Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

The face was one of the few areas on Xu Xin that wasn't covered by his Scale Armor. If he allowed the punch to land, an average person would typically be disoriented for a few seconds.

This way, he might have a chance to escape back to the treehouse and launch an attack on the others.

But he didn't expect that the person in front of him was Xu Xin, who was number one on the entire leaderboard. In terms of physical enhancement, probably no one could surpass him. Engaging in close combat with him was simply courting death.

"Wooah..."

"Ah, this..."

Li Wenxi and Qi Xuefei, who witnessed all of this, both widened their eyes. They watched Xu Xin directly crush someone's fist. The cracking sound, along with the somewhat bloody scene, made them shiver involuntarily.

However, Li Wenxi wasn't scared; instead, she felt a bit thrilled. Her face showed an expression of excitement, "Wow, Xu Xin, is your strength really that great? If he still doesn't behave, just crush his other hand too!"

"Ying!" Keke, snuggled in her arms, called out in agreement, even though it didn't understand what it meant to crush a hand.

"Ah, this..." Qi Xuefei looked at Li Wenxi, at a loss for words, and could only shake her head helplessly.

These two truly are a match...

As a doctor, she was uncomfortable with seeing someone being mistreated in front of her.

Of course, she wasn't a saint who repaid evil with virtue, but she felt that if one had to kill, just kill; torture was somewhat excessive.

However, considering that this person had been tormenting and teasing her earlier, and Xu Xin and Li Wenxi had essentially saved her life, she kept silent and didn't intervene. But she couldn't bring herself to support such actions like Li Wenxi.

On second thought, perhaps it was their disposition that made them more likely to survive in this world.

Qi Xuefei diverted her gaze, no longer looking at the man's somewhat frighteningly crushed hand on the ground, fearing she'd relent and want to treat him.

"No! I'll tell you, I'll say everything! Please don't torment me anymore!" Perhaps due to the intense pain causing his adrenaline to spike, the small man's voice became much louder and hurried.

"Then I ask you, who was the 'big brother' you mentioned earlier?" Xu Xin squatted down in front of him again. This time, the man didn't dare to attack him, his eyes filled with terror.

"My big brother, my big brother is Ma Hongwei! He's a top strongman in District 187. You can't kill me! Otherwise, my big brother will surely avenge me!!!"

Perhaps trying to suppress the continuous pain with his emotions, the man clutched his shattered right hand and cried out hoarsely.

Ma Hongwei?!

Xu Xin's eyes narrowed.

Ma Hongwei's brother?

Seeing that the small man wanted to keep shouting at him, Xu Xin immediately punched him in his scratched face.

"Ah!" With a scream, he was hammered back to the ground.

"Shut your mouth. You just need to answer my questions. What's your name?"

Xu Xin's voice became low, which terrified the man as he stammered his name: "Ma... Ma Hongyu..."

Ma Hongyu... His name is quite similar to Ma Hongwei, it seems this "big brother" is not just a titular brother but a real blood brother.

What a coincidence that Xu Xin had just met Ma Hongwei today, and the distance between the treehouses of these brothers was so coincidentally close...

No, maybe it's not a coincidence.

Xu Xin thought of the Qin Yunlong and Qin Yunhu brothers, their proximity was also very close, and they've even met now.

This world probably intends for people with blood ties to start in closer positions, so encountering Ma Hongwei's blood-related brother here might not be a mere coincidence.

"Ma Hongwei..." Xu Xin murmured to himself, gradually gaining clarity in his thoughts.

He thought of Ma Hongwei's unfinished sentence.

He had once asked Ma Hongwei about the difference between being home and away, and his answer was, "Of course, there's a difference. I am..." and then he stopped.

This led Xu Xin to suspect that Ma Hongwei might have some unique ability.

"Did Ma Hongwei sell you those heavy crossbows?" Xu Xin asked again.

"Yes... Yes, big brother gave them to me..." Ma Hongyu held his right hand to his stomach, looking increasingly in pain.

"Tell me why you can manipulate the heavy crossbows so deftly." Xu Xin grabbed Ma Hongyu by the collar, lifted him up, and said coldly.

Ma Hongyu, full of pain and fear, clutched Xu Xin's hand with his uninjured hand and shouted: "It has nothing to do with me! It's my brother's heavy crossbow! It's because of the heavy crossbows my brother gave me! Those crossbows can connect to the treehouse's system! He even gave me the panel to control all the heavy crossbows, and they can be operated just by installing them in the treehouse! Let me go, let me go ah ah ah!"

Xu Xin released his grip, and he fell back to the ground, crying out in pain.

Just as I thought.

Listening to his words, Xu Xin's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

Is this Ma Hongwei's trump card?

It seems Ma Hongwei is indeed one of the talents he's looking for!

Based on those two sentences, Xu Xin could roughly imagine Ma Hongwei's capabilities.

Other people, including Xu Xin himself, could only control the crossbows using the joystick near the wall where they installed the heavy crossbows. Additionally, the crossbows wouldn't be connected to the treehouse system and, at most, could only be set to automatic mode to fire at any seen target.

But that had considerable limitations. For instance, if any random rabbit entered the range, would all the crossbows fire at the rabbit? Thus, this automatic functionality was barely usable.

Ma Hongwei, however, was different. The heavy crossbows he crafted should be capable of connecting to the treehouse system for unified operation! Moreover, he could create a panel to control all the crossbows, akin to... a console that could manipulate all weapons!

Possibly not just heavy crossbows, but potentially all future external heavy weapons for treehouses!

Moreover, judging by Ma Hongyu's ability to operate them, it seemed his ability wasn't exclusive to himself but could be used by others too!

Although in the first stage, this ability indeed wasn't of much use, as nearly all activities required survivors to leave the treehouse for exploration, thus he didn't rank very high.

But it's different now. In the second stage, danger could arise at any moment, and the treehouse was the stronghold for all survivors. With this capability, the treehouse could truly become a controllable fortress!

To be honest, if not for this ability, Qi Xuefei might not have handled Ma Hongyu, but escaping wouldn't have been too difficult.

And it was precisely because of this ability that an otherwise ordinary survivor like Ma Hongyu could toy with the strongmen among the [Explorers]!

Of course, the premise was that he had to be near his treehouse.

Strong! This capability was indeed strong!

"What's wrong, do you know this Ma Hongwei?" Li Wenxi, noticing Xu Xin's changing expressions as if pondering something, curiously asked.

"I'll explain it to you after we resolve this matter; you'll definitely be surprised." Xu Xin smiled.

"Oh, okay." Li Wenxi nodded in confusion.

Xu Xin looked at Ma Hongyu, who was still writhing and groaning on the ground, and frowned.

Should he spare his life? Perhaps through him, he could better control Ma Hongwei.

But he himself had no capabilities, and his personality was bad, not to mention he hurt Sister Xuefei and injured people among the [Explorers].

"Sister Xuefei, this treehouse is yours, do you want the person?" Xu Xin turned to Qi Xuefei and asked.

Qi Xuefei had already put back on the steel armor laid on the ground. Although it was a bit bumpy and didn't look nice, its defense was much stronger than the blue-level leather armor.

Generally, facing heavy weapons head-on seemed ridiculous. Usually, a single crossbow hit would pierce through a person, but although she had been knocked to the ground several times, she had not suffered fatal injuries, which proved the defensive power of the steel armor.

"If you want to give me the treehouse, I'll accept it, but as for the person..." Qi Xuefei glanced disdainfully at Ma Hongyu, who was still groaning on the ground, "I don't want him, don't let him come to me."

"Is that so."

As soon as Qi Xuefei had finished speaking, Xu Xin swung his long halberd.

Blood instantly sprayed out!

Ma Hongyu's head, with an incredulous expression, flew sideways dozens of meters away, thudded to the ground, rolled a few times, and ultimately lay still.