Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

"They probably don't have an altar." Ji Chaoyang spoke up at this moment. "I've paid attention to this matter before and also observed the conversations of other survivors in the map channel. I even anonymously probed a bit without any survivor having seen an altar."

"So... does that mean maybe only us two have altars in our protection zones in Area 188?" Xu Xin mused aloud.

"It seems so. Perhaps it's just that the locations of the two of us happen to be right beside two altars, or maybe... the altar appeared in our protection zones only after we acquired the gold treasure chest and expanded the protection zone." Ji Chaoyang analyzed and offered two possibilities.

"...So what exactly are you guys talking about!" Li Wenxi and Qi Xuefei listened in bewilderment, as if hearing two riddlers having a conversation.

Xu Xin explained the situation with the altars to them.

"Ah! No wonder you guys scored so high in the hunting activity! Turns out you had already killed mutant beasts at that time! Five hundred points for one, oh my gosh!" Li Wenxi exclaimed, "That's quite profitable!"

"What's profitable or not, with our capabilities at the time, killing an intermediate mutant beast was really difficult." Xu Xin retorted to Li Wenxi irritably, pointing to his left shoulder, "Back then, my shoulder was directly pierced by that rabbit. If it weren't for the iron armor made from the iron block you gave and Sister Xuefei's blue-level hemostatic grass, I probably would have been finished there."

"Sacrifice... and then the stone statue shatters and revives, turning into a mutant creature?" Qi Xuefei was also shocked by what happened at the altar, "Your experience is really magical."

"You were doing well with blue-level iron armor." Ji Chaoyang thought of the scene when the wild cat was first summoned and went berserk attacking him, and couldn't help but smile wryly.

"Back then, I didn't even have a full set of blue-level leather armor, and Bai Ma was also smaller and much slower than it is now. We barely managed to kill the Blood Patterned Cat, and both of us were deeply injured. If it weren't for Qi Xuefei's hemostatic grass, neither of us would have survived." As he spoke, he patted Bai Ma's head.

Bai Ma responded with a call towards Ji Chaoyang.

"Oh... I see," Qi Xuefei showed a suddenly enlightened expression, "I wondered why during the hunting activity you were asking for so much hemostatic grass, turns out it was because of this. I was puzzled at the time, not even I was much injured, why was there trouble on your side? I then thought you were just a smart head but not very good physically."

"You wouldn't be wrong to say so," Ji Chaoyang laughed, "Compared to Xu Xin, my combat strength is indeed somewhat weaker, not to mention Wen Guixin. The things she does, I can't achieve any of them."

"Sister Gui Xin is special, her abilities are definitely combat-oriented, we can't compare. But, you guys were really in such danger that time..." Li Wenxi's voice carried a bit of concern, and she touched Xu Xin's left shoulder, "No lasting aftereffects, right?"

"Of course not, the efficacy of hemostatic grass is indeed good."

Compared to the more advanced hemostatic pills that Qi Xuefei can now make, which you can quickly recover from all injuries after consuming, hemostatic grass indeed has significant drawbacks, requiring grinding and application, and can only target the healing of a specific wound.

But for the penetrating wound back then, it was more than enough.

"Listening to you guys, isn't this altar a special existence? Two bosses who are first and second in the whole area are both next to the altar."

Xu Xin actually tended more towards the possibility that, these two altars nearby originally existed.

After all, when the Chang Yin Family emerged from underground, it was to find this altar. They had already known from a mysterious voice decades ago that there is an altar on the surface.

So the altar shouldn't have just appeared recently.

Or rather... sometimes there, sometimes not?

The group had now reached less than a kilometer away from the circle of hills. Moreover, due to all the surrounding trees being bare, their sight was much better than before, allowing them to see the full view of the hills quite clearly.

"Huh?" Ji Chaoyang first uttered a voice of suspicion, looking at the hill near the salt mine cave.

Xu Xin glimpsed at him and found his expression somewhat serious.

Apparently, he had already discovered something unusual.

His observational skills are really strong; he only noticed it after a long time back then, though at that time dense jungle obscured the view, making it difficult to see the full picture from afar without finding a good angle.

Soon, they arrived within a five hundred-meter range.

"There are a lot of metal mines here too, much like my place!" Li Wenxi scrutinized the stretch of hills ahead.

"Metal mines? Where are they?" Xu Xin thought of something, immediately asking her.

"Hmm... it's a bit odd, the metal mines are not in the mountain body but underground within the mountain body. Throughout this range of hilly mountain bodies, there's no presence of metal mines, why is that?" Li Wenxi was a bit puzzled.

Within the mountain body, no minerals exist, but beneath the mountain...

Xu Xin had a chill again.

He recalled, during the torrential rainy season, these hills disappeared without a trace, then returned once the season ended, with no change whatsoever, not even the crooked-neck trees on the hills showed any variation.

But now, those few crooked-neck trees had shed completely due to the cooling weather.

These hills really could be alive.

"Alright, it's right here."

Silver King stopped at a hundred meters from the salt mine cave, and Bai Ma followed to a stop.

"What's wrong with here?" Li Wenxi surveyed the surroundings. Ahead was the entrance to the resource zone encircled by hills; she thought they would go directly in.

"The mine hole ahead is where I previously collected salt mines. I've told you about it, right? It was very dangerous here before."

"Ah, that's the hole you mentioned! Is it still dangerous now?" Li Wenxi asked while checking on Keke, who was having a bout of bewilderment in her arms.

Ji Chaoyang had already squinted to start examining the hill.

"Ah!" Qi Xuefei also noticed something, covering her mouth with widened eyes.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Li Wenxi was somewhat puzzled, looking along the others' gaze, inspecting carefully, "Hmm...? Is there something wrong... Ah! My gosh!"

Li Wenxi also discovered the situation, her eyes widened instantly, pointing at the hill ahead and screaming, "This... Is this a head?"

Besides Xu Xin, the other three stared nervously at the peculiar hill.

"Let's move in closer and have a look, there might be danger nearby." Xu Xin dismounted from Silver King and slowly approached the salt mine cave.

At times like this, he somewhat missed Mimi. If Mimi was here, it could dash in quickly to do a round of inspection.

His tree house was nearby now, he could call Mimi over.

…Forget it, better have Mimi keep watch on Lou Fei'Er first, that woman can't be fully trusted yet.

The group slowly walked towards the cave.

"...Whimper?" Keke was suddenly awakened in Li Wenxi's arms, looking at the familiar salt mine cave ahead. It tilted its little head and made a somewhat puzzled sound.

"How's it, Keke, mine cave, is there still danger in there now?" Xu Xin asked Keke.

"Whimper..." Keke tilted its head again, as if pondering, then shook its head, "Whimper."

"What does it mean?" Ji Chaoyang, who had been inspecting the hill, looked at Keke and asked.

"The cave seems to have no danger now," Xu Xin petted Keke's little head, "Nonetheless, we should be cautious; Keke's usual attitude signals though it doesn't sense danger now, it still can't assert it's safe inside, possible latent danger may exist."

"This giant head is dormant, is that what it means?" Qi Xuefei joked.

They stopped at the mouth of the salt mine cave, looking at this maw-like entrance, they all felt a bit uneasy.