Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 997: Chapter 560: Pollution of the Underground Human Base_2

Xu Xin shook his head: ”No need to thank me, I’m waiting for you to tell me what’s next. The capsule that monster gave you, what exactly is it?”

”That...” Shi Wanyun’s cheeks flushed slightly as she thought of something, and she said softly, ”I can’t show you the next scene.”

”Hmm?” Xu Xin immediately frowned, ”What do you mean?”

”...I’ll tell you what happened later then. After that...”

”Don’t change the subject,” Xu Xin interrupted her, ”Why tell it if it can be seen? Or do you have something to hide? What exactly does that pill do?”

”...Listen to me,” Shi Wanyun grabbed his arm and looked up at him, ”You mentioned something about shedding skin before, didn’t you?”

”Shedding skin... ah,” Xu Xin understood.

”So, let’s not watch it,” Shi Wanyun’s face turned slightly red, ”I was a bit out of sorts back then, and I took a long bath afterward...”

Xu Xin shook his head helplessly.

So that’s how it is.

Indeed, as a woman, she wouldn’t want others to see her face peeling away with a touch, nor her appearance while bathing, which is quite normal.

Thinking of this, Xu Xin couldn’t help but laugh: ”I wonder who just said she’d be willing anytime as long as I agreed.”

”That’s... that’s different,” Shi Wanyun’s ears turned a bit red, and her tone became slightly embarrassed, ”I don’t want you to watch me bathe while I’m the one showing it to you.”

This indeed was a bit ridiculous.

Are all women like this?

Wenxi was too.

Even though they had that kind of relationship, she stubbornly wouldn’t let him watch her get dressed in the morning.

Speaking of which, I wonder how Wenxi’s doing now.

With Xu Ying protecting her, she should be fine.

...

In the human territory of the underground world, Li Wenxi was already lying on the bed.

She hadn’t taken off her clothes but lay down with her clothes on.

Although Xu Ying told her that it was safe as long as she didn’t stray far from the room, she still felt a bit insecure.

Compared to her treehouse or Xu Xin’s biological habitat, it was far from secure.

”Hmm... what’s Xu Xin doing now?” She looked at the ceiling.

The underground world’s night wasn’t really night; outside, it was no different from day, just called rest time.

”Sigh... Where did Yingying go off to, teleporting me back and then taking off herself?”

Li Wenxi was wide awake, unable to sleep as she tossed and turned in bed.

Eventually, she sat up and looked outside the window: ”Go for a walk? There aren’t many people out now...”

...

Xu Ying was currently walking in a small grove.

The trees here were very short, rarely exceeding five meters, and were sparsely scattered.

Combined with the bright light of the underground world, she could see almost everything in the grove clearly.

”The shadow earlier, could it really be...”

Her face was serious.

If she didn’t see it wrong, the situation could be really severe.

All her caution during this period would become a joke.

”Could it really be those lackeys...”

The more she thought, the more anxious she became.

Her heart was almost suspended.

”No, no... if it really was those people, that would be too strange...” Xu Ying carefully observed her surroundings, deep in thought, ”If they had discovered this place long ago, why have humans been able to develop so smoothly below until now?”

After taking a few steps, she didn’t find the shadow from before but spotted a small red fruit instead.

Xu Ying immediately went over, picked it up, wiped it, and put it in her mouth.

”Puh! Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!”

The bitter taste filled her mouth, prompting her to frantically rinse her mouth with water again.

”...Contaminated fruit!” Xu Ying gritted her teeth, ”The soil here is contaminated!”

She bent down and grabbed a handful of soil.

From its color, it seemed like normal soil.

Even if Li Wenxi came here and grabbed a handful of soil, she would get a description of it as [Soil (Green)].

But Xu Ying knew that this soil had already changed.

The underground soil was indeed being contaminated!

However, it wasn’t the kind of thoroughly contaminated soil but rather a slightly eroded kind.

On the surface, this soil was indistinguishable from normal soil, with its normal soil color, rather than the blood-red color of severely contaminated soil above ground.

At a glance, it was indeed unnoticeable.

But its trace elements were already beginning to change.

”Slightly Polluted Soil,” Xu Ying tossed the soil aside and stood up.

Slightly polluted soil, the initial state of soil contamination.

Not only was its appearance identical to normal soil, but it could also be used for planting crops, fruits, and the like.

The produced crops and fruits were non-toxic and edible, but their taste was anything but pleasant.

Under the influence of slight pollution, the taste of these edible plants would become incredibly strange, and.

Sweet things became extremely spicy, sour things became extremely bitter, spicy things became extremely sour...

All sorts of changes, but with one thing in common... they tasted awful.

The small red fruit she had just eaten had a bizarre taste.

The one she had eaten with Li Wenxi from that plant was intensely bitter, more bitter than Chinese medicine or 100% dark chocolate by many times.

This time, the small red fruit she ate was both sweet and spicy, with an extreme sour stench that made her feel like her mouth was filled with some vomit-inducing slop!

”Why is this stuff appearing underground!” Xu Ying took another sip of water to alleviate the sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy tastes in her mouth.

She was more than familiar with this kind of thing!

At that time, when they were still the lackeys of alien invaders, they initially had to eat this kind of stuff!

Although the alien invaders had chosen them, they certainly wouldn’t provide food for these humans, so they had to fend for themselves.

But back then, the entire world was polluted, and there was hardly a clean patch of soil; they could only use the lightly polluted soil for planting.

Everyone was complaining bitterly during that time, which lasted for three years until they found a way to improve the soil and created specialized fertilizers, finally using normal soil to grow normal substances.

Those three years were the earliest post-war years, filled with events that shattered human preconceptions, impacting all survivors’ spirits, but the terrible taste of food left the deepest impression on her.

She even fainted from hunger due to aversion to eating.

Eating this kind of thing again reminded her of those days.

”Brother...”

Xu Ying sighed and shook her head.

”Now’s not the time to think about that! This is a big deal!”

The last clean land for humans underground was also being corrupted!

Apparently, she hadn’t seen it wrong earlier!

Although she had only seen a leg, the fleeting appearance and color of its armor immediately reminded her of those lackeys.

”Order Keepers... they’ve really come down here!”

She glanced around.

She certainly couldn’t find anything now.

She should head back first!

Sister-in-law can’t be in danger!

A purple-black vortex suddenly appeared beneath her feet, and as her body sank, she instantly disappeared from where she stood.

The small grove returned to tranquility.

...

Xu Ying and Li Wenxi sat on the edge of the bed.

Xu Ying had already conveyed her recent discovery to Li Wenxi.

”...If it’s really as you say, then why haven’t they destroyed this underground base?” Li Wenxi questioned.

”I don’t know either, but...” Xu Ying frowned, ”There are still issues here, like being besieged by mutant beast tides, which wasn’t a problem for over 900 years before.”

”Weren’t mutant beast tides a thing from a hundred years ago? So, this means the place was discovered long ago?” Li Wenxi asked in surprise.

”That’s what puzzles me,” Xu Ying couldn’t wrap her head around it, ”If the alien invaders found this place a hundred years ago, why have the people only been attacked by beast tides and continued to live well until now?”

”Hmm... I can’t figure that out either, but more importantly for me...”

Li Wenxi suddenly grabbed Xu Ying’s shoulders, staring at her.

”If this place was discovered long ago, then shouldn’t we... not have to be so careful?”

”Huh? You mean...”

”I mean... should I be able to move freely between the underground and the surface now? Can I... go back?”