Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 99: Chapter 99: Finally Emerging from the Dungeon

The door was already in front of them.

”Damn!” the head of the Chang Yin Family couldn’t help but curse, ”This, this, this... it came over? It came over directly? Quick, quick, quick, push the door, hurry up and see if we can get out!”

Xu Xin helplessly reached out to push the door.

The door slowly opened, revealing a stone staircase corridor leading upwards. It was obviously a corridor to the surface!

”This... this is the closest we’ve been to the surface in nearly fifty years.” Xue Lan’s voice also trembled slightly.

”Mom, can we reach the surface?” the small boy statue asked, looking up.

”We can, this time we definitely can...” Xue Lan held the boy’s hand.

Xu Xin had already stepped into the staircase passage. This staircase passage was similar to the one they descended, with a damp, moldy smell, and unlit candlesticks on both sides of the passage.

Once everyone entered the corridor, as expected, there was a ”bang” sound behind them. They turned to see the door had closed, followed by a gust of wind blowing from both sides of the door. One by one, the candlesticks along the corridor were lit up, extending to a place above that could not be seen.

Xu Xin always felt something was wrong, as a sense of crisis gradually became apparent in his heart.

”Yiyiyiyi!” Keke on his shoulder suddenly became restless, pointing at the walls on either side and above, gesturing frantically at Xu Xin and the others before jumping off Xu Xin’s shoulder and pulling him to run upwards.

Xu Xin keenly noticed that the surroundings seemed excessively damp, it was no longer just about dripping water, but the entire wall was seeping water!

There is danger! There must be danger! And it is related to water!

”Run!” Xu Xin shouted to the stone figures behind, taking the lead to run upwards, while shoving various blue-grade fruits into his mouth, with Keke closely following him.

”What’s wrong?” Although the head of the Chang Yin Family and others did not quite understand Xu Xin’s actions, they quickly followed Xu Xin.

The floor was slippery, a slight misstep could lead to a fall, but Xu Xin couldn’t care less.

”There might be a flood behind us!”

Before Xu Xin’s voice died away, the sound of rocks cracking and water flowing came from behind.

He glanced back, and his pupils constricted immediately.

”Damn! What are those things!”

Cracks had appeared in the wall below, and rushing water gushed out from the cracks, instantly submerging the entire door!

But what terrified Xu Xin the most was that not only water poured out from the cracks but also swarms of eel-like creatures! These eels were covered in blood-red patterns, some in the water following the water’s surface and seemingly ready to swarm as soon as the water surface submerged Xu Xin and his group!

Another group was drilling into the tunnel walls on both sides, making an eerie crunching sound, rendering the already cracked wall full of holes. The water started gushing out more violently, and the rising water surface was almost catching up with their running speed!

”Run fast, do not let the water cover us, or it’s over!” Xu Xin ran upward with all his might.

The head of the Chang Yin Family swallowed back his words of ”I’m not afraid of water.” Those mutated eels seemed specially designed to deal with stone!

”You all hold on, I’m going to stomp my foot!” shouted the head of the Chang Yin Family, stomping hard on the ground, causing a thick stone wall to rise swiftly from the tunnel, completely blocking it!

Xu Xin stumbled from the stomping, turned to see the tunnel blocked by the wall. His expression just started to relax when a dense ”crackling” sound came from the wall. Then with a ”crack,” an eel was squirted out by a stream of water from a new hole in the wall, followed by countless small holes appearing, and the stone wall collapsed in a few seconds.

”Damn! Stop stomping, get up here quickly!” Xu Xin hurriedly stopped the head of the Chang Yin Family, who intended to stomp again. His wall couldn’t slow the water’s speed but rather, the stomping severely hindered their progress, and if they weren’t careful on such a slippery ground, they could slide down.

Reluctantly, the head of the Chang Yin Family turned and ran up.

”We also absolutely cannot let the water cover us, those mutated eels can damage the stones, they seem made to combat us!” the head of the Chang Yin Family shouted to Xue Lan and the maid, who were running while holding the child.

Xu Xin cursed the unforgiving staircase passage inwardly.

If it were only water, he had water plants (blue) that allowed him to breathe underwater, reducing his stress significantly as long as the water wasn’t too deep to exert strong pressure.

But with these mutated eels, he could only run desperately upwards.

He didn’t want his body to become a honeycomb by the eels!

Keke and the cheetah ran quickly, with Keke even climbing onto the cheetah’s back. For some reason, although the cheetah wouldn’t let Xu Xin touch it, it didn’t seem to mind Keke.

Xu Xin had thoughts of riding the cheetah, but with such a slender body and weak endurance, adding him would make it tire in just a few steps. As we know, the speed and explosiveness of felines come at the cost of endurance.

”Yiyiyiyi!” Keke lying on the cheetah’s back looked back, urging Xu Xin and his group anxiously.

Xu Xin turned back and saw that the water level was getting closer and closer to them.

Despite the intense activity, even with Xin’s ability, Xu Xin still felt a strong difficulty in breathing, especially since the underground air was so murky, making him even more uncomfortable.

He glanced at the four stone statues behind him; Xue Lan and the others had stayed behind to wait for Chang Yin, falling a good distance behind Xu Xin, but now they had caught up, clearly faster than him.

As Xu Xin continued running upward at full speed, he gasped, ”... Aren’t you... tired?”

”No.”

”Not tired at all. We are stone statues, how could we be tired?” Chang Yin replied. He seemed at ease, but his expression was serious, his stony brow furrowed, ”However, we’re already running at full speed; we can’t go any faster.”

Xu Xin gritted his teeth and chose to trust the stone statue that brought him out: ”Can you help me carry my backpack? It’s really draining my strength!”

The backpacks were full of supplies, and even with the weight reduced to 10%, it was still a heavy burden.

”Hmm? Oh, okay.” Chang Yin took the backpack Xu Xin handed over without looking inside and strapped it onto his back.

”I’ll help carry one too.” Xue Lan’s voice came through; even while sprinting at full speed, her voice was still so gentle.

Xu Xin gritted his teeth. The weight of the backpacks really affected his speed, completely unable to distance himself from the rising water level. Even if Xue Lan didn’t return them after they got out, he was resigned.

”Alright!”

With two fewer backpacks, he instantly felt his body significantly lighter. After carrying weights for a long time, letting go of the burden made Xu Xin feel his body lift; he took a deep breath, quickened his pace, and matched the speed of Chang Yin and the others.

Initially, the water surface at the rear was pulled away a bit, but as they climbed, the tunnel narrowed, the water level rose faster, and they could even hear the sound of those mutant creatures squirming with the water surface.

”I see the exit!” A hint of brightness suddenly appeared in Xu Xin’s view; he shouted as if sprinting for the finish line, quickening his pace.

Ahead, the cheetah no longer maintained the same speed as Xu Xin and the others. With a roar, its speed exploded instantly, dashing upwards swiftly; it probably hadn’t seen light in a long time.

Even the Chang Yin Family beside Xu Xin became excited: ”Light, it’s sunlight! Oh my god! We’re seeing sunlight again!”

Now it was the second day, daytime, so naturally, there was sunlight outside.

”Don’t worry about that, run fast, the water behind is about to pour over!” Xu Xin accelerated once more, feeling as though his lungs were about to explode; the sensation was far more uncomfortable than the last sprinting phase during a kilometer run.

The original light spot was becoming larger; Xu Xin could already see the clouds outside.

The cheetah was incredibly fast, having already disappeared down the tunnel with Keke.

The water level behind them was only two or three meters away; Xu Xin stepped three steps at a time, running madly upward.

”Out!” Several emerged from the underground cave, glimpsed the scenery outside, barely having time to rejoice when Xu Xin suddenly turned pale.

They were in a dry lakebed pit! Now at the center, the lake’s shore was at least four or five meters high!

”Quick! Get up, or this will be filled with water!”

Seeing the jungle outside, the Chang Yin Family’s excitement overflowed; at this moment of slight confusion, they chose to follow Xu Xin’s command: ”Okay! Which way do we go?”

Xu Xin quickly surveyed the surroundings.

”Whimpering!” From a distance came Keke’s voice; Xu Xin looked in that direction, where Keke was anxiously watching them from the shore. It was the gentlest slope, allowing them to run directly upward.

Water had already started pouring out from the exit, countless mutant creatures writhing as they rushed toward the five of them.

”That way!” Xu Xin charged toward Keke, followed closely by the Chang Yin Family.

The overflowing water had already reached their shoe soles, and finally, as the creatures were about to nip at Xu Xin’s heels, they reached the side of the slope, leaped upward, and escaped danger.

Although they hadn’t climbed the lake shore yet, the pit’s area was large, and the water level was rising slowly, posing no threat to them anymore.

A few steps brought Xu Xin to the edge of the lake, where he gasped for air, while Chang Yin and the others stood beside him, gazing blankly at all around them.

The cheetah had vanished, and Xu Xin opened the map to find the light point representing the cheetah moving quickly around them, seemingly reliving the feeling of racing across the plain back then.

Finally, Xu Xin laughed aloud and collapsed on the ground.

Finally out!