Chapter 226 - 208: The Little Beauty Under the Treehouse

In comparison, Xu Xin looks like an unkempt savage.

When he arrived in this world, his hair was already due for a cut, and now it’s even longer. Every time his body strengthens, it seems to accelerate his metabolism, making his hair grow faster, which has resulted in it being very long now.

Moreover, he only lightly scrapes his face with a dagger during his daily wash, so his beard is not cleanly shaven.

He now really has a bit of a wild man vibe with his tousled hair.

This is not his fault; who cares about their image in this world! He bathes and washes every day, which already makes him one of the cleanest among all survivors!

"It’s my habit, otherwise I’d feel uncomfortable and lack drive," Ji Chaoyang shrugged, looking at Xu Xin’s Silver King, and said, "This wolf of yours, it’s actually a mutant beast; its abilities are really intriguing."

"I’m also interested in your horse." Xu Xin’s gaze was drawn to Ji Chaoyang’s horse. This horse looks mighty, "How did you manage to contract such a heavy horse?"

"Squeak!" Keke, on Xu Xin’s shoulder, gave a greeting to Ji Chaoyang, wagging its big tail.

"A red panda? Hello, little one. I didn’t expect you to have the leisure to raise a pet," Ji Chaoyang responded to Keke, then said, "When I signed it, it was just a foal, and your wolf looks like it weighs five to six hundred kilograms, right?"

It’s only been about ten days, right? The horse grew this fast?

Xu Xin’s expression toward the horse changed. Could this be a horse with giant beast bloodline as well? The Silver King only grew bigger through mutation and upgrades, and this horse didn’t have blood stripes.

"Awoo!" The Silver King howled at the horse, which was even taller than him.

The horse wasn’t afraid of the Silver King and responded with a snort.

"So, do you want to take a look inside the treehouse?" Xu Xin noticed Ji Chaoyang glancing at the treehouse a couple of times. With a thought, the treehouse’s roots descended.

"You can even control this treehouse?" Ji Chaoyang looked surprised, then smiled, "You have so many secrets, let’s leave it for today. We better hurry and meet up with them."

"Okay. Continue along this creek to the east; there’s a lake, and my treehouse is right there. That’s it. East of my treehouse is Li Wenxi’s treehouse."

Xu Xin pointed to the east, where his treehouse was very conspicuous in a patch of green.

"We are really close; the green area to the west is my treehouse," Ji Chaoyang also pointed to the green area to the west and then mounted his horse.

The two didn’t exchange many pleasantries; after all, they communicate enough usually.

"Let’s go."

Following the creek, the two rode east.

"Xu Xin, how long do you think this late autumn will last?" Ji Chaoyang asked while riding.

"It feels like it won’t be short, possibly around the same length as the midsummer we’ve experienced, or even longer," Xu Xin replied.

"I think so too, and..." Ji Chaoyang’s voice also deepened, "I think the cold winter might be coming soon."

Xu Xin shared these concerns. After all, the temperature is dropping too quickly, and the leaves in the surrounding forests have mostly fallen, presenting a desolate transition from autumn to winter. Although autumn does bring falling leaves, not this barren.

"At least today’s temperature rises with the sun, we’ll just have to see the next few days, but we still need to prepare in advance. Aren’t you cold in all that leather armor?"

"It’s okay. The blue-grade set comes with a warming effect. It’s not very comfortable, but it’s manageable," Ji Chaoyang pulled at his leather armor’s hood to prevent the wind from messing up his hair. He glanced at Xu Xin’s outfit without asking.

Soon, they reached Xu Xin’s treehouse, not stopping but continuing forward. After all, Ji Chaoyang also had a purple-grade treehouse, similar to Xu Xin’s with two parasitic treehouses and planted with plant hearts.

However, as they passed, Ji Chaoyang still asked, "Are the people in that treehouse here now?"

"Yes, I’ve contracted them and they’re kept in my treehouse."

"You really have a contract that can be made with people?" Ji Chaoyang turned his head in surprise, tightening his grip and almost making the horse stop.

"It’s a long story," Xu Xin decided not to keep it from him any longer and told him about the mutant beast contract and the mutant potion pills.

"After mutating, you signed a mutant beast contract?" Ji Chaoyang pondered upon hearing Xu Xin’s approach.

Soon, they passed the eastern treehouse territory that Xu Xin had chopped down.

"There, that should be Li Wenxi’s treehouse," Xu Xin pointed to a green area ahead. Based on the light during the rainy season, the direction and distance seemed right.

"Be careful," Ji Chaoyang’s voice was somewhat grave, "the protection zones may not be connected."

"Don’t worry," Xu Xin patted the little head of Keke in his arms and the head of Silver King, "These two guys can both detect if there are any mutant creatures below the ground."

"Oh? Then I’m relieved," Ji Chaoyang looked at Keke with some surprise, "This little guy has such an ability?"

"Squeak! Squeak squeak!" Keke was a bit displeased with his words, squeaking twice at him and waving a little paw.

"Haha, sorry about that, little guy," Ji Chaoyang laughed and apologized.

"Its name is Keke, and it’s amazing; if not for it, I wouldn’t have found the golden treasure chest. By the way, I’ve been really curious about how you found the golden chest," Xu Xin stroked Keke’s head and asked.

"I, well, I was just lucky at the time, and it had something to do with my abilities. We’ll discuss it more when we talk together."

At this moment, Xu Xin’s watch vibrated; it was a voice call from Li Wenxi.

"Wait a moment, Li Wenxi is contacting me."

"Alright."

They slowed down, stopping to let both mounts rest. They had been running continuously for about twenty to thirty kilometers.

"Xu Xin, when are you coming over? I can’t wait any longer, hurry up!"

The sound from the watch was on speaker, and Ji Chaoyang, who was next to Xu Xin, could hear it. Hearing Li Wenxi’s voice, he raised an eyebrow at Xu Xin.

"We’re already on the way, almost there. We should already be within the protection zone of your treehouse."

"Almost there! That’s great! Wait a minute... you guys? Have you and Ji Chaoyang already met up? Huh? So can he hear me now?"

"Yeah, he’s right next to me." Xu Xin glanced at Ji Chaoyang and said with a smile.

"Huh? Ah... um, hello, um... Brother Chaoyang?" Li Wenxi stammered a bit.

"Hello, just call me by my name, no need to do like them and call me brother." Ji Chaoyang said with a somewhat helpless smile.

"Why is it so awkward, hasn’t she communicated with you before?" Xu Xin moved the watch away and asked quietly.

"Not once, oh right, we chatted privately when she was added to the group. She only said she’d come if you did, and after that, she only talked in the group chat." Ji Chaoyang replied quietly.

"Hey, you two, I can hear you!" Li Wenxi’s slightly annoyed voice came from the watch.

The two exchanged a glance and couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

"You two! Hmph, since you’re already in my protection zone, how much longer until you get here?"

"Not long, ten to twenty minutes?" Xu Xin replied.

"Then hurry up and get here! I’m hanging up!" With that, the voice call abruptly ended.

Xu Xin shrugged, "Shall we keep going?"

Ji Chaoyang, however, wore a smile, "You two have quite an unusual friendship."

"It’s okay, I guess," Xu Xin said with some embarrassment. Truth be told, it’s comfortable being around this carefree little heiress; chatting with her is always relaxing.

Ji Chaoyang glanced at him a few more times, his brow furrowed.

"What’s up?" Xu Xin asked, puzzled by his expression.

Ji Chaoyang opened his mouth a few times, hesitating before finally saying, "Honestly mate, I really want to tidy you up right now. You’re about to meet her, and if you go with that look... she’ll think you’re not taking her seriously."

...This guy really has a compulsion problem!

But he has a point.

"Uh... so, how should I tidy up?"

Ji Chaoyang handed him a thin razor blade he had crafted specifically for shaving.

"I made a bunch of these blades; I haven’t used this one yet. Use it to shave your beard and the hair by your temples. I wanted to mention it when we first met."

...Wow, he’s been holding that in this whole time.

Xu Xin carefully shaved.

"Meep!" Keke gently pressed with a small paw on a spot Xu Xin had missed, guiding him where to shave.

When Xu Xin finished, Ji Chaoyang took a piece of fine cloth from his backpack and handed it to Xu Xin, "Here, tie up your hair with this."

Xu Xin took off his helmet, letting his long hair fall. It had indeed grown enough to tie up at the back. He washed his hair every night before bed; his hair was just long and looked a bit messy.

After all that was taken care of, Ji Chaoyang nodded, "That’s about right, you don’t need much more tidying."

"... You weren’t by any chance a makeup artist back on Earth?"

"I just don’t like being messy. Makeup artists are much more skilled than I am."

With everything sorted, the two mounted their rides and continued in the direction of Li Wenxi.

Upon entering Li Wenxi’s protection zone, especially within a three-kilometer radius, Xu Xin noticed the difference.

The hilly terrain here was much more abundant than back where Xu Xin was. Of course, this area wasn’t like the Hilly Resource Zone, where the hills were arranged regularly together, but rather scattered about.

As he rode past on Silver King, Xu Xin noticed many small caves appearing on the bodies of the lower hills, and it was clear they weren’t natural but excavated by human hands.

These must be the mining holes Li Wenxi had dug out.

She must have used her abilities to detect mines here and then manually dug a hole to extract the minerals.

No wonder she has so many mines; the average person wouldn’t discover these.

No one would arbitrarily dig into hills in this precarious world. Who has the time to carve up mountains? At most, they’d look for ores in caves they pass by.

There were many such mining holes along the way, making Xu Xin marvel at Li Wenxi’s industriousness.

Soon, he saw the full view of the treehouse ahead.

The area around the treehouse was similar to Xu Xin’s, with a range of about fifty to sixty meters where all the trees had been cut down, creating a very open space, and some other trees had been planted, though all but the pines were bare.

A tall, pretty girl stood beneath the treehouse, repeatedly standing on tiptoe to look westward, in the direction they were coming from.

Seeing the two arrive on their mounts, she immediately waved excitedly, "Here! Over here!"