Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 127: Chapter 127: Tai Chi Fish

”The tornado... disappeared?” Xu Xin looked bewildered.

He was just thinking about how to deal with the monster in the whirlpool, but in just a few dozens of seconds, everything around him changed.

The tornado disappeared along with the purple-black whirlpool, all in an instant.

Fortunately, the storm hadn’t stopped yet, allowing Xu Xin to still feel a hint of reality.

He looked around.

This huge tornado is not the only one near his treehouse.

Xu Xin found that only the tornado near his treehouse disappeared.

Floating on the water, he looked around, those tornadoes in the distance were still spinning in their original positions, connecting the dark clouds in the sky, like gigantic funnels leading straight to the heavens, creating a very oppressive atmosphere, completely resembling an apocalyptic natural disaster scene.

While Xu Xin was still floating on the water in a daze, a mysterious voice sounded.

[Congratulations, survivor, for being the first person in this batch of survivors to artificially eliminate a tornado. The reward will be issued after the event concludes.]

This voice snapped Xu Xin back to reality.

He actually artificially eliminated a tornado! But what did he do?

He killed the Blood-striped Marlin guarding the eye of the storm, entered the underwater eye of the tornado, found a broken wooden chest with purple-level treasure inside, and then discovered a small purple-black whirlpool and launched an attack against it.

And the tornado disappeared because he shot the purple-black whirlpool with a Crossbow Arrow.

It seems that just by attacking the whirlpool, which should be the cause and core of the tornado, the entire tornado can be eliminated?

That’s quite simple.

However, it is indeed quite difficult for ordinary survivors. Just the presence of an intermediate mutant aquatic beast is enough to deter most people, let alone anyone daring like him to enter the underwater whirlpool.

He dared to enter the whirlpool, go deep into the eye of the storm, completely because Keke told him that the tornado itself was not dangerous, and there is treasure inside. Without Keke, he definitely wouldn’t have dared to enter.

Speaking of which, what’s inside that small whirlpool core? Those eerie sounds and the dark red viscous substance, everything within the whirlpool greatly piqued Xu Xin’s curiosity.

However, the tornado has already disappeared, and within the protection range of his treehouse, this was the only tornado. He can only wait until the next time he encounters that strange whirlpool to unravel the mystery.

Xu Xin ate another water plant, dived into the water, and began searching for any missed resources in this tornado-ravaged area.

With the water whirlpool gone, and all the small trees around destroyed by the tornado except for a small patch in the center, Xu Xin could clearly see everything under the water.

”Huh? Are these ornamental fish again?”

On the other side of the tornado-ravaged area, two fish swam through the underwater forest. These two fish, one black and one white, the size of carp, kept swimming in circles around each other, emitting a blue glow.

”Blue-grade fish!” Xu Xin rejoiced and quickly swam over.

Just like the Colorful Scale Fish encountered before, the black and white fish did not evade as Xu Xin approached, but instead swam towards him and began circling around him.

Perhaps it was due to the effect of the Scale Armor suit.

Xu Xin reached out and grabbed the white fish, which did not struggle but remained quietly in his hand, while the black fish continued to circle around him.

[Tai Chi White Fish (Blue): Advanced ornamental fish, can be raised in treehouses to increase the decoration level, and paired with Tai Chi Black Fish will double the decoration level and gradually improve the physical condition of survivors residing in treehouses, promoting longevity.]

This black-and-white pair of fish, it turns out they’re called Tai Chi Fish, indeed very fitting.

Moreover, raising them in a treehouse can improve physical condition and promote longevity! Such treasures, in times of peace, are priceless!

For survivors wary of imminent death, the function of promoting longevity seems not so precious, because who knows if they might die unexpectedly the next day, thus rendering extended lifespan useless.

However, improving physical condition is still a very powerful function. For survivors, even minor illnesses can affect physical state, like the fever and hypothermia that might result from this storm, which poses a significant threat as survivors are constantly in danger. Enhanced physical condition reduces the likelihood of contracting these illnesses and speeds up recovery if afflicted.

Very nice! Xu Xin cheerfully packed the two fish into a water-filled wooden barrel and placed it into his backpack.

After swimming another circle around the tornado-ravaged zone, apart from the scattered white-grade stones everywhere, there were no other resources left.

By this time, it was nearing evening, the cloud-covered sky had darkened even more. Xu Xin counted the resources at hand and began swimming towards the treehouse.

Along the way, we encountered many fish swimming out from the lake.

Compared to after the battle between the anaconda and crocodile, their bodies have indeed grown larger, even bigger than when we saw them this morning. Their scales appear more textured, and even in this dim twilight, they still reflect a faint glow.

They seem to have truly evolved to a higher level due to the anaconda and crocodile blood, carrying a hint of mutated beast aura.

But like the anaconda and crocodile, despite being much larger than their normal counterparts, they do not have the blood-red patterns characteristic of mutated beasts.

”Why is that? Could it be the anaconda and crocodile follow a different evolutionary path?”

Their bodies do not radiate the resource-grade glow like ornamental fish, so Xu Xin could only kill a nearly half-meter-long grass carp.

He took out his boning knife and dissected the fish in the water on the spot.

To his disappointment, it was just an ordinary fish, with resources ranking no higher than green level, meaning its meat was just a bit more abundant.

”Is it simply that they have grown larger, or did they not complete the mutation?” Xu Xin thought. These fish were bigger than this morning, indicating they were still growing.

He planned to check again in a few days.

However, after the rainy season, this stretch of water in the jungle will be gone, hopefully prompting the fish to swim back to the lake.

Xu Xin quickly swam back to the treehouse, grabbed onto the roots, and ascended to the third layer, tossing a piece of fish to the bats hanging under the treehouse.

After seeing the tornado dissipate, Keke and the Silver King were drawn to the window. When they saw Xu Xin return, Cocoa Silver King approached, while Mimi stayed by the window but turned her eyes towards Xu Xin.

Xu Xin narrated his experiences to them, while creating a large fish tank and putting a black and a white Taiji fish into it.

As soon as the two fish entered the tank, they began circling around the center.

[Detected: Taiji White Fish (Blue) *1, Taiji Black Fish (Blue) *1 in treehouse; treehouse decoration points +16, triggered Taiji fish combo effect, treehouse decoration points +16, current decoration points: 46.4]

Wow, two fish added 32 decoration points directly, worthy of being blue-level ornamental fish.

Simultaneously, Xu Xin felt a gentle wave emanating from the fish, affecting his body.

This must be the effect of enhancing physique and prolonging life.

However, since it’s fish farming, he naturally had to feed them something. He couldn’t feed them meat like Cocoa Silver King, especially the group of Colorful Scale Fish, so small in size.

Being special ornamental fish, they must have special fish food, right?

Xu Xin thought of something and began searching through the points store, soon finding it.

[Ornamental Fish Food (Green): Necessary for feeding ornamental fish; just sprinkle into the tank. Points: 50 (35)]

Oh my, a bag of fish food costs 50 points!

Bear in mind, killing a mid-level mutated creature only rewarded him with 100 points!

This farming cost is too high!

Thankfully, he had a 30% discount, and he painfully exchanged for a bag of fish food.

The fish food bag was tiny, filled with cherry pit-sized pellets.

Xu Xin sprinkled a dozen pellets into the Taiji fish tank; the two fish stopped circling and began eating the food. But they didn’t eat it all, each fish only ate five pellets before resuming their rotation, leaving the rest sinking to the bottom.

Xu Xin sprinkled a dozen pellets into the Colorful Scale Fish tank, causing a frenzy as they collectively started nibbling at the food. However, Xu Xin noticed they only ate three or four pellets before returning to their leisurely state.

He let out a sigh of relief, thankful the consumption wasn’t high. If they ate just this much daily, the bag of food could last about ten to fifteen days.

But even so, the required points are quite substantial; next time, he’ll try ordinary meat or fruit to see if they eat it. This month, fish farming alone consumes nearly a hundred points, which is quite a bit.

But the Taiji fish’s effect is so strong; he desperately needs it, so no matter the cost, he must continue farming them...

He boiled some water and lay in the bathtub, enjoying a comfy hot bath.

”Soon, I’ll try my new abilities in carving and painting, hopefully they’ll be useful for survival.”