Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

"It's really you! You finally came... boohoo..." Li Yajun collapsed onto the windowsill, covering her mouth, and burst into tears as if the tight string in her heart had snapped.

Previous events mostly took place at night, so Li Yajun couldn't sleep well, leading to disordered sleep patterns that have made her extremely sensitive now, overreacting to any slight movement.

That's why, just now, when Li Wenxi greeted her, she aimed the crossbow directly at the two of them.

She was constantly on edge, mistaking Xu Xin and Li Wenxi for enemies from other areas. After all, [Explorer] had already explained the basic situation in the regional channel, and she knew that people from other regions surrounded her.

Now that it was confirmed they were the explorers, Li Yajun's mood was indescribably excited.

"Oh, don't cry, you're the first person from the same area we've found, and the fastest too!" Li Wenxi looked up to comfort Li Yajun.

"Uh... oh, why am I still up here? I'll come down right now!" Li Yajun suddenly remembered she was still in the treehouse and quickly operated the treehouse to come down from it.

Xu Xin and Li Wenxi also climbed down from Silver King.

This girl was slightly shorter than Li Wenxi, about 1.6 meters tall, and needed to look up at the two. She was wearing a suit of green-tier leather armor. After coming down from the treehouse, she shivered slightly and rubbed her hands.

It seems that green-tier leather armor doesn't provide much warmth.

Li Wenxi was wearing a blue-tier steel armor set, and he was wearing a purple-tier scale armor set. Despite the cold wind blowing during Silver King's rapid run, neither felt cold. It seems that equipment above blue-tier offers warmth; green-tier is fairly ordinary.

"Are you cold?" Li Wenxi asked with concern.

"I'm okay," Li Yajun now cared little for the cold; her face was a mix of excitement and unease. She eagerly yet cautiously asked, "Um, can I come with you? Are you here to take me away?"

"Of course," Li Wenxi replied. Seeing Li Yajun shivering, she immediately suggested, "Why don't we go up and talk? You should have a fireplace up there, right? The two of us could also warm up a bit!"

Li Yajun quickly said, "Yes, there's a fireplace! I'll take you up!"

As she spoke, Li Yajun operated the treehouse roots, about to take them up.

Facing the explorers who had saved her life, especially Xu Xin, the first in the whole area, she completely let down her guard. If either of them wished to harm her, it wouldn't help to be guarded; she might as well give them back the life they saved.

"Um… this wolf?" Li Yajun hesitantly looked at Silver King, whose body was much larger than typical wolves, "Is this wolf a mutated beast? Does it also need to go up?"

"Woo!" Silver King barked at her, the sound soft and without hostility, causing her to shudder and widen her eyes.

"It... can understand me?" Li Yajun gazed at Silver King, unable to shift her focus.

"This wolf is my mount," Xu Xin patted Silver King's head, "It's called Silver King, friendly not hostile, won't hurt you. Let's bring it up too."

"Oh, okay..." Unable to resist, Li Yajun gave Silver King another glance before operating the roots to take them into the treehouse.

Compared to Xu Xin and Li Wenxi's treehouse, Li Yajun's two-story treehouse was much simpler, given the smaller area and fewer items she could afford to place.

Although the screen was on the first level, due to the low height of the small treehouse, only three meters high, she felt insecure there, so Li Yajun used the first floor as a workspace and storage area, turning the second floor into her living space.

Despite the first floor being only over twenty square meters, she kept it neatly arranged, with tables and chairs tidily placed, and there's a small bed by the window. The fireplace, which almost occupied an entire wall, was burning, emanating a gentle red glow and occasionally making the "popping" sound of burning wood, creating a cozy home-like feel.

There was only one chair here, so she made two more on the spot, and the three sat down by the fireplace. Silver King also lay down behind Xu Xin and Li Wenxi, basking in the fire from the fireplace.

"Your place is really nice, feels more like a home than my treehouse!" Li Wenxi, stroking the still-sleeping Keke in her arms, admired the little cabin with a hint of envy.

She had thought her treehouse was designed well, yet compared to here, hers instantly felt like a cheap rental apartment with decorations randomly placed.

"Actually, it's designed after my room back on Earth. If it wasn't designed like this, letting me feel at home, I might have already broken down..." Li Yajun sighed softly, explaining as her gaze momentarily got drawn to Keke in Li Wenxi's arms before she refocused. "Um, I..."

"Want to touch it?" Li Wenxi, noticing Li Yajun's gaze lingering on Keke, immediately asked with a smile, "Keke is super cute!"

"...Is that okay?" Li Yajun had initially wanted to ask about the parasitic treehouse but was stopped by Li Wenxi's question.

But honestly, she did want to touch this adorable little panda.

The two before her were entirely different from what she imagined; she had presumed that as members of the explorers—active on the front lines of life and death—they would have decisive personalities akin to assassins, acting ruthlessly without hesitation.

Meeting them, she found the two's vibes were completely mismatched with her imagined explorer image. Besides their undoubtedly more advanced equipment, they resembled a school couple, handsome and beautiful, chatting and laughing merrily.

Talking to them felt just like talking to friends, slowly relaxing her tense heart. This feeling was very comforting.

"You can take advantage of it sleeping and stroke it secretly. Keke doesn't like strangers touching it, and if it wakes up, you won't be able to touch it." Xu Xin whispered to her, fearful of waking Keke up.

He could tell that the girl in front of him was not in great spirits either, so he decided to wait a bit before bringing up the parasitic treehouse topic, especially since he'd been running back and forth this whole time. A short break would do well.

"Well then..." Li Yajun widened her eyes and reached out to pet Keke.

Keke was sleeping on its back in Li Wenxi's lap, likely dozing off comfortably from her gently rubbing its belly.

"Eep..." Keke stuck out its little tongue in its sleep, its tail wagging slightly.

"So cute..." Li Yajun touched Keke's little belly. The soft, furry texture coupled with Keke's sound and tongue expression instantly healed her spirit.

If she had such an adorable animal companion, she probably wouldn't be nearing nervous breakdown as she was now.

"...Eep?"

Keke slowly opened its eyes, and upon noticing a stranger touching it, it immediately jumped off Li Wenxi's lap.

It leaped onto Xu Xin, climbed up his shoulder, clung to his back, and poked its little head out to exclaim at Li Yajun: "Eep! Eep eep eep!"

It seems this little one still doesn't allow others to touch it, huh.

Xu Xin hugged Keke from his back into his arms, patting its little head to soothe it: "Not an enemy, don't worry."

"Eep! Eep eep!" Keke protested with its tiny paws, seemingly claiming that regardless, people can't just touch it!

"Keke really doesn't allow others to touch it!" Li Wenxi, seeing Keke's resistant demeanor for the first time, found it somewhat novel; Keke was always well-behaved when she touched it.

Li Yajun felt a bit disappointed from being disliked by Keke, but still, she was amused by Keke's demeanor.

Even amidst laughter, a tear slid down her cheek.

Li Yajun had been in this world alone for many days, and her solitary exploration nearly pushed her mental state to its breaking point.

She didn't have a blue-level watch, so she couldn't contact others outside the treehouse, thus had to complete all her activities alone.

Ordinary survivors' feelings weren't something Xu Xin and his group could understand.

For instance, during underground exploration activities, members of the [Explorers] who had the ability to communicate outside the treehouse continuously discussed and shared strategies, sharply contrasting with the feelings of solitary exploration where connections with the outside were severed, and there was constant fear of death at any step. Not to mention Xu Xin had Keke always following him, sparing him from much loneliness or fear.

Ordinary survivors could only hunt beasts alone, explore dungeons alone, and wait alone on the second floor of the treehouse for thunderstorms and heavy rain to end.

This psychological torment was something Xu Xin and his group truly hadn't experienced much.

After enduring so many activities, she was thoroughly fed up with surviving alone and bearing the looming unknown fears.

She kept thinking about when she could meet other survivors for real, when she could support each other with others to survive together.

Thus, when the second phase commenced, when the [Explorers] announced on the regional channel that the protected areas were connected and recruitment for team survival began, she had just one thought: she must go!

If it wasn't for Xu Xin's group stating on the regional channel that the protected zones weren't fully connected and that moving alone could be dangerous, she would probably have gone out searching by herself!

"Oh dear, crying again. Alright, starting today, we are truly partners! From now on, you don't have to face dangers alone anymore!" Li Wenxi held Li Yajun's hand to comfort her.

"Mm..." Li Yajun sniffled, tightly gripping Li Wenxi's hand.

Xu Xin could also relate to her current feelings.

Humans are social animals, and for those with sufficient personal skills, those who could survive in this world, the biggest enemy in the first phase wasn't the repeated activities that could take one's life, but one's own heart.

Even Xu Xin, without the chatterbox-like Keke accompanying him every day and without the daily video chats with Li Wenxi to unwind, his mental state might've encountered some issues.

However, she seemed to have released most of her previous emotions, so it was time to discuss serious matters.

Their primary mission today was to find Qi Xuefei; they couldn't afford to spend too much time here.