Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 202: Chapter 190: Lou Fei’Er Under Control

Lou Fei’Er has been nervous ever since this man appeared at the treehouse window.

The other person has planted a parasitic treehouse before, likely having survivor’s blood on his hands just like her. He wasn’t someone to be trifled with, and his strength was probably greater than hers.

That’s why she decided to use this approach.

Kind-hearted people would certainly agree to her request upon seeing her state. Even if the person was cautious, she was confident she could gain his trust with her acting skills.

If he was ruthless, her appearance had value; she wouldn’t be killed outright and would have the opportunity to counterattack easily later.

Of course, there might be ruthless people who are immune to her charms, like women who naturally wouldn’t be tempted. But generally, in this post-apocalyptic world, women, especially those of this age group, have strong empathy towards the same sex, so nothing major would happen.

Even if something did occur, she had means to escape, although at a great cost.

Survivors nowadays hadn’t seen others for a long time, so this approach was quite reliable.

Previously, in dealing with someone, she didn’t have to put in much effort; just a couple of words, and he took the bait, eagerly wanting to invite her to his treehouse, turning his back on her.

With such an inviting exposed back, of course she made her move.

But with the man before her, she couldn’t read him. She felt no sympathy or pity from him, nor did he intend to do anything to her.

She even regretted provoking him; he wore an armor never seen before and held her hand like steel, making her feel she couldn’t escape.

This person seemed not on the same level as hers.

He even inexplicably took her backpack!

He didn’t look bad; tall, handsome, and always with a smiling face. His actions and behavior were odd. Isn’t he just like those smiling-eye villains in movies and animations! So terrifying!

She knew the secrets of the strong ones in her area, but none were this powerful. This time she encountered someone tough from outside the area!

If Xu Xin could hear her thoughts, he’d call it an injustice.

He clearly was being exceptionally amicable, showing what he believed was a compassionate expression. How did he become a smiling-eye villain, and his behavior strange?

Of course, his acting wasn’t great; it might deceive a novice but wouldn’t stand against someone as naturally dramatic as Lou Fei’Er, leading to his disguise being easily seen through.

Xu Xin didn’t bring her back to the main treehouse.

Though Silver King Mimi was there, ensuring safety even if he wasn’t bothered, he didn’t want someone else to see the main treehouse’s state, particularly when the woman was a top existence from another area, perhaps having special abilities that could bring trouble if she damaged the treehouse.

He took her to Parasite Treehouse 02, where he made two chairs on the spot and sat facing Lou Fei’Er.

Once one enters the treehouse, leaving normally requires his permission. Of course, she could also jump out the window. However, the low treehouse, though short, had windows over four meters high that not everyone could jump through.

”Thank you...” Lou Fei’Er whispered softly. She felt something wasn’t right—an empty room with two chairs, resembling an interrogation room.

Sitting down, she pressed her legs together, rested her hands nervously on her knees, and slightly shrank her neck—a very tense appearance.

”Relax, tell me your story.”

”Me... about me?” Lou Fei’Er lowered her head, her eyes darting, and began telling her tale.

She claimed she was just a regular survivor; surviving until now purely due to luck, narrowly escaping death each time, but constantly teetering on the brink of demise.

After this activity ended, she nearly ran out of food at home, forcing her to venture out to find some.

After searching for two hours without finding anything edible, returning home revealed someone cutting her treehouse, nearly knocking it down.

The person appeared very strong. She wanted to intervene, but he struck the final blow, toppling her treehouse, then walked towards her with a sinister smile, leaving her with nothing. She fled in a panic.

She didn’t know how long she ran, too exhausted to move, looked up to see the tall treehouse rising from the jungle, and stumbled her way towards it.

As she spoke, her eyes filled with tears.

The story was well crafted, but Xu Xin could only roll his eyes.

Should he just drop the act? Her words were all lies without a shred of useful information, wasting time.

”Which area are you from?” Xu Xin asked.

”I’m from Jungle Area 187,” Lou Fei’Er replied.

No big issue; Xu Xin guessed she was indeed from Area 187, the same as Le Youfang. It seemed the four treehouses around him were all from this area, positioned at the intersection of Areas 188 and 187.

Before Xu Xin spoke, Lou Fei’Er suddenly pointed at the half-exposed treehouse core on the floor, curiously asking in a low voice, ”What... is that?”

The treehouse core emitted an ethereal white glow, catching her attention as soon as she entered.

Her question surprised Xu Xin.

She didn’t know about the treehouse core?

Hadn’t she acquired a parasitic treehouse seed before? How did she not obtain the core?

Xu Xin suddenly recalled that his treehouse core was acquired before the treehouse perished; by chiseling open the floor at the treehouse level, extracting it from the cavity within the tree trunk.

The average person wouldn’t consider this method. If not for Keke, he wouldn’t have thought to chisel the floor to investigate.

Could it be, if one directly chops or digs the treehouse, the core can’t be obtained? Must it be extracted from inside the still-living tree trunk?

”Have you never obtained this thing?” Xu Xin asked.

”...Hmm? Never before, I barely have any supplies. Could... Could you give me some hemostatic herbs? It really hurts...”

Xu Xin glanced at her and instantly traded several green-tier hemostatic herbs from his smartwatch.

Lou Fei’Er’s pupils contracted at the sight.

Oh my god, trading with a smartwatch, a purple-tier watch! He’s the number one on the leaderboard in this area! What kind of monster have I provoked!

Mom, I want to go back to the treehouse...

No, no, what’s so great about being number one! Fortune favors the bold!

Xu Xin handed her two stones, indicating for her to grind them herself.

Lou Fei’Er twitched her mouth, accepted the two stones, ground the hemostatic herbs herself, then reached out to undress.

Halfway through the motion, she suddenly seemed to realize something and glanced fearfully at Xu Xin: ”Um... Can you turn around?”

Xu Xin raised an eyebrow, expecting to see something good.

But even as it was, it was already enticing enough: torn clothes half-on, half-off. In all honesty, not knowing the truth, a man might truly find it hard to resist.

If he succumbed to the temptation and lunged at her, or turned his back on her as she asked, there might be serious trouble.

This woman still wanted to take his life, even now.

Although her backpack had been confiscated by Xu Xin, all it had was a green-tier dagger and a few ordinary apples. Xu Xin truly couldn’t figure out the point of this backpack—was it just a decoy?

If that was the case, even unarmed, she remained very dangerous.

”You handle it first, I’ll go to that treehouse and fetch you some clothes,” Xu Xin stood up.

Of course, he wasn’t going to fetch clothes; he intended to check the spot she previously rolled on to see what she left there.

”...Oh, okay.”

With that, Xu Xin left parasitic treehouse 02, leaving Lou Fei’Er sitting dumbfounded inside.

”This person... Such strong will? Could he not be interested? Maybe he likes men?” Lou Fei’Er murmured to herself inside the treehouse, her voice barely audible, but Xu Xin’s heightened hearing caught it.

Xu Xin: ”...”

He shook his head and swiftly moved to the spot where he heard noise from Lou Fei’Er earlier and quickly saw the blue-tier backpack hanging in the poplar’s canopy.

No choice, even though the backpack was perfectly hidden within the canopy, normal people would never notice, but with his detection ability, the blue glow between the leaves was just too eye-catching.

Xu Xin climbed the tree in a couple of moves and easily took down the backpack.

The contents of the backpack were more or less what he expected: a blue-tier mechanical watch, a complete set of blue-tier leather armor, blue-tier weapons like a bow and arrows, spear, sword—stone tools—all blue-tier fruits.

However, it seemed she had no metal weapons or armor.

Metal weapons and armor could only be crafted by opening gold chests, as he learned from Le Youfang. No strong alliances existed in zone 187, so she shouldn’t have acquired any iron weapons or armor from others.

Still, it was possible no one found a golden chest in their area. But it didn’t hinder the region’s development much; after all, they could still make blue-tier leather armor and stone tools.

He pulled out the blue-tier smartwatch and swiped it.

”Huh??”

He was amazed to discover he could actually control this watch!

”Seriously? A watch can be controlled by someone else?!”

A small projection appeared above the watch, looking identical to Xu Xin’s own watch.

Xu Xin opened the regional channel, showing the number of people in Jungle 187: 824.

Le Youfang hadn’t lied to him; the Jungle 187 area truly had only over 800 people left.

He also saw a lot of discussions in the regional channel and even spotted Le Youfang’s name.

... The jackpot was too large this time.

However, having a watch controllable by others was a double-edged sword. While he could control other survivors’ watches, it also meant other survivors could control his watch.

His watch had so many functions that if it fell into someone else’s hands, it would be like they had access to his entire treehouse.

He needed to share this information with the other explorers.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of light jumping and landing in his ears, followed by very faint jogging sounds heading his way.

... This woman, trying to run.

Lou Fei’Er observed the main treehouse while running towards the bushes where she hid her bag.

”This guy is too terrifying; he seems to have realized something’s wrong with me. I can’t mess with him, better slip away quickly, return to the treehouse, he shouldn’t be able to do anything to me there.” Lou Fei’Er muttered to herself, picking up her pace.

As she turned her head, she spotted Xu Xin leaning against the tree trunk, smirking, with her backpack slung over his arm and holding her watch in his hand.

”Huh? Huh??? ”