Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 203: Chapter 191 Interrogation

Xu Xin looked at Lou Fei’Er, who was standing frozen in place, and couldn’t help but show a slightly mocking smile.

”I... that... huh?!” Lou Fei’Er took two steps back, her expression incredibly vivid.

Realizing what was happening, she turned and wanted to run, but then remembered her important belongings were in Xu Xin’s hands, so she eventually stopped and turned back.

And then she saw the crossbow, already cocked, pointing straight at her from Xu Xin’s grip.

”Hey, hey, stop!” Lou Fei’Er instantly raised her hands, signaling her surrender, her scarred body barely visible beneath her tattered starter outfit.

Xu Xin aimed the crossbow at Lou Fei’Er while putting her watch into his backpack.

His actions made Lou Fei’Er grit her teeth.

How did this guy even find her stuff? She had hidden it so well!

Everything else could be abandoned—she could always find new resources to craft things. Her treehouse wasn’t short of blue-tier resources, but that watch, she could never let him have it!

She had just seen, this guy could even control her watch! Why could her watch be used by other survivors?

The watch wasn’t bound to the survivor?! It was only bound to the treehouse!

With the watch in his hands, unless she really abandoned her treehouse, wouldn’t all her information be completely transparent to him!

No, she needed to think of a way to get that watch back!

Lou Fei’Er forced a smile, her face still bearing the scratch from her fall: ”Um, I...”

Before she could finish speaking, Xu Xin suddenly pulled the trigger.

”Boom!”

The explosive crossbow bolt whizzed past her hair, detonating loudly behind her!

Xu Xin’s sudden action and the explosion behind her made Lou Fei’Er’s body tense in an instant. She turned slightly to look at the spot of the explosion, only to see the tree that had been hit was split apart, wood splinters flying everywhere, a whole section of the tree had been blown away!

”Hiss—” She gasped sharply, her eyes wide open.

What kind of weapon was this? Explosives? This man, he had explosives!

Why are there hot weapons at this stage!

Xu Xin swiftly loaded another explosive arrow, aimed it at Lou Fei’Er, and with a smile said, ”Why are you out here? You haven’t even applied hemostatic herb; don’t your wounds hurt? Go back to the treehouse, let’s have a nice chat.”

He still had a lot to ask her about Jungle Area 187. Now that things had come to this, it was much simpler.

Lou Fei’Er took a small step back, showing her pitiful expression once more: ”Uh, can we do it here, I...”

Before she could finish, Xu Xin’s fingers moved, causing Lou Fei’Er to change her expression dramatically and dive to the side, narrowly avoiding the explosive arrow’s attack.

”Boom!”

Another explosion went off behind her, and Lou Fei’Er, in her hole-ridden starter outfit, got several more scratches from falling onto the stones on the ground.

But this time, she didn’t display that weak side. Instead, she raised her head in disbelief and looked at Xu Xin, ”Do you really want to kill me?”

If she had dodged any slower, that explosive arrow would have hit her directly.

The thought of that scene sent a shiver down Lou Fei’Er’s spine.

”What’s the matter? Is it okay for you to act pitiful and try to kill me but not for me to kill you?” Xu Xin, though smiling, seemed unbelievably cold.

He raised the crossbow in his hand and said coldly, ”I’ve gotten your watch now, even without you, I can still get the information I want. Your life is worthless to me. Now, raise your hands, turn around, head back to the treehouse.”

Though he said this, the information obtainable from the watch probably wasn’t much different from what he could get from Le Youfang, simply unable to acquire cutting-edge information.

Xu Xin had just checked the leaderboard, and this woman was indeed a powerhouse in Area 187, consistently ranking around fifth or sixth in every event. She must know some cutting-edge information about Area 187.

He also glanced at the group chat this woman had just communicated in. In the group, she was already the strongest; no other names from the top ten leaderboard appeared in that chat. The information they knew was probably very limited.

Why not directly interrogate her, a top-ranked individual from this area, and then dispose of her.

Lou Fei’Er’s expression was unpredictable. This situation was too unexpected for her. Everything she did seemed to be under the other party’s control, and the sudden turn of events left her mind a little short-circuited.

She quickly thought about how to resolve this.

She was, after all, a top ten existence in the area, so she did have her own way of escaping. But the cost of that method was too great, so she really didn’t want to use it unless it was a last resort.

Moreover, her treehouse watch was still in Xu Xin’s hands, and she couldn’t bear the thought of her watch falling into this person’s hands. It would mean every communication of hers would be monitored by Xu Xin, and he could even use her watch to speak freely!

Better stabilize the situation first. If she acted very obedient, he might not act. Lou Fei’Er thought.

”I get it, don’t do anything!” Lou Fei’Er immediately shouted, raising her hands, turning around, and presenting her graceful back curve to Xu Xin.

Xu Xin remained unmoved, speaking coldly, ”Move.”

Lou Fei’Er walked, her whole body tense, wary of any sudden moves from the other side.

After a few steps, she spoke in a somewhat aggrieved tone, ”Didn’t I just trick you? I didn’t do anything to you, did I? I just... happened to pass by, saw how amazing your treehouse was, and wanted to act pitiful to get a few things you didn’t want; I didn’t mean anything else.”

As she spoke, she looked back with a grievance, her body slightly trembling, and her eyes rimmed red, tears almost welling up, presenting a truly pitiful sight.

”If I could kill this survivor, take over this treehouse, and plant this treehouse back in my sanctuary, one would equal ten of yours!” Xu Xin mimicked her tone, sarcastically voicing her thoughts.

Lou Fei’Er’s body shuddered violently, stopping and looking back at Xu Xin with sheer disbelief.

”This person... is his willpower so strong? Or is it he’s not interested? Could it be he likes men?” Xu Xin pressed the crossbow against her back, pushing her forward, continuing his thoughts.

”You... you...” For the first time, Lou Fei’Er revealed a look of horror.

Why? Why did this person hear everything she said?

Did he know my plan from the very beginning?

Has he been enjoying my performance all along, knowing the truth?

Thinking about how hard I tried to perform in front of him, only to find out it was nothing but a ridiculous monkey show for him to watch and critique, Lou Fei’Er’s face flushed with shame and humiliation, and she fell silent.

She obediently walked to the treehouse, then was pulled inside by Xu Xin, manipulated by the roots.

All the way back to her seat in the wooden chair, she said nothing, her cheeks growing redder, biting her teeth tightly. The thought of her previous antics made her want to bang her head on the ground and die.

So embarrassing, it’s just too embarrassing!

Ahhhhh!!!!

”Answer whatever I ask.”

Lou Fei’Er took a deep breath to gather herself, lowered her eyes, and looked at Xu Xin: ”...I understand. If I answer, will you return my watch and let me go? I didn’t really hurt you, right...”

The more Lou Fei’Er spoke, the softer her voice became, even feeling as if her words were foolish. This was the most stifling moment of her life, being entirely seen through, with no way to use her acting skills.

”Based on your answers, I’ll consider it. However, I’m very intrigued by your body, so before you leave...” Xu Xin showed a sly smile.

Lou Fei’Er’s eye twitched: ”...I get it.”

As expected, all men are the same.

This was, of course, Xu Xin’s pretense. Only this way, by giving her hope and even relighting an idea of killing him again, would she reveal anything useful.

This woman cannot be allowed to stay.

Such a dangerously desperate plan was executed by her methodically, and if not for his enhanced hearing, he might have fallen into her trap as well.

”Name.”

”Lou Fei’Er.”

”Gender.”

”...Male. Female! Female! Don’t pull out the crossbow! Can’t you take a joke at all? If I die, how are you going to... what do you want to...?!

”Age.”

”...24.”

Oh, a year older than him.

”You haven’t seen this, have you?” Xu Xin pointed at the glowing core of the treehouse on the ground.

”No, I haven’t.”

”Where did you get your treehouse seed?”

”How did you know I have...” Lou Fei’Er suddenly remembered her previous words likely being overheard by Xu Xin and immediately stopped the question that was about to burst out, obediently saying, ”By digging up other survivors’ treehouses.”

”Did you use the same method you used against me to approach that survivor and kill him?”

”Heh, was he worthy? I just casually said a few words, and he exposed his back to me.”

”So, you didn’t enter his treehouse?”

”No, I couldn’t resist striking directly.”

”You didn’t try entering the treehouse to have a look or chopping it down?”

”I tried, but my axe couldn’t chop down the treehouse,” Lou Fei’Er replied somewhat helplessly.

”So you used a shovel? How long did you dig?”

”Hmm, about an hour, I guess? It took ages, and if it weren’t for the comforting feel of digging resources, I wouldn’t have dug that long.” Lou Fei’Er spoke frankly, knowing they must have also dug for treehouses and were familiar with this information.

Otherwise, how would this treehouse come to be.

”Even a dug-out treehouse can’t be chopped down?”

”No, it can’t be chopped, no traces can be left, rather weapons can leave some marks,” she answered everything obediently, even disclosing some other information.

No way to chop down a treehouse? So why can he do it?

Xu Xin had seen her axe in her backpack, it was a blue-level stone axe.

Xu Xin’s axe was a blue-level iron axe.

He suddenly recalled the description of the iron axe.

[Iron Axe (Blue): High-quality iron axe, extremely sharp and durable, capable of chopping down trees up to purple level and some special types of trees.]

Some special types of trees, could that include treehouses, banyans?

That must be the case. It seems that treehouses must require a blue-level or higher iron axe to be chopped down.

”One last time, have you really not seen this?” Xu Xin pointed to the treehouse core on the ground.

Lou Fei’Er quickly shook her head like a rattle drum: ”No, no, really haven’t seen it.”

It seems that simply digging up treehouses cannot obtain the core. The method to get this core should only be the way Xu Xin did.

Pry open the floor and extract the core directly from the treehole while the treehouse is still alive.

He had already told the people in [Explorers] about this method, and had to warn them not to spread it, as it was the strongest information gap in their area, enough to widen the gap between other areas significantly!