Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse
Chapter 186 - 177: Rules of the Second Phase?

Chapter 186: Chapter 177: Rules of the Second Phase?

Xu Xin immediately connected the voice call.

"Xu Xin, have you already allocated your enhancement points?" Ji Chaoyang asked directly.

"Yes, I’ve already allocated them," Xu Xin replied.

"Actually, I wanted to remind you that being an artist is important. In the entire wilderness of Area 188, only you and I have the ability to increase the decoration level beyond the items available in the points store."

"Don’t worry, I invested the most in my art room." Xu Xin suddenly remembered the [Deep Water Pearl] he got from Qin Yunlong, and asked, "Do you have a [Deep Water Pearl]?"

"I do, Qin Yunlong also approached me about it."

Li Chaoyang was silent for a moment, then said, "Xu Xin, do you remember I was out of contact the whole day yesterday?"

The main topic came up.

"Yes, I’m actually very curious about where you were that you were unreachable for an entire day."

"This is very peculiar, and I don’t know how to explain it to you." Ji Chaoyang started recounting his experience.

"At that time, I didn’t have any fire arrows or explosive arrows, no good way to destroy that heart. So I planned to return to the treehouse. While talking to you and walking out, I suddenly heard, besides the heartbeat, another strange rustling sound, very faint. But with my enhanced hearing, I could hear it very clearly.

I followed the sound and discovered it was coming from below the ground. I dug at that spot and found a tunnel leading deeper underground."

"Deeper underground?" Xu Xin’s heart tightened. Had he really reached that underground world again?

"What happened next, I can’t tell you. It involves the world’s secrets, just like last time, that voice warned me not to share with anyone who doesn’t know the secret, otherwise the punishment would be extremely severe." Ji Chaoyang spoke with a tone of helplessness, "I don’t know if I can share this secret with you, so I’d rather not take the risk."

Xu Xin’s eye twitched: "...Then why bring it up to me?"

Sparking his curiosity, but not being able to tell? It’s annoying to only say half of it!

"Though I can’t talk about it, where I went, I think you can imagine it, only with some differences existing. Based on everything I saw and heard there, the conclusions I’ve drawn can be shared with you." Ji Chaoyang exhaled, his tone somewhat heavy, "Xu Xin, our previous guesses were all correct."

"What do you mean?" Xu Xin squinted his eyes, previous guesses?

"After this treehouse upgrade, the protection radius of the treehouse expanded, you should have guessed it too, survivors can now meet each other."

"Indeed." Xu Xin nodded.

The treehouse started to show functional inclinations. His alchemy ability even unlocked something akin to a portal’s coordinates. Everything indicated that team cooperation in survival mode was about to begin.

"A more brutal competition is about to start. The second stage is no longer about individual survival but the survival of the entire region." Ji Chaoyang’s tone was very grave, and he gave a vivid example, "If you think of this survival game as a World Cup, then each region is a team, and only one team can lift the trophy in the end."

"Are you saying... the survival selection of the second stage is regional, competition between regions?" Xu Xin’s gaze intensified. This was somewhat different from their guess, but not too far off.

They’re really going to start team competition!

"That’s right, each region is equivalent to a competing team, and only one region will laugh to the end."

"In other words, we can’t choose our teammates ourselves, we can only collaborate with people from the same region?"

"From the information I’ve gathered, that’s how it is."

"Then... what about people from other regions who are eliminated? What will happen to them?"

"Maybe like that mysterious voice said, they’ll forever leave this ’beautiful’ world. As for how they’ll leave, it’s unclear."

"Can you be sure about your suspicions?"

"Eighty percent confidence."

The two fell silent for a long time.

The competition and elimination between survivors have ended. According to Ji Chaoyang, the next step is the competition between regions. But how do regions compete?

Team cooperation for survival, a concept he and Ji Chaoyang had speculated about before. But he didn’t expect it to be mandatory to operate as a region.

They had previously worked hard to help and rescue so many people, with the idea of selecting suitable teammates from them. But they hadn’t expected that all the people they saved might be their teammates!

People in the same region were tied to the same boat by the rules of the game!

"Since this matter doesn’t fall into the secret category, why did you only tell me and not others?" Xu Xin was a bit puzzled.

"Because, based on my deductions, the competition between regions might be in the shadows."

"In the shadows?"

"Most survivors actually don’t know about the competitive elimination relationship between regions. Before they know the truth, survivors from different regions might even engage in friendly exchanges, help each other, and cooperate with each other."

Xu Xin understood what Ji Chaoyang meant, "I get it. You’re suggesting we shouldn’t release this information, don’t disturb the superficial peace, and use this peaceful period to secretly develop our team’s strength?"

"That’s right, we can exploit the information gap. If the competition between regions is unknown, survivors within the same region wouldn’t collaborate closely, and internal conflicts might arise due to issues like the ongoing famine, which exemplifies a significant problem. At this stage, we should just focus on developing our region as much as possible."

This is indeed a good idea.

If it were true, they would be like those who knew about the impending apocalypse days before it arrived, diligently preparing and thus having a significant advantage over those caught unprepared.

"What about the others in the [Explorer] group? Shouldn’t we inform them?" Xu Xin asked.

Honestly, he never wholly considered the people in the [Explorer] group his own.

Even among family, conflicts can arise over interests, let alone matters of life and death. They were just a temporary "strategy team.", It’s normal for them to fall apart when any issues arise.

Although the information exchanges over this period have fostered some camaraderie among them, such kinship isn’t something that can bind people together.

However, if everyone in the region shares the same fate, possessing a common interest, then this organization can be trusted.

There are no permanent friends, only permanent interests. Everyone is the top in the same region, wanting to survive, so their interests align completely. Collaborating in such a manner would indeed be more reassuring.

"I plan to gather more information, confirm this matter before informing them, though it seems quite certain at this point." Ji Chaoyang explained.

"Alright, then let’s quickly gather as much information as possible."

After ending the call, Xu Xin fell into deep thought.

Unexpectedly, Ji Chaoyang obtained such information yesterday. If it were true, the development of the region indeed deserves more consideration.

They know too little about the region. It seems that today can’t be spent only in the treehouse; some exploration outside is necessary.

The markers for those three underground caves have disappeared from the map. It’s unknown whether those caves still exist. If they do, he has enhanced hearing today, so he can attempt to locate the entrance Ji Chaoyang mentioned. There might be one here.

He also needs to visit the new expanded safe area he’s never been to before, check if the protection zone is connected, and see if he can reach other survivors’ treehouses.

Opening the regional channel, people are still fervently discussing today’s new abilities and how to allocate points.

Though food scarcity is indeed a problem now, due to their help, there was no loss last night, and many ants were killed. Everyone’s points are sufficient, at least enough to buy green-grade fertilizer.

Green-grade fertilizer matures green-grade plants in just a few hours, so the lack of food hasn’t caused any uproar. The most people do is complain about being hungry, as they’ll only eat at night.

After some browsing, he didn’t find anyone mentioning encounters with other survivors.

But that’s normal. Based on his observations yesterday, the gap between two treehouses is at least more than ten kilometers, akin to the size of a city’s core area.

Even if the protection zones are linked, without mounts, it’s difficult for people from the south and north of the city to meet by mere walking, let alone encounter each other.

Looking at the alchemy station, Xu Xin decided to first understand alchemy.

He currently has four materials in hand, and he made a portion of universal alchemy material, then opened the enhancement tab.

He clicked to enhance the Scale Armor set, but a prompt appeared.

[About to enhance Anaconda Scale Helmet (Purple), success rate 56% (50% + 6%), failure will damage the armor. Continue?]

Xu Xin: "..."

He immediately clicked ’No.’

Equipment gets damaged if the enhancement fails! That’s ridiculous!

It seems he needs to add more amplification points to alchemy.

Calculating at a rate of 1% success increase per 10% amplification points, he would need to add points from 500 decoration to the alchemy room to ensure 100% enhancement success! If supported by a Koi, perhaps an 80% success rate could guarantee no issues.

For now, it’s better not to enhance. The purple-grade suit is too precious. If it gets damaged, he can’t obtain it again—better wait to increase the success rate first.

Retrieving the materials in hand, Xu Xin went up to the third floor of the treehouse.

Silver King and Mimi turned their heads to look at him upon his arrival. He hasn’t fed them yet today.

When will the beasts in the jungle return to the wild, Xu Xin nostalgically recalled when they were free-range.

Throwing the pre-thawed meat to the two beasts, Xu Xin said to Silver King, "Rest well to regain your strength; we’ll go farther to explore in the afternoon."

"Howl!" Silver King let out a sound.

Mimi also looked up at Xu Xin, meowing.

Compared to Silver King, Mimi might be more eager to go far. After all, Silver King was once the Wolf King of a wild wolf pack, having been everywhere. Mimi, on the other hand, had been trapped in the dark dungeon with no sunlight for decades, running wildly in the jungle when it first came out, exhausted itself to the point of collapse.

Upon hearing Xu Xin’s plan to travel far, its eating speed increased, and the entire leopard regained its energetic state from its previous lazy demeanor.

Originally, Xu Xin didn’t plan to bring Mimi along due to its poor endurance, making long journeys inconvenient. But now it seems better to take it along, to show it places it has never seen before.