Actually, thereâs one more point that Xu Xin didnât mention: the untransplanted treehouse of Li Wenxi has a real protection zone extending six kilometers in radius, demarcated by the spread of the treehouseâs roots.
As the treehouse continues to grow and upgrade, itâs certain that the real protection zone will continue to expand.
However, a parasitic treehouse has no protection zone whatsoever. Although the original treehouse site left in place still retains a protection zone, itâs merely a deterrent type. It might be useful in relatively safe conditions now, but once a real crisis hits, this protection zone could just be decoration.
Most importantly, this deterrent type of protection zone will not expand any further.
He is counting on the protection zones of the treehouses around them to continue expanding in the future, fully covering and connecting this area, forming a genuine, fully connected, safe domain belonging to them.
Therefore, from the perspective of team interests, he canât let Li Wenxi transplant the treehouse to his side.
"Alright, then Iâll just keep trying myself, but you need to quickly build the coordinates and then come and help me!" Li Wenxi abandoned her previous idea but still lacked confidence in managing other survivors.
"Okay, Iâll keep an eye on those parasitic producers for you. Actually, donât worry; once the coordinates are established, not just me, everyone can mutually assist each other."
"Then Iâm relieved. Alright, letâs not talk about this anymore, let me show you around. Iâm really confident about the interior design of my treehouse!" Li Wenxi stopped thinking about it, pulled Xu Xin, and headed upstairs.
"Behold, the second floor - where I usually sleep and live. How is it? My designâs pretty good, right?" Li Wenxi gestured invitingly, grinning.
"We do video calls every day, so Iâm already familiar with it." Xu Xin immediately spotted the sofa he knew well. Li Wenxi always video chatted with him there, either sitting or lying.
Her interior design is more refined than Xu Xinâs side. One bedroom, one living room, one bathroom, and a small study room - just like a cozy small apartment for one person.
"Where? You only ever see the sofa!" Li Wenxi pointed to the small sofa in the middle of the living room, "Right there. You havenât seen the rest, even if you have, it looks different now."
"Boing!" Keke saw a sofa similar to the one in their treehouse and immediately jumped off Xu Xinâs shoulder, diving onto the sofa and started rolling around.
"Haha, looks like Keke likes the sofa too!" Li Wenxi quickly joined Keke on the sofa, rubbing her little belly.
"Boing~" Keke called out comfortably.
Xu Xin was examining the treehouseâs interior decorations.
The living room was filled with items bought from the points mall, but the two little statues he gifted Li Wenxi were nowhere to be seen; they must be in another room.
Xu Xin planned to carve more statues for Li Wenxi whenever he had time. Anyway, his carving speed is faster now, so he could help increase the enhancement of her melting room, boosting her chance of obtaining purple-level resources.
Once Li Wenxi can stably acquire purple-level resources, he wonât have to use the treehouse core to upgrade those that can be melted in the furnace, focusing instead on upgrading basic resources like wood, stone, and herbs, making better use of the core.
"Whereâs your Aniu?" Xu Xin didnât see Li Wenxiâs mutated ox and asked.
He was very interested in that ox. It was the first creature mutated using a mutation potion and bound by a mutated beast contract.
Xu Xinâs contract beasts, except for Silver King, were already mutated creatures. Silver King was also mutated using a mutation potion, but its contract was a mount contract.
Xu Xin intends to mass-produce contracted mutated beasts using mutation potion-mutated beast contracts, so he wanted to see how the ox was doing now.
"Aniu is on the third floor, want to go up and see?" Li Wenxi pointed upward.
"You put it on the third floor? Wonât it affect downstairs?"
"Of course not, the treehouse floor has great sound insulation, plus Aniu doesnât roam around. Come, Iâll show you." Li Wenxi got up from the sofa and pulled Xu Xin towards the third floor, Silver King following.
Most of the third floor was a cold storage, naturally filled with the mutated beast meat scavenged last time. Besides that, there were several pots growing some blue-level fruits.
Of course, the most noticeable thing was the brown-yellow Blood Patterned Ox curled up on the ground in the corner. The ground was covered with grass and leaves, serving as its nest.
This Blood Patterned Ox looks to have over a thousand kilograms, much bigger than Silver King, but its blood patterns are much fainter and fewer than Silver Kingâs, obviously a low-level mutated creature.
Itâs normal for herbivores to have larger bodies.
When the Blood Patterned Ox saw Silver King, it instinctively stood up and stepped back, letting out a "moo" as if alert and afraid.
Although itâs bigger, Silver King is a mid-level mutated beast, naturally intimidating lower-level mutated beasts.
"Aniu, donât be afraid, theyâre all friends!" Li Wenxi stepped forward, stroked Aniuâs back, then turned to Xu Xin and boasted, "What do you think? Aniu is big, isnât it? It can carry very heavy loads. Before I had Aniu, it was really tough. Every time I mined, I had to carry it back myself. Now with Aniu, it can carry ten times my amount!"
"This oxâs horns are so small, itâs a cow, right? I remember you saying you wanted it to produce milk. Did it succeed?" Xu Xin asked curiously.
He grew up drinking milk on Earth, even into his twenties, never missing a daily carton. The thought of milk suddenly made him crave it.
"No way, a cow has to have a baby before it can produce milk. Aniu has just reached adulthood, and has never had a baby before, so how could it produce milk?" Li Wenxi patted Aniuâs small horns on its head. "Thereâs not even a rabbit nearby, let alone a bull. Thereâs simply no way to find a bull for Aniu."
"...Thatâs true."
"Besides, Aniu is a mutated cow, much larger than normal bulls. Regular bulls might not even cut it. Why not raise a mutated bull when the time comes, let it pair with Aniu... then Aniu will have milk!"
"Uh... that could work, but we still have to wait for the beasts to return."
Ever since the rainy season ended, those beasts havenât been seen. Now the weather has become cold again, and itâs hard to say when theyâll reappear.
Xu Xin has been eagerly waiting for them to return, as he plans to raise a group of animals under the treehouse. When that happens, theyâll have plenty of milk and eggs, wonât they?
Moreover, he has mutation potions and mutated beast contracts ready to use on them.
Thereâs also the white-headed sea eagle heâs seen before. He really wants to contract with a mutated white-headed sea eagle. Although Afu can also fly, itâs ultimately a mammal relying on sonic attacks and doesnât quite fit the image of a raptor.
If he were to contract with a mutated raptor and raise it bigger and bigger until it reaches a certain size, it might be able to carry him and take off. Wouldnât he then have a flying tool of sorts?
This is something Afu canât achieve; only the white-headed sea eagle might.
At this moment, Silver King seemed to have already bonded with Aniu, as the two mutated beasts were mooing and roaring in what appeared to be a conversation.
Keke, originally rolling on the sofa, also came running up, joining the conversation with "ying ying ying" sounds.
"Hey? Are they chatting?" Li Wenxi had never seen animals conversing before and widened her eyes in amazement.
"They really can talk amongst themselves." Xu Xin shrugged his shoulders. "They understand me when I speak, but I canât understand them. Sometimes I even wonder if their IQs are higher than mine."
"Theyâre actually chatting!" Li Wenxi was also shocked. "Are all the animals in this world so smart now? Arenât animals supposed to lack a language system?"
"Who knows?" Xu Xin found this aspect curious as well. The animals here seemed quite intelligent. Aside from Cocoa Silver King Mimi and the others, even the fish stranded after the rainy season could understand his words.
Itâs strange why these animals became so intelligent. Perhaps itâs due to the special mutations brought about by the calamity fifty years ago.
"Hm?" Xu Xin suddenly realized a small discrepancy.
Thatâs strange; mutated beasts altered by mutation potions generally lose their consciousness and become obedient tools, right? So why is this cow conversing with Mimi and Silver King?
Itâs not like Silver King, the largest in its group, so why does its consciousness remain?
Xu Xin suddenly recalled that Afu also, at some point, developed its own consciousness.
"Is your Aniu usually this smart?" Xu Xin asked Li Wenxi.
"No," Li Wenxi said, looking confused. "Most of the time, it just does what I say. If I donât say, it wonât act. Maybe itâs just talking more today because it saw other mutated creatures?"
Xu Xin rubbed his chin.
Is it because of Silver King?
Hard to say, it seems like more experiments will be needed in the future. A mutated beast with self-awareness is indeed much stronger than a tool beast that requires complete voice command from its owner.
Xu Xin, no longer looking at Aniu, walked to the window and gazed southward.
Sure enough, he saw a very distinct patch of green in the southern direction.
He moved to the east window and looked eastward. There was some greenery too, but compared to the south, it was much shorter.
Judging by this, the treehouse to the south is indeed quite tall, very likely a three-story treehouse.
"Told you I wasnât lying. That treehouse to the south really could be a three-story treehouse," Li Wenxi said, looking towards the green patch in the south as she followed Xu Xin.
"Hmm. Itâs about time to go. Ji Chaoyang is probably handling things in the east by now, and we havenât even left this treehouse yet."
Thinking of Ji Chaoyang helping clear the treehouses in other areas while he and Li Wenxi were casually chatting here made Xu Xin feel a bit embarrassed.
"Eh hey, it really isnât ideal, so letâs head out. Anything else we need to bring?"
"...Nothing really, letâs just check it out first. If itâs an ordinary treehouse, we can proceed directly. If itâs a three-story treehouse..." Xu Xin squinted his eyes, "if itâs a three-story treehouse, then we might need to plan long-term."