Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 29 - 29: Unexpected Gains

Even though he had reached the boundary, Xu Xin was not in a hurry to return.

Of course, he wouldnʼt foolishly walk out of the three-kilometer boundary, but he was still curious. Why couldnʼt he go beyond the three-kilometer range? Was it because the treehouse could only protect them within this three-kilometer radius?

On the map, within the three-kilometer range around the treehouse, there were no more beasts except for the red dot at the center of the lake. Was this also thanks to the treehouse? Or was it deliberately caused by that mysterious voice?

At this moment, he had a guess in his heart, but it was immature.

He cast a profound look at the ground outside the boundary, the direction he had come from. He had previously walked unscathed from there, but now he could no longer return.

Previously, the novice protection period was safeguarding him, and now, it was the treehouse protecting him.

Stop thinking too much. Nearly two hours had passed by now, and Xu Xin started heading back, returning to the location of the Black Bear Cave.

Standing at the entrance of the Black Bear Cave, Xu Xin used the compass for the second time.

With a crisp ”ding” sound, the needle of the compass gradually pointed in the opposite direction of the Black Bear Cave, towards the other side of the stream.

It seems the treasure chest is on the other side of the stream, and Xu Xin has to cross the stream to get there.

The stream was easy to cross, after all, it wasnʼt deep. Even though this part was already downstream and the stream was quite wide, the deepest part of the entire stream was only thirty to forty centimeters.

Just as Xu Xin was about to step across the stream, he suddenly stopped.

What if the monster wasnʼt on the other side of the stream, but right in the stream itself?

If he steps down like this, wouldnʼt it be courting death? Although forty centimeters of water isnʼt technically deep, it significantly impairs normal movement, greatly slowing down Xu Xin.

”Keke, wake up!” Xu Xin roughly shook Kekeʼs head, who was resting on his shoulder.

”...Ying ying!” Keke was very displeased to be woken up so violently and protested with a whiny tone at Xu Xin.

Xu Xin took Keke off his shoulder, held it in his arms, and let it face the stream: ”Feel it, is there anything wrong in this stream?”

After all, last time Keke found the treasure chest by following a scent, perhaps itʼs its instinct, but it was undoubtedly very useful.

”Ying?” Keke instinctively tilted its head; it was still in a groggy state after being woken up, yet pulled out to work.

It jumped down from Xu Xinʼs arms, came to the waterʼs edge, and scooped the water with its little paw, then turned around and shook its head at Xu Xin: ”Ying~”

”No?” Xu Xin frowned, did he overthink it? Both Keke and the map didnʼt give any warnings about danger, maybe he really was wrong.

Relaxing his furrowed brow, Xu Xin picked Keke up back onto his shoulder, took off his shoes, and prepared to cross the stream.

The streamʼs flow was fast and incredibly cold; Xu Xin felt a piercing chill as soon as he stepped in. Before he had walked a few steps, his whole foot was almost numbed by the cold.

He couldnʼt understand why this mountain stream was so cold. Clearly, the temperature was over 30 degrees now.

After taking two steps, Xu Xin stopped.

For some reason, the further he went, the more anxious he felt. It was similar to the crisis instinct he had when the vines were about to burst out from the ground, just not as intense but rather like a feeling that something dangerous was getting closer to him.

Thereʼs something in the water!

There really is something in the water!

Xu Xin chose to trust his instincts, took big strides, and ran back. He hadnʼt reached the deepest part of the stream yet, so retreating back meant he could get to the bank quickly!

As he turned around to run, a sudden splash of water sounded behind him, as if something emerged from the water!

”Ying!” Keke suddenly shouted on his shoulder, the sound was nothing like its usual cute voice but instead a hoarse and sharp cry, seemingly warning whatever was behind.

Xu Xin slightly turned his head and caught a glimpse of what was behind with his peripheral vision.

As soon as the thing appeared in his sight, Xu Xinʼs pupils contracted instantly; he was startled and frantically dashed towards the bank.

A crocodile had surfaced in the middle of the stream, a crocodile much larger than usual, whose size reminded Xu Xin of prehistoric creatures from the late Cretaceous Period, one of the largest crocodilian species ever, the Deinosuchus!

No, even Deinosuchus wasnʼt this large! It was a giant Deinosuchus!

The nearly twenty-meter-long crocodile lay at the bottom of the stream along its flow, rising now, causing the streamʼs water level to drop significantly.

Meanwhile, the map Xu Xin had been watching intently did not even show a red dot!

”Damn! This map doesnʼt show anything, right! What a scam creator function, right!” Xu Xin ran in the front, his soul chased behind. He sprinted to the bank in merely four or five strides.

However, to his slight surprise, the crocodile didnʼt seem to have intentions to attack him; otherwise, Xu Xin wouldnʼt have almost escaped.

Crocodiles are extremely fast in water, it could bite him and then do a death roll, reducing him to a pile of minced meat.

The crocodile merely watched him, just like the Lake Giant Python, simply watching him quietly.

Just like the Lake Giant Python, it had a monstrous body that seemed not to belong to this era.

The only difference was that the Lake Giant Python appeared as a huge, bright red dot on the map, whereas this crocodile suspected of being a Deinosuchus did not.

The last one not showing was the little red panda, Keke, on his shoulder.

He looked at Keke on his shoulder, who was now baring its teeth at the Deinosuchus, seemingly trying to intimidate it. Yet, it was of no use, it was just too adorably cute.

The Deinosuchus in the stream slowly opened its large mouth, and just as Xu Xinʼs face turned grim, ready to run for his life, he suddenly noticed a flash of bright silver inside its mouth.

A silver treasure chest?

In this crocodileʼs mouth?!

”...Canʼt we play properly anymore?”

”Ying?”

The Deinosuchus jerked its head, flinging the silver chest to the bank, landing with a loud ”bang”.

The chest lay at Xu Xinʼs feet, while the colossal Deinosuchus closed its mouth, casting a small eye considering its size at Xu Xin before slowly sinking back into the water under his wary yet puzzled gaze.

The clear water turned turbid as the sand and stones at the riverbed were churned up by the Deinosuchus, yet Xu Xin could still see it hadnʼt left, instead once again lying at the bottom of the stream.

It had been in the stream all along! Perhaps when Xu Xin first passed through here, a Deinosuchus was already resting here!

Since this Deinosuchus is like Keke, a special existence, if Keke wasnʼt beholden to this worldʼs constraints, perhaps this crocodile wasnʼt either.

The more he thought about it, the more Xu Xin felt a chill; although this massive Deinosuchus seemed not to harbor malice towards him, it was a crocodile nonetheless! Its demonic appearance and sharp teeth were daunting to say the least.

Thankfully, for now, it seemed this crocodile bore him no ill will.

Looking at the silver treasure chest at his feet, Xu Xin felt as though he were dreaming, inexplicably obtaining a silver treasure chest.

”...The position of this treasure chest is too eerie!!”