Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

The toad, due to its bulky body, seemed to find movement inconvenient in the narrow gap, so it didn't move forward. Instead, it just stared silently in Xu Xin's direction, completely still.

Its two oversized red eyes bulged out, appearing rather creepy.

However, Xu Xin wasn't intimidated by its appearance. Compared to the Lake Giant Python, the Streambed Giant Crocodile, and the Blood Pattern Giant, this toad seemed somewhat cute.

"Isn't this just a target?" Xu Xin thought to himself with a smirk, aiming the crossbow at the Blood-Striped Toad and pulling the trigger.

The bolt shot rapidly towards the toad. Just when Xu Xin thought he could take it out in one shot, the bright red tongue suddenly shot out from the Blood-Striped Toad's mouth, snatching the bolt nearly a meter away from it into its mouth!

"Huh?" Xu Xin was a bit dumbfounded, "This..."

This crossbow was made with Mutated Rabbit Ear materials, the strongest below purple level, yet it was intercepted so easily?

Was it because the green level bolts weren't strong enough?

Xu Xin wasn't convinced. He stared at the now completely immobile Blood-Striped Toad, loaded a poisoned bolt onto the crossbow, then aimed and pulled the trigger once more.

The same scene unfolded again. The poisoned bolt was similarly snatched into the toad's mouth, disappearing without a trace. The fat toad continued to block the corner, unmoving.

Sanke venom has no effect unless it enters the bloodstream. If swallowed, it'll just be broken down by digestive fluids, rendering it ineffective.

It seemed the crossbow posed little threat to this Blood-Striped Toad.

Speaking of which, that tongue extended over a meter! Isn't that tongue a bit too long?

Wait a minute... a toad?

Shouldn't such a creature live in water? Where does the water come from in this eerie maze of gaps?

Could it be an underground river?

Xu Xin squinted. If he could drive the toad away by following behind it, might he not be able to exit this maze and find the location of the underground water source?

The mutated creatures here weren't highly polluted, so they shouldn't lose their minds and attack like the previous mutant rabbits and cats when injured, right?

"Toad..." Xu Xin didn't know much about toads, or rather, frogs. He'd only heard that frogs have very poor vision and only possess stereoscopic vision for moving objects; stationary ones are invisible to them.

Wild toads eat various flying insects. Perhaps that's why the mutated toads have such strong interception capabilities for flying bolts.

"Then what about a spear?" Xu Xin slowly sheathed his sword, took out his specially-made spear from his backpack, and aimed its tip at the toad. The spear in Xu Xin's hand was nearly three meters long, easily able to pierce the toad before its tongue reached him.

Though the spear couldn't be swung around in such tight quarters, it could definitely thrust forward.

"Keke, stay put on my shoulder." Xu Xin softly warned Keke, who loved to hop around, then slowly sidled towards the toad.

"Mew," Keke softly responded, even ceasing its habit of wagging its large tail.

Xu Xin's leather armor barely made any noise, but the toad's blood-red, protruding eyes shifted, seemingly detecting Xu Xin's movement, and its bulky body squeezed forward a bit.

It noticed his movement. It seems this toad, although poor-sighted, has night vision. Creatures living underground long-term generally have degenerated vision, but this toad seemed different. Xu Xin didn't think its massive red eyes were just for show.

"It's so inconvenient to move in here," Xu Xin muttered internally, then suddenly sped up his pace, thrusting the spear fiercely towards the toad!

The Blood-Striped Toad shot its crimson tongue from its mouth at the instant the spear moved, curling toward the spearhead.

But Xu Xin's spear was made of advanced materials, and according to his deduction, the Blood Pattern Rabbit ranked higher than the mutated creatures here, so the spear merely faced a slight hindrance, slicing through the toad's tongue.

Xu Xin, still wanting the toad to lead the way, slightly adjusted the spear's tip, forcefully stabbing the right side of the toad's body, stopping when half the spearhead was embedded.

"Ribbit—!" The Blood-Striped Toad let out an extremely unpleasant and hoarse croak. Xu Xin pulled out the spear and jabbed at its body again.

The toad tried to use its injured tongue to stop him, but it was no use. This tongue seemed more effective against flying objects and could at most be a slight nuisance for Xu Xin's spear.

As Xu Xin was about to thrust the spear in for a third strike, the Blood-Striped Toad backed off.

It let out another unpleasant croak, swiftly drawing its body back into the corner.

They still felt fear, unlike the Mutant Rabbit and the cat who lost their minds at a glance!

"Great opportunity, follow it!" Xu Xin packed away the sharp spear, drew an iron sword, and chased after it.

The sharp spear was too long, holding it would get stuck at corners and couldn't pass through.

Turning the corner, Xu Xin saw the massive toad squeezing into the depths of the crevice, its blood-striped skin rubbing against the uneven wall, making Xu Xin feel a bit uncomfortable for it.

Due to its size, the toad's speed wasn't fast but not slow either. The passageway was narrow, Xu Xin had to walk sideways quickly, keeping barely three or four meters behind the toad.

This distance was quite safe, as its tongue couldn't stretch that far.

Soon they reached the next fork, Xu Xin followed the Blood-Striped Toad into one of the crevices, not forgetting to mark the wall just in case the toad couldn't lead him out.

The Blood-Striped Toad sensed Xu Xin following and began to speed up.

"Damn, why is it moving so fast!" Xu Xin struggled to keep up.

"Eek!" Keke suddenly leaped down from his shoulder; its small body moved agilely in the crevice. It charged forward, clawing at the toad's back before quickly retreating.

The toad, scratched by Keke, turned and shot its tongue backward. By then, Keke had deftly retreated several meters; it didn't attack, but its body paused, letting the lagging Xu Xin catch up.

"Well done, Keke!" Xu Xin praised fiercely.

"Eek!" Keke called out proudly.

Thus, under Keke's harassment, Xu Xin closely followed the toad's path, going wherever the toad went. He journeyed for an unknown time, gradually finding the crevice becoming wider, no longer needing to turn sideways to pass.

"As expected, my thought was correct, this toad indeed can lead me out of this underground labyrinth! Keke, come back, no need to disturb it further."

Although the toad no longer squeezed between the walls and moved faster, Xu Xin, now free, was quick enough to follow the toad without Keke's help.

"Eek!" Keke responded and climbed onto Xu Xin's shoulder.

This path seemed to be the last one, traveling for a long period, no more forks in sight; instead, the passageway grew wider, gradually resembling a corridor in width, with increasing height.

The rough stone walls became smooth, as if Xu Xin entered a man-made passage.

He slowed his steps, no longer rushing to pursue the fleeing toad because he heard a faint sound of flowing water ahead.

The surrounding was so eerie, perhaps there were traps, he couldn't proceed recklessly anymore.

Tense, he moved forward, the sound of water growing more pronounced.

"Huh?" Xu Xin squinted, seemingly seeing something emitting a faint brass-colored glow not far ahead.

Continuing onward, the path suddenly widened further, offering a sense of openness, revealing the source of the water sound.

Indeed, it was an underground river, a waterfall-like stream flowed from a gap above down into the river channel. The river was crystal clear, with various fish and shrimp swimming about, and some underground life forms Xu Xin couldn't name.

The Blood-Striped Toad wounded earlier was nowhere in sight. It was a pity not killing the toad, but it was nothing.

"For leading the way, I'll spare you a life."

Walking along the river channel, gradually getting closer, Xu Xin saw clearly what was emitting the brass-colored glow.

At the end of the walkable path, there stood a massive copper door.

The underground river led to a farther direction beyond the left side of the door, but unless Xu Xin followed the dark river onward, this was his reachable end.

Standing before the door, Xu Xin began examining the copper door.

The door was about five meters tall, with a fan-shaped top, a double-panel door, and equipped with a door knocker out front, indeed giving a sense of a dungeon entrance.

[Congratulations, survivor, for discovering the entrance to the dungeon! Next, enjoy the fun of treasure hunting!]