Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse
Chapter 155 - 154: The Danger Lurking Beneath

Chapter 155: Chapter 154: The Danger Lurking Beneath

If it weren’t for the fear of causing a jungle fire, Xu Xin would have fired several burning arrows downward to ignite these dense blood-patterned vines now!

He wasn’t the only one experiencing this situation on the region channel.

"So many vines have emerged outside! Are these thorn vines? They’re all spiky!"

"Oh my, a blessing for those with trypophobia!"

"These... these thorny vines are actually attacking the previously emerged vines!"

"It’s the same here; those red-patterned vines have all been hacked to pieces!"

"Phew, finally some peace and quiet. These patterned vines kept relentlessly whipping the treehouse’s trunk. It was driving me crazy."

"Why aren’t these thorny vines attacking the treehouse, though?"

"Oh?" Xu Xin’s eyes widened. "The first thing the blood thorn vines do when they emerge is kill the remaining blood-patterned vines?"

The blood-patterned vines on his side had long been cleared by him, so the blood thorn vines here just swayed gently in the wind, showing no inclination or intent to attack.

Just as he speculated, although blood-patterned vines and blood thorn vines are underground monsters, they actually belong to different factions and will kill each other when given the chance.

It seems that the relationships between underground monsters are unusually complex too.

Like the Lake Giant Python and the Stream-bed Giant Crocodile, although both are giant beasts, one appears as a bright red dot on the map, a solid enemy, while the other harbors considerable goodwill, helping him and even leaving him some purple-grade resources.

Perhaps not all those underground monsters are enemies.

Of course, the spread of blood thorn vines under the treehouse is certainly an enemy, seeing the cluster of red dots on the map triggered Xu Xin’s trypophobia.

[Explorers] group.

Wang Lei: "Oh my god, I just cleaned up down there, and now a bunch more popped out! These vines even help clean up the previous batch automatically. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have bothered!"

Qin Yunlong: "At least you gained materials, didn’t you? Those are the raw materials for burning arrows and explosives."

Wang Lei: "I haven’t had time to clean up the vines on the ground. I was too focused on killing them, thinking I’d clear them all up together after killing them. But just when I cleared a few, these vines appeared. I had no choice but to retreat. I really lost big..."

Qi Xuefei: "Hey, did you keep the vines you’ve dealt with? I just discovered that the remaining parts of these vines can be used as one of the ingredients for low-level healing medicine."

Wen Guixin: "Oh, you’re saying that too late. I left them down there, didn’t bring them up."

Li Wenxi: "I have some; I’ll give them to you."

Xu Xin didn’t expect these vines to be used for low-level healing medicine. He looked out the window towards the treehouse; those dead vines were still piled up below.

Xu Xin decided to strike first. He could make explosive arrows and should be able to handle these blood thorn vines outside.

Xu Xin sent a message to Li Wenxi: "How much saltpeter do you have left? Is it a lot?"

Li Wenxi replied instantly: "I have plenty of green-grade saltpeter. I went twice yesterday, and Aniu carried back a lot. Do you need it? I’ll give you some."

Li Wenxi sent a trade request immediately, giving him fifty kilograms of green-grade saltpeter.

Two kilograms of green-grade saltpeter can produce 20 explosive arrows, fifty kilograms can make five hundred, quite enough.

"Thanks, for giving me so much, are you sure you have enough for yourself?"

"Fifty kilograms is quite a lot." Li Wenxi indicated nonchalantly in her message.

Alright, having a wealthy partner with a mine sure is nice.

He currently had twenty explosive arrows ready; let’s test the effect first.

Just as he prepared everything and was about to head out, Keke ran over.

"Eep!" Keke did not climb onto his shoulder but nudged Xu Xin inward, not wanting him to go out.

"What’s the matter, Keke?" Xu Xin felt something was off.

He noticed that Keke was exceptionally clingy while he was carving. Normally, when everything’s fine, it comfortably lounges on the sofa and never deliberately snuggles into his embrace.

Its behavior seemed like it instinctively sensed danger, sticking close to Xu Xin, needing to nestle in his arms while he carved just to find some security.

"Eep eep!" Keke pointed outside and called out, then stood up, raising both paws and making a clawing gesture.

It was using its way to inform Xu Xin that there’s a monster outside, cautioning not to go out; it’s extremely dangerous! However, its actions lacked deterrence, making it seem more adorable instead.

Despite the cuteness, Xu Xin wouldn’t pet Keke at this moment. He furrowed his brows: "Are you saying there’s another monster outside besides those vines, and it’s a big one?"

"Eep!" Keke nodded intensely, continuing to push at Xu Xin’s foot, not wanting him to exit.

...Given that, let’s observe the situation first. Keke’s intuition about danger has never been wrong.

Picking up Keke, who continued pushing his calf, Xu Xin settled back on the sofa.

On the region channel, everyone was talking about the blood thorn vines outside, yet no one dared to go out, and Xu Xin noticed something abnormal.

The number of people on the region channel was slowly decreasing one by one.

How did these people die? Xu Xin could only remind them again in the region channel not to reveal themselves, not to go out; more terrifying entities might exist outside.

Simultaneously, he also messaged within the Explorers: "Did someone already go out?"

Li Wenxi: "Sister Gui Xin should have already gone out; said she wanted to go take a look, scout the way for us."

Xu Xin glanced at the records. Sure enough, three minutes ago, Wen Guixin had already mentioned she was going out to hunt down the Blood Patterned Vine.

...Then let’s wait for her to return before discussing further.

"I understand. You’d better not go out again. There might be more terrifying things out there. Without her strong combat skills, it’s dangerous for you to venture outside." Xu Xin reminded them.

Wang Lei: "Got it, Brother Xin!"

Zhao Xiaochuan: "We’re also waiting for Beauty Wen to return, let’s observe the situation first."

Qi Xuefei: "I also feel that there might be other dangers outside."

A wise choice.

In terms of combat power, Wen Guixin is certainly stronger than him. At least, he wouldn’t dare to charge into a group of Blood Patterned Vines slaughtering left and right.

Even though he has the Scale Armor, his face is still exposed. If the vines immobilize him and attack his face, he couldn’t resist at all.

Let’s wait for her to return and assess the situation. If she doesn’t make it back, Xu Xin going out might end up in disaster too.

He looked at the time; it was already noon. Time for lunch.

This time, let’s eat the Blue-level fish bladder that he obtained earlier.

Arriving at the fourth-floor plantation, the Green-level vegetables he planted had all matured, and the Blue-level fruit tree in the center had nearly fully grown, and would bear fruit in a few days.

Looking at the hundred-square-meter, lush little plantation, Xu Xin felt a bit accomplished and nodded with satisfaction. "This looks really nice!"

While others were entirely dependent on the jungle for food, he foresaw the importance of setting up plantations and ice cellars. Recently, relying on the jungle was no longer possible; most people were going hungry, but he could still enjoy fresh vegetables. Although the meat was frozen, mutant beast meat was incredibly delicious, and even frozen it was good.

Fresh meat is still better. After this crisis passes and the treehouse upgrades, perhaps some internal space will increase, and then he can use the extra space as a farm. That would be perfect!

He casually picked a few vegetables, planning to make a hearty lunch, but turning around he saw Keke standing behind him behaving oddly.

It was near noon, the sun shining brightly, its rays streaming through the glass ceiling into the fourth-floor plantation. Even without looking directly up, Xu Xin felt the glare and squinted his eyes.

But after Keke followed him up, she stared blankly at the sky, completely oblivious to the dazzling sunlight.

It wasn’t the first time Xu Xin witnessed Keke like this; the previous time was the night before the rainy season arrived. Keke stared at the dazzling starry sky for a long time, feeling as though there was something up there.

At that time, he asked Keke what it was, but Keke couldn’t answer, not even knowing if there was danger.

Xu Xin shielded his eyes from the sun and looked up. Not a cloud in sight, only the azure sky, nothing else, not even a single bird.

"What’s wrong, Keke? What are you looking at?" Xu Xin lifted Keke from the ground.

"Eep..." Keke tilted her head as before, unable to explain, finally burying her head in Xu Xin’s arms.

After a last glance at the glaring sky, Xu Xin no longer dwelled on it and turned to walk down.

Even if there was something up there, it’s beyond his reach now; better to fill his stomach first.

He roasted a piece of meat for Keke and Afu while he stir-fried a dish with the broken fish bladder, eating while watching the movements outside, in the regional channel, and among the explorers.

The regional channel still showed the total number occasionally dropping, uncertain why. So far, no one shared their experiences of going outside.

Perhaps the reason is none of those who went out made it back alive, resulting in such a situation.

After finishing the dish completely, Xu Xin felt a change in his body, probably his breathing felt smoother, and his lung capacity increased? Not bad, now he can dive deeper underwater.

After tidying up the dishes, just as he sat on the sofa, Wen Guixin spoke in the group.

"I’m back; these vines are interesting, very aggressive, and different from before. They split and multiply the more you kill them."

Multiply the more you kill?

However, she hadn’t encountered any large monsters, easing Xu Xin’s worry.

Wen Guixin began to recount her detailed experience over the past few minutes.

Wearing iron armor and wielding her strongest weapon, she just stepped outside, still suspended in mid-air without descending yet, she was fiercely attacked by the Blood Patterned Vines. Countless vines below violently swung towards her.

Seeing these vines could reach her, she directly hung beneath the treehouse, engaging the vines in combat with melee weapons.

Xu Xin twitched his mouth. Fighting vines with melee weapons while hanging mid-air against a swarm of Blood Patterned Vines... that combat power is rather ridiculous.

While fighting the vines, she sustained considerable injuries but also killed quite a few vines.

However, during the battle, to her horror, she discovered that the vines she cut into segments, shockingly, were still active like worms. Each segment wriggled into the ground crevices, and within seconds grew into a thick Blood Patterned Vine!

Every cut segment retained its own life, able to regrow into a complete vine!

"Destroying the root doesn’t work either? Did you try explosive arrows?" Xu Xin asked.

"Tried, but it doesn’t work. The remaining segment above still reinserts into the soil, revitalized as if the land provides infinite energy to them." Wen Guixin replied.

Xu Xin fell into contemplation. How to solve this?

Just then, his watch vibrated. Glancing at it, his gaze froze.

It was a private message from Ji Chaoyang!

"Xu Xin, near the treehouse, there’s a major threat!"