Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 21 - 21 The Riot Ends

Xu Xin scrolled up the regional channel to find the words Ji Chaoyang had posted earlier. His message had been repeated by a bunch of other people on the regional channel, so it was easy to find.

”Everyone, donʼt panic. According to my findings, the treehouse has a scent-blocking function.

As long as you donʼt make any noise, you wonʼt be discovered by wild animals, so donʼt scream or shout.

Also, donʼt let curiosity get the better of you by looking out the window. The windows of short treehouses are too close to the ground and lack cover, so a silhouette moving in the window will attract the attention of predators and birds of prey.

Itʼs best to hide in a place where you canʼt be seen from the window.”

”The treehouse has a scent-blocking function? How does he know that?” Xu Xin rubbed his chin. ”This guy named Ji Chaoyang is really something. I ought to get to know him if I have the chance. He probably has a lot of high-level resources in his possession.”

So far, Xu Xin hadnʼt seen any resources above blue grade on the trading platform. After all, without his abilities, others could only guess and still have to bring resources back to the treehouse to know the grade.

Unless you are someone like Wenxi, whose resources are concentrated in one mine, who essentially owns a mine, and can bring back blue-grade treasures after casually mining, itʼs almost impossible for others to acquire blue-grade resources. Even it took him two days from his starting point to find his first blue-grade resource.

As for the window, itʼs not a problem for him. After all, his treehouse is densely canopied, making it impossible to see inside from the outside.

The short treehouses are only about three meters high, which is just for show in front of felines since they can easily jump up. The animals in this world are so strong that if their treehouse is discovered by wild beasts, they have no chance to escape. No wonder so many people have died.

Xu Xin looked at the channel numbers. The remaining number of people stabilized at 8140. The beast tide had already subsided at this point; as long as no one went down to court death, the few remaining beasts wouldnʼt pose a threat to everyone.

A few hours after the novice protection period was over, nearly two thousand people had left this world forever.

[Beast Riot ends. Congratulations to the survivors. You endured the initial beast tide riot night and have become true treehouse adventurers. Keep it up!]

[The death rate for this event is 32.76%. A portion of the survivors have left us forever. Let us bid farewell to their souls and wish them a world free of beasts after death.]

[Donʼt let down your guard. The beasts have only temporarily retreated and might riot again at any moment. Arm yourselves and hope you survive the next riot.]

[To reward the survivors of this event, the jungle exploration activity will officially start at 9:00 today. Please look forward to it.]

32.76%?! That high? Judging by the number of people in their Jungle 188 regional channel, the death rate was not even 20%. Are the death tolls in other regions that high?

And what does this jungle exploration activity mean? They just give a name and explain the rules at 9:00? If itʼs a reward activity, does it mean thereʼs no danger?

However, Xu Xin couldnʼt shake the feeling that this mysterious voice wasnʼt being so kind.

Xu Xin looked at the regional channel.

”Finally, itʼs over!”

”Mom, Iʼm still alive!”

”Awesome! The death rate in our district is so low thanks to you!”

”Jungle 188 is number one!”

”Iʼm so sleepy, both exhausted and sleepy, time to sleep.”

”Sleep now and rest up. Thereʼs another event tomorrow morning, and reward activities are sure to have good stuff.”

Despite having eaten an orange (blue), even though its effects had worn off, Xu Xin, thanks to the enhancement at the dining table, felt as if he had slept for an hour and a half and was still brimming with energy, not sleepy at all.

He glanced at the map again. The red dots surrounding his treehouse had completely disappeared. Most of the red dots were now concentrated northwest of the treehouse, a pitch-black area that had yet to be explored.

Itʼs clearly a beast gathering area, a very dangerous place. If thereʼs no need, Xu Xin absolutely wouldnʼt venture there.

He sent the attributes of the repaired backpack to Li Wenxi: ”White-grade backpack, want it?”

There was no reply from the other side, but Xu Xin wasnʼt too worried about her. After all, she wasnʼt stuck with the lowest-grade treehouse, just like himself, as long as she didnʼt court death, things shouldnʼt go wrong.

Seeing that she hadnʼt responded, Xu Xin ate another orange and a large red berry, preparing to go outside and pick up some trash. Others may not dare to go out for fear of remaining beasts, but with his map, Xu Xin wasnʼt afraid. He knew there were no beasts around his vicinity now.

Carried to the base of the treehouse by the banyan roots, he immediately saw the apple tree (blue) he had planted alongside his treehouse. In just a day, the apple tree had grown to the thickness of two fingers. The fence had served its purpose well before meeting its end, either slanted or broken.

Fortunately, the apple tree hadnʼt suffered any damage.

The area was a scene of devastation, with beast battle remnants in the form of blood stains and fur on the ground, and feathers from birds of prey, exuding a faint green hue.

Xu Xin approached and picked up a feather.

[Owl Feather (Green): A feather lost by an owl in its struggle, still faintly stained with blood.]

This is one of the ingredients for stone arrows, and Xu Xin casually put the feather into his backpack.

Making bows and arrows requires animal tendons, but dismantling bears and wolves hadnʼt yielded this material.

Is it that these animals canʼt provide it, that it can only be obtained from specific animals, or that only a certain probability exists? Did he just have bad luck and didnʼt get it, or was his method flawed, causing the tendons to snap before he could acquire them?

Lacking a means for long-range attack, Xu Xin felt something missing.

However, what surprised him was that there were no animal corpses in the forest, not even gnawed bones remained; only the disarray in the bushes and bloodstains on the ground bore witness to what kind of chaotic battle had taken place here.

Indeed, thereʼs no way the world would let survivors exploit such loopholes, gifting them a beast-corpse starter package isnʼt the style here.

After searching for a while, Xu Xin only found 4 owl feathers on the ground.

Suddenly, rustling noises came from a nearby bush.

Immediately tense, Xu Xin aimed his stone spear in the direction of the sound, as the map appeared in his mind. But to his surprise, there were no red dots around him on the map.

”Whatʼs going on? Is there something wrong with my map?” Xu Xin became suddenly nervous again.

If the map canʼt mark all the animals, its effectiveness at preventing animal threats would greatly diminish, especially since some predators, particularly apex-level felines, hunt by surprising their prey with sudden bursts of speed.

Just as Xu Xin was on high alert, a brown little head poked out from the bushes, the white ears twitching slightly.

This scene seemed familiar.

”Itʼs you.” Seeing that little face, Xu Xin felt relieved for the moment.

It was the little panda he had seen earlier.

This little creature was special; it could freely move around even when the rookie protection period wasnʼt over yet, so its absence from the map was understandable. It seemed to hold no malice towards him, so he didnʼt need to be overly wary.

Even though the possibility exists that aggressive animals with similar abilities to this little panda might be around, if they did encounter such a seemingly overpowered beast, Xu Xin could only accept his misfortune.

The little panda emerged from the disordered bushes again, repeating the same action as before: clutching at Xu Xinʼs short pants while making purring sounds, its fluffy tail sweeping across the fallen leaves on the ground.

Xu Xin understood its meaning and took a large red berry out of his backpack: ”Want to eat this?”

The little panda immediately nodded with purring sounds.

”You can understand what Iʼm saying?” Xu Xin was immediately taken aback.