Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 38 - 38: The Tip of the Worldʼs Iceberg

Xu Xin walked up to the incredibly heavy-looking iron door.

This iron door was designed like the door of a vault, and at this moment, he was inside.

Xu Xin had seen in movies and games how vault doors opened, typically by turning an exterior circular dial like a reverse wheel. After a hissing sound, the circular door would push outward and then slide to the left or right.

But since he was inside the room, he found no circular switch, so he could only try to push the door open with his hands.

”Screech—” a harsh sound of metal grinding echoed as Xu Xin used all his strength to slowly push the door.

”Thereʼs hope!” Seeing the door move, Xu Xin felt a surge of joy and exerted more force.

”Click!” With a crisp sound, the round iron door was entirely pushed out of the frame, leaving a gap about two fingers wide between the door and frame.

Xu Xin didnʼt hurry to open the door but instead peered through the gap outside.

He expected to find a modern room like a vault outside, but to his surprise, what he saw through the gap was a wall of soil with a faint red hue, as if he had entered a cave again.

”Another cave outside?” Xu Xin was puzzled.

Doesnʼt that mean that underground, there is a solitary, square iron room like a vault, with a European person from their world from the eighties of the last century dead inside?

So strange.

”Keke, thereʼs danger outside... what are you doing!”

Xu Xin looked at Keke, who was pawing at a skull, and his eyelid twitched.

The poor skull was being rolled on the ground like a ball by Keke, left paw, right paw, the scene was bizarre. A cute little panda playing with a skull.

”Ying?” Keke looked at Xu Xin in confusion.

True, Keke is a little panda; you canʼt expect it to have a fear of human skulls. Xu Xin shook his head helplessly, ”Iʼll have to give you a good bath after we get out!”

”Ying!”

However, this little disturbance strangely alleviated his fear of the skull.

”Keke, is there danger outside?”

”Ying.” Keke shook its little head, indicating it didnʼt feel any danger.

Xu Xin took a deep breath, extended his fingers through the gap, and, with force, dragged the door to one side.

With a screeching sound, the door was slowly opened halfway.

Xu Xin stopped, it was enough for him to pass through.

He went through the door and looked outside.

Seeing everything outside, Xu Xin froze. He rubbed his eyes and looked again.

He thought it was a cave, but he was wrong, so wrong.

”Ying!” Even Keke let out a surprised cry.

Instinctively, Xu Xin took two steps forward, then suddenly stopped.

He suddenly realized he was on the edge of a cliff.

Yes, the edge of a cliff.

Small stones and soil rolled off the cliff edge, and when Xu Xin looked down, he couldnʼt help but clench his teeth, facial muscles twitching, as a bead of sweat slipped down his forehead.

Below the cliff, almost a thousand meters deep, was a vast underground world that seemed endless.

With his night vision capability, he could see everything in the underground world.

”Is this... real?” Xu Xinʼs lips trembled slightly as he stared dumbly at the scene before him.

He saw countless green and bloody red vines wildly dancing below.

He saw a giant Cannibal Flower with a mouth-like blossom devouring an animal that looked similar to a dinosaur.

He saw an enormous monster, tens of meters tall, covered in green seaweed, tearing off those blood-red vines and stuffing them into its mouth.

He saw countless bugs, the size of cars, with tails emitting dazzling light, flying and swirling around the Cannibal Flowers.

A dance of chaos.

The scene before him was unbelievably surreal; the sheer volume of information stunned him.

He blankly gazed around.

He was at the top of this underground world, in a cave, with the ceiling of the underground world just above him, reachable with his hand.

If the underground world were seen as a massive room, he was now like a tiny bug situated in the gap between the ceiling lamp and the ceiling, looking down on this gigantic room, and those monsters were the residents of this room, living in it.

On the map, the densely packed red dots instilled a sense of fear and despair in him.

[Congratulations, you have discovered one of the hidden secrets behind this world, becoming the first of the surviving group to discover the underground world. Rewards will be issued after this jungle exploration event concludes.]

[Please do not share the secrets of the world with those who are unaware, or you will face extremely severe punishment.]

[Donʼt panic, the underground world isnʼt something current survivors can handle. Handling the beast rebellion is what survivors should consider now.]

[Keep up the good work, strengthen yourself, and strive to survive in this world.]

[Another kind reminder, never abandon your little tree house; itʼs your only support.]

The mysterious voice rang in his ears again, snapping him back to reality.

In contrast to these monsters, the mysterious voice now felt so comforting.

”Wait a minute! Where on earth is this place? Why is there such a vast space underground and so many monsters!” Xu Xin asked the question foremost on his mind.

[The secrets of the world need to be explored by the survivors themselves]

The mysterious voice only gave him this response, and no matter how he inquired, it spoke no more.

By now, Keke had long since burrowed into Xu Xinʼs arms, burying its head and shivering with fear.

The sheer multitude of monsters below was overwhelming, and even at a thousand meters deep, Xu Xin could feel the oppressive presence of those gigantic monsters, let alone Keke.

Fortunately, the mysterious voice just mentioned that they didnʼt need to deal with these gigantic monsters now and should first consider how to handle the beast rebellion, meaning the monsters wouldnʼt emerge now; he simply knew the content of a future version in advance.

This truly made Xu Xin heave a sigh of relief.

Then he suddenly remembered something.

”Keke, didnʼt you say the gold treasure chest was here? Donʼt tell me itʼs down below?”

Letʼs find the gold chest first. Xu Xin calmed his current state of mind and patted the little creatureʼs head in his arms.

”Ying!” Keke suddenly remembered this matter too, jumped out of Xu Xinʼs arms, and tugged at his pant leg, signaling him to follow it.

The exterior of the gigantic round iron door was more than just a small nook on a cliff; there were other openings on the cave wall that Xu Xin, overwhelmed, hadnʼt noticed.

Following behind Keke, Xu Xin quickly reached the end and saw the gold treasure chest at the end.

Even in the dark underground world, the chest emitted a faint golden glow, illuminating the surrounding area at the end of the cave.

Xu Xin examined the treasure chest and first confirmed the design on it, which indeed was an animal head, though different from the qilin in his memory. It seemed the designs on the three chests were not qilins.

Xu Xin decided to open the gold chest here.

He took out the key, inserted it into the key slot of the chest, turned it, and a mechanical sound echoed as the chest unlocked.

”Ying!” Keke climbed to the edge of the chest and peered inside.

The gold chest contained a bottle of gray potion and a thin card.