Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse
Chapter 78: Dungeon Treasure Hunt

Chapter 78: Chapter 78: Dungeon Treasure Hunt

The next morning, Xu Xin woke up naturally.

The crisp sound of birds chirping outside the treehouse, along with the calls of some small animals, gave him a sense of vacationing in a mountain resort.

If only life could always be this peaceful. If it weren’t for this so-called activity, Xu Xin might really be able to live peacefully in this beautiful environment, with fresh air and abundant wildlife in the jungle.

The dream is beautiful, but today we must continue working hard.

Xu Xin raised his hand to look at his watch. It was seven o’clock, and the activity would start at nine, leaving two hours of rest time.

Keke was still cuddled up beside him, snoozing away with her fluffy brown and white bushy tail.

This time, the event is called [Underground Dungeon Treasure Hunting Activity], probably similar to the last jungle exploration event. It looks like this treasure-hunting panda is crucial again. Last time, if Keke hadn’t pulled him along, he basically wouldn’t have found the golden treasure chest.

After getting up and washing up, Xu Xin began to prepare breakfast. He used a boning knife to cut the beast meat into thin slices, placed them on the grill, and sprinkled salt while grilling.

The aroma of the grilled meat woke Keke and Silver King, who both ran over to Xu Xin’s side.

As usual, Xu Xin gave Silver King a piece of raw beast meat while he and Keke enjoyed a breakfast of barbeque with fruits and vegetables. It’s not that Xu Xin didn’t want to grill for Silver King, but wolves maintain their wildness and combat power by eating raw meat; otherwise, they’d truly be domesticated into a dog.

Inside the [Explorer], people had already started talking.

Wen Guixin: "Boss, the leaderboard and rewards are out. Shouldn’t our organization recruit new members?"

Ji Chaoyang: "Let’s skip it this time. The gap from fourth to twentieth isn’t that big, not as clear-cut as last time. They don’t have tools for immediate communication either, so let’s hold off on recruiting new members for now."

Wen Guixin: "...Alright, maybe next time then."

Xu Xin didn’t really feel like looking at the leaderboard for recruiting purposes.

Now, the nine members of the organization have abilities others don’t: treehouse modification. Among the top twenty on this leaderboard, except for the three of them, the rest are pretty average. The extra points don’t buy much and only offer discounts in the points mall; no need to bring them into the organization.

After breakfast, Xu Xin started preparing the items he needed to take today.

He donned the leather armor and packed the iron armor in his backpack.

A crossbow and spear, the two major weapons, had to be carried. Besides that, he wanted to make a sword.

Since it’s an underground dungeon, there might be some narrow spaces where the spear’s length could be limited. A sword would be more flexible.

Xu Xin crafted an iron sword using iron blocks (blue) and made a leather scabbard with animal hide to keep the sword quiet when drawn, making him really feel like a swordsman.

He packed various functional foods into his backpack and waited for the activity to start.

Before long, the mysterious voice began to speak.

[Survivors, today’s activity is about to begin!]

[Next, the activity content will be introduced. Please listen carefully, survivors.]

[Within the treehouse protection zone, there lies a hidden underground dungeon filled with treasures left by predecessors, which can aid your survival. Now, the entrance to the dungeon is open, waiting for your arrival.]

[This activity is: Underground Dungeon Treasure Hunting. In the next two days, go find that hidden dungeon and obtain the treasures within!]

[Friendly reminder, do not explore areas outside the treehouse protection zone, or terrifying things will happen.]

[The reward activity period is from today 9:00 to tomorrow 18:00]

[Do not slack off. All survivors who fail to find the dungeon entrance will permanently leave this beautiful world.]

[We hope all survivors will reap abundantly in the dungeon.]

[The Underground Dungeon Treasure Hunting Activity begins now!]

The location of the dungeon is within the treehouse protection zone. It’s unclear if those underground creatures might appear in the dungeon. Although the treehouse will protect the surface from monster invasions, the dungeon isn’t necessarily safe.

"Dungeon, huh..." Xu Xin looked out from the treehouse window. On the surface, there were no apparent anomalies; the jungle still looked like yesterday’s jungle.

His protection range was much larger than others, four times more, making it harder for him to find the entrance compared to others.

He checked the map. Due to hunting activities, wildlife had returned, and many red dots were now scattered on the map. Even marks of herbivores drinking at the lake nearest to Xu Xin appeared as faint red dots.

However, the map showed no regions marked as "Dungeon" or any areas with a high concentration of red dots.

Feeling at a loss, it was just like in the initial stage of the last exploration activity when seeking the copper treasure chest.

Xu Xin looked at the little guy now perched on his shoulder, stroked its soft tail, and said, "This time, I’m counting on you, Keke."

"Eep?" Keke tilted her head, clueless about what’s happening, looking at Xu Xin.

"Do you sense anything strange around here?" Xu Xin took Keke down from his shoulder, letting her look outside the window.

"Eep... Eep." Keke shook her head.

Xu Xin sighed and glanced at the area chat, where many people were engaged in discussions.

"As long as I find the dungeon entrance, I’m safe! Does that mean I don’t even have to go in?"

"Dungeon, sounds dangerous; I’m not going in."

"Everyone, if you find the dungeon but don’t want to enter, you can come back and share the location with us. The entrance locations might follow a pattern. We’ll enter upon finding it and share the dungeon’s situation, so you all can decide whether to enter then."

This last message was from Ji Chaoyang. He seems to want everybody to pool efforts in locating the dungeon entrance, providing direction, and minimizing the number of people who want to passively observe the situation first.

But Xu Xin knew this activity couldn’t be so easy. Simply finding the dungeon to survive was impossible. The first crisis might already loom outside the dungeon entrance, impending danger as soon as the entrance was found.

Ji Chaoyang couldn’t have overlooked this, but he didn’t tell everyone about it, instead giving everyone hope.

"Worthy of Boss Ji! I’m off to find the entrance!"

"We’re solid with the top five ranking bosses all in Boss Ji’s organization, led by a boss!"

"Let’s set out quickly! With so many of us, someone will surely find it by chance. Then, if we share the location with the bosses, we’ll have a strategy!"

"Hurry, go, go, go!"

Xu Xin didn’t bother with these affairs. Posting his thoughts on the area channel would only scare more people into hiding in the treehouses to await others’ results, reducing the chances of discovering the dungeon entrance.

No matter. He intended to look around first. With Silver King, he still had great mobility.

Arriving beneath the treehouse, Xu Xin planned to first check out the golden treasure chest underground entrance. It’s the entrance to the underground world; perhaps the dungeon is nearby.

Silver King was fast, and within minutes, they reached the underground world entrance. What was once a sea of flowers, after the death of the bloodthirsty Cannibal Flower, had withered entirely, becoming a barren wasteland.

Xu Xin reached the entrance hole and, after a moment’s hesitation, stationed Silver King as a lookout, while he and Keke ventured inside.

They arrived above the tightly closed iron door, and he looked downward.

The surrounding soil was even more vividly red now compared to the last time he was here. Previously a faint red, it now seemed soaked in blood.

This should have been caused by the previous Red Mist seeping into the soil, turning it into [Contaminated Soil].

Could the overwhelmingly foul Red Mist be the source of pollution? Would breathing too much of it cause one to mutate into those creatures?

Both he and Keke inhaled a bit of it, but besides the stench, it had no apparent effect on their bodies.