Chapter 40: climb!

Without a word, Xu Xin jumped onto the rusty iron ladder and began to climb upwards with all his might.

That red gas, wasn't it the foul-smelling red smoke that had gushed out when he had just opened the iron door of the underground passage?

The smoke would float upwards, surely spreading along the passage until it filled the entire tunnel!

He absolutely could not let this smoke catch up to him. Whether it was poisonous or not was beside the point; he never wanted to smell that stench again, reminiscent of excrement from canned herring in hell!

Climb! Climb faster!

With the little panda Coco clinging to his shoulder and the golden treasure chest on his back, Xu Xin climbed upwards frantically as if he had been injected with steroids.

Carrying the golden chest, Xu Xin felt like he was running with weights, but thinking of the pattern on the chest, he gritted his teeth and didn't throw it away.

He didn't know how long he had been climbing, only that his hands and feet were nearly numb.

Finally, he could no longer hold on and hung onto the rusty iron ladder, gasping for breath.

He looked back with terror on his face.

However, to his surprise and relief, the red mist wasn't right behind him, but far below. With his night vision ability, Xu Xin could barely make out a faint red color below.

The red gas seemed to be spreading much slower than he had imagined.

Xu Xin let out a huge sigh of relief, sat down on a rung of the ladder, and began to rest.

Before the red gas caught up, he decided to eat something.

Xu Xin took out an apple and started munching on it, also giving one to Coco.

Coco also began nibbling on the apple on his shoulder.

After the man and the little panda had eaten and drunk their fill, Xu Xin had rested enough.

He was amazed at how his body felt. In the past, after such intense exercise, he would never have been able to recover so quickly. Now, his physical condition was vastly different from before.

Glancing down, he saw that the red mist had come a bit closer, but was still very far away.

However, Xu Xin didn't waste time and continued climbing upwards.

Only when he returned to the surface, stepping on the land protected by the treehouse, could he feel slightly at ease.

Continuing to climb, Xu Xin maintained a steady rhythm this time, no longer as frantic as before, getting closer to the exit step by step.

After climbing for quite a while, just as he felt he was about to reach the exit, Coco on his shoulder suddenly started whimpering anxiously.

"What's wrong?" Seeing Coco so agitated, Xu Xin looked back.

Then he was shocked!

That red color was now very close to him, only about five or six meters away.

What's going on? How did it spread so quickly?!

In an instant, Xu Xin understood the principle behind it. The red gas was indeed spreading slowly, but that didn't mean it was being released slowly in the room below. As long as the release accelerated and the concentration of red gas increased, coupled with increased air pressure, the spread would naturally become faster!

"Damn!" Xu Xin cursed and quickened his climbing speed.

This time he was smarter, no longer using all his strength, but still maintaining a rhythm. However, the extremely fast pace still made his body struggle to keep up, and gradually his breathing became erratic.

As he climbed, Xu Xin kept looking back down. The red color was getting closer and closer, now only two or three meters away!

"I see the exit!" Xu Xin became excited and no longer cared about rhythm, starting to climb with all his might.

Just before the red mist caught up with him, Xu Xin burst through the iron door, then used the last bit of strength in his body to lift the heavy iron cover on the other side and slammed it down hard on the exit.

"Bang!"

A few wisps of red smoke squeezed through the final gaps of the iron cover,

while the rest was trapped beneath the iron cover, confined in that incredibly long passage.

That wisp of red smoke entered Xu Xin's nose.

"Ugh—"

Just a wisp made Xu Xin nauseous; he couldn't imagine what would happen if his whole body was immersed in that red smoke.

Sitting at the exit, Xu Xin gasped for breath. Due to excessive climbing, his arms and legs were shaking, and his head felt a bit dizzy.

Coco lay on his leg, tilting its head to look at him, as if asking why he was so exhausted.

"Little one!" Xu Xin grumbled as he ruffled Coco's head.

After resting for a few minutes, Xu Xin felt his strength gradually returning and stood up.

Walking out of the passage, sunlight shone on him; outside, the sun was already high in the sky.

Having been in a relatively dark environment for so long, Xu Xin's eyes couldn't handle the sudden light, and he shielded them with his hand.

As he gradually adapted, he looked at the ordinary plants on the ground and finally smiled with relief.

The world below was too oppressive; the drain on his physical and mental strength and the impact hadn't stopped throughout the journey. After seeing the monsters in the underground world, Xu Xin now found the beasts on the surface so adorable.

Around him was still the wasteland left behind by the withered yellow flowers.

"Home, let's go home!" Xu Xin now just wanted to return to the treehouse and have a good sleep.

Although his orange (blue) kept his spirits in a relatively excited state, his physical and mental fatigue had reached its peak. Now he didn't want to do anything, just lie in bed and be lazy.

From his current position, it would take about an hour to walk back.

"Sigh… when can I have some means of transportation?" Thinking about the hour-long journey ahead, Xu Xin's legs, which had just relaxed, started to ache again.

He looked at the little fellow dozing off on his shoulder and shook his head helplessly. Well, well, I'm the mount, aren't I?

There was no choice but to walk back.

It was now the afternoon of the second day, judging by the sun in the sky it was around 2 o'clock, the hottest time of the day. Xu Xin took out the mineral water from the beginner's supplies in his backpack, took a couple of gulps, and slowly walked towards the treehouse as if he were taking a stroll.

Once he used that bottle of [Special Treehouse Root Potion], the protection range of the treehouse would extend another three kilometers outward, effectively quadrupling the area. This range was too large; exploring on foot would be quite challenging.

Xu Xin opened the map. At this time, only the hills in the northwest corner of the map had beasts. Once the treehouse's protection range expanded, those hills would also be within the protected area.

"Iron armor should be unlocked now. Perhaps I can try hunting beasts over there."

After walking for over an hour, Xu Xin finally returned to the lakeside; the treehouse was on the other side of the lake.

The lake water looked calm now, with piranhas faintly visible swimming in the center of the lake.

"Huh? Does it seem like the piranhas' activity range has increased a bit? Is it just my imagination?" Xu Xin frowned. He noticed that the nearest piranha he could see seemed to be a bit closer to the shore than when he left last night.

"Maybe it's just a coincidence," Xu Xin reassured himself. He really didn't have a good way to deal with the piranhas right now.

Walking around the lake, Xu Xin gathered many reeds that could be used to make ropes along the way.

Returning to the base of the treehouse, Xu Xin took out the gray potion from his backpack and sprinkled it on the roots of the treehouse.

[Treehouse roots begin secondary growth, duration two hours, unable to enter or exit the treehouse during this period.]

Xu Xin: "…?"

What does root growth have to do with entering and exiting the treehouse?!

Looking at the treehouse right in front of him with frustration, Xu Xin, who had traveled several kilometers to finally return home, was locked out of his own treehouse.