Chapter 567 - 386 The Disappearance of the Wyvern Statue

Xu Xin planned that only she and Lou Fei’Er would handle the situation with the three people in Area 187.

He told the other explorers about it yesterday and also assured them that their help was unnecessary.

He and Lou Fei’Er might manage to achieve victory without a fight.

If the others came along, they might alert the others.

These people were among the top ten in the area, each with a watch to stay connected.

If any one of them sensed something amiss, especially the first one, they could directly contact the others or even all of Area 187...

Their plan would then completely fall apart.

So, he decided not to involve the other explorers.

Besides, with so many newcomers in their area, they needed to allocate some people today to guide them in expanding the functional regions of their treehouses and other such matters.

So it was best left to him and Lou Fei’Er.

Before setting off, he returned to the treehouse, left Keke there, and brought along the freshly fed Silver King and Mimi.

"Whimper!" Keke kept whining, expressing discontent.

"I can’t take you this time, stay home obediently,"

Xu Xin took Keke off his shoulder and put it on the sofa, leaving it plenty of blue-grade fruits.

Only then did it stop clamoring to follow Xu Xin, taking a couple of bites of an apple before going to play with Dandan.

He really couldn’t take it this time.

Because "Xu Xin always carries a panda" had become common knowledge.

Not only was it known in Area 188, but even the entire world knew about it.

If he brought a panda, given the unique location, his identity would risk immediate exposure.

So Keke had to stay home.

Luckily, there was an egg at home to keep it company.

Before leaving, he messaged Ma Hongwei to look after the house and contact him if anything happened.

Besides, some survivors hadn’t arrived yet, so someone needed to greet them if they came.

"Leave it to me, Brother Xin, I’ll have someone keep an eye out for you. My new crossbow will soon be ready, it should be done by the time you return!"

"Alright."

After arranging everything, Xu Xin swung down from the treehouse.

Lou Fei’Er was already waiting below.

They didn’t waste words and set off immediately, heading toward her main treehouse.

Along the way, it was very dark.

Although it wasn’t snowing, the sky today was completely overcast.

So around them, it was entirely pitch black!

Both only dared to venture out after eating some blue-grade red berries.

Xu Xin suddenly became a bit worried about Niu Fugui.

Niu Fugui had set out early, and with this level of darkness, the visibility range for torches was very low.

However, he gave him an entire bush of red berries last night, about twenty or thirty of them, which should be enough.

In two hours, it would be daybreak, so they wouldn’t need it anymore.

Around them, compared to the snow layer that was three meters thick two days ago, it was now only about a meter thick.

After a day of melting, the snow on the treehouse canopy had completely melted away.

From a distance, those capable of night vision could already see the green canopy.

The two rode on the snow wolf, Axue, moving swiftly across the snow.

It was Xu Xin who wanted to try riding a snow wolf.

He hadn’t ridden anything other than Silver King, especially a snow creature that traverses snow, and was curious to try it.

Though to be honest, he found it a bit unstable.

Even though he was used to riding, with the contract he signed with Silver King, he could even lie down without a problem.

It was impossible for him to be thrown off Silver King’s back.

But Axue was different.

Axue only signed a mutated beast contract with him.

And its speed was not slow either.

He almost got thrown off just now because he didn’t hold on tight enough.

If it weren’t for today’s reaction augmentation, he might indeed have been thrown off.

But it must be said, riding a wolf is fast!

This speed was much faster than powered skateboards.

"I say, boss... or should I ride and you hold onto me, you’re prone to flying off like this," Lou Fei’Er said, feeling his unstable body as she clung to his waist, a bit speechless.

This was way too unstable!

Much worse than her first time riding!

"...I’ll get used to it soon," Xu Xin said with a twitch at the corner of his mouth, tightly gripping the wolf’s body with his legs to stabilize himself.

Accustomed to comfortable riding, this bumpy ride was really quite uncomfortable.

But a man can’t admit defeat!

However...

This is what riding a wolf feels like!

Riding on Silver King’s back was too safe, lacking excitement.

This is like the thrill of driving manual.

But it was indeed exhausting...

He could somewhat understand Qi Xuefei’s feelings on the wolf’s back back then.

In retrospect, Li Wenxi’s adaptability was really impressive.

Finally, after a stretch of riding, Xu Xin could manage Axue’s pace more or less.

But by then, they had reached their destination.

Looking at the lush green treehouse in front, Xu Xin swung himself down from the wolf’s back.

Lou Fei’er patted Axue’s head and looked up at the tree house, "It’s really been a long time since we came back..."

Although this tree house had been unattended for a long time, it was still intact.

The entire tree house was covered with crossbows like a porcupine, making people reluctant to approach.

Apparently, those "raiders" were just as scared.

Moreover, during this beast tide, the tree houses without survivors were not attacked, allowing this blue-level tree house to escape unscathed.

The two of them reached out to control the roots and entered the tree house together.

Inside the tree house, it was empty, with most of the items completely taken away.

Xu Xin glanced at the time; it was already close to eight o’clock.

There were still two hours until Yan Haoming was supposed to arrive at ten.

"Tidy up the inside of the tree house to make it look like someone has been living here," Xu Xin said to Lou Fei’er, "You brought all the stuff, right?"

"Of course."

Lou Fei’er immediately took out one large item after another from her purple-level backpack and began arranging the surroundings.

"You even brought a bed?"

Seeing her run to the former bedroom and take out a bed, a blue-level one at that, Xu Xin was somewhat surprised.

"Why not just make one? You even brought a blue-level bed."

"How could that be enough!" Lou Fei’er said while making the bed, "A newly made bed would look new. All the furniture at home is brand new, it would look suspicious!"

"And, who am I? I’m the only one from Zone 187 who climbed Xue Feng’s summit." Lou Fei’er finished making the bed, took out a bedside table, then placed a decoration on it and nodded with satisfaction.

Then she turned back and said, "The only big shot from Zone 187 to climb Xue Feng, with all green-level furniture, that would be too shabby and fake."

Sure enough, she’s thought thoroughly about this.

She again ran to the living room, took out a sofa, and pointed at it, "Boss, just sit here and rest, don’t make a mess... I mean, leave it to me, you just relax."

What a sarcastic remark.

Xu Xin shook his head helplessly and sat on the sofa.

Whatever, he preferred to relax anyway.

Opening the smartwatch, he looked at the explorers’ group.

They were already discussing the thirty or so people who hadn’t arrived.

Wen Guixin: "Why didn’t anyone come last night? Where did the rest go? What’s going on with Xu Xin?"

Qin Yunlong: "Could something have happened? Is there another danger at night?"

Wang Lei: "Could it be that it’s too dark at night and hard to move around?"

Li Wenxi: "There’s no one here with Xu Xin either. I just felt like something was missing, and now I realize, the rest didn’t come!"

Zhao Xiaochuan: "Could they be dead..."

Qi Xuefei: "You’re overthinking it, they’re still alive."

Ji Chaoyang: "Everyone is near the purple-black light pillar at the Transmission Array, I’m here now."

Wen Guixin: "Huh? Then why didn’t they come over?"

Ji Chaoyang: "It’s too dark, they can only find the direction of the purple-black light pillar. They can’t find the direction of the tree house, can’t contact us, and don’t dare to walk around, so they can only wait near the light pillar."

Xu Xin suddenly realized.

So that’s it.

Those who came during the day could directly see the tree house nearest to the light pillar, so they came straight over.

But after dark last night, it was really pitch black around, and there was no way to explore once near the light pillar.

Without blue-level berries, these people only relied on torches, which had too short a visible range.

It was basically impossible to find the location of the tree house a kilometer away.

So, they waited around the purple-black light pillar.

However...

Xu Xin: "You’re there now, right? How’s the situation with the stone statues? They didn’t disturb the stone statues in the giant pit, did they?"

He directly sent a trio of questions to Ji Chaoyang.

Ji Chaoyang: "That’s what I wanted to tell you. One pterosaur statue is missing, now there’s only one left."

What?!

Xu Xin jumped up from the sofa.

His movement startled Lou Fei’er, who was tidying the room nearby, "What’s going on?"

She put down the decoration in her hand, came over, and saw the conversation in the explorers’ group through Xu Xin’s smartwatch.

Then her eyes slowly widened.

Xu Xin’s face looked a bit uneasy.

A pterosaur... disappeared?!

When did this happen?

Ji Chaoyang: "I asked these people, the pterosaur statues were still there when they arrived. They were sensible and didn’t enter the pit, so it might not be their fault."

"They took turns keeping watch last night, but no one knows who messed up. Moreover, it was very dark around. Anyway, when I arrived, one of the pterosaur statues, the one always watching us, had disappeared."

This...

Xu Xin was a bit flustered.

The location of the Transmission Array was really close to his tree house!

If the pterosaur statue had ulterior motives for his tree house...

He was even thinking of going back.

Fortunately, Ji Chaoyang spoke up.

Ji Chaoyang continued, "Aren’t you supposed to deal with Zone 187’s affairs today? Focus on your work, there are fewer people around the tree house here. I’ll keep an eye on it for you. But, you’d better make them some transmission hand tokens now."

...That’s quite good.

With Ji Chaoyang there, it’s really reassuring.

Wen Guixin: "Don’t worry, once I’m done here, I’ll come help you watch. I want to see what tricks that pterosaur statue can pull."

Xu Xin let out a breath, "I’ll leave it to you guys then."

With these two helping, he didn’t need to worry about his tree house.

If neither of them could handle it, going back wouldn’t help much anyway.