A purple-ranked key!
A key that can control the treasure chest monster!
At the moment Xu Xin got the key, the location of the treasure chest monster on the map changed immediately from a red dot to a green light spot.
Great.
The treasure chest monster is now part of our team.
Silver King and Mimi felt the change in the treasure chest monster too, their tense bodies slowly relaxing, no longer in attack stance.
The vines surrounding the chest, always poised to strike at the treasure chest monster, no longer have any intent to attack, and slowly retreat back below the ground.
Lou FeiāEr, somewhat puzzled, lowered the dagger sheād been holding in front of her: "I canāt sense any hostility or danger from this chest anymore, has it surrendered?"
Xu Xin shook the key in his hand, smiling: "Itās part of our group now... no, itās part of our chest."
"I get it," Li Wenxi looked at the key in Xu Xinās hand, guessed, "The person with the key is its master, right? Youāre the master of this treasure chest monster now."
"Exactly." Xu Xin nodded and stepped beside the treasure chest monster.
Before Xu Xin approached, the treasure chest monster opened itself, revealing a large bloodthirsty mouth, mutated vines stretching from its throat and dangling outside the chest.
Hmm, just like a dog sticking out its tongue in a friendly gesture.
"What do you have inside your belly, spit it all out for me to see." Xu Xin said to the completely submissive treasure chest monster.
The treasure chest monster responded by retracting the vine that had been hanging out like a tongue and then closed up.
It remained motionless, not opening on its own, as if waiting for Xu Xin to open it.
"This is..."
Xu Xin reached out and touched the treasure chest monster, discovering its previously somewhat soft, seemingly fleshy body had now turned cold and hard, exactly like the feel of real metal.
He reached to lift the lid of the chest.
The chest was not locked and didnāt require the key Xu Xin held to open it; though the lid was heavy, Xu Xin could easily flip it open with his current strength.
Inside, were still those dazzling gold and silver jewels.
He seemed to understand a bit more.
This treasure chest monster must have two forms.
The first form is the one with the big open mouth.
In this form, the treasure chest monster can chew food with its large mouth, similar to how it chewed the vines earlier. Additionally, it can spit out mutated vines from its mouth to attack, belonging to an active attack form.
The second form is the current form, the chest form.
In this form, the treasure chest monsterās inside is no longer that massive mouth, but a real treasure chest interior. According to the keyās introduction, it stores all kinds of things it previously consumed. Those that couldnāt be digested are retained.
However, this second form of the treasure chest monster probably canāt open or close or act on its own.
The chest is large, survivors can only reach a small portion of the treasure inside when they open it manually.
To see and access all the treasures within, one must reach deeply inside.
At this moment, the treasure chest monster can instantly switch to its man-eating form, close immediately, and swallow the survivor who reaches inside!
... What a terrifying tactic!
Even Xu Xin, upon seeing the thick layer of gold and silver jewels inside, canāt help wanting to check if thereās something else buried beneath the jewels.
If it were just a regular chest, he would certainly search through for the treasures inside.
However, it shouldnāt only be these things inside, right?
"Canāt you just spit out the treasures yourself?" Xu Xin asked.
The chest shivered slightly and then showed no response.
Apparently not, he had to find them on his own.
Xu Xin reached his hand out toward the interior of the chest, but was immediately grabbed by two hands.
One was Li Wenxiās hand, the other was Lou FeiāErās hand.
"Even if you got the key, isnāt that too dangerous?" Li Wenxi recalled the scene where vines were cut by the closed chest, a bit frightened, "Arenāt you afraid of getting your hand crushed, and besides, it doesnāt look like thereās anything worthwhile inside..."
The treasure chest monster seemed to understand Li Wenxiās words and protested against her distrust and belittling of its treasures with two trembling motions in this immobile form.
"Let me, let me see whatās inside, Iām fast enough that even if it tries to close, it wonāt catch me." Lou FeiāEr didnāt want Xu Xin to take risks, so she said.
"..." Xu Xin shook his head helplessly.
The two girls couldnāt see the green dots on the map, unaware that the treasure chest monster was already on their side.
"Alright, then you can check out whatās beneath these gold and silver jewels." Xu Xin didnāt insist. With someone to do the work, he was happy to relax.
With permission granted, Lou FeiāEr quickly grabbed the wall of the chest and jumped up, leaning her entire body against the edge, and began to search through.
Sheās roughly 1.65 meters tall, while the chest was 1.5 meters high, the body at the level of her mouth and nose, so she had to jump up to reach inside.
Watching Lou FeiāErās stance, Xu Xin was somewhat speechless.