Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse
Chapter 159 - 157 Collective Upgrade, Breaking Through the Siege! (4,000 words!)_2

Chapter 159: Chapter 157 Collective Upgrade, Breaking Through the Siege! (4,000 words!)_2

Speaking of which, these two guys’ appetite definitely increased after leveling up.

Forget it, now’s not the time to think about these things.

Xu Xin approached the weapon and armor crafting station and used up all the saltpeter Li Wenxi had given him earlier, combined with mutated vine sap, to make 500 explosive crossbow bolts.

Patting the full backpack of explosive bolts, Xu Xin felt a sense of reassurance.

This should be enough.

When resources are scarce, use tactical maneuvers; when resources are abundant, use firepower coverage. Since we can use firepower coverage, we’ll just blast them directly without overthinking other strategies!

"Let’s go, Keke, you better not come, this time it’s really dan—" "Yip!"

Before Xu Xin could finish, Keke interrupted him with a sound and climbed onto his shoulder, indicating it wanted to come along too.

"...Alright, but make sure to protect yourself." "Yip!"

Fine, I’ll bring it along. Keke has a strong sense of danger; bringing it might help us quickly find that "heart."

After putting on his purple-grade scale armor suit, eating all the blue-grade fruits, and feeling the enhancement effects, Xu Xin felt confident. He first let the four beasts wait at the exit and then confidently reached out to touch the treehouse exit.

Currently, he’s positioned outside the outer wall of the third level of the treehouse, about twenty meters high, which is a height where the vines can’t attack him. Peering out the window without being attacked indicated that the Blood Patterned Vines’ attack range hasn’t reached twenty meters up.

Xu Xin didn’t descend further; he intended to create a landing point right below this position.

Though the Blood Patterned Vines below couldn’t reach him, they sensed an enemy above, and the dozen vines directly beneath Xu Xin stopped their natural wavering and poised themselves as if ready to pounce.

It looked as if they would whip at him the moment he dared to descend a few meters!

But Xu Xin wasn’t planning to descend. He equipped an explosive crossbow bolt, aimed at the vine cluster, and pulled the trigger.

"Whoosh—" The explosive bolt shot forth like lightning, but the Blood Patterned Vines were ready. Seeing something coming their way, several vines lashed out violently at the bolt and struck it precisely as it flew.

"Boom!" The bolt didn’t get whipped away but instead exploded into a brilliant flash upon touching the first vine, with a loud bang accompanying it.

The shockwave from the blast made Xu Xin, suspended in mid-air, sway briefly. He quickly controlled the tendrils to stabilize himself.

The vines that lashed at the bolt shattered into pieces, all breaking into several sections.

Xu Xin didn’t rush to fire another shot; he wanted to observe the regrowth ability of the vines.

The small fragments lost their vitality, while the large, severed vine pieces writhed on the ground, crawling into the cracks in the earth like worms and eventually inserting themselves within.

Then, the half-vine started to grow rapidly, and within seconds, it had become a new vine. The newly-formed vine immediately assumed a poised stance.

After one shot, the number of vines hadn’t decreased; in fact, they even increased.

"...This is quite disgusting," Xu Xin muttered, deciding to start firepower coverage.

With his current strength, rapidly reloading the crossbow while hovering in mid-air was achievable.

He easily equipped another explosive bolt and pulled the trigger towards the ground below.

The scene replayed as before, but Xu Xin quickly reloaded and fired again before they could regrow.

This time, some vines struck at the bolt again, and it exploded mid-air once more.

Then came the third explosive bolt. This time, there wasn’t any vine left to intercept, and it struck directly onto the half-vines writhing on the ground.

"Boom!"

The bombarded vine pieces finally couldn’t withstand it and exploded into scattered fragments, showing no signs of activity.

But Xu Xin didn’t care about that; he kept reloading and firing bolts at a rapid pace, blasting the ground below him.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

The continual explosions from the bolts cleared a small section of the ground.

"Now!"

Xu Xin swiftly returned to the treehouse, and Keke jumped onto his shoulder the moment he was back. The other three beasts waited at the door, and he led them down to the ground quickly.

"Awooo—" The Silver King let out a long howl, freezing the vines around them in place. Without hesitation, Mimi slashed forward with its ready claws.

Several sharp flashes passed, and the vines within a two-meter radius were all severed into scattered branches on the ground. These branches twisted and crawled on the ground, searching for cracks to root themselves into to regenerate.

Xu Xin didn’t want to bother with them; killing them only resulted in more vines appearing. Holding his crossbow, he said, "Keep going, let’s break through!"

The surrounding vines constantly tried to attack them, but under the Silver King’s intimidation, they dared not act rashly. Within seconds, they advanced over ten meters.

Xu Xin drew his sword and hacked at the vines that attempted occasional attacks, glancing back.

The path they had cleared was once again overgrown with vines, and only then did he realize that the newly grown vines shone even brighter at the roots.

"Damn it...the more we kill, the stronger they get!" Xu Xin gritted his teeth.

But there was no choice; he couldn’t let them be attacked. The new vines seemed less afraid of the Silver King’s intimidation and kept charging at them.

Xu Xin raised his crossbow and shot towards the rear.

"Boom!"

The new vines were torn apart once again, temporarily unable to attack.

Mimi continued to slash forward with its claws, clearing a path for them, and showed no signs of fatigue, instead crying out each time with ferocity and delight.

The farther they moved, the denser the vines became. The Silver King’s howls started losing their suppressive power over the vines, as its howls could intimidate but not harm, and biting required braving the vine cluster, which wasn’t a good idea.

"Yip!" Keke called out, pointing in a direction.

Within the vine cluster, a Blood Patterned Vine thicker than the others lashed towards them!

The Silver King was prepared thanks to Keke’s warning and bit the vine precisely and fiercely. With a "snap," the vine broke, leaving half on the ground and the rest retrieved.

Once that vine took the lead, the other vines became restless.

Suddenly, Afu, hovering in the air, let out a piercing scream. The eager vines froze, and Xu Xin noticed tiny cracks appearing on the nearest vines!

"Nice work, Afu!" Xu Xin couldn’t help but shout. Afu’s sonic attack was unexpectedly effective and didn’t affect him!

He didn’t dare shoot explosive bolts forward, fearing that Mimi might get caught up, so he kept firing at the rear to stop the regenerating and stronger vines.

Occasionally, vines struck Xu Xin, but his purple-grade armor wasn’t easy to penetrate. The low-level mutated creatures had attacks not strong enough to break through his defense, as long as they didn’t bind his weak points.

"Hurry, we’re almost out!" Xu Xin’s explosive arrows never stopped, bombing furiously behind him.

With orderly coordination, Xu Xin and the four beasts forcefully carved a bloody path through the vine’s encirclement!

Another few dozen meters ahead, Xu Xin turned back to look at the vine cluster.

These vines had once again resumed their calm, swaying gently in the wind, and within seconds, the path they cleared was overrun with new vines.

The treehouse was once again surrounded by the dense vine cluster.

Xu Xin took a deep breath.

Now that they’re out, it’s time to find the "heart" of these vines!