar to dinosaurs, each tread heavily as they approached.

The ground and sky were crawling and buzzing with countless insects.

These insects were enormous, several meters long at a time, with sharp and large mouthparts that appeared extremely deadly, making him feel as if he had traveled back to Earth’s Carboniferous Period!

No, even more exaggerated than the insects of those times!

Nesting in the vine jungle, he stared wide-eyed at a giant millipede, over three meters long, crawling just half a meter from him, feeling as though he was about to suffocate.

The giant centipede’s densely packed legs on both sides of its body rhythmically undulated as it slithered slowly past him, the dull blood pattern on its body indicating that it also experienced blood pattern mutation.

Keke had long buried her small head into his embrace, motionless, as if playing an invisible game to ward off fear.

Xu Xin, naturally, did not dare to move either.

The strength of this insect might not be overwhelming, perhaps he could slice it in half with a spear, but...

This thing looks... simply too disgusting!

Furthermore...

His gaze shifted, peering through the gaps of the vines, he observed the surrounding area.

Just like this centipede, there were giant insects both flying overhead and crawling on the ground; around him now, there were at least a hundred of them!

The numbers were especially high!

Luckily, because he was within the vine cluster, and the vines were quite dense, the swarm of insects didn’t crawl over him.

Thankfully, they avoided me...

If these insects crawled over him, he’d definitely raise his spear and charge out!

Suddenly, beside him, a pair of gigantic hooves stomped down.

With a "thud," it crushed the giant centipede that had just crawled a few meters past Xu Xin into half!

Accompanied by a bone-chilling sound, blue liquid splattered everywhere.

Keke shivered slightly in his arms.

The scene...

Xu Xin felt his throat rolling.

Though he was accustomed to hunting wild beasts and even used to taking lives, witnessing such a gigantic insect stomped flat at such close proximity, with the sound details penetrating his ears and the liquid spraying out...

Unbearable.

Truly unbearable!

He held his breath and closed his eyes, taking a few seconds before opening them again.

Luckily, it didn’t step on him...

He gently turned his head to observe the surroundings.

The gigantic beasts around were all staring at the spot where Silver King had just disappeared, seeming puzzled, wondering where it went.

That seaweed monster even scratched its head human-like, tearing off a piece of "seaweed leaf" from its head, and stuffed it into its mouth.

Xu Xin held his breath while contemplating the previous situation.

Why did Silver King suddenly attract them over?

Was it because Silver King was a mutated creature?

No...

Silver King possessed the giant beast’s bloodline and had experienced blood pattern mutation, it shouldn’t be vastly different from these surrounding creatures.

Just like the crushed centipede just now, it too had dull blood patterns on its body.

Why particularly Silver King attracted so many gigantic beasts?

Hmm...

Wait...

Dull blood patterns?

When Silver King was just released, its blood patterns seemed to be...

Faintly shimmering?

And the blood patterns on these surrounding beasts...

Xu Xin glanced at the monsters around through the vine’s gaps.

Upon close observation, it could be discovered that these beasts that seemingly had no blood patterns actually had faint blood patterns imprinted on some part of their bodies.

However, these blood patterns were rather dull, and if not looked closely, they were indistinguishable.

Just like this seaweed monster, the only exposed part of its body was the horn on its head, which was covered in dull blood patterns.

All the blood patterns on the monsters were extremely dull.

Not only did they pale in comparison to Silver King, they couldn’t even match the weaker, low-level mutated creatures on the surface.

The strength from their blood pattern mutation seemed to have significantly weakened.

Is this why they were attracted to Silver King?

Their blood pattern mutated bodies are craving the mutational energy from Silver King?

Xu Xin’s heart moved.

Why were Silver King’s blood patterns so bright?

Wasn’t it because it frequently bathed in the Red Mist beneath the treehouse?

Is the underground world desperately lacking that kind of Red Mist?

Thinking of this, he suddenly recalled the room filled with Red Mist before they descended.

"Hiss..." He inhaled sharply.

If it weren’t for Xu Xin’s bracelet, they would have fainted from the stench in that room and endured half an hour of Red Mist erosion.

Could it be that the purpose of that Red Mist is...

To make them, the survivors, targets for these gigantic beasts in this underground world?!

Xu Xin exhaled.

This really is a possibility.

Even if they don’t mutate, they would absorb a large amount of Red Mist after half an hour.

In this underground world, ones like them might become an irresistible bait for all the monsters.

If his hypothesis is correct...

Then Lou Fei’Er might really be in trouble.

She absorbs Red Mist to strengthen her powers almost daily, and she had just stayed for half an hour in the Red Mist room, even gulping down large amounts of it.

Lou Fei’Er might now become a moving target, right...

Hopefully, she’ll be alright.

Fortunately, she also has a Hidden Cloak, so finding a place to hide and stay still shouldn’t be much of an issue.

Xu Xin nestled quietly in the vine cluster for about ten minutes as the monsters around lost interest and dispersed.

The surroundings returned to normal once again.

"Eep..." Keke weakly chirped in his arms, indicating that the surroundings were no longer dangerous.

Xu Xin crawled out of the vine cluster, dusted off, and looked around, ensuring no monsters noticed him before letting out a sigh of relief.

Initially, he had Silver King come out to hasten their journey, but unexpectedly, it had instead wasted much time.

No choice, it looks like he’ll have to carefully navigate the remaining ten kilometers himself.

Xu Xin gently patted Keke’s small head: "It’s time to move forward, Keke."

"Eep!"