Chapter 49: Handy Features Of Treehouse Tables

Xu Xin sat in the tree, anxiously watching the wild boar herd below.

He had no means of long-range attack and couldn't harm the pigs below unless he jumped down to fight them directly. But fighting head-on against a herd of pigs averaging 200 kg each would be pure suicide.

Hugging the tree trunk, Xu Xin could clearly hear the sounds of impacts and rooting in the soil as they gnawed at the tree roots.

"Surely not, right? This tree trunk is almost half a meter thick, it can't be uprooted, can it?"

Fortunately, the wild boars didn't have much patience. The herd persisted for only about half an hour before some pigs started to leave.

Soon, more and more black wild boars joined the departing group, and only one boar remained persistently rooting under Xu Xin's tree.

Looking at the tree roots, he saw that the soil had been dug up, exposing the roots. If this pig herd had continued to persist, they really might have uprooted the tree.

Xu Xin looked at the black pig right below him and took out a stone spear from his backpack.

"Brother Pig, you chose not to leave, so stay and keep me company!"

He glanced around; the other wild boars were nowhere to be seen.

Just like his first time hunting a black bear, Xu Xin gripped the stone spear tightly, aimed at the back of the wild boar's head as it rooted at the tree, took a deep breath, and suddenly jumped down from the tree!

"Shick!"

Without any suspense, the sharp stone spear pierced directly through the black wild boar's skull. The pig didn't even have time to squeal before collapsing to the ground, its body trembling.

Coco jumped onto the black pig's body and started scratching at it with its little paws.

Pulling out the stone spear, Xu Xin cautiously stabbed the pig's head a few more times until it stopped moving completely. Only then did he take out his boning knife.

[Obtained complete wild boar hide (green) *1]

[Obtained wild boar meat (green)*160kg]

[Obtained wild boar tendon (green) *1]

[Obtained wild boar bone (green) *1]. Another animal tendon!

The crossbow needed one animal tendon, and the tree house ballista needed two animal tendons. If Xu Xin killed just one more, he could make both the crossbow and the automatic ballista!

But this pork… was a bit too much. The two pigs together totaled 340kg, with nearly 70kg in his backpack. Even though his body had been enhanced several times, this weight would affect his movement.

Although pork wasn't a crucial resource, Xu Xin couldn't bring himself to abandon meat he had acquired.

Xu Xin suddenly remembered that his watch had a trading function. He tried to list the pig's meat on the trading platform, specifying that he would only exchange for green-level or higher basic resources.

However, the trading platform didn't store resources before a trade was confirmed, so the pork remained on the ground.

Xu Xin posted in the [Explorer] group:

"Does anyone want wild boar meat?"

The group immediately responded, as everyone with a watch could communicate anytime, anywhere.

Zhao Xiaochuan: "Wild boar meat? Did the boss go hunting?"

Xu Xin: "Yes, just killed one. Anyone want some?"

Wang Lei: "Boss has pork? I want it, I want it! The corpses being sold on the trading platform now have all been gnawed on by wild animals, I really don't want to eat that! Since the boss killed it himself, I want it! I'll trade green resources for it!"

Xu Xin: "There's over 600 jin of pork in total, do you want it all?"

Wang Lei: "…Boss, you're going to eat me out of house and home."

Xu Xin suddenly realized that even if he traded it all away, he wouldn't be able to carry all the basic resources he'd get in return.

Xu Xin thought for a moment, then scrolled through his private message list to find Ji Chaoyang and sent him a message:

"Are you near the tree house?"

Ji Chaoyang replied after a while: "Not there, I went out hunting too. I saw what you said in the group, you also have too much meat to carry, right? It's really convenient to be able to trade directly."

It seemed the other person was in a similar situation, but at least Xu Xin had a way to trade on the spot, while Ji Chaoyang really couldn't carry it all.

Xu Xin replied: "I see, never mind then. Carry on with what you're doing."

"Mm."

He then sent a private message to Li Wenxi: "Are you near the tree house?"

Li Wenxi replied immediately: "Yes, do you want me to buy pork?"

It seemed she had seen Xu Xin's message in the group.

Being at the tree house made things easier.

Xu Xin: "I'll trade the pork to you, can you keep it at your place until I get back? I'll give you one-tenth as payment, how's that?"

Li Wenxi was silent for a moment, then replied: "You can trade on the spot?"

Xu Xin thought this wasn't really an important matter, and since Ji Chaoyang already knew, he said: "Yes, my watch is purple quality, it can trade."

"That's great!" The other side was clearly envious. "Alright, one-tenth for me, right? Wait a moment, I'm planting trees under the tree house!"

Xu Xin wasn't worried that this little rich girl would steal his pork; the minerals in her possession were worth far more than pork.

"This purple quality watch is so useful. With this method, I can directly transfer resources!" Xu Xin was very satisfied with the method he had come up with. In this world, he was the only one who could use this method, and it still required a trustworthy person to transfer the resources.

After trading with Li Wenxi, Xu Xin felt much lighter.

Wang Lei was still asking in the group.

"Boss, where are you?"

"Boss, are you still selling the pork?"

"Boss, sell me 10 jin, will you?"

Zhao Xiaochuan: "Give it up, the boss clearly doesn't want to deal with you."

Wang Lei: "Wuu wuu wuu I want to eat pork."

Xu Xin couldn't help but smile, and replied in the group: "We'll talk about it when I get back tonight."

Wang Lei: "Alright, boss!"

Xu Xin: "No need to call me boss, just call me Xu Xin."

Wang Lei: "Alright, Boss Xu Xin!"

Closing the small screen of his watch, Xu Xin looked towards a cave to the side, his heart racing.

Was it a salt mine?

He walked into the cave, where white crystals were scattered all over the ground.

Taking out his boning knife, he pried up a piece of white crystal from the ground.

[Salt Crystal: A crystal rich in salt. Can be extracted to obtain edible salt.]

"Beautiful!"

Xu Xin was excited. He had finally found salt. His mouth had become so bland that he wanted to lie down and lick it like a wild boar.

This salt mine was a great find.

Although the jungle didn't lack food, the human body needed to replenish salt, and this was a necessary resource that all survivors lacked! People would definitely trade important resources for it.

Xu Xin felt like he was about to become a salt smuggler.

"Now, how to extract it? Distillation? I wonder if the synthesis table can produce tools for extracting edible salt. Well, let's take it back first and figure it out later."

Xu Xin took out his stone pickaxe and began mining the salt.

There was so much salt in the cave that it was impossible to mine it all. Xu Xin stopped after mining about twenty kilograms of salt ore.

The salt mine wasn't going anywhere, so he'd take this small amount back to try first. When he had a mount in the future, this distance would be nothing.

Coming out of the salt mine, Xu Xin looked again towards the interior of the hills. The map was still densely covered with red dots. He decided to climb a small hill without red dots to survey the situation, as a higher vantage point would allow him to see farther.

"Let's go, Coco. We're going mountain climbing."

Choosing a small hill about 100 meters high, Xu Xin began to climb up the slope covered with shrubs and trees. Coco simply jumped onto Xu Xin's shoulder.

"You little lazy bones."

"Eenn~" Coco changed its position, as the hard iron plates on Xu Xin's shoulder were a bit uncomfortable.

Soon, Xu Xin reached the top of the hill and looked towards the other side.

"Huh?"

He saw that there were indeed many wild animals on the other side of the hill. This area was like a basin surrounded by a ring of mountains, with a very flat area in the middle and a small lake at the center. Various birds and beasts appeared from time to time.

Moreover, this area was emitting green light everywhere, dotted with spots of blue.

"A new resource area!" Xu Xin's eyes lit up. "And it looks like the entire resource area is within the tree house's protection range!"

"Wait, what's that?"

Xu Xin squinted at the distance, where an area was emitting a more conspicuous blue light.

In front of the blue light were several thick, tall trees. Even standing at a height of 100 meters, Xu Xin couldn't see clearly what it was. He could only see several tall stone pillars protruding from that area, each with a stone-carved statue at the very top.

The statues seemed to depict some kind of animal, but it was too far away for Xu Xin to make out clearly.

"Is that some kind of special building?"

Xu Xin was intrigued. After all, he had only seen such conspicuous light on the black bear's cave and his own tree house. The black bear's cave emitted green light, while the tree house emitted purple light.

That place must be a special location.

"Another survivor's tree house?" Xu Xin guessed, then immediately dismissed the idea.

"Impossible, this area is full of wild animals, and that's clearly a stone structure."

Should he go take a look?