The two of them headed west.
"There used to be a river here," Zhao Xiaochuan pointed to the ground, "but now itâs frozen and buried under the snow."
"Hmm..." Keke poked her head out from Xu Xinâs embrace, observing the surroundings.
Zhao Xiaochuan had indeed said before that if they walked along the river from his treehouse, theyâd find Qin Yunlongâs treehouse.
"My treehouse is actually quite far from Qin Yunlongâs," Zhao Xiaochuan said somewhat sheepishly, "about forty kilometers. Thatâs why it took a long time to find it initially."
Forty kilometers...
Even with a powered snowboard, it would take roughly an hour.
"Letâs speed up then," Xu Xin lightly tapped the powered snowboard, and with a "buzz," the speed was maxed out.
He hadnât used the maximum speed before because there were many trees in the jungle, and he lacked the skills to dodge them.
But now, after sliding for so long, he was very proficient and didnât need to be so cautious anymore.
However, even at the fastest speed, it would still take at least close to an hour to reach.
As he focused, the map appeared in his mind.
The area has been explored extensively, from Wen Guixinâs treehouse to Qin Yunlongâs treehouse, and then to Qin Yunhuâs treehouse; the route and surroundings are clearly visible on the map.
Although they hadnât encountered any danger or mutant creature groups along the way, there were still sporadic red spots around.
The places where those red spots aggregated werenât on their route, which saved them a lot of trouble.
After sliding for about half an hour, his watch vibratedâLi Wenxi was calling with a voice message.
"Xu Xin, howâs it going? Have the coordinates been activated?"
The voice was on speaker, and Zhao Xiaochuan heard it too, quickly making faces at him.
"Still a way to go, at least an hour," Xu Xin glanced at Zhao Xiaochuan and looked ahead.
The canopy of Zhao Xiaochuanâs treehouse wasnât visible yetâeverything in sight was a blanket of white.
"That slow? I thought youâd be back soon," Li Wenxiâs voice carried the sound of footsteps and sitting on a sofa, "Iâve pretty much finished up here. Itâs been half an hour since anyone messaged. They probably wonât come, so now itâs just waiting."
"How many people in total?" Xu Xin asked.
"I didnât count... Ji Chaoyang mightâve posted in the group. Let me see, um, 132 people? Wow, thatâs a lot!"
"132 people?" Zhao Xiaochuan also began checking the explorers, very surprised, "Then we each get to manage... 15 people? Thatâs quite a lot..."
"Are you worried about not being able to sustain them?" Xu Xin looked at him, laughing.
"No way, we can definitely sustain them, but..." Zhao Xiaochuan sounded concerned, "With so many people, wouldnât the disaster be more severe too?"
"Our strength is also greater!" Li Wenxiâs voice chimed in, "Plus, with the portals, itâll be easy for us to help each other, so no fear of attacks!"
Indeed, Xu Xin wouldnât have dared to recruit so many people before when the portals werenât connected, but now...
The combination of support abilities and combat abilities is far from a simple one-plus-one.
The teamâs combat power greatly improves qualitatively.
Just pure defense wouldnât have any issues at all.
"Have we used up over a hundred blue-level iron blocks?" Xu Xin asked.
The consumption isnât insignificant. These hundred-plus blue-level iron blocks could be smelted into steel blocks, yet she...
"Ugh, mentioning it makes my heart ache!" Li Wenxiâs tone turned a bit pained, "My inventory is almost wiped out! Ugh... no more talk, Iâm going mining with everyone! My inventory is too low; Iâm nervous about it, have to replenish!"
"Wait, Wenxi, I plan to give each of the nine members of our team a set of purple-grade steel armorâis there enough material?" Xu Xin asked.
"...Each a set of purple-grade steel armor?! You, you, you..." Li Wenxi was stunned for a moment hearing Xu Xinâs words.
After a few seconds, she spoke again: "Let me calculate, a set of steel armor requires four purple-grade steel blocks and twelve blue-grade steel blocks; for eight sets... um... kill me now!"
"Hmm?" Keke tilted her head in Xu Xinâs embrace.
"Oh dear..." Xu Xin awkwardly rubbed his nose, "The purple-grade steel blocks will be provided by those with upgraded treehouse cores, and thereâll be a batch of people coming this time; so weâll be stocked on purple-grade steel blocks. Just provide enough blue-grade steel blocks."
"Hmm, that sounds manageable but still not enough," Li Wenxi explained, "all the blue-grade steel blocks were used for making coordinates; the blue-grade iron blocks are nearly exhausted too. Right now, Iâm practically out of anything above blue grade, so weâll see what I gather today."
Zhao Xiaochuan slid alongside, chuckling at their conversation: "Haha, if thatâs the case, we seem to have used up quite a lot of materials. Why not focus on weapons first? Weapons need fewer steel blocks, and we have the purple-grade wood ourselves. Blue-level armor should suffice for now."