Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 93: Chapter 93 Cooperation Content

”As long as you can take us back to the surface, you are free to take anything you want from here,” said the Chang Yin Family.

Xu Xin was silent for a moment before asking, ”Taking you back to the surface won’t be that simple, will it?”

”That’s right,” the Chang Yin Family tapped the stone table with their index finger, ”It’s impossible for you to return the way you came. The path you took here is already blocked. If you want to return to the surface, you must keep moving deeper into the corridor.”

”Oh?” Xu Xin frowned, ”Wasn’t it you who blocked it?”

The dungeon entrance automatically shut and locked after he entered.

”Of course not us,” Xue Lan spoke up from the side, ”You’re the third person we’ve cooperated with; during the previous two times, that path was always locked.”

The third time?

”You mentioned that the last person you cooperated with... was the owner of this backpack?” Xu Xin gestured to the backpack on his back.

”That’s right, he was a survivor who came here twelve years ago.”

Twelve years ago... once again this twelve-year period. Speaking of which, the fruits in the backpack have lasted twelve years without rotting; no wonder they are blue-tier fruits.

The Chang Yin Family seemed to notice Xu Xin’s confusion and offered an explanation: ”Every twelve years, a batch of survivors from other worlds arrives in our world. As far as I know, you are the fifth batch.”

”I’m the fifth batch... What happened to the previous four batches of survivors?”

”I’m not sure,” the Chang Yin Family shook their head as if to indicate they didn’t know, ”I’ve only come into contact with the survivors who came here.”

”You treat the survivors who arrive here as experimental subjects; by now, they’ve all become mutants, haven’t they?” Xu Xin narrowed his eyes at the Chang Yin Family and asked.

The Chang Yin Family was momentarily stunned, then shook their head.

”It’s not what you think; those dozen or so mutants you saw were the first batch of survivors,” Xue Lan spoke again.

Her voice always had a convincing tone, but Xu Xin disliked the feeling of being led by the nose. He frowned and took an orange from his backpack, as the orange could reduce mental effects from the opposite side.

”Ying!” Keke, who had been quietly perched on Xu Xin’s shoulder, suddenly made a noise and tugged at his clothes. Xu Xin had to hand an orange to Keke, who jumped onto the stone table and began eating the orange.

Neither the Chang Yin Family nor Xue Lan paid any attention to what Xu Xin was eating. Xue Lan continued, ”They arrived in groups, intending to destroy everything here. At that time, the Chang Yin Family and I were not yet statues...”

”Xue Lan, you don’t need to explain this to him. Xu Xin, all you need to know is that we haven’t killed innocent people indiscriminately,” the Chang Yin Family interrupted Xue Lan.

”Then how do you explain the carvings on the stone table outside?” Xu Xin asked. Such carvings could only be made in a state of utter despair.

The Chang Yin Family fell silent.

The room was quiet for a while, until Xue Lan broke the silence by gently holding the Chang Yin Family’s hand, ”You’re referring to the carvings on the stone table outside, right? Those were not left by the group of survivors.”

”What do you mean?” Xu Xin didn’t immediately understand what Xue Lan meant.

”I carved those words,” the Chang Yin Family suddenly spoke, a flash of red glinting in their stone eyes, then disappearing, ”Do you wonder how we ended up in our current form?”

Xu Xin fell silent once more. He hadn’t expected to receive such an answer.

Silence descended upon the room again.

The Chang Yin Family suddenly slapped the table with a crisp crack: ”Alright, we’ve said enough. Now, let’s discuss the collaboration. What we want you to do is simple—take us away from this place, back to the surface.”

”To tell you the truth, it’s very difficult. Twenty-four years ago, a survivor was torn apart by the mechanisms. Twelve years ago, a survivor chose to stay after failing to leave, but on the third night after staying, he suddenly stopped breathing. You may not believe it, but we had nothing to do with his death.

Up until now, none of you survivors have been able to walk out of this corridor alive. The first batch was our fault, but we left the second batch alone, and they still perished.

The third and fourth batches of survivors came alone; we chose to cooperate, chose to help them, but ultimately it all ended in failure. And you, you’re the fifth survivor to arrive here.”

Xu Xin could probably guess how the survivor died—it was likely due to being unable to complete an activity.

”If that’s the case, why do you still choose to cooperate with me?” Xu Xin was puzzled, ”Haven’t you tried to leave on your own? Your bodies are much sturdier than mine.”

”Isn’t there a mysterious voice that speaks in the minds of you survivors from time to time?” the Chang Yin Family pointed at Xu Xin’s head.

”... You really do know a lot about survivors.”

”That mysterious voice also speaks to us.”

The words from the Chang Yin Family made Xu Xin’s eyelids twitch, and he stood up, ”You can hear that voice too?”

If that’s true, could this voice be the ”deity” mentioned in the altar?

The Chang Yin Family signaled for Xu Xin to sit down, and only after he sat did they say, ”Yes, that voice told us before the third group of survivors arrived twenty-four years ago, that following the survivors is the only way to leave this underground city.”

”We also tried to leave on our own, but the path upwards is sealed, and venturing deeper into the corridor gets blocked by large metal doors, which only you survivors can push open. We can’t open them no matter what we try,” Xue Lan said softly.

”Then why don’t I just help you push them open?”

”No, there are at least three doors within the passage. The survivors twelve years ago were stuck at the third door and couldn’t get out, so we had to return here,” Xue Lan explained. ”If there hasn’t been any change, we know the mechanisms for the first two doors and can handle them, but pushing the doors open relies on you, as we can’t open them no matter what.”

Xu Xin organized everything they said in his mind, about this world, about the various matters concerning the survivors. At the same time, he also realized that the voice is not only connected to the survivors but also intricately linked to other creatures in this world.

”What will you do after you get to the surface?” Xu Xin asked the question he most wanted to ask.

”What happens on the surface can be dealt with after we get there. Right now, we want to verify what that voice told us.”

”What did it say?”

”If what it said is true, you’ll know once we reach the surface.”

Xu Xin didn’t ask further questions. Although the words of these two stone statues didn’t seem to deceive him, he didn’t completely trust them either. Some things he needed to verify himself.

”Alright, I agree. I’ll take you out, but all the supplies we take from here will belong to me.”

”If you truly can take us out, I can even help you make a bunch of contract cards, on the premise that you really can get us out and not die midway.”

To prove his claim, the Chang Yin Family unexpectedly pulled out a blank piece of paper and a pen that looked very special from somewhere. In just a few dozen seconds, he produced a contract on the spot.

Under the Chang Yin Family’s pen, the blank paper gradually filled with peculiar characters, emitting a green glow. Once completed, the Chang Yin Family handed the contract to Xu Xin, ”Don’t you survivors see the attributes of items when you touch them?”

Xu Xin took it, and indeed, it was a [Mutant Beast Contract], with some characters he couldn’t understand, a bit like ancient oracle bone script, similar to the previous contract.

”...How is this made?” Xu Xin was puzzled. Could it really be completed with just a few strokes?

”Secret. Oh, no need to return it to me. If you can get us out, these naturally belong to you.”

One thing he didn’t say was that if they couldn’t leave, these things would naturally remain in the underground city.

Xu Xin decided to return the way he came and take a look. The Chang Yin Family had told him that the original path was sealed, but he still wanted to check it out himself.

The Chang Yin Family and Xue Lan didn’t follow Xu Xin. According to them, this side was definitely sealed, and Xu Xin would have to return anyway, so they didn’t follow him.

He opened the room door and stepped out, only to find a middle-aged maid statue standing not far from the door. This statue hadn’t appeared since the beginning, and its sudden presence near the door startled Xu Xin.

”Uh, hello.” Xu Xin greeted the maid statue.

”Hello.” The maid statue also bowed to him, just like a servant greeting a guest.

According to the Chang Yin Family, this maid statue was supposedly once a human.

Seeing that the maid statue made no subsequent moves, Xu Xin nodded to her and turned to leave.

Exiting the corridor, Xu Xin and Keke returned to the stone chamber at the entrance of the corridor.

The table inscribed with words of resentment was still there, and Xu Xin once again approached it, closely examining the writing on it.

The writing, though crooked and hard to decipher, indeed resembled the script on the [Mutant Beast Contract] that the Chang Yin Family had just made, not exactly the same script, but with some identical pen stroke habits.

It seemed the Chang Yin Family hadn’t lied. These words were likely carved by him. Confirming this point, Xu Xin felt a slight sense of relief.

Although he was very curious about how the Chang Yin Family became stone statues, Xu Xin didn’t have the habit of uncovering people’s wounds and seeing the Chang Yin Family’s attitude, he certainly wouldn’t tell Xu Xin.

He got up and walked to the large door, tightly closed by him to avoid the mutant bats, and gently pulled it open.

A bat, crushed to death when Xu Xin closed the door, fell to the ground with a splat.

The two rows of candlesticks along the wall of the stairwell passage were still burning, illuminating the whole staircase.

”Ying!” Keke chirped softly, pointing to the densely packed bats hanging upside down not far above the steps.

Xu Xin took the broom capable of repelling beasts from his backpack.

As soon as he took out the broom, the bats suddenly started moving.