Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Xu Xin stared at the small vortex above him and picked up a stone from the ground.

The small purple-black vortex was only the size of a soccer ball, quietly spinning. The surrounding space twisted continuously as the vortex rotated, as if it were trying to suck the entire space inside.

Xu Xin stepped back a few meters, maintaining a safe distance, then threw the stone in his hand towards the purple-black vortex.

At the moment the vortex was hit by the stone, Xu Xin saw it ripple suddenly, and then the stone disappeared into the vortex.

At the same time, the surrounding water vortex, like a wall, suddenly trembled, causing some water to splash onto the ground of this internal space. Even the tornado above twisted for a moment from this sudden jolt.

Would throwing things at this purple-black vortex affect the tornado?

...Could it be the reason this tornado formed?!

Xu Xin picked up another slightly larger stone and threw it.

The same scene occurred again, but this time the magnitude was greater than before. The surrounding water vortex warped, and the tornado above twisted for quite a while before returning to its original shape.

"What the hell!"

A fist-sized stone fell from the sky, landing in front of Xu Xin, causing him to shout out in surprise.

The previous distortion affected the resources rotating in the tornado, making them fall into this small internal area, and a resource rain started pouring down from the sky.

Xu Xin immediately retreated to the edge of the water vortex. If those things got close to the tornado or the water vortex again, they'd be sucked in, so the edge of the area was safe.

Numerous pieces of redwood and crystal fell within this range, along with several beast carcasses that fell with a "splat" on the ground.

The sight was somewhat gruesome, making even Xu Xin, who had hunted countless beasts, twitch his face a little.

It seemed that the tornado around here was indeed caused by this small vortex.

After the resource rain stopped, he immediately began scavenging.

The fallen items were all green-grade redwood and crystals. Xu Xin didn't refuse anything, putting them all into his backpack. They were carving materials, and might be useful for him.

As for the beast carcasses smashed into pulp... better not, they were a bit disgusting, and currently, ordinary beast materials were basically useless for him.

Xu Xin picked up another stone.

He had tasted the benefits and realized that as long as he forcefully attacked this black vortex, the tornado would twist, and countless resources would fall afterward.

This way, he wouldn't have to go searching everywhere; picking up resources right there was much more convenient.

Another resource rain fell, and Xu Xin hid next to the water vortex, happily watching countless resources fall from the sky before going forward to scavenge.

Just as he picked up a stone again to attack the purple-black vortex for the fourth time, he stopped.

He realized that it seemed like every time he attacked this small vortex, it would grow larger.

The vortex, originally only the size of a soccer ball, had now gradually expanded to the size of a tire. Furthermore, there were now intermittent sounds coming from the vortex that was once silent and quietly spinning.

The "woo woo" sound was like a spectral wind blowing through mountain valleys, intermittent but still caught by Xu Xin.

"Is there something inside?" Xu Xin suddenly became cautious.

He suddenly thought of the Blood-striped Marlin.

Before coming here, he always wondered where the marlin appeared from. Could it have come out of this purple-black vortex?

Was the purple-black vortex actually connected to other places?

For a moment, Xu Xin felt a desire to go inside and take a look, but he quickly dismissed the thought.

It would be suicidal like an old man hanging himself. He didn't think his life was that long to take such a risk.

However, he could still try throwing stones inside. He was curious about what would appear when the vortex expanded to a certain extent.

So, he threw another stone over.

The vortex swirled, and the tornado twisted along with it, causing a new batch of resources to fall.

By the seventh time he threw a stone, the purple-black vortex had expanded to a size that Xu Xin could jump right into. Its diameter was now close to two meters, and the sounds from inside the vortex were becoming clearer.

"Woo woo... woo woo..."

It sounded a bit like a child's crying, but Xu Xin could still distinguish that it was actually just the wind, the kind that made strange noises as it passed through the valley's peculiar terrain.

On the other side of this vortex, it was likely truly leading to another place.

However, Xu Xin initially ignored the vortex and picked up the resources that had fallen.

The quantity was noticeably much less than before, just a few scattered pieces; it seemed the resources within the tornado weren't plentiful, mostly exhausted by him.

Xu Xin checked his backpack, seeing hundreds of green-grade crystals and hundreds of green-grade redwoods. Besides these, there were some ordinary stones, wood, and animal corpses on the ground, which he didn't pick up.

He hoisted his backpack and looked up at the now large purple-black vortex before him. Apart from the eerie wind sound, there were other noises within the vortex, like the sound of stones tumbling or the rustling of leaves blown by the wind.

And… the sound of something writhing.

He could now essentially confirm that this vortex led to another place, and it likely served as a portal or wormhole, causing the tornado.

On the other side of this vortex, what exactly was there?

This vortex appeared here for a reason. But he did not know where the interior of the vortex was located, whether this world had been invaded by underground creatures everywhere, or if the vortex's interior was within a protected area. If entered, whether he would be transported out of the protected area and besieged by underground creatures.

… If only Keke were here, it could tell him whether the vortex contained danger or treasure.

Xu Xin decided to test it first. He used the watch's treehouse building feature to make a wooden stick. A wooden stick could be crafted without the weapon manufacturing station.

As the vortex had grown much larger, its lowest edge was now just a bit higher than Xu Xin, and the surrounding space was twisted, making him cautious about approaching.

He gripped the wooden stick tightly and cautiously extended it toward the vortex.

At the instant when the stick touched the vortex's edge, a pulling force came from the stick, and half of the stick was immediately sucked into the vortex. Xu Xin swiftly pulled it out with force.

Looking at the stick he pulled out, Xu Xin's eye twitched: "…as expected."

The stick, pulled in for less than a second, was now riddled with holes as if corroded by acid.

Dark red, viscous substance clung to the stick, sizzling and continuously corroding it, emitting black smoke.

"Crack."

The thoroughly eroded stick snapped, the damaged half falling to the ground and shattering into pieces while the viscous substance corroded a few-centimeter hole in the ground before gradually dissipating.

"…Is it really this terrifying?"

Fortunately, he had anticipated this possibility and crafted this stick to test first.

Now, Xu Xin was very sensitive to red objects; seeing the dark-red substance on the stick immediately reminded him of mutant beasts.

"Could this be bodily fluid sprayed by some mutant beast? And that mutant beast, waiting on the other side?" Xu Xin speculated.

Regardless, he definitely would not enter the vortex; it was far too dangerous inside.

But that did not mean he would do nothing.

He immediately pulled out his crossbow and aimed it at the vortex, firing a bolt. If there were indeed mutant creatures inside the vortex, he'd give them some trouble.

The crossbow arrow shot into the vortex, causing a wave in it, then vanished without a trace.

As the crossbow arrow disappeared, the sounds in the vortex came to an abrupt halt. The eerie wind, leaf sounds, occasional rock tumbling sound, all suddenly vanished. The purple-black vortex spun calmly as if returning to its original state.

"What's going on?" Xu Xin frowned. Why did the sounds stop?

Suddenly, the vortex began intensely swirling again; this time, the movement was very strong, akin to boiling water. However, it emanated a piercing chill.

Xu Xin's expression drastically changed, and as he thought the vortex might explode, he prepared to turn and flee; the vortex suddenly contracted inward, in an instant shrinking to a tiny point, then disappeared without warning.

Together with it vanished the surrounding water vortex and the massive tornado in the sky.

It all happened in just a moment. The tornado in the sky abruptly disappeared, and some materials still caught in the tornado were flung toward all directions due to inertia. The surrounding waters stopped spinning, letting free-flowing water rush up from all sides, completely submerging Xu Xin standing on the ground.

Xu Xin was suddenly submerged before he could react, choking a mouthful of water before quickly swimming to the surface.

The tornado indeed vanished. The clouds in the sky appeared as if a large hole had opened, sunlight streaming in through the gap, casting ripples on the water's surface.

But this gap in the sky quickly filled with surrounding clouds, the briefly clear skies lasted only a short ten seconds before heavy rain once again lashed Xu Xin's face.