Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

"Over here! Over here over here!" Li Wenxi stood on tiptoe and waved to them.

She wasn't wearing the steel armor but instead wore leather armor that displayed her tall and slender figure perfectly. Her hair was neatly arranged, with simple tied-back black hair showing an extraordinary vitality.

The two quickly arrived under the tree house.

"Wow, your mounts are both so cool!" Li Wenxi looked at Silver King and Bai Ma, showing a look of envy.

"Don't you have one too?" Xu Xin dismounted together with Ji Chaoyang.

"Mine, Aniu, is clumsy, not cool at all." As she said this, she straightened her expression and extended her right hand to Xu Xin, who had just dismounted from the wolf's back, "Nice to meet you, please take care of me."

She laughed at her own words.

"Feels like we just met last night." Xu Xin shook Li Wenxi's hand, teasingly.

"I finally got to touch the real you! It feels so unreal!"

Li Wenxi gently squeezed Xu Xin's hand. She wanted to squeeze his arm and face too, but felt it wasn't polite, so she restrained herself, yet couldn't stop looking at Xu Xin's face: "Did you shave today? This is the first time I've seen you without stubble."

"Do you prefer with or without a beard?" Xu Xin asked with a smile.

Though he often saw her in videos and mostly close-ups of her face, reality and video were somehow different.

Looking at her face so closely, Xu Xin could see her thick eyelashes quivering slightly, and the delicacy of her skin that the video couldn't capture, making him want to gently pinch it to see if he could squeeze water out.

This little beauty, mining every day, yet her skin is still so good?

"I like both! No, I mean, both look good, hehe!" Li Wenxi laughed happily, her almond-shaped eyes curving into crescents, holding his hand and not letting go.

Hmm, it seems tidying up before coming here was effective after all.

Xu Xin felt confident about his appearance; a bit of tidying made his image appear very good.

Ji Chaoyang, standing behind Xu Xin, crossed his hands and leaned against his Bai Ma with a helpless look: "Did you two forget about me? I'm still here."

"Oops..." Li Wenxi quickly, somewhat embarrassed, let go of his hand and waved to Ji Chaoyang, "Hello, Brother Chaoyang, hehe." Her face still carried a joyful smile.

"Your preferential treatment is too obvious." Ji Chaoyang shook his head helplessly, "No need to call me 'Brother Chaoyang', just call me by my name."

"Everyone calls you that, so I'll call you that too. Besides, you're probably older than me, right?" Li Wenxi was somewhat curious about Ji Chaoyang's age, as his appearance betrayed nothing.

Actually, Xu Xin was also curious about his age. Last time when everyone discussed ages, it was when Ji Chaoyang was missing, and he still doesn't know how old this guy is.

Just from the look of him, you wouldn't be able to tell, this guy looks really young, he felt that, if the guy wore a blue and white school uniform, he'd blend right into high school, though naturally, in their survivor age range, there on't be any high school students.

"I'm older than you guys, I'm already 27."

"Huh?" Li Wenxi's eyes widened.

"I..." Xu Xin almost uttered an expletive but held back, since Li Wenxi was standing right there, it wouldn't be appropriate, "I thought you were at most around my age..."

This guy's appearance completely contradicts his age!

"Haha, looking young isn't always a good thing; when buying alcohol or cigarettes, the store owner has to ask for ages half the time."

"You smoke?" Xu Xin could hardly imagine his meticulous image with a cigarette.

"I don't smoke, you guys haven't started working yet, right? Cigarettes, even if you don't smoke, you always have to have a couple of packs in the car. But now, it's no longer needed." Ji Chaoyang shared his workplace experience with a face like a high-school student.

"Wow, with that face, I can't imagine you being an old hand at work..." Li Wenxi sighed.

"Not really, just a newbie in the workplace, I only graduated at 25 and after working for two years, ended up in this bizarre place." Ji Chaoyang sighed as well.

"Graduated at 25, must be a master's..." Xu Xin felt that the educational level among this group was really high. In a while, he'll be meeting Qi Xuefei, who is even a medical doctor.

He is considered well-educated, having passed the graduate entrance exam, though not yet enrolled, while Li Wenxi, due to her age, could only be an undergrad.

Could these special abilities be awarded based on educational level, in these days even surviving counts educational attainment!

"Yip!" Keke also called out from the wolf's back.

"Ah, it's Keke, hello! Finally meeting you! And you too, Silver King!" Li Wenxi walked forward in surprise and picked up Keke from Silver King's back.

Keke had seen Li Wenxi in videos many times and knew of her good relationship with Xu Xin, so didn't resist, letting Li Wenxi hold it.

"Wow, it's so cute, I can almost always see it in the videos, I've long wanted to give it a rub." Li Wenxi gently brushed Keke, touched its little ears, and pinched its big tail.

"Yip~" Probably because Li Wenxi's techniques were better than Xu Xin's, Keke immediately called out comfortably.

Xu Xin looked at the little guy as it squinted in pleasure from being stroked, feeling somewhat amused: "This little one... you're the first person besides me to touch it, it hasn't let anyone else touch it before."

"Huh?" Li Wenxi, while rubbing Keke's belly, looked curiously at Xu Xin, "You've met other people before?"

"Ah... Right, I should have mentioned the survivor to the north of my tree house in the group, right? In district 187."

"Oh, it's him!" Li Wenxi realized.

"Yeah, back then he wanted to touch Keke, but this little guy was very resistant. I didn't expect you to be able to do it directly."

Even Lou Fei'Er hasn't touched Keke. Although the Silver King let her touch it, that was due to both being mutated creatures under contracts. The Silver King sensed she was a companion, so it naturally felt amiable.

But Keke isn't like that. Keke still doesn't appear on the map, so strictly speaking, it's still a neutral creature.

No mutation, no contract. Keke simply likes following Xu Xin, and it has nothing to do with Lou Fei'Er, so naturally, it won't let Lou Fei'Er touch it.

"Hehe, it must be because I'm often video calling you. Keke's familiar with me and likes me, right, little guy?" Li Wenxi rubbed Keke's little cheeks.

"Eep~" Keke responded with a sound. It was very comfortable being touched, its big tail wagging back and forth.

Ji Chaoyang stood aside speechlessly. "Are you two starting again? Are we going to stand here forever?"

"Ah!" Li Wenxi finally reacted, holding Keke and said, "Then, shall we go up and sit for a bit?"

"Not now." Xu Xin said, "Let's solve the surrounding problems first, then we have to meet Qi Xuefei."

"Oh, okay! Wait for me a moment, I'll go up and change into that steel armor set you gave me!" Li Wenxi handed Keke to Xu Xin and maneuvered the roots down.

"Why don't you just wear the steel armor set? It's much better than the leather armor set, right?" Xu Xin wondered.

"...I just like wearing the leather armor set!" Li Wenxi glared at him as she was pulled into the treehouse by the roots.

Xu Xin was confused, turning to ask Ji Chaoyang, "So, why do you guys all like wearing the leather armor set?"

Ji Chaoyang glanced at him. "I wear the leather armor set because I prefer stealth assaults. She's probably different; for her, the leather armor set likely feels more casual and looks better."

The leather armor set fits closer, showing off one's figure, unlike the bulkiness of the iron armor set.

"Hmm...? Is that really the reason?" Xu Xin blinked. "She looks good in the steel armor set too."

The steel armor set, compared to the iron armor set, is much lighter and even looks more comfortable.

"...Why don't you tell her that instead of me?" Ji Chaoyang said, speechless, then he asked seriously, "By the way, the steel armor set she mentioned, is it made by you using steel blocks? What's the effect? Is there a capability for mass production?"

Whenever Ji Chaoyang talked about serious matters, his voice became more somber.

"For mass production, I have no issues with materials on my end. It mainly depends on her. If she has abundant iron ore resources, we can make a set for everyone." Xu Xin pointed to Li Wenxi's treehouse, "You guys haven't mined any iron ore, have you?"

"Yeah, most of my iron blocks were sourced from the trading platform."

"The iron ore you purchased, most of it is likely sold by her." Xu Xin took out a steel block from his backpack, handed it to Ji Chaoyang, "Here's the steel block, I happen to have one on me, it's yours. You can unlock the blueprint first."

Ji Chaoyang accepted the steel block, examining it.

"Being blue level, the steel armor set increases power twice as much as the iron armor set, and moving around is silent, with higher defense. Additionally, the blue-level steel block equates to materials from medium-grade mutated beasts we've encountered, creating weapons of the highest grade within the same level. Purple level follows the same logic."

Saying this, Xu Xin took out his long halberd.

"This is, a purple-level steel weapon?" Ji Chaoyang's eyes trembled, finding the three-meter-long sharp halberd intimidating.

"That's right, the strongest weapon among purple level." Xu Xin walked to a tree, swung the long halberd.

"Crack!"

With his extremely strong strength today, the tree was easily cut down with just a single stroke.

Simultaneously, Xu Xin felt a very weak warm flow through the handle of the halberd into his body.

Hmm? Chopping trees with this halberd can absorb the tree's life force?

"This weapon is really powerful." Ji Chaoyang looked at the weapon in Xu Xin's hand, eyes showing astonishment.

"It only requires two sets of purple-level materials to make, you should be able to, have you used your core?"

"Not yet. Compared to blue level, what special characteristics do purple-level weapons have?"

"Of course, they do."

Xu Xin squatted down, reaching out to touch the felled tree trunk.

Although the tree appeared barren, it was living well, just entering the phase before winter.

After being chopped by Xu Xin with the halberd, the tree immediately withered, turning dry and fragile. Xu Xin easily broke off a large piece with his hand, without any material acquisition prompt.

Though the halberd could cut down trees, the life force absorbed tree becomes waste, unable to provide wood material anymore.

"...This tree withered?" Ji Chaoyang said in surprise.

Facing Xu Xin, who's been ahead of him on the leaderboard, Ji Chaoyang felt astonished multiple times today.

"That's this purple-level weapon's ability."