Chapter 569 - 388: The Arrogant Visitor

At this moment, the sky was already getting light.

Xu Xin glanced at the time, it was approximately half-past nine.

This time was decent.

Niu Fugui should have already started climbing, right?

Yan Haoming didn’t approach immediately.

He scrutinized the ballistae on the treetop of the treehouse that looked like a porcupine.

Then he looked around Lou Fei’Er’s treehouse.

There wasn’t a single parasitic treehouse nearby, nor was anything planted.

This disappointed him.

Before coming, he had been wondering what kind of person Lou Fei’Er, who could climb to the top of Xue Feng, was and what her surroundings might be like.

Upon seeing now, apart from being a blue-level treehouse, there was nothing noteworthy.

Even the treehouse was equipped with some seemingly very low-grade wooden ballistae.

This Lou Fei’Er, praised by both the regional and global channels, seemed rather ordinary.

Even he had a parasitic treehouse.

He couldn’t help but feel a slight disdain.

However, this woman was quite beautiful indeed.

It was understandable for him to think this way, as his rankings had always been above Lou Fei’Er’s on all previous leaderboards.

Lou Fei’Er was generally around fifth place, while he hovered between third and fourth.

A person who had consistently ranked lower than him, just appearing on the global leaderboard once, was not enough for him to concede defeat.

"What are you still standing there for? I really am Lou Fei’Er!"

Lou Fei’Er, unaware of his inner thoughts, assumed he was doubting her identity and immediately sent him a private message from her watch.

Yan Haoming glanced at his watch, then slowly slid towards Lou Fei’Er’s treehouse.

Once he slid to the tree base, he was pulled into the treehouse by its roots.

"Welcome, welcome!" Lou Fei’Er greeted him with a smile and extended her hand to him as he entered the treehouse.

Yan Haoming shook Lou Fei’Er’s hand and smiled, "I finally get to meet the world-renowned Lou Fei’Er from our District 187; hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing once."

As he spoke, he even squeezed Lou Fei’Er’s hand.

Then, in his heart, he clicked his tongue in wonder.

This Lou Fei’Er was truly beautiful and sexy, much more sophisticated than the woman living at his place.

"Ah haha..." Lou Fei’Er subtly withdrew her hand, her face still beaming with a smile, "Not at all, it’s just luck."

However, her heart was far from calm.

If she weren’t currently in a weakened state at half her strength, feeling a bit insecure, she would have knocked this disgusting guy headlong into the ground!

Just that one action justifies calling him disgusting!

How does this guy always manage to rank above her!

"This person is..."

Yan Haoming noticed Xu Xin, first frowning slightly, then slowly relaxing.

The moment he saw Lou Fei’Er, he had already taken a liking to her.

So, when he saw a man in her treehouse, he felt a moment of displeasure.

But immediately, his displeasure vanished.

For some reason, after really seeing this man clearly, he had no desire for conflict with him.

There was an air of gentleness and warmth about this person, making people feel refreshed and comfortable.

"Hello, my name is Miao Dak, Fei’Er Sister has helped me a lot before, so when I found out where she was, I came directly to join her." Xu Xin extended a hand to Yan Haoming.

Last time he used Gu Honghao’s name with Ma Hongwei, but not this time.

According to Lou Fei’Er, Gu Honghao had an extensive network of contacts.

Especially now, with only about 300 people left in District 187, he had chatted with almost everyone.

So, using his identity was very inappropriate.

Too easy to be exposed.

But Miao Dak was different.

Miao Dak rarely spoke in the regional channel and had no contact with others.

Besides, his activity ranks were always around a hundred, neither low nor high, with very little presence.

Those at the top of the leaderboard probably never noticed him, or even saw his name.

"Miao Dak?" Yan Haoming was taken aback.

He honestly hadn’t heard of this name.

Wasn’t it said that those who came this time were all top ten in rankings?

He directly ignored Xu Xin’s outstretched hand and began to check "Miao Dak’s" ranking.

Xu Xin withdrew his hand and exchanged a glance with Lou Fei’Er.

They had already seen through this person’s character.

A bit arrogant and conceited, not as cautious as Ma Hongwei.

Still, neither of them underestimated him because of this.

With such a personality, yet consistently achieving higher rankings than Lou Fei’Er...

It could only mean that his own abilities were exceptionally strong and solid.

"Ah, Miao Dak..." The corner of Yan Haoming’s mouth clearly curved in a disdainful arc, "I really had to search for a long time to find you. Brother, your ranking is a bit low, isn’t it?"

He was personally drawn to Xu Xin, but that didn’t mean he respected him.

Being drawn to someone and respecting them are two different things.

For him, anyone who consistently ranked below twenty was basically cannon fodder in this world.

Without the help of those above, they would have long perished.

He glanced again at Xu Xin’s hand, noticing there were no other items besides a bracelet on each wrist.

Xu Xin had already put away his watch.

In his current identity, wearing a watch was not appropriate.

After all, the watch is a reward for only the top 100 in each region.

And it’s a reward for being in the top 100 of the jungle exploration event.

At that time, there were at least six to seven thousand people surviving in each region on average.

Ranked in the top 100 out of six to seven thousand people, Miao Dak couldn’t achieve that.

"Haha, rankings don’t matter. Being able to find Sister Fei’Er and help her, that means I’m already very successful," Xu Xin said with a smile, as if he hadn’t heard the sarcasm in the words.

He wasn’t really Miao Dak, so no matter how vicious Yan Haoming was, he couldn’t break through his defenses.

"You don’t even have a watch, not even a green one that only shows the time?" Yan Haoming exaggeratedly expressed, "Brother, how do you check the time when you’re moving outside the treehouse?"

This guy just wouldn’t stop...

Xu Xin almost rolled his eyes.

Is he trying to find a sense of superiority in ordinary survivors?

This level of pretentiousness is really low, brother.

"The position of the sun and the behavior of animals can actually indicate the time, not necessarily needing a watch," Xu Xin casually replied.

He didn’t really know either, just guessing, as the other person surely wouldn’t understand either.

Yan Haoming was about to say something else when Lou Fei’Er interrupted him.

"Alright." She directly stepped between the two and pushed Xu Xin back a step, then said to Yan Haoming, "Is it interesting for such a highly ranked person to bully those below? We’re all from the same region. I asked you here to give you a climbing spot, but if you keep this up, I won’t tell you the shortcut location!"

Her expression was somewhat displeased.

Half of it was acting, the other half was genuine.

Honestly, seeing this guy being so sarcastic to Xu Xin did annoy her a bit.

Even if he was referring to "Miao Dak" and not Xu Xin himself, it still irked her.

And the more she listened, the more annoyed she got!

Firstly, because Xu Xin was facing these sarcastic remarks—she, as a contractor, definitely felt a sense of shared dissatisfaction. Secondly...

This guy’s expression and tone were just unbearably annoying!

Even without listening to what he was saying, just watching his expression and hearing that sarcastic tone...

It was enough to make one’s blood boil!

Enough!

Among the strong in District 187, how could there be such a disgusting character!

"Come on now, are you really going to fall out with me over someone ranked only around a hundred?" Yan Haoming quipped sarcastically again, then raised his hand, "Alright, alright, I won’t say any more. Brother, being able to have Lou Fei’Er speak up for you, you’re still strong, huh."

He emphasized the word ’strong’ heavily.

This left Xu Xin feeling utterly speechless.

He not only sarcastically mocked Miao Dak but also dragged Lou Fei’Er into it.

How has this guy survived until now?

But under normal circumstances, would anyone just mock a stranger like this en masse?

Perhaps this was how affinity amplification manifested on Yan Haoming.

Because of the affinity amplification, Yan Haoming automatically overlooked any potential danger Xu Xin might pose.

And with Miao Dak’s low ranking, it further cemented this point.

Maybe his own strength was quite formidable.

So he started speaking without restraint.

"...Can you not do this? We’re counting on you to climb the snow mountain." Lou Fei’Er’s tone suddenly softened, even pleading a little, "We’re all on the same side, wouldn’t it be nice to get along?"

Her tone made Yan Haoming even more complacent.

"Alright, alright, no more talking, no more talking."

He let Lou Fei’Er lead him to sit on the sofa, then they both sat down.

"It’s still early now, and the snow mountain I plan to climb is far from here. How about we wait for the others to arrive and go together?" Lou Fei’Er suggested, then asked with some concern, "You didn’t encounter any danger on your way here, did you?"

"Of course there was no danger, and, you don’t know, I did something big!"

Yan Haoming sat on the sofa and started describing his journey over.

He had set out from the treehouse before six in the morning.

His treehouse was only about a hundred kilometers away from here, and at the speed he had demonstrated, it shouldn’t have even taken three hours.

But it was now almost four hours since he left.

"Do you know what I did? I killed several people from District 188, hahaha, those people were just too careless!" Remembering what he had done earlier, Yan Haoming slapped his leg and laughed heartily.

Xu Xin and Lou Fei’Er both furrowed their brows slightly.

Killed people from District 188?

"Brother Yan, how did you manage that?" Xu Xin asked, "As far as I know, District 188 should have crossbows in every treehouse, right? It’s hard to capture alone, isn’t it?"

"Maybe hard for you, but easy for me," Yan Haoming grinned, "I told them I was from District 188 going to join the Explorers, and they believed me right away, even wanted to invite me into their treehouse. Aren’t they foolish? Just stupid!"

...So that’s how it was.

Yesterday, a large group of survivors headed towards the Explorers.

On their journey, there must have been many who either didn’t want to come or didn’t dare to.

These people might have encountered several instances of survivors passing by yesterday.

This could also be observed from District 188’s channel, where many talked about this yesterday.

Indeed, someone mentioned that although they didn’t want to go or didn’t dare, their treehouse could serve as a stopover and supply station for survivors heading to District 188.

Unexpectedly, Yan Haoming utilized this point!

But, how did he convince their people that he was from District 188?

"Haha, look at this!" Yan Haoming reached into his backpack and pulled out a couple of treehouse seeds, "This was a pleasant surprise, and..."

He reached in again and brought out two treehouse cores glowing with a white light.

"These things, you’ve probably never seen before, right?" Yan Haoming boasted, "Treehouse cores! Didn’t expect the messages on the world channel to be true, what a stroke of luck."

This guy...

Xu Xin’s gaze slowly grew colder.

He had killed their own people along the way and seized treehouses and cores.

In his heart, the desire to eliminate this person in front of him arose almost immediately.

Killing people from District 188 was essentially a slap to the Explorers’ face!